Gods

What are Gods? Powerful entities with areas of affinity or dominion. They have agendas and goals for their followers. For some the mortal followers are armies. For others mortals are as children. A few are aloof and unconcerned with mortal affairs generally and worship is about seeking appeasement or diversion of harmful actions. Some are active and engage with mortals regularly.

What is known?

The first Gods were the Primordials. Beings that arose from chaos and dream. Some stayed in Dream and Chaos. Some wandered into the darkness of the Rift. Several built the mortal world and planes or manifested them from their own natures. These first Primordials spawned minions in the forms of hierarchies of spirits that were given domain and spheres of influence. Then came the living world and material manifestation. Some rebelled against this, some went into it excitedly and some chose to remain unchanged. Then some of the outsiders took interest in the bounded planes and realm of existence. Some copied it. Some hated it and sought to destroy it. Some wanted to take control of it and others wanted it as their playground. From this came a great war of the primal gods. In this war an eternal and immortal Primordial god died - as much as such an entity can. It plunged as a black hole of all consuming nothing through the realms and crashed into the Underworld creating a great pit and abyss. It now wants to consume all and fuse, transforming all into reflections of it's living death.

Others were beaten and exiled, wrapped into themselves and their reflections as Hell realms, or exiled to the Rift and outer shores of Chaos. These formed the Malices, Corruptors, Banes and demons. Some can wholly enter the mortal realm with rituals and spells, while others - like the Hells - can only extend parts of themselves out of their own prisons and into the mortal and other realms. They want to escape and seek revenge.

The primordials withdrew, slept or merged with their domains, or continued with their distinct concerns and left the realms to the Higher Ranked spirits with specific duties and domains. They also left some escaped or hidden Malices, Corruptors and Demons. And newly arrived Sidereal Fae. These became many of the Gods. They were also changed by worshippers and spawned avatars.

Avatars are creatures of the Dreaming, formed by mortal ideas, desires, wishes and fears. Invariably Gods spawn avatars - images of the God colored and shaped by mortal perceptions and belief. Some Gods don't tolerate these and hunt them constantly. Others seem to accept them as aspects of self. In a few cases avatars elevated nondeity level entities to godhood in the form of the now greater avatar. (see Imperial Fae exclusion law Gods are also slowly changed by the worship and offerings of Mana - bribed and repurposed by the worship.

Basic Information

Dietary Needs and Habits

Gods and other spiritual beings may ingest or consume material objects, but most don't need "food". They exist in the spirit hierarchy and feed on Gossamer of emotion and thought or the fleeting motes or weaker spirits. Worship and offerings from other beings make up this "mana".

Additional Information

Social Structure

Gods typically have conceptual alignments and ranks. Some are cosmic in scope, others linked to small and mundane tasks. The Tarkic church has mindless Urglar (Destruction, malice/ evil) and Fejzal (Good/ light) seen as basic elements in ebb and flow tug-o-war while the celestial objects spirits are the active Gods. The Damamilia Titans had a mageocracy and worshipped Magic itself (Temples of the Priest-Kings of Damamilla) before the Fall to the Necros. The Inx Region Church of Light and Dark recognizes benign "good" gods that seek wellness, balance, equality and full life for all. They also recognize gods of "evil" that promote ambition, hate, malice and dark forces that may be bribed to "look way" or bestow some favor or withheld affliction in exchange for worship.

The Dreaming Tree ( The Followers of the Book of Raervan, traditions of the Dreaming Tree ) of the Taurien is the multiverse across which individual's souls are fragmented and scattered - touched briefly in dream and visions. The Dreaming Tree Gods are both visions of lifestyle path and also manifestations of dominant vices that prevent unification of the true soul.

The Imperial The Order of Heaven and it's Gods, are concerned with reflecting it's structure in both Heaven and the Mortal Realm and is only concerned with humans. Likewise, the Church of Lyr takes a human centric view making sense of the hardships and uneven distribution of powers, wealth and fortune. The Ghenid goddess Neghenu is their maker and ultimate leader who dwells in the Underworld and will someday lead an apocalyptic war of her ghostly armies against all others. No other Gods have a place in the Ghenid mythos. Other Gods and religions that are only interested in their own species include the (Octnon and Bahku. Octnon have the Dragon Cult that seeks to awaken their ancient Dragon ancestry and powers or the Inx region Thracht Gods of Season and element. The Bahku Gods are spiritual guides and overseers that take the dead to a happy hunting ground in the sky and have nothing to say about other species.

The fae influenced human and other mortal worship of spiritual Powers That Be. Animist and spiritual beings (The spirits ) representing terrestrial domains, totems and things of the world, the planes and the outer spheres. these are seasons, events and symbology were impersonal forces have been given name and form. The Olien druid and totems ( see Olia ) take a part of this while the Esereti Dragons ( Esereti Dragon Worship ) are the movers of season and instill the qualities of terrain and weather. Golem Elder Gods ( Elder God ) are competitors for possession of land and the associated spirits as local overlords.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Gods have multiplanar perception, seeing the mortal, The Umbral Realm, and The MIsts and meta Astral Plane simultaneously. Their awareness of dominion aspects is comprehensive but they may be stunningly ignorant about things outside of that. Some may manifest in several places at once.

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

Mana is the emotional and memory bloom in the Dreaming and The Mists from mortal minds and spirits.  The nonmaterial spirits entities spawn this as a voluntary act of ritual offering to superiors or it is taken as a "coup" from defeating another and breaking away a piece of their essence, reducing the defeated.

Civilization and Culture

Major Organizations

Gods follow Pantheons of related family, church or religion. Some manifest across several groups with same or different names. Some stand outside, with only peripheral connection to the religions. Gaia: the primordial goddess of life and the world; The primordial Chaos; The Outer Darkness beyond Night; The All Consuming Abyss; and the Specter of Time being a few. Some exist as High level elementals, balancing and acting as regulators between the planes. Many of the Powers That Be have duties - like Death ( collect the and deliver the spirits of the dead) or The Watcher of The Ways ( Guardian of the barriers between planes, patron of travel and passages) and followers may chosen to assist in the duty. Churches and temples serve communities, followers and the Gods with priestly powers granted from the gods down through the religious organization. The services and organized prayer instill belief and feed mana back up to the Gods.