Concerning Pantheons

By Jedediah Palmer-Palmer of the Fraternity of Order

Sages who study the powers, and the pantheons in which they congregate, observe that not one, but two hierarchical systems exist in pantheons: Firstly, there's the explicity, potency-based ranking, whereby the powers are classified into Greater, Intermediate, Lesser, Demi-powers and sometimes other classes. But less obvious is the prominence-based ranking, whereby some powers are at the forefront of divine and planar affairs, and others wait in the background. This second ranking is crucial, however, as it rates whether the pantheon is top-heavy or not. A pantheon is described as top-heavy (colloquially speaking) if it has four or more greater powers in it. Of course, some pantheons seem to defy this rule. (On Hallowed Ground, page 37.) One clue to unravelling this phenomenon is the division of powers, loosely, into primary and secondary ranks. The primary powers may be as weak as demipowers, and the secondary ones may be greater powers, but it's the primaries that are most intricately concerned by planar politics, and they are the ones who count, as it were, toward the top-heavy status of the pantheon. Also regarded as secondary powers are those who straddle two or more pantheons, when taken as part of their less-favoured group. Here, for the reader's delectation, are the results of experimental research theology by the Fraternity for the past 200 years, concerning divisions of the powers.

NOTE: This document contains a few spoilers (in particular, partial casualty lists) for Dead Gods. If you're a player, or don't want anything about that adventure disclosed, go no further.

KEY:

PANTHEON NAME (Other titles)

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

Dead powers:

ASATHALFINARE

Primary powers:

Sceondary powers:

AZTEC PANTHEON

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

Dead powers:

BAATORAN PANTHEON

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

Dead powers:

BABYLONIAN/HITTITE PANTHEON

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

Dead powers:

BUGBEAR PANTHEON

Primary powers:

CELTIC PANTHEON (Tuatha de Danann)

Secondary powers:

CHINESE PANTHEON (The Celestial Bureaucracy)

Primary powers:

Dead powers:

DARK POWERS (including lost gods and gods of monster races without pantheons)

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

Dead powers:

DRACONIC PANTHEON

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

DROW PANTHEON

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

DWARVEN PANTHEON (including derro and duergar)

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

EGYPTIAN PANTHEON (The Heliopolitan Ennead and the Hermopolitan Ogdoad)

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

ELEMENTAL PANTHEON

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

Dead powers:

ELVISH PANTHEON (The Seldarine)

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

FAERIE PANTHEON (Seelie and Unseelie Courts)

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

FINNISH PANTHEON (Gods of the Kalevala)

Primary powers:

Dead powers:

GIANTISH PANTHEON

Primary powers:

Secondary powers

GNOLLISH PANTHEON

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

GNOMISH PANTHEON (including svirfnebli)

Primary powers:

Sceondary powers:

GOBLIN PANTHEON (including hobgoblins)

Primary powers:

GRECO-ROMAN PANTHEON (Olympians; Roman names follow Greek ones)

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

GRIPPLI PANTHEON (Branches of the Forever Tree; this list is obviously incomplete)

Primary powers:

HALFLING PANTHEON

Primary powers:

INDIAN PANTHEON (Vedic Pantheon; NB: all these powers are considered to be aspects of Brahman)

Primary powers:

INUIT PANTHEON

Primary powers:

JAPANESE PANTHEON (The Ancestors of Fujiyama)

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

Dead powers:

KOBOLD PANTHEON (including urds and xvart)

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

LIZARD MAN PANTHEON

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

LYCANTHROPIC PANTHEON

Primary powers:

MAYA PANTHEON

Primary powers:

NORSE PANTHEON (Aesir and Vanir; Germanic names follow Norse ones where applicable)

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

ORCISH PANTHEON

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

Dead powers:

PERSIAN PANTHEON (Mazdaian or Zoroastrian Pantheon)

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

Dead powers:

SKY POWERS (excluding draconic powers)

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

SLAVIC PANTHEON

Primary powers:

SUMERIAN PANTHEON (Lords of the Eastern Heights)

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

Dead powers:

TITANS

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

UGARITIC PANTHEON (Canaanite Pantheon)

Primary powers:

Secondary powers:

Dead powers:

UZO PANTHEON (Ozuna and Azina deities)

Primary powers: