Help me flesh out my world's mythology

[Tornadofyr]

Facts about Tanubrai the Moon King
1. He is King of the Gods, and his titles include Protector In The Night, First Hero, One-Handed King, and Lord of Fools.

2. He lacks a right hand, as Kulrao, the Traitor King, severed it from his arm in an epic confrontation. In retaliation, Tanubrai pierced one of Kulrao's eyes.

3. He is Susetria's second husband. He married her after Kulrao, her first husband, was cast down from the sky. He had two children with her: Golvar and Rokilla.

4. Since he ascended to the Crescent Throne, there have been many unsuccessful rebellions against him. Many murals depict him defeating epic foes.

5. He is the patron of kings, yet doesn't bestow the right to rule. Susetria controls the flow of inheritance, while Tanubrai grants the wisdom and might to rule peacefully and bring prosperity to a nation.

6. He is the first adventurer, as before he was king, he traveled the world slaying monsters to protect Suestria, who he loved even while Kulrao was her husband.

7. Before he was king, Tanubrai filled the role that Remulo fills now: Jester of the Gods. Even now, he enjoys assuming the form of an old jester or fool when testing princes.

8. After a prince is married to a princess, but before his coronation, Tanubrai tests them in three ways unique to that prince. Often, these tests correlate to the three virtues of nobility: Wisdom, Might, and Courage.

9. When depicted in art, Tanubrai is a beardless man with pale skin and bone white hair. Rarely, they portray him as an ancient man in jester's motley.

[Honest Tiefling]

4. Since he ascended to the Crescent Throne, there have been many unsuccessful rebellions against him. Many murals depict him defeating epic foes.

From who? His own progeny? Mortals wishing to become gods? Other gods? Demons?

[Tornadofyr]

From who? His own progeny? Mortals wishing to become gods? Other gods? Demons?

Mortals, Demons, Other (forgotten) Gods
Maybe traditional extraplanar beings don't exist in my setting because they tried to kill Tanubrai and he separated the world from the Great Wheel.

I feel like the Twins might have conspired with Yazuria while the Twins were Evil and Yazuria was Lawful. The Twins fought Tanubrai after Yazuria engineered a paladin of hers named Kidun to become king of a country. Since Tanubrai tests prospective kings, he would have visited Kidun, who was told how to cheat the tests by Yazuria. Tanubrai was impressed by Kidun, and when the Twins killed him on the orders of Yazuria, Tanubrai came to defend the city. Tanubrai bested them and they realized that he had more martial might than Kulrao, causing them to defect from Evil to their current alignments. They told Tanubrai and Susetria about Yazuria's conspiracy and they exiled her.

[Honest Tiefling]

Wait, hold on, forgotten gods? That's a very intriguing idea. How does a god become forgotten? Do gods need to remain worshipped? Where would they have come from? I think shifting the focus from extra-planar politics to warring gods could lend this setting an interesting flavor.

[Tornadofyr]

How does a god become forgotten?
Do gods need to remain worshipped?
Where would they have come from?

TL;DR: Gods fuse together when they kill each other. The Gods of Law and Chaos don't declare open war on the Evil gods because they fear winning and corrupting their essences.

A god is not real because they are worshipped, they are worshipped because they are real.
However, worship shapes the gods the way people are shaped by other people. (Explaining how Warlocks exist: When the god manifests for that worshipper, their power and personality are altered for that person's expectations)

A god becomes forgotten by being killed by another god. The murderer takes on the domains and portfolio of the dead god, including the responsibility to answer prayers. This lets them meld their new faith together with their original one. Killing a god with an opposing portfolio changes the winner more than it would to kill another god with a similar portfolio

As an example, let's take Tanubrai. He started as the Moon God, then killed a God of Heroes and a weak Trickster God (because Trickery is lower in his portfolio). He probably stopped there to prevent corruption to his portfolio. To explain how he is the King of the Gods, he probably ripped it out of Kulrao's essence. He was the Earth God too, but his battle with Kulrao turned that into its own being.

There were once hundreds of gods, but now there are only seventeen. The only reason the non-Evil gods don't declare war on the Evil ones is that they fear winning and turning into different entities.

[brian 333]

The Spear Of Tanubrai

When Tanubrai first chose to contest for the love of Susteria he was not the great warrior he later became. But with the loss of his arm he became stern and focused. He wove his Armor Of Moonlight, (as he would later weave Helvia's Armor Of Starlight,) and he trained himself for war.

When Susteria finally accepted him as her consort she gave him a gift: Sunfire.

Sunfire is Elemental Sunlight forged into a spear. Accounts differ whether it is intelligent or not, but all agree that no god or mortal except Tanubrai may attempt to wield it and live. The one exception was during the Demon Wars when Dalfrus animated it with his magic to defend his father, who had fallen to a numberless horde of demons, while Susteria healed her wounded husband. Purists say that dosen't count because Dalfrus never touched or attempted to wield the weapon while exceptionalists say the weapon would allow Dalfrus to wield it at need because he is Tanubrai's rightful heir. (Neither Tanubrai nor Dalfrus has offered an opinion on the matter.)

