Gods of Man, Great Powers, Blessings

Stephanie Chan

The gods are created by man. This is a plain truth of the world, acknowledged by all. Their nature is human, their domains are the domains of humanity, they are inextricably linked to the hopes/fears/longings/beings of man.

There is no god of the sea, but there are a thousand gods of sailors.  Domains overlap, shift, are endlessly subdivided and rejoined. Time wears on; the gods change as man changes, but man is also shaped by the gods.

The Church, in common parlance, refers to the casual confederacy of religious traditions among most gods, barring the Lords of Hell and some fringe deities who do not play nice with others. You are all brothers and sisters, after all - even if you hate their guts, they're still family.

The domains listed below are not exhaustive in the slightest. Major gods can be guaranteed have regional variants in name, appearance, and domain. The primary divine family listed consists on those most widely agreed upon - certain traditions extend the children of Ama and Baba beyond the agreed-upon six. They will be marked with a (*) on the table.

The Gods of Man

Ama Adimatha, Mother of Multitudes

• Mothers, wives, childbirth, fertility, protection, trickery

Baba Tubalkhan, All-Father

• Craft, labor, patience, wise council, protection, fair judgement

DOG, the Greatest Friend

• Loyalty, love, friendship, being a dog

Do-yo-da-no, the Twins

• Emesh Diyu - Herding, hunting, fishing, tobacco smoking
• Enten Daetgah - Farming, brewing, building, metallurgy

