Incorporeal and Divine forces

Gods and Spirits across the continent

Manifestation

Categorisation
Deity is a collective term used to describe immortal beings with some level of influence over one or more elements of the environment they inhabit ( Elemental, psychic, harvest ect ) The term deity is divided into the subcategories of God and Spirit.
The incorporeal animating force of a mortal being which 'sparks' life is referred to as a soul, primarily acting as energy to jumpstart a living creature at its conception and expands with it as it develops and becomes more complex over time. These are neither Gods nor Spirits while bound to a living corporeal body.
The soul of a mortal creature is capable of ascension into some low form Spirithood under certain circumstances ( magically charged site, divine interference, arcane interference ect ) It is impossible for a mortal soul to achieve Godhood. (directly)
Characteristics of Spirits:
Spirits are mortal in origin, having at some point in the past been a living, mortal creature, this can range from the sapient peoples of the continents to animals and plants. These origins carry over to the nature of the Spirit throughout their continual immortal existence.
The longer a spirit exists in their immortal form, the more power and influence over the world they will amass and the further over time they will depart from their original self in manifestation, sapience ect. This gradual collection of power and departure from mortal tethers of form and mind are referred to as ascension.
A spirit typically has a more limited range of influence than a god but have broader dominion in that which they can manipulate.
A spirit that is too weak to manipulate the world around it outside of maintaining its own existence may become spectral ( deitific forms ) or be absorbed into another, stronger spirit or god, the characteristics of this spirit may present themselves, independently within the consuming deity or meld with pre-existing traits of that deity.
Characteristics of Gods:
Gods can emerge spontaneously through a process that is unknown but believed to be influenced by the presence of prospective worshipers and unformed arcana, this type of emergence is referred to as arc-birth, these gods are also sometimes referred to as peoples gods.
Or through the union of two gods, a heredic god may emerge. This divine offspring's dominion will most often be realised as either some kind of intersection of the dominions of their parents or be a facet of one of their parents' dominions ( in this case it is typically the more powerful of the two parents )
Gods are far more affected by the the worship and belief ( or lack there of ) from mortals than Spirits, the total absence of faith can cause a god to become diminished.

Deitific forms
Echo form:
Similar or identical to a past body. Minimal to no corporeality, often with a smoke-like iridescent quality, semi transparence also common. Most common among new spirits and diminished gods.

Spectre:
A lingering mortal soul with just enough power to maintain itself within the corporeal world. Typically manifests as an amorphous aura of colour and pulsating light, hovering 30-70 cm off the ground. In some cases a spectre may take on vague shapes, make sounds or emit a faint arcane energy reflective of the life of that creature before death, most often these presentations of the past are brief and frequently distorted. Commonly consumed by larger deities in the vicinity.

Ghast: 
Typically arises from a spectre, after having been introduced to a high cocentration of Arcane energy in a short space of time. A Ghast is an obligate parasite, absorbing latent Arcane energy in the atmosphere until a potential host is available. A Ghast may survive up to 2 days purely on latent energy, after this point however it will diminish into its composite Arcane charges and disperse.  The form of Ghast is divided into two stages, a Ghast will alternate between these stages: 
1. Gorged  After having consumed a large quantity of Arcane or life energy, the Ghast will attempt to retake their previous, physical form, typically they neither have sufficient power to do so, nor enough of their original soul to re-emerge. 
The gorged-Ghast form, manifests as a semi-solid approximation of the primary soul's original body. This temporary body is often in flux with the other forms of any other souls present in the Ghast and typically will faze in and out of corporeality 1-15 times per minute, the rate of physical to non-physical shifts, can indicate how stable this form is (the fewer shifts, the more stable). Depending on how much energy was initially consumed and the amount of energy expended in maintaining their 'half-form', this stage may last anywhere from 1 hour to several days. 
2. Starved  This is the stage any given Ghast will spend the majority of its existence in. In this stage a Ghast will most commonly manifest as a dark haze or shadow, often formless and fluid. If a starved Ghast is transitioning into the gorged stage, it may take on a more defined shape that mirrors that of its form in the gorged stage.

Localization

Domains and Dominion
Each deity has a domain in which they exist in their most powerful capacity. Typically this domain is the land that falls within a radius of the site of their emergence. In the case of Spirits this is typically the site of their death/ascension. The size of the radius within which a deity's domain is, depends upon the power of the deity and the density of things that the deity can manipulate, these elements that can be manipulated by deities are known as the dominion of that deity.
Distribution
Spirits:
In the case of spirits there is a relative constant in density of the various sub-types due to the ability to consume other spirits. Because of this the distribution of spirits is sparce but generally consistent across the continent. Outlier areas would include inhospitable regions with very little life in any form, resulting in lower than average spiritual presence and conversely in areas with unusually high arcane activity, that are also inhabited by mortal creatures, the spirits that occur in these areas would be stronger, thus allowing more of them to exist in a smaller area without being consumed.
Gods:
A god will typically emerge in a populated centre with access to prospective followers, in the case of Arc-born gods they will claim that region, population, village, city ect ( depending on their initial power ). Occasionally an arc-born god will emerge within a pre-existing god's domain and in this case may either flee in search of their own believers or take on a position as a minor god, in service to the pre-existing one as part of a local pantheon.
Heredic gods often operate either as a unified local pantheon, in which parents, children and other relations, often all with similar if not the same domain, preside over the same area with specific rule over a specialised element of their collective domain. In some cases heredic gods split off from their family, opting to seek out domain elsewhere. It is common for these gods to still be included in the pantheon of their family, commonly referred to as a heredic splinter or faction.

Type

Metaphysical, Divine