Eidolons

# WARNING: MODIFICATIONS INCOMING

Eidolons are supernatural, Ethereal entities brought into existence and sustained by direct human belief and worship. Many deities and supernatural entities from innumerable mortal religions have given rise to eidolons in the Ether. This possibility for the dreams and faith of humanity to spawn eidolons has existed since around 10,000 BC, as the cataclysmic fall of the Atlantean Empire damaged the Veil to an extent that human beliefs were able to seep through and give rise to spiritual entities.

## Reverence Ranks

Main Article: Reverence

Eidolons measure their power by their Reverence, which is essentially the amount of power that humanity's Faith provides them. Eidolons with low amounts of Reverence are little more than annoying gremlins, whilst those with high amounts are godlike in their power, able to devastate entire civilizations on a whim. From weakest to most powerful, the five reverence categories are: Sanctified, Venerated, Eminent, Luminary, and Exalted.

## Physiology

### Creation

Eidolons are brought into existence by the collective belief of a population of humans, typically over a relatively long period of time. In ancient times, especially within the millennia directly following Atlantis' fall, this process was far easier, and powerful eidolons could be formed from the faith of a scant few hundred people over the generations. In modern times, however, it takes many times that number to form even a weak eidolon.

The formation process involves the firm belief of some sort of entity by a group of humans. The initial act of thinking up this entity is known as Conception. Depending on the believed power of the entity the humans have Conceptualized, varying amounts of faith will be need to be generated in order to bring the eidolon to life, a process known as Actualization. For example, an irritating goblin spirit that makes messes out of peoples' rooms requires far less faith to Actualize than a mighty god capable of shaking the earth and wiping out cities in his rage.

Eidolons and the realms associated with them typically form within the High Ether.

### Subsistence

Eidolons are very near to immortal. Though their Avatars, the embodiments of their power and personality in which they appear, can be damaged or even destroyed, eidolons are capable of reforming so long as the necessary conditions are met. The most important of these is that humans who know of them remain, meaning that the eidolon exists in some way, no matter how small, within the collective human psyche. So long as at least one person has knowledge of an eidolon, they will be able to reform if their Avatar is destroyed. If all humans lose knowledge of an eidolon, they become vulnerable to having their Avatar destroyed without the ability to reform it. However, if some record of them remains, and even a single human learns of them through it, it again becomes possible for an eidolon to form an Avatar.

The more people with knowledge of an eidolon, the more quickly and easily they can reform. People who actively believe in an eidolon grant them even further fuel, allowing them to reform with less difficulty. This belief and knowledge is also necessary for an eidolon to keep their memories intact. When reforming, eidolons draw on the memories of the collective human consciousness to retain their own memories. If there is insufficient knowledge of their deeds, eidolons may find it impossible to recall certain memories, unless they directly come into contact with someone who is aware of their past actions. Eidolons who are not Conceptualized as individual entities, but rather as collectives, such as a race of annoying sprites with no named members in human legends, will end up with completely new personalities every time they reform.

#### Quiescence

Quiescence is the state that eidolons enter whenever their Avatars are destroyed, or they are otherwise too depleted in power to remain active. When an eidolon's Avatar is annihilated, they instantly become quiescent, and will remain so until they have gathered sufficient power to reform another. An eidolon can also be forced into Quiescence by power deprivation, when the amount of belief in them reaches levels so comparatively low to what the mortals who Conceptualized them believed them to be, that they can no longer sustain anywhere near close to the power the humans think they should have. If this occurs, and an eidolon reaches sufficient levels of faith to sustain a lesser eidolon, they will awaken just enough to be able to recreate an Avatar at that level, or else slip back into full Quiescence and hope to gain enough faith to ascend to a higher level.

### Material Influence

Eidolons, formed as they are in the High Ether, where they typically remain as residents, must expend power in order to exert power over the material world. The methods they employ are as follow.

#### Manifestation

Manifestation is the least draining of methods for an eidolon to wield power on the material plane, and the most commonly used. It simply involves the eidolon expending power to cause something to occur on Earth, or any other plane, for that matter. They might conjure a storm, command a flock of animals, or send dreams to their followers, so long as they have sufficient power. Naturally, the more impressive and powerful the act they wish to perform, the more power and faith that is required.

#### Materialization

A method almost impossible in the modern era, Materialization is the act of an eidolon expending power to directly conjure a physical body for their Avatar on the material plane from raw faith. This is the most power intensive way for an eidolon to exert influence on earth, but does allow them to wield their abilities, constrained only by the limits of the Avatar itself. If they wish to save on power and faith, an eidolon may choose to manifest a weaker Avatar on Earth. If at any point their Avatar is destroyed while on the material world, they will be driven into Quiescence until they have sufficient power to manifest another Avatar.

#### Incarnation

The act of incarnation is similar to Materialization, only instead of creating a physical form for themselves, the eidolon inserts their essence into a preexisting creature or object on the material plane, making it house their Avatar. This makes them as vulnerable as whatever they have incarnated themselves into, and if it is destroyed, they will face the normal consequences of Avatar destruction, and be forced into Quiescence.

## Powers and Abilities

### Common Powers

These are abilities that all eidolons inherently possess.

* **The Allmind:** Eidolons have access to a magical force known as the Allmind, which is essentially the collective beliefs and knowledge of humanity. This connection often makes it seem to the uninformed that eidolons are omniscient. Most eidolons believe in their omniscience as well, and are unaware of their connection to the Allmind. It should be noted, however, that an eidolon's connection to the Allmind, and the amount of information that they can draw from it, is dependent on their Reverence. Eidolons with more Reverence are connected to larger numbers of people, and it is from their Reverence sources that they draw knowledge from. In essence, eidolons have access to the portion of the Allmind composed of the knowledge their Reverence sources have. It should also be noted that eidolons have an easier time drawing general knowledge from the Allmind, such as the name of a nation, rather than specific events from their follower's lives, the latter of which can only be acquired by particularly potent eidolons.