AuldDragon's AD&D Blog

Another pantheon I don’t know much about is the Finnish pantheon; most of what I know outside of Legends & Lore and On Hallowed Ground comes from the MST3K episode “The Day the Earth Froze.” And you can bet I would add in references to that episode in any writeups I do…

Most of what is known about these deities comes from the Kalevala, which was compiled from a variety of folk tales and then edited into a narrative; like much of the mythology of the Irish, Welsh, and Norse (through Snorri Sturluson) it is often unclear what’s actually originally myth and what is a creation of the compiler. Luckily for D&D purposes that doesn’t matter too much. Until I can get a copy of the Kalevala, I’m not too likely to work on this pantheon.

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The Egyptian pantheon is high on my list of potential pantheons to work on; I’ve always been fascinated by them, and visiting Egypt not too long ago (geologically speaking, at least) really crystalized how wondrous it is from my point of view. It presents some interesting challenges, too, since Egypt’s long history means there have been many different interpretations of the gods and even sub-pantheons throughout the years, and figuring out how to incorporate that I hope will lead to some interesting gameplay options.

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Another mythos that I don’t know well enough to put high on my list of pantheons to work on is the Chinese pantheon of the Celestial Bureaucracy. I would want to try and incorporate the faith of Kara-Tur if possible, and the Path and the Way that originated there and is used in Spelljammer. I have also heard that some of these deities may have been invented/misunderstood, like Apshai and Druaga, but I don’t know which.

As with some others, I would need to get good sources before I worked on it.

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Like the Native American mythos, this mythos merges Aztec and other Central American cultural mythologies into one in a way that should probably be separated; the 2nd Edition Legends & Lore book did just that, but I do not know enough about the various mythoi in question so I’m not as likely to pursue this set of deities as I am for some others. I would want to get some solid sources before I tackle these, so I’m interested if anyone has any recommendations. I will say one thing I do like about these deities is saying their names, though!

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Of the real-world mythoi that are in the D&D game, Celtic is one of the ones I’m more likely to work on. How to handle it is an open question, because the D&D game primarily merges a variety of Celtic cultural mythoi into one; considering how much of what we know comes from euhemerized tales of the gods and simple interpretatio romana inscriptions. There are a small set of Irish figures that we can reliably see as pre-Christian deities, and the same can be said of the Welsh tales. Contitnental Celtic mythology is mostly known from inscriptions and artwork. So what would be the best way to approach these different groups? Merge them as one, and use the continental names to expand it into a large pantheon, or split them into smaller ones? I’m not sure what’s the best approach. I have two good sources for Celtic mythology: The Lore of Ireland: An Encyclopedia of Myth, Legend and Romance by Daithi O hOgain and Dictionary of Celtic Religion and Culture by Bernhard Maier. I would like to get a good analysis of Welsh folklore, though.

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Another potential next phase of the project would be to start creating pantheons for races that should have them, or have a mention of a pantheon but with very little detail. Many of these races are from Spelljammer, of course.
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Before I decide on my next Deity project, it’s helpful to do some brainstorming about the potential paths I might take. The first potential project is to expand some of the existing nonhuman pantheons that feel light on deities, starting with ideas from Monster Mythology.

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