Question: Do you think that the Maori god Tu, through his creation of nets, snares and other tools, should have the Industry purview associated? Or is this not a good enough reason? Also, I saw how you stated out Tangaroa a while back. How would you stat out Tu?
Hmm, that's actually a bit of a stumper. While we usually ignore gods who perform a single one-time action of invention, Tu actually goes on something of an invention rampage at one point, coming up with a bunch of new tools that humanity then uses to survive and prosper. He is sort of the creator of technology in the sense that the Polynesian islanders used it, which certainly seems Industry-like in some senses.
On the other hand, though it's not really part of Tu's character to make things; he does it once, with the express aim of capturing his fleeing siblings. He's not a god associated with making things as far as his personality and character go - quite the opposite, in fact, considering his very heavy connections to war and destruction. This looks a bit more to me like a situation similar to Sobek's, who created fishing nets in order to fish for and find Horus' hands, but who is obviously not a major crafting god himself. In Sobek's case, we gave him Craft as an associated ability but did not give him Industry, as he really wasn't an embodiment of The Creator; I think the same is probably true of Tu.
It's definitely a place where it could go either way, though; we'd probably rule that Tu has several Industry boons and certainly plenty of Craft, but that he isn't a crafting god on the same level with people like Hephaestus or Kothar. Your mileage may vary, especially depending on which version of Polynesian myth you prefer (because lord knows there are plenty of them).
If you were going to stat him as a god, I'd say that he definitely needs War associated, and probably either Intelligence or Wits for his ability to outmaneuver and capture his brothers (I'd lean toward Wits for the descriptions of him as cunning, as he probably doesn't have Manipulation considering that Tane got him outvoted on what to do about Rangi and Papa). You might also consider giving him Water, as some islands consider him the lord of fresh water in the form of springs and rivers (as opposed to salt water, which falls under Tangaroa's area). His strong role in protecting warriors in battle might also give him Guardian associated, though it's not as strong as some of his other connotations.
Man, we need more Polynesians up in here. There are just not enough island-god shenanigans going on.
Duh.
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DeleteWhat about Death? He is associated with human sacrifice in at least one instance (and I believe that he is the only Polynesian god that is). And if I recall correctly, great warriors hung out with him in the afterlife (not dissimilar to Odin).
ReplyDeleteYeah, but only one reference? Doesn't seem enough to justify an entire purview. I have a friend playing a Demigod that has death and can reanimate corpses and summon ghosts, that seems like something he could do. The God of death in my sense, for the Polynesian's, has to be Kanaloa, who is thought to be death, water(mostly likely the ocean and how rough it can be and kill you), darkness but not enough for an associated power and the squid. That is a good death god. Or we could always use Pele, the volcanic goddess. Fire and Death, with what I believe was a sacrifice to her monthly or yearly. I can't remember of the top of my head. But I would assume she would be also considered for death in some cases, but maybe not associated.
DeleteSince massive numbers of gods worldwide received human sacrifice without being gods of Death, we probably wouldn't use that as a good justification for Tu to have it (though that epithet of his, Mouth-that-Drips-Maggots, is pretty goddamn suggestive). I haven't run across mention of him running or residing in an afterlife, but that would certainly help tip the balance toward him. Unfortunately, we haven't done a real Polynesian writeup yet, so we haven't done the amount of research they really deserve. Someday, Polynesians!
DeleteI did a little reading on him last night, though, with what sources we have around the house, and I think a stronger possibility might be Fertility. There's strong intimation that he invents things like nets and snares because he controls the plants that can be used to make them, and as the Hawaiiian Ku, he's explicitly a forest-god with epithets like of-the-Deep-Forest and so forth. So if you're looking for something to help round him out, that might be more appropriate.
Isn't Hine-nui-te-po the Polynesian Death Goddess? Or would she be better off as a Titan? I mean she's antagonistic enough, not that she doesn't have reason to be pissed.
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