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EVE-Online RP Discussion and Resources => Player Driven Content => Topic started by: Kaleigh Doyle on 02 Jun 2010, 12:24
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So, I'm not sure if this belongs here or in the character development section, but I took some time today to work out a pantheon of Gallentean deities that may still have an impact on the multi-culture of the Federation. This is an attempt at fleshing out the Gallente culture a bit more to give the Amarr something to bitch about and the Galfed xenophobes something to protect.
Also, I'd be interested to see how the Amar-lite religion within the Federation takes advantage of these deities by possibly suggest they are really all one true god, and he's got a plan. Or considering how half the population is Minmatar, how their culture blends and intermeshes with this idea.
If you like the concept here, feel free to use it or give some feedback.
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Egoithie - Goddess of Sloth, Apathy, Selfishness - Clever wordsmiths at the time of Luminaire's monarchial period often referenced this Goddess in subtle reference to the disparity of the peasant masses with the elite of society. In the space age, even amidst a democracy, the Gallente culture is still permeated by excess, expressed through art, architecture, and the vast machine that is Federation politics. This deity is rarely expressed in a kind light.
Jemiel - God of Light, Ambition, and Impetuousness - The impassioned behavior of rebellious teens and idealistic young adults are said to be attributed to the spell of Jemiel. Capsuleers are no exception to his charms, often attributed to bright-eyed rookies looking to unprotected regions of space for fortune and glory.
Désoaos - God of Chaos and Confusion - Commonly blamed for friendly fire and calamity on the battlefield, this deity is one of the more unpopular members of the pantheon. Amongst intellectuals, this god is often referenced as a positive element, serving to uproot commonly held misconceptions and inducing change where necessary.
Amauté – Goddess of Love, desire, beauty, and rebirth – commonly associated amongst capsuleers with the cloning process, and a subtle prayer before battle to ensure they return healthy and intact.
Remelac - God of Music and Luck – commonly used in Egonics™ advertisements, and often pursued for guidance to by gamblers and investors hoping for some foresight on their risks.
Geros – God of War – Commonly invoked by poets and writers during the Caldari/Gallente war to describe the brutality and senselessness of violence, Geros is often invoked (and understood) between Gallenteans predominantly through the negative aspects of conflict
Chareté - Goddess of Purity, fertility, and Hunting – Miners liken themselves to this deity when they extract choice deposits from a field, as opposed to simply stripping the field bare. Superstitious combat pilots trying to scan down targets or pursue war enemies might invoke Chareté for aid.
Botresse - Goddess of Wisdom and Skill – Politicians, diplomats, and leaders are often found invoking this deity’s name in their campaigns and speeches. Amongst pilots, this Goddess is often received appreciatively when experience and preparation proves fruitful.
Renuit – Goddess of the Harvest and Sustenance – Commonly invoked amongst capsuleers to describe an abundance of something, be it minerals, salvage, or easy/opportune targets.
Esprosi - God of Celebration and Generosity – A favorite amongst crew bars and most social gatherings, this deity can be invoked to describe the altruistic or charitable behavior rarely found between pilots.
Morscutus – God of Death, Darkness, and Silence – Pilots often refer to space as the realm of Morscutus, a silent darkness that ultimately claims even the most careful pilots and crew. This deity is either invoked as a curse or a somber acceptance of lost friends and loved ones.
Ingenomine – God of Ingenuity and Adaptation – Often invoked by sports teams to describe unlikely victories or underdog favorites, this deity would also be credited with financial success or creative willpower overcoming tremendous hurdles.
Umille – Goddess of Family and Relationships – Commonly found amongst corporate banners and breakroom motivational posters, this deity engenders a uniting, or familial element amongst corporate or alliance pilots to rough out turbulent periods.
Voltennes – God of Speed, Theft, and Communication – Particularly popular amongst racers, interceptor pilots, and blockade runners, this God is also respected amongst pirates and unsavories for profitable extortion and ransacking of undefended moon structures. This deity is also a rather common name for communications or fast transit companies, and is generally appreciated for the arrival of good news.
