Pantheon: Pharaonic Pantheon

Pantheon: Pharaonic Pantheon

And now let's do the same to the Egyptian pantheon from Deities & Demigods and On Hallowed Ground.

 
Re-Horakhty
 
Greater deity
Alignment: Lawful Good
Symbol: solar disk encircled by a serpent
Home plane: Arcadia
Portfolio: nobility, sun, supreme vengeance
Domain (-30%): light spells, protection and warning spells
Worshipers: rulers, viziers, fighters, paladins, monks
 
The ruler of the Pharaonic pantheon, Re-Horakhty is the resplendent lord of the sun, steering the Solar Barge across the sky of Arcadia during the day. He appears as a strong, darkskinned human with the head of a hawk.
            Dogma: Although kings who revere Re-Horakhty are fond of preaching about “divine right,” Re-Horakhty demands that monarchs rule wisely and justly. Re-Horakhty teaches that vigilance and readiness of arms are absolutely necessary so that Set and his minions can never succeed in stopping the Solar Barge’s nightly journey and assuming leadership of the pantheon.
 
Anhur
 
Lesser deity
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Symbol: bird of prey
Home plane: Ysgard
Portfolio: war
Domain (-30%): air spells, protection and warning spells
Worshipers: warriors
 
Anhur, the most warlike of the Pharaonic pantheon, is also one of the wiser deities of the pantheon. He is slow to anger, and the other gods often seek his advice and his counsel.
 
Anubis
 
Lesser deity
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Symbol: black jackal
Home plane: Astral Plane
Portfolio: judgment, death
Domain (-40%): spirit spells
Worshipers: guardians, embalmers, necromancers, monks
 
The jackal-headed Anubis guides the souls of dead mortals to the halls of judgment, supervises their weighing on the scales of Ma’at, and protects them on their journey. Despite his knowledge of necromancy, he does not condone animating or controlling undead creatures, with the exception of mummies established as tomb guardians.
            Dogma: Followers of Anubis practice rigorous disciplines to hone their minds and spirits, preparing themselves for the eventual journey to the afterlife.
 
Apep
 
Demigod
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Symbol: flaming snake
Home plane: Hades
Portfolio: evil, fire, serpents
Domain (-30%): fire spells, poison spells
Worshipers: reptilian creatures, evil dragons, crazed cultists
 
Apep is an evil creature of the underworld and an enemy of the gods (though sometimes an ally of Set). Apep appears as a giant serpent, 100 feet long.
            Dogma: Apep has no creed but destruction of all the Pharaonic gods, their temples, their clerics, their worshipers, and even the world they created and the creatures that inhabit it. The followers of Apep do not strive for a world dominated by evil; they strive for the end of the world.
 
Apshai
 
Demigod
Alignment: Neutral
Symbol: praying mantis
Home plane: Outlands
Portfolio: insects
Domain (-40%): insect spells, poison spells
Worshipers: farmers
 
Apshai is the demigod of insects. Farmers pray to Apshai to keep fields clear of infeststion.
 
Bast
 
Lesser deity
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Symbol: cat
Home plane: Ysgard
Portfolio: cats, vengeance, protection, punishment
Domain (-30%): animal spells, protection and warning spells
Worshipers: mothers, defenders, fighters, barbarians, rangers, elves
 
Bast is a cat-headed deity whose portfolio includes protection (as a mother protects her children), punishment of wrongdoers, and cats.
            Dogma: In general, Bast promotes life and liberty, asserting the value of mortal life, things of beauty, and freedom from oppressive regulation.
 
Bes
 
Lesser deity
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Symbol: image of the deity
Home plane: Outlands
Portfolio: luck, music, protection
Domain (-30%): sound spells, protection and warning spells, body control spells that deal with childbirth
Worshipers: rogues, gamblers
 
The grotesque but cheerful Bes appears as a stunted, roundbodied and bow-legged human, about 4 feet tall, sporting a bushy beard and tail and wearing the skin of a panther. He is said to be so ugly that his visage scares evil spirits away.
           
