Deity

* Eastern Civilization
* Western Civilization

**Deities**, also called **Pagan Gods**, are a divine race of immortals who are worshiped in the religion that they had established or belonged to.

## Overview

A **deity** or a **god** is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The *Oxford Dictionary of English* defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater than those of ordinary humans, but who interacts with humans, positively or negatively, in ways that carry humans to new levels of consciousness, beyond the grounded preoccupations of ordinary life".

Religions can be categorized by how many deities they worship. Monotheistic religions accept only one deity (predominantly referred to as "God"), whereas polytheistic religions accept multiple deities. Henotheistic religions accept one supreme deity without denying other deities, considering them as aspects of the same divine principle. Nontheistic religions deny any supreme eternal creator deity, but may accept a pantheon of deities which live, die and may be reborn like any other being.

Although most monotheistic religions traditionally envision their God as omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, and eternal, none of these qualities are essential to the definition of a "deity" and various cultures have conceptualized their deities differently. Monotheistic religions typically refer to God in masculine terms, while other religions refer to their deities in a variety of ways—male, female, hermaphroditic, or genderless.

Historically, many ancient cultures—including the ancient Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Norsemen—personified natural phenomena, variously as either deliberate causes or effects. Some Avestan and Vedic deities were viewed as ethical concepts. In Indian religions, deities were envisioned as manifesting within the temple of every living being's body, as sensory organs and mind. Deities were envisioned as a form of existence (Saṃsāra) after rebirth, for human beings who gain merit through an ethical life, where they become guardian deities and live blissfully in heaven, but are also subject to death when their merit is lost.

## Appearance

In religions, deities are depicted in a variety of forms, though most are frequently expressed as having a human form. However, in some faiths and traditions, the gods are intangible and indescribable beings beyond understanding, and it is considered blasphemous to imagine or depict them as having any concrete form.

Similar to most supernatural beings, gods often appear a lot like normal humans to the point where they cannot be distinguished from them aside from their unnatural attractiveness and the unusual presence they give off. Some gods, however, do appear as having animalistic or inhuman appearances, though this is more of a personal preference than their true appearance.

## Characteristics

Most gods of antiquity are gods of heavenly bodies, of natural phenomena, and of beliefs such as the "power of the planet that stabilizes the surface of the planet". In short, they can be described as personifications of concepts who possess intentions and personality. They reign as the laws of the world, controlling mortal devotees through magical feats that earn them both fear and reverence from humanity. Because of this, nearly all of them are extremely arrogant and see humans as nothing but a power source for them to cultivate, and as such, can be seen as threats that need extermination to allow the survival of humanity.

However, those aren't the only ones as there is another category of gods who were reborn into their godhood. They are close to humans originally, but deviated from humanity through various factors to become objects of worship. They came to the forefront after their passing, their heroic deeds garnered them reverence for centuries and granted them divinity through humanity's collective consciousness. Figures such as heroes and messiahs are "systems necessary to thrive" fall under this category.

Deities are often sectarian and hold different stances on certain events depending on their respective pantheon's philosophy and ideology, and may be against others' beliefs and religions. By nature, most gods don't hold much loyalty to each other, perhaps save for gods from their own pantheon, and seem to have hostility toward foreign gods as they perceive them as potential dangers toward their religion's influence. Despite this, a god's main interest is to look after themselves and some have been known to betray other gods and even their pantheon if a better option is available.

While the gods are multifaceted beings, natural-born gods do not have the same level of complexity as humans. They are often honest beings when it comes to their personality, desires, intentions, and on whether they can be considered good/benevolent gods or an Evil God. Thor described them to be "fictional characters come to life" in the sense that while they do possess human-like emotions, mentality, personality, and characteristics, they are still ultimately inferior when compared to actual human beings. However, according to Indra, such simplicity is very important to how they are perceived by their followers and how their offerings and sacrifices will be.

Despite their authority, for some parts, the gods themselves are also molded based on the beliefs and ideas of the followers. They possess human-like traits and flaws not because it's in their nature to have them, but because ancient humans believed them to be reflections of what was right and planted such human-like qualities into them. Their human form is - while tailored based on their own preference - born of humans' belief of what they *should* look like and not how they really look. In the rise of Christianity, many gods were turned into monsters and faeries as opposed to the "True God". There are also cases of gods becoming infamous as icons of terror, distorting their appearance and nature through human thoughts and ideals that are born around their myths.

Gods can grow stronger the more followers they have, the more sacrifices and offerings they received, and how strong is the belief of humans toward them, yet all of that can be lost if their followers' faith in them is wavering. During the Age of Gods, when the Earth was young, the importance of a god's domains determined a god's position in their pantheon's hierarchy, as the more they were in the ancient society's eyes, the higher their rankings will become. Nowadays, when most gods lived through their influence over culture, traditions, and civilization, the position they gained in ancient times is permanently set and cannot be changed, though their authority among other gods is somewhat flexible.

Oddly enough, not all deities are pagans or even followers of the religion they originated from, with many ending up converting to another religion that resonates better to their own personal beliefs. Despite their own belief in religious freedom - at least religious freedom for the gods - almost all gods have little love for Christianity as many see it as the reason behind their religion's own downfall. However, due to Heaven's authority and the Three Factions' influence over the world, none dare to publicly oppose them.

## Death

Despite being called "deathless" in mythology, in reality, they can still die and be killed. However, what separated a god from the majority of immortal beings is how the absolute destruction of their physical body does not always mean their death. According to Thor, "death of a god is when all beliefs and memories faded away". As long as myths, beliefs, and memories about the gods still exist, even if a single human remains, they will not die.

Regardless, when a god does die, their soul will ascend to the Empty like all immortals. Once entering the Empty, their soul can still be summon back to the lower worlds through Enochian Magick. However, this is an extremely dangerous method, not only to the summoner but also to the summoned soul itself, with high probabilities of said soul transforming into a Heretic God.

## Types of Deities

* **Primordial Deities**: First known gods to exist and have existed since the beginning of the universe. They are the progenitors and ancestors of the gods within their respective pantheon, and are considered to be some of the most powerful beings in the world.
	+ **Progenitor Gods**: The most powerful gods in their mythology and the pinnacle of divine authority within their respective pantheon. According to Azazel, these gods are the "systems that regulate the principle upon which their respective religion was built".
* **Chieftain Deities**: The highest-ranked deities in their respective pantheon's hierarchy. As such, they are among the most powerful of all deities within their mythology, often possessing rare and incredible powers. They also possess a divine authority over the minds of their fellow gods, which allows them to influence them to some extent, with the exceptions being the primordial gods.
* **Mother Earth Goddesses**: Powerful goddesses who possess the power of [Creation] and a strong affiliation toward nature. In the purest sense, they are personifications of the cycle of life and death, and "only when they have fulfilled the wishes of the world, leaving the planet for space and ending the infantile stage of intelligent lifeforms, will they no longer be bound to it". Their male and heavenly counterparts are the **Sky Fathers**.
* **Divine Heroes**: Deified legendary figures who achieved their godhood through their own efforts, usually as the reward for performing feats of divine/cosmic importance in one way or another. Alternatively, some of them were also reborn as gods from the reverence they received from mortal devotees and descendants. Certain classifications such as the *Xian* (Taoism) or *Rishi* (Hinduism) are also considered parts of this type.
	+ **Buddhas**: Special gods from Buddhist mythology. They are enlightened humans who gained divinity upon attaining *nirvana* and Buddhahood through their own efforts and insight, without a teacher to point out the *dharma*. They are among the most powerful gods, having Primordial-class powers that reach all over the universe instead of being confined within certain planetary systems. Divine entities who have generated *bodhicitta* are known as **Bodhisattvas**, while those who are on the path of Buddhahood are called **Arhats**.
	+ **Magic Gods**: A special classification of New Gods consisting of magic practitioners whose mastery over the arcane arts have transcended into true godhood. To do so, they must master all potential schools of magic available to humans and then more, reaching the end of their chosen path of magic and surpass it, and having a body that can allow them to understand the will of the heavens.
* **Divine Spirits**: Mortals who gained their immortality through alternative and artificial ways, often through the usage of divine substances such as Amrita or the Elixir of Life, though there have been multiple instances where the mortals were given immortality and minor divinity as gifts/rewards from higher-ranked gods. More often than not, they are employed by other gods to take care of their temples and shrines, acting as their servants, retainers, and/or bodyguards.
	+ **Avatar**: An incarnation of top-ranked gods, whose authority rivals that of trueborn gods or even principal gods, and often possesses some divine powers of the original god. The majority of Divine Avatars such as Rama, Krishna, or Mohini are parts of the Hindu Pantheon, and "avatar" itself is a principal concept of Hinduism.
* **Unnamed Deities**: Deities whose names were never recorded among their fellow gods and didn't feature in their pantheon's mythology. For the most parts, these are minor divinities, half-gods, or greater spirits, and hold no actual divine domains or titles within their pantheon's hierarchy. As such, whenever a new "god" is born in humans' collective consciousness, the unnamed god with the closest traits and attributes will absorb said "god" into themselves and become them, gaining their supposed domains and followers for themselves.
* **Heretic Gods**: Deities who become twisted, cruel and insane for going against their mythology, and become major threats to humanity. The majority of Heretic Gods are deceased deities summoned from the Empty, corrupted by the Void for trying to escape their grasp.

## Population

According to the Grigori's official records, there are a total of roughly 10-millions gods in existence, though only 15% of them are named and recorded in mythologies while the remaining 85% is a combination of unnamed gods and divine spirits born throughout the years. Their number was once said to be much larger, counting in the billions, though due to the multiple minor conflicts between pantheons and the Third and Fourth Holy War, their number was dropped to 12 millions.

Another thing to consider when it comes to the population of gods is synchronization, as sometimes when multiple cults merged or assimilated their traditions - especially in terms of theology, mythology, and religion - and thus resulted into two or more gods being combined into one singular deity, who often be the most powerful among the originals, as the result. The most notable examples are that of the Roman gods, who originated as Greek gods before being adopted by the ancient Romans and merged with the local gods, thus forming the Greco-Roman Pantheon.

According to Thor, most gods are "semi-sterile", as in they could not reproduce with other gods to populate their number yet still normally - and even potently - sire new demigods or half-gods with their non-deity partners. The "godly DNA" - even though they don't actually have one - is said to be quite strained at this point, being the result of constant incest and inbreeding between them for millennia. As such, within about 5-6 generations from the primordial gods, the divine blood would become thinner and thinner until it ultimately dies out.

## Factions

### Western Civilization

**Western Civilization**, also called the **New World Gods**, is a general term used to prefer to the pantheons whose divinity is tied to the spirit of the Western Civilization, whose culture is most influenced by Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian cultures. Because of this, they could be empowered by those associated and symbolized by their divine domains, or associated with them or the myths surrounding them.

This faction is led by the Greco-Roman Pantheon, the Norse Pantheon, and the Egyptian Pantheon, who together formed the **Western Triumvirate**.

### Eastern Civilization

**Eastern Civilization**, also called the **Old World Gods**, is the general term used to refer to the pantheons who aren't associated with the Western Civilization, but chose to stay with their roots and gain powers from offerings and sacrifices from their remaining followers. And while there aren't any official leaders to this faction, it's widely-known that the Hindu Pantheon, the Celestial Bureaucracy, and the Japanese Pantheon often act as the unofficial leaders, thus forming the **Eastern Triumvirate**.

## Trivia

* Most gods have names who are indirect references to their domains, with few exceptions.
* The gods are said to be prone to easily getting jealous and tend to harbor grudges for eternity. Those who hold contempt against a mortal are said to chase after them in the afterlife and even in their following rebirth just to satisfy their need for "revenge".
	+ The Olympian Gods are said to be notably fickle, lively, and irrational even among gods.
* According to Apollo, to understand the gods based on their myths and religion alone is as hard as to write an accurate biography of someone based on nothing else but outdated gossip, false rumors, and bits of information gained through a centuries-long game of telephone, and even their most devout followers don't even come close to understand what their god is truly like.
* While it's stated that the gods are influenced by humans' thoughts and beliefs, the full extent of said influence is never clearly explained, though it's implied to be great enough for an entire pantheon to be transformed within a single night.
* Beings such as Jötnar and Asuras are considered "wild gods" in some religions.
* Despite being known as the Monotheistic God, Abrahamic God isn't considered a deity in the same way as other pagan gods.