Thog Need Written Record

Question: Have y'all ever used the Gods of prehistoric or pre-literate cultures? Scion mentions that there are Overworlds left over from such Pantheons, but never mentions the former inhabitants. It seems like a very interesting place to go, but it carries issues of its own. By definition, there's no record of any such religions, though they must have existed. So, yeah?

We have not, pretty much for exactly the reason you mention: there's by definition no record of prehistoric man's religious beliefs or whether they had even developed any yet in the sense that Scion depends on. There's nothing for us to do with the idea, because there's literally no basis. It's a familiar frustration, that knowledge that certainly someone somewhere believed in something at some time, but since we have no idea what, why or how, there's nothing to be done but shelve it and maybe mention it as something interesting in passing. I'd imagine that's why Scion doesn't do anything with the idea other than mention it; there's simply nothing to do. If there are Overworlds or relics left behind by those cultures, outside of very specific Mystery questions no one will even know that's where they came from; they might as well just be random objects, or, more likely, relics of whatever later pantheon repurposed them.

The problem with trying to use prehistoric "religions" for anything is that you are literally making them up from scratch. You are inventing something that, as far as you know, never existed at all (in fact, your odds of being vaguely close to what prehistoric peoples actually believed are astronomically low even if you happen to be an anthropologist who specializes in that field). You're writing fantasy and including it in a game that is by and large based on actual human religions and history. And if you want to do that, certainly nobody can (or should) stop you, but it's not what we play Scion for. We love Scion because of the rich sprawl of the many different religions of humanity, because it has an inexhaustible supply of characters, stories and history to draw from because of its very nature. If we knew anything about prehistoric cultures, we'd be happy to add them to that mix, but since we don't - can't, by definition - there's no point. We'd rather focus on the incredible and awesome diversity of the myths and gods of the world than spend time inventing new ones that there is a 99.9999999% chance never existed.

It's the same reason we don't use the Atlanteans. We could be playing any number of other games about fantasy pantheons or made-up gods. Those games exist all over the place, and we've certainly had fun playing them, too (despite legitimately convincing appearances, Scion is not the only game John and I have ever played). But Scion's about the awesomeness of world myth; it's a place where those myths are center stage and the entire show. I'd certainly find a prehistoric-themed, cavemen-and-their-gods game interesting and give it a whirl, but it wouldn't be Scion. Scion is built on the premise that the myths of the world are true; there are no myths from prehistory.

I've actually seen a prehistoric pantheon writeup for Scion around on the Scion wiki (The Ghedan, based on the Neanderthals), and it looks pretty rad, but it looks rad for a different game. We're probably never going to be interested in any pantheon that has to be invented from scratch, so while I'm sure others' games might have a blast with them, we'll always give them a pass. There are so many pantheons that we do have records of to explore that we're likely never to get through them; why start borrowing fictional extras?

I'd note, though, that prehistoric and pre-literate don't have to be the same, and we have used pre-literate pantheons where there was enough evidence of their myths (whether through art, oral traditions, or any other form of preserving them without writing). The Aesir, Bogovi and Nemetondevos all fall under this category; their peoples did not leave a written record prior to being invaded or converted by other cultures and religions, but enough survived for us to be able to enjoy their ancient stories anyway.