The Nature of Divinity

In the world of Palurin, dozens of gods exist or have existed. Not all divine beings are made the same way however. Some appear as universal concepts made manifest, while others are birthed from mortals and lesser divine beings. This article discusses the nature and classification of deities, and is not in any way necessary for you to play a religious character. But you might still find it interesting or useful if planning a scholar of various religions, or you just like lore I guess.

The Elder Gods

The gods known as Elder Gods differ significantly from their successors. Most Elder Gods are ancient beings responsible for the creation of the universe. Their powers include the ability to create entire worlds or planes of existence, seed them with sentient and non-sentient life, and much more. Many of the common races owe their existence to the Elder Gods, who shaped them and gave them life. While many of the Successor gods are limited to narrow portolios and restricted powers, the Elder Gods possessed vastly more power, with some occupying portfolios that equal that of several Successors in the modern day.
Stories of the Elders paint them as distant figures, larger than what can be grasped, like praying to a storm or hurricane and hoping it has a mind to hear you, if you could even recognize it as sentient at all. The pantheon entered and exited periods of hibernation that could last for centuries or millennia, making their activites rarely known. Much of the works of the Elders that were common knowledge to mortals were done through their agents and champions. The few times the Elder Gods made moves that were undoubtably their handiwork, worlds buckled and broke. Such occassions included the War of the Peaks, where Wulvarrax and Ymir traded physical blows. Others included the Edict of Death, a revision to the laws of the universe in which Wulvarrax and Jalroc stripped natural immortality from all lesser beings. 
Save for Ludrin, the sole ascended Elder God, every one of the Elders are credited with the creation of the universe and life itself, usually appearing in creation myths in different ways, but still appearing nonetheless.
The Elder Gods consisted of:

• Gaia: goddess of life and vital energy, earth, nature and hunting
• Wulvarrax: god of time, judgement, wisdom, change, and magic
• Jalroc: god of creation, the elements, and order
• Ymir: god of destruction, the elements, and chaos
• The Nameless Queen: goddess of death, knowledge, and secrets
• Ludrin: god of knowledge and perfection
• Yphonix: god of magic, space, gravity, and entropy (banished and erased from history)

Paragon Deities

The power to forge and rewrite universal concepts were the domain of the Elder Gods, but they were not fully invincible, nor were all of them as mighty or distant. The gods Ymir and Jalroc took great interest at times in their respective creations, creating sons and daughter deities as aspects and champions of their races, creating paragon gods of their hopes for their people when they could not be there to guide them. The sons of Ymir and children of Jalroc were true deities, but not free from death either, as the Edicts of Death were the source of much strife between Ymir and Wulvarrax, and in Jalroc's children towards their father. 
Children of Jalroc

• Roggryn: god of dwarves, earth, and forge
• Ofillen: goddess of gnomes, water, and magic
• Mijoh: goddess of halflings, air, and family
• Zag: god of goblins, fire, and shadow

Sons of Ymir

• Surtr: god of fire giants, and smithing
• Icos: god of ice giants, and hunting
• Noktor: god of stone giants, and dreams
• Glug: god of hill giants, and necromancy
• Gaum: god of goliaths, and freedom
• Sarkesh: god of storm giants (lost to history and slain by Nybirg)
• Nybirg: god of cloud giants (killed by Ymir for the murder of Sarkesh)

Immortality

Only the true Elder Gods were immortal and virtually unkillable. While the Paragon deity children could die, their power would simply return to the Elder parent that birthed them. The Elder Gods themselves though manifested their immortality in various ways. The dragon god Wulvarrax appointed Thanes, ascended dragons of various types, with some of them being powerful enough to rival Paragon Gods. If Wulvarrax ever died, his divine essence would flow into one of his Thanes and be reborn in his entirety from them. It is widely believed through scripture that Gaia was fully unkillable, so long as life existed somewhere in the universe. 
Jalroc is the only confirmed death of an Elder God throughout history, and he was restored to life after 2,000 years through the actions of his few remaining followers. Jalroc's death came at the hands of his four children, and realizing he could not emerge victorious without risking the laws of reality itself, chose to divest himself of several divine aspects before they reached him. From these aspects came his resurrection, though one was lost and led to the rise of Ludrin, the only ascended Elder God to have ever existed.

Disappearance

No one truly knows for certain what became of the Elder Gods, who vanished at the onset of the Ruination. At the beginning of this apocalyptic period, divine magic vanished from the world and clerics and champions found themselves devoid of gifts. To this day many believe the Elder Gods are dead, killed by some horrible and unknowable doom that has yet to reach the rest of us. Others believe the gods abandoned the universe, disappointed with their creations and cursing them with Ruin to erase the embarassment they had become. A tiny few believers still remain, maintaining an optimistic stance. These people believe that the Elders had grown content or satisfied with the universe they had made, and simply left to create a new one, thinking us ready to face the future without their guiding hand in the background. This belief does not garner much public support especially among newer generations born after the Ruination period, mostly because it paints the Elder Gods as fools that underestimated their importance to the stability of the world.

