Other midway-through comments:
1) I noticed that while I was working on these, I have no feelings whatsoever about good-evil affiliations for these gods. Some of them have lawful-chaotic affiliations, absolutely, and I comment on those. But yeah, it seems that a lot of spell choices, domains in general, and pesky things like turning/rebuking and spontaneous heal/inflict... all rely primarily on the DEITY's alignment on the good-evil axis. Ignoring positive/negative energy channeling for now, spell choices and domains should be completely based on the cleric's alignment. Maybe I'll even do it more sect-based, have some number of sects for each god, that represent the different aspects thereof. Otherwise, no good Leonian cleric should take Domination, nor an evil Leonian Nobility. And things like that.
3) So yeah, some time around 2/3-way through with this thing, Kaitlin started reading over my shoulder and making comments. Sometimes I asked her for advice, if I was writing right next to her, and sometimes she just volunteered her opinions (sometimes quite helpful, and sometimes REALLY NOT. When she gets punchy, she doesn't stop making cracks). For whatever that's worth.
BTW - another nifty resource I started using at this point was, go figure, the TVTropes page for the zodiac. Big surprise. This also lists the traditionally associated Greco-Roman deities for each sign, which I will conveniently abbreviate to TAG if I bring it up below.
Anyway, here go the signs, written in a somewhat arbitrary order, and reorganized in classic order for your reading pleasure. And I'm going to try to just stick with the deities for now, and leave my thoughts for the actual geographical/sociopolitical nature of the provinces for later.
DOMAIN LIST - http://home.comcast.net/~ftm3/JHtB/domains.html
Aries - Primary Fire, Secondary Water. So what I posted before had a little more leader-like flavor for Aries, but that's already covered more-so by Leo (which I wrote before this). The TVT bit, though, expresses a little more playful, young feeling. So I kinda like the mental image of rams butting heads in competition - can be playful, can be serious, but it's all about exhibiting strength. Definitely seems more emotional than either of the other two fire signs, too. Patron god of athletes and soldiers. Feels CN. Well, probably Arian soldiers (PS that looks WAY too similar to Aryan for its own good) are a little too self-centered and non-cooperative. Probably better spec-ops or something, fighting for personal glory over the victory of the troop. I feel like the deity himself is sometimes portrayed as a human, sometimes as a ram. Either way, he'd be portrayed in an aggressive stance, possibly with a hoof/weapon subduing an opponent or something. Armored, but not heavily, with shaggy curly hair.
Domains: Fire, Strength, Competition, War. Courage, too. If only the Glory domain actually, ya know, made more sense with its spell list.
Favored Weapon: <strike>Spear, maybe?</strike> A MOTHERFUCKING MAUL. Is that in a book? Eh, just up warhammer a size class, that'll make it two-handed. "The Ram's Head", maybe?
Taurus - Primary Earth, Secondary Water. Slightly from process of elimination, but the sensuality sorta seems to go with the compassion of water. Not to mention, it's the only earth sign that was classed as "moist" (ew) instead of dry, which also makes me think of fertility/fecundity. Which only KINDA MAKES PERFECT SENSE with a bull. All symbolic of virility and shit. I could also see family playing into this. The facet of earth that is comfortable and fruitful, like fertile soil. Honestly, I don't exactly have any alignment screaming out at me for this one. The fertility/compassion almost makes me think of good, and the stubbornness almost makes me think of law, but I think after everything, the deity is probably just neutral. Maybe with a mild L/G tendency, but not strong enough to shift from the middle. And while I'm having issues with the generally slightly feminine feel of the sign's personality, not to mention fertility, as well as the TAG being FUCKING APHRODITE... Bulls are male. Probably usually portrayed as an actual bull. I can see people rubbing the statue's schlong for a blessing of good crops and whatnot. Maybe, though, when he wants to take on a human avatar, he is a she? Fluid gender, either female human or male bull. Makes it a little easier for either gender to be a Taurean cleric (I'll credit that comment to K). Female human as luscious and voluptious (FERTILE), with a nature bent. Maybe plant-like clothing, vines/flowers in the hair. Not exactly erotic, but sensual.
Domains: Earth and community, definitely. Protection, too. Family would work, but too much overlay with community... Maybe either Life or Plant domains, though Life is all weird and from Eberron and shit. Same for Feast.
