Question: I stumbled across this site about an hour ago looking for stuff to spark my imagination for Scion characters, and upon entering the blog spotted the poll regarding under-appreciated pantheons. I of course put in my vote and got to thinking. About 6 years ago I went on a 3-week trip to the Eastern coast of Australia (best vacation of my life) and saw a presentation of one aboriginal group's beliefs. Given how each tribe was different, how would you create a pantheon for all of Australia?
Well, it's more like 21 days ago instead of an hour ago now... sorry about our question backlog. :( But we made it here now!
We've actually talked about this very thing before, and discussed a few Australian deities we've used in our games so far over here. We really don't know yet how we'll handle Australian myth or whether it'll end up being best expressed for Scion as several small pantheons or one big conglomerate pantheon. We have a pretty brightly-burning hatred of conglomerate pantheons, but a lot will depend on how things look when we start doing a thorough research project on them, and that time is not yet.
Thanks for coming by and voting, though. I have a feeling they're going to come out on top of that poll one of these days.
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Friday, September 6, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
Moieties, Represent!
Question: Looks like Australia is winning the latest competition. Do you know which pantheon you will be using? We've got about a dozen of them, including influences brought from Britain.
I knew we had readers from Down Under, but before this none of them have let us know they're there other than as numbers on a data aggregate. Nice to see you, international Scion buddy!
Honestly, we do not know the answer to this question yet. We're still bogged down in the rainforests of Central America and will be for a while, and we haven't even begun to do a deep dive into Australian mythology beyond the (decent but definitely not thorough) sources we're already familiar with. We'll need to do a lot of work before we know how we want to handle the project, and we're trying to limit ourselves to one thing at a time lest everyone over here fall dead of energy drink overdose and tendonitis.
Just like Africa and North America, the other two areas that are often victims of Scion's eurocentric tendencies, Australia is a continent, not a single territory. It has hundreds of different native ethnic groups, many of whom have their own separate beliefs and deities, and thinking of them as one group of people with one pantheon is grossly inaccurate and oversimplified. At the same time, however, there are a lot of common threads and characters across different Australian tribes, including the wandering hero twins and the rainbow serpent, which tie many of them together in at least a small way. Some of the Australian native societies didn't have a religion that translates to Scion very well, being more concerned with the landscape and its animistic features; others do have deities but not enough of them to really build a pantheon on top of, hanging out with only two or three discrete figures; and others do have full-blown pantheons but have questions about how many of their gods are the same as those of other tribes and whether or not they're overlapping, just like pantheons everywhere else in the world.
It's a complicated place, and one of the reasons we just put "Australian" on the poll was to give ourselves the space to decide how we want to sort it out in a way that's fun and meaningful for Scion without committing ourselves to a single course of action before we have time to research it more. In our games, we've used deities from the Arrernte, Kulin, Mungin, Wergaia and Yolngu pantheons, but they've always appeared as their own guest-star selves, never with a full pantheon writeup behind them.
We may end up writing one Australian pantheon and leaving the others as options for a later supplement, just as we'll probably write a few Native American pantheons at some point but not all of them at once, or just as we currently have the Orisha from western Africa but no representation from the gods of other areas on that giant continent. We may also end up combining more than one nearby culture if they appear to be have enough religious practices and gods in common. It's all still up in the air right now and will be for a while.
Sorry we didn't have a more detailed answer for you. I'll get back down into my office, temporarily renamed Guts of Xibalba Abandon All Hope, and see about getting closer to having time to look at it one day soon.
(Incidentally, I imagine Captain Cook is probably going to be a historical European Scion, but don't hold me to it.)
I knew we had readers from Down Under, but before this none of them have let us know they're there other than as numbers on a data aggregate. Nice to see you, international Scion buddy!
Honestly, we do not know the answer to this question yet. We're still bogged down in the rainforests of Central America and will be for a while, and we haven't even begun to do a deep dive into Australian mythology beyond the (decent but definitely not thorough) sources we're already familiar with. We'll need to do a lot of work before we know how we want to handle the project, and we're trying to limit ourselves to one thing at a time lest everyone over here fall dead of energy drink overdose and tendonitis.
