Madness of Mythologic Proportions

[TechnOkami]

So, I'm making a story where every single mythology and major religion which exists or has existed, exists in a single world, where the pantheons and Gods related to each specific mythos actually exist. It's going to be a mythology story where the mythos' of each mythology exist as well. I'm saying that each creation story was true because it in fact was, for those individual countries. What happened was that the head god of each mythos came together and basically decided to fuse their creations into one massive collaboration effort, creating the earth. They decided they would use the same model of people to inhabit the earth, hence why humans of different mythologies retain their own ethnic differences and don't all look the same. Also, to essentially not interfere with each others plans, they locked off each "world", aka country for a better example, from each other world controlled by a different pantheon.

What I want to know is if there is any mythology which references a human being thrown out or having done so much of something that he was exiled from such a world. He would have to have a reason to deal with the gods on a relatively constant basis and could theoretically have developed an eternal loathing for the gods of all pantheons, wishing their deaths. In short, he will be the main evil bad guy of the story. To make things more interesting, I thought about making him start a sort of steampunk revolution where he rallies the faith of humanity into steam and metal, causing a surge of more importance on humanity rather than the gods, weakening them severely to give whoever the evil bad guy is the chance to strike back at them.

Sorry for the long explanations, but some content was needed for how specific a thing I'm looking for.

Play on little giants, play on.

[Lady Moreta]

So, I'm making a story where every single mythology and major religion which exists or has existed, exists in a single world, where the pantheons and Gods related to each specific mythos actually exist. It's going to be a mythology story where the mythos' of each mythology exist as well. I'm saying that each creation story was true because it in fact was, for those individual countries. What happened was that the head god of each mythos came together and basically decided to fuse their creations into one massive collaboration effort, creating the earth. They decided they would use the same model of people to inhabit the earth, hence why humans of different mythologies retain their own ethnic differences and don't all look the same. Also, to essentially not interfere with each others plans, they locked off each "world", aka country for a better example, from each other world controlled by a different pantheon.

I gotta admit, this paragraph is quite confusing. Let me see if I've got it right. You're trying to say that each culture's mythology is actually real? So for instance, in our world, this would mean that the Greek gods were real, the Roman gods were real, the Norse gods were real, the Egyptian gods were real... and so on and so forth. And the reason for this was that each of those gods/groups of gods created their own 'country' - then all gods got together and decided to smush them all together into one world.

A bit like Stargate? in that they go through the stargate to find that in one sense, the Egyptian & Norse gods are actually out there? (aliens, yes, but still out there). Only in your case, they'd actually be gods, and not aliens.

Then, because the gods are just as xenophobic as the rest of us (:smalltongue:) they agreed to each have dominion only over the 'country' that they created, and they'd butt out of everyone elses?

Are you talking about one world, with each country belonging to a separate god/pantheon that created that specific country? or is it a group of worlds? it's not entirely clear from your post which one you mean.

And... just to be a nuisance... what about mythologies/religions that don't involve gods? There are quite a few of the more 'primative' theologies that don't actually have gods. They worship spirits, benign or otherwise (usually not). Or would you just dump them in as 'gods' for the purpose of your story?


What I want to know is if there is any mythology which references a human being thrown out or having done so much of something that he was exiled from such a world. He would have to have a reason to deal with the gods on a relatively constant basis and could theoretically have developed an eternal loathing for the gods of all pantheons, wishing their deaths. In short, he will be the main evil bad guy of the story. To make things more interesting, I thought about making him start a sort of steampunk revolution where he rallies the faith of humanity into steam and metal, causing a surge of more importance on humanity rather than the gods, weakening them severely to give whoever the evil bad guy is the chance to strike back at them.

Short answer: not really.

Long answer: mythologies are generally specific to a certain group of people, and focus on that group of people - frequently to the exclusion of all else. For what you're suggesting to happen to work, you'd have to have a mythology that ran something like "Our god created our little corner of the cosmos. Then our god got together with all the other gods, who'd created all their little corners of the cosmos, and they decided to smush all their creations together and created the world." I have never heard of any earth mythology that works like that. They tend to be pretty exclusive.

For that matter, if all these gods are so careful to keep themselves and their followers separate - it'd be extremely unlikely that any one human having been kicked out or otherwise, would have a reason to talk to any other gods.

I would suggest creating a Hermes/Mercury type character. A messenger of the gods. Perhaps each god/pantheon has a specific calling to one person/group of people, and it's their job to go out in the world, see what's what, and then report back. Your BBEG could be one of these, they do something wrong - maybe steal something, offend someone, be rude :smalltongue: - and they get kicked out. But because the habit of 'going to all the gods and having a chat' is so ingrained in them, they continue to do it anyway.

Honestly, that's a crappy reason, but it's the best I can think of at 4:40pm on a Friday afternoon :smalltongue: I'll have more of a think later. I think though, that it's going to be quite difficult to come up with a person who was kicked out by the gods, and yet still has reason to keep in touch with them. Especially if they hate the gods, and are planning to create some sort of steampunk revolution. The two simply don't gell. The gods are gods. If they kicked this guy out, why didn't they A) simply kill him? or B) why don't they just ignore him. If the gods have agreed not to interfere with each other's country, where did his god kick him out too? Surely going 'I don't like this guy any more, so I'm gonna dump him on you guys' is interfering.

