One Thousand Gods

The One Thousand Gods

Hattian, Hittite, Hurrian and Luwian Pantheons of Anatolia

Pantheon Leader: Teshub

Location: Ethereal / Temple of One Thousand

HISTORYWATCH: The Hattian civilisation flourished in Anatolia 4500 years ago (modern Turkey), before being invaded and assimilated by their neighbours the Hittites around 3700 years ago. The neighbouring Hurrian and Luwian cultures mixed in their own deities with these powers too. The resulting blended pantheon endured for around 500 years until the Late Bronze Age collapse. In those days, every settlement had its own local god, and as the Hittite Empire expanded, all of these powers were absorbed into the religion and syncretised. After a while, even the most diligent graybeards lost count of them all, and the name of the pantheon became the One Thousand Gods.

CHARACTER: The main concerns of the Anatolians are reflected in the nature of their deities—in arid lands where survival depends on the rains falling reliably, the sun bakes the land, and war, death and disease stalk folks constantly, it shouldn’t be too surprising that their powers are focussed on weather, the elements and death.

The One Thousand Gods are quick to anger and easy to placate, provided the proper rituals are used and the right sacrifices made. Their moods impact the material world in every respect, making the priesthood influential members of the community. Temples employ professional lamenters to sing sad dirges about the terrible punishments the powers might visit upon the mortals—the logic being, when the powers hear the lamentations they’ll be satisfied that the mortals are being suitably fearful so there’s no need to come down and prove anything. The myths of the One Thousand Gods themselves are all about power struggles, family dysfunction, and the delicate balance between order and chaos—remind you of anywhere?

Unlike many powers, the One Thousand dwell amongst on the Elemental Inner Planes, keeping close to the Prime so they can step in and interfere whenever the whim takes them or they’re offended by hubristic berks. In fact, not all of the One Thousand are powers in the sense of beings who feed on belief. Some are elemental forces who require nobody to worship them, and this means they can be rather more detached from the lives of primes than their counterparts in other pantheons.

The other curious feature of the powers of the One Thousand Gods is that they share a common Underworld with several other pantheons. The Anunnaki are a group of a dozen powers of death, judgement, punishment and imprisonment who are important figures in the myths of the One Thousand Gods—but also the Sumerian Dingir and the Babylonian Igigi. While the details vary from culture to culture, Ereshkigal and Nergal have got the market cornered when it comes to ‘caring for’ the spirits of the dead for all of these pantheons.

Myths of the One Thousand Gods

CREATION MYTH: In the beginning, there were the ammatina enna, the divine ancestors. Now it depends who you ask about this as to what they were called, their genders, even how many of them there were. The stories of the One Thousand Gods tend to call them Duri and Dari, the Primordial Powers of Time. These powers existed, and separated, and became something new, called Egur and Gara, the Primordial Powers of Space. And then finally, these powers combined, mixed, and separated into Alalu and Belili, the Primordial Powers of the Deep Waters. It was this third pair of Primordials who gave birth to something new—the first gods. There were three brothers: Anu, Kumarbi, and Ilabrat. Since Anu was the eldest, he had the ‘honour’ of being the cup-bearer of Alalu. At first he was proud of his role, but after nine years he grew tired of doing all the work, while his brothers were able to relax. When Alalu refused to release him from his duty, and egged on by his brothers, Anu overthrew his parents. Alalu fled in disgrace, and has not been seen since. Belili was so distraught by the betrayal that she also left, and chant goes she might have become the Underworld.

Delighted that he now ruled the multiverse, Anu realised that he now needed a cup-bearer, and announced that his middle brother, Kumarbi would have the honour. Kumarbi was initially pleased to be picked over his younger brother Ilabrat, who was relegated to being just the sukkal, or vizier, of the two older brothers—and they basically treated him like a dogsbody. After nine years of serving Anu, both younger brothers were sick of his constant demands, and came up with a plan that was both cunning and as bizarre as you might expect from the powers. In fact, it was Ilabrat’s idea—Kumarbi would bite off the genitals of Anu! This castration would mean Anu could no longer be the supreme power, and instead Kumarbi would become the new King of the Gods. The plan went without a hitch…but the aftermath was less expected. The wounded Anu did step down, but as he did so, he congratulated Kumarbi on his pregnancy. And indeed, this was the case! Kumarbi proceeded to give birth to hundreds of gods, an out-of-control torrent of divinities who became the One Thousand Gods.

Later, Anu selected his favourite of these divine children, a young power of lightning called Teshub, and conspired with him to depose the treacherous Kumarbi. This too came to pass; Anu retired to the Deep Vacuum (or to Mechanus, if the Babylonians are to be believed), Kumarbi was cast into the plane of Dust, and Teshub became the new—and current—King of the One Thousand Gods. For his part, Ilabrat quietly slipped away, joining the Sumerian Dingir pantheon and turning into the goddess Ninshubur. Kumarbi now lurks in the forsaken lands, siring monstrous children in a vain attempt to overthrow Teshub and reclaim his throne.

A Deep Dive into the One Thousand Gods

Realms of the One Thousand Gods

More of the One Thousand Gods

NAME	PORTFOLIO	REALM / INNER PLANE	PRONOUNS	ALIGNMENT	POWER LEVEL
Alalu	First King of the Planes (deposed)	Unknown	He/Him	Unknown	Primordial
Allanzu	Youth	Radiance	She/Her	CG	Lesser
Anu	Overthrew Alalu; Sky (deposed)	Mechanus 𒀮	He/Him	LE	Greater
Arinna	The Sun; mother of the solar gods	Fire–Radiance	She/Her	LG	Greater
Arma	The moon, pregnancy, treaties, oaths	Ice	He/Him	N	Lesser
Belili	Spouse of Alalu; mourning, underworld scribe, dreams, death and rebirth	Unknown	She/Her	Unknown	Primordial
Ea	Water, magic, wisdom	Water	He/Him	CG	Greater
Furusemu	The hottest part of the day	Radiance	She/Her	N	Intermediate
Hannahanna	Grandmother goddess, wisdom, motherhood	Earth	She/Her	N	Greater
Ḫapantali	Divine shepherd	Earth	She/Her	NG	Lesser
Hayya	Wisdom; water; craft; incantations; cunning	Water	He/Him	CN	Intermediate
Hepat	The Queen of Heaven; motherhood; fertility; wife of Teshub	Air	She/Her	N	Greater
Hutena & Hutellura	Fate; divine midwives; human destiny	Ethereal	She/Her (7 powers)	N	Demipowers
Illuyanka	Catastrophic dragons, destruction	Ash	He/Him	CE	Intermediate
Inar	Wild animals, steppe, hunting	Earth	She/Her	CN	Intermediate
Išḫara	Oaths; underworld; love and passion; marriage; divination; plague; springs; wells; scorpions; hydra	Water	She/Her	CN	Intermediate
Istanu	Solar justice	Radiance	He/Him	LN	Intermediate
Kammamma	Vegetation; wild nature	Wood	He/Him	CN	Intermediate
Kamrušepa	Healing, magic, rituals, exorcism	Steam	She/Her	NG	Intermediate
Kumarbi	Father of Gods; grain, creation, chaos	Dust	He/Him	CE	Greater
Kunzisalli	The Divine Child	Air	Unknown	N	Lesser
Kušuh / Kašku	The Moon; oracles; time	Ice	He/Him	LN	Intermediate
Lelwani	Sun goddess of the earth; underworld; fate	Magma	She (formerly He)	LN	Intermediate
Mezulla	Sunsets	Radiance	She/Her	LG	Lesser
Nabarbi	Cattle; pastures; rivers; floodplains	Ooze	She/Her	NG	Lesser
Nerikkil	Weather; rain; fertility	Air	He/Him	CG	Intermediate
Nikkal	Full moon; orchards; agriculture	Mount Celestia / Lunia / Moonshine	She/Her	LG	Lesser
Ninatta & Kulitta	Handmaidens who serve Šauška; divine musicians	None	She/Her	CN	Demipowers
Nupatik	Divine mysteries; hidden forces	Ethereal	He/Him	CN	Lesser
Pirwa	Horses, war, mountains, protection	Earth	He/Him	CG	Intermediate
Sandas	Warriors, plague, fire, underworld	Ash	He/Him	NE	Lesser
Sarruma	Mountains, protection of royal family	Mineral	He/Him	LG	Intermediate
Šauška	Love, war, healing, magic, sibling of Teshub	Fire; Air	Genderfluid	CN	Intermediate
Shalash	Wife of Kumarbi; fertility; agricultural abundance	Earth	She/Her	NG	Lesser
Šimige	The solar chariot, oracles, divine sight	Fire	He/Him	LG	Lesser
Šiwat	God of the day of death	Ash	He/Him	LE	Lesser
Sulinkatte	Protection, defence against demons	Salt	He/Him	LG	Intermediate
Suwaliya	Plague; disease; pestilence	Ooze	He/Him	CE	Intermediate
Tasmisu	Attendant of Teshub; war; messenger; herald	None	Genderless	LN	Demipower
Teshub / Taru	Storms; weather; thunder; King of the Gods	Lightning	He/Him	N	Greater 𒀭
Telipinu	Agriculture; grain	Wood	He/Him	CG	Intermediate
Tilla	Bull god; attendant and draft animal	None	Genderless	CN	Demipower
Tiwaz	Daylight	Radiance	He/Him	NG	Inter,ediate
Ullikummi	Giants; chaos; destruction	Magma	Genderless	CE	Intermediate
Ušḫuni	A silver demon and antagonist of the lunar powers	Metal	Genderless	CE	Lesser
Wurunkatte	War, battle, military campaigns	Metal	He/Him	LE	Intermediate
Yarikh	The moon; the cycle of life	Mount Celestia / Lunia / Moonshine	He/Him	LG	Lesser
Zaliyanu	Sacred mountains	Earth	He/Him	LN	Lesser
Zashapuna	Cities	Ethereal / Temple of One Thousand	She/Her	LN	Lesser
Zintuhi	The divine granddaughter	Radiance	She/Her	N	Demipower
Zippalanda	Rain; storms	Lightning	He/Him	N	Intermediate

Source: Jon Winter-Holt. My latest mini-obsession is the mythology of Mesopotamian and surrounding regions. While researching Sumeria and Babylonia, I kept coming across the gods of the Hurrians and Hittites who have some wild myths (the barmy creation myth in particular) and literally no representation in Planescape at all. This is a first attempt at fixing that with a homebrew pantheon based on real world myth. Very little is known about these powers, so I’ve taken some liberties in filling in blanks… while this list is based in real world myth it certainly shouldn’t be taken as accurately reflecting what turned out to be a really complicated story spanning over 1000 years. I’ve anchored these gods in the Inner Planes because their areas of interest are largely focussed on weather, food, and natural disasters. The Inner Planes needs more mythology, and and I wanted something to interact with the genies that isn’t just more humanoid elementals made from fire etc. The myths suggest these gods can be quite petty and brutal, which fits nicely with the genies, and the fact they’re also some of the most ancient gods known to mythology also seems to work nicely here. I also love how the myths of the Greeks (and several other cultures) so clearly borrowed from these even more ancient stories. I also love how many of these gods are so gender fluid, it really goes to show very little is ever new. If you know more about this part of history than me—which would not be difficult—I would love to hear feedback and suggestions for how to improve things and what I mangled!