On referring to gods...

[Peter Graham]

No problem, Chopper. He's slapping a bit of skim on Archangel Gabriel's kitchen extension this week, but he told me he'd be back next Monday to have a look at our spare bedroom ceiling. I'll mention you to him, but given that he is omniscient, he probably knows already.

He's got a fondness for Turkish Delight. Give him a box and he'll do you a discount for cash. Good job HM Revenue and Customs aren't omniscient...

Regards,

Peter

[Marvolo]

Originally Posted by Culhwch

Just a quick question...

In the piece I'm currently working on (there's a short excerpt over in the critiques section, if you're interested) I have a polytheistic faith based around a pantheon of thirty gods. I've just been writing a scene where I've been referring to the gods as a collective and their activities. Now, should I be capitalising 'Gods', 'Their', 'They' and so forth? I don't want to because I don't really like the look of it in the context, but I was wondering whether there is a rule govering this? I know for instance when referring to the Christian God, it's proper to capitalise 'He' and 'His' and so forth, but does this apply to all religion, necessarily?

GRRM did this very well. In his series when referring to the seven gods that make up the majority of people's faith in Westeros he uses lower case, "I have no use for the gods."

When referring to the Lord of Light (a monothiestic faith) he capitalizes it, God. He also capatilizes the antithesis to God, the Other.

So since you have a pantheon and people worship individual gods over other gods I would suggest using lower case since the gods' importance vary to the invidual and use uppercase if you're referring to a God in a monothiestic faith. It seems like a good system to me.

[lin robinson]

I would say a direct reference would be capitalized "I call on the Gods to guide my hand in this vile treachery."

But not in indirect or impersonal reference, "There are many gods in many cultures."