Pantheons
There are 2 primary ways to break down deities in the crossover universe. The first is by their reach and influence, and the second is by their general makeup.
Influence Ranks:
Local Influence:
Gods that have Local influence are the ‘weakest’ of them, having power that extends over, say, a single mountain or a location the size of a town, or covers a very specific aspect of reality (IE: Granath the Zombie God, or Cloacina the Roman goddess of sewers – through the widespread use of sewers has bumped her up a rank).
Regional Influences:
This rank covers most pagan deities who have a region of the world under their sphere of influence. This can range from a city-state (like Athens) to an empire (like the Roman one).
Greater Influences:
As the great world religions, with a billion people following them on earth. While their followers claim they created everything, they are simply sebaphages (Awe-eaters) who have grown in power and influence to span the globe.
Fundamental Influences:
Here are the “True” Gods whose existence governs embodies aspects of reality or sapient thought. Examples include the Ancient of Eternal Darkness, the Endless, and the Outer Gods.
Being Type
Elder God/Great One/ True God
This ‘species’ of God is known as a “True” God in the eyes of occultists. This is what people think of when they consider gods. They are largely humanoid in form (though exceptions exist) and are Sebaphages (Awe/Worship consumers), growing in power if they, or the thing they ‘represent’ is worshiped or revered. If they don’t have enough of this, they tend to go dormant or unattached themselves from reality.
Great Old One/Old One/True Demon
These are alien beings of immense power that are worshiped, but do not actively need it. They rarely have human forms, but can influence humanity even if they don’t want to.
Outsider
Outsiders are beings from beyond this reality that did not influence it, nor its related alternate timelines, universes, and so on. Outsiders are so far removed from the ‘natural order of things” that they break it down with their very presence. This makes them an order of magnitude more alien and dangerous than a True God or Great Old One of equal measure. They try to enter this reality and make it their own, and that makes them a threat to everything in this reality: God, Demon, and Squid.
Pantheons
Name: The Powers That Be
Status: Active.
Association: Tight Pantheon
Rank: Greater Influence
Being Type: Elder God
The Powers that Be is a collective name for a group of deities, quasi-deities, and ascendant beings who monitor earth and human development. They generally adopt a non-interference policy with their regards in order to preserve free will.
Name: Valar
Status: Inactive
Association: Tight Pantheon
Rank: Regional Influence
Being Type: Elder God
The Valar were a pantheon active thousands of years ago in the past but became so much part of the world that they became a part of it. They can still be invoked to have an effect on things, but they are largely dormant. Eru Illuvatar, the head of the Pantheon who helped sing the universe into creation, however, is apparently active, and maybe another name for the being simply called “God” (or it’s co-opting the worship, there’s a lot of debate about this point). Eru Illuvatar is considered a Fundamental Influence. Dark occultists consider him to be the head conductor of the song that keeps dread Azathoth asleep.
Name: Ancients
Status: Active until 2000, then Inactive
Association: Opposing
Rank: Fundamental Influence
Being Type: Great Old One
These beings are important to the creation of reality, but also terrible horrors that want total control over reality. At least, until a multiverse level trick was played on them and they largely destroyed themselves, though they retain that whole “That is Not Dead Which Can Eternal Lie” thing the Great Old Ones have. There are 4 Ancients: Chattur’gha, the great being of Matter, generates physical matter and flesh; Ulyaoth, the Master of the Planes, generates magical energy and spirits; Xel’lotath, the Goddess of Insanity, is a master of thoughts; and Mantorok, The Master of Chaos and greatest of the Ancients (until it was bound), works towards humanity’s benefit, but is chaos in the term of free will and choice. There is a Fifth Ancient, but information on that being has been lost.
Name: Outer Gods
Status: Active
Association: Loose
Rank: Fundamental Influence
Being Type: Great Old One
Similar to the Ancients, the Outer Gods help fundamentally shape reality, generally towards the negative. They consist of Yog-Sothoth, who governs spacetime, Azathoth, the blind idiot whose dreaming is reality guided by the song of Eru Illuvatar, and Shub-Niggurath, goddess of fertility. Their soul and active agent in the world is Nyarlathotep, who spreads madness where he goes, seemingly for the cruel amusement it brings the being.
Name: Celestials
Status: Active
Association: Loose Pantheon
Rank: Greater Influence
Being Type: Elder God
Giant armored beings, the celestials are unknowable beings that seem to spread sentience across the universe, seeding it among life where they can. Why they do this is up for much debate, as they test, prod, and finally judge their creations for reasons of their own.
