Deities in Asteria

The deities of Asteria are omnipresent even if not all of them make it clear. They keep each other in check to make sure that the no one interacts with the material world too much. The higher in the hierarchy a deity is, the less interference they are allowed.
Asterian Deities are beings of great power and usually control some aspect of mortal affairs. As in other worlds that potentially exist parallel to this one, all deities were either elevated to their position or approved of by an Overseer. Nothing is known about this creature except for that it has tremendous power. The Mother of Creation is often rumoured to also function as the Overseer. Though equally little is known about her.
Divine beings need to gather their worshippers’ faith as a source of their power. As such without worshippers, deities seize to exist. Or rather, they seize to exist as deities. The number of worshippers therefor also determines the power of a deity and could change from time to time.
Many if not all cultures have their own pantheon, though at the basis of each lie the Deities of Creation. This is only true for the pantheon's of the material plane though.

Types of deities

Different scholars and cleric divided the deities into different categories. Most either by rank or by aspect. Sometimes they were also ranked by origin though this usually serves as a separation within a local area.

Quasi-deities

Quasi-deities technically weren’t true deities. Many of them were either children of real deities, or heroes who had been granted divine characteristics, such as immortality. Quasi-deities held no real power and didn’t require worshippers. They also weren’t able to bestow spells upon their followers, if they had any.

Minor deities

Minor deities were the weakest of the true deities. They were only capable of the most basic abilities of a deity, though these would still be considered divine acts by mortals. Contrary to Quasi-deities they were able to grant their followers spells. Those often numbered into the hundreds and sometimes even thousands. Minor deities only ever represented one aspect of mortal life.

Lesser deities

Lesser deities were capable of everything minor deities were capable off and a little more. Some of them represented more than one aspect of mortal life, though many of them had one main aspect. Their followers were far more numerous, often numbering in the thousands and ten thousands.

Intermediate deities

Intermediate deities were yet again more powerful than the lesser deities. It was normal for them to represent two or more aspects, while both of these two would often be considered their main aspects. They generally had over 100.000 followers.

Greater Deities

Greater deities were the most powerful of the deities, apart from the Mother of Creation and a possible additional overseer. They represented several aspects and it was sometimes hard to pin exactly what their main aspect was. They generally had millions of followers and only a few of them existed in each pantheon.
Among this group of deities that are considered to be the nine Deities of Creation. According to myth they were born to the Mother of Creation and received their divine power directly from her. With the aspects they took control over they then created the world of Asteria.

Others

Apart from the deities there are other beings of extraordinary power. These are not true deities but as they often derive their powers from such deities they will be listed alongside them.

Exarchs

Most often Exarchs were heroes that had ascended as formerly mortal servants of Greater Deities. Though one can also become an Exarch without serving any one specific god, simply by their recognition. The are the most powerful of divine servitors and sometimes even attract followers of their own.

Chosen

Chosen beings were born imbued with divine power by at least one of the deities. Their powers were comparable to those of a Minor Deity. While there are a few cases of one becoming a Chosen later in life this is rare and usually viewed with some distrust.

Proxies

Similar to Chosen the power of Proxies was comparable to that of a Minor Deity. But they didn’t hold this power in their own right but only through servitude to their respective deity. Deities often viewed their Proxies as an extension of theirselves and expected them to be treated as such. They had no followers of their own.

Pantheons

Some gods exist in several pantheons, though often in different form and appearance. Sometimes they are even worshipped with completely different aspects. This is not an exhaustive list of pantheons, as there are many smaller cultures with their own pantheons.

• Asterian Pantheon. Named after the world of Asteria, as it is the most commonly accepted pantheon and has been adapted by the majority of people
• Fey Pantehon. Not very far spread across the material plane but the only accepted pantheon within the Feywild
• Deepworld Pantheon. Includes gods that are mostly worshipped by those living their whole life below the surface, it is heavily based on the Asterian Pantheon
• Dwarvish Pantheon. Followed by the dwarves, based on both the Asterian and the Deepworld pantheons.
• Elven Pantheon. Rumoured to have been formed when elves first came to the material plane, as such it is based on the Fey Pantheon.

Most races such as Gnomes, Halflings or Orcs have their own pantheon. These are heavily restricted to their own culture though and are as such not listed here. The pantheons above, while at times being more common among a certain race (see Dwarvish Pantehon and Elven Pantheon), people of other races often adept these as well.