Favored Weapon: <strike>Quarterstaff? I guess?</strike> Nah, I feel more like a... bident for Taurus. Like getting gored by a bull. I'll use stats for a trident, but it'll just have two tines. "The Bull's Horns".
Gemini - Primary Air, Secondary... fire. SOOOOO obviously the trickster god (CN, duh). Two-faced stereotypes and everything, not to mention if "multi-talented" and "silver-tongued devil" don't generally scream bard/rogue at you... well, you're not a D&D geek, I guess. I'm not entirely sure whether or not I want to also separate them into the two distinct twins, one symbolizing good luck (CG) and the other bad (CE). If I do that, obviously, Castor would be the bad luck, since castor oil tastes nasty. Also since he died in the original mythos of the twins... Actually, nah. Maybe that's a bit of apocrypha or something, but they are a deity as a pair. I also have an image of them as younger, prepubescent mischief makers. Maybe with masks. I like that. And crazy acrobatic poses in a lot of visual representations of them.
Domains: Air, Chaos, Illusion, Luck, and Trickery sound right. Shadow and Celerity too.
Favored Weapon: Rapier, I guess. "Snide remark"?
Cancer - Primary Water, Secondary Earth. So sure, it has the water aspects of loving, caring, etc. And then moody, overreactive, sensitive... Actually, that sounds like a goddess of seas and storms. CN makes sense. Slightly dualistic, as a moodswingy deity would be, she embodies both healing and destruction, life and death. The more primal forces of water, represented by a crab? Like, a gargantuan crab, with barnacles and coral and an entire ecosystem growing on its shell. I don't think she'd have an actual human avatar, but if so I actually see her armored in crabshell, even as a human.
Domains: Water, Healing, Destruction, Ocean. I like Weather more than Storm. Maybe also add in Protection/Suffering, as another pair? I almost want to add Balance, but the actual domain doesn't feel right.
Favored Weapon: Probably named something like "The Crab's Claw", but... maybe a handax? Something else slashy, but ship-oriented. Maybe a scimitar? PIRATES. Also the shape is better for the claw metaphor. I SWEAR I'M NOT SWORD FAVORITIST.
Leo - Primary Fire, Secondary Earth. Keyword - "inflexible". So if there is a king of these gods, and they're not just in some "separate but equal" commune business, this is totally the king. Yeah, big surprise. I'm gonna go with LN, again, just because it makes sense. I'm feeling like all three of the fire signs should have a sort of martial streak, too (I might be writing this before either Aries or Sag), and especially with the general predatory/aggressive feel of the lion, god of war, too. Other than the obvious portrayal as a Lion (ranging from calm/majestic to roaring, depending on aspect), I see a human avatar that's in shining armor, a fur-trimmed cloak, and a beard. Red and gold seem like appropriate colors, too, but not sure how immensely that has been influenced by Lannisters and Gryffindor...
Domains: Fire, Law, Sun, War... Tyranny, too, maybe? No, Domination instead. PRIDE?? Courage and nobilitiy feel right, too.
Favored Weapon: "The King's Fist". Heavy Mace. <strike>Maybe the morningstar. For the extra 1d6 pun damage...</strike> Yeah, mace feels more like a sceptre, feels more appropriate.
Virgo - Primary Earth, Secondary Air. (I totally wrote this sign first, just because I was intrigued by the ideas I had). Compared to the other two earth signs, it definitely has a strong streak of intellectualism. In fact, this kinda makes sense with a different view of virginity - rather than going with the portrayal that shows purity and innocence, more virginity as a form of discipline and sacrifice. Mind over matter. Oh jeez, this is perfect for monks, and already reeked of LN, so I think that's the way to go. I also like the idea of this sign being ideal for investigators - disciplined, OCD, detail-oriented, intellectual... Kinda amusing, also, considering rogues tend to make the best investigators (though bards or rangers could also work), so rogues and monks can basically represent two sides of the same coin. Either way, I'm imagining a deity that's gender-neutral. Hard and unyielding like rock in the search for truth and self-perfection. Psions might also like this (and soulknives?).
Domains: LAW (duh), Earth... Knowledge? No. Meditation and Mind both, definitely, but what about Mentalism?... INQUISITION?? Yeah, I like that one. Maybe Balance, though not positive. Truth, even if it's from Races of Eberron.
Favored Weapon: Unarmed? Mind over matter. Maybe gauntlet instead, so you don't have to take the Improved Unarmed feat. "The Virgin's Caress" sounds ironic for a punch to the face.
