Intro
Orisnitsy, rozhanitsy, narecnitsy, sudzhenitsy are invisible spirits or deities of fate in the pre-Christian religion of the Slavs. They are related to destiny, luck, pregnancy, motherhood, marriage and female ancestors, and are often referenced together with Rod. They are usually mentioned as three, but sometimes up to 9 together. Their symbols include the spindle, and the golden thread of fate.
Orisnitsy control a person's destiny from birth, bringing blessings and ensuring a life path filled with promise. They are often depicted as three beautiful women of different ages (maiden, mother, elder), dressed in white, carrying candles, and adorned with jewels. As such, I wanted to incorporate the fact that they are a trio deity into their design, via the inclusion of a Merlin-style stance switch, with each stance representing the maiden, the mother, or the crone. More abilities also allowed me to use every fate/sewing-related pun I could think of and designing a god, which changes models and basic attack types, and would be a nightmare to code/make skins for seemed like a given for me.
Abilities available on post images
Gameplay
Orisnitsy are intended to be played as a mid-range battlemage, sustaining in fights and being able to weave between enemies in fights. The Maiden is meant to be the most aggressive stance, with DoTs and melee attacks. The Mother is meant to be the survivability stance, with healing, damage negation and a wall for zoning, with her basic attacks being the main source of damage. The Crone is meant to be the wave-clearer and the long-range option of the three, with her CC setting up The Maiden. Their Aspect would be a Support-focused one and their stance-switch ability would be unlocked at level 1 for free.
Having the three appear on screen and switching between 3 character models, with the dash switching you into the body of the new stance, while the old stance stays behind and doing damage/providing utility or CC, seemed like a good way to have all 3 of them incorporated into the kit and design (I love the Morrigan, but it’s hard to tell she’s meant to be a trinity of sister goddesses). I also think all 3 should appear when ulting.
Engaging on enemy - Orisnitsy’s stances are meant to flow into one another, with The Maiden using Rulers of Fate for zoning, The Crone using Bound to Happen and Needles to Say for damage and CC and setup for The Maiden, which can then use Fate cut Short and Snip Snip Snip. The Fates are meant to keep on switching stances to utilise their combo, with the dash allowing them to constantly reposition within fights and keep up with enemies. Their ultimate, Thread of Providence, is meant to be less oppressive overall and gives the option for enemies to not move too far away and avoid the root-cripple. Nevertheless, it is also a great engage and chase tool, although the projectile should move slower, as it passes through enemies.
Getting engaged on - The Maiden’s only survivability tools are dashing a short distance with Snip Snip Snip and Rupturing enemies, to discourage chasing. The Mother has the most defensive tools, with her passable-by-allies wall being key to zoning enemies and peeling, with her old Nox 1 - style channel allowing her to block instances of damage being an important anti-burst tool. That said, she needs to stand still and channel, without getting CCed to negate damage and heal, so one ought to be mindful of that. The Crone has her AoE CC field, however that takes time to trigger on enemies. Her slight vortex tornadoes can also mildly disrupt enemies. Thread of Providence is a great tool to discourage enemies from chasing you, however it is also a single instance of CC and if the enemy has tools to keep Orisnitsy close to them, the rubberband tether can be ineffective.
My other Slavic god concepts:
Vila Samodiva - The Woodland Nymph
Devana and Leshy - The Wildlings
Veles - Lord of the Under Earth
Sources:
Rozhanitsy and protected herbs - Maksim Sergeevich 2022; "Rod and Rozhanitsy" by the artist Maxim Sukharev; Rodzanice, Marek Hapon, 2015; The Fates Gathering in the Stars, 1887, Elihu Vedder; Alois Delug - The Norns, 1895; The Fates Greek Mythology Art Print with Gold Foil Embellishment - Kimro Studio, The Fates - Jean Lee Concept Art and Illustration; The Fates - Hades 2, Dr. Berenwald, Surgeon, Magnus Loen, "Soul Fighter Gwen Lv2" splash art for the game Legends of Runeterra by Park Jun Seong; Thorn Whip - Dungeons and Dragons; Airi Pan - AMBROSIA: Characters; Tornado Painting by Ajay Parippally; portrait of Maria Kapnist, 1974 by the artist Victor Zaretsky; Slavic grandma by ohayla; Grandma Witches - Yu-Ju Hsu; "Kindly Stranger by Ryan Pancoast
Who is down voting this? This user put a lot of work and created a unique new god design. Very puzzled why this was downvoted. OP, I like all of your different God ideas!
Also I think a 3 stance God just wouldn't happen, but the idea is extremely interesting
Merlin is a 3 stance god, I wanted to push the idea further by incorporating different characters in it as well! Also thanks so much :))
Wow I didnt even think about that lol
Rodjanitsy?
Yep that's them (they have like 15 names, I try to mention them in my intro section but different Slavs have different spellings)
This is so cool!
Hello Smite peeps, if you could let me know some Slavic god/mythological creature concepts you'd like to see in Smite, I would appreciate it! I am planning on releasing Stribog (god of the wind) next.
I would love to see svetovit
I've always been interested in monsters and creatures, moving away from the standard wolves and dragons. What creatures do you imagine would be cool to introduce into the game?
I've already made a concept for a leshy and did have some ideas about a kikimora but was wondering if people had more obscure ideas :)