Obisus - God of Subtlety, Observation, and Perception - Reward comes to those who possess the patience to wait, and there are many cautionary tales written from ancient authors featuring this deity in winged form. Covert Ops pilots often paint this bird on their ship as a superstitious reminder, and intelligence agencies often depict a bird often described as Obisus in their logos.
Cevestis – God of Justice, Mercy, and Benevolence – Statues of this deity are often present outside local courthouses as a symbol of respect for fairness in the legal process. Generosity expressed from a position of authority or power are generally regarded as a positive sign from Cevestis, and the homeless (a common sight in the Federation) often invoke his name.
Tenaros - God of Agitation, Greed, and Revenge – While many attribute the God of Death to space, those looking for adventure and wealth often associate it with this deity. Modern culture has also related this deity with wormholes and even the EVE Gate, guarded greedily by this god against the foolishness of humanity.
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Looks very good, one deity i would split thought:
Ingenomine – God of Ingenuity, Adaptation, and Improbability
Improbability is more related with "chance". While ingenuity and adaptation to abilities or skills.
So a "chance/improbabilty" is more fitting to be differentiated from Ingenomine. We also require a god or goddess for gambling, so it fits nicely.
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Good point. I gave Remelac the gift of Luck. Thanks for the input.
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I for one would love to make use of this. Is this a final draft you think, or will there be edits? If so, please let us know when it's complete. Wouldn't want to be worshiping a defunct god afterall...
>.>
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Not sure, but the last time I checked Gallente Prime is listed as having somewhere around 18 moons in its orbit. Gallentean polytheism might take that into account, with each moon being associated to a divinity and the religion having an astronomical bent. (Oh no, Geros is waxing - we're all going to die!) Having their religion so closely intertwined with their astronomy might also explain the Gallentean's drive to reach the stars and bring their silly moon religion to the Caldari.
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This is awesome, but up until now I was using the Gallentean ship names as Gallentean gods, however, they were all aggression-related, so gets a bit limiting.
Gallente Prime has 17 moons. I think it would be cool to have 17 "gods" then, no? I count 14 there :D
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I'm open to other suggestions if you have ideas for more gods I'll add them. The idea here is that I'm not trying to show every god in their culture, just those that may be popular in spacebound and capsuleer (and gallente) based culture. There's plenty of room for people to elaborate and make their own.
But no I wouldn't count this as the final final draft per se, but I can't see myself making huge changes either.
Thanks for the interest. :D
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Well... if you were to tie it to the moons, you'd only be missing 3 gods. right? 17 moons?
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Gallente Prime has 17 moons. I think it would be cool to have 17 "gods" then, no?
This is a fucking great idea.
Well played, Seriph.
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Derp, thanks Lillith. I would call these the "Gods of Garoun"...not "Gods of Gallente" cause that's a bit naff.
I like Kaleigh's list though, but it shouldn't be exhaustive. I would think there are 17 "main" gods, and the rest of the gods would be based on stars.
For example, from Kaleigh's list, Geros, Cevestis, Morscutus etc. would be one of the 17 gods. The other gods like Voltennes and Remelac would be based from stars, thus providing a non-exhaustive list so that everyone can make up their own. Unless those 14 there could be all of em
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Well, if people want to make up their own (or conversely say 'mine are the real ones!') it is pretty easy to have a variety of churches with a common original set of beliefs, too. :D
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Great idea and great thread here.
I am curious, if Gallente Prime-based astrology is used as the basis for this tradition, surely the other planets in Luminaire would be involved as well. So what sort of god or spirit represents Caldari Prime? ;)
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The great Satan! Tempting the Gallente from the path of true hedonism to mere wageslavery!
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The great Satan! Tempting the Gallente from the path of true hedonism to mere wageslavery!
This.
I mean, look what their influence might have done to the Miesian colonies.
Or rather don't, 'cause it'll make your eyes bleed. At least it's made mine bleed, and I haven't finished taking a wrench to all of it yet -- so, trust me on this.
(Yes, this is a thank you, Kaleigh).
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Interpretations would have certainly changed since the Gal-Cal War. In the centuries leading up to Gallentean spacefaring and the discovery of human civilization on Caldari Prime, however, the astrological importance of Caldari Prime would probably have been as arbitrary as any real world astrological meaning. Since this is being created from scratch, I think it ought to be a point of painful irony, just for fun.
