History Characters / PathfinderDeities

* BeyondRedemption: Played with, in that [[AlasPoorVillain this is potrayed as a reason to pity him]] - the Godsrain Prophecies show a potential future in which Shelyn cures her brother's madness, causing his old conscience to return...and he is so [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone utterly horrified]] by what he is and has done [[IgnoredEpiphany he tries to flee back into his old persona]], but finds [[SubvertedTrope he can't]]. As a result, the new Dou-Bral resembles a DarkIsNotEvil version of Zon-Kuthon rather than his old self, still being the [[BrokenBird god of loss and despair]], completely [[SoNowWhat at a loss with what to do with himself]], and with ''very'' ambivalent feelings towards Shelyn.

** The Godsrain Prophecies state this is the true reason he is BeyondRedemption; if Shelyn were to ever turn him back into Dou-Bral, he would [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone promptly turn nearly catatonic from horror at the realization of everything he did as Zon-Kuthon]] and withdraw into himself as a different form of the god of loss and despair.

* NoodleIncident: We have no idea how he managed to [[DeityOfHumanOrigin pass the Test of the Starstone]], [[WhatDidIDoLastNight and neither does he]].

* WhatDidIDoLastNight: One night, he got drunk. The next morning, he had become a god. He still doesn't know how it happened.

* DeathByDespair: Defied. The [[https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6sii0 Godsrain Prophecies]] state that this will be her end, unable to adapt to a world without hard limits on fate in the Age of Lost Omens and simply fading away, feeling unneeded...which gets [[InsaneTrollLogic a bit suspicious]] when you realize the Godsrain Prophecies were made literally after the [[ThreadsOfProphecySevered Lost Omens]] began, and in fact it's made explicit out of universe that she is not doomed anytime soon - she finds true free will a little frightening, but also intriguing enough to keep her judgements going without much interruption.

* DeathByDespair: Defied. The [[https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6sii0 Godsrain Prophecies]] state that this will be her end, unable to adapt to a world without hard limits on fate in the Age of Lost Omens and simply fading away, feeling unneeded...which gets [[InsaneTrollLogic a bit suspicious]] when you realize the Godsrain Prophecies were made literally after the Lost Omens began, and in fact it's made explicit out of universe that she is not doomed anytime soon - she finds true free will a little frightening, but also intriguing enough to keep her judgements going without much interruption.

%%* DarkIsNotEvil

* {{Expy}}: Of the Norse goddess Hel, at least physically. Personality-wise, she's very different, but her areas of concern do make the WarGod Gorum oppose her, as dying of cardiac arrest during sex due to drinking coffee and having a smoke and [[TheSecretOfLongPorkPies long pork pies]] for breakfast everyday isn't what would be considered an honorable death, so the relationship dynamics translate well.

* {{Expy}}: Of the Norse goddess Hel, at least physically.

%%* AxeCrazy

* KickTheSonOfABitch: He enjoys tormenting Rovagug by dangling the key to his prison just out of reach. This would be bad were he not doing it to, you know, [[OmnicidalManiac Rovagug]].

* HumongousMecha: Abadar's herald is the Lawgiver, a massive golem-like creature of gold and consecrated steel.

* DeityOfHumanOrigin: She was originally a mortal paladin and a worshipper of Aroden before she took and passed the Test of the Starstone, becoming Aroden's herald (a herald being essentially a lesser divine being acting as a messenger and representative of the will of a full deity). When Aroden vanished, she became a full goddess herself.

* BladeOnAStick: Her favored weapon is the glaive, a polearm that consists of a cutting blade at the end of a spear shaft.

* UnholyHolySword: Shelyn once shared a glaive with her half-brother Dou-Bral as their favoured weapon; when he [[CameBackWrong returned from the void]] as Zon-Kuthon, he had corrupted it into the [[SoulJar Whisperer of Souls]]. Shelyn took it back during their initial fight, and is now trying to release the souls imprisoned within it.

* GodOfDarkness: He's the god of darkness and the ''de facto'' ruler of the Shadow Plane.

* TheOlderImmortal: [[spoiler: Zon-Kuthon was a god in the previous incarnation of the multiverse, making him at least as old as Pharasma. Unlike Pharasma, he died when his multiverse collapsed, but he had a plan in the form of a "back-up drive" that he cast out beyond the Outer Sphere. Come the modern multiverse, the quintessence that made up his being was formed into the being of Dou-Bral, who was eventually lured beyond the Outer Sphere and overwritten with his previous incarnation, allowing Zon-Kuthon to be born anew]].

* TheWanderer: Was one of these in life and his followers tend to be the same. It's said he tends to do this even after gaining divinity, with several accounts from some denizens of Elysium saying it's not uncommon to run into him and stop to have a drink with whoever's willing.
* TheAlcoholic: Defied, despite being the God of alcohol. Cayden's followers are taught that drinking should be used in displays of camraderie and celebration. Abusing or wasting alcohol tends to be sacrilegious among his followers.

* CompositeCharacter / {{Expy}}: Desna resembles several moon goddesses from ''D&D''. Her role as a lunar goddess worshipped by elves, resembles both Sehanine Moonbow, and Eilistraee (getting essentially elements of Eilistraee, Sarenrae didn’t). Like Sehanine, Desna’s areas of concern are the heavens, moon, stars, dreams and travellers; like Eilistraee she is connected to song, dance and freedom, both often appear nude, and both greatly regret a mistake from the past [[note]]Desna regrets releasing Ghlaunder, Eilistraee regrets being tricked to shoot her father with a poisoned arrow[[/note]]. As noted above and bellow, Desna’s arch-enemy is the goddess Lamashtu, like Lolth is of Sehanine and Eilistraee, in part for similar reasons. She also resembles the moon goddess Selûne from TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms – aside from also both being connected to travellers (and in past, Selûne to dreams), both are the main deity worshipped by their world’s equivalent of the Romani people [[note]]Selûne is worshipped by Gurs (also even called Selûne's Children); Desna by Varisians (up to being often described as an Varisian goddess)[[/note]]. Both Desna and Selûne are also among their settings oldest deities. It’s also notable Sehanine and Selune were stated to be aspects of each other in both 2nd and 4th editions of ''D&D''.

* CompositeCharacter / {{Expy}}: Of several Demon Lords from ''D&D''

** She also has shades of Lolth, as one of the few demons who ascended to full godhood, and both having the title of the ''Demon Queen''. Lolth was actually noted to be probably the strongest Demon Lord [[note]] she was in multiple editions suggested to outright stated to more powerful than Demogorgon, for example.[[/note]]. It's also mentioned that she's one of the more popular deities among the drow, and the only true god really worshipped by them. In terms of backstory, like Lolth, Lamashtu is enemies with (a) moon goddess(es) worshipped by elves (Sehanine Moonbow and Eilistraee for Lolth; Desna for Lamashtu), over her attempt to kill a god close to the moon goddess(es) (Corellon Larethian with Lolth; Curchanus with Lamashtu) – the difference being Lamashtu was ''successful''. Both also became mutual arch-enemies with their ex-lovers - Lamashtu with Pazuzu, Lolth with Corellon.
** Another Demon Lord she resembles is Pale Night. Both are called the ''Mother of Demons'', and are both involved in birth/creation of monstrous, evil creatures. Most notably, both are described as the mother/progenitor of the Lamia race. Like Pale Night, Lamashtu is also involved with the Demon Lord Baphomet. It’s also curious the 3rd party sourcebook, ''Immortals Handbook'', equated Lolth with Pale Night, under the name Lilith.
* CorruptTheCutie: Her objective regarding Shelyn.

