Friday, August 31, 2012

Less than Blatant Favoritism

Question: Out of all of the pantheons (in the world, not just in your games) what is your favorite?

Oh, now, that one's just too loaded to answer! We can't pick a favorite pantheon; they represent religions and stories from across the world, from myriad cultures and myriad ideals, and everyone one of them has something amazing and unique to love about them. How could we choose the Tuatha as our favorites and forget about the savage but communally loyal badassness of the Aztecs? How could we choose the Devas and forget about the intricate, mysterious workings of the Amatsukami? How could we choose the Tibetans and not give the same love to the stoic, harsh yet eternally hopeful myths of the Inuit?

It's just not possible. We love mythology as a whole - we love stories from all kinds of different places and gods from every culture under the sun. Trying to choose one would be like looking at a beautiful piece of art and choosing a single brushstroke to be your favorite. Sometimes we're in the mood for the no-holds-barred storytelling craziness of Benin, sometimes we're interested in the ritualized gold sacrifices of Peru, and sometimes we just want to hang out and watch Sun Wukong wreck things, and they're all part of that special fuzzy feeling that studying the religious thoughts of all eras of humanity brings us.

We cannot be monogamous with any one mythology. We have to be free to play the field.

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