Styles

2022-02-01

Zeboim, divine power of Strife

 After Morgion, and Chemosh, last in the series of divine refactoring is Zeboim.

The goddess is somewhere between Chemosh and Morgion: You know why people might follow her teachings, but she seems to be kinda... aimless?

I agree, Strife is a difficult divine power to qualify, but I believe the goddess can be modified so she becomes more active, instead of just being the goddess you placate when going at sea.

So, for my campaign... what to do with Zeboim?

Constraints

All gods of Krynn must have an active, inspiring contribution and teaching to soul's evolution and learning. This constribution/teaching does not need to be pleasant, but it has to make sense, even in a twisted way.

The corollary is that priests of all gods should have a philosophy/teaching that makes sense, even in a twisted way: No one should become priest of Chemosh by being coerced into it. If one thing, faith should be sincere.

The modified god (here, Zeboim) should remain recognizable, and, perhaps, from casual examination, should appear like the original version. Only when digging deeper will someone (a reader, or a character) would realize the difference.

Inspirations

For our rework of Zeboim, we need to look around to see if there are interesting concepts we could borrow.

Original Zeboim

Like for Chemosh, The wiki entry for Zeboim is quite extensive, but spends a lot of time in stories where she is not shown in her best light.

From the Holy Orders of the Stars sourcebook, we have the following attributes for Zeboim:

  • Portfolio: Oceans, storms, jealousy, spite
  • Worshipers: Sailors, pirates, evil druids, evil sea creatures
  • Domains: Chaos, Evil, Storm, Water

What comes out, for me, is both chaos and nature, as well as, obviously, water and ocean. Also:

[Zeboim] admonishes the soul to unleash its deepest urges, acting fully in the throes of any pent-up aggression and frustration. In doing so, she foments unrest, anarchy, disorder, and rebellion. [...] Her driving need is to create anguish and volatility between the souls of the world, so that they remain vital and active, not stagnant or witless.

-- Holy Orders of the Stars, p107

The takeway of Zeboim's entry is that she is volatile, and regularly stirs up trouble... and that's all.

Eris, Greek goddess of discord

Like most Greek gods, Eris is more suited to a "Desperate Housewives of Olympus" than anything worthwhile. Let's not go there.

Set, Egyptian god of deserts, storms, disorder, violence and foreigners

This one is heavy. First, Set should not be mixed with its caricature (i.e. Conan's serpent god). He was actually defender of Ra against Apep, the serpent god of chaos... until foreign invaders, the Hyksos, came to Egypt, and became real fans of Set. This didn't go well when said foreigners were ousted out. Set's worship didn't get easier in later periods, for similar reasons. And like that, Set was seen as... some kind of traitor god?

Vikings

The obvious source of inspiration is the viking raids who had plagued western Europe around the 9th century, or at least, our highly fictional, even romanticized, version of it: Fearsome and fearless warriors burning and killing.

No settlement was safe from such raids, even those who were deep inside land.

Also, Skyrim's Nords (despite their lack of relation to liquid water) and a Song of Ice and Fire's Ironborns (including their adoration for their Drowned God), because they themselves took inspiration from vikings.

Pirates

The difference between pirates and vikings lies only in the romanticized "freedom" the pirates were supposed to uphold. They, and the few ports they controlled, were free from any crown, living the good life, instead of submitting to others' control.

Berserkers

Assimilated to the vikings, berserkers are actually a bit different: Any warrior entering some kind of frenzy in the midst of battle can be considered a berserker.

The Barbarian class of D&D is actually well-fitted for this role. The Wildfire archetype for the Druid (found in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything) might be a good fit, too, but the fire kinda doesn't mesh with Zeboim's water element.

Werecreatures

Werecreatures are just like Berserkers, but with less control, and more animals in them.

Problem: There are no werecreatures on Krynn, and even if there were, having three moons wouuld make the lives on those affected by moon phases very miserable.

Kaiju

How many monsters came from the seas, from the "here be dragons" of ancient maps, to the kaijus plaguing the Pacific Ocean for some reason. Monsters from the Greek mythology, like the Kraken, Charybdis, Scylla.

Partial conclusion

There aren't many satisfying inspirations.

Vikings, pirates and berserkers might serve as inspiration for various kind of worshipers for Zeboim, but these are "land-focused", which is a problem:

The sea

Zeboim being a goddess of seas, it makes sense she might have some influence on anything underwater... Also, the obsession of the gods and mortals with Ansalon might be explained by a forced isolation caused by hostile oceans surrounding it. Is Zeboim's mission to isolate Ansalon through tempests and currents?

Marine beasts

Beyond the normal dangers we can expect from high sea waters, there are some dread things lurking in deep waters, things you don't want to meet. So you pray Zeboim for her clemency and her favor, so the monster actually leaves you alone.

Any monster will do. Most notably, aquatic dinosaurs, but also dragons, and giant version of marine life, like octopuses, whales, or sharks (megalodons!).

Aquatic elves and civilizations

If Zeboim is the mistress of the seas, then I don't see how aquatic elves can live there without her permission. At the very least, unlike on the lands, the aquatic elves (mostly the deep sea Dargonesti) might be under constant threat of attack from a giant monster.

The strife

Perhaps we need to focus on the reasons for strife, and what strife can achieve. Beyond raiders like vikings, we have revolts, revolutions. When a population reaches a point where it can't bear much oppression anymore (whether real, or imagined), then the disorder coming from the revolt can topple leadership, governments, and possibly, whole nations.

The breaking point in the French 1789 Revolution was an elite trying to hold to its privileges, facing a population that was more and more oppressed, both by the political power of their elite, and by poverty, and several years of famine. Had the Habeas Corpus been integrated in France's monarchy, perhaps the 1789 Revolution would never had happened. The chaos and disorder (and lots of death, let's face it) were at this point necessary to induce a change that had been denied many times before when asked "nicely".

Sirrion might have been perfect for this role, but here, we are looking at something that suddenly breaks, and destroys everything in its wake.

Zeboim, divine power of Strife

Zeboim represents the divine power of strife, which enables souls to rise up, against anything that might inhibit, control or hinder it, by releasing their deepest, most shameful impulses, fully acting when one is overwhelmed by aggressiveness or repressed frustrations.

Unlike Sargonnas, who is focused against specific slights, Zeboim encourages unrest, lawlessness, disorder and rebellion, in a systematic attempt to counteract imposed order and law.

In this, she directly opposes both of her parents, Sargonnas, and mostly Takhisis, whose obsession for control opposes the disorder and resulting freedom favored by Zeboim.

Zeboim, through her priests, will inspire and support anything that will undermine a status quo, be it the power of the aristocracy, or of a dictator, or even a perfectly functioning and just society. This makes her the enemy of most of Krynn's gods, who usually favor lawfulness and order, no matter their pantheon.

Oppressed people are, of course, much more likely to revolt with violence, and in this, the followers of the goddess will both inspire them, encourage them, and support them. But make no mistake, the ultimate aim of this divine inspiration and support is to replace the status quo with chaos, and nothing, including the well-being and self-determination of the population, will calm down the followers of Zeboim.

On the other hand, pirates and raiders couldn't care less about the goddess (if we except the mandatory reverence when at sea), but it doesn't matter, as she couldn't care less herself about them, as long as they do what they do best: Raid, kill, destroy, and undermine civilizations. In this, they will find the support of Zeboim's priests, bards, and barbarians.

Berserkers (i.e. D&D barbarians) are more than likely to attract Zeboim's attentions. They usually end up dead, finding their rage failing them at the most crucial moment, or succumb to their most base instincts and join bands of raiders and priests of Zeboim.

One unexpected side of Zeboim is represented by her druids. The exploitation of nature, and its taming by mortals and their little ordered societies, and thus, the lack of respect for it, isn't really something she appreciates. Unlike druids of Habbakuk, or even Chislev, Zeboim's druids won't shy away from the worst crimes to remind the mortals to not only respect, but fear nature itself.

Conclusion

I'm not really satisfied by this version of Zeboim. It's hard to keep the what exist of that goddess, and makes it interesting for my campaign while keeping the new version compatible with generic Dragonlance for other to uses.

But focusing on her role in inspiring revolt and chaos, and less on her personal problems and indulgences, I believe I made her a bit more proactive goddess, directly opposing most other gods, instead of skulking in a corner like a frustrated teenager whose smartphone was confiscated.