Geb
 
Intermediate deity
Alignment: Neutral Good
Symbol: mountain
Home plane: Elemental Plane of Earth
Portfolio: earth
Domain (-40%): earth spells
Worshipers: farmers, architects
 
The first son of Shu and Tefnut, Geb is married to Nut, his sister. He is a deity of earth, worshiped by farmers and architects.
 
Hathor
 
Lesser deity
Alignment: Neutral Good
Symbol: horned cow’s head with a lunar disk
Home plane: Arcadia
Portfolio: love, music, dance, moon, fate, motherhood
Domain (-30%): sound spells, making and breaking spells
Worshipers: artisans, musicians, mothers, lovers
 
Hathor is the cow-headed deity of music, dance, art, and inspiration.
            Dogma: Hathor’s essential teaching commands people to savor life and all the good aspects of it - beauty, art, music, love, and family. Hathor’s clerics teach that these things are divine gifts, meant to be enjoyed and protected. There is no evil in enjoying these simple blessings; it is evil to deny them to another or to destroy them.
 
Imhotep
 
Demigod
Alignment: Neutral Good
Symbol: a step pyramid
Home plane: Arcadia
Portfolio: crafts, medicine
Domain (-30%): healing spells, making and breaking spells
Worshipers: scientists, architects, physicians
 
Imhotep is the only ascended mortal in the Pharaonic pantheon - an advisor to kings, builder of pyramids, and paragon of knowledge who rose to become the god of healing and science.
            Dogma: Imhotep’s key doctrine is that knowledge, science, and magic should be used to help humanity. Imhotep insists that knowledge is only useful if it is used, and it must be used for the good of all. Though Imhotep is not a god of magic, his doctrine applies to magic as much as to the science of engineering. The appropriate use of magic is to help others, not harm them.
 
Isis
 
Greater deity
Alignment: Neutral Good
Symbol: ankh and star
Home plane: Arcadia
Portfolio: fertility, magic, marriage
Domain (-10%): meta-spells, protection and warning spells, plant spells, water spells
Worshipers: wizards, sorcerers, wives, mothers, druids, bards
 
The wife of Osiris and mother of Re-Horakhty, Isis is the most powerful female deity of the Pharaonic pantheon. She is a god of magic and fertility, a patron of marriage, and (with Hathor) a god of motherhood. Her dominion over water represents the ancient rivers that are the source of fertility and life.
 
Nephthys
 
Intermediate deity
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Symbol: horns around a lunar disk
Home plane: Arborea
Portfolio: death, grief
Domain (-30%): necromantic spells, protection and warning spells
Worshipers: those who mourn
 
Sister of Osiris, Isis, and Set, Nephthys appears as a human woman with large wings. Her priests teach that grief is an appropriate response to death – even though the soul of the departed finds peace and joy in the afterlife. In her name, followers of the Pharaonic pantheon weep and wail at funerals even as they celebrate the new life of the deceased.
 
Nut
 
Intermediate deity
Alignment: Neutral Good
Symbol: stars in the night sky
Home plane: Elysium
Portfolio: sky, couples forbidden to marry
Domain (-40%): light and darkness spells
Worshipers: commoners
 
Nut, sister and wife to Geb, is an isolated deity of the sky and forbidden love.
 
Osiris
 
Greater deity
Alignment: Lawful Good
Symbol: crook and flail
Home plane: Arcadia
Portfolio: harvest, nature, underworld
Domain (-10%): plant spells, necromantic spells, air spells, earth spells
Worshipers: farmers, paladins, rangers, monks
 
The god of life and death, Osiris is nearly the greatest god in the Pharaonic pantheon - hindered only by the fact that he is dead. Had his brother Set not murdered him, Osiris would occupy the throne of the gods now held instead by his son Re-Horakhty. Osiris rules over the world of the dead as his son rules the living.
            Dogma: Osiris demands adherence to basic principles of order and goodness in order to win admission into the afterlife.
 