The spear's head produces a single beam of sunlight which is death to any mortal, undead, or demon, and very deadly to any other being. It can also produce a burst of sunlight which slays undead, many mortals, is deadly to many lesser demons, and injures most other beings. Its range is unknown, but it is assumed that if Tanubrai can see it he can strike it.

Most art depicts Tanubrai wielding it in his 'off hand' with a ghostly arm or an arm composed of blazing sunlight.

If my previous post on Yazuria is accepted, she will covet the Spear, but will fear it too much to do more than scheme and resent her brother for his courage in manipulating it.

[brian 333]

The Sword Of Stars and The Shield Of Night

Along with her Starlight Armor, these are the knightly acouterments of Helvia, The Star Knight.

In the night sky the Sword Of Stars can be seen. Its pommelstone is the North Star. At midwinter the three stars of its haft and the nine stars of its blade, separated by the two stars of its crosshilts, points straight across the sky while it points west in spring, east in the fall, and down to the horizon in the summer.

Trailing the sword's rotation around the sky is a large space empty of stars, though those with the keenest eyes claim there are countless very dim stars in the region. This is known as the Shield Of Night.

It is said that when the sword and shield are absent from the night sky Helvia is waging war on the demons.

Note: I don't have origin stories or powers figured out for these, but I thought of them while doing the above post and thought I should write the seeds before I forgot them. As always, feel free to use, modify, or ignore.

[Tornadofyr]

If my previous post on Yazuria is accepted, she will covet the Spear, but will fear it too much to do more than scheme and resent her brother for his courage in manipulating it.

Your post on Yazuria is perfect and accepted.
The one change I have for Tanubrai's Spear is that it is made of Sunlight instead of Lightning. Since the storm god is not the king of the gods anymore, lightning is no longer seen as a representation of the pantheon's displeasure.

[brian 333]

Edited the previous post to reflect the OPs modification.

Sunfire is a placeholder name until a better one is found. Offering 20gp to the player who comes up with a better one.

Blyswick can be the Lord Of Storms' weapon, but not as badass.

[Max_Killjoy]

Edited the previous post to reflect the OPs modification.

Sunfire is a placeholder name until a better one is found. Offering 20gp to the player who comes up with a better one.

Blyswick can be the Lord Of Storms' weapon, but not as badass.

"Chrysaur" or "Chrysáoros".

Roughly translated from Greek it means "holds a golden sword" or "he who holds a golden sword"... I used it as the name of the city dedicated to the cult of the sun goddess in one of my settings.

[brian 333]

The Cult In The Sewers

Drupert Stoner was an ordinary man who worked as a street repairman, filling potholes and installing cobblestones.

One day he had the misfortune to witness a noble murder a girl by hurling her from his carriage. Though he tried to save the girl she died.

He walked to town to report the crime, but the noble had already reported that he stopped on the road for a call of nature and when he returned he saw the repairman beating an unknown woman with a cobblestone. When the repairman came at him, the noble testified, he got in his carriage and fled to report the crime.

Drupert was convicted on the basis of the noble's testimony and the blood on his clothes.

As he lay chained in the lockup awaiting his death by stoning in the morning a rat entered his cell and said, "Your life is forfiet, but if you give it to Yazuria you will not die at the hands of the mob tomorrow."

Drupert agreed and the rat bit him. He changed into a rat and crawled from his chains, then followed the rat into the sewer.

The rat revealed itself to be Yazuria and Drupert abased himself and pledged to serve her.

The girl was pregnant with the noble's child and was murdered for trying to blackmail him by threatening to inform his as yet childless wife, who was the source of his wealth.

With this information Drupert went to the wife and told her all, then revealed a plan to shame and humiliate him. He impregnated the wife who became his mistress and flaunted her affair before him and dared him to expose her while Drupe used him to gain access to the darker side of the nobility.

Over time he became a powerful cleric and his network of informants and blackmail victims grew. He also extended his power by creating many more wererats over whom he had control.

The temple grew and split and founded new temples in other cities where wererats now meet in secret temples in the sewers.

[Tornadofyr]

"Chrysaur" or "Chrysáoros".

I like that a lot. I would personally respell it as Krysoras.

Blyswick is Kulrao's Staff, as he is a powerful sorcerer

[Tornadofyr]

I am Curious as to how to best present info we have developed.
I was thinking of doing a chart of the 16 gods, with each only having the name, 5e Domains, and a sentence of description.
Each player has 5 Knowledge Points. Clerics, Paladins, and Warlocks have 2 extra points.

On my side of the document, I would have profiles of each god, with 4/5 Levels of information about that god.
Folkways (Level 1) include simple stories and desciptions of people who worship that god.
(Level 2) is scholastic stuff that a devout worshipper knows
(Level 3) is the stuff Priests aren't neccesarily expected to know, but might
(Level 4) includes stories only the most obsessed, isolated scholar knows
Heresies (Level 5) are hidden from mortals. You have to go on quests to get that stuff. Not all gods have Heresies.