Nike, the Elder Sister

• Achievement, athletics, sport, competition, sportsmanship

Calliope, the Younger Sister

• Poetry, art, music, melodrama, theater, emotional highs and lows
  

The Stillborn

• Loss, grief, mourning, mortality, empathy to the suffering of others   

Quisest, the Strangeling

• The marginal, the stranger, the hidden, change, deviance

God	Domains
1) Abeona (*)	Exploration, travel, leaving and returning home
2) Ahuiateteo	Excess, pleasure, gluttony, drunkenness
3) Aisling (*)	Artists, dreams, inspiration, madness, imagination
4) Anachronia	Being too late or too early; out of place and time
5) Anansi	Storytelling trickster
6) Atzalini	Storytelling, friendship, hosts and cooks
7) Aza-Thoth	Libraries, secrets, hidden knowledge
8) Azad	Craftmaster of the Néandr
9) Baron Samedi	Graves, smoking, drinking, obscenity
10) Bluebeard	The killer you know, gory secrets
11) Bokka	Humility, acceptance
12) Bramblejohn	Paths untaken, places returning to nature
13) Brendan	Sailors, whalers
14) Browning & Colt	Firearms, gunpowder, explosives
15) Brukkit	Idiot bravery, the dunning-kruger effect
16) Caliban	Madness, eccentricity, rages, passions
17) Ceo-Coo-Exe	Investors, advertisers, marketers; Lord of Hell
18) Chain-Breaker	Emancipation
19) Cloacina	Sewer systems, hygiene
20) Coprolalia	Lies, libel, brags, smears, shit-talking
21) Crab-Crusher	Paleolithic food-gatherer; context forgotten
22) Crocana	Lazy afternoons; recreation, fishing
23) Cthon	Journeys into unknown places
24) Dada	Nonsense
25) Darvatius I	Conquest, empire, oppression; Lord of Hell
26) Dhurum	Endurance, laconism, straightforwardness
27) Dord	Density, stupidity, being slow on the uptake
28) Double-Tongue	Hypocrisy, liars, cheats, grifters
29) Dustfoot (*)	Poverty, rock bottom, beggars, hobos, cripples
30) Dyeuz	Tyrant-kings, rapists, abusive fathers
31) Ebonikil	Cross-cultural exchange (food and art)
32) Ekwensu	Bargains, trade, trickery
33) Ganesha	The placer and remover of obstacles
34) Gordianos	Puzzles, brute force solutions
35) Goth-Amok	Rebellion, catharsis, chaotic noise
36) Guanyin	Mercy, compassion
37) Hachiman	Agriculture, warfare; conscripted soldiers
38) Hain (*)	Rhetoric, logic, scholarship, natural science
39) Hammu-Amun (*)	Law, order, the written word, kings
40) Hastur	Shepherds, the Lake of Hali, the city Carcosa
41) Hestia	Hospitality, hearth and home
42) Hi'iaka	Golden Goddess of Pa'O Pa'O
43) Hotei	Gregariousness, good cheer, abundance
44) Indahonten	Teachers, mentors, bookmakers, writers
45) Jabim	Broken things, repaired things
46) Janus	Beginnings, doorways, endings
47) Kent	Mundane life, ordinary folk, small acts of kindness
48) Know-Nothing	Malignant ignorance
49) Limpang-Tung	Mirth, melodies, minstrels
50) Llaro	Drums, pipes, song-writers, bards
51) Lu Ban	Builders, carpenters, construction workers
52) Mammon	Greed, gold, coin, corruption; Lord of Hell
53) Mara	Attachment, passion
54) Maya Diogenes	Cynics, swordmasters, noodle-makers
55) Menhit	Mindless violence; "she who massacres"
56) Mithras	Mystery-cult
57) Mmou-Shaub	Slothfulness, restful sleep, patience
58) Moloch	'Who Rapes the World"; Great Lord of Hell
59) Mung	Death, silence, secret signs
60) Neirnnen	The socially inept and ostracized
61) Nodoun	Forgetting the needed; remembering the trivial
62) Oannes	Esoteric wisdom; kinship with Deep Folk
63) Old Jim Brook	Hard times, necessity and invention
64) Old Scratch	Corruption, temptation, cutting bad deals
65) Onan	Victims of disproportionate punishment
66) Orang-Utan	Ape-god
67) Oxomoco	Astronomy, calendars, study of the stars
68) Oxossi	Hunting, contemplation, meals, crafts
69) Pan-Pongo	Ape-god
70) Papa Legba	Crossroads, communication
71) Phobos & Deimos	Fear and terror
72) Pikanpe	Exuberance, free-spirits, excitement, expectation
73) Postmaster Fennic	Mail and the postal service
74) Pyrrhus Gradivus (*)	Soldiers, veterans, scars of mind and body
75) Pythagoras	Mathematics, triangles, sacred geometry
76) Red-Cap	Anarchy, tearing down the powerful
77) Rokesh	Swift and decisive victory, forward with speed
78) Sappho	Homosexual women
79) Shi Yang (*)	Pirates, sailors, prostitutes, fishermen, trade
80) Ta'xet & Tia	Violent death, peaceful death
81) Temazcalteci	Steam baths, doctors
82) Temu Schann	Secrets we cannot utter, dark places in the heart
83) The Forge Baron	Industry, enslavement; Lord of Hell
84) The Sable Maid	Protection of the weak
85) The Tolling, Ticitok	The measuring and loss of time
86) The Worm	War unending; Lord of Hell
87) Tlazolteotl	Filth and purification, usually sexual
88) Tūmatauenga	Hunting, fishing, cultivation, war, cooking
89) Turus	Prisoners of mind and body
90) Uastyrdzhi	Monster-slaying, traveling, oath-keeping
91) Vellamo	Fishermen of the lakes and rivers; water travel
92) Venn	Journalists, muckrackers, activists
93) Whiskey Jack	Bartenders, alcoholics
94) Xochipili	Homosexual men
95) Yama	Death, justice, moral ethics
96) Yhewen	Vengeance, war, jealousy
97) Zangobat	Necromancers, gravediggers, bonesetters
98) Zanni (*)	Fools, comedy truth, nostalgia, fernweh
99) Zorko	Ineffectual, comedic villainy
100) Zyre	OH GOD THE DRUGS

Great Powers Among the Folk

These are those whose names are known far and wide.

• Akerbeltz - The Black Billy Goat. Consorts with witches, gives questionable advice.
• Ao Akupara Zaratan - The Great Turtle, has lived in this form longer than anything else.
• Bast - Queen of All Cats
• Br'er Rabbit - Trickster in the East.
• Cernunnos - The Horned One, the Wild Man, the Big-Foot
• Coyote - Trickster in the West.
• The Four Goblin Kings - Masters of music and dance, missing now and foretold to return.
• The Four High Courts of the Álfar.
• La Fata Turchina - Blue-haired collector of puppets. Fascinated by the art of parentage.
• La Fée Verte - Intoxicating muse of wormwood and anise.
• Mab - The Midwife of Dreams. 
• The Mountain King - King of the Dwarves, host of the great Feasting Hall.
• Mundo - Magnificent Mundo, silky bastard!
• Orca - Lady Leviathan, Queen of the Northern Seas
• Pan - The Black Goat, bringer and embodiment of chaos and madness
• Pangur Bán - The White Cat, the lurker in libraries.
• Pele - Flying Fire, Queen of the Burning Mountain
• Raven - Trickster in the North, creator, thief of the sun, an old friend of Mother.
• Rainbow Serpent - Shaper of the world, bringer of the rains.

Blessings

Making an appropriate offering at the shrine of a god or fulfilling their rites will grant a bonus until sunset for rolls within their domain. For general OSR games, just use Bless. Use a Boon if it's Shadow of the Demon Lord.

Shrines can be found just about anywhere (dungeons will be loaded with them) and you could raise your own without much trouble (especially if you have a priest).