tldr- I need ideas for 4 more gods, and I made two worlds but I’m not sure if I should separate them. Any advice is greatly appreciated. I’m trying to make a world with 9 gods, and so far I have 5- communication, wind, water, wood/ground, and darkness. So what should be the other 4 gods? I was thinking about making a god about traveling and hunting... I could also make a god of void magic, since these 9 gods are technically eldritch gods... or I could lean into eldritch horror and make the other gods unknown or very little is known about them. For example, a description of a god: Spoiler: Unknown God’s description In one hand she dances with daggers and in her palm, she holds the world. She only has 4 fingers for each hand. When she dances, the four directions connect. Her 9 daggers are the layers above the world. Her fingers are like mountains, and her forehead is like heaven. Below her light and songs are the suns and winds of the world supporting from below. Her tears are the rivers and seas. Her broken teeth are the pearls of the sea. Her breath is the winds of heaven and the gales rising from the land. The stars are the light of her eyes. She balances a wine jug on her head and when she drinks from it, the world is lost. *The jade path is embedded with marble. (Although this line seems out of place, it was included due to the assumption that it was broken off the original tablet. – Librarian) But I don’t feel good about this, I want to lean more into something more extravagant than saying, “little is known about them.” I could turn it into a mystery but I don’t know how to write a mystery, unless someone has something to help with that. This is a middle evil world so science isn’t so advance yet. I was thinking about making a god about magic, but it won’t really work... or maybe a god of statistics? It’s a bit complicated, but in this mirror world, there is a theme about luck, believing, dreams, death, contracts, and statistics. I was not planning on it but it just came out so naturally. I’m still not sure what to do with that. Here’s another issue; I’m currently working on this mirror world (where the 9 gods will reside/influence), but it’s turning out to be way more complicated, larger and fantastical than the original world. I was thinking about making this a totally separate world/novel, but I’m not sure. Each world can function on its own, technically.
I was in the same dilemma a year ago but I ended up searching on God's we don't talk about much. Like everyone is overusing Greek mythology but I decided to look up other mythologies I haven't studied so I can get inspired, I don't know if this link will help you but I'll try to find ones I searched. https://www.iamhistory.co.uk/home/1...e,The thunderstorm announces Sango's presence.
The link worked. I get your idea, maybe I’ll look into religions little is known about so I could lean a bit more into eldritch horror. Thank you.
You're welcome. I'm looking for other sites but I can't remember the search words I used then. I got to start bookmarking pages. I only created one world and it's still under process, so I pray for endless creativity so you can finish creating your world.
5 out of 9 God's recommend this product. Sorry that's what came to my mind reading the title. I know of a god that guards memories, abilities include -implanting false memories -keeps record of all memories -can trade someone in good or bad memories -reduce impact of memories -comes in handy during tests Then there are chaos/God's that bring change. Animal God's and God's that have to do ancestors, and God's that promote life/births/plants.
I like this idea, but I’m afraid if I use it, it would be LotM’s Spectator sequence. I really love LotM’s magic system.
God of contracts Goddess of fertility (this is so important to human existence that almost every human religion has one) Goddess of fertilizing, responsible for the cycle of decay and rebirth God of the abandoned - both objects and people God of hunger, thirst, pain, sleepiness, fear, and all feelings the body uses to tell you what it needs to survive. This god is revered by those who understand him, reviled by those who don't. Those he favors are known to stop before stepping into a trap due to a sudden feeling of dread. God of play God of rhythm, worshipped by musicians and doctors alike, he guides both the beating of the drums and the beating of the heart Deity of in betweens and shades of grey. This deity is nonbinary in gender and in everything else. They are responsible for dawn and dusk, spring and autumn (but especially those days that are neither one season nor another), doorways, crossroads, adolescence, both and neither. God of luck and randomness - to be favored by this god is not very helpful, as he delights in moments when the situation could go either way, and loves when there is no control over the situations. Best called on only when the odds are overwhelmingly against you, since you never know what might happen.
Since you already have some of the elementals, you could lean into that more and add earth, fire, metal, and light.
God of Corruptions, this God was once someone who decided to swallow all humanity corruptions, and this God has keep swallowing it for eons. Sadly, the amount of Corruptions it swallowed ended up to be much more than the God can bear and it ended up corrupted and gone Half crazy. Not to mention no one worship him except for some evil cultist nowadays, this end up further the God corruptions.
the fae god, a god that represents magic and old traditions. the god of blades, a wandering god who happens to be a master of all weapons, unarmed combat, and the traveling The devouring god, a god that goes around eating planets/ the life forces of others the slumbering god, a sleeping god that affects the world through its dreams. unfortunately, nightmares tend to have adverse affects on reality. What it represents when awake, who knows.
It’s complicated, but I was also think about a god of metals but it just seemed really pointless. There are 4 more elements that don’t have a god for a representative. I also combined earth and wood since it kept popping up together.
