Homebrew Fantasy Deities

These are homebrew deities written with use in Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition in mind, but can be used for other things. You may use these if you wish, all I ask is that I recieve credit if you do anything public with them.

The Mari Lludw, Goddess of Departure

Domains: Death, Grave

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Mari Lludw (mare-ee shee-dew) appears as a massive, 6-legged skeletal horse, with a cloak draped over its torso.

She organizes the passing of the departed to the next world, singing instructions to her agents of the grave made in her own image¹ known as the Mari Lwyd (Mare-ee sha-wid). Mari Lludw gains no power from death or life, and even her most devout followers are not likely to receive special treatment once they have passed.

Once sent to do her job, a Mari Lwyd will never give up. She can be distracted, or possibly even impeded, but she will always eventually succeed. If her target becomes an undead, the Mari Lwyd sent for them will lie in wait until they are ultimately destroyed. But while a Mari Lwyd's patience is great, lasting even millennia, it is not infinite.

The Mari Llwyd are said to enjoy celebrations and festivals in all its forms, often being distracted by them when encountered on the way to their targets. Because of this, frequent celebrations are said to bring long life.

For reasons I haven't decided yet, it has become tradition among some civilizations that believe in the Mari Lludw and her agents of the grave to create 3-person Mari Llwyd costumes² and request entrance to any encountered celebrations through song.

APE, Beast god of Artillery and Fortresses

Domains: War

Alignment: True Neutral

Until I can write a good paragraph about APE, this bulleted list will have to do.

• APE is a giant gorilla.
• APE was based off a pathfinder character, an awakened gorilla gunsmith.
• He rules from a massive, impregnable fortress in the heavens, staffed with monkey guards, sentries, etc.
• High focus on massive defense, and massive power if applicable
• Some, but not great focus on precision. You want to hit your target, but if you're using artillery your target is likely fairly large.
• Very little focus on speed and mobility. Often none at all, because fortresses can't move.
• No stealth. Cannonfire isn't very easy to hide.
• APE's domain covers things like great fortresses, artillery, and large war machines (e.g. tanks)
• APE's domain does not cover things like heavy armor, small firearms, or most forms of magic.

The Burning Muse, Goddess of the Act of Creation

Domains: Forge

Alignment: Neutral Good

The Burning Muse was born from the first true act of creation: creating to honor the ability to create. This is what The Burning Muse embodies. As such, making something in her name serves the same purpose as prayer. Being a forge goddess, she favors metallurgy, but does not reject creation in any of its forms. To reject creation would be to reject herself.

She is often depicted as having flames for eyes, and bearing armor said to bear the image of all things made in her name coalescing into a gargantuan mosaic of creation. While The Burning Muse is not one to go to war, it is said that songs of her glory written by her worshipers would follow her into battle, playing and intertwining into a symphony ultimately of her followers' design.³

Additional homebrew deities are planned to be added to this list.

Footnotes

1. Albeit, much smaller. The size of an actual horse.
2. The most basic costume consisting of three people standing in a line under a large sheet, with the person in front holding up a horse's skull.
3. Thank you to thegreatestegg on Discord for coming up with the concepts for her armor and war song!

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