Libra - Primary Air, Secondary Earth. Now, rather than having the scales be OF JUSTICE like people frequently have suggested (probably due to our image of female justice holding those scales), it seems more like mercantile scales to me. Especially with the "charming/social/diplomatic" bit that apparently is associated with the sign. So patron saint of merchants seems reasonable, and combining the fact that merchants travel a lot anyway, and if any of the four elements are associated with travel it should be wind, let's add travel into the mix. Where Gemini is also more chaos and trickery, and breaking the rules (read - chaotic), I feel like Libra is more for bending the rules and taking advantage of them (neutral, I guess? Not QUITE lawful). So while luck otherwise feels to me like it should be linked with either/or travel and wealth, it doesn't fit. Librans make their own luck. I can see the god portrayed in lavish clothes, generally carefully weighing coin or something else on a scale.
Domains: Air, Protection, Trade, Travel, Wealth. Maybe Celerity, too, just to help travel (and run away).
Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff kinda makes sense. Travel, not to mention a little bit of "balance" for the scales idea, if you use it as a double weapon. No idea what to call it, though. I considered just "The Walking Stick", but someone has told me that that is far too boring.
Scorpio - Primary Water, Secondary Fire. Typically, Scorpios are portrayed as passionate and intense, horny, sexual, etc. So God of passion and sexuality makes sense. But part because I like the contrast against Pisces, and part because it makes sense for a religion/culture that hasn't necessarily had any Christian shame placed on sex, she should be the goddess of life, creation, childbirth, etc. I could also see the extreme passionate aspect lending itself well to wrath/vengeance - when you have a grudge against someone, you pray to Scorpio for aid. Very much feels like the goddess of <strike>Latinos and</strike> women. I imagine a voluptious, erotic human woman, scantily clad, as a typical portrayal, perhaps with some sort of scorpion imagery, for life/sex/passion, but when it comes to vendettas, the charms and whatnot would be straight up a scorpion. A huge, angry scorpion.
Domains: Water, Chaos, Passion, Life, Charm. Maybe Wrath and/or Retribution. Maybe Renewal, too? It looks right, but I'm not entirely sure if it FEELS right. Hatred can easily work in, too.
Favored Weapon: Shortspear, "The Scorpion's Sting".
Sagittarius - Primary Fire, Secondary Air. I mean, it's the archer, so it just feels like god of the hunt... Generally described as reckless, free, etc, so getting wild as well. Probably CN. Where Taurus can be more of agriculture and domesticated livestock and whatnot, Sagittarius is the god of wild energy, which is why, even as an archer, he is represented by a centaur. I'm not sure if I want to take that a level further and be all about freedom and lack of restraint... Obviously the patron god of rangers, hunters, and maybe roguish adventurers in general. Not sure what else to do with Sag...
Domains: Fire, Animal, Celerity, Chaos, Strength, War... Plant too, maybe? Not sure about Liberation.
Favored Weapon: Longbow, definitely, but what to call it... "The Archer's Breath"? That's kinda weak. "Heart Seeker" seems way too cliché for a favored/magical weapon.... Hrm.
Capricorn - Primary Earth, Secondary Fire. So ambitious, but responsible, hard-working, and careful. Definitely sounds LN to me. But beyond that, I can see Capricorn as the god of knowledge and sciences (scientific method) - always craving more knowledge, but meticulous in the methodology. As a secondary thing, the god of government and bureaucracy. Not sure how it makes ANY sense whatsoever to have it as a goat, but I am kinda amused by the mental image of a goat librarian with spectacles. Perhaps just a slightly goat-ified human, with goat horns and a goatee. Perhaps a goat kinda makes sense in a more abstract way, as it's a mountain climber - always climbing higher to get a better perspective, though by the time you get to the top of a mountain, you realize how little you can really see, and maybe even see a higher mountain, just as the quest for knowledge is endless. Easily and obviously patron god of librarians, researchers, and a certain flavor of explorers... Those blessed by him probably make great military tacticians, as well, which along with the "ambitious" lends itself to fire being the secondary element.
Domains: Earth, Law, Knowledge, Planning. Perhaps War as well? Nah, feels too hands-on. Tempted to give him Rune, as well. I kinda want to give him Mind as well, but then it feels a little too similar to Virgo.