Just like Africa and North America, the other two areas that are often victims of Scion's eurocentric tendencies, Australia is a continent, not a single territory. It has hundreds of different native ethnic groups, many of whom have their own separate beliefs and deities, and thinking of them as one group of people with one pantheon is grossly inaccurate and oversimplified. At the same time, however, there are a lot of common threads and characters across different Australian tribes, including the wandering hero twins and the rainbow serpent, which tie many of them together in at least a small way. Some of the Australian native societies didn't have a religion that translates to Scion very well, being more concerned with the landscape and its animistic features; others do have deities but not enough of them to really build a pantheon on top of, hanging out with only two or three discrete figures; and others do have full-blown pantheons but have questions about how many of their gods are the same as those of other tribes and whether or not they're overlapping, just like pantheons everywhere else in the world.
It's a complicated place, and one of the reasons we just put "Australian" on the poll was to give ourselves the space to decide how we want to sort it out in a way that's fun and meaningful for Scion without committing ourselves to a single course of action before we have time to research it more. In our games, we've used deities from the Arrernte, Kulin, Mungin, Wergaia and Yolngu pantheons, but they've always appeared as their own guest-star selves, never with a full pantheon writeup behind them.
We may end up writing one Australian pantheon and leaving the others as options for a later supplement, just as we'll probably write a few Native American pantheons at some point but not all of them at once, or just as we currently have the Orisha from western Africa but no representation from the gods of other areas on that giant continent. We may also end up combining more than one nearby culture if they appear to be have enough religious practices and gods in common. It's all still up in the air right now and will be for a while.
Sorry we didn't have a more detailed answer for you. I'll get back down into my office, temporarily renamed Guts of Xibalba Abandon All Hope, and see about getting closer to having time to look at it one day soon.
(Incidentally, I imagine Captain Cook is probably going to be a historical European Scion, but don't hold me to it.)
Monday, February 11, 2013
Open Hostilities
Question: So, I kind of wanted to know a little bit more about the universe you and John have made for your games. To be specific, I wanted to know what inter-pantheon disputes were going on. I know that the Aztecs and the Aesir were having some difficulties, as well as the Gaelic and the Olympians, but how about the others? Are Kalfu and Tsuki-Yomi battling it out on the moon, chucking space rocks at each other?
Inter-pantheon disputes. They are the stuff of epic disaster, and they have happened in our main universe a lot.
The two most obvious in the stories so far are the ones you mentioned; the Aesir are encroaching on Aztlanti territory and the Aztlanti are kind of peeved with them about it, and the Dodekatheon have renewed their ancient feud with the Nemetondevos. The first conflict has led to a lot of dead Scions and lesser immortals on both sides as the lower levels of the Aesir and Aztlanti powers fight amongst themselves while the gods keep giving them contradictory orders, and the second has killed at least one god already. Things are not looking good on either front, and they're going to get worse.
The Amatsukami, to jump a whole continent away, are mad at pretty much everybody, but they're specifically feuding with the Aesir, Dodekatheon, Aztlanti and Pesedjet at the moment. They attempted to simply create an impenetrable safeguard around Japan, preventing any Titans from touching it, but the other four pantheons banded together to stop them, correctly assessing that they would withdraw from helping fight the Titans if they no longer had a horse in the race. The direct assault on Japan was led by Odin, Thoth, Quetzalcoatl and Apollo, and again claimed the lives of at least two gods. It was successful in that the Amatsukami are forced to continue participating in the affairs of the world, but has earned their furious enmity against the pantheons that pulled it off (to the point where they're now actively trying to cause Ragnarok just as a big middle finger to everybody who stopped them).
The Devas and Yazata, as usual, are thoroughly opposed to one another and thwart one anothers' plans as every turn. This has been going on for millennia and isn't particularly new, but it causes severe problems for anyone trying to cooperate with both of them, and plays directly into the Titans' hands as they remain divided by fighting each other as much as their other enemies. A few of them occasionally cross over between pantheons, but there's no question of open truce at the moment.
