Religion in Torar
Across Torar people worship gods and goddesses as many and varied as there are stars in the sky. Every culture, every species, every continent has their own pantheons they revere. While ultimately many of these gods are facets of one single entity, the metaphysical workings of divinity are of little consequence to someone who has grown up worshipping a particular set of gods.
Because of this, you will see common themes in the pantheons across the world, while the details may be somewhat different. A priest of Thyr from the Kingdom of Suilley could worship in a temple to Lothian while in Alexandria or a church of Mithra while in the city of Nith on the continent of Amuan.
On top of this you may also find regions that have deities called 'elder gods' or 'old gods'. This should not be confused with the official designations of Elder Gods or Great Old Ones. An actual Elder God will be titled as such, e.g. "Elder God Hecate." All other deities should be considered "Modern Gods."
Demigods reside on an inner plane (either the Feywild, the Shadowfell, the Border Ethereal, or a plane on the Elemental Axis), and their followers are often reincarnated as a native creature of that plane.
Divine Hierarchies
All divine providence originates from the Creator, Ilu. Governance of the laws of reality is then split into five seats of power, known as Primaries. Ilu directly chooses those who inhabit these all-important roles. These five Prime Deities are beyond the ken of even other gods, and far-removed from mortalkind. There are those that worship them directly, generally mortals of immense personal power and lesser divine beings. However, each has a holy city on Torar where their worship is practiced.
For regular mortals, worshipping a Prime Deity is a generally unfulfilling practice. They do not answer pleas for aid or prayers, even indirectly, and their portfolios are so broad that it is difficult for any mortal to comprehend just how vast their influence is. For mortals, Prime Deities are more of ideals than gods, facts of nature and not supremely powerful entities to venerate. Each Prime Deity has his or her own plane that they reside on, unlike lesser deities who reside on common planes. Because of this it is extremely rare for a mortal soul to reach their final resting place in the domain of a Prime Deity, and those that do are generally the chosen of that Prime God, and are frequently reincarnated to fulfill some cosmic purpose.
Below the Prime Deities are the Lesser Gods. Nearly all of the gods worshipped across Torar are part of this rank. Lesser Gods can be of different levels of power depending on their influence and worship, but each has been granted the Divine Spark by the Prime Deity the Lesser God's portfolio places them under. All of a Lesser God's power comes from his or her Prime Deity, and can be revoked in the same way a Lesser God can revoke the blessings and spells from a wayward cleric of their faith. A Lesser God resides on an outer plane, and worshippers of that god who are judged worthy live alongside their deity in the afterlife.
Below Lesser Gods are demigods, most frequently referred to as a collective or by the term "Spirit," such as The Forest Gods of Amuan. Functionally, a demigod can only grant spells up to and including 5th level.
A Rose By Any Other Name...
Lesser Gods are often worshipped under different names in different regions of the world, or even at different times in Torar's history. Each time this occurs the actual Lesser God creates an 'aspect' of itself, like a costume or mask, which takes on the personality and traits of the worshipped entity. In general two gods with the same domain that are the same alignment or one step apart are actually the same Lesser God. Not all traits assigned to a god by mortals might be actual traits of the deity, however, and in cases where this disparity is great enough that it evenly branches between two lesser gods, an aspect may become a unique and separate demigod disconnected from its originating Lesser Deity.
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