Culture Gods

Culture Gods are born from the potential of a Divine Egg reacting with Mortal Will. A culture god's nature is formed by the needs and the temperament of the mortals whose needs catalyse their awakening, but this bond in and of itself does not create a bond.
Instead, culture gods forge bonds with Mortal Lineages and cultures by providing them with divine teachings, in the form of skills, knowledge, moral precepts and rituals. These teachings are based on the needs of the people who catalysed the egg, and engender two forms of behaviour which filter divine energy for the god. The first is sacred actions: Anyone who practices the skills taught by the god gives them worship, more so if they do so in the prescribed fashion and with the god's name in their heart and on their tongue. At the most pious, this practice corsses into the second category of action: Acts of worship.
Where sacred actions have a practical end but also revere the god, acts of worship are specific, ritualised performances designed with the primary purpose of gathering, filtering and transmitting divine energy. Any practical effect is a side benefit.
Lacking a permanent bond to a created lineage, culture gods wane if their sacred actions and acts of worship cease to be performed, or even if the sacred actions lose their divine significance. When this happens, a culture god must find a new source of power, usually by finding a new still, craft or domain and adopting a new aspect. For example, a god of hunting might become a patron of agriculture, or a god of learning diversify to more esoteric fields when learning as a whole becomes an increasingly secular activity.

• In the Underhollows, the Drow found new gods, and those who returned to the surface were guided by other deities.
• The lizardfolk were guided by the Seven Scales. 
• First Fisher, First Sailor, First Singer and others helped the Tortle to create their society.
• The Laughing Circle guided the Gnomes.
• The Dance of Winds took the lost Featherfolk into their care.
• The Keepers and the Pathfinders adopted the various tribes of tabaxi.
• The Urii became proxies for the Old Gods and guided the minor giant kin.
• The Gods of Foundation adopted the Genasi after the death of their creators.
• More recently, the Eightfold Gods arose to prominence over the Sacred Republic during the War of Hubris.