Deities

**Deities,** also known as **Gods** and **Goddesses,** are a race of all-powerful immortal beings that hold authority in the pantheons and religions they established or belonged to.

## **Characteristics**

The origin of divinity is unknown. The oldest of gods have existed before the creation of anything at all, even before time and space. At various points in time, more gods started to appear. Over time, they formed their own collective pantheons and religions amongst the humans, which attracted many followers across the Earth (and multiverse). These gods were worshipped for centuries, and in some cases, millennia. Through tributes they receive more power.

There are distinct pantheons of gods, such as the Greek and Egyptian pantheons. Every god in a pantheon fills a certain role, such as God/Goddess of War or God/Goddess of the Sun.

While majority of them are neutral, others seek to better the lives of humans, some are malicious or malevolent towards humans. Many of them existed before the creation of our universe, and even had a hand in creating it. Many malevolent gods had a taste for human flesh and often fed on their sacrificial tributes to maintain their power, and will often accept tributes like virgin sacrifices. Many gods are egotistical and will often fight other gods to maintain a higher status.

In the modern era, most gods have lost a significant portion their followers. Thus, many gods were left with less worshipers, which weakened their hold. Nowadays, most gods are scattered across the world, underground, either by single worshipers and minor cults. With the exception of the Hindu Gods, Chinese Gods, and the Abrahamic God, these gods have a large amount of worshipers in the modern era.

It is possible for a human or another being to be transformed into a god by other gods or be reborn as a god after death, this is mostly seen in the Chinese Pantheon, Japanese Pantheon, Hindu Pantheon, Norse Pantheon, Buddhism, and Jainism.

After defeating a god, disasters, and other events occur, depending on what the god's domain was. For example Japan was plunged into eternal darkness after the sun goddess Amaterasu exiled herself into a cave.

## **Appearance**

Gods have true forms of their own, but many often take on human form for various tasks when they interacted with humans on Earth. Their appearance depends on the god, some appear more or less human, but others have a more monstrous appearance -- Kali's true form has blue skin, fangs, and multiple pairs of arms and hands. Some gods possess animalistic features. Ganesh has the ability to turn completely into an elephant and has the head of an elephant in his true form. Still, other gods take on shapes other than beastly or humanoid forms. Sometimes gods have true forms that are too overwhelming for another being to conceive which leads to them being vaporized.

Gods often appear to prefer wearing epoque appropriate clothing that was the fashion of the time and place in which they were worshiped.

## **Powers and Abilities**

While each god has their own unique powers, which varies between gods, but they do share certain powers and attributes.

Gods have specific powers that correlate to their roles, for example, Zeus can create and manipulate thunder and lightning, Poseidon can conjure and manipulate the element of water, and Hades possessing soul manipulation.

Due to these variations, the following list is split into standard powers which they all have, common powers, which some have, and specific powers which is based mostly on a god's domain:

### Standard Powers

* **Super Strength** - Gods are infinitely strong, their strength is unlimited, far superior to all other beings. They can effortlessly destroy extremely massive objects, like buildings, send enemies flying for thousands of miles with simple blows, and effortlessly throw things such as mountains across entire regions. Gods can overpower anything in all of creation.
* **Super Stamina** - Gods possess infinite stamina and will never tire despite what they go through.
* **Immortality** - As gods, they are immortal beings and will live forever as they are immune to aging and disease as their very lifeforce is connected to the fabric of reality itself.
* **Nigh Invulnerability** - Gods are completely invulnerable to all forms of death and are immune to pain. They can however have their physical form destroyed, which leaves them incapacitated but they won't be killed.
* **Nigh Indestructibility** - They cannot be destroyed by any method, earthly objects are unable to pierce their flesh, and will shatter upon contact.
* **Regeneration** - They are able to heal any damage they do manage to receive in a short period of time.
* **Omnipotence** - While not a power per se, gods possess unlimited power.
* **Omnilingualism** - While not a power, the ability to understand and speak any language without training in it.

### Common Powers

* **Super Speed** - Many gods are able to move at incredibly fast speeds, able to travel around the world in mere seconds.
* **Super Agility** - Many gods possess incredible flexibility and reflexes, that are far superior to all other beings, and can preform incredible jumps and dodge attacks at point-blank range.
* **Super Senses** - A lot of gods have extremely acute senses, and are able to see, hear, smell, and taste things other beings cannot.
* **Telekinesis** - The ability to move objects with the power of the mind. Many Deities possess this power at an very advanced level.
* **Shapeshifting**- A lot of gods will often shapeshift to conceal their true forms while on Earth.
* **Teleportation** - Older gods are often in possession of this power, and are able to teleport anywhere in our universe and other dimensions.
* **Weather Manipulation** - Quite a few gods could control the weather, such as preventing a harsh winter, or by providing a climate well-suited for planting and harvesting. While others are able to create incredibly destructive and catastrophic storms.
* **Biokinesis** - The ability to control a person's body, either through harm or transfiguration. Many gods are able to manipulate and control other being's bodies, either by healing, infecting them with diseases, manipulating internal organs, or turning them into different creatures on a very advanced level.
* **Reality Warping** - The power to change the laws of reality and to create new laws or universes entirely. The older more powerful gods are in possession of this power, common among creator gods.
* **Pyrokinesis** - Many gods are able to generate and manipulate fire on highly advanced levels.
* **Telepathy** - Lots of gods are able to read the minds of humans, and even other creatures.
* **Smiting** - Older gods are able to effortlessly smite other beings.
* **Power Negation** - More powerful gods are able to negate and block the powers of other beings.
* **Clairsentience** - Many gods are able to sense another beings energies.
* **Omniscience** - Not a power per se, but many gods have excess to infinite amounts of knowledge and information.

### Specific Powers

* **Electrokinesis** - The ability to manipulate and generate electrical energy. Gods associated with the sky and weather are in possession of this power.
* **Possession** - A rare power, usually possessed by death gods, some gods require a vessel to interact physically in our world.
* **Necromancy** - Some gods associated with death or the underworld are able to conjure and control the spirits of the dead.
* **Chronokinesis** - Some gods, like ones associated with the concept of time are able to control and manipulate the flow of time.
* **Empathy** - Some gods are able to feel and read the emotions of others.
* **Soul Reading** - Underworld and death gods are associated with this power, and can sense if a person has a soul and its current condition.
* **Chlorokinesis** - Gods associated with agriculture or nature are able to influence vegetation and plants.
* **Foresight** - Some gods are able to see into the future.
* **Power Granting** - Older powerful gods are able to grant humans superhuman attributes or other powers such as immortality.
* **Voice Mimicry** - Few gods are able to mimic the voice of another being, or modify their own.
* **Necrokinesis** - Death gods are in possession of this power, being able to kill anything with the power of their minds.
* **Soul Manipulation** - Some gods are able to carry souls on to an afterlife.
* **Photokinesis** - Gods associated with light are able to generate and manipulate light, on a very advanced level.
* **Umbrakinesis** - Gods associated with darkness can control and manipulated the dark and shadows very efficiently.
* **Invisibility**- Some gods are able to vender themselves invisible to other beings.
* **Conjuration** - Usually used by trickster gods, some gods can create something out of thin air.
* **Mental Manipulation** - Some gods are able to control a beings mind, or manipulate their memories.
* **Terrakinesis** -A power usually possessed by gods associated with the Earth, and can create earthquakes and other geological phenomena on a very advanced level.
* **Dream Walking** - Some gods are able to enter the minds and dreams of humans.
* **Hydrokinesis** - Gods associated with water are able to control and manipulate water at their will on a very advanced level.
* **Pathokinesis** - Some gods are able to manipulate and influence the emotions of other beings on a very advanced scale.
* **Astral Perception** - Some Deities are able to see things that are invisible to other beings.
* **Thermokinesis** - Few gods are able to manipulate and generate temperature.
* **Electromagnetic Interference** - Due to their extreme power levels, some gods' presence will cause lights and electronics to malfunction and violently explode.
* **Resurrection** **-** A rare power among gods, only very powerful gods can resurrect the dead.
* **Exorcism**- Gods associated with death commonly have this power, they are able to exorcise other beings from their vessels/hosts.
* **Flight**- Some are able to levitate and hover above the ground.
* **Apporting**- Some gods can bring massive objects and other beings to another location.

## **Weaknesses**

Despite being virtually invincible, gods do possess limitations to their power.

* **Other Deities** - Other older and more powerful gods can harm and overpower other gods.
* **Divine Weaponry** - Since divine weapons are made for/by or have the power of gods, those weapons can harm gods as well.
* **Lack of Faith** - Japanese gods will lose the ability to manifest their powers if there is a lack of faith in them, such as lack of worship.
* **Breaking an Oath on the River Styx -** Breaking a vow that was made on the River Styx would result in death for humans and prolonged incapacitation for any Greek god, rendering them severely weakened for a time.
* **Animal Form** - Fijian gods are severely weakened and basically powerless while they are in animal form.
* **Banishment** - Chang'e and Houyi lost the vast majority of their powers after they were banished from the heavens by Yu Huang.
* **Power Exhaustion** - Buddhist/Jain gods will be forced back into the cycle of Samsara once they have exhausted their power.

## **Special Types**

Sometimes within a pantheon, there are unique types of gods, some of these include:

### Binbogami (Japanese)

Binbogami are a type of Japanese god who will inhabit a human or their household to bring poverty and misery. Generally, a Binbogami appears as a skinny, dirty old man, who wields both an uchiwa and a kendama in their hands and wears one broken geta on their foot.

### Hashihime (Japanese)

Hashihime are an intensely jealous type of goddesses who inhabit bridges — in particular, very old and very long bridges. Hashihime ferociously guard the bridges they inhabit. They are very competitive and jealous. If one praises or speaks positively about another bridge