So first thing is, if there's some sort of systematic twelve-entity concept off of which these damn cities based themselves and their interrelationships, it's going to be a religion, right?
Now, obviously, the way that the zodiac is used in modern society, everything tends to be portrayed in a positive light. Even the downfalls tend to be portrayed in such a way that, "If you try, you can compensate for it, or even overcome it!" While that's all fine and dandy for motivational purposes, that's not necessarily what I want to use to make a pantheon. I don't like the idea of a stand-alone, pure good pantheon. So let's consider some various options.
First off, I could try that entire thing where I split up the gods a la Dragonlance. Ya know, 6 good, 6 evil. Or 4 good, 4 neutral, 4 evil? Nah, that feels weird. In addition to making myself prejudiced. Though maybe I could play around with astrology concepts? I mean, the signs each have quarternaries, of which there are oddly three: "cardinal", "fixed", and "mutable". Generally speaking, the first is all about change, movement, and energy, the second is about stability and determination, and the third of those can kinda go either way... But that's not really discussing good or evil. That kinda feels like law versus chaos... but still doesn't quite feel right for that as a direct relation. Eh, we can get back to that.
There's also the ever-popular two-aspect deity concept, where every god and goddess has both a light and dark aspect, which can be treated separately. Hmm. That'd sorta force the gods into a less active role in the world. More sort of forces of nature... Do I care? I don't think so. A little part of me does, but that's probably the little part of me that loved Faerun. At the same time, that'd effectively create 24 damn gods. That's a little over the top. Also, new thought, these gods don't really seem like forces of nature. Forces of people, sure, and they represent different aspects of human personality, demeanor, culture... Should I have them as gods that have only existed since humans willed them into existence, then, or should they be more closely linked with some more prima-- IDEA. Something's boiling over in my head. Each of the twelve signs are associated with one of the four Western elements, so maybe something about how actually, each sign is an aspect of that element. More specifically, from what I mentioned earlier, each element has one sign of each quarternary, so that works out.
So okay, I happened upon a new unrelated idea that I kinda like while I was skipping off on a tangent, but to return to the topic before... Actually, that thirteenth sign. Ophiuchus, Serpentarius, the serpent-bearer. It's popular in Japanese astrology nonsense, but most Westerners don't even try to care... But that gives me an idea. Ya know, like the Sovereign Host in Eberron used to number thirteen, but cast down four members, bringing their numbers to nine, with the four joining with two others... But I don't wanna copy that, obviously. But let's look up character traits for Ophiuchus: honest, intellectual, passionate, prone to change, impulsive, clever, glib, creative, given to fame and luck, discards "not useful" friends, tendency to develop secret enemies in inner circles... Wow, that is actually amazingly easy to see as having been betrayed or cast down by the other twelve gods. I figure the Church of the Twelve Signs probably has removed any and all records explicitly referencing Ophiuchus, then, but it's hard to squash rumors, and it's totally fitting to have a cult of the Serpent or whatever. I mean, from their perspective, it was an obvious and horrible betrayal, so why not try to overthrow the unjust 12? Unfair? Something like that. I mean, either it'll just be revenge, or maybe revive Ophiuchus... I'll figure that out later. At the very least, anybody living in one of the cities has had to have heard of the cult.
That's good for now. Wow, typing shit out as I think about it actually helps me come up with ideas. GO FIGURE.
Going back to the aspect thing a minute: try this on for size. I think it would be safe to presume that the month (roughly, we'll come back to that) in which a given god's astrological sign is in ascendancy would be a time of increased power for that deity. The emphasis on constellations would suggest a great deal to do with nighttime. What's also very visible at night? The moon. What if you had the dualistic aspect of each deity associated with the phases of the moon during their month? The more it waxes the more strength to its "good" (for alignment purposes) aspect, culminating in the full moon, and the more it wanes the more power is held by its "evil" aspect, culminating in the new moon.
ReplyDeleteNow back to the months. The zodiac signs do not directly correspond to the months of the Gregorian calendar. In this world though, with its emphasis on them, it could. The question is, do you want to use a different solar calendar that is pretty regular and has each month line up with a sign? Or given the aforementioned nighttime preoccupation do you want to go all in on a lunar calendar which, while probably making the most sense for the culture, would also not directly line up with the various signs?
Hmm. I'm not actually comfortable with the lunar-based dualism, what with the mismatch between solar and lunar calendars... Though I could just force them together. I mean, when the world is actually created by gods, it might match up a little better... I'll keep that thought at the wayside.
ReplyDeleteI like, and might have already thought of (sick = mild delerium) shifting the calendar to match the signs. I mean, solstices and equinoxes match up with sign changes, anyway, so what the hell was the Gregorian calendar based on? Though since technically each sign's "month" is based on when it's aligned with the sun, so hey, what about rather than just once a year, why not during that month, that sign is stronger during the day, and its counterpart stronger during the night... Or maybe that's too complicated.
Also, a note - I was kinda wanting to just make this one nation, which was a collection of city-states of some size or another. I want to have other nations around in the world, but I wasn't even considering whether or not to have them all zodiac-based. Maybe other zodiac astrologies or something. Hell, I hadn't actually considered these zodiac signs actually being in-game constellations, just adapting what in our world is astrology into faith for a somewhat theocratic state for them... Treating this less of a planetary setting, more as a continental setting, or something. More like Al'Qaddim, less like Dark Sun. I mean, the 12 city-states I'm creating are so closely interrelated, I don't really think they'd break up and fight along borders, which means there should be outer forces to contend with... Ya know?
ReplyDeleteI should probably read your newer entry before commenting on this one. XD I just wanted to say that Ryan and I did some similar things for the Constellation Gods of Churion. (Although you are going in a different -- and intriguing -- direction! I'm not trying to co-opt you, just to say how we handled some of the problems you mentioned.)
ReplyDeletehttp://churion.wikidot.com/religion:constellation-gods
In Churion, we went with a pretty loose interpretation of the zodiac... while element comes into play, the other big factor we considered was time of year. We opted to have some of the gods be evil, neutral, or good, although not with a 33/33/33 split. All alignments are represented with the exception of NE. A person can be born under any god and not necessary relate to that god, although others may superstitiously make assumptions based on birth month.
We made all months 28 days and the year 336, which just makes logistics so much easier.
If this is going to be your entire pantheon, I'd recommend looking at some traditional pantheons and seeing what memes appear. Goddesses of childbirth, gods of weather, trickster gods, etc.