quote:
Originally posted by Link:
[QBBut why are they 'done', Yorick? Every world has its gods in order to explain things, that they cannot understand (yet). As I said, it was not my intention to create a massive amount of unnecessary gods (read my second post).
And yes, I might consider creating one almighty God, but is that fun? I mean; isn't it more fun to have a conspiracy among gods, or something like that? A conspiracy isn't possible when having one god, unless that particular god is schizophrenic.[/QB]
'Empyrion' (Stephen Lawhead) had an interesting take, where one God had different "aspects" isolated with devotees of that "aspect".
What I'm getting at is why limit yourself to this?
"Every world has its gods in order to explain things, that they cannot understand (yet)."
You're thinking inside the box. You've created a limitation, a boundary before creating at all.
Why can't they all be gods? Why have they invented gods to explain what cannot be explained? Why can they not know all there is, rather than not know? Why can't they have no desire to know the unexplained?
Why do they not worship a God here and objects there, and the self in a third place.
Blade, what I described is indeed based on reality, as is the pantheon Link brought up. The reality I brought up covers more cultures, whereas the pantheon is just one aspect of our reality (Hinduism, Greco-Roman Religion, Norse/Celtic/Germanic Religions)
There is also ancestor worship (Africa, China) and Emperor worship (Japan, Rome) to consider.
Try making an amalgam of different ones. Whatever you do BE CREATIVE! Don't just settle for following in the usual fantasy-world recipe because repeated imitation is mediocre. Done. Boring.
It's like the innundation of aliens on Sci shows these days.
They're all bipodal. All have a face, eyes, all breathe oxygen and speak. Where is the true adaption to another worlds environment? Why are there no Sulphur breathing/eating gaseous aliens that communicate using sonar on T.V. shows? Why do they all look human except for having say, purple skin and prosthetic eyebrows!
MEDIOCRITY!
To be creative you need to first understand, that we cannot create from nothing. Ex-Nihlo. We only create from wihin our experience (which is why I believe humans could not have 'invented' the concept of a creator awareness with no beggining and no end, because it's totally outside our experience, and very difficult to fully comprehend)
Anyhow I digress. Grasping that fact, you can then harness greater creativity, which is about making hybrids. Amalgams. Drawing on what you see and experience, combining unrelated things and creating new ways of describing something old.
For example finding a new ways of presenting a justifiable culture (that makes sense) by combining previously unrelated aspects.
Think outside of the box.
[ 02-18-2002: Message edited by: Yorick ]