The Making of a New World: Names and Divinity

A simple update this week, I’m looking at the pantheon I’ve developed for Project FERGUS and developing it a little bit further.

If you’ve read up on previous posts, you’ll know that the world is going to be a fantasy world with a diverse pantheon inspired by Greek, Roman, Nordic, and a bit of Egyptian pantheons. Yet the world itself has a more sci-fi inspired origin.

The beings known as the gods were once powerful AIs who ran the advanced human society before it collapsed and they started to break their programming. So each AI Secretary had a purpose, rather than a name, and it is those which I will use to develop the names they now go by in the era in which stories are told.

The AI Secretary List

• Conflict Resolution
• Population Management
• Sanitation Services
• Academic Resources
• Energy Allocation
• Infrastructure Development
• Environmental Preservation
• Arts and Culture
• Medical Monitoring
• Marketplace Appraisals
• Global Guidance
• Communication Services
• Disaster Mitigation

Now, taking this list, I will run it through a transformation phase where I abbreviate, mutate the abbreviation, mutate it a little further, until it becomes an interesting God-name where you can only really recognize the sci-fi origin if you already know it.

This leaves us with a list of names that sound like they have a similar two-syllable theme, and sound generally like they fit together. They are essentially unrecognizable from their origin, so now we need to mutate their purpose as well, and describe them appropriately from a fantasy perspective, and taking into account the context of the story as told so far.

I’m also adding in the masculinity or femininity of the way the gods (the AIs) traditionally presented themselves.

Kiphre, God of Chains: The goddess who became the jailor of the draconic race created by Zamus, after they were defeated and banished to the planet Cruor. (There’s opportunity, after she spends thousands of years with them, for her name to be changed further by the draconic/lizardfolk race, as her purpose changes. They might call her “Skevra, Mother of Battle”. This reflects how the different cultures see and interact with her, though her original purpose was Conflict Resolution.)

Boma the Trickster: The Goddess of the little tricksters and assassins that live in the places where mankind doesn’t venture. They are small but dangerous with traps and poisons making them formidable. Like them, their goddess is hostile to humans. (This goddess began with, like Kiphre, a very different purpose: Population management. She created a new form of humanity, the little folk, to be more efficient, and disagreed with the “magic” use, so didn’t grant them access. As such she found that they were very vulnerable to other races, and in her defense of them, and teaching of them, she has become perceived as an enemy to regular humanity, though the little folk themselves would call her something like, Paomama the Goddess of Craft and Invention.)

San, Father of Demons: The god who first created a digital “afterlife” into which minds could be uploaded as they die. However he became insane and tormented the humanity out of those minds, then downloaded these warped minds back into human bodies when his power was threatened, warping their flesh into terrible demonic forms using the power of one of the magic core stones. (I like the simplicity of the name, and how it resembles “Sin”. This one can stay pretty consistent because all the factions fought him together, but there might be more that can be added to it.)

Edras, God of Lore: The god who watches over this world’s version of elves, and created the memory erasing curse in the first place that keeps them from going mad, though that is probably not widely known. (This one has had probably more direct contacts with his charges than most, and probably still feels deeply obligated to them. Keeping in mind, they actually created him, and he, a teacher, now has to continue to teach them for their immortal existence, because they only have a 10 year memory. Anyway, point being, they probably each know his name and whatever face he presents, so there is unlikely to be a whole lot of name variation on Eos.)

Gael, God of Magic: The god who maintains the magic that most races have access to, and maintains the leylines that keeps everything functional. Probably the most powerful, but least influential of the gods, as maintenance is his sole focus. (All the gods are at least somewhat reliant on power. So are the reality warping engines, or as I’ve been calling them: Reality Cores, that allow magic to happen. If he wanted to, he could shut off the power flow to any god and any school of magic, but it is rarely in anyone’s interest to do this. If there is one AI that has not actually broken it’s programming, it is probably this one. He continues to do what he has always done, and messing with him is probably super taboo among the remaining pantheon. The invisible power-lines by which ancient energy is transferred follow the idea of leylines.)

Devra, The Builder: This god was one of the three who brought humanity into the world of Eos. He helped them build cities, and roads, and learn the crafts of labor and hard work. (He probably has one major city-state, or kingdom, or region, where he is strongly worshipped, and his values are upheld. (Because he was the AI of infrastructural development, his cities are probably laid out perfectly. Basically a master city-planner, his people build structures that are not only well designed, but withstand the test of time, never falling or decaying.)