Ooh, I like the slumbering god. I bet there are a bunch of prophecies and cults around what happens when he awakens, whether they want to wake him up or prevent that, etc. Maybe it makes more sense to keep writing and see what gods come up as relevant? Just leave a placeholder for the gods that haven't been named yet. Religion is strongly tied to culture. What does your culture value or fear? Are they land-locked, sea-faring, or space traveling? Do they rely on the skies for time, or are they technologically more advanced or more primitive? If they are advanced, what was the culture like in more primitive times? For more active deities (deities that are characters in their own right, who take actions that affect the plot), think about what the plot demands. You can also start from personality, and then decide what they represent. Also, why are there nine? Tell us a little more about the setting.
I could just keep on writing and seeing where the world leads, but i'm not sure if ill write anything. Each god has two spirit gods, each of which has 2 heavenly gods and those 2 heavenly gods each have two earth gods, resulting in a single God having 15 identities. Each identity has 6 domains/1 location. In total there are 90 locations. I was thinking about making humans after all the locations are completed since i can avoid writing all the history which i find so troublesome. Afterall, these 9 gods are descending from the cosmos and filling up a plane of existence so it doesn't make sense for there to be a culture and humans just yet. Each of these locations usually create a new race also. For example, time druids are from the god of wood, while ogres and trolls are also from the wood god, but a different location/domain. Some of these domains are just places with the settings conscience manifesting into something.
Think about the origin story of these gods. Were they there before everything? In that case, you should probably round out the elements with fire and light. Hunting and travelling don't seem to fit, since they're not really primordial concepts unless you go really esoteric about it. Think about other concepts you feel are essential to your universe or are extremely fundamental. If they're just beings that happen to be powerful, think about traits that would lead to/allow someone to become powerful, or something a powerful being might do. In this case, hunting and travelling work well, since someone going around hunting and travelling could grow stronger, and if someone is already powerful, they might find joy in going around hunting and travelling. There would be no need to complete the elements, so you have more room to come up with more varied characters and powers. If they're beings brought into existence/power by the worship of mortals, think about what things people might worship, both in the past and in the present. This could bring about an "old vs new gods" thing, where something like a god of statistics is something only recently worshipped, whereas a god of hunting and travelling was worshipped by more primitive people and is going out of favour.
This is the origin of these gods, basically cultivation via potions and eating believers and is the main reason why all these gods have domains/less important identities. These gods are descending from the cosmos and only 9 can fit (because of geography), I can choose any gods that rushed down and started to cultivate more believers. I was thinking about a god of traveling and hunting as more of a god of destinations. Like someone who is born will die, when someone set out to travel, they have a destination in mind. Think about it as a god of war, but I really dislike the idea of "god of war". Maybe the god of movement might be better. I also think i can make this specific god very esoteric and mystical. I could make these gods native of this world also, that they cultivated and ascended and became gods, but it doesn't make too much sence since this world is literally blank with nothing on it. I could make a god of time who goes back and created his own existence but i feel that would be pure bs.
. You're going about it the wrong way. Build it backwards. Set the ending and then slowly tread back and design the dynamics. Where do you see the story end? How grand do you want it to be? Which characters are in the last scenes. Now keep some of them hidden till later stages, and some known. Mystery is built on their traces, or after effects of their actions. Like battlefields, half forgotten lores, etc... Don't worry about systematic gods.... Make them as unconventional as you want... As long as your ending is rock hard you can naturally find ways to squeeze their influence in daily adventures. A void god even though sounds omnipotent doesn't have to make huge waves, could be from lack of interest or is restricted in abilities. Even magic god will work, their influence would only end with mana, beings that have touched law isn't as restricted as others by her/him/it. Time god could be stuck in the endless river of time existing at all moments of time, their influence restricted to maintaining the reality from splitting into multiverses... ofcourse you could make like they have incarnations or avatars that enact their will in whichever ages they want...but the power of the avatars will be limited. God statistics could be a branch of prophecy god, probabilities and such... Ofcourse it can be ruling the world through wealth system as well but it's territory is in predicting. You don't need to separate the worlds, the more complex it is the more easier it is to stretch tension and mystery. As for as recs for gods, try illusion god, god of revenge ( nemesis), god of speed, god of wealth, god of strength, god of fertility, god of balance, god of foulness, god of entropy (chaos basically), god of travels (basically a subset of fate that guards one's journeys), god of hunting (killer path), god of slaughter (more mainstream killer), weather gods (their own influence but they ultimately will fall under respective elemental gods authority so sub gods). You can set hierarchy of gods, like fate, death, life, infinity, space, time are totally different level of Gods. Anyway just saying you shouldn't aim to to have simple world, you should build a complex and vast one in a simple and understanding way.... Hope it helps.
I don't think that eldritch gods work with what the OP is thinking of. The thing about eldritch gods is that they're supposed to be extremely alien and have little connection to or care for the human condition. They only care about their own purposes, and humans might be so insignificant that they might not even acknowledge our existence. Assigning such beings aspects, specific attributes and power might sound good on paper, but it erodes their mystery and their eldritch-ness so it counters the objective of having eldritch gods in the first place. I think that Zeusomega is on the right track of how to incorporate gods into the story. First determine where you'd want the story to end, and then figure out how the relations between the gods and the protagonist will contribute best to that ending, and finally choose the gods' aspects and attributes that will best suit all of that. Doing all of the background work first before figuring out how to work any of that into the story is a mistake I see a lot of authors making, and it just results in a lot of effort that is counterproductive at the end of the day.