Don't get me wrong. The concept is fascinating. And because I simply cannot handle an anthropological concept that I can't get to work in some way, I shall give it more thought, and post again/edit if I come up with anything :smallsmile:

[Brother Oni]

What I want to know is if there is any mythology which references a human being thrown out or having done so much of something that he was exiled from such a world.

There are a number of deities and other mythological figures that were punished for 'going over the top' as it were, but not that many humans.


The Greeks had the titan Prometheus who was punished for bringing fire to humans, and the Greek myths have plenty of humans being punished for offending the gods (Odysseus for example).

Susanoo from Japanese myth was banished for throwing a flayed horse at his sister, Amaterasu.

Yi, the Magnificent Archer, was banished from heaven and stripped of his immortality, leaving him a human, for his actions.

Sun Wukung (the Monkey King), was trapped under a mountain for 500 years after 'losing a bet', but was more like a trick to stop him rampaging around after his battle with Heaven.

I'm afraid I can't go into any more details regarding what they did as that would contravene the board restrictions on religion.


Edit: with regard to the TechnOkami's story, may I suggest researching a bit into Chinese mythology and folklore as there is considerable mixing between religions there. Sun Wukung is quite a good example as he started out in one pantheon, then got 'promoted' up to a position in a different one.

[Lady Moreta]

There are a number of deities and other mythological figures that were punished for 'going over the top' as it were, but not that many humans.

And, from memory, not that many of them had that much to do with the gods afterwards.


Edit: with regard to the TechnOkami's story, may I suggest researching a bit into Chinese mythology and folklore as there is considerable mixing between religions there. Sun Wukung is quite a good example as he started out in one pantheon, then got 'promoted' up to a position in a different one.

I'll freely admit, I don't know anything about Chinese mythology. I did Classics at high school and university, so pretty much everything I say comes from that perspective.

[hamishspence]

"All mythologies are true"? I think Simon R. Green's Nightside books had an element of that.

[Prime32]

I vaguely recall some Amerindian myths about a man who made himself out of the material left over when gods created the world.

The Monkey King (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Wukong) is powerful enough to challenge multiple pantheons at the same time (Dragonball was based on his story), but he's not really evil.

[ForzaFiori]

Off the top of my head, here are some people (or at least non-gods) who would have a problem with the gods for some reason or another, and could therefor work as a BBEG with some work:

Any giant in Norse Mythology

Prometheus in Greek/Roman Mythology

Lucifer in Christianity

Echo in Greek/Roman Mythology

Any of the Mistresses of Zeus in Greek/Roman Mythology

[factotum]

"All mythologies are true"? I think Simon R. Green's Nightside books had an element of that.

I'm sure I recall an RPG setting like it, too, where the Earth was split up into different zones, each one with different mythological roots...I forget what it was called, though, and it's bugging me now. :smallmad:

[EDIT] Found it! I think it was called Rifts. :smallsmile:

[Brother Oni]

The Monkey King (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Wukong) is powerful enough to challenge multiple pantheons at the same time (Dragonball was based on his story), but he's not really evil.

Sun was very good at fighting, but he's not too smart. How do you distract the ultimate warrior? Send out a decoy or diversion to keep him occupied while your real forces complete the objective, thus you lose the battle, but win the war.

Alternatively, put him in a situation where the ability to beat people up with a 7.5 tonne staff isn't particularly useful - negotiation or diplomacy is a good one.

The alternative is to drop a mountain on him like before, but I'm not sure how effective that would be after his promotion.

[Prime32]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AllMythsAreTrue
Sun was very good at fighting, but he's not too smart. How do you distract the ultimate warrior? Send out a decoy or diversion to keep him occupied while your real forces complete the objective, thus you lose the battle, but win the war.

Alternatively, put him in a situation where the ability to beat people up with a 7.5 tonne staff isn't particularly useful - negotiation or diplomacy is a good one.

The alternative is to drop a mountain on him like before, but I'm not sure how effective that would be after his promotion.So, Wukong is the "muscle" for another villain?

[TechnOkami]

I didn't think about prometheus... he would actually be the best one to start a revolution like this against the gods.


http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AllMythsAreTrueSo, Wukong is the "muscle" for another villain?

wow.... just wow... now I feel like I'm ripping off of everything else rather than my own original idea... T_T

[Prime32]

wow.... just wow... now I feel like I'm ripping off of everything else rather than my own original idea... T_TEh, this link (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrossoverCosmology) would probably be closer actually.

[Brother Oni]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AllMythsAreTrueSo, Wukong is the "muscle" for another villain?

Possibly, except the other villain would have his work cut out trying to keep Sun under control. Due to his earlier escapades, he has a strong sense of what's right, not to mention he can actually see evil due to a failed execution attempt.

The only two successful attempts to control him took a magical headband which he couldn't remove and caused pain whenever a prayer was recited; the other was his own loyalty. Not even an entity greater than a god could control him (which resulted in the mountain dropping).

He also looks after his subjects well, which is both a source of control for and against him (make it appear that his monkeys will benefit and he'll help, threaten them and there's nowhere in Heaven or Earth where you can hide).

[averagejoe]

The Mod They Call Me: I'm afraid our board rules prohibit this kind of discussion. The line for whether a religious topic is appropriate is, "Real religion," or, "Fictional religion." This rule does not provide for either the time period during which the religion was active or the modern relevance of any particular religion. Thread locked.