Ptah
 
Intermediate deity
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Symbol: bull
Home plane: Ethereal Plane
Portfolio: crafts, knowledge, secrets, travel
Domain (-20%): making and breaking spells, knowledge spells, movement spells
Worshipers: artisans, artists, travelers
 
Ptah is a mysterious creator deity, related to the rest of the Pharaonic pantheon only by marriage (to Re-Horakhty’s daughter Bast), not by birth. He appears as a small man with black skin like polished marble and large black eyes filled with stars.
            Dogma: Ptah’s law is the order of the universe. Everything has a place in the cosmic scheme, and everything fits together to work for a purpose that is beyond mortal understanding. Mortals can simply do their best to fill the part they’re supposed to play, not overstepping their place or spreading disorder in the well-ordered world.
 
Seker
 
Lesser deity
Alignment: Neutral Good
Symbol: hawk-headed mummy
Home plane: Elysium
Portfolio: light
Domain (-40%): light spells, anti-undead necromantic spells
Worshipers: light-lovers
 
Seker seeks the destruction of evil and undead, and he works toward that end constantly. In his eyes, the undead are simply dead who do not realize their true state.
 
Set
 
Greater deity
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Symbol: coiled cobra
Home plane: Abyss
Portfolio: darkness, evil, night, desert storms, draught
Domain (-40%): darkness spells, breaking spells, dehydration spells
Worshipers: assassins, blackguards
 
A being of pure chaos and evil, Set is opposed to everything the Pharaonic deities represent. He appears as a powerful man with a bestial head resembling a donkey, with a curved snout and upright, square-tipped ears.
            Dogma: According to Set, whatever a person is strong enough to claim belongs to that person by right. Rulership should be held by whoever can seize and maintain it. Authority should be respected only insofar as it is powerful enough to enforce its will.
 
Shu
 
Intermediate deity
Alignment: Lawful Good
Symbol: ostrich feather
Home plane: Elemental Plane of Air
Portfolio: winds, atmosphere
Domain (-40%): air spells
Worshipers: assassins, blackguards
 
Shu, brother and husband to Tefnut, father of Geb and Nut, has been charged by the now-dead Ra to keep Nut and Gen apart from each other. As the atmosphere, he keeps the ground (Geb) from ever touching the sky (Nut), and thus the two lovers are separated.
 
Sobek
 
Demigod
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Symbol: crocodile head with horned and plumed headdress
Home plane: Material Plane
Portfolio: water, river hazards, crocodiles, wetlands
Domain (-30%): animal spells, water spells
Worshipers: sailors, reptilian creatures, assassins
 
Sobek is the misshapen, crocodile-headed son of Set and Nephthys. Sobek’s essential creed is “eat or be eaten.” His followers strive to carve out their own place in a world that is hostile to their continued existence, to win recognition from the Pharaonic pantheon and its church.
 
Tefnut
 
Intermediate deity
Alignment: Neutral Good
Symbol: pyramid and sun
Home plane: Bytopia
Portfolio: storms, rain, running water
Domain (-30%): water spells, weather spells
Worshipers: farmers, druids
 
Tefnut is the lion-headed goddess of mercurial moods and changing disposition.
 
Thoth
 
Intermediate deity
Alignment: Neutral
Symbol: ibis
Home plane: Outlands
Portfolio: knowledge, wisdom, learning
Domain (-30%): knowledge spells, meta-spells
Worshipers: scholars, sages, wizards, sorcerers, bards
 
The ibis-headed Thoth is the inventor of writing and arithmetic, and the god of scribes, sages, libraries, and knowledge in general. Thoth is not related, even by marriage, to any other deity in the Pharaonic pantheon, and his origins are not clear. Followers of Thoth collect knowledge for knowledge’s sake, striving to better themselves through learning. Some hope to better the world as well, while others hope to gain the means to impose their will on the world through their knowledge. For Thoth himself, knowledge is all that matters.