Reworking the "Yankee" Pantheon

It looks like I'm going to have the American Pantheon be two Pantheons in one.

The Main Pantheon and a sub Pantheon of Native American Gods.. The "Yankee" gods will probably just get a modern face lift.. while adding in a few of the more well known Native Gods..

An idea I've been toying around with for a "Yankee" pantheon was not a pantheon at all, but rather a sort of "UN" of gods.  It makes sense to me for there to be a third-person entity to take care of inter-pantheon business, and since the United States doesn't really have a mythology on the same scale as the other pantheons (discounting the Native American mythologies, which are seperate), I'd kinda like to see it be the site of this "United Pantheon" rather than trying to inflate folk heroes into full-blown gods on the order of the Olympians, which just comes off as campy to me.  America is supposed to be the mixing bowl, the land of opportunity, right?  So why not make it officially an "international" zone, a place where pantheons can't lay claim (with concessions made for the Native American and Vodoo pantheons), but they can play around together?  Americans are fair game for Scionization for everyone, so to speak, and it's one the best places to get a bunch of kids from various pantheons together.  The UP would have junior members from every pantheon on staff at all times, and the higher ups would have the right to take a seat in the council if they wanted to speak.  The Yankee gods in the Companion would then be either sub-legend-12-Scions (usually below Legend 9) or Lesser Immortals of various power, which (I think) suits their folk position better.

Blaine that is one of the best ideas I've heard when it comes to the American Pantheon. It would also explain alot of other things as well. I really like that idea and if you don't mind I might use it myself.

BlaineTog:

An idea I've been toying around with for a "Yankee" pantheon was not a pantheon at all, but rather a sort of "UN" of gods.  It makes sense to me for there to be a third-person entity to take care of inter-pantheon business, and since the United States doesn't really have a mythology on the same scale as the other pantheons (discounting the Native American mythologies, which are seperate), I'd kinda like to see it be the site of this "United Pantheon" rather than trying to inflate folk heroes into full-blown gods on the order of the Olympians, which just comes off as campy to me.  America is supposed to be the mixing bowl, the land of opportunity, right?  So why not make it officially an "international" zone, a place where pantheons can't lay claim (with concessions made for the Native American and Vodoo pantheons), but they can play around together?  Americans are fair game for Scionization for everyone, so to speak, and it's one the best places to get a bunch of kids from various pantheons together.  The UP would have junior members from every pantheon on staff at all times, and the higher ups would have the right to take a seat in the council if they wanted to speak.  The Yankee gods in the Companion would then be either sub-legend-12-Scions (usually below Legend 9) or Lesser Immortals of various power, which (I think) suits their folk position better.

Anyway, that's just what I would probably do if I were to retool the Yankee pantheon.

As my esteemed colleague, Professor Mangle, said a few posts back, we've been working on such a thought as well. In fact, I proposed the thought that this idea is the best way to help American-born Scions deal with the inevitable conflict of loyalties that they will feel as they grow toward their divine parents. How does Eric Donner deal with the thought that he's an American citizen, and yet he's trying to get to Asgard? The United States does allow for dual citizenships, you know. There may be a whole system to be designed around this concept. It's the only way to explain why the American Gods don't object to foreign Gods coming over to their country and poaching their citizens.

Professor Mangle:

Basically, I see the Yankees as a melting pot, a Pantheon made up of Scions from other Pantheons.

That's what I did with my American pantheon. Although I made up Scions as opposed to using legendary figures. However, I will be adding legendary figures as gods, including Amelia Earhart and Daniel Boone. ;-)

And maybe the the Wright Brothers as minor gods.

Americans are an odd mix of xenophobe and imperialist.. we're also one of the youngest "World Powers" out there.. We also think very highly of ourselves.. so making us the "Casablanca" of the Gods really doesn't fit with the American mindset..

MisterShifter:

Americans are an odd mix of xenophobe and imperialist.. we're also one of the youngest "World Powers" out there.. We also think very highly of ourselves.. so making us the "Casablanca" of the Gods really doesn't fit with the American mindset..

Yet, the UN is headquartered in New York.  And we hardly have a monopoly on xenophobia.

"The Zeitgeist" would be an awesome name for a supernatural entity in Scion, btw.

Yes.. the U.N. building is in New York.. because they learned through the failure of the League of Nations and the outbreak of WWII that a large Global group like that doesn't work without us..

So it's in New York to make us feel important and to keep the US in it.

I could see the American Pantheon HOSTING such a group or offering some "neutral ground" but not being the focus us a Pantheon..

If you're going to make a superhero into a God, I'd go with Captain America. Maybe you should make various martyred American's into gods. Maybe the belief resulting from both their lives and their deaths caused them to manifest as gods in the Overworld

Examples:
Lincoln
Lennon
Kennedy (either John or Bobby)
Patton
Marilyn Monroe
John Wayne
Michael Jackson
Hunter S. Thompson

Pretty much any dead, famous, larger then life American could do the job. Admittedly, Lennon wasn't an American, but he had an effect on the country.

Huh... I was half expecting someone to say Martin Luther King Jr, or Chuck Norris (as a joke)

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Elvis Presley yet.

Before the companion book came out, one of my players decided to create an American Pantheon using historical figures who had been dead for at least 20 years.  His entry for Elvis was exquisite.  It was something like...

"The epitome of what it means to be an American.  Coming from a humble beginning, and through talent and charisma won over the hearts of all whom he met.  Though he fought bravely in battle against our foes, thinking nothing of himself, he was ultimately undone by the excesses of drugs and alcohol that so frequently plague our society."

It was something like that, I'll see if I can find some of the other ones he suggested.  I'm pretty sure Marilyn Monroe (who's already been mentioned) was among them.

I'm probably going to regret this; but:

I'm quite comfortable with the Yankee Pantheon as outlined in the Companion.  What I'd really like to see is a matching Titan.  (I fear that I'll regret this because of conflicting political views.)

Oh, and I tend to view the Manitou (statted up elsewhere on this forum) as being to the Yankees as the Vanir are to the Aesir.