* CompositeCharacter / {{Expy}}: Desna resembles several moon goddesses from ''D&D''. Her role as a lunar goddess worshipped by elves, resembles both Sehanine Moonbow, and Eilistraee (getting essentially elements of Eilistraee, Sarenrae didn’t). Like Sehanine, Desna’s areas of concern are the heavens, moon, stars, dreams and travellers; like Eilistraee she is connected to song, dance and freedom, and both greatly regret a mistake from the past [[note]] Desna regrets releasing Ghlaunder, Eilistraee regrets being tricked to shoot her father with a poisoned arrow[[/note]]. As noted bellow, Desna’s arch-enemy is the goddess Lamashtu, like Lolth is of Sehanine and Eilistraee, in part for similar reasons. She also resembles the moon goddess Selûne from TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms – aside from also both being connected to travellers (and in past, Selûne to dreams), both are the main deity worshipped by their world’s equivalent of the Romani people [[note]]Selûne is worshipped by Gurs (also even called Selûne's Children); Desna by Varisians (up to being often described as an Varisian goddess)[[/note]]. Both Desna and Selûne also among their settings oldest deities. It’s also notable Sehanine and Selune were stated to be aspects of each other in both 2nd and 4th editions of ''D&D''.

** She also has shades of Lolth, as one of the few demons who ascended to full godhood, and both having the title of the ''Demon Queen''. Lolth was actually noted to be probably the strongest Demon Lord [[note]] she was in multiple editions suggested to outright stated to more powerful than Demogorgon, for example.[[/note]]. It's also mentioned that she's one of the more popular deities among the drow, and the only true god really worshipped by them. In terms of backstory, like Lolth, Lamashtu is enemies with a moon goddess worshipped by elves (Sehanine Moonbow and Eilistraee for Lolth; Desna for Lamashtu), over her attempt to kill a god close to the moon goddess(es) (Corellon Larethian with Lolth; Curchanus with Lamashtu) – the difference being Lamashtu was successful. Lamashtu also became arch-enemies with ex-lover Pazuzu, like Lolth did with her ex-lover Corellon,
** Another Demon Lord she resembles in Pale Night. Both are called the ''Mother of Demons'', and are both involved in birth/creation of monstrous, evil creatures. Most notably both are described as the mother of the Lamia race. Like Pale Night, Lamashtu is also involved with the Demon Lord Baphomet. It’s also curious the 3rd party sourcebook, ''Immortals Handbook'', equated Lolth with Pale Night, under the name Lilith.

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Lamashtu is considered to be the official replacement of ''D&D'''s Demogorgon, both being the big boss demons of each setting (note that there's a demon princess named Lamashtu in ''D&D'' and a demon lord named Demogorgon in ''Pathfinder'' as well, but both are obscure and unimportant; Paizo was allowed to reuse their names because they came from real world mythology and thus are not owned by Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast). If Demogorgon's depiction as a two-headed tentacled monster had been open content (as opposed to being Wizards of the Coast's intellectual property), Paizo would have made him instead of Lamashtu into the god of monsters, madness, demons and the like.

* WhipItGood: Her favored weapon, and thus the weapon for her clergy. It's implied that, given the [[HighClassCallGirl standard occupation]] of much of her clergy, it sees lots of [[MundaneUtility out of combat use]].

* {{Expy}}:
** James Jacobs has stated that Gorum is an homage to Crom from ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian''.
** He is also basically a LighterAndSofter [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} Kho]][[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 rne]]. Let's see. BloodKnight war god? Check. Represented as an armored figure? Check. Associated with metal, bloodlust, war, tactics, strength and rage? Double check. [[AsLongAsThereIsEvil Brought into the world by violence and will leave/die if violence stops]]? Triple check. Disdain for cowards, MightMakesRight mindset, indifference to anything that isn't related to fighting? Check to all of the above.

