Aestereon Pantheon

The Aestereon Pantheon are two sets of deities, one based on characters previously created by other players in the various games that our Tabletop RPG group have played in the past, and some homebrewed deities created by myself.

Each deity created from a previously established character will be tweaked ever-so-slightly so they aren't exact one-to-one copies of the characters they represent, instead being alternate, idealised versions who have succeeded in their plans and lived their lives.

The homebrewed deities are native to this new world, with very little known about them.

Belmanas, Deity of Stone and Darkness, First Goddess of Aestereon
Titles: The Mother of Monsters, Our Lady of Perpetual Darkness, The Misunderstood Goddess, The Personification of Calamity

Domains: Community, Destruction (Catastrophe), Earth, Magic, Strength (Resolve)

Allies: The Pillar of Aestereon (organisation), Irigast (nominally)

Enemies: Those who purposely slaughter her people without just cause.

Notes:

Belmanas is the embodiment of the planet of Aestereon given deific form. She was created when the Starfall struck Aestereon, bringing magic and utter catastrophe upon the world. Her birth was brought about during the ensuing Age of Darkness.

Unlike the other homebrewed deities of Aestereon, Belmanas was born alone with only the wishes of pain, darkness and suffering to keep her company. After a millenium of trying to assuage the people of Aestereon without avail, the Age of Darkness ended and the Deities of the Divine Sky were born soon after. Aelmanas could not interact with the other deities, isolated through some unnatural means.

Paranoid Bushybeard, Deity of Safe Passage and Chance, God of Gnomes
Titles: Ascended Herald, The Saint of Randul

Domains: Healing (Resurrection), Good, Luck, Magic (Divine), Travel (Portal)​​​​

Allies: His Herald Julius Jensen (Cavalier), his first follower from when they were both still mortal

Enemies: Crump

Link to full profile here

Jasper Fel
Domains: Knowledge, Trickery (Thievery), Magic (Arcane)

Shataakh
Domains: Earth, Fire, Law (Tyranny), War

Bolphungar
Domains: Air (Lightning), Glory, Liberation (Freedom), Strength (Competition)

Crump
Titles: Prince of Sweetness and Light, Helper of Small Children

Domains: Artifice (Alchemy), Nobility (Hubris), Trickery (Espionage), Community (Cooperation)

Angur McRagemongler
Domains: Community, Destruction (Rage), Law, Strength (Ferocity)

Nathaniel
Domains: Healing (Medicine)

Aiden Kassan
Domains:

James' Character Whose Name I Cannot Remember
Domains:

Uduros and Nesryn, Twin Messiahs of the Orc Races
Domains: Community (Home), Liberation, Strength (Resolve), Madness

Anastacia
Domains: Animal (Feather), Chaos (Whimsy), Darkness (Night), Trickery (Thievery),

Alleila
Domains: 

Grot
Domains: Air, Artifice (Construct), Good (Friendship), Magic (Rites)

Cuvus
Domains: Darkness, Death (Murder), Trickery (Deception)

The Unturning Legion
Domains: Artifice (Construct), Glory (Heroism), Good, Law (Judgment), War (Tactics)

Astraeus
Domains: Death (Undead), Magic (Arcane), Repose, Rune (Language)

Bevan Hayward
Domains:

Saint
Domains: Glory (Hubris)

Arun Blackstone
Domains: Animal, Community (Home), Magic (Divine), Sun

Template for Deity sheets(additional details)
Name: Obviously, what your deity's name will be. I personally like to use puns and foreign words to give my deities exotic-sounding names, but ones that savvy people can identify. I also always include the name's pronunciation.

Titles: These are the sobriquets that worshippers of the deity give them. Usually, they allude to the deity's function or are a superlative praising them.

'''Divine rank''': For the purposes of this guide, I limit myself to four of the divine ranks: Demigod, Lesser God, Intermediate God and Greater God. This is because these are the ranks at which a deity is able to grant divine power to followers, i.e. can grant Divine spells through Cleric Domains. I do not cover Quasi-deities, because they do not have the capacity to empower mortals, nor Overdeities, because their affairs are beyond even the gods, let alone mortals. The ranks, by D&D cosmology standards entail the following:

·        Demigod: Demigods are the lowest of the true god ranks, and they tend to be ascended mortal heroes, offspring or servants of greater deities. Demigods are very rarely worshipped on their own, and if they are, their worshippers number in the hundreds to low-thousands. Their portfolio is usually limited to minor and few concepts. In 5th Edition D&D, demigods are no longer among the divine ranks, being a powerful playable race instead.