So, I recommend a minor god (or titan/whatever) represented astrologically in this pantheon by Caldari Prime whose principal domain is human loyalty. The "faithful star", they might have called it long ago...
Edit: Then again, with Caldari Prime orbiting farther out than Gallente Prime, the ancient Gals would have observed it moving in a Mars-like retrograde pattern. Perhaps its patron spirit would be better suited as a god of indecision (or betrayal?). Still opportunities for irony there. ;)
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I am thinking through how the Caldari ancestor/animism interacted with the Gallente pantheon.
Shortly following first contact:
Gallente: The Gods of Gallente Prime match one of our moons.
Caldari: Oh? Well we refer to them as the 17 pawns.
The interaction of the two cultures/religions/faiths, their different perspectives on their local planetary neighbors, and their common interstellar perspective would make for an interesting dynamic.
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Alright, I added three more to the top and fixed up a couple others.
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This is so awesome, I wish I could have something creative and organized like that to contribute to player-driven fanon :(
Gallente Prime is quite an oceanic world, and I was going to suggest maybe associate gods with physical stuff (like the sea) BUT BUT the Gallente society is quite a "virtue-based" society, so having it on abstract stuff as opposed to material stuff makes more sense (also, far more original...god of the sea is a bit overdone).
The question is, is there an organized religion based on this? It would be very weak I imagine in a society run by secularism, but it could still be there. And what would it be called? "High Order of Garoun", "The Garouni Pantheon"?
Anothe point raised is the presence of other religions in the Federation, since in PF its hammered "diversity diversity diversity". While this is true, I would think that, say, if this is the main religion of the old Garoun, every other Gallente religion (excluding non-ethnic gallente ones) would have been based from this as a root (I imagine there would be hybrids too. Like Jin-Mei interpretation...hm, gives me idea). So religions and church orders based on each of the 17 and so on. If we say this is "one religion", we could be here forever, and it would be nice to have some sort of universal aspect of Gallente society for once! :)
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Another thought-- Impetus or some other entrepreneur would have definitely made this pantheon, or whatever it'll be called, into a popular media franchise by this point. What sort of dynamic would exist between those who still have some belief/superstitions associated with the old gods and the large percentage of the society that sees them simply as elements of pop culture (i.e. "Clash of the Titans")? Furthermore, there would likely have been some penetration of the Caldari zeitgeist by this pantheon. I can imagine a series of NOH-produced adventure games based on Caldari-ized versions of these gods.
In order to survive the scientific revolution, secularization and commercialization of thought, commonplace spaceflight, and interstellar diaspora this tradition will have had to change significantly from its original form.
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Okay. So let's assume the Gallente have attempted to carry forward their moon religion to the Jin-Mei. Perhaps it might look something like this. Normally, Chinese language is a one word deal, so the below would be split into two words. For the sake of originality and distancing from "lolChina", I put the words into one. They look more badass that way. Unfortunately using "Spirits" and "Daemons" of various body parts in a Gallente equivalent context eliminates the possibility of using the same template for completely original gods and what have you. But here we go.
Also, since certain Gallente lunar gods possessed not-so-great "virtues", the Gallentean cultural deliverants decided to market them as "bad gods" instead, removing any positive attributes to them (such as Voltennes). I imagine each month gets a celebration of every spirit, while the 12th month has a celebration of them all. The daemons, meanwhile, have their eyes on every 2 months of the year.
