Crafting The Immortal Powers
I’ve been wanting to do a series of posts introducing the main powers in the pantheon of Galhadria as well as working on the designs for the sigils for some of those Powers. I figured what better way to kick this off than by interviewing Dustin, our primary world builder, regarding his thought process on building a pantheon.
Tiff: You've refrained from referring to any of your powers as 'gods and goddesses'. What was your reasoning for this?
Dustin: To try and change the reader's expectations of what they are capable of, and to make the world feel different from ours.
Tiff: You've expressed to me that you've tried hard to stay away from just re-purposing western pantheons like Greek or Norse mythology. Do you feel like you've accomplished this? Are you mostly happy with the results?
Dustin: Well, to some extent yes. The Powers don't feel *completely* like retreads of the Greek Pantheon. That said, they are inspired by myths and legends from our world, so of course they are bound to feel a bit familiar. I'm mostly happy with them; like with anything else in worldbuilding they'd be better with more detail and worldbuilding ... which we're adding on to every chapter.
Tiff: You've divided your powers up into Old Powers and New/Young Powers. Is there any specific symbolism there?
Dustin: There is a civilizational memory in European and Europe-derived cultures that the 'old gods' (which would have been pre-Christian) were a lot less nice than the new. In some ways, that's true of the Young Powers (some of them anyway) so I wanted to borrow that feeling.
Tiff: Any specific reason you chose to have 3 old powers? Any specific reason you chose to have 7 'celestial' powers and 6 'infernal' powers. Do those numbers have any significance?
Dustin: Three was a small enough number for a reader/player to easily grasp. There are actually far more than that, referred to in their descriptions, but those 'old powers' have mostly faded in prominence over the years. (I think there were once nine primordial dragons and eight giants, plus who knows how many fey lords and ladies; so it was a big group, back in the day).
Seven celestial and six infernal powers are references to Christianity, as those powers are influenced by the conflict between heaven and hell; they stand in for angels and devils, with some caveats.
Tiff: How did you settle upon your old powers being a giant, a dragon, and a fey?
Dustin: A lot of creation myths have something older and more powerful than 'the gods' (the ones friendly to mortals) who created/ruled/did what they pleased in the time before. These three groups are often found in creation tales - something larger and more stronger than normal mortals, something more powerful and wiser, and something craftier and more magical. Just tapping into some ancient archetypes, don't mind me.
Tiff: Any specific sources of inspiration for creating your powers that you want to share?
Dustin: As many as possible; the more stuff you mix into your worldbuilding the harder it will be to identify the original source. There's lots of European myth and legend that we're all familiar with; I added a nice mix of Native American stories since I studied that quite a bit in school, and tried to gather a lot of stories common to ancient cultures (many very poorly documented or understood) like Sumeria or Carthage. I also tried to add some Asian and South American, along with some from India, but I admit my breadth and understanding there is more limited. Perhaps I can squeeze those sources in on other continents…
Now allow me to introduce the Galhadrian pantheon:
The Ancient and Malevolent Great Old Ones - not much is known about these except they were driven back by Tiamat long ago. Any remaining worshipers of these powers must surely be mad.
The Old Ones
Tiamat - Known as the primordial devouring immortal of both creation and destruction, the queen of draconic races, and mother of the dragons themselves. Tiamat drove back the pure chaos of the Great Old Ones and ignited the sun with her breath.
Gromm - The first and strongest of all the giants and implacable foe of Tiamat. Gromm is the pure force of the elements, accidentally awakened by Tiamat through the trickery of Shalokar. He is the storm giant king; enormously strong lover of battle and violence and conflict. He admires strength, ferocity, and the will to survive and destroy.
Shalokar - The fey lord, the great trickster; an agent of chaos for the sake of chaos. An ancient and fey from the mysterious feywild, Shalokar involves himself in the affairs of mortals and immortals alike for his own amusement.
The Young Powers
Lyn-Tyrian
Brand - He is concerned with the affairs of the mind; with creativity, lore, teaching, magic, and the arts of civilization.
Kyleria - She is associated with tides, cycles, waters, birth, and death. She hates undead in all forms with a passion.
Mersey - Mersey appears as a kind celestial with long golden hair, and is often depicted as weeping. She is concerned with love, healing, and promoting kindness and altruism.
Skylae - She promotes knowledge, law, strategy, and might in the service of justice.
Tolkern - He is concerned with exploration, hunting, craft, and skill; making him a patron of all forms of arts.
Tolwyn - He cares for truth above all. He is the upright champion of the law; and expects his followers to do good in all things.
Ulf - He is concerned with building and breaking; the making and unmaking of all things. He loves the mountains, stone, and steel.
Gorothkan
Avari - She is associated with avarice and the ruthless gathering of wealth.
Chard - He is the lord of taking; the soul-stealer, plunderer, and thief. He encourages his followers to take what they want by guile and stealth.
Gathal - He is the warlike lord of domination and usurpation; the conqueror. He tempts mortals with the gift of prowess and fury, allowing them to take what they desire by force - but upon their doom he consumes their power for his own.
Hylarr - She is the deceiver and the unraveller, the lady of a hundred faces, the mother of lies.
Phane - He is the nihilistic lord of destruction and necromancy, the liche lord. What little regard he has for other powers is focused on a consuming hatred of Mersey.
Zanod - He is concerned with secrets and the destruction of knowledge. Zanod despises the open sharing of information. Knowledge is power, and secret knowledge is greater power.
There you go! Until next time dear reader, I challenge you to research some mythology outside your normal wheelhouse. <3 - Tiff