·        Lesser God: A Lesser God is the lowest rank that is a true independent god with their own portfolio and organized religion. Their worshippers number in the thousands to tens of thousands, and they represent concepts that are minor yet significant to mortals or fills a specific niche. For example, Lolth is a Lesser Goddess, and she is the main god of Evil drow. Although her worshippers are not many in number (since drow themselves are not many in number, compared to the main elf race), she has a place of importance within her pantheon as the patron of her race. Azuth is another Lesser God, with few devout worshippers but representing a pretty powerful concept in the advancement of magic. Followers of lesser gods tend to congregate in small groups, and their temples tend to be small chapels in most urban areas, while bigger in major centers of their worship. If your deity represents a minor mortal concept and has few worshippers across the world or a rather sizable local population, they are probably a lesser god.

·        Intermediate God: Intermediate Gods have followings numbering up to the hundreds of thousands, and represent more important, everyday concepts of mortal concern. They tend to have larger temples, and congregations of their faithful are numerous and large groups within their communities. Ilmater is an example of an intermediate god, with numerous worshippers and representing the virtues of endurance, compassion and the relief of suffering. Saint Cuthbert is another intermediate god, representing obedience of the law and retribution, which gives him a privileged position in urban centers. If your deity represents an important mortal concept and has a large following worldwide or a major following locally, they're probably an intermediate god.

·        Greater God: Greater Gods are the highest rank of god that still participates in mortal affairs. Their followers tend to number in the millions, and they can be the main god of an entire pantheon or the patron god of an entire major race or nation. However, greater gods tend to not even need worshippers, for they usually represent concepts of cosmic importance, so massive in scope and importance to creation that they exist independent of mortals and merely need to exist to hold the position. Pelor and Lathander, the Gods of the Sun, are both examples of greater gods, who have huge numbers of worshippers and represent the most important of heavenly bodies. Kelemvor is also a greater god, representing Death, arguably the most important and universal cosmic concept of all. If your deity represents a concept integral to the universe, has a global presence of worshippers and a majority of the worshippers of a major population center, they're probably a greater god.

·        Demon Lord/Infernal Duke: Demon Lords and Infernal Dukes are not part of the main divine ranks, but they can also empower mortals and represent concepts that affect them. They are, obviously, Evil fiends that reside in the Abyss or servants of Asmodeus that reside in Hell, respectively.

Position: This is the most important part of creating your deity: what they are deity of. This will determine many of the characteristics of this template: it will determine your deity's rank, their alignment, their portfolio, their cleric alignments, their domains and their relationship with other deities in your game. D&D already has a ton of different deities for a myriad of concepts you can use, so if you're creating a new one, you should come up with a deity that fills a niche you can't find an already existing god for.

'''Holy symbol: Worshippers of a deity tend to wear their deity's holy symbol, as well as use it to decorate centers of worship and artifacts affiliated with them. Make your deity's symbol something symbolic of your deity's role. A god of knowledge, for example, can be symbolized by an all-seeing eye or a flame of knowledge, a god of protection might be symbolized by a shield, or a god of death symbolized by a scythe or skull, and so forth.

Alignment: I'm not going to explain alignment cause that'd be about twice the size of this entire piece, but suffice it to say that a god's position determines their alignment. As a rule of thumb, gods that participate heavily in mortal affairs are the ones who usually are Good or Evil, Lawful gods tend to represent institutions or cosmic order and Chaotic gods are more concerned with individuals and creative and destructive processes. Gods who are Neutral in either or both axes of the alignment scale tend to represent the more universal concepts.

'''Cleric alignments: Cleric alignments represent what alignment a worshipper of your deity must ascribe to to be empowered by your deity. As a rule of thumb, clerics tend to be, at most, one step removed from their deity's alignment, but this is not universal. For example, a Chaotic Neutral deity who sneers at altruism would probably not allow a Chaotic Good cleric to worship them, even if their alignment is only one step removed from their own, while a True Neutral deity of a universal concept might very well accept clerics of any alignment.

Portfolio: Your deity's portfolio is a breakdown of the concepts that your deity represents according to their title. Think of it as the bullet points below your deity's main point. For example, Pelor, as God of The Sun, has the Sun itself as his main portfolio concept, but he also represents light, strength, healing, fertility (as sunlight is necessary for the growth of crops) and the destruction of the undead (as sunlight is the purest form of Positive Energy, which is anathema to the undead).

