Pantheons I would love to see added

[connorjl]

Celtic: a combination of Irish and Arthurian British. Fairies, druids, woad raiders, druids. Enemies of the Norse.

Slavic: vampires anyone? Bogatyr heroes. Gods like Chernobog, Perun and Veles. A lot of shared history with the Norse.

Canaanite: based on the Bible and related mythology. I think the world is ready. I posted a detailed build here.

Indian: Hindu gods, nagas, rakshasas, avatars, and a lot of elephant units.

Korean: “Age of” games are popular in Korea, and Korean mythology has become slightly more familiar in the west thanks to Kpop, the demon-hunter kind in particular. Myth units would naturally include the jeoseung sajas, dokkaebi and pulgasari.

Yoruba: I don’t know a lot about this one, but it’s popular among West Africans and the diaspora, and it would just be cool to see another African pantheon besides Egyptian.

Tagalog: the Philippines is home to some really freaky mythical creatures like the tikbalang and aswang. This would naturally be a cool civ to play against the Japanese.

Mongol: this isn’t a super popular mythology, but Mongolian peoples have been well-represented in Age of Empires, and a nomadic civilization with a 100% cavalry-based military and portable buildings would be a really cool mechanic. Myth units, could include the zilant, olgoi-khorkhoi and almas. Naturally, this would be a good civ to play against the Chinese, Canaanites (read: Muslims) and Slavs.

Babylonians: a lot of people seem to want Sumerians, but they lived too early to come into much conflict with other civilizations, and the Babylonian versions of their gods are more familiar. I can see them being fun to play against the Canaanites and Egyptians.

Persians: the classic enemy of the Greeks, Babylonians and Egyptians. The biggest challenge in adapting them is that they were the original monotheists, so they would probably only have two major gods (Ahura Mazda vs Ahriman) with minor gods replaced by the lesser yazatas or angels (see my Canaanite build for how this could be implemented). Imagine how fun it would be to play 300 in AoM.

Inuit: an impressive pantheon with lots of creepy creatures. Historically came into contact with the Norse. They’d be right at home in the tundra and vinland maps.

What pantheons would you like to see? I’m sure there are plenty I don’t know about in terms of obscure European, African and Native American cultures.

[Akleoni]

Many of the potential Pantheons are not well known and very hard to actually model into the game (and sell them with no pop culture associated with them), as everything has to fit the Greek model of Three Major Gods, Heroes and lots and lots of monsters.

Others that have been mention before you’re missing on your list would be: Polynesians, Incans, Totemist/north americans, ¿Australians?, Punics/Phoenicians, Romans.

[Akleoni]

Also Hindus are apparently very protective of their mythology getting represented and would be trickier to make (especially if you pretend to sell in India)

[smiki5five]

@connorjl

Mongol: this isn’t a super popular mythology, but Mongolian peoples have been well-represented in Age of Empires, and a nomadic civilization with a 100% cavalry-based military and portable buildings would be a really cool mechanic. Myth units, could include the zilant, olgoi-khorkhoi and almas. Naturally, this would be a good civ to play against the Chinese, Canaanites (read: Muslims) and Slavs.

I’d go with a general Tengrist pantheon, venerated by Mongols, Turks, and some other nomads of the Eurasian Steppe. It’s been my most wanted addition to the game ever since I learned that they have myths about mammoths:

What would be like to see released in 2026?

Tengrists, so that we can have mammoths as a unit. Fun Fact: In Tengriism, there is a kind of mythologized memory of the disappearance of the mammoths. It is claimed that when Kaia banished Erlig to the 9th layer of the underworld, after a heavenly war; he dragged the mammoths along with him, to have livestock down there, and placed a curse that makes them freeze any time they try to escape back to the surface. The Turkic peoples of Siberia are the ones who have the most vibrant and colorfu…

@connorjl

Persians: the classic enemy of the Greeks, Babylonians and Egyptians. The biggest challenge in adapting them is that they were the original monotheists, so they would probably only have two major gods (Ahura Mazda vs Ahriman) with minor gods replaced by the lesser yazatas or angels (see my Canaanite build for how this could be implemented).

Persian religion was polytheist before Zoroaster, so there’s no challenge: Ancient Iranian religion - Wikipedia

@Akleoni

Also Hindus are apparently very protective of their mythology getting represented and would be trickier to make (especially if you pretend to sell in India)

I’d focus on the Rigvedic gods who don’t have active temples anymore (Indra, Surya, Vayu, etc.) and ignore gods that are most popular today (members of the Trimurti and the Tridevi, their major avatars, Ganesha). Maybe also co-develop it with an Indian studio like it was done for the Chinese.

[IHeliosI5379]

@Akleoni

Also Hindus are apparently very protective of their mythology getting represented and would be trickier to make (especially if you pretend to sell in India)

That’s a misconception started when some very vocal minority complained about the Hindu pantheon in Smite. Most people don’t actually care.

[TheLiberator236]

I think either Inca or Indian pantheon would be next

[IHeliosI5379]

I don’t think Inca have enough material unless it also borrows from Amazonian folklore and the mythology of other cultures. Indian culture has TRUCKLOADS of history to base a civilization in AOM around.

[TheLiberator236]

There a lot of material that can be added. The Inca Mythology is very rich in content
The fact that is not well-known as Greek or Egyptian Mythology is another matter

I invite you to do your research on Inca Mythology, You will be astonished!

[IHeliosI5379]

Yeah, you rattled off a bunch of gods. Now what about myth units and myth techs? There’s more than just making a list of names. You need to also have meaningful mechanics and it should fit a theme or a playstyle.

[Broscarmania]

@IHeliosI5379

I don’t think Inca have enough material

The land where a bunch of differente empires collided with a bunch of differentes priest societies does not have enough material you say?

[connorjl]

@Akleoni

Many of the potential Pantheons are not well known and very hard to actually model into the game (and sell them with no pop culture associated with them), as everything has to fit the Greek model of Three Major Gods, Heroes and lots and lots of monsters.

Others that have been mention before you’re missing on your list would be: Polynesians, Incans, Totemist/north americans, ¿Australians?, Punics/Phoenicians, Romans.

Australian mythology is really cool! Punics/Phoenicians are Canaanites, which I already included and wrote a detailed concept for. Romans are popular, but theit myths are mostly retold Greek myths and Greek mythology already has two whole civs in the game.

[connorjl]

@IHeliosI5379

Yeah, you rattled off a bunch of gods. Now what about myth units and myth techs? There’s more than just making a list of names. You need to also have meaningful mechanics and it should fit a theme or a playstyle.

I’m not a dev, so that’s not my job, sport. I’m just sharing what I’d like to see.

[hasansan]

I would like a nomadic Turkic pantheon

[connorjl]

I’m aware that Persians were polytheists at one point, but they were Zoroastrian by the time they came into contact with the game’s existing civs.

[smiki5five]

Where mammoths

What would be like to see released in 2026?

Tengrists, so that we can have mammoths as a unit. Fun Fact: In Tengriism, there is a kind of mythologized memory of the disappearance of the mammoths. It is claimed that when Kaia banished Erlig to the 9th layer of the underworld, after a heavenly war; he dragged the mammoths along with him, to have livestock down there, and placed a curse that makes them freeze any time they try to escape back to the surface. The Turkic peoples of Siberia are the ones who have the most vibrant and colorfu…

[Scintilus]

All of the above you mentioned but mostly Filipino, it is nice to have a South East Asian Mythology. Very unique and lots of myth units can be made in Filipino pantheon.