Reworking the "Yankee" Pantheon

Dataweaver:

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.)

I agree with you about the Pantheon, but I believe that National Pantheons should be fighting other National Pantheons. This is because I think that National Pantheons should only appear in times of great conflict on the World, composed by Gods of other Pantheons (for the Yankee, Br'er Rabbit is from the Manitou, Columbia is from the Dodekatheon...), they temporally give up their original PSP for their National PSP.

And now I share your fear...

Dataweaver:

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. 

The same is true with the Devas and their Vedic heritage, the Pesedjet and their pre-pharaohnic(sp?) stage... But in the end I disagree.

The Pantheon itself isn't the problem.. I'm just not a fan of the "Tall Tale" versions of some of the Gods.. I'm thinking of just changing Pecos Bills name to "Wild Bill".. that way he can be associated with all of the "Bills" in the Wild West.. Paul Bunyan is going to revert to being a Native Earth God.. Brie'er Rabbit goes back to being Coyote..

Really just leaves John Henry..

I'd like to establish a "Manitou" pantheon as a "Sub" pantheon of the Americans..

John Henry is easy. He was obviously born a Scion who received a prenatal visitation. Dude was born talking with his birthright hammer already in his hands.

I put Paul Bunyan into the same category as Loki. He was once a giant, but as a result of fatebindings, he's become a full blown diety.

That, I agree with.

Me personally I would work it as.....
Uncle Sam,Lady Liberty(renamed Columbia),and Coyote(Renamed Br'er Rabbit)from the companion.
I would add....
Marylin Monroe as the Goddess of Movies
The Daredevil(who currently looks like Evil Keneval)to represent American's thrill seeking nature.
The Rebel(He's been everything from a Minuteman to a  Confederate to a Goth)to represent our willingness to stand out and up for what we believe
The Explorer(Neil Armstrong or John Glenn)for our willingness to go into the unknown
Tolerance(constantly changing)for our willingness to accept those that are different
Jerry Fallwell to represent our intolerance and narrow mindedness
Nikolai Tesla to represent our Technological pursuits(Since Edison wasn't an inventor so much as someone who improved on other's ideas.)
Just a few ideas.

Except Tesla was an Astrian ex-patriot.. though.. hardly a stumbeling block for the "Yankees"

He'd be a good God of Electricity and Storms for the Yankees..

My list would be
Americans
Uncle Sam
Columbia
John Henry
The Sufferegette
Wild Bill
Nichola Tesla

Natives
Coyote (Br'er Rabbit)
Nunne'hi (Paul Bunyan, Earth God/Giant)
Raven
Kokopeli
Nanuq
Anasazi

As far as the virtues go, I'd substitute Piety for Intellect.

Lady Liberty ist the daughter of Hermes, but not Athene.

GI Joe or Captain America as god of war. While Uncle Sam works fine as a god of generals, GI Joe represents the common soldier.

Uncle Sam might even be the same entity as the God of Christianity, changed by the course of history and Fate. After all, Christian faith is powerful in America, while it has become a mere tradition in Europe.

And of course there would be the all-mighty Dollar, god of capitalism.

The Wright Brothers would be excellent Sky gods. 

Also the Unknown Soldier as the god of Death.

I did my own version of the American Pantheon borrowing heavily from the American Gods format. So far their orgins are pretty mysterious though most of them are either naturalized Gods or acended scions.

Uncle Sam: I used him almost as is. Warlike, patriotic and very much into the "ask what you can do for your country.
Lady Liberty: I used her as well though I made her also stand up for women and minorities and made her Sam's rival.
Hollywood: Used her as the symbol of the "happily ever after" concept for America. Super obsessed with image.
O Mighty Dolla: He is a big oil baron type who represents faith in Capitalism and consumerism.
Manifest Destiny: My Godess of exploration and adventure. She is the cowboy astronaut type.
The Technocrat: The brother of manifest he represents faith in science and technology.
The Man In Black: One of the two "villain gods" he is excess and control by the government. He is one of the main villans in my game.
The Stranger: The other one. He is the fear of the unknown and evil hiding among society. I'm using him as a Rorschach like anti-hero who is trying to save America by scaring it straight with serial killers and the like.
Teen Spirit: Not too happy with this God but he is the God of creativity and the rebellion of youth (Ala: Elvis to Hippies to Metalheads)