Name: The Loa
Status: Active
Association: Loose Pantheon
Rank: Regional
Being Type: Elder God
Also called Mysteries or Invisibles, these are the Saints of the Voodun religion. They are served by their worshipers as tools of the "creative force" (Destiny of the Endless). As such, they demand respect whenever they are encountered, and if they perceive they are being slighted in any way or are not properly invoked, retribution may follow. There are three groups of Loa:
The Rada Loa are generally the older and kinder to humanity. They include Legba, Loko, Ayizan, Dhamballah Wedo and Ayida-Weddo, Erzulie Freda, La Sirene, and Agoueh. Their traditional color is white, though each Loa has its own individual color.
The Petro Loa are spirits that operate on extremes, though only occasionally aggressive and warlike. They include Erzulie Dantor, Marinette, Ogoun, and Kalfu (Carrefour). Their traditional color is red.
The Ghede Loa are the spirits of the dead. They are traditionally led by the Barons (La Croix, Samedi, Cimitire, Kriminel), and Maman Brigitte. The Ghede as a family are loud, rude (only rarely to the point of real insult), sexual, and usually fun-loving. As those who have lived already, they do not fear death. Their traditional colors are black and purple.
Featured Beings:
Papa Legba a.k.a. Alegba, Legba, Legba Atibon, Atibon Legba, Ati-Gbon Legba.
Papa Legba is an intermediary between the Loa and Humanity. He is the first and last spirit invoked when dealing with the Legba. He is a Crossroads diety and largely neutral to events.
Name: Pharaonic Pantheon
Status: Diminished
Association: Tight
Rank: Regional
Being Type: Elder God
The Pharonic Pantheon, like many old-world pantheons, has largely dissipated, with only few deities still gaining worship in recent times due to various occult orders and the rise of Egyptology. Without worship, most of the deities are no longer function on earth. In Goauld controlled space, however, where many of the creatures adopted the guise of the Egyptian gods, the worship continues and they occasionally answer the calls of their followers. Of these Osiris remains simply as an avatar of the entity called Death. And Ra has lost both his worshipers and his Ra-Tet, so it is doubtful that he will receive worship in this day and age. Bast, Goddess of Cats, was only an associate of this pantheon. Her feline worshipers were all she generally cared for, and she has largely active mostly into the Dreamlands.
Name: Olympian Pantheon
Status: Overturned
Association: Tight
Rank: Regional
Being Type: Elder God
Zeus is no longer in control of this pantheon, having been replaced by his son Hercules, as he replaced his own father, as his father replaced his grandfather in an endless cycle of power. Many of the old deities such as Janus and Hecate retain most of their positions, while others have been usurped by successor deities. Aradia, Hecate’s benevolent daughter, has stolen worshipers from the Witch-Goddess and is credited for the creation of Wicca. Thespia has taken over the role of Nyx as Goddess of night and darkness, but also of actors and plays. Hecate is especially active in the modern world, as she and the Hellboy are to play a pivotal role in the apocalypse of the Ogdru-Jahad. Athena is the current leader of the Pantheon, having overthrown Zeus, with Hercules as her champion. The entire Pantheon itself, however, is subservient to the Canaanite Pantheon
Name: Canaanite Pantheon
Status: Active
Association: Hierarchical
Rank: Greater
Being Type: Elder God
This is the Pantheon of the being simply known as “God” or Jehova, or Yahweh. It was once a different form of pantheon, but one deity took it over and subdued, subsumed, or cast aside every other member of the pantheon. And then beat several other local pantheons into compliance, or nearly destroyed them. Or both. These include the Greek, Norse, and Celtic Pantheons. They are allowed to operate largely on their own, but are subservient to the one who calls himself “I Am.”
Name: Vedic Pantheon
Status: Active
Association: Tight
Rank: Regional
Being Type: Elder God
This pantheon is one of the oldest, and with one of the largest numbers of worshipers on the planet despite their localized ranges. They have managed to continue on despite pressure from different sides largely due to their ownership of several Magical Weapons of Mass Destruction. It makes up for their lack of physical territory.
Name: The Celestial Bureaucracy
Status: Waning
Association: Tight
Rank: Regional
Being Type: Elder God
The Celestial Bureaucracies are the gods and spirits of China. Not really officially active in everyday Chinese life, but still subtly present in the culture. Most of their survival comes in the form of stories and festivals, so they owe a great debt to The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, who is probably best known simply as Monkey.
