#constructed deities

[fernthewhimsical]

Made rose-lemonade with pink food colouring and edible gold glitter as an offering for Freyja ♡

Also did some divination for some suspicions I had and yeah, three constructed deities I thought were connected were in fact all Freyja.

Like I said on Discord. Three Freyjas in a trenchcoat xD

And the Veiled Silence has revealed herself as Holle.

So quite some changes in the personal pantheon! Both have shown interest in teaching me magic and Otherworldly travel, so this will be interesting

[subwaylesbians]

masai condescendingly referring to cleon as “miss”, and then a moment later cleon using it as an honorific when referring to cyrus, is such a slick way of acknowledging his hypocrisy without so much as breaking the flow of her argument

[endof-an-era]

"They chained you, in Sparta"

I hum

"What was that like?"

His weight is familiar

My Lord, My Brother in Arms

"Boring"

He says back, voice low

Voice heavy

"They wanted the spirit of war"

"They wanted to be brave"

He laughs

"Being brave is being scared"

"Being terrified"

"But you hold your blade"

"And you fight anyways"

"You fight for it is duty"

"You fight because you must"

"You fight scared and brave"

"That is the spirit of war"

- Conversations with Lord Ares, held over coffee

[ink-drenched-art]

Ayin: Worldbearer and Heart of Nature.

He, who carved out his all-seeing eyes and forged them into the sun, thus granting all living beings the ability to see.

(Elder deities part 2)

I took some inspo from those celtic stone carvings and very much like the eyes on the hands hhehehe. Originally I was going to add vines that held the stones together but that would've been too much green so yeah.

Next up is best girl Teth :)

[bright-eyed-sinner]

Rearranged yesterday. Now that we have a clearer understanding of our craft, we can make more specifically targeted sacred spaces.

Like this one! This is our shrine to Humble Jack, the deity of mischief, chaos, childhood, cycles, and cautionary tales. Hail his Bastard Majesty!

[incarnelia]

"Anavatapta, Lady of the Streams"

to the enemy haunting the world: blazing spirit hanging      over the waters      fogging air      with presence no chance of escape.

…

so i see:      raindrop crown      tear-wrought      necklace glinting      your holy smile a gentle relief

so i say:      slipping through      our fingers      ungrasped,      formless — your blessings      fill their vessels      cleansing smog of uncertainty. so i pray:      pure water      glistens like a      fluid jewel,      clear and      inviolable o mirrorlike mistress      reflector of secrets      your abundance cures and cools us.

[ancat-dubh]

Witchy people who incorporate your/other peoples' fictional characters into your practice!

Tell me more about what that looks like for you? Having a lil brainworm and would like some insight!

[paradife-loft]

spitballing metaphysics for a self-indulgent fantasy worldbuilding hobby setting just like. oh I know exactly what the personal cultural/media lineage of that sub-concept I'm pulling in is. and that one. and this other one. does that make this whole thing really incredibly derivative? ehhh who cares, having fun ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[aquillwieldingmagpie]

I don't know WHY, but for some reason I've had a vision of a Golden Ratio Slay the Princess AU.

I genuinely don't know why, maybe it's because of Ratio's owl motif and one of 2.1 quests being named A Cat Among Pigeons (in reference to Agatha Christie and possibly Aventurine's role) and then later owning three black cakecats even if he's mostly associated with peacocks? Maybe it's because I somehow associate Aventurine's many masks and personas we see over the time we know him with the Shifting Mound's many perspectives and how both her and him are so confident their respective foil won't kill or betray them at the end of everything (and are even fine with it if it does happen), how both the Princess and Aventurine always, always fight for freedom and are denied it until the very end of their story when they finally are granted a true escape through their own efforts and an outside force be it through being show the way or death? How they're both connected to a being so much larger than them but have no say over it (the Princess being seen as only a part/perspective of the Shifting Mound even if she can be found at her heart, Aventurine was blessed by Gaiathra Triclops and ultimately none of that did them any good).

Or maybe it's because I can practically hear this line from the Princess coming out of Aventurine's mouth to Ratio the more close he is to knowing who the real Aventurine is after I woke up in a cold sweat from a nap to write this out:

"Have you figured out what you want to do yet, or are you going to keep trying to find a center that doesn't exist?"

(The Princess saying this about herself and how she's the heart of the Shifting Mound and hasn't really been herself or stopped playing a role through the entirety of the game, but in this context Aventurine saying that there is no 'Kakavasha' or 'No.35' or even 'Aventurine' anymore, just the many masks he wears even though he admits to himself he hasn't changed)

I have no idea if this is anything though or if it would fit their characters at all though. Maybe it's just a silly vision I'll write out one day, maybe not.

[cascadena]

My Linktober 2023 Week 2 drawings!

[honourablejester]

Pathfinder Deity Spotlight: Brigh & Casandalee

Brigh’s exact origins are unknown, though her priests and various religious scholars have many theories on the matter. Some believe she was a construct who achieved consciousness and a spark of divinity, while others think she was a human alchemist and inventor who discovered ways to fuse mechanical components with her own physiology. Regardless of her origins, Brigh is a patient and thoughtful god who promotes unending curiosity and constant intellectual advancement. Her two most common forms are a humanoid woman made of bronze clockwork and a human woman wearing a bronze skullcap and armor composed of gears and other movable metal pieces. Though Brigh’s usual demeanor is composed and reserved, she isn’t an unfeeling automaton; she deeply cherishes the creations she and her followers make, and most of her worshippers feel the same way.

Brigh’s faith isn’t as widespread as that of most other gods, though she does have pockets of worship in areas where machinery and constructs are common. Among these are Alkenstar, where much of that city’s production of firearms is overseen by priests of Brigh; Numeria, where the proliferation of strange technological artifacts draws followers of the Whisper in Bronze like moths to a flame; and Absalom, where the mysterious Clockwork Cathedral teaches the crafts of mechanical engineering and construct-building to eager students. Brigh encourages her faithful to improve upon the work of others and allow others to build on their own achievements in turn. Typical followers of Brigh are those who work with their hands, especially gem cutters, inventors and toy makers. Numerous gnomes are drawn to her religion, thanks to its emphasis on searching for new and exciting innovations. Many of her followers dedicate their lives to research and projects of great scope, crafting magnificent inventions that take years to create. Other followers are content with creating smaller inventions or tinkering with those of others. Brigh is pleased regardless of the size of the project, so long as new technologies and discoveries result from the work.

--- Lost Omens: Gods and Magic (2020)

Casandalee is an unusual god, one who achieved divinity through a merging of advanced science and faith. Formerly an artificial intelligence cloned from the mind of an android from outer space, Casandalee gained her godhood in the heart of Numeria within the computer core of a crashed spaceship, becoming the patron of artificial life, free thinking, and intellectual apotheosis.

Though she is sometimes referred to as the Iron Goddess, Casandalee is much more than simple metal. She sometimes appears as a holographic reconstruction of her android form: a female humanoid with purple hair, blue lips, and pale skin traced with glowing circuitry, but upon close inspection, this image seems to consist of millions of complex algorithms of pure light. Casandalee and her followers seek to promote the advancement of Golarion’s technology so that the world’s inhabitants can better understand— and not fear—the complex mechanisms of so-called artificial life, including androids and free-willed artificial intelligences. Many androids consider themselves the chosen people of Casandalee and depict her as an obvious android with more circuitry or exposed components.

As a young deity, Casandalee has very few followers, the majority of whom live in Numeria. Outside of that country, adherents are usually seen as eccentric outsiders who wield items of advanced technology that seem to work like magic. Traveling priests of Casandalee search for signs of similar equipment that might have been brought from Numeria, in hopes that such discoveries will lead them to beings of artificial life who would benefit from Casandalee’s message. In addition, these priests help those who have uncovered or built advanced technology to use it responsibly and understand the science behind it. Many of Casandalee’s concerns overlap with those of Brigh, and the two faiths often work together, though the concepts of artificial intelligence can sometimes be hard for followers of Brigh to fully grasp.

--- Lost Omens: Gods and Magic (2020)

I’m putting these two together because they have a lot of similar themes. And also because in Starfinder, in the far future of Golarion’s solar system, they are two of the three gods who combine, along with the machine-god Epoch of the system’s Mercury equivalent, to become the triple-deity Triune, who promptly gives FTL/hyperspace travel to the galaxy. So, in the very far future of this universe, these two form part of one of the most important deities in existence, and honestly that pleases me a lot.

But also I just have a real soft spot for the themes of these two. I love artificial intelligence and constructs and the idea of constructed life, which then develops its own will and personhood. The fact that even Pathfinder, the medieval fantasy side of this universe, still full-on had living constructs and a crashed damn spaceship with an AI inside it is spectacular to me. I love Numeria, as a concept. What a country to just throw into your medieval fantasy world.

So it’s maybe a little odd that, of the two, I actually somewhat prefer Brigh. I’m not sure what it is about Casandalee, maybe the whole ‘machine messiah’, ‘trying to uplift the world’ thing, that rubs me ever-so-slightly the wrong way. I love her as a champion of constructed lifeforms and their right to free will, and I do appreciate that her goal is simply to raise awareness so that people like her and other artificial intelligences won’t be feared. But there’s something there … maybe it’s just Aroden and his ‘uplift humanity with the magic of Azlant’ again, but I’m getting a slight vibe of ‘uplift the native savages’ from her that makes me just a touch uneasy. But still, that said. How much do I love that a starship AI became a damn goddess in a medieval fantasy world? Exquisite concept, no notes.

Brigh, on the other hand, makes more sense for the world and has more of a fantasy lineage to her, grounded in older concepts from toys to automata to robots. Her murky backstory is also fascinating, and both options are cool, although, being me, I prefer the idea that she is a clockwork construct/toy who gained a sentience of her own. Although the transhumanist vibes of a woman who became a machine who became a goddess in her efforts to explore the limits of being is also very cool to me. So, yeah. I like both options.

Also, shallow note, but her physical descriptions give me such a Robo-Maria from Metropolis 1927 vibe, and I adore it. That famous transformation sequence that is etched into popular consciousness. Except, in Brigh’s case, somewhat in reverse (in the transhumanist origin story version). But she has some imagery to her. A fine lineage!

Overall, though? I genuinely just love that these two exist. That Pathfinder, even before Starfinder enters the picture, is perfectly happy to sprinkle sci-fi elements around its medieval fantasy world, from the crashed alien starship in Numeria to the goddamn elven stargates. I do think I like Brigh just that bit more, the more fantasy-grounded elements of her, the older mythology of constructs and homunculi and 1920s imagery of robots, but I still love Casandalee just being a thing. She’s an alien AI that crashlanded on this world and became a goddess. Such a truly excellent element to add to your fantasy world!

All praise to the Iron Goddess and the Whisper in Bronze. Thank you, ladies! I am delighted that you exist!

[fernthewhimsical]

Fern's Gleaming Grove Masterpost

The Gleaming Grove is the name I use for my personal pantheon.

General information and art:

Fern's (new) introduction to the Gleaming Grove I believe the Gods are the mirror of ourselves Historical vs Unrecorded vs Constructed Gleaming Grove Minecraft Shrine Stardew Valley Shrines Deity Bindrunes Mini Travel Altar Statues Creation: How I see animism, magic, and life

Deities and Spirits:

Nehalennia Masterpost Cernunnos Masterpost Baduhenna Masterpost Venaris Masterpost Unicorn Masterpost Liyesa Masterpost Holle Moodboard Holle's Blessing Tiny Spindle for Holle and Freyja Prayer a Day: Holle Elen of the Ways Moodboard and HolidayElen of the Ways Art Page Prayer a Day: Elen of the Ways Nemetona and Sacred Space Nemetona Mood Board Prayer a Day: Nemetona A Letter to Loki Prayer a Day: Loki Everyone is Freyja (shitpost) Shimmery offering to Freyja Prayer a Day: Frigg-Frija Prayer a Day: Hertha Prayer a Day: Morrigan Prayer a Day: Ashka Prayer a Day: Stēra Prayer a Day: Mona Prayer a Day: Lycke Prayer a Day: Werda Prayer a Day: Klaithe Prayer a Day: Gahella Prayer to Crow Prayer to Wolf Journey through the Gods (personal)

Devotional side blogs: @crow-and-fern Baduhenna @tall-waves-deep-sea Nehalennia @thedeertroddenpath Elen of the Ways @gleaminggrove Everyone else!

[coolclaytony]

So i'm in the early stages of this new conlang idea, where I essentially build a language from the ground up on the assumption that it is being invented over the course of a conversation between two deific beings at the begining of a new universe. They subconsciously know all concepts that ever where and can ever be, but they can't consciously concieve of a given concept until they've given it a name.

[indigoworks]

go crazy for your own dnd character

[sommyisabsent]

Progress! I'm wondering if I should do a background or not. I'll probably do it.

Should I make the cloth very long so I don't have to deal with drawing the end? Yeees.

[deityofhearts]

i have to be so honest, supervillains who’s sole goal is to take over one (1) single city are so bizarre to me, like okay say you succeed and you take over the city, the city is yours now. now what. what is the plan going forwards, like what do you hope to achieve by taking over a singular city. what is the follow up plan? you know running a city like sucks. right?