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The Eleven Spirits of Dé
Yùnfèn (Jemiel) - Spirit of the Driven Mind
Fate and destiny
Tuōxìn (Amauté) - Spirit of the Trusting Tongue
Trust and confidence
Fúgùn (Remelac) - Spirit of the Lucky Feet
Luck and chance
Róngzūn (Chareté) - Spirit of the Honourable Hand
Honour and integrity
Zhìhuì (Botresse) - Spirit of the Wise Head
Wisdom and intelligence
Hézuò (Renuit) - Spirit of the Joint Shoulder
Cooperation and brotherhood
Císhàn (Esprosi) - Spirit of the Giving Heart
Compassion and charity
Shēnsuō (Ingenomine) - Spirit of the Open Ear
Openmindedness and flexibility
Guīgǎn (Umille) - Spirit of the Loyal Arm
Loyalty and fealty
Qingjué (Obisus) - Spirit of the Watchful Eye
Perception and obversation
Ghènzyì (Cevestis) - Spirit of the Righteous Fist
Righteousness and justice
The Six Daemons of Gū
Dàilǎn (Egoithie) - Daemon of the Foolish Mouth
Stupidity and foolishness
Bùjué (Désoaos) - Daemon of the Indecisive Jaw
Indecision and uncertainty
Shìxiōng (Geros) - Daemon of the Aggressive Nail
Aggression and violence
Mòchén (Morscutus) - Daemon of the Silent Tooth
Apathy and dispassion
Tōuqiè (Voltennes) - Daemon of the Thieving Stomach
Greed and avarice
Fùbào (Tenaros) - Daemon of the Vengeful Palm
Revenge and retaliation
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Sweet. Casi can start calling them the "Moonies".
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不错, Inhonores先生！ 你会说中文吗？
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不错, Inhonores先生！ 你会说中文吗？
No, not at all lol. A lot of the words I used are composed of two, one-syllable words, and multiple meanings. So I jumbled them up so it wasn't a direct ripoff. I'm surprised you can still say there is no mistake though :P
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Good choices on the syllables then! Not that it's even possible to make a mistake creating something like this, but 不错 really just means "not bad". :) If you wanted to reduce the "lolChina" aspect a bit further, try using Wade-Giles romanizations rather than Pinyin. The tone marks and letters used in Pinyin scream, "This is Chinese!", whereas Giles has been out of common use for a while and isn't quite as obvious.
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Furthermore, there would likely have been some penetration of the Caldari zeitgeist by this pantheon. I can imagine a series of NOH-produced adventure games based on Caldari-ized versions of these gods.
I'm sure certain segments of Caldari society did not take kindly to the erosion of their traditional belief system by prophets dressed as entrepreneurs, pop culture masquerading as faith and all the poorly acted infomercials endorsed by a deity of choice. Assimilation is so much easier when even faith can be exported in brightly coloured shrink-wrap.
Moon Religion: Yours for only five easy installments of your cultural identity, Caldari.
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Precisely, Zag. I see it as a chance to provide another detail to the Caldari case of cultural subversion by the Gallente and an ongoing grievance to justify the xenophobia.
The infiltration would probably be less overt than an infomercial-televangelist chimera, but I can easily imagine a stylized image of Ingenomine on a bottle of some universally popular Quafe sports drink. Or consider a brand named after a god from this ancient pantheon (Nike, anyone?) that remains popular in the State even after falling out of favor in the Federation. Common Caldari might come to assume the brand imagery was part of their own culture to begin with. A citizen would have to be either quite the loyalist or somewhat well educated to see or care about the connection.
After all, who wouldn't like this guy...?
[spoiler](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Oq2HpCjjqJQ/SOmPxrRX9CI/AAAAAAAAAXY/domuiiGKzeQ/s400/jesus_buddy_christ.jpg)[/spoiler]
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Yes, I was being over the top.
I just admire the concept of Gallentean's spreading their faith so to speak through the market, not through the pulpit.
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I wanted to post this. Back in the summer, I came upon this thread and I loved the idea of it. I mulled about it, and several other posts about the subject, and wanted to write something up that brought forward some of my impressions of Gallente Prime culture after all the ruminating.
I think a specific thing like the content of this thread (and others like it) doesn't particularly intend to speak for the greater Federation's culture, but rather the culture that ultimately led to the Federation, and has since probably has very little to do with it. Developing more pockets of culture, either regarding Gallente Prime (Such as the Lycan Kingdom, which appears to still exist, much like England still has a queen) or anywhere else, can help underscore the Federation's fracturous nature. Not to mention aid in defining what makes 'ethnic Gallente' ethnic, rather than 'default' or 'unflavoured' Federation citizens (as opposed to picking Intaki or JinMei as established 'subraces'), which I think sometimes is the view from outside or for new players or even sometimes old ones. Like much EvE cannon, what's there is quite interesting, but vague as all get-out, and requires some very pointed rooting around to find.
