I'm not sure if this is the right place for this, but here goes...
I'm writing my first "serious"-ish campaign (one with proper lore and everything) and I've run across a problem. The PCs are high-tech-level space explorers making first contact with a low-tech-level planet and are stunned to find they are worshipped as gods. There are dark secrets behind this, of course, and plenty of space hijinks will ensue as they try to set the record straight.
On this planet, within the global religion, gods are not "nice". They are able to bring blessing, but they are just as willing to curse. They're capricious, they can be spiteful, and they really don't care about the lives of mere mortals in general. They're something like the Greek pantheon. My problem is this. How do native NPCs address my PCs?
"Your worship" and "Your holiness" immediately sprang to mind, but those already have different meanings. "Lord" or "Master" sound too generic, and "Father" or similar Christian-like honorifics don't really fit with the image of a god who has no fatherly feeling towards his worshippers. The PCs don't look like any particular gods the NPCs know, and are identified as gods based solely on their starship, technology, and strange uniforms, so the NPCs can't just give them names from their recorded pantheon.
Thoughts?
Comments
Kind One
Merciful One
Wise One
Most Perfect
Most Wise
Your Supremity
My Shepherd
The Divine
Your Omnipotence
My/Our Sovereign
http://www.theoi.com/ may have some useful ideas.
The NOUNer of NOUNs, The bringer of spring, The destroyer of worlds
The most ADJECTIVE, The most beneficent, The most lovely
Source of all NOUN, Source of all goodness, source of all joy
All-NOUN, All-father, All-wave
The NOUNer of NOUNers, The smith of smiths, the the weaver of weavers
The NOUN of all things, the maker of all things, the weaver of all things
Great One ("Yes, Great One," or "Welcome, Great Achilles.")
Honored ("Welcome, Honored Bhima," or "Yes, Honored.")
Supreme/Mighty ("Welcome, Mighty Gilgamesh," or "Yes, Most Supreme."
Skylord ("Sky-Lord Bragi, welcome," or "Yes, Sky-Lord.")
Starfarer ("Welcome, Starfarer Orion," or "Yes, Starfarer.")
Lightbringer ("Lightbringer, welcome," or "Yes, Lightbringer Maui.")
Sunbearer (Welcome, Sunbearer," or "Yes, Sunbearer Chulainn.")
Also, have you considered a conlang? Making up words is always an option!
...however, scrolling back up through the rest of this thread, that might not have been what you were looking for.
Seyjonne, Sovereign of the Seven Silent Swords, Premier of the Wild Call and Charging Herds, Mistress of the Bloodied Arrow, Queen of all Predators, and Reveler in the Running Death
Might be a little too humorous for a serious treatment of the idea.
"Oh mighty one (may your glory endure forever), please condescend to hear my plea. Would it please you in your mercy (may the tale of your kindness spread throughout the generations) to hear the words of an insignificant mortal?"
Thinking about how to address terrifying godly beings, I am reminded of the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, where a being called the Glow Cloud (ALL HAIL) serves on the school board. Whenever the other characters talk about the Glow Cloud (ALL HAIL. PROSTRATE YOURSELVES AND SACRIFICE TO THE OMNIPOTENT CLOUD) or address it, they pause and add something like that, before continuing on with whatever they were saying.