The Aztlanti also recently experienced a resurgance of revolt from the Maya pantheon, which in our games had been conquered by them a while back but decided that they could make a bid for sovereignty again while the Aztec gods were distracted by Norsemen and Titans. As usually does with wars between Mesoamerican pantheons, things got very bloody very quickly, and at least two of the Maya gods perished in the struggle.
Unfortunately for the Australian pantheon, minions of the Aesir, Aztlanti and Dodekatheon swept through it on a killing and imprisoning rampage early in our games; not because they particularly disliked the Australian gods, but because they were on a mission to gain more power and influence for themselves by doing so. They succeeded, but dregs of the Australians live on in unexpected places, and any of them would no doubt be happy to see the pantheons that razed them stabbed in the back.
And, of course, the Pesedjet are in the middle of a civil war. So they've got their own problems.
Every pantheon usually has sparks fly when they encounter another set of gods, simply because they all have different customs, Virtues and agendas and usually bring planet-sized egos with them, to boot. But when they get into conflicts - real, serious conflicts that aren't easily smoothed over by a guy with Epic Charisma - people die. Even gods die. And while they're dying, the Titans are still oncoming, relentless in their onslaught.
Kids should probably learn to play nice sooner rather than later.
Inter-pantheon disputes. They are the stuff of epic disaster, and they have happened in our main universe a lot.
The two most obvious in the stories so far are the ones you mentioned; the Aesir are encroaching on Aztlanti territory and the Aztlanti are kind of peeved with them about it, and the Dodekatheon have renewed their ancient feud with the Nemetondevos. The first conflict has led to a lot of dead Scions and lesser immortals on both sides as the lower levels of the Aesir and Aztlanti powers fight amongst themselves while the gods keep giving them contradictory orders, and the second has killed at least one god already. Things are not looking good on either front, and they're going to get worse.
The Amatsukami, to jump a whole continent away, are mad at pretty much everybody, but they're specifically feuding with the Aesir, Dodekatheon, Aztlanti and Pesedjet at the moment. They attempted to simply create an impenetrable safeguard around Japan, preventing any Titans from touching it, but the other four pantheons banded together to stop them, correctly assessing that they would withdraw from helping fight the Titans if they no longer had a horse in the race. The direct assault on Japan was led by Odin, Thoth, Quetzalcoatl and Apollo, and again claimed the lives of at least two gods. It was successful in that the Amatsukami are forced to continue participating in the affairs of the world, but has earned their furious enmity against the pantheons that pulled it off (to the point where they're now actively trying to cause Ragnarok just as a big middle finger to everybody who stopped them).
The Devas and Yazata, as usual, are thoroughly opposed to one another and thwart one anothers' plans as every turn. This has been going on for millennia and isn't particularly new, but it causes severe problems for anyone trying to cooperate with both of them, and plays directly into the Titans' hands as they remain divided by fighting each other as much as their other enemies. A few of them occasionally cross over between pantheons, but there's no question of open truce at the moment.
The Aztlanti also recently experienced a resurgance of revolt from the Maya pantheon, which in our games had been conquered by them a while back but decided that they could make a bid for sovereignty again while the Aztec gods were distracted by Norsemen and Titans. As usually does with wars between Mesoamerican pantheons, things got very bloody very quickly, and at least two of the Maya gods perished in the struggle.
Unfortunately for the Australian pantheon, minions of the Aesir, Aztlanti and Dodekatheon swept through it on a killing and imprisoning rampage early in our games; not because they particularly disliked the Australian gods, but because they were on a mission to gain more power and influence for themselves by doing so. They succeeded, but dregs of the Australians live on in unexpected places, and any of them would no doubt be happy to see the pantheons that razed them stabbed in the back.
And, of course, the Pesedjet are in the middle of a civil war. So they've got their own problems.
Every pantheon usually has sparks fly when they encounter another set of gods, simply because they all have different customs, Virtues and agendas and usually bring planet-sized egos with them, to boot. But when they get into conflicts - real, serious conflicts that aren't easily smoothed over by a guy with Epic Charisma - people die. Even gods die. And while they're dying, the Titans are still oncoming, relentless in their onslaught.
Kids should probably learn to play nice sooner rather than later.
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