As might be expected, I’m starting with Polyhedral Pantheons techniques.
This first pantheon used ‘guided selection’. I made sure all alignments are present, then assigned domains in ways that seemed to fit at least some of the secondary domains. For instance, ‘Travel’ (site L) got assigned because Weather and Luck both can be significantly related, as can Chaos (no, I don’t like traveling… I don’t mind being somewhere else, but I dislike going somewhere else). Not all domain pairings will make obvious sense, and I’m quite okay with that. The obvious pairings help ground the pantheon in ways that meet peoples’ expectations, I find the inobvious pairings tend to lead to the more interesting explanations.
| Site | Alignment | Weight | Primary Domain | Secondary Domains |
| 1 | LN | 3 | Law | Repose, War, Nobility |
| 2 | N | 0 | Sun | Strength, Knowledge, Travel |
| 3 | N | 1 | Plant | Repose, Darkness, Community |
| 4 | CN | 2 | Chaos | Trickery, Liberation, Travel |
| 5 | NE | 2 | Evil | War, Trickery, Strength |
| 6 | N | 2 | Destruction | Darkness, Liberation, Glory |
| 7 | N | 3 | Artifice | Repose, War, Rune |
| 8 | N | 0 | Protection | Community, Knowledge, Glory |
| 9 | NG | 2 | Good | Nobility, Darkness, Liberation |
| 10 | N | 0 | Magic | Rune, Community, Knowledge |
| 11 | N | 0 | Animal | Nobility, Trickery, Liberation |
| 12 | N | 0 | Fire | Rune, Strength, Knowledge |
| 13 | N | 2 | Death | War, Nobility, Trickery |
| 14 | N | 0 | Weather | Liberation, Glory, Travel |
| 15 | N | 0 | Madness | War, Rune, Strength |
| 16 | N | 0 | Water | Darkness, Community, Glory |
| 17 | N | 1 | Earth | Repose, Rune, Community |
| 18 | N | 0 | Luck | Trickery, Strength, Travel |
| 19 | N | 3 | Healing | Repose, Nobility, Darkness |
| 20 | N | 0 | Air | Knowledge, Glory, Travel |
| A | LN | 5 | Repose | Law, Plant, Artifice, Earth, Healing |
| B | LE | 4 | War | Law, Evil, Artifice, Death, Madness |
| C | LG | 4 | Nobility | Law, Good, Animal, Death, Healing |
| D | N | 1 | Rune | Artifice, Magic, Fire, Madness, Earth |
| E | NG | 3 | Darkness | Plant, Destruction, Good, Water, Healing |
| F | N | 0 | Community | Plant, Protection, Magic, Water, Earth |
| G | CE | 3 | Trickery | Chaos, Evil, Animal, Death, Luck |
| H | NE | 1 | Strength | Sun, Evil, Fire, Madness, Luck |
| I | N | 3 | Liberation | Chaos, Destruction, Good, Animal, Weather |
| J | CG | 0 | Knowledge | Sun, Protection, Magic, Fire, Air |
| K | N | 1 | Glory | Destruction, Protection, Weather, Water, Air |
| L | CN | 1 | Travel | Sun, Chaos, Weather, Luck, Air |
Normally I’d wait until a little later in the process to assign weights to the domains, indicating which domains and related portfolios are important to the underlying culture. This usually works best once I’ve got a sense for the pantheon, but in this case I decided to give this pantheon a focus on ‘creation and destruction’ (represented here by Artifice and Destruction) and ‘life and death’ (Healing, Death, and Repose). After seeing the initial weight frequencies (hint: very bottom-heavy) I gave the alignment domains some weight as well. Weights assigned to a deity’s primary domain are doubled by default.
This gives me the following weight frequencies and
- 1 ‘weight 5’ deity (greater deity, likely head of pantheon)
- Repose (Law, Plant, Artifice, Earth, Healing)
- 2 ‘weight 4’ deity (greater deities)
- War (Law, Evil, Artifice, Death, Madness)
- Nobility (Law, Good, Animal, Death, Healing)
- 6 ‘weight 3’ deities (intermediate deities)
- Law (Repose, War, Nobility)
- Artifice (Repose, War, Rune)
- Healing (Repose, Nobility, Darkness)
- Darkness (Plant, Destruction, Good, Water, Healing)
- Trickery (Chaos, Evil, Animal, Death, Luck)
- Liberation (Chaos, Destruction, Good, Animal, Weather)
- 5 ‘weight 2’ deities (lesser deities)
- Chaos (Trickery, Liberation, Travel)
- Evil (War, Trickery, Strength)
- Destruction (Darkness, Liberation, Glory)
- Good (Nobility, Darkness, Liberation)
- Death (War, Nobility, Trickery)
- 6 ‘weight 1’ deities (lesser deities)
- Plant (Repose, Darkness, Community)
- Earth (Repose, Rune, Community)
- Rune (Artifice, Magic, Fire, Madness, Earth)
- Strength (Sun, Evil, Fire, Madness, Luck)
- Glory (Destruction, Protection, Weather, Water, Air)
- Travel (Sun, Chaos, Weather, Luck, Air)
- 12 ‘weight 0’ deities (demigods)
- Sun (Strength, Knowledge, Travel)
- Protection (Community, Knowledge, Glory)
- Magic (Rune, Community, Knowledge)
- Animal (Nobility, Trickery, Liberation)
- Fire (Rune, Strength, Knowledge)
- Weather (Liberation, Glory, Travel)
- Madness (War, Rune, Strength)
- Water (Darkness, Community, Glory)
- Luck (Trickery, Strength, Travel)
- Air (Knowledge, Glory, Travel)
- Community (Plant, Protection, Magic, Water, Earth)
- Knowledge (Sun, Protection, Magic, Fire, Air)
I’m pretty happy with what I see so far. I don’t yet know what it all means, but I have enough that I can leave it to percolate overnight and come back.
Tomorrow! Let’s see what I have tomorrow!