Divine Magic and the Gods

In a fantastical world, there is no doubt that the gods exist. Their influence can be felt in places both natural and supernatural, from the growing flowers to crashing oceans, and the manifestation of divine magic in their name. An acolyte of the The Green Goddess heals the wounded and diseased of her village, while paladins of the Lawcrafter smite down the hordes of undead summoned by the cult of the Prince of Undeath. Divine magic is channeled through a god's worshipers, those who are particularly sensitive to the presence of the divine, and represent how formless and incomprehensible deities can interact with a physical, limited world.

Gods fall into two groups: 1) gods with physical forms, and 2) gods without. The former were those who were punished following the Great Betrayal, and are composed of the gods of evil-alignment. Formless gods are good- or neutral-aligned.

Another concept central to divine magic is the idea of the true-name. Gods are normally identified via titles; a true-name is not merely a literal label, it is a word that inseparable from it's owners essence. A god whose true-name is known has their power considerably diminished. An example is Anam the Rune-Carver, the god of the giants, whose insistence on record-keeping resulted in his true-name, and the true-names of other gods, being revealed to mortals.

The afterlife is another point of consideration: despite the power and presence of the gods, people just don't know what happens when they die. The Keeper guides the souls of the dead into the afterlife, but he is a silent god, and not even his brothers know to where he whisks souls away to be forgotten. This lack of knowledge is the primary reason people seek out immortality or offer their souls to demon-lords, in order to -- much like in our own world -- find ways to rule ourselves beyond death.

Side/Secondary Effects

The power of the gods seems dependent on the faith of mortals. After all, how could man, in his most primitive state, bear witness to the beauty and wrath of a storm, and not conjure a god of thunder? One cannot know for sure which came first: the gods themselves, or belief in them. The myth of the Great Betrayal suggests the latter: the gods of evil granted divine power to their most loyal cultists, but only as a consequence of their belief in them. Who is to say if the gods existed before that moment? If this is the case, a god without worshipers has no destination for his divine energy. It is merely lost to the universe. Eventually, this god ceases to exist.

Manifestation

Most of the gods lack a physical form and conscience, meaning they cannot interact with the physical realm. Those that were cursed with a physical form (the Horned King, the Prince of Undeath, etc.) lack omnipresence (i.e., they do not "see all"). Therefore, all gods rely on mortal agents to exact their limited will. The faithful can perform reality-defying miracles, and are given authority over natural forces based on their god's sphere of influence. For example, a priest of the Warbringer, god of storms and battle, can summon lightning or bolster his companion's fighting ability.

Source

Faith and intuition drive a divine spell-caster's power. People capable of wielding divine magic are those who have developed a connection so strong that their essence intertwines with that of their god. The two beings become one in the same, mortal agents of their god's will, endowed with a tiny amount of their power.

• Clerical magic is centered on intuition; an inherent understanding of a god's unspoken wishes. Some are born with this gift, but others meditate and study scripture and must develop this sixth-sense over time. Clerics do not exact their god's will. They are their god's will.

• Conviction serves as the source of a paladin's magic. Their faith in their god and the oath that they swear is so powerful as to grant them magic of their own. This is no birthright, no skill to be mastered -- it is purely the fire of inner vision.