Name: The Endless
Status: Active
Association: Tight
Rank: Fundamental
Being Type: Elder God
The Endless are a group of beings beyond most deities and powers, representing universal concepts in anthropomorphic personification. Each one varies in personality greatly and as does the interaction with the human world.
Destiny appears as a Blind man and governs fate in his book. However, he does not claim to know the future, only what has happened, as it happens. At the end of all things, Destiny will be embraced by his sister: Death.
Death is the most human of the Endless, knowing more about life because of her position as ferry for those who die. She appears as a darkly dressed pale woman with her symbol: an Ankh.
Dream is another rather human Endless. He was once captured and held imprisoned, leading to a wave of sleeping sickness victims and rogue dreams from the 1930s to the late 1980s. He now has taken a different form, having to surrender the previous one to his sister Death. Dream is the ruler of the Dreamlands, which plays host to many other deities: some of the Great Old Ones live there, as well as personal deities and Great ones
Destruction is a prodigal Endless which can no longer be invoked, having grown sick of his post.
Desire is the twin of Despair; she governs want, but is continually unsatisfied and is often capricious and cruel. She appears as an androgynous, pale humanoid.
Despair is an obese, short, nude, grey humanoid with sharp teeth who is quietly intelligent and appropriately cold. Like Dream, she has changed form over time through Death.
Delirium is madness personified, and her aspects govern mystical lands such as Oz and the worlds briefly connected to Europe through small rabbit holes in the earth. She appears as a young woman with one green and one blue eye. Nothing else about her remains constant enough to fit a description. She was once Delight, but some traumatic event caused her to shift into her current role. This change of roles is largely related to the treatment of sentient life in the pursuit of pleasure. She is the youngest of the Endless.
Name: Incan Pantheon
Status: unknown
Association: Loose
Rank: Regional
Being Type: Elder God
The Incan Pantheon was much like the early Roman pantheon, absorbing other deities into it. Sebancaya, a mountain god, was one of them. Since the dissolution of the Incan empire and the rise of Christianity, the deities have only been worshiped by their servitors and a few humans in small locations.
Name: Anito
Status: Active
Association: Loose
Rank: Regional
Being Type: Elder God
A coalition of nature spirits, gods, and ancestor spirits worshiped across the Philipines, with different deities and entities having greater or lesser sway. They have a largely hands-off approach, but their desire for worship/energy brings them to our world. In modern times, many have adapted to new technologies – like war gods running arcades where combat games are the main draw.
Who rules the pantheon varies by region, how they work together is currently unknown.
Name: Ancestral Spirits
Status: Active
Association: Loose
Rank: Local
Being Type: Other
Ancestor worship is a long-running theme throughout human civilization. Specific ancestors can only be called upon by those who are related to that group or connected to it somehow, otherwise, a great deal of placation would be needed to deal with them successfully.
Name: The Cthulhu Cult
Status: That is not dead which can eternal lie and in strange eons, even death may die.
Association: Loose
Rank: Varies
Being Type: Great Old One
Great Cthulu Is, Was, and Will Be Again. As the High Priest of many of the Great Old Ones, his worship takes precedents over many others and those sleeping in his charge are considered ‘subordinate.’ Other Great Old Ones, such as Hastur the Unspeakable. The true nature of this entity is hard to parse given many of the given sources are … suspect when it comes to other religious practices, but there are worshipers who commit atrocities.
Name: The Ogdru Jahad
Status: That Which Is Not Dead…
Association: Tight
Rank: Greater
Being Type: Old One
The Dragon of the Apocalypse who are trapped in ice deep within space, these monsters await the day Hellboy completes his destiny. They are Amon-Jahad, Adad-Jahad , Namrat-Jahad, Irra-Jahad, Nunn-Jahad, Beuu-Jahad and Nergal-Jahad. They are served by the Ogrdu-Hem. Mighty serpents of tremendous size. They range in power from beings like Lurconis and Olvikan to much more massive beasts.
Name: The Walkers
Status: Active
Association: Tight
Rank: Local
Being Type: Outsider
Heralds of an invasion of outsiders, the Walkers are three beings, each working to that end. Each one is as insidious as the last.
He Who Walks Beside (also known as “Nemesis”) infects and corrupts beings, granting them powers they should not have (be it magical potency or greater ‘free will’ for supernatural beings). It saps, corrupts, and undermines efforts against the Outsiders. This appears as living darkness.