To learn a Level, you must spend points equal to that Level. Its easier to know a bit about a bunch of gods than it is to know a lot about one god.

Might be a bit too much work, but if Y'all are willing to help me write it up, that would be much appreciated.

[Honest Tiefling]

That would depend greatly on WHAT this information is for, such as a campaign or a published setting or a more informally published setting on a website or what. I like the idea of a chart to supplement other knowledge, as it could double as a quick reference guide for players.

I don't like the player point system. If a fighter takes religion to represent a holy background as a temple guard, they shouldn't know less then that guy who got drunk at that one party and met a fey and then got powers. I would assume most of a church's army is still fighters, and Dalfrus probably has plenty of wizardy concubines. Furthermore, this interacts weirdly with the skill. Would warlocks even get a choice in becoming warlocks?

I would split up religion into the three major factions, and assign each a skill. So you would have Religion (Evil), Religion (Law), and Religion (Chaos). Through I'd give them names, perhaps Solarium, Noctarium, and Tempestarium? Anyway, three different skills. So if you said had a paladin, a cleric and a rogue roleplaying as a inquisitor you could have the three specialized in three different bits of knowledge.

Only problem I see is a group is likely to lean to a particular type of god, so everyone might double up on that particular skill. To compensate, I suggest thinking of a lot of ways that the religion skill could be used during a campaign. After all, if you make a bunch of checks for a particular skill that is vital to getting what you want, then doubling up makes sense so that the party can benefit from the safety net of other characters. If you really want Religion to be more important, I would even suggest going as far as making it the premiere skill in identifying magical items, if most are made by priests instead of wizards. Maybe the odd item is more wizardy, but most like armor and weapons might be linked to a particular sect, so religion identifies it, not Arcana.

If you allow custom backgrounds, it could cover classes that don't normally get religion because I assume the temples would have a lot of people outside of the divine classes (spies, guardians, inquisitors, etc.) that don't normally get religion. Heck, give a feature to Dalfrus' wizards that they can use intelligence for religion checks to recall some scholarly lore if you really want to push that angle. Another could give expertise or advantage when relating to aspects (but not the main god) to cover warlocks and warlock hunters.

As for writing, I'm just not a writer, but I'll read things over. I'd include some of brian 333's legends in sidebars or supplementary material, however. A bit of flavor text can be very helpful.

[Tornadofyr]

That would depend greatly on WHAT this information is for, such as a campaign or a published setting or a more informally published setting on a website or what.
I don't like the player point system. If a fighter takes religion to represent a holy background as a temple guard, they shouldn't know less then that guy who got drunk at that one party and met a fey and then got powers.

I would split up religion into the three major factions, and assign each a skill. So you would have Religion (Evil), Religion (Law), and Religion (Chaos). Through I'd give them names, perhaps Solarium, Noctarium, and Tempestarium? Anyway, three different skills. So if you said had a paladin, a cleric and a rogue roleplaying as a inquisitor you could have the three specialized in three different bits of knowledge.

Only problem I see is a group is likely to lean to a particular type of god, so everyone might double up on that particular skill. To compensate, I suggest thinking of a lot of ways that the religion skill could be used during a campaign. After all, if you make a bunch of checks for a particular skill that is vital to getting what you want, then doubling up makes sense so that the party can benefit from the safety net of other characters. If you really want Religion to be more important, I would even suggest going as far as making it the premiere skill in identifying magical items, if most are made by priests instead of wizards. Maybe the odd item is more wizardy, but most like armor and weapons might be linked to a particular sect, so religion identifies it, not Arcana.

If you allow custom backgrounds, it could cover classes that don't normally get religion because I assume the temples would have a lot of people outside of the divine classes (spies, guardians, inquisitors, etc.) that don't normally get religion. Heck, give a feature to Dalfrus' wizards that they can use intelligence for religion checks to recall some scholarly lore if you really want to push that angle. Another could give expertise or advantage when relating to aspects (but not the main god) to cover warlocks and warlock hunters.

Do the Knowledge Levels make sense though? If so, how would you convert them with your skill ideas? Maybe each skill gives 3 points that can only be used on that Faction's gods?
All your questions made me think, and I will probably implement a few of your suggestions.
The Different Religion skills make total sense for what I envision for the world: The different Factions are worshipped closely together.
Making Religion more relevant also works well.

[Tornadofyr]

I've been thinking about turning the Alignments into Courts.

The Court of the Sun obeys Susetria
The Court of the Moon obeys Tanubrai
The Court of Tempests follows Kulrao

This allows doubt in cosmic right and wrong, while still keeping antagonism against Kulrao and his followers. It also makes it clear that the other two Courts aren't fully allies, since I've been thinking about driving some sort of wedge between them.

Each God's allegiance stays the same, and the hack to allow 3 Religion Skills stays.

Thoughts? Any ideas about what drove the Sun and Moon Courts apart?