I could probably write an equally-long essay about the document itself, its opinions, and what I meant by it, but I question what the use of that really is. ;p I welcome any thoughts, rejections, insight or questions on it. There was just wonderful work done on these initial thoughts by Seriphyn, Uraniae Fehmah and Kaleigh Doyle, that I felt compelled to keep them alive by reconstituting them with some of the newer information in the Source, and a passion for the Gallente homeworld, France and Antiquity, which I think has seen quite a bit of lull in favor of recent Americanization of Gallentenization :p
I made several very minor tweaks to the the gods, but I'll underscore that I loved this material. What great names~. I used an older, French-created Chinese romanization system, meant to be more easily pronounced by French speakers, just to make that more biased, and slightly more alien than Pinyin/Wade Giles for most readers. I otherwise left the Jin Mei stuff exactly as it was.
Anyway, I enjoyed myself. I hope it's something the community finds interesting, too.
The Garoun Lunaries (http://www.ateliermuseproductions.com/The_Garoun_Lunaries.pdf) PDF
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I forgot about this thread. It's rather nicely done, though most of what Kaleigh does in gallente world building sounds very gallente to begin with 8)
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You should take into consideration that evelopedia now has some descriptions on gallente religions and beliefs....
The work Kayleigh did was awesome...but CCP departed a bit from that (but also incorporated some of it too though).
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I hadn't re-researched anything since I wrote this. It was necroing on my hard-drive, so I decided to post it rather than let it die. I'm happy to hear that CCP is continuing to work on this, but a quick search still doesn't bring anything up newer than 2012, though - ISD Sharae Kalani/Abraxas's Gallente Religious Practices, for example, is one of the pages I'd found and, while I didn't put Evelopedia credits in there per-se, articles from that era were certainly things I was considering. That particular one just mentions that there is some kind of belief system involving the 17, and furthers the idea that is repeated in Source that you can find a bit of everything on the homeworld. If you're saying that they have something newer nestled away somewhere, then I will gladly devour it! Material for EVE is rarely forthcoming, so it's easy to miss stuff.
I didn't really want to get into it too much, but or meta's sake I would hazard to say that this is more of a thought experiment on the Gallente mindset, than anything having to do with the religion, which I don't really discuss at all. I'm fairly certain that all concrete mentions were all found previously in Uraniae, (such as 'temples', and attitudes of ascetics) Kayleigh's writings, and in whatever articles I was able to find at the time.
This write up talks a lot more about the method through which literary analysis and discussion might be held in one, among many, varied styles (because variation is the name of the game for the Gallente) and to a lesser degree, how that evolved to be something as baffling to other races as it's said to be. The idea here is that one has to be intimately familiar with more than just this singular example to be fluent in consumption of Gallente media, let alone its discussion. I thought this was a fascinating facet to be written into the culture, that is probably often overlooked, because it's such a quirky little thing. It was a pretty interesting thing to turn from a single paragraph on pg.72 into a concrete example of one of the ways in which this could be done via some user-created material! I don't really think I made anything up rather than just applied one fact to another one, to study what could happen.
If you've already found something else in the interim that counters this though, I'm all ears. As I said, since I wrote it, I never really looked into it since.
This is a mostly secular document about Gallente thought, rather than 'Gallente Polytheism' strictly. But since it draws the majority of its facts from this thread, I still thought this would be the right place to put it, for those interested in Kayleigh's version of things.
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you mean these?
https://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Society_of_the_ethnic_Gallente#Religion
https://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Gallente_religious_practices
Only the 2nd article has references to the 17 gods, in the polytheism section, however what i consider interesting, is the focus on modern overlap of several religion structures within the gallente culture.
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Yup, those are the ones!
I really liked the language part of that first one as well! It doesn't come up much because implant translators and things, but as it affects everyone else, I especially liked the logic behind Interstellar Gallente vs. Garouni.
I think the strongest argument for 'aggressive cultural export' is actually within the Federation's borders (conveniently overlooked by my article's author), such as to Intaki. To recognize a language as official but leverage it aside in practical terms is a nice touch by Abraxas, and a really common thing for governments to do - definitely something I grew up with. It can damage or wipe out cultures with surprising efficiency.
But that's an entirely different raging debate - The important facet for us RPers is the 'raging' part anyway :P