Im putting their overworld in the dreams of the American People and with the setup of your Mainstreet USA kind of town. The underworld looks like a abandoned trashed musem and since they have no death god and no national belif in an underworld it is pretty fricking dangerous. Lastly I replaced industry with Grandoise which was a purviw I made to simulate the whole 'Big darned hollywood heroes" feal I wanted to give the pantheon.

You are free to crib anything you want and toss anything you dont. Just felt it might help to see how another rookie GM who hated the tall tales aproch looked at the problem.

In one of the Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters miniseries that came out within the last four or five years, Sam took the group to the Heartland, a place that shares many characteristics of a Godrealm.  I'm not sure what the Yankee Underworld should be like; but its Godrealm ought to be the Heartland. 

Dataweaver:

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.)

I actually agree with you.  I really like the Yankee Pantheon and only made a few changes.  I made them all Scions or Gods/Spirits that co-opted a persona and became a God.  I also added four more Gods.

To make a Titan without making it too political I made Xibalba the Titan of Fear (Illusion), it has themes of fear, competition, trial, and subversion.  After escaping from the prison it went straight for the Mayans and dispatched the pantheon quite readily.  It's ancient foe defeated it looked for a new target and found the highly idealistic Yankees and decided to put them to the test.  The Yankees don't know they're under attack (some suspect though) and Xibalba's tunnels worm their way through the Yankee Overworld undetected. 

Because Xibalba is Illusion based the avatars change to whatever is most appropriate for a given foe.  And because Xibalba is supposed to have 12 princess that works in pairs you can have a whole range of villains.  For example I have the Radical, who forments domestic disturbances, and the Terrorist who strikes from outside.  You could also have the Xenophobe, who is afraid of outsiders, and the Bleeding Heart, who is way too accepting of others.  Anyway, the point is that you can than rationalize the avatars as Xibalba playing on everyone's fears rather than a particular political point of view.

Also by using Xibalba, you can adapt the Xibalban ball courts to a baseball diamond and play a truly epic game.  (This is the main reason I chose Xibalba actually).   

I'm thinking the Titan the Yankees are going to deal with is going to be a Titan of Consumption.. to explain why america is obsessed with Consumerism, and trust me, we are.

It also fits in well as the Titan the Manitou fought against before being wiped out/absorbed into the American Pantheon..

I also roll Betsy Ross into the Sufferegete.. as they really seemed to just be different aspects of the same god..

That Xibalba stuff is really good, Funkadelic!

*cribbed*

You want American gods huh.

Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty are obvious.

The war god is G.I. Joe he is always shown as a generic American Soldier. Known for his sacrifice and heroism in the face those who would do harm his great nation.

You need god that exemplifies on the drive to explore and expand that America embodied during its westward expansion. For sake of having a name we will call him The Pioneer.

We need two gods or one god with two personalities to represent Capitalism. One for the spirit of entrepreneurship and the drive for start new businesses and new innovations. We will call him the Entrepreneur, he is creative, innovative, and cares for his employees. The other is the Magnate, he represents the extreme wealth and corruption that so often find its way into Wall Street, and large businesses. He also represents the rapid expansion of large businesses to crush smaller ones.

We need a vast and widely encompassing nature god to represent all of the varied terrain and environment that make up the great nation of America, from the majestic Rocky Mountains, to the Great Plains, to the Forests and Appalachian Mountains of the east, to the Florida Everglades. All of these and more are an intrinsic part of Americas identity, and we call her America the Beautiful.

There is of course much more to being American than what I listed, and I might come up with more later, but an American Pantheon should be represented by the concepts that defines America to is core.

The pantheon is missing a diety of music.  I can see Irving Berlin as a scion, along with Elivis.  I think the journal of popular culture had an article that drew paralels between Elvis and Orpheus.