Ao wants the gods to have distinct portfolios. In principle, you can't have several gods and goddesses for the same thing. But ...
a) There can be a lot of small prints.
Tempus is the god of war. But not military strategy : that's the Red Knight. And not destruction : that's Talos.
Umberlee is the goddess of the oceans (but not other water things, like rivers or lakes, and water is an element, there's no god for it, but an elemental lord). Selune is the goddess of stars and navigators. Valkur is the god of sailors, naval combat and favourable winds. Not at all the same !
Selune is the goddess of the moon (and other things), Shar the goddess of night and darkness (and other things). Do not confuse them !
b) There are some exceptions, with documented and acknowledged overlapping portfolios.
Talos handles storms (all of them), while Umberlee also handle storms (on the oceans). My guess is that Auril handles snow storms and Talos also handles them, but that's written nowhere.
Tempus and Garagos are also an exception since they are both gods of war, though a bit differently.
c) Gods of different pantheons can cover the same things.
Sune and Hanali Celanil are goddesses of beauty, but in the human and elven pantheons.
d) The world-building of the Forgotten Realms is a big messy thing that probably shouldn't be taken too seriously.
When you have dozens of authors writing world-building elements over four decades, and retcons are permitted and massively used, you shouldn't expect a neat and clean canon.
As a matter of fact, the authors of the FR would tell you that it's fuzzy because it's only told tales and such. Mortals don't know all the things the deities do. In addition, we people of Earth only get news from the FR when Elminster visits Ed Greenwood and gives him the latest books of Volo and co ...
Last edited by Drath Malorn; 14/02/21 11:45 PM.
