The DIY Pantheon: domains and symbols

Choosing domains for your fantasy gods: Writing a fantasy religion Part 2

Today we’re thinking about symbols and domains for your pantheon.

Domains serve to differentiate gods, help people sort themselves into communities, and better understand who they are and what they personally believe in. 

If you’re trying to decide whether your world needs one god or many, check out my article on monotheism vs polytheism first.

For the sake of brevity, I’m going to use ‘god’ as a gender neutral term to refer to all manner of celestial beings. Okay? Okay. 

So what the hell is a domain anyway?

In this context, domain roughly means area of responsibility or focus. 

That area can be geographical, subject based (ie. god of knowledge, god of science), or refer to practical ways that people “sort” themselves (ie. god of farmers or god of mothers).

Domain relates to the word dominion, which means having sovereignty or control over a particular territory.

Personally, I prefer to use the word ‘responsibility’ rather than ‘control’. 

In a pantheon, it’s quite possible that ‘areas’ may be contested and gods may be in conflict over who is in control. It may be a constant god v god battle over who really has control over a swatch of land or a favored mortal that happens to fall under multiple gods’ portfolios.

Responsibility also implies a certain degree of protection in exchange for fealty. Mortals generally expect their gods to protect them, as long they dance the proper congas and serve up the appropriate offerings.

Domains and Symbols

Gods have associated symbols, which hopefully, are relevant to their domain.

Unless of course, they’re a god of madness, in which case, all bets are off, and their worship services may look something like this.

Symbols used could be aspects of nature (like the sun), representative of traits (a lion meaning strength), or specific to an occupation, such as scales for merchants or a hook and net for fishermen. Sometimes these are place specific symbols like the hearth (to represent the home), or extremely geographically specific: like a certain twisted tree on the slope of a certain flat-topped mountain.

Similarly, a pantheon with multiple gods tends to divvy up responsibilities with domains.

There are a few different ways this can be handled, and while it might be tempting to mix and match methodologies, find a consistent thread to weave between the gods. Otherwise your pantheon will end up as clear a swamp water cocktail.

(More on that in my next article when we talk about the relationships between gods).

There are a lot of different ways to categorize gods’ domains.

This is non-exhaustive list, but hopefully it sparks your imagination:

Race

And I mean *fantasy race*. There may be separate gods for elves, dwarves, humans, orcs, etc. In a world where you have many distinct types of humanoids and perhaps intelligent non-humanoid creatures, it might make sense for each ‘race’ to be represented in your pantheon. 

Why? 

Let’s say you have a world where humans believe they’re superior to other creatures (I know, that would never happen, right? But let’s play pretend.) You’re a well-educated goblin. Do you want to serve a god who looks human when humans would kill you on sight? 

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess no.

Craft or Occupation

These tend to be somewhat broad, you may have a god of craftspeople or even of smiths - but it’s probably not subdivided into a gods of armorsmiths, swordsmiths, blacksmiths, smiths-who-prefer-to-use-machina-over-coal-forges, or smiths-whose-surnames-start-with-M. 

Admittedly, a pantheon having a good deal of middle management to oversee very specific craftspeople is kind of funny. But unless that’s the point your book is trying to make, ask yourself how many gods your world can reasonably support. Also consider the toll on your reader. It’s a lot easier to remember five or ten gods than several hundred.

Another point on craft or occupation as part of pantheon structure: there can be overlap with other modes of categorization. For example, if dwarves are known for their smithing, and elves are known for their fine jewellery, a god of dwarves could also be a god of smiths, whereas a god of elves could be a god of jewelers or something similar.

Element

Earth, fire, wind, water, plant, lightning, dark.

No, these are not pokemon types. 

Whose that pantheon? Not a god I want to mess with.

Gods can have elemental domains and powers. 

It makes sense for there to be some geographical overlap here. People living on the side of a volcano may worship a god of stone and fire, whereas seafaring peoples may follow a water god.

Similarly, certain crafts lend themselves naturally to certain elements. A god of fishermen is probably not a god of fire and lightning, because generally speaking, having those elements on a boat is not going to be a pleasant experience.

But it would make a lot of sense for sailors to pledge their allegiance to a god of water and wind. Or for gnomish tinkers to pray to a god of steam.

When considering elemental domains, you can be basic, but you don’t have to be. 

Get creative. Experiment with combining domains. Remember, the big rule is that your world’s logic should be internally consistent. 

If volcanos spurt cold water, and the seas are made of lava, well, you may end up with fishermen worshipping a lava god. And that’s okay.

Geographical/Localized

Gods can also have geographical domains. In ancient Greece, cities had their own patron gods. Japan has shrines to particular spirits dotting mountainsides. 

Maybe your religious “pantheon” is less about deities and more about helpful or vengeful nature spirits or ancestors’ ghosts that linger in a region.

Geographical gods can include such deities as a god of the sea (which would likely have associated occupations or elements), or be as specific and localized as a god of Lake Kraken, which may in fact just be a kraken that has been deified and given offerings for protection by the local populace.

Local gods may or may not be recognized in a larger pantheon, such as the patron gods of Grecian cities. If you are developing highly localized gods, consider their relationships and hierarchy within your overall pantheon.

Are they recognized by other pantheon members? What does the hierarchy look like and why? 

Social Caste:

Linking your gods’ domain to social caste or class is often overlooked. Depending on the type of story you want to tell, this can create powerful conflict with your protagonist, fighting against fate, class, and the will of gods who see the protagonist as beneath them and thwart their efforts to rise above their station.

Remember, these are all ideas to inspire your imagination and help with your worldbuilding.

The goal is to create questions that in turn build lore. Why is there a temple to a mountain god on a tiny hill? How did the sea serpent’s shrine come to be in the desert?

The pantheon and ideals of your world serve to motivate your characters, and to provide a level of detail that creates a living, breathing backdrop that your readers can lose themselves in.

So what symbols represent your gods’ domains?

How will you structure them? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.

Thanks for reading.

-Lily