[quote=“Dragon Crow, post:22, topic:8894”][quote=“Arcane, post:21, topic:8894”]Really late to the party, but Big Me has connections to Spiders. I’ve posted about my godform elsewhere on this website, the post is readily available among my “threads”.
I’ve had experiences with the Spider that Eva mentioned, both as a kid in its pure form, and later on, through Asenath Mason’s work, as Arachne the Spider Goddess, and her powers are something I readily use still.
Do you have a reference for Lloth?[/quote]
yes, where may i find information on him?[/quote]
Your best bet would be the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons… Errr…I apologize, for some reason I had the impression that more people here would get that reference - it was 3/4 joking. The 1/4 that wasn’t a joke was where I mentioned you’d get a egregore; as I understand it that’s entirely possible, and I DO think it could interesting but I don’t think it would be very useful.
Even though she doesn’t have any real believers that I’m aware of, there are many who do know who she is, so perhaps she would be a little more powerful than your average egregore servitor? She still wouldn’t have the power of an “actual” goddess (using the term lightly, lol). On the other hand, it doesn’t sound like you have many options to choose from for a spider deity…, Even so, you STILL wouldn’t want Lloth (probably)!
Lloth is the goddess worshipped by the Drow (dark elves) of the Underdark. She’s also the reason they don’t spill out into the surface world and carve out a bloody empire for themselves. Leave your philosophical notions of morality behind: she is chaotic evil. Though Drow worship and revere solely she - and she does grant them favors and power - she keeps their society in a perpetual state on instability bordering on anarchy. Think of Renaissance Italy, with the Mediccis and Borgias, and others. Now imagine their political intrigues involved the occasional massacres of entire noble houses, all their family, soldiers, and anyone else residing with them. These raids are carried out in secrecy and every measure is taken to make them a surprise, although the nature of political intrigues means that a capable leader will have some awareness that an attack is imminent, they may even know who will carry it out. But they can only wait for it usually. See - such attacks are officially forbidden by Lloth and Drow law - that’s why they’re carried out in secrecy and why the entire noble house must be killed. They can give no indication of impending attack and leave no trace that could link the massacre back to them. If they fail to sufficiently conceal their actions then their house will be eradicated, and they will lose all favor from Lloth. However, if they’re successful, then their house moves up in rank and Lloth is pleased with them and may reward them. See, Lloth always knows who did it and usually the other houses do, too. But if it can’t be technically proven… Well, that’s just the way Lloth likes it - a perpetual state of malice and fear, thinly veiled chaos.
So even if you do summon her into existence, an entity modeled on Lloth would lead you down a very dark path. On the plus side though, she would be similar to many “dark” spirits - she would drag you through hell and you might emerge stronger than ever. But with Lloth you’d probably emerge as something akin to Hannibal Lecter if you emerge anywhere outside of prison or at all
Do you have a reference for Lloth?[/quote]
yes, where may i find information on him?[/quote]
Your best bet would be the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons… Errr…I apologize, for some reason I had the impression that more people here would get that reference - it was 3/4 joking. The 1/4 that wasn’t a joke was where I mentioned you’d get a egregore; as I understand it that’s entirely possible, and I DO think it could interesting but I don’t think it would be very useful.
Even though she doesn’t have any real believers that I’m aware of, there are many who do know who she is, so perhaps she would be a little more powerful than your average egregore servitor? She still wouldn’t have the power of an “actual” goddess (using the term lightly, lol). On the other hand, it doesn’t sound like you have many options to choose from for a spider deity…, Even so, you STILL wouldn’t want Lloth (probably)!
Lloth is the goddess worshipped by the Drow (dark elves) of the Underdark. She’s also the reason they don’t spill out into the surface world and carve out a bloody empire for themselves. Leave your philosophical notions of morality behind: she is chaotic evil. Though Drow worship and revere solely she - and she does grant them favors and power - she keeps their society in a perpetual state on instability bordering on anarchy. Think of Renaissance Italy, with the Mediccis and Borgias, and others. Now imagine their political intrigues involved the occasional massacres of entire noble houses, all their family, soldiers, and anyone else residing with them. These raids are carried out in secrecy and every measure is taken to make them a surprise, although the nature of political intrigues means that a capable leader will have some awareness that an attack is imminent, they may even know who will carry it out. But they can only wait for it usually. See - such attacks are officially forbidden by Lloth and Drow law - that’s why they’re carried out in secrecy and why the entire noble house must be killed. They can give no indication of impending attack and leave no trace that could link the massacre back to them. If they fail to sufficiently conceal their actions then their house will be eradicated, and they will lose all favor from Lloth. However, if they’re successful, then their house moves up in rank and Lloth is pleased with them and may reward them. See, Lloth always knows who did it and usually the other houses do, too. But if it can’t be technically proven… Well, that’s just the way Lloth likes it - a perpetual state of malice and fear, thinly veiled chaos.
So even if you do summon her into existence, an entity modeled on Lloth would lead you down a very dark path. On the plus side though, she would be similar to many “dark” spirits - she would drag you through hell and you might emerge stronger than ever. But with Lloth you’d probably emerge as something akin to Hannibal Lecter if you emerge anywhere outside of prison or at all[/quote]
I read the first three books of the Drizzt series so I feel like a dumb ass for not knowing that. In my defense, it has been a long time. That is a great idea though. Many people have put a lot of energy into these beings by reading these books and creating scenarios playing D&D that there is most likely some well formed and potentially powerful thought forms there just waiting to be tapped into. Brilliant!
First off, egregores can and do match, or even dwarf, “real” spirits. Even egregores made by one person can do this, and those made unconsciously as part of a common pattern and system behind a fandom. I am dead serious when I say that there are fictional things that are more “real” to me than some real things.
However, even if we underestimate the powers of this reality’s Lloth,it is not impossible to go to an alternate reality and find the “real” goddess herself(real there, though not here). Might be a worthwhile pursuit, albeit I highly doubt you’d want to go that far for someone who clearly isn’t pushing past the boundaries of her reality to interact. That said, I might…
As far as Big Me goes, I have a big workload all the way until next Tuesday so I cannot have a complete list of correspondences written out. There was a post on here, where I spoke of another version of my godform, though since then I have expanded the range of my abilities, and also acquired a new godname.
Yeah, now that you mention it… Those are some of the most widely read D&D books, even people who never really got into D&D but are fans of the fantasy genre like the Drizzt Do’Urden books - there are, after all, THREE Drizzt Do’Urden TRILOGIES! Lloth might actually be the most widely known D&D deity. You might be very right… But still, I sure as Hell wouldn’t her presence in MY life!
Yeah, now that you mention it… Those are some of the most widely read D&D books, even people who never really got into D&D but are fans of the fantasy genre like the Drizzt Do’Urden books - there are, after all, THREE Drizzt Do’Urden TRILOGIES! Lloth might actually be the most widely known D&D deity. You might be very right… But still, I sure as Hell wouldn’t her presence in MY life![/quote]
Would be awesome to summon Drizzt. His story is one of ascension, at least the first trilogy was. I have yet to read the others. Time to peruse Amazon
If you can summon Lloth then why not Drizzt? The idea of being able to summon fictional characters opens a LOT of possibilities? Why not Gandalf? Or Vader?
Honestly, the idea seems a little too good to be true. I can imagine it being possible, but Arcane’s assertion that they can be more “powerful” than “actual” gods or other spirits is a bit hard to swallow. But he knows much more than I do so I ought to take his word, and besides… if I believe they can’t be more powerful than I suppose they won’t be, so it won’t pay to be negative.
Think if I were going Lord of the Rings Id want to speak to the Ents, I love trees. They have always shared magick with me.
But that thing in the mines that Gandolf fought that might be interesting to.
Hmmm…actually theres alot of Lord of the Rings that Id like to seek out.
Don’t take my word for anything; call on the spirits yourself and check it out.
And do keep in mind, there is a vast and endless infinitude out there. Anything you can imagine, and so much more of what you cannot, is out there, on some level.
[quote=“Arcane, post:40, topic:8894”]Don’t take my word for anything; call on the spirits yourself and check it out.
And do keep in mind, there is a vast and endless infinitude out there. Anything you can imagine, and so much more of what you cannot, is out there, on some level.[/quote]
Yay!! Work lol. I’ll let you know if you’re the one
[quote author=Arcane link=topic=9386.msg97394#msg97394 date=1482021569]
Don’t take my word for anything; call on the spirits yourself and check it out.
And do keep in mind, there is a vast and endless infinitude out there. Anything you can imagine, and so much more of what you cannot, is out there, on some level.
[/quote
I’m not quite there yet so I’ll have to take your word
@Arianna: There are a ton of characters from Tolkien’s books I wouldn’t mind trying. There’s even a pantheon of deities. Given Tolkien’s devout Catholicism I always interpreted them as Archangels and Angels; Gamdalf and the other 4 wizards were “Angels,” as was Sauron and the Balrog Gandalf fought in Moria, although they would be “fallen.” Then there’s characters like Wlrond and Galadriel - who is actually a complete badass if you look into the deeper history of Middle Earth.
It’s interesting, I think. Tolkien had a mixed heritage he was very aware of and very proud of. He wanted to write an epic mythology true to his pagan roots while remaining faithful to his faith. I believe a task like that is something most would fail at but he succeeded, totally. Gandalf for instance, is based largely on Odin when he takes the form of a wanderer, while at the same time being a definite Christ figure. If you like the Ents and would evoke them, you might look into the pantheon and try evoking Yavanna instead, who created the Ents and all other plants. shrug Or you know.,.just do whatever floats your boat
[quote=“Arcane, post:40, topic:8894”]Don’t take my word for anything; call on the spirits yourself and check it out.
And do keep in mind, there is a vast and endless infinitude out there. Anything you can imagine, and so much more of what you cannot, is out there, on some level.
[/quote
I’m not quite there yet so I’ll have to take your word
@Arianna: There are a ton of characters from Tolkien’s books I wouldn’t mind trying. There’s even a pantheon of deities. Given Tolkien’s devout Catholicism I always interpreted them as Archangels and Angels; Gamdalf and the other 4 wizards were “Angels,” as was Sauron and the Balrog Gandalf fought in Moria, although they would be “fallen.” Then there’s characters like Wlrond and Galadriel - who is actually a complete badass if you look into the deeper history of Middle Earth.
It’s interesting, I think. Tolkien had a mixed heritage he was very aware of and very proud of. He wanted to write an epic mythology true to his pagan roots while remaining faithful to his faith. I believe a task like that is something most would fail at but he succeeded, totally. Gandalf for instance, is based largely on Odin when he takes the form of a wanderer, while at the same time being a definite Christ figure. If you like the Ents and would evoke them, you might look into the pantheon and try evoking Yavanna instead, who created the Ents and all other plants. shrug Or you know.,.just do whatever floats your boat ;)[/quote]
I tend to jump in the deep end first and just hold my nose cause here comes the cold water!
