Numen

Also known by their colloquial name of "vestiges," a numen is often thought of as the trace or shadow of a god's presence. Because gods are so immensely powerful, areas where they once were can become filled with their signature auras. Most of the time, numina are too slight to affect living creatures, but if a god lingers for long somewhere, the very environment can change to reflect that god's presence, even if they have not been there for years. This may manifest with things such as a perpetually burning flame from a god of fire, or a region that's in perpetual growth. Such areas are frequented by those who study gods and wish to tap into their power -- especially binders, those who seek to unite their own bodies with numina left behind by gods.
Numina can cause physical and even personality changes in those who form pacts with them. Amateur binders must take care not to bind overly-strong numina to themselves or too many, or they may find themselves overwhelmed by the power, acting like a poor mimicry of the god and losing themselves to the numen's influence. Once a binder has made a pact with a numen once or otherwise made contact with it, such as through another binder, they may always bind with that numen provided that they perform the ritual required for binding. Remaining in an area where the numen was originally shed by the god is not necessary for subsequent pacts.
Short-handedly, numina tend to be referred to by the god's title, such as a Worldchaser numen or a Lightfont numen. As some gods are more frequently found than others, and because dead gods can no longer shed new numina, certain numina are rarer or even considered nonexistent by experienced binders.
==Binding Numina==
Numina can be brought forth by a specific ritual only known to binders and speaking aloud the name and title of the god that "shed" the numen. Poor pacts can result in being overtaken by the numen's power; successful pacts, on the other hand, can maintain full control over the numen, even sometimes suppressing any physical changes that the numen would otherwise induce. Experienced binders are capable of using multiple numina at once, though some have claimed that certain numina are antagonistic towards one another and can cause pain or other ill effects in the binder if bound to the same binder at once.
Category:Magic
Category:Gods
Category:No Spoilers