Polytheism in the Ancient Empire

A mature idea in D&D - perhaps not one universally held but still mature - is that D&D is decidedly post-apocalyptic. Someone built those ruins. Someone put the gold in the ground. Those magic items are scattered for some forgotten reason. The long-lived peoples  remain in the dark corners of the world rather than living in shining cities of majesty. Someone created those magical horrors that dwell in the ruins. The Restless Dead who walk the Realm were made to do so by some unspeakable past evil.

In short, there was Something. Then it Fell. 

And here we are - either subsisting in the dark shadow that has descended from that time, or recovering what was lost in far Antiquity.

But what knit those peoples together? All the far-flung peoples throughout the Realm who now make war against one another were once united.

Perhaps. 

And in a setting where the kinds of Clerics are myriad and nearly endless, so must be the gods they worshiped. 

This is my guess about how the Ancient Empire came to be. As for how it ended? I have some idea about that too, but that fable is for some other night.

Their gods were like people: they could deceive, make war, make love, and laugh. But they were immortal. The relationship was transactional: The people would venerate and remember the gods, and the gods would grant weal in peace and war.

Each god was practical; it had a portfolio encompassing some part of the natural world. All life was considered holy and therefore sacred. All natural phenomena were in the purview of one or more of these gods.

As the people of the Ancient Empire encountered, traded with, and conquered other peoples, they were fascinated by the gods that had brought those cultures good fortune. They wanted those gods on their side and not as enemies. Therefore they would incorporate those gods into their own pantheon and perform rituals they knew worked for their own gods: oracles and sacrifices. Over time, their pantheon grew to over fifty named gods, each with its own portfolio. Temples to every deity rose up in their cities and towns.

With its incorporationist philosophy, the ancient religion proved attractive to people outside the Ancient Empire as well. Their religion’s influence and practice expanded far to the west, shaping or supplanting many state religions in the eldentimes.

In time, the Ancient Empire storm god would evolve into the Greek Zeus. And Zeus would become the inspiration for the Christian Deus: God with a capital “G.”

In the end, their pantheon became so complex that they earned the name “People of 1,000 Gods.” Religion was big business. While it drained economic might away from producing food and making war, it knit the disparate peoples together in a way no central planner could dream of.