Realms of Annakolia

[Halfling Heaven]

As you may have noticed, all the religion threads are locked, to avoid pollution, contamination and/or Jaahkh'yll . Therefore this thread has been opened for any of your concerns. Place any questions here. the gods 'may' answer you.
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Time flys like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
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[Sol Arbriel]

HH,

I have two questions about religion, no actual concerns. Just ideas with questions that I think this thread is best suited for a player like myself to air.

1- Considering that there is a Tiamat in Hell and is considered a God, the God of all evil dragons. Can I ask is that the case in RoA? Is Tiamat a God?

If so, is it possible to add Bahamut as the God of all good, and some evil except Tiamat, dragons to the RoA pantheon? This would be of great use to a returnee to RoA after a long absence. It was one of his characters that prior to his absence role-played the existence of Bahamut with my character Caladriana in Elomen. Being as this returnee is also a DM I continued to play along with him.

2- Is it possible to consider having the goddess Athena added? I know this goddess is not in edition 1 of the D&D guidebooks, in fact I have my own published in 1978 & 79 and there is no description of any deity names.

Our very own DM Athena Meter or Lady Bloodbath as she is affectionately also known as might like this. Should you require a description of who Athena the goddess is I am only too happy to oblidge if requested.
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Live simply,
Love generously,
Care deeply,
Speak kindly,
because Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning to dance in the rain.

[Halfling Heaven]

In response....

The pantheon is carefully constructed and adapted so that all the existing Gods 'fit' with the feel of RoA.
Dragons are not gods, as they are very much mortal. If I am thinking of the individual you referred to, then that person applied for the 'Bahamut background' and as far as I am aware was approved by Barry.

Any followers of Dragons, or indeed any other non-immortal deity, would be actually following a Cult rather than a Religion.

The Pantheon was compiled with input from most admin. Athenameter added the deities she wished, as did Flamecrow, myself and the list goes on.
It was a while ago that this happened, but if my memory serves me correctly .... we had an admin discussion in which it was agreed that no more deities would be added to the Pantheon. I also seem to recall it being mentioned that existing deities MAY be known by other names. Thus, perhaps Athena does exist but under a different name.

I am sorry I can be no more help than that at the moment. Maybe other admin will have more to add.
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Time flys like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
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[Halfling Heaven]

Just a moment....

Athena DOES exist in the Pantheon. It took me all of 3 seconds to locate her HERE
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Time flys like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
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[Barry_1066]

Athena is listed on page 65,66, and 73 of the TSR Presents Dieties & Demigods -- published 1980 -- This is a FIRST EDITION -- the very rare recalled edition.

This edition also has Cthulhu Mythos gods, Melnibonean Mythos and Nehwon Methos, all removed for copy right infringement -- the reason for the rare 1st edition.

I have no idea if Athena is listed in the other follow up edition without the three above mythos and if she is, what page numbers she is listed on.
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Greatest of all is he called Cthulhu. Only in Ancient, blasphemous manuscripts can that name be found...and those who decipher it are left pale and numb ---

[Sol Arbriel]

That book Barry sounds worth keeping locked inside a glass cabinet! At that time Barry I was a mere 9 years old when that book was first published in 1980.

About books, I do refer to Deities & Demigods by Rich Redman, Skip Williams and James Wyatt. I find it very helpful as the descriptions given for most of those in the RoA pantheon match exactly or very close to those in the book.

Of course Benthar the Benevolent or St. Marcus are not included. I think if they were, you'd be seeking royalties for their use Barry

My copy states that I have the First Printing, April 2002. I don't know if printing is the same as saying published.

Athena appears on page 110 & 111. If mine is that follow up edition you mention. The description is more detailed in the book than you give for Athena in the RoA pantheon.

Not that it really matters at all as I was also toying with an idea that I was thinking of putting forward. Just doing my research before uttering a word and so that's that.

As a note the taking, leaving or adding to the enjoyment of any D&D game is what the whole experience is about. None of it is right or wrong, just a choice in our case Barry wanted to make.

[Barry_1066]

Bahamut is a God we referred to and discussed in the early days of Annakol as a PnP campaign but we have never needed to discuss him on the NWN incarnation of Annakol.

I am not against his existance but i doubt i will be making him as i have Tiamat for hell.

Not all gods in the book are used in Annakolia and as you pointed out, there are gods that are not in the book.

HH invented St. Marcus and Charissa created Benthar, there are possible others. Not all gods that exist are listed -- however -- we ask folks to stay with the listed ones unless we publish something like this revealing that Bahamut is OK.