The Successor Gods

The gods that would emerge after the Ruination are recognized by scholars as the Successor Gods, inheritors of the cosmic balance that relied so heavily on the presence of the Elder Gods before them. In the 140 years or so since the Ruination's end, dozens of deities have ascended or been birthed by the void. The first of these was the Living Infinite, goddess of change and unaligned chaos, whose ascension is credited (sometimes with humor) with absorbing the roiling chaos of the universe, likened to a sponge absorbing spilled water. Since her rise and the return to stability in the cosmos, many more have joined her side in reshaping the universe. But not all of these gods are made equal, and some do not get along, leading many scholars familiar with the stability of the Elder pantheon to wonder if the Successors will spell trouble for mortal life in their great games for supremacy.

Ascension

While the origins of the Elder Gods are a mystery that has left scholars stumped throughout history, the Successor gods hold comparatively less secrets on the matter. Many of the risen gods and goddesses have myths to support their origins, usually as a powerful or gifted mortal that through esoteric means reached godhood. The Living Infinite's origins are mired in conflicting stories surrounding the Warpneedle Bog of Missiendor, while Reshiliah's identity as the corpse of the fallen ifrit Sultana are well known and widespread amongst her kind. Some identities are unlikely to ever be discovered, like Calsarrex, god of secrets. 
Whatever the case, the gods rarely make their identity known even among their followers. Perhaps they fear that information could be used to gain influence over them, but most likely it is that it simply doesn't matter. The interests and responsibilities of divinity likely outweigh mortal curiosity, especially for matters like ascension. 
This has posed many theories among scholars however, who recognize that many of the divine are made from mortal stock, but that some are perhaps more primordial in nature and not born out of one. Some also question if non-humanoid or non-mortal beings could also ascend, as some like the monstrous goddess Yenar could perhaps have been a horrifying mindless sea monster that mysteriously rose to divinity.

Filling A Cup

Scholars that are few in number have coined the word "Chalice" to describe a mortal that is capable of ascending to godhood. While mortals can rise to epic and mythical powers that change the course of events affecting worlds and planes, not all can be a Chalice on just that alone. To be a Chalice marks you as uniquely special, typically in regards to the soul. All Chalices possess a strong connection to the divine in some way, even if that does not manifest with abrupt powers. Because of this, some may never even know they are Chalices and die without achieving this great destiny. Those that do achieve apotheosis are forever changed, filled with power that may leave the person beneath it all unrecognizable. Some familiar with the concept of the Chalice question if the mortal in question even exists by that point, or if they are kindling burned away in the fires of apotheosis.

Transcendant Gods

As I have written, not all Successor gods are made equal. Some embody concepts and domains of compartively little importance, while others are so primordial in their aspect that they resemble closely the Elder Gods of old, or they carry the respect of their peers out of fear or recognition for their importance. These successors known as Transcendant Gods are above their peers in terms of both strength and universal importance. 
Voa the Void Dragon is recognized as the most feared of the gods, embodying the portfolio of magic and dimensional travel, among others. When Darrilok appeared in the skies of Palurin to reap destruction and chaos, it was Voa alone who sequestered the Lord of the Ruinstorm, before conspiring with Mystuka and Calsarrex to imprison him. Voa is the gatekeeper that prevents gods from stepping beyond their planes and domains, forcing the usage of Heralds, servitor races, and other devoted followers to spread their will. While Darrilok serves as an example of those who provoke the dragon's instincts, some tales speak of another god who died to the Void Dragon shortly after apotheosis for its transgressions, its name never being marked in the history books beyond that.
Immortias the Entombed Monarch is another of the Transcendant. Immortias is the great judge of the dead, and responsible for the sheparding of souls and continuation of this necessary cycle of the universe. Immortias earns respect from even the most beligerent of deities thanks to his impartiality, knowing full well that he will deliver the souls of the dead without favoritism. Immortias also commands respect out of what he will do, in addition to what he does. The infant god is said to mark the passage of the universe, and when the universe comes to its final end, Immortias will climb from his tomb as an old feeble man, before judging the final soul of the dead, and then the universe.
The Living Infinite is also recognized as a Transcendant God, being the embodiment of true chaos and entropy. Because of its nature, many view the Living Infinite as an eldritch entity beyond our definitions of "strength" and reason, viewing the goddess as inscruptable and maddening, much like its protean servants. It is both necessary for the stability of the universe, and also its unmaker. Many consider the Living Infinite the closest resemblance of an Elder God, thanks to its distant attitude towards any of its worshippers. But more than that, the Living Infinite has birthed the chaotic Maelstrom from the chaotic ruins of the plane of Ysgard, embedding its roots in the remains of Yggdrasil. Such wisespread destruction and reshaping of entire planes of existence is likened to what the Elder Gods were capable of.