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent:
** Lamashtu is considered to be the official replacement of ''D&D'''s Demogorgon, both being the big boss demons of each setting (note that there's a demon princess named Lamashtu in ''D&D'' and a demon lord named Demogorgon in ''Pathfinder'' as well, but both are obscure and unimportant; Paizo was allowed to reuse their names because they came from real world mythology and thus are not owned by Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast). If Demogorgon's depiction as a two-headed tentacled monster had been open content (as opposed to being Wizards of the Coast's intellectual property), Paizo would have made him instead of Lamashtu into the god of monsters, madness, demons and the like.
** She also has shades of Lolth, as a demon who ascended to godhood. It's mentioned that she's one of the more popular deities among the drow.

* BloodSplatteredWarrior: Gorum shows his favor with this.

->'''Old Deadeye'''
->'''God of farming, hunting, trade, and family'''
->'''Alignment:''' LawfulGood

* FertilityGod: He's Golarion's primary agriculture deity, also responsible for hunting and family.

* RetCon: In Pathfinder's first edition, Erastil was bluntly portrayed as very conservative in this views on the world, relationships, and at times didn't even seem like he would want adventurers serving him, preferring that they just settle down, particularly if they were women. Second Edition's Gods & Magic supplement gives him a far more flattering portrayal. So long as you love, support, and contribute to your community, Erastil is just fine with unconventional families, is not stated to be sexist in the slightest, as well apparently being fine with adventurers who quest in order to defend- or otherwise contribute to their hometowns.

* {{Expy}}: Sarenrae, a sun goddess of swordfighting and redemption, is considered by her creator to be his take on Eilistraee, a ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' moon goddess of swordfighting and redemption (and more specifically [[TokenHeroicOrc Token Heroic Drow]]), minus Eilistraee's sensual and chaos aspects (which are represented by Desna and Ashava instead). Sarenrae was never supposed to be a replacement Eilistraee, as they were never intended to be in the same game world.

* YourWorstNightmare: She is the goddess of literal nightmares.

%%* LadyOfWar

%%* TheStrategist

** He always makes a point to abide by agreements -- he is the God of contracts after all. Just make sure you read the fine print, because he LOVES abusing loopholes.
** In the past, Charon once created a torture machine meant to help improve the Daemons' omnicidal crusade. Asmodeus, upon seeing the machine and how it worked, is stated to have been ''horrified and disgusted'' by how brutal it was.

* MultipleChoicePast: In the Book of the Damned Asmodeus' origin has been given as either the EvilTwin of the ChaoticGood god Ihys who killed him but allowed his dream of free will for mortals to stand, and created Hell as a bastion for perfect order; others pin him as a former angel empyreal lord of Heaven who fell and led his followers to take over Hell from the native kytons and asuras. The Windsong Testaments put him as the origin of LawfulEvil, one of the oldest, but not the oldest, divinities.[[invoked]]

* BewareTheNiceOnes: According to ''Inner Sea Gods'', the demon lord Aolar used to use the corpses of the recently dead to murder their loved ones ForTheEvulz. Doing that to one of Desna's priestesses proved a serious mistake: Desna killed Aolar outright. This willingness to do the right thing is also why the Windsong Testaments puts her as the third oldest deity, and the origin of ChaoticGood in the multiverse.

* BigGood: In ''Wrath of the Righteous'', she is the players' main patron and provides a good deal of the impetus in their crusade against the Abyss.

* CrystalDragonJesus: Her faith seems based loosely on Roman Catholicism. Her divine realm even resembles a ''huge'' cathedral. She's also the primary divine backer of the Mendevian Crusades (featured most prominently in the ''Wrath of the Righteous'' AP): even the Queen of Mendev is one of her paladins.

* MysteriousPast: No one is sure where Rovagug came from, or why he wants to annihilate all existence. It has been [[WordOfGod confirmed]] that he's an ascended qlippoth, which would explain a lot. The Windsong Testaments puts him as the first qlippoth, already divine even then, but even so he's different than the other first divinities. He was the last to come into being of those first, but given that the divinity that became Rovagug walked off the spiral of creation, it's unclear if he was always Rovagug, corrupted by something outside, joined with it, or if Pharasma's fear of that space was what took hold of him.

* CelestialParagonsAndArchangels: One history of her past is that she was once one of the most powerful empyreal lords, before ascending to true godhood during the war against Rovagug. These days she's taken on much of Ihys' portfolio and is ''the'' empyreal lord in the same way that Asmodeus is ''the'' archdevil.

* CouncilOfAngels: Many of her current servants and allies are her fellow empyreal lords and their servants. She might've even been an archangel before becoming a god.

* SelfMadeMan: Along with Irori, the only other God to have ever achieved divinity through non-magical means, with her ascension occurring when she escaped Pharasma's Boneyard, being the first ever to literally cheat death.

* TheOlderImmortal: One of the oldest beings in the universe, and fond of reminding others of it. Unlike Erastil he doesn't look the part. The Book of the Damned, which uses Asmodeus as a source on himself, has him as among the first 2, but according to the Windsong Testaments he was the sixth deity to enter the multiverse, after Pharasma, the Speakers of the Depths, Desna, Sarenrae and his beloved brother Ihys.

* TheOlderImmortal: One of the oldest beings in the universe, and fond of reminding others of it. Unlike Erastil he doesn't look the part.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: According to ''Inner Sea Gods'', the demon lord Aolar used to use the corpses of the recently dead to murder their loved ones ForTheEvulz. Doing that to one of Desna's priestesses proved a serious mistake: Desna killed Aolar outright.

* TrueNeutral: InUniverse. Pharasma is the even-handed judge of the dead who treats all who come before her with equanimity. The only thing that truly arouses her anger is TheUndead.

* MysteriousPast: No one is sure where Rovagug came from, or why he wants to annihilate all existence. It has been [[WordOfGod confirmed]] that he's an ascended qlippoth, which would explain a lot.

* TimeAbyss: Rovagug's attempt to destroy Golarion took place even before the rise of the aboleth civilization. He was ancient even then, having already travelled to and destroyed countless worlds before setting his sights on Golarion.

* BigGood: The leader of the good-aligned gods, and one of the most powerful forces for good in the setting.
* CelestialParagonsAndArchangels: She was once one of the most powerful empyreal lords, before ascending to true godhood during the war against Rovagug. These days she's taken on much of Ihys' portfolio and is ''the'' empyreal lord in the same way that Asmodeus is ''the'' archdevil.

* CouncilOfAngels: She was an archangel before becoming a god. Many of her current servants and allies are her fellow empyreal lords and their servants.

* GoodIsNotSoft: One of the kindest beings in the multiverse, but she has a militant side. Consider what she did to Rovagug. She also has a whole sect of TrueNeutral worshipers (the Cult of the Dawnflower) who focus on her warlike side to almost complete exclusion of her merciful aspect. They will offer anyone ''exactly one'' chance to surrender and are merciless if that offer is refused.

* MultipleChoicePast: Asmodeus' origin has been given as either the EvilTwin of the ChaoticGood god Ihys who killed him but allowed his dream of free will for mortals to stand, and created Hell as a bastion for perfect order; or as a former angel empyreal lord of Heaven who fell and led his followers to take over Hell from the native kytons and asuras.[[invoked]]

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: You don't need worshippers to ''be'' a god (some beings have even become one by accident), but the most powerful ones are those with the greatest number of worshippers.
** It's clarified in several books that a god's personal power isn't dependent on their worshippers, that a god can have no worshippers at all and still be enormously potent - see Rovagug for Exhibit A. There are other advantages to having a lot of worshippers, however. For one thing, you have servants carrying out your agenda throughout the multiverse. For another, when souls reach the end of their life cycle, their essence melds with their Outer Planar home, which helps a god's realm resist erosion by the Maelstrom.

%%* RoyalRapier

* BenevolentAbomination: Desna is an ancient being that pre-dates the stars, whose true form is a massive moth-like creature, and who is heavily associated with stars and dreams. It's suggested that she may be an [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Outer God]] who became fascinated by humanity.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Her scars do not detract from the fact that she is considered one of the most beautiful goddesses.