Curse of Strahd Prep: Developing the Deities
I am still several weeks off from starting either of my upcoming Curse of Strahd games, but I've been starting to do some general prep for the campaign. I did a full read through of the book, and have started taking some notes on major elements (e.g. the motivations and schemes of major NPCs). The Critical Lit podcast has been a great resource - they just finished up their detailed walk through of the campaign, and I'm in the middle of a re-listen to all the episodes to take some notes on their GMing suggestions.
There are a ton of great resources out there, including substantial overhauls/expansions like DragnaCarta's Curse of Strahd: Reloaded and MandyMod's Fleshing Out series. I'm sure I'll use bits and pieces of these - but I expect that I'll be more modest in my changes to the campaign. I'm intending to focus on changes to adapt problematic or line/veil-crossing content (e.g. how the Vistani are portrayed, some of the "children in peril" themes), to simplify certain aspects (e.g. I don't think I'll use Madam Eva's family secret, I'll likely make the Mad Mage not be a famous NPC), and to make things make more sense to me (e.g. splitting up the raven symbolism so that the good versions are crows instead - so the Keeper's of the Feather will be werecrows).
I don't yet have any character concepts from my players yet, so I can't yet do any of the work of tying the PCs into the campaign. Rather, much of my prep at this point is more general - especially finding places as I read that feel like it might benefit from a little bit of painting in. For example, as I was reading about the major NPCs, I noticed that a lot of NPCs were connected to Mother Night, but there wasn't a lot of general information about her as a deity. So I decided to take note of what there is in the book about the mystical and divine, and then add some extra details to round it out
What is in the Book
The most prominent divine figure in the book is the Morninglord: there are churches or shrines to him in all the settlements, he has two saints (St. Andral and St. Markovia) whose relics have clear holy power, and there are holy items in various locations. From a domains and beliefs standpoint, we can basically take Lathander and file the serial numbers off - light, life, healing, hope, protection from the undead, etc.
Mother Night has connections to three NPCs/groups. The werewolves worship her (depicting her as a wolf-headed woman), and see Strahd as her chosen; they make sacrifices to her so that she may "feed". Baba Lysaga serves her, and has received magical gifts for her support of Strahd. However, Madam Eva also has received magic from Mother Night, such as her ability to tell fortunes, so that she can opposed Strahd (in her way). Clearly Mother Night is a complicated deity, potentially with multiple aspects that aren't fully aligned on one goal. But other than the day/night juxtaposition with the Morninglord, we don't have much further guidance about her aspects or tenets as a deity.
Finally, while the current peoples of Barovia seem to have settled on the church of the Morninglord as their main religion (perhaps in service of unifying the disparate conquered peoples that Strahd moved into the valley), there are hints from the ancient megaliths near Old Bonegrinder and the standing stones near Berez of there being old beliefs in four deities - one for each season. The sun symbol for the summer deity maps cleanly onto the Morninglord, so it makes sense for Mother Night to be the winter deity. But that means there should also be a spring and autumn deity - perhaps contrasting on some different axis. The standing stones show eight animal symbols associated with the deities (but not making clear which goes with which).
So, I decided to brainstorm a bit and come up with some themes and domains each deity should have, which animal symbols to associate with them, and how to tie the spring and autumn deities into the setting.
The Four Deities
Mother Night is the deity of Winter and the Night. The winter aspect emphasizes themes of hunger and scarcity, of the hunt, and that the endurance of hardship leads to strength. The night aspect adds in elements of magic and witchcraft, dreams, fate, of secrets and the hidden world. Both have elements of necessary endings: day must turn to night, the year must end in winter. Her animal symbols are the Wolf (representing instinct and the hunt) and the Owl (for hidden knowledge). She is a goddess of duality and paradoxes - things that are both beautiful (snow, stars, dreams) and terrible (blizzards, starvation, isolation, death). That is why those that call on her can both serve Strahd (he is the ultimate hunter in these lands) and oppose him (because all things must eventually end).
The Morninglord is the deity of Summer and the Day. He has themes of light, vitality, action and bravery, life and healing (in the divine miracle sense), beginning and revelations. He is particularly known through his saints. St. Markovia represents both healing (in her establishing the Abbey) and action (leading the uprising against Strahd). There is very little in the book about St. Andral, but given that his bones make his church a place of sanctuary I am imagining him welcoming and feeding the refugees fleeing from Strahd's wars of conquest. His animal symbols are the Hawk (for clarity of vision) and the Goat (for resoluteness and the drive to act).
This means that the major thematic juxtaposition is about Winter being Enduring hardship versus Summer taking Action to change it.
The Warden is the deity of Spring and Nature. They have aspects of life, birth, growth and renewal. They represent healing, but more as a manifestation of nature rather than a divine miracle (like the Morninglord). They are about family and community, about being rooted in a place and in the land. There is a theme of protection (the Warden can be the source of the Holy Symbol) - but more of a community protecting each other and the land (versus the Morninglord's element of the brave and virtuous protecting the weak). The Warden's animal symbols are the Crow (renewal) and the Bear (protection).
I want to tie the Warden into the werecrows: they already have elements of nature magic in the gems that were stolen from the winery, and they are opposed to the evil corrupted druids. This can also give the Keepers a more active purpose - I want to play with the theme of Strahd being magically tied to the land, so perhaps the Keepers are trying to find out how to undo this magical bond. That would explain why Baba Lysaga sees them as a threat (I am going to have her as trying to protect Strahd from magical threats to his dominion over Barovia).
The Traveler is the deity of Autumn and of Change. They represent the harvest, sacrifice, adaptation and transformation, change and letting go, memory, travel and found family. This will tie in to how I want to use the Vistani - rather than an ethnicity, they are an intentional community of people who don't want to be bound up by the constraints of settled life. They are travelers and traders, and they accept any who want to adopt that itinerant lifestyle. The Traveler's animal symbols are the Elk (migration and change) and the Panther (independence). I will probably borrow some ideas from the Eberron deity of the same name, especially the idea of "walking all roads, seeing all things" to be changed by the experience, of being unpredictable and impulsive, and of hospitality and gift giving (although perhaps the Strahd-aligned Vistani disdain those who seek unearned gifts).
The thematic juxtaposition for these deities will be Spring being about being rooted in a place, finding your role within the natural order - and then protecting it; versus Autumn being about accepting change, charting your own path, that the road takes us where we need to be.
Finally, with the lore that most of the Barovian people were re-settled here by Strahd after he conquered the valley, I have thought it might be interesting to have a few hold on to the "old ways" from the original inhabitants of the valley. Maybe some of the villagers have a small shrine in their house with a representation of each of the four gods; or they may have sayings that reference each of the animals. They wouldn't necessarily know the religious roots of these folk traditions - just something passed down as a cultural practice. That way if and when the players learn about some of this lore (e.g. finding the megaliths, or the werewolf's shrine) there will be a bit of a foundation. This can also be a way to add some flavor to any monuments the party finds as they travel (especially if they leave the roads).