Domains: Your deity's domains are the concepts that your deity has Divine power over, and through which they can empower mortals who belong to the Divine character classes (Clerics, paladins, etc.). I personally give my deities between four and six domains, but you can giver your deity as few or as many as you like, though for consistency you should give higher ranked deities more domains than those under them.

Allies: Allies are other deities in the D&D pantheon that have favorable relations with your deity. They usually represent concepts that share relevance or complement your deity's, or they might simply like each other because they share a similar outlook or philosophy. Worshippers of deities allied to your deity would consider you a friend and be willing to help you out, or they might even worship your deity along with theirs.

Enemies: Enemies are deities that disapprove of your deity. They usually represent an opposite or incompatible concept to your deity's, or they might disagree on outlook or philosophy. Worshippers of deities inimical to your deity will treat you with distrust at best and outright hostility at worst.

'''Mixed relations: This is an optional entry I generally use when a deity has a relationship with another deity that is significant but not specifically friendly or inimical. If you can describe the relatinship between both deities as "it's complicated", the other deity goes here.

'''Favored weapon: Your deity's favored weapon is the weapon that worshippers of that deity favor, and they tend to have proficiencies and feats related to that weapon. Any weapon can be favored by your deity, but it's a fun idea to reason why a deity might favor a particular weapon. A god of nature, for example, might favor the quarterstaff or the club, as their god would shun metallic weapons, or a dwarven god might favor the warhammer, as it's the classic weapon of the dwarves.

Appearance: This is where you describe what your deity looks like. Have fun with it, but think of how your deity's appearance can be a reflection of what concept theyy represent. For example, Pelor is decribed as having blonde radiating hair, dressing in golden robes and having an aura of light, making it obvious he's a sun god. As a rule of thumb, the lower in the divine ranks a deity is, the more they tend to look humanoid, as their concept tends to be more linked to mortal concerns, while the greater gods tend to have forms that are inhuman or even unfathomable by mortals, and the form they use to manifest might be one of many that they use so that mortals have something recognizable to interact with.

Realm: I tend to use this entry as optional. Your deity's realm is their home, the subplane where they reside and have absolute power in. There are many documented realms in D&D cosmology your deity can make their home in, but you might also want to detail your deity's realm if you think your party might visit it at some moment or another. Demon Lords and Infernal Dukes are the deities I personally prefer to write a realm for, but you can create any realm you deem appropriate for your deity.

Backstory: This is your deity's background: what they're about, where they came from and how the achieved their position. This can be as sparse or as detailed as you want to make it: a god that represents a cosmic concept can bbe explained simply as "they've always been around", while a god that is an ascended mortal might have a whole backstory of their mortal life and what events led to their ascension. This part is a fun way to flesh out your deity and give them personality. A deity's backstory might very well be a part of their church's doctrine and holy texts.

'''Dogma, clergy and temples: This entry describes your deity's influence in the mortal realm. In here, you describe what virtues your deity espouses, the main teachings of their religion, what their church and worshippers look and act like, and what their goals for mortals are. You also describe here what clerics and/or paladins or anti-paladins of your deity wear and how they act.

Tenets: Your deity's tenets are the commandments they demand of worshippers. They are the moral and philosophical rules that define their religion, and all worshippers of your deity are expected to follow them.

Deity's Paladins/Anti-Paladins Code: '''This is the code that Paladins and/or Anti-Paladins of your deity follow. Think of them as additional commandments and standrads of behavior they obey as elite followers of your deity.

'''Sects and Cults: In here, you describe institutions, holy texts, rituals and individuals that follow your deity or are defined by them. Particular philosophies, magical rituals, favored heroes, historial events and other such concepts can be written here to flesh out and give your deity depth. You can even describe individuls or institutions that directly oppose your deity, as long as that opposition defines them. An institution that opposes your deity because it opposes other deities with similar outlook would not belong here, but an institution composed of people who have been directly and specifically slighted by your deity certainly would.

'''Allies and enemies: This entry goes in-depth into your deity's relationships with the other D&D deities. In the initial blurb for the template, you wrote which deities have relationships with your deity and what kind, while in here you describe WHY those deities have those relationships. This entry adds some good fluff to give you an idea of how to roleplay worshippers of those deities in relation with each other.