It really depends on the needs of the story. In general, continuing mythoses are a human thing; the Devas happen to be the gods of a religion that is still strongly active in the world, so sometimes new stories are invented about them or new temples raised to them without them even having to do anything. The religion's established and it runs itself mostly without them - it has to, because they're certainly not doing nearly as much interfering with it as they used to, because like all other pantheons they don't want to get mired down in the swampy suck of Fatebonds. That doesn't mean that some new legends might come from something one of the gods actually did, but as a general rule, that kind of thing would be very rare. Which is fine, because that's what we have Scions for, right?
I'd also point out that "dead" pantheons all still have active worshipers in the world, even if their numbers aren't as impressive. In fact, here's a quick estimate of the number of worshipers each pantheon boasts:
| Devas (Hinduism) | Approx. 1 billion |
| Shen (Shenism/Taoism) | Approx. 460 million |
| Shen/Devas/Amatsukami (Buddhism) | Approx. 400-500 million |
| Loa (Candomble/Santeria/African Traditional, etc.) | Approx. 70-100 million |
| Amatsukami (Shintoism) | Approx. 4 million |
| Yazata (Zoroastrianism) | Approx. 137,000-138,000 |
| Tuatha de Danann/Nemetondevos (Celtic Reconstructionism) | Approx. 100,000-300,000 |
| Aztlanti (Mesoamerican folk religion) | Approx. 10,000-30,000 |
| Aesir (Asatru, Odinism, etc.) | Approx. 14,000-24,000 |
| Dodekatheon (Hellenistic Reconstructionism/Roman Reconstructionism) | Approx. 5,000 |
| Pesedjet (Kemeticism) | less than 1,000 |
| Anunna (Mardukism/Mesopotamian Reconstructionism) | less than 1,000 |
All numbers courtesy of The Internet, so take 'em with a grain of salt. But the point is that none of the religions of Scion's pantheons are truly "dead", and while it's certainly easier to set a story within the massively thriving Hindu religion, there's nothing stopping you from bringing in one of the two remaining Kemetic temples in the U.S. as a plot point or a center of divine activity. The only case in which a pantheon is outright affected by their worship (or lack thereof) is that of the Aztlanti, who are having to endure a world with little blood sacrifice and probably not liking it one bit. In pretty much every case, you don't need to do anything special to mark the fact that there are more Shinto worshipers than Asatru; the world itself is already doing that for you.
In the end, it seems simplest to me to treat the difference between "living" and "dead" religions in Scion exactly the way it's treated in the real world: some religions were wiped out by time, conquerors and conversion, while others continued on because of favorable social conditions that made it possible. The gods, who are all avoiding the World to avoid the pain of Fatebonds, simply didn't have much to do with it; they let humanity do what they wanted, and today's religious landscape is the result of that.
The Trimurti probably still try to rub it in everyone's face, though.
I've never exactly heard of a reconstructionist religion(except maybe the Slavic Neopagans) adding to their canon.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand New myths about the Loa do pop up, AND the books seem to treat them as either a particularly Young pantheon or one that has been heavily altered via Fatebonding.
The Books make it clear that's the price of meddling, so my question was do the active mythoses show a greater preponderance for those deities to get wrapped up in mortal affairs?
And its not so much about large mortal worship populations. I mean I've never heard of a new Shinto Myth for example.
That's a good point - reconstructionists rarely add to the canon on purpose, but they add to it by accident all the time. Case in point, the rampant addition of attributes to Celtic goddesses - a Google of any one of them will get you loads of bizarre characterizations, added stories and strange syncretizations that often have only shaky foundation in myth (if any). It depends on how seriously a modern practitioner takes the idea of reconstructionism - worshiping as the ancients worshiped - versus the idea of simple polytheism, reshaping the religion to suit their modern ideas.
DeleteI'd say there probably is a much greater chance for pantheons that interact directly with mortals like the Loa to get Fatebound; that's how Fatebinding works, after all. The Devas probably do a little better with it than the Loa thanks to Samsara, but I've heard new myths and even new deities pop up for them from time to time (like this lady). According to Scion's setting, the Nemetondevos are some of the most closely involved with mortals, but Deuogdonio is designed expressly to help them deal with that without getting totally screwed.
Right I am asking do you think groups that are getting new myths show they are more active or is that just a human thing?
DeleteSorry if I was unclear - it really depends on the needs of your story. It could be the result of gods meddling around - meddling gods almost always get new myths, they can't really help it. But it could also just be humanity continuing in the same vein they always have been, and it's likely that that's the case more often, since the gods want to avoid Fatebonding and probably aren't going down there much if they can help it.
DeleteSantoshi Mata is fascinating! She's like a real life example of a modern day Scion!
ReplyDeleteRight? I don't remember where I first turned her up, but it's super neat that she built a thriving cult in the modern day like that.
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