He Who Walks Behind is a hunting horror. Sent out to destroy those who who could oppose it. And it is ALWAYS behind its target. Turn to face it, and it will be behind you, no matter where you turn. It can only be properly fought via its reflection. This being appears as a hulking brute.
He Who Walks Before is the herald. The leader of the charge to bring forth the Outsiders and rip this reality apart. It appears as a shark-faced ball of rags, where the rags are in truth tentacles.
Unknown Pantheons
These deities have been referenced in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and other places, and are completely fictional as far as I can tell.
Neisa: Neisa is a goddess of chance and fortune. As such, her whims are varied and unpredictable. Her followers are generally modern pagans.
Oofdar: Oofdar is a minor goddess of childbirth from South America. Her effigy is often placed in hospitals to aid the pains of labor and drive off child-eating monsters.
Granath the Zombie God: Those who invoke Granath can raise zombies of the mindless, undead slave variety. They all serve Granath as well as their master, and should there ever be a conflict of interest, Granaths wishes shall win out all the time.
Dinza, Dark Demi-Goddess of the Lost: Dinza is a demigoddess of lost things and those who are lost. Dangerous, cruel, powerful and unpredictable, Dinza has a very large collection of left socks in her lair.
Gozer the Gozerian: A deity of destruction and fire, Gozer takes the form of whatever its worshipers wish for it to take as the best method of destroying the city it has been summoned to. It last appeared in 1984, but was sealed in its dimension by the original Ghostbusters. People still worship it, but Gozer takes a long time to answer any prayer sent its way.
Nodens the Hunter is noted for hunting down demons and monsters (including lesser Great Old Ones)
Ntse-kaambl is of particular note as some occult scholars believe that the Slayers of earth are directly tied to either this goddess of Nodens.
Ariel is the pure truth for which little can stand against.
Karakal is a fire god of the dreamlands.
Lilith remains in the dreamlands and is proclaimed the god of vampires and succubae.
Robigus is titled the god of Fungus.
Tamash serves as the god of illusions.
Many minor deities have been captured and imprisoned by the Ghostbusters, such as the Halloween god Samhain. Since their imprisonment, they are no longer able to affect the world with their odd abilities and are thus not stated here.
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Numbers 21: God Gave The Canaanites Over To Israel To Completely Destroy
1 When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked the Israelites and captured some of them.
2 Then Israel made this vow to the Lord: “If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy their cities.”
3 The Lord listened to Israel’s plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named Hormah.
The Bronze Snake
4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way;
5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
6 Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.
7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”
9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
The Journey to Moab
10 The Israelites moved on and camped at Oboth.
11 Then they set out from Oboth and camped in Iye Abarim, in the wilderness that faces Moab toward the sunrise.
12 From there they moved on and camped in the Zered Valley.
13 They set out from there and camped alongside the Arnon, which is in the wilderness extending into Amorite territory. The Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.
14 That is why the Book of the Wars of the Lord says:
“. . . Zahab in Suphah and the ravines,
the Arnon
15 and the slopes of the ravines
that lead to the settlement of Ar
and lie along the border of Moab.”
16 From there they continued on to Beer, the well where the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together and I will give them water.”
17 Then Israel sang this song:
“Spring up, O well!
Sing about it,
18 about the well that the princes dug,
that the nobles of the people sank—
the nobles with scepters and staffs.”
Then they went from the wilderness to Mattanah,
19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
20 and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.
Defeat of Sihon and Og
21 Israel sent messengers to say to Sihon king of the Amorites:
22 “Let us pass through your country. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”
23 But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He mustered his entire army and marched out into the wilderness against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel.
24 Israel, however, put him to the sword and took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites, because their border was fortified.
25 Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its surrounding settlements.
26 Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon.
27 That is why the poets say:
“Come to Heshbon and let it be rebuilt;
let Sihon’s city be restored.
28 “Fire went out from Heshbon,
a blaze from the city of Sihon.
It consumed Ar of Moab,
the citizens of Arnon’s heights.
29 Woe to you, Moab!
You are destroyed, people of Chemosh!
He has given up his sons as fugitives
and his daughters as captives
to Sihon king of the Amorites.
30 “But we have overthrown them;
Heshbon’s dominion has been destroyed all the way to Dibon.
We have demolished them as far as Nophah,
which extends to Medeba.”
31 So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.
32 After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, the Israelites captured its surrounding settlements and drove out the Amorites who were there.
33 Then they turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army marched out to meet them in battle at Edrei.
34 The Lord said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.”
35 So they struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army, leaving them no survivors. And they took possession of his land.
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