gods

>>54357615
Most of the different races are monotheistic or at the least have a dualistic cosmology.

The Humans hold that there were two great periods of creation and two Gods, The Father and the Queen of Shades. In the First Creation the Father created the Realm of Light and the Queen of Shades birthed the World of Darkness. The Queen Lusted after the Father's creation as did the men of her world and invaded. The Queen was defeated but both worlds were so destroyed that it seemed that this would be the end of all things. But the Father sifted through the ruble of both realms and cobbled together a new creation from the remains of both realms. When the second world was crafted it had no stewards so the Father took the remains of the Men of the Queen's world and gave them the ability to overcome their innate lust for domination and worldly vices so that they may watch over his new creation. Because of this, most humans believe Elves to be remnants of the Men from before the second creation. They are creations of the Goddess the Queen of Shades. Humans point to the much longer life spans of Elves as reflective of this nature as it would be important for a being that solely exists for the materialistic world to linger in the world for so long.

>>54357615
They're just the most well liked of a long line of Gods, collectively known as the Gods of Man, for their interests are aligned with those of mankind.

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>>54357615
>Steven the Fabulous

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>>54357615
>pantheon
>gods

Gallant makes religion in his setting by coming up with distinct theology, philosophy, and culture, only adding things like 'gods' and 'mythology' after the faith could be maintained in their absence.

Goofus makes religion in his setting by creating several CLEVER AND ORIGINAL CHARACTERS, fiat explaining that they /are/ gods, and devoting the rest of his time to fitting them in his SUPER COOL pantheon and mythologies. Never along the way does Goofus stop and consider anything about how the faith was popularized, 'because gods r real in DnD lmao'.

Don't be like Goofus.

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Fuck pantheons. Anything more than 3-4 nigh-omnipotent deities (0-2 is ideal) quickly becomes a mess of divine conflicts that are incomprehensible and often irrelevant to mortal concerns. The most developed of the in-setting religions I've set up is most common among desert-dwelling nomads.
>Affable but standoffish creator-god of the universe, particularly associated with the night sky and stars; revered for nice cool nights, navigational stars, and non-interference in mortal affairs
>Powerful but oppressive sun god that is more feared than worshiped
>Loose "organization" of wicked souls condemned to become wandering djinn, determined to make mortal lives a living hell; manifest themselves as dust devils, sandstorms, and ill winds

>>54359471
This. I was in a hurry to make mine though. Also they only actually exist if the DM and group want them to, since the intended system doesn't have divine casting.

I just have one guy who gave the entire population of a country superpowers for giggles. He's a pretty chill guy and offers help when needed, but is not above fucking with people. The heroes respect him kind of like a cool uncle except for the one that is straight up convinced that he is actually THE God.

Funny thing is, my players have been at it for about 8 months now, and they still think he is, but it's actually really vague. (It's vague because im incompetent.)

>>54359471
I've always preferred clusterfucks myself. Create a ton of supernatural creatures then create random theology and culture off what the races can understand off of it.

Meaning they get everything utterly wrong and can't even decide what is a god or not between the two of them.

>>54359473
>He doesn't have over 9 million gods.

The hindus and Shinto are laughing at you.

>>54359471
Is this before or after Goofus tries to murder Gallant with an axe only to get shot by Gallant's wheellock pistol?

>>54359471
>playing DnD
>Wanting to write out a fictional theology for a fictional race so your friends can ignore it while guzzling down beer.
>Thinking you'll ever succeed at building anything remotely worth the thought if you spend less in 3 years thinking out a theology.

Truly dungeons and dragons players and DMs are all cancer.

>>54359737
I agree with most of what you said, fuck DnD, but it's not hard to create good fictional religions. It's just that DnD tells its GMs to create interesting or believable world, and instead tell a 'le epic dudebro' story.

>>54359471
Goofus clearly is interested in making a setting for him and his friends to go adventuring in.
Gallant on the other hand is interested in the act of worldbuilding itself, and has more time and expertise.

The God of magic is dead. Magic users can tap into his left over energy to cast spells, and when the God died a shit ton of magic monsters were made.

Gods are mortal and you can kill them.

Gods and Fairies were both the same original type of being. The lawful ones went out and made humans and societies.