I suppose another reason it's probably less common is that it's harder to really have different aspects or a duality when it's just a single deity.
JadedDM wrote:Of course, despite the fact that there was only one god, that doesn't mean there was only one religion. Worship of the one god had numerous sects.
I suppose this is one way around it. It's also akin to worshipping different aspects of the one deity. However, to me, that appears to be creating a quasi-pantheon, just with the difference that it's ultimately the same source of power - which makes it more of a philosophical difference than anything. Of course, there could be some interesting stories and interpretations in that. Group 1 believes in its 'one true god', while group 2 acknowledges different aspects of that same deity, while group 3 believes it's 100 different deities.
JadedDM wrote:And there were small cults of devil/demon worshipers, too.
I think including those makes it a semi-pantheon - it just depends on the definition of 'deity', and whether devils could be considered lesser deities. Mostly a matter of definition I think.
JadedDM wrote:I don't think it'd have to be the Christian god or even similar to him. The one god does not need to be all powerful, either. Maybe it's a she. Maybe the one god is a petty bully, like Zeus, who abuses his power, and everyone hates him but he's a god, so what can you do? Maybe the one god is pure evil, and so everyone prays to him to keep him appeased, in fear of him ever getting mad. There are lots of different ways you could do that would not in any way resemble Christianity or any other real world monotheistic faith.
I agree. I like the idea of the monotheistic deity being evil, or at least seen as such by humanity. After all, any such deity could be incomprehensible to humans (and others) as humans are little more than its play things. Also, from what I've read of the history of religions, many have origins focused more on the evil deities than on good ones. With natural disasters, bad crops, disease, etc. being attributable to angry/evil gods, they need to be appeased to avoid misfortune. Meanwhile, it's not necessary to appease the nice gods, since they're not the ones that are going to give you leprosy.