Favored Weapon: Gah, knowledge gods almost always have a goddamned quarterstaff as their favored weapon. No idea what to call that, or whatever else I'd give him. I wish that I could do something like Fire Emblem and have spellbooks as weapons. K suggests a spiked shield, because it's both offensive and defensive and therefore the best idea ever, and improvement to streamline melee, not to mention it has "horns" like a goat... but a) using a shield as a weapon is martial, and slightly awkward, b) the idea of having a shield as the favored weapon seems way more defensive than the way I've built the god, and c) I'd have no idea what to call it, and immediately veto her suggestion of "The Goat Gorer". -_-; Otherwise, I'd like something that is vaguely thematically related to a goat headbutting, but different enough from Aries.
Aquarius - Primary Air, Secondary Water. Now my first idea for this god actually came from what I wanted its city/denizens to have done - aqueducts. I know, "the water bearer", a little obvious, butt amuses me. And that makes this god feel like one of innovation, invention, and craft in general. Architecture in general, perhaps. Also feels like it goes with the progressive/humane yet aloof/detached feeling - sorry, Ryan, but that's sorta stereotypical for engineers. THE SOCIALLY AWKWARD GOD. Now, the typical depiction IRL of Aquarius is a dude in a loincloth holding a jug of water. Woo, exciting. Perhaps that is the more original depiction, but as time has gone on and technology has advanced, so has his depiction - more clothed, though never extravagantly, and perhaps building a pyramid of stacked cups of water? Or maybe straight up with an aqueduct over his shoulder or something.
Domains: Air, Artifice, City, Craft, Creation, Protection. I almost want to give him Earth, too, just because it feels like the god of architecture should have it, but it doesn't make sense with how I'm giving all the gods only their primary elemental domain. Actually, I'll give him Metal, instead.
Favored Weapon: A light pick or light hammer feels right, what with the craft and everything. Light hammer, I guess. "The Craftman's Quill" amuses me for a name. Alliterative and whatnot.
Pisces - Primary Water, Secondary Air. I wasn't completely sure what to do with Pisces until I took a look at the TVT page, where "dreamy" and "mysterious" gave me the idea of having a god of dreams. Two things immediately spun off of this - first of all, if there's an actual god of dreams, who better to assign as the god of magic in general? Magic makes the impossible possible, makes dreams reality, and I like the idea of there being magic in dreams, and generally oracular ability. Maybe I'll even come up with some sort of dream world/plane mechanic, though a) I wouldn't want to give Pisces too much cheese, and b) I'd have to figure out a way to make it original, and dissimilar enough to both The Fade (Dragon Age) and Dal Quor (Eberron)... Anyway. Second bit is having Pisces also the god of death (credit - that Kaitlin person). Not like evil god of death, but like... Hades. He's melancholy, and occasionally pretty selfish, but let's be honest, which of the GR gods wasn't? And beyond that, death can be poetically described as the last sleep, and that makes me think of Hamlet's soliloquy. Besides, I like both life and death being linked to water... I'll elaborate on that when I go over the geography ideas I have. Also, if any of the signs is paired with the moon, it's Pisces. I KNOW AVATAR DID IT, BUT IT'S TRADITIONAL, DAMMIT. Pisces is also generally portrayed as binary, but other than dreams/nightmares I'm not sure what to do with it. If I figure out two fish, she'd be portrayed as the two in a loop, mouth-to-tail, with the moon inside their loop. Otherwise, perhaps one fish superimposed over the moon? And as a human, a robed woman with the moon in her hand, and blobs of starry sky for her eyes. Maybe also the goddess of madness - beyond just lunacy being based off the word for moon and whatnot, also consider that the more you get caught up in dreams, the more difficult it might be to hold on to reality. Maybe what we think is reality is just a dream, and death is actually when we wake up.
Domains: Water, Magic, Dream, Moon, Oracle. I'd almost want Death, but it deals with too much undead. Repose from the FR Handbook works instead. Madness, too.
Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff is typical for magic. TOO typical... Maybe a Javelin? If only a whip weren't an exotic weapon. K points out that a sickle is a) moon-shaped, b) death-related, and c) a simple weapon. I'll consider that... "The Waking Whisper", maybe, but doesn't quite feel right... Moon Blade is already a spell. Eeeeeeh.
Well that only took, like, half a year. Gawd. Next I'm gonna post about the actual geography of the regions... PLEASE comment about anything you see above. Even if I happen to disregard/disagree with you, I appreciate the input. And I'd especially appreciate the input with any of the "eh" bits on favored weapons, or expansion of Sagittarius.