So yes you may use Bahamut but he is obviously not well known, so beware of how much is made of him since most folks in the known world will just blink and say who?
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Greatest of all is he called Cthulhu. Only in Ancient, blasphemous manuscripts can that name be found...and those who decipher it are left pale and numb ---

[Halfling Heaven]

Yes, I invented St Marcus as a 'god' for the reclusive halfling community. The premise for this was that these halflings had been seperated from the world for so long that they had elevated a local hero to 'Saint' status.... and then to God status.

I also created Mmoomu, as I felt there was a need for a deity for animals (especially during a stage where there were so many animal characters around). It seemed illogical to me that a druidic cat would follow Meilikki, for example, although since creating Mmoomu I have changed my opinion on whether animals would worship humanoid deities slightly.

The Alishan Pantheon, mostly comprised of 'dead' or 'forgotten' religions, was introduced by me with the Alishan desert expansion. It was intended to indulge my fascination with the Egyptian belief system, so the entire project was completely self-gratifying. Those deities are kept 90% to real-life interpretations of their counterpart religions whilst being tweaked slightly to fit in with RoAs PG-13 status.
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Time flys like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
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[Caspian]

Regarding the Alishan deities, especially Anubis - clearly, their worshippers hail from some desert region, but I've not found much detail about the area, so far. A few questions:

1) Anubis is an LN deity, but he seems mostly preoccupied with judgment of souls at death, and is mostly unconcerned with the living excepting how their lives impact their souls. Would his clerics be concerned by mortal law, or does Anubis have a specific code of tenets that his followers abide by?

2) Is there more information about the desert lands from which these deities come from? I've done some forum-digging, but I don't get many results with the search function for 'Alishan'.

[Barry_1066]

[Caspian]

Has worship of the Alishan pantheon penetrated the mainland, or is creating a character who worships Anubis fairly unlikely? If the lands are so dangerous, it seems pretty odd for a freshly made character to come to the mainland from them. I'd like to make an exceptionally lawful cleric, but Tyr is a bit heavy-handed for me, and there are no other Lawful Neutral deities to consider.

[Barry_1066]

There are one or two players with characters following these gods. There are no temples on the main land for these gods but there are still some followers.

Benthar and Ra are both good options as well. I highly recommend NOT using Tyr. Tyr on Annakolia might prove to be an unpleasant surprise and he is not the important god or at all the same god one might know from Faerun worlds.
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Greatest of all is he called Cthulhu. Only in Ancient, blasphemous manuscripts can that name be found...and those who decipher it are left pale and numb ---

[Sol Arbriel]

As Barry states, Benthar or Ra are very good choices. I happen to be one of the players that Barry mentions having characters that follow Tyr, I do have two.

The role-play is very heavy and as stated the Annakolian Tyr is different from the Faerun version. Better not attempted by a newcomer to RoA.

I think Feather has a cleric character that is a follower of Ra, but I could be easily mistaken.

Should you really want to role-play a cleric of Anubis I'll post below the dogma for Anubis in the hope that it'll help you formulate the idea for your character.

It is up to Barry or any admin to clarify for the purposes of RoA, as the current description in my opinion is very brief.

Anubis guides the souls of dead mortals to the halls of judgement, supervises their weighing on the scales of Ma'at, and protects them on their journey. In addition, he guards cemeteries from grave-robbers and other defilers. Anubis helped his mother Nephthys and his aunt Isis mummify Osiris (his father), applying his knowledge of herbs and medicines. He is also a keeper of magical knowledge, particularly that related to necromancy. Despite his knowledge of necromancy, he does not condone animating or controlling undead creatures, with the exception of mummies established as tomb guardians.
Followers of Anubis practice rigerous disciplines to hone their minds and spirits, preparing themselves for the eventual journey to the afterlife. The Judge of the Dead has few devotees, but he is often worshipped at funerals, where his clerics typically officiate.

I hope that actually helps you formulate the role-play for your character?

Works Cited

Rich Redman, Skip Williams., James Wyatt. (2002) Deities and Demigods. Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Pages 140 -141

[Caspian]

That is excellent information to have. As I'd be required to take Death domain, would the domain shadow summon be counted as disallowed undead, or would it fall under a special exception as well? I really like the information - at first, I was thinking more of a mortal laws and rules-type arbiter, but now it seems like his clergy would be very ritualistic in nature. Clearly there are some differences between the cited text and Annakolia- he certainly isn't on good terms with Osiris and Isis - but all in all, this should be a great aid. Thank you!

[Feather]

Sol said: