Tenki

The living, physical Gods of the alien world of Hogoku, the Tenki are a class of titanic plants that attained sentience and divinity through a method that is not entirely clear even to them. Representing a wide range of different plants, some of which are dramatically similar to those found on Earth and Gaea (and are subsequently best understood by the same names), the Tenki serve as the guiding light of Tenkihito society and the great sages of the Gunsojin.

While originally native to Hogoku, the descendants of the original Tenki have been spread throughout the galaxy through the movements of the Tenkihito, who take their seeds, sprouts, and saplings to different worlds and plant them as a divine power source in the demiplanes contained on their ships. The Tenki are arguably the most numerous of all Divinities in the universe, with truly exhaustive records kept of their lineages and how they connect to the complicated politics of the Tenkihito's nobility and social status, as individual members of that race participate in a patronage system with the divine plants that alters their physical appearance, spiritual capabilities, and social status.

There are a truly vast range of Tenki in existence, and while the best known are associated with trees (Cherry, Willow, Peach, Maple, Yew, Oak, Apricot, Cedar, Pine, Fir, Magnolia, Birch, Apple, Plum, Fig, Date, Almond, Walnut, Pecan, Pistachio, Chestnut, Hazelnut, Commiphora, Cinnamon, Cassia, Acacia, Mangrove, Lemon, Lime, and Orange are the most influential), they include everything from Water Lilies to Ferns to Cacti to Kelp, and even predatory plants like Pitcher and Flytraps, to say nothing of flowers, grasses, herbs, shrubs, vines, creepers, and mosses.

The Tenki are generally highly social, communicating with each other through their complicated root networks... which are themselves linked through the spiritual realm. Regardless of physical distance, all are essentially in constant communication with each other. However, though they possess great power, they have little practical mobility, and rely heavily on the Tenkihito and Gunsojin to serve and care for them. In exchange, they grant vast knowledge and tremendous spiritual power, as well as pieces of their own bodies to serve as material resources for their devotees. It is from these gifts that the Tenkihito and Gunsojin are able to create their powerful spaceships, with the latter group often serving as masterful artisans and engineers.

To the Tenkihito, the process of being chosen by one of the Tenki is much the same as the process by which Gaeans become Heroes; the Tenki grants some of its Mana to the Tenkihito, ascending them from a common Shuhito into one of the higher castes. These often come with changes in skin, hair, and eye color, and sometimes with changes to their physique and mental performance, making it a more profound change than what Heroes undergo. This also bonds the mortal Tenkihito with the Tenki patron, granting them a form of spiritual communion and oneness; the Tenkihito and Tenki share experiences, the Tenki can act through the Tenkihito's body while it's unconscious, and the Tenkihito can access a portion of the Tenki's spiritual power and protection.

Most Tenki bond only with a single such Tenkihito at a time, though there are rare cases where this rule is broken. It can create some odd experiences between these individuals, such as shared dreams or acute awareness of the other bonded party's presence or location. Many Tenki far outlive their bonded Tenkihito, for while this process dramatically extends the lives of the bonded individuals (often by tens of thousands of years), the Tenkihito themeselves are still very mortal and subject to injury, disease, and death. On rare occasions, something has slain one of the Tenki themselves, subsequently reverting their bonded partner to their status as a Shuhito.