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Originally posted by George Krashos

Hmm, if I didn't know better, I'd say I'm being put forth as a changer of FR canon. I was just following the herd. See "Unapproachable East", p.191.

-- George Krashos

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Originally posted by sleyvas

It may have been simply that he was trying to make a foothold from which he could extend his influence into Dun-Tharos (thus his stopping after securing the top half of Damara).

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Originally posted by dazzlerdal

A snippet of one article from issue 4.

This article focuses on the Mulhorandi-Untheric pantheon that were merged together by continuing the development of the Mulhorandi conquest of Unther.

This new much stronger pantheon should be able to better resist the Faerunian pantheon and should now be able to properly contest for worshippers in Chessenta.

Rollcall of the Gods
Anhur: War, Battle, Conflict, Thunder, Rain, the Sky, Weather, Storms, Lightning
Bast: Hedonism, Sensual Fulfilment, Lust, Excess, Cats, Pleasure Seekers, Festhalls
Enlil: Unther, Law, Order
Geb: The Earth, Miners, Minerals, Mines
Gilgeam: Madness, Physical Prowess, Undeath
Hathor: Childbirth, Motherhood, Fertility, Children, Music, Dance, Poetry, Fate
Hoar: Revenge, Retribution, Poetic Justice
Horus-Re: The Sun, Rulership, Kings, Life, Mulhorand
Isis: Magic, Marriage, Rivers, Love, Good Magic
Marduk (Bahamut): Good Dragons, Metallic Dragons, Wisdom, Enlightened Justice
Nanna Sin: Protection from Evil, Defence, the Moon
Nephthys: Grief, Wealth, Trade, Commerce
Osiris: Harvest, Nature, Agriculture, Underworld, Death, the Dead, Justice
Sebek: Hazards, Crocodiles, Werecrocodiles, Wetlands
Set: Darkness, Evil, Desert Storms, Drought, Snakes, Murder, Destruction, Rot, Predators, Carrion, Betrayal, Evil Magic, Ambition, Poison
Thoth: Knowledge, Learning, Neutral Magic, Scribes, Science, Engineering, Secrets, Invention
Tiamat: Evil Dragons, Chromatic Dragons, Greed, Rebellion

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Originally posted by dazzlerdal

Wow so many questions. I will try and answer them all.

1 - I came up with the name Akanu and the Akanic pantheon from two separate places. First was the name of Anu himself, leader of the Babylonian pantheon. Second was the repeated reference to Akana/u across Chessenta (and not just for 4th edition lore), we have Akanax, the Akanul Plains, Akanamere, Akanapeaks. I figured it was more than just coincidence and had to have some importance. So I made up the importance.

When I read through Old Empires and about Gilgeam it made repeated references to Gilgeam rewriting history. Plus Ramman was said to have arrived from another nearby pantheon (last time I checked there weren't that many nations around in that time so either Ramman came from Jhaamdath, or he was from another Mulan pantheon - plus the Mulan are elitist and would not allow a foreign god into their ranks). So I decided to work in a 3rd Mulan empire that didn't contradict any written history, just changed which empire did it. Plus the separate Babylonian and Sumerian pantheon lists I found cemented the idea for me, it was even better that Gilgeam appeared in both so I had him originate in the Babylonian/Akanic pantheon and later more to the Untheric one.

The full history however will appear over issues 4 and 5 so people will just have to wait and see whether they like what I did with it.

2 - Enlil I made as a god of law and order for two reasons. The first is the article in Dragon Magazine 329. The second is the repeated reference to the Code of Enlil being the basis of law in Unther. I figured if it was important enough to mention then it warranted a representation in the god himself.

As for his return. I needed some more Untheric gods to return in order to bolster the merged pantheon (so that it can credibly resist the Faerunian pantheon). There are probably many more Untheric gods out there, Gilgeam is stated as having driven off or destroyed many gods of the Untheric pantheon so if I had names for more I would bring them back (without the names I stuck to the gods I knew existed and brought many of them back in some fashion or another). Enlil's sudden departure always struck me as unusual. You don't travel across the universe to rescue your people to then abandon them when things get tough, so I tied Enlil's disappearance to Gilgeam's madness and that allowed his return.

Again this will be elaborated upon in issues 4 and 5. And if I finish my campaign arc for the invasion of Unther then there should be enough detail for people to play through the whole event.

3 - Mask being an interloper is correct, as was Bane. However that does not make them part of the pantheon. The Mulan gods, like their people, are elitist. They do not like people in that don't swear obedience to their gods (the quote about beast cults in one of the books mentions they were destroyed because they would not worship the Mulhorandi gods). For me the Mulan will never allow Mask and Bane into their pantheon, the only reason those to can be worshipped in this pantheon is because the Tyranny and Thievery portfolios are unclaimed in Mulhorand/Unther.
Its like Chessenta being contested territory, the two pantheons cannot coexist, someone has to lose. If the Mulan let Mask and Bane into their pantheon then they lose. I reckon if the Mulan were to find out Marduk and Tiamat were actually from another pantheon (my alternate deity writeup in issue 3 explains how this happened) then they would eject them as well.

And that kind of explains why I didn't include any Faerunian deities in the Mulhorandi-Untheric pantheon. The Mulan deities simply wouldn't and indeed couldn't allow it. In Chessenta, Anhur and Tempus are fighting each other for control of the portfolio of war in that area. Isis and Mystra would be in contention in that area, Chauntea, Kelemvor and Osiris.

The two pantheons cannot mix because their portfolio's overlap. Chessenta is contested because it is a mix of worship, some worship Faerunian deities, some worship Mulan (although it is probably only Anhur and Hoar with any dominance in this area). There must be a threshold point of worship at which one pantheon gains total control in that area. By letting Faerunian deities into Mulhorand or Unther they are in danger of making those areas contested (dual pantheon powers don't present this problem).


Anyway I hope I answered your questions. I did plenty of research when writing up the old empires, but in the end what didn't work I discarded and then started again from scratch. Hopefully the end result (Old Empires in 1370 DR) is almost identical to the current one, but the theory and history behind it is where I usually differed.

Incidentally the hardest part of the entire project for me was deciding why Skuld was called the city of shadows (I nearly tied it to the Turami and made them all Shar worshippers but decided against it in the end).

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