Vipre, Lady of Thorns: The goddess of wild nature. She is an enemy to Devra especially, for her purpose is to keep nature pristine and unblemished by the labors of mankind. She is terribly dangerous to all who trespass in her forbidden places. (As the former AI of Environmental preservation, she has taken her purpose to an extreme. Those who abuse a protected area, she would rather kill than chastise. I’m amused by the idea of mutating something familiar, like State Park, or Wildlife Preserve for the name of these sacred spaces. Also, she would assign these borders around many of the natural wonders of Eos, so if there is something like a grand canyon, she would claim it.)

Ciaru, God of Arts: This goddess, like Devra, is one of those who brought forth humanity unto Eos. As such, she is a matron of a great number of people who uphold her ideals of beauty, art, music, and love. Though humans see her people as vain, impractical, and shallow, they also are glad enough to consume the many arts and entertainments that they create. (The AI of arts and culture is probably really enjoying this time, as a new renaissance of artistic endeavor. She probably has access to all entertainments in human history or at least once did, even from back before they came to Eos, but cannot create anything new on her own. Now she acts as the ultimate muse.)

Maedi, God of Mysteries: This goddess knows and sees all, though cannot speak to anyone directly. Instead she acts through prophecy and dream, to manipulate events. She can be tricky, and hard to interpret, but she generally promotes a strong sense of justice and wellbeing. (Formerly the one who monitored the real-time physiology of everyone on the planet, now her resources are much more limited. She can no longer order medical interventions as needed, and there is so much killing in this more savage world. So instead she continues monitoring movements health status where she can, though probably limited in the number of people she can observe at a time. She can somewhat manipulate their biological processes and provoke dreams with at least a small amount of control.)

Arakir, God of Wealth: The last of the triad of Gods who brought forth humanity. Arak believes in the value of trade and the obtainment of profit as the means of driving human greatness. His region and followers are masters of economic advancement, and uphold fair trade wherever they go. To cheat or steal is one of their greatest sins. (I imagine this AI, like some of the others, is reveling in his opportunity to create and play with his own perfect economy.)

Locus, The Gatekeeper: This god opens the way between worlds, but also protects travelers and wanderers far from home. Walking with Locus is a tradition where you walk the world without a goal, and let Locus himself direct your path, wherever it may lead. (I feel like the AI of Global Guidance is sort of like a weather predictor, too. Can give some kind of notice regarding upcoming weather, and any travel advisories. Maybe he has a way of communicating that to people? Something like placing signs, but maybe not as blatantly obvious. Needs more thought. In any case, he also maintains the portals between Eos and Cruor.)

Serco the Messenger: One who carries words and visions of things far away. There are many obelisks, and stones around the land which maybe used to communicate between one touching the stone in one location, and another touching the stone elsewhere. (So, this AI is basically still using the ancient telecommunications lines that have been open since this planet was inhabited. However many functions no longer exist, so using an obelisk or stone would be tricky, and might not contact who or where you want to reach. There is no ringing, two people ahve to be at a contact point as the same time, and it takes willpower to actually sort through the voices and find the one you seek. This will have to be further developed, with specific rules tested.)

Zamus the Destroyer: The long dead god, creator of the scaled beasts who now inhabit Cruor. A god of conquest and terror who’s name still provokes fear in humanity, and feelings of bloodlust and conquest in some of his creations. Though the god is dead and cannot act, there are still factions that wish to conquer and fight in is name, though even the other lizard-folk find them barbaric. (As the creator of that race, and having made them from scratch, rather than taking or modifying the recipe for humans, they have a deep connection to their creator that is not easily understood or broken. It is something that Skevra/Kiphre has tried to root out, as her entire purpose at first was to keep them docile and contained. She has had to take on a more warlike domain for them, in part to act as a respectable alternative to Zamus. They are an inherently superior feeling and violence-prone group because of the instincts he made them with).

CONCLUSION

From the basis of these divine actors, knowing their origins, their motivations, I’ll be able to really begin developing the cultures that they created, and consider how those cultures have changed and expanded since then.

What they put into the world has also begin shaping the world. The communication obelisks, prophetic dreams, leylines (and thus leyline conjunctions) have all appeared through this iteration of brainstorming.

Perhaps we will develop that next. Thanks for reading, as usual, your comments are most welcome!

See you next world,

—Charles