Unstatted (and even unnamed) gods across the Megaverse

[Tor]

I think those of us who collect the major god books (Pantheons, D&G) and any sourcebooks with gods in them (England, Africa, SA1+2, FoM, that Rifter with the missing Russian Gods we tend to forget in spite of their canonicity) we tend to develope a sort of familiarity with various gods who are statted out. We gain some idea of who they are, the threat they possess. We can never imagine everything they're capable of, but they gain a kind of comfortable feeling. They can be scary, yeah, but at least it's the kind of 'I know how this thing can destroy me' type of thing.

Recently looking through SA2 I noticed something kinda terrifying. I had read about the Pantheon of the Sun. Decent enough gods, on par with other big guys out there like Zeus, I figured. Worth taking into account. I thought I knew the strength of that empire on the highest level. But I was wrong...

Four gods are described on pages 40-46. Those 4 are the kinds who influence the True Inca Godlings on pg 20 and the Sun Priests on pg 24. You tend to get an overall sense of that being all there is... but it's not.

Pg 14 mentions "a dozen true gods live in the Empire of the Sun". That is EIGHT in addition to the 4 identified in SA2.

Who are these 8 unknowns? Are they also members of the Pantheon of the Sun, independents, or some rival pantheon co-operating to rule the Empire? Could they be visiting gods from other pantheons already defined? Do Zeus and Brahma own vacation retreats here?

There've been cases of gods being mentioned in D+G and CB2 who aren't statted out, just named, and I'm wondering what other frightening lesser-known god references people could introduce here.

[cornholioprime]

Neither Tikilik nor The Rainbow Serpent are truly statted out; the creatures that we see in Rifts: Australia are just super-powerful 'essence fragments' of the real gods themselves.

The Dark in the Nightbane setting has no stats.

The Psynex Entity has no stats.

[arouetta]

The Pantheon of Aco is supposed to have more.

The Celestial Court isn't covered, and that's supposed to be over 50 gods and goddesses.

[Tor]

D&Gwise...
pg96 has seven: Abo, Damu, Ginja, Kule, Ma, Puno and Wunja
pg101 mentions Brgg,who on pg167 we find out is Od's father
pg136 mentions Harmakhis, who sounds familiar but I can't seem to find
pg144 mentions Joker of Palladium and Narabium, not sure if they're gods or covered in any books though
pg162 mentions Nephthys and Upuat and Sekhir (though it's not clear if the latter 2 are gods)
pg163 also mentions Anat, Geb, Khnum, Meshkent, Sekhir, Seshat and "thousands of others". Bast is mentioned and not present, but she's in Rifts South America 1.
pg168 mentions Ymrr, who is Epim's mother
pg173 mentions Ygllgs, who is Heim's mother
pg175 mentions Trnk, who is Belimar's father
pg194 mentions Angrboda who is Hel's mother

Deconstructing Northern God surname etymology can be a bit troublesome. Hel teaches us that women are named after their mothers, while Loknar/Hoknar show us sons are named after their fathers. While the son/dotter endings are obvious enough, there is some inconsistency as to whether they are added straight, or whether or not an 's' is added in between.

No 's' is added between 'Brgg' and 'son' but one IS added to his grandsons, Od+s+son to make "Odsson". This may indicate that the absence/presence of an S could be generation-based.

We know an 's' is added in Hel's surname, but since she is of a generation lower than Loknar, it may stand to reason that only the higher-generation offspring need no S.

Due to the double-s we should assume that Belimar is of the same or lower generation as Loknar/Hoknar. It may be that Trnk has a single-S surname though.

Since one of the Ss in a double-s comes from "son", the reason I chose "Yglggs" rather than "Ygllg" is because it's a 'dotter'. The only other explanation I can think is that Heim could possibly even lower-generation than Hel (perhaps multiple Ss get added eventually every 2 generations or so?) but that's a shot in the dark.

The odd bit here is Epim. There is an 's' prior to 'dotter' in her surname, so this either means her mother was named Ymrrs and she and her mom are of the same generation as Od/Brgg, or her mother is named Ymrr and they is of a lower generations than Od/Brgg.

What Epim and Heim's surnames indicate to me is that it may be common for some female names to end in S, even if the 3 statted out don't have that trait.

[Rimmerdal]

Some gods are ones that chose not directly intervene. If Rifts ever did its version Legends and Lore it would be at least 5 books long...

[Tor]

That belief is non-canon. The book says 8 other gods reside there, so they must. Though they could leave at any time and could be already-defined ones rather than members of the SA pantheons.

[eliakon]

There are probably LOTS of unstated and unnamed gods out there. Think of it like the NFL, with each pantheon being one of the teams. There will be some 'big name' talent (the ones that get written up) that most everyone knows, there will be the middle level guys that the fans of a given team will know, and then there are all the other guys (the training team, reserve team, staff....) Looking at historical pantheons vs. write ups, I would say maybe 1percent (if that) of the gods get 'face time' which, to me, seems reasonable.

[Tor]

I guess what I mean by 'unnamed' is 'but still referenced', so to speak. As in, there might be a reference to a god out there even if they aren't given a catchy pseudonym like "The Liberator" or whatever to go by.

There's also the 4 voodoo goods in SA1, ran across them yesterday.

[Library Ogre]

The Pantheon of Aco is supposed to have more.

The Celestial Court isn't covered, and that's supposed to be over 50 gods and goddesses.

Ma was statted (by me) in one of the Rifter Swimsuit editions, greatly depowered from her heyday.

And, of course, the elephant in the room.

[Tor]

I always figured the elephant was visiting Nightbane Earth and involved in that whole Guardian/Athanatos business.

Also worthy of mention is the demon/deevil ability to reincarnate by possessing the fetus of a pregnant woman.

Heck, in the original PF, demons could even conceive offspring with mortals (mentioned under witches), that'd be fun to bring in for the elephant.

One suggestion for your article: while you acknowledged the priesthood in Russia, only the Coalition was addressed in North America, but what about the fire/brimstone guys in New West?

Also since the history of Abraham also involves some overlap with Torah/Quran content, clarifying whether Allah is an alternate identity or rival entity (perhaps a Djinn?) and how that fits into the world history of inter-pantheon conflict would also be cool.

[Library Ogre]

Short answer? After first writing it, I got bored with it and didn't do anything more.

One suggestion for your article: while you acknowledged the priesthood in Russia, only the Coalition was addressed in North America, but what about the fire/brimstone guys in New West?

Been a while since I wrote it, but I either forgot about them or didn't bother since they don't have any actual powers deriving from their worship.

Also since the history of Abraham also involves some overlap with Torah/Quran content, clarifying whether Allah is an alternate identity or rival entity (perhaps a Djinn?) and how that fits into the world history of inter-pantheon conflict would also be cool.

My original intent was to view Allah as a different view of the same entity, with most prophets being witches.

[Library Ogre]

I think it is less that they "cannot" change their shape and more that they see no reason to. Want to spend some time among the lesser races? Make an essence fragment, wander around in Elven form until you get tired of it and eat their children.

[Library Ogre]

Yeah... I'd read that as "We failed to think through the consequences of the abilities these creatures have."

[Tor]

It might very well be that some AIs have immunity to transformation like Atlanteans or Nightbane do. As for why they have circles of transformation, I would expect for use on their massive slave empire.

Also I forgot about Verrikon who fought the false Enlil in Pantheons. Never know if he might come back.