The Pantheon (WtC)

The Pantheon or meta-pantheon, not to be confused with the Gods of Aerb, were a collection of assistants or subordinate beings to the Dungeon Master. Juniper and the party became vaguely aware of their existence after he met the Layman, who hinted at others,^{We're Here, We're Deer, Get Used to It} but the full group was only introduced at the end of the game.^{Reflection at the End}

Members

The Layman

Perhaps the most notable member of the Pantheon, the Layman was just a regular guy. His purpose was to adjudicate potentially ambiguous rules questions, providing an average person's opinion on matters of defenition and reasonableness.

He showed up in person in We're Here, We're Deer, Get Used to It. 5’10”, average build, plain face, with a buzz cut, wearing a white t-shirt and jeans and carrying a can of "Mountain Rush" soda.

Personality-wise he is firmly of the opinion that he doesn't do "meta stuff", and easily annoyed by time-wasters.

The Layman is the only member of the Pantheon to be explicitly invoked by the rules:^{We're Here, We're Deer, Get Used to It}

Dodge 20, Thaumic Dodger: Eliminates the penalty for dodging magic, magical effects, entads, entad effects, and any supplemental physics which would appear magical to The Layman.

Six-Eyed: Any attempt to use any system in a non-standard way will be considered one degree more reasonable than it otherwise would be. Any existing virtues, entads, or effects that specify a degree of reasonableness are increased by one degree of reasonableness in your favor (calculated after all other effects). The Layman will look more favorably on your attempts to argue definition.

Deer to Me: When within the domain of the locus, you can sweet talk the Layman. When within the domain of the locus, the map might become confused with the territory. You, and some distance around you, are part of the domain of the locus, except not for the purposes of the prior two abilities.

In the version of the game played by Aerb Juniper and his friends, the Layman was more of a concept; any available passing person could be used as the Layman, or the DM, or a player who wasn't invested in the argument.

Narrator

A version of Juniper that existed to narrate Worth the Candle. Ended up with both versions of Fenn after the world ended, friends with the other two Junipers.^{The Narrator, the Angel, and the Devil} Possessed various enhancements to make him a better narrator, including improved memory, writing skill, and some precognition.^{Reflection at the End}

Fenn

While not strictly a member of the Pantheon, she got to hang out with them in their "heaven" after her death and watch anime (and hook up with the Narrator).^{Reflection at the EndThe Narrator, the Angel, and the Devil}

B-side Juniper

Also known as Boon or Other Juniper, the Juniper of Aerb was displaced by the Juniper of Earth and sent to the Other Side of Aerb. He finished his adventures there sooner than Earth Juniper did and the DM let him hang out backstage with the others, along with his harem of companions - a cactus person, an anthropomorphic otter, a non-anthropomorphic octopus, a woman with precious gems for hair, a halfling, and a woman who flickered and changed appearance when examined.^{Reflection at the End}

Entad Maker

A being postulated to exist by Juniper, on the basis that the DM probably wouldn't want to design a billion or so entads himself.

Possibly the same as the Architect.

Warden

Postulated by Juniper as the being responsible for enforcing Exclusions.^{The Palace} Turned out to be real. Wore a lot of chains.^{Reflection at the End}

The Warden was not completely omnipotent. They were only capable of containing one of the World Lords at a time, and could be potentially affected by Mome Rath's antimemetic powers (allowing for partial or entire exclusion breaks), which is why it was prophecied that three World Lords existing on Aerb at a time would result in the end of the world. Other methods of defeating of manipulating the Warden were theoretically possible, although she would be incredibly difficult to defeat in a straight fight.

Scribe

The being "who hand-writes all the notes",^{Reflection at the End} possibly referring to the notes the backpack spit out and/or the texts generated by the Infinite Library.

Actor

Also known as the Thespian. Fills roles when it would be unethical for them to actually be "real", most notably all the people in the Hells. In his true form, a generically handsome man in a suit, who carried a business card that just read "Thespian".^{Reflection at the End} After the end, the Thespian(s) became an integral part of the new utopia.^{The End of the World There's No Knowing Where We're Going}

Architect

A tall man in a rumpled suit.^{Reflection at the End} The DM mentioned that the Architect was responsible for designing the 9,000 Hells (except for Alpha and Omega, which the DM handled personally).^Hellfall Presumably responsible for any world-building details the DM couldn't be bothered with.

Behind The Scenes

Alexander Wales has noted the Pantheon an idea he thinks might have been better worked in earlier in the story.