My feel is that it'll be easier to prove distinction than identity. Find a myth where the two gods meet and fight, and there's your proof (as long as the "enemy" one really is the one you're trying to prove is separate, of course! If some third party turns up instead, life will get messy!) Or just a pivotal incident where the two gods do different things. Elmal is the one who joined the Storm Tribe - Yelmalio didn't.
> Our player characters' specific problem is to undo or at least weaken
> the merger of two gods previously done by enemy heroquesters.
So from the characters' POV, they need to sort out how the merger was done, and undo it. So you and your players need to work *that* out :(
I suspect "mergers" (or rather, attempts at mergers) will be done a step at a time, "moving" the deities closer and closer together. Taking a look at how the Lunars absorb other deities into their pantheon might be rewarding. Setting up divine marriages seems to be a part of it. Proving that a deity is related to another deity (rather than being fully identical to them) is a step along the way, whether by marriage, or proof of parentage. (The fact that there are myths to PROVE that Vinga is Orlanth's daughter has always seemed suspicious to me!)
Who did the original merger? And why? Was it a take-over bid, an attempt to bring peace between two warring groups with similar deities, or what? Their motivations will affect their methods.
Given that this is a localised effect only, take a look both IC and OOC at neighbouring regions, and how things work there. Play spot the difference. Strengthen the neighbouring myths, where the merge didn't happen.
Powered by hypermail