Shul God of the Moon
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Shul God of the Moon
Hi all - I've just started running a DCC RPG game and one of my clerics has chosen Shul, Goddess of the Moon, as their deity. I'm going to start building up some background to this goddess but wanted to ask, so I have steer on how to start, are there real-world mythological gods she might be based on, or any obvious Appendix N antecedents I should look to, to have in mind? I notice from Googling she may originate from a scenario called The Sunken Ziggurat (DCC#23).
Last edited by Rythwold on Sat Feb 02, 2013 5:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Shul Goddess of the Moon
Shul is a god, not goddess.
Shul, "The Watcher in the Moon/The Glistening Orb/The Lawgiver" is also patron of Measurement, Tradition, and Literacy
He is supposed to have given Aereth its earliest language and calendar, but his worship has largely been destroyed, limited now to isolated cults. Rites are held based on lunar phases, and the holiest is a lunar eclipse. Symbol: The Moon, or a Moon with a male face
Colin
Shul, "The Watcher in the Moon/The Glistening Orb/The Lawgiver" is also patron of Measurement, Tradition, and Literacy
He is supposed to have given Aereth its earliest language and calendar, but his worship has largely been destroyed, limited now to isolated cults. Rites are held based on lunar phases, and the holiest is a lunar eclipse. Symbol: The Moon, or a Moon with a male face
Colin
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Re: Shul God of the Moon
If you want a moon god, check out the akkadian Sin.
Vorpal Mace: a humble rpg blog with some DCC-related stuff.
Re: Shul God of the Moon
Thanks - just did a quick Wikipedia hunt for Shul and other male moon gods. I think the bits I like at the moment are giver of language, which seems live the archetypal thing for a lawful deity to do, the idea of it being secretive cult - knowledge is a lonely source of illumination in the darkness, and the idea of him being exiled in to the night - which comes from the Germanic Mani and the myth of the Man in The Moon.
I'm probably not going to set me game in Aereth so I'm taking the DCC elements and juggling them around. I like cooking up mumbo jumbo!
I'm probably not going to set me game in Aereth so I'm taking the DCC elements and juggling them around. I like cooking up mumbo jumbo!
Re: Shul God of the Moon
Isn't Frey(r) also associated with the moon? And DragonLance had lots of crap based on moons. Maybe worth looking at.
Re: Shul God of the Moon
Well... Here's a good place to start... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lunar_deities
From my research the Moon Gods; are mostly found in the last 2000 years, prior to that The moon was considered Feminine by most cultures via the connection with women's monthly cycles. This tradition is strongly rooted all over the world, and the Moon Goddess Mana appears in the mythologies of Central Asia, Arabia, and Scandinavia. The word "mana" is derived from the Sanskrit word for "mind", which was an attribute of "Ma"; the Primordial Mother. The word "mana" is also related to the word "mens" which means both "Mind" or "Moon" depending on context.
The Egyptian hieroglyph for the word "breast" is "mena"; which translates as "breast" or "moon" and reflects the Egyptian belief that from the breasts of the Moon Goddess flowed the Milky Way and all other stars, as well as the Life giving waters of the Universe. Even later historians like Pliny observed that the study of the sky was the traditional province of women, to whom fell the duties of divination, determining the seasons, predicting eclipses, and drawing up calendars. The Chinese zodiac was originally thought of as the celestial houses where the "warrior/hero/lovers" of the Moon Goddess lived.
In Persia there was a Primal deity known as Al-Mah (the moon) whose name was later translated into the word "almah" meaning "nubile woman"; and is the same word that Christian scholars insist on translating as "virgin". The Celts had their share of Moon Goddess worship... the ancient name for Britain is "Albion" which translates as "white-moon" and was a direct reference to the Goddess of the same name until the Monk Gildas converted the concept into "St. Alban" in the 6th century. St. Augustine condemned women for their impudent and filthy dances in honor of the New Moon, yet in the middle ages there was still a common practice among women that they should pray not to God for favors, but the Moon Mother, by whom they swore their oaths. Part of this practice involved the baking of special moon cakes as offerings... a practice that in France led to the development of the croissant.
Other fun moon-mythology facts: the word Europa = "full-moon", and in Central Asia it was thought that the moon was a mirror that reflected everything in the world, and it is because of this that it is still said that one of the better remedies for Nervous Hysteria is to gaze upon the moons reflection upon the water.
Other female moon deities: Io, Demeter, Selene, & Astarte... And Yes, Freyja is associated with the moon, primarily trough her prophetic powers; however, Frigg is also associated with the moon via her duties in regulating the cycles of Nature.
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For these and many other reasons, I chose to send Shul through Gender re-alignment therapy when I was organizing the blizzard of Deities available in DCC#35 for my gaming environment. So if the player wants Shul to be female, there is more than enough material to work with and I think that "...we shall fear no rule..." applies here.
From my research the Moon Gods; are mostly found in the last 2000 years, prior to that The moon was considered Feminine by most cultures via the connection with women's monthly cycles. This tradition is strongly rooted all over the world, and the Moon Goddess Mana appears in the mythologies of Central Asia, Arabia, and Scandinavia. The word "mana" is derived from the Sanskrit word for "mind", which was an attribute of "Ma"; the Primordial Mother. The word "mana" is also related to the word "mens" which means both "Mind" or "Moon" depending on context.
The Egyptian hieroglyph for the word "breast" is "mena"; which translates as "breast" or "moon" and reflects the Egyptian belief that from the breasts of the Moon Goddess flowed the Milky Way and all other stars, as well as the Life giving waters of the Universe. Even later historians like Pliny observed that the study of the sky was the traditional province of women, to whom fell the duties of divination, determining the seasons, predicting eclipses, and drawing up calendars. The Chinese zodiac was originally thought of as the celestial houses where the "warrior/hero/lovers" of the Moon Goddess lived.
In Persia there was a Primal deity known as Al-Mah (the moon) whose name was later translated into the word "almah" meaning "nubile woman"; and is the same word that Christian scholars insist on translating as "virgin". The Celts had their share of Moon Goddess worship... the ancient name for Britain is "Albion" which translates as "white-moon" and was a direct reference to the Goddess of the same name until the Monk Gildas converted the concept into "St. Alban" in the 6th century. St. Augustine condemned women for their impudent and filthy dances in honor of the New Moon, yet in the middle ages there was still a common practice among women that they should pray not to God for favors, but the Moon Mother, by whom they swore their oaths. Part of this practice involved the baking of special moon cakes as offerings... a practice that in France led to the development of the croissant.
Other fun moon-mythology facts: the word Europa = "full-moon", and in Central Asia it was thought that the moon was a mirror that reflected everything in the world, and it is because of this that it is still said that one of the better remedies for Nervous Hysteria is to gaze upon the moons reflection upon the water.
Other female moon deities: Io, Demeter, Selene, & Astarte... And Yes, Freyja is associated with the moon, primarily trough her prophetic powers; however, Frigg is also associated with the moon via her duties in regulating the cycles of Nature.
------------
For these and many other reasons, I chose to send Shul through Gender re-alignment therapy when I was organizing the blizzard of Deities available in DCC#35 for my gaming environment. So if the player wants Shul to be female, there is more than enough material to work with and I think that "...we shall fear no rule..." applies here.
Re: Shul God of the Moon
Great post. Not a god, but talk of gender bending and soothsayers immediately reminded me of the mythical Greek prophet Tiresias. Maybe an enforced gender change should be added to the disapproval table for priests of Shul!Tortog wrote:For these and many other reasons, I chose to send Shul through Gender re-alignment therapy when I was organizing the blizzard of Deities available in DCC#35 for my gaming environment.