Powers

## Deities

The **Powers** are a collective of Alexander-class reality manipulators. Their members possess sovereignty over much of the known universe, with the notable exceptions of Eden and Euclid. Religions of their subjects venerate the organization as a pantheon of **deities**.

## Biology

Alexander-class reality manipulators are capable of adding, modifying or removing features at will, although the majority take on a hominid form. Powers which have created a species will generally resemble their creations; Vritra and Xeren took the forms of an angel and human respectively.

A deity's soul could be halved, as was the case with Xeren's soul. Half of the soul took the form of a glowing red sphere, which would orbit around Euclid. The other half was allowed to reincarnate as normal. These reincarnations of Xeren, known as Adityas, only possessed Aegis-class reality manipulation abilities, akin to those of Ifrit. Adityas could recall fragments of Xeren's life in outwardly similar situations.

It is thought that an Aditya may be able to reunite with the other half of Xeren's soul, granting them full Alexander-class abilities. The method for achieving this feat has yet to be discovered.

## Society

Each deity has power over one planet or other realm which they have created. Inhabitants of their territory often regard their Power as a supreme authority. Centaur nominally holds similar control over the other Powers as their creator and ruler of their homeworld, Nubis.

In practice, Centaur allows the group to make judgements through supermajority approval among its members. Certain older Powers hold greater sway over these votes than their greenhorn counterparts. Nilohes, Palvatar and Tuisco hold the greatest influence as the oldest deities besides Centaur himself.

## Background

Centaur created the universe billions of years prior to the Great War. Shortly thereafter, he created three deities to rule it alongside him. Nilohes, Palvatar, and Tuisco began to rule over the Realm of Perseverance, the Savage Garden, and Charonium, respectively. It was decided that the souls of the deceased would be transferred to Charonium following death. Much later, the deities Vassiliki, Vritra, and Xeren were created. Vassiliki presided over the planet Canopus before marrying Vritra, who created the angels and demons on the planet Eden, while Xeren created humans on the planet Euclid.

A war would break out in Eden when the demons rebelled against their god. The conflict was prolonged when Xeren allied with the demons. Both Xeren and Vritra had high standing within the organization, stalling any attempted ruling on their actions. Only after Xeren's killing Vritra were the other Powers able to intervene. Xeren was killed and his soul left his body. Despite this, the war continued long after the deaths of Xeren and Vritra.

Cicero, Xeren's half-demon son, invaded Euclid with the demon army. He hoped to acquire his father's soul in order to empower himself. In response to the demon invasion, Alchemilia Corporation created a portal between Eden and Euclid, successfully bringing the angels to the planet. Unfortunately, the angels were not the saviors humanity had hoped for. The Great War decimated much of Euclid.

At some point, the Powers turned their attention away from Euclid to deal with the Dream Eaters. Founded by Xanvi on the third moon of Ermianu, the Dream Eaters were able to kill a deity and set their sights on interdimensional travel, both forbidden by the Powers. Palvatar punished the Dream Eaters by killing those who had been influenced by Xanvi. Supay died and Xanvi was greatly weakened, but the group survived the attack.

In Centenus 302 TP, Xeren was reincarnated in human form as Savannah Whitesmith.

## Trivia

* "The powers that be" is an idiomatic term for authorities. It was first used in William Tyndale's translation of the Bible verse Romans 13:1 - "Let every soul submit himself unto the authority of the higher powers. There is no power but of God. The powers that be, are ordained of God."
* Alexander-class is derived from Alexander the Great, a Greek king who considered himself the son of Zeus.
* Centaurs are creatures in Greek (and subsequently Roman) mythology with the upper body of a human and the legs and lower body of a horse.
* Tuisco is a deity in Germanic mythology.
* Vritra is a serpent or dragon in Hinduism.
* Päivätär is the Finnish goddess of the sun.
* Nilohes is named for the word "nil," which means "nothing."

Angels • **Deities** • Demons • Humans (Artificial Tieflings) • Hybrids