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[KaguroDraven]

In an evil zone, the area itself would be sentient and actively trying to be evil

The plants themselves trying to kill your dwarves? I like the sound of this.
Plants, Animals, Water, the Air itself, all trying to kill your dwarves from the get go. The Ultimate challenge mode.

Australia?

Yes, but with Skeletal Carp. And perhaps Skeletal Kangaroos for the hell of it.

[Askot Bokbondeler]

Once again, it was SetH who chopped up osirus and he didn't stuff him in a chest. He spred him all over the world.

that isn't necessarily evil, only if you worship osiris.

They were still labled "God of evil"

no.

[thijser]

And yet nobody brings up the devil? Anyway I think that whatever there is a good or evil system should be an option in world-gen. I don't think we should just get rid of this option.

[Askot Bokbondeler]

devil?

not a god, technically.

[Neonivek]

Once again, it was SetH who chopped up osirus and he didn't stuff him in a chest. He spred him all over the world.

that isn't necessarily evil, only if you worship osiris.

They were still labled "God of evil"

no.

Really? I distinctly remember Loki being the god of magic, trickery, and specifically evil.

Same with Set (or Seth or whatever)

As for the Devil... Oddly enough while not "Technically" a god he is treated almost exactly as such.

[ungulateman]

Once again, it was SetH who chopped up osirus and he didn't stuff him in a chest. He spred him all over the world.

that isn't necessarily evil, only if you worship osiris.

I was unaware that many societies consider murdering celestial beings acceptable. Thanks for clearing that up.

[Rowanas]

As someone who has devoted a little bit of time learning tales of Loki (damn you, Celtic LARP), I can tell you pretty authoritatively that Loki is NOT evil. If a tale involves Thor, it probably involves Loki helping him out, or them having a fight, one of the two. For instance, in one of the most popular Viking tales, that of Thor's Missing Hammer, Loki first sets off to find the giant king who had stolen it. Then Loki comes up with a master stroke to get Mjöllnir back and repeatedly covered Thor with ingenious (and humorous) explanations.

Whenever a plan is made or a god outwitted, it's Loki. Whenever a trick is played, or a villain gets their comeuppance, it's Loki. Saying he's the god of Evil is foolish and demonstrates an utter lack of understanding.

[Neonivek]

Saying he's the god of Evil is foolish and demonstrates an utter lack of understanding

Not as such... In fact it represents and understanding that someone can have a title and not require them to be the epitome of such a title. For example the Norse god of Silence can speak as far as I am aware.

In fact saying that someone who is the "God of Evil" must be evil sort of says something else entirely.

Also I am WELL aware that Loki is by far not evil or at least to the extent that anyone would care, it is just that my research suggests that along with many of his facets he is labled the "God of Evil".

Though another, however unfair, reason he could have gotten "God of Evil" status could be because of his potentiality to turn to the darkside and kill almost everyone.

Or that he was willing to kill Buldr unprovoked, or prevent his revival unprovoked (even if that didn't actually happen). Or even possibly an aversion to spellcraft altogether (making him a sort of Anti-hero who uses evil villainy for the good guy's sake)

-Edit Addition: Also I guess I can include: Hermes the god of luck isn't Lucky

[Catastrophic lolcats]

I wouldn't say I have a large knowledge of mythology, mostly due to me thinking it's stupid and useless.

Though would it be impossible to say that a god of evil is not evil herself, rather she gets worshipped by people who are seen as evil?

This could be explained by the worshipper believing (s)he could get out of a life of torment in hell(s) for a small/large service to this deity?
(This is actually quite interesting as it would make "Gods' of Mercy" and the like worshipped mostly by the evil and unsavoury kinds)

Also this gets us into the whole "Evil" versus "evil" debate. Regarding if there’s an "Evil" that rules the df world (ie Satan) or just "evil" as in the actions and nature of humans.

[Neonivek]

Well you there is also the idea that a god of "evil" uses the abilities and tactics of those who are evil in order to get the job done.

A "Rogue" so to speak.

Or that the god is "Incharge" of evil.

So it doesn't have to be about an evil god anyway just one who has "evil" somewhere within his spheres of influence.

As for evil people worshipping gods. Interestingly what usually happens is they translate often certain traits a god has and turns that evil.

Though not a historical example I remember that Merlin movie where a Pagan god was suddenly turned supremely evil because the spread of Catholocism meant that people were rejecting the "old ways" and in turn peverting all the beings and creatures of old. (Or something along those lines, it is very up to interpretation). In otherwords she was believed to be an "Evil" god within the movie due to the context that she is in opposition to the new order.

So if a new pantheon was established within a society the older gods could suddenly seem "evil" and quite frankly be worshipped by "evil people". In fact that would possibly be one of the more interesting ways to use gods that have been phased out in a society or defeated by another religion.

Though I should check if the Aztecs had an "Evil" god, but most of them were more "Force of nature" then downright evil. Though, probably mistaken, I think they had a god of goodness. TO THE INTERNET! Hmm so far no. (though I will say they certainly had gods that did nothing but harm... hmm actually no, just one "Evil" god but not one with "evil" in his job description, but he plays the part of the "devil" anyhow... and DANG is this god hardcore)

[Rowanas]

Saying he's the god of Evil is foolish and demonstrates an utter lack of understanding

Not as such... In fact it represents and understanding that someone can have a title and not require them to be the epitome of such a title. For example the Norse god of Silence can speak as far as I am aware.

Ah, I have misunderstood. Perhaps because of the original intent of the topic I assumed you were arguing that Loki was Evil, with the capital E. I should've read your posts more thoroughly.

If a god rarely does evil and his followers occasionally do evil, is that enough to class it as an Evil god? If so, there's no God on Earth that's not at least a little bit evil.

Also, they are not evil just because. Your argument for labeling Loki evil was based in his acts of aggression against Baldr, which are not "evil" they are of the spheres of killing and death. An assassin who worships Loki for these acts and killed a great tyrant would be by no means evil.

Don't apply western (or hell, even human) morals to the acts of gods. Let each culture in DF come to it's own conclusion.

[thijser]

devil?

not a god, technically.

weren't we just looking for a evil beeing?

[NinjaE8825]

I'd say that an Evil sphere would be useful during god-gen; gods who represent everything their birth-culture considers evil (like Loki, who was a trickster, liar and oathbreaker in a culture where stealing was seen as worse than murder).

The Evil tag wouldn't show up on legends screen-rather, it would look at the cultural norms of the culture and nab a few spheres it didn't like (elves, for instance, might get a God of Evil with the spheres of Fire, Death and Tree-Cutting, whereas dwarves would get Deception, Cave-ins and Water). This would still allow other civs who didn't mind those spheres to later reinterpret them (for instance, Elves LIKE sneakiness, rain is vital for the plants, and cave-ins only punishes those who, like so many maggots, defile Mother Nature's holy flesh.).

Their birth-cultures might worship like some divine protection racket, rather than out of respect (give ten kittens on the altar to Ammu-Si, and she won't crush the mines this year, either, or flood them, and keep liars from your doorstep).
Gods without the Evil tag, but who have socially unacceptable spheres might be worshipped as protector deities against them.

Also, we need a system for generating bad-guys in the mythology, like Satan or the Titans or Jotun. Might be real megabeasts, might not be.

[Neonivek]

Also, they are not evil just because. Your argument for labeling Loki evil was based in his acts of aggression against Baldr

No I was trying to come up with reasons why they would lable him the "God of Evil"... not "Loki is evil and this is why"

As for "Not on Legends tab" I actually wouldn't mind seeing "general oppinions" of gods on the legend page. I mean if one nation sees one as a nature god and another as a god of death, that is fairly interesting.

[irmo]

I was unaware that many societies consider murdering celestial beings acceptable. Thanks for clearing that up.

Quite a lot of mythologies feature gods murdering other gods, without either of them being regarded as evil. All of the usual Greek gods (the Olympians)* had a hand in kicking the crap out of the Titans and throwing them into hell, but this doesn't make them "gods of evil". Loki isn't a god of evil; he's a god of trickery and cunning, which might read as evil to a culture that values forthrightness, but he doesn't embody all the qualities seen as evil in Norse culture (he's not an oathbreaker, for example).

The only Western religion that has a straight-up god of evil is Zoroastrianism, and even that's debatable: Angra Mainyu might not count as a god (in either the comparative-religion or the Dwarf Fortress sense) since nobody worships him.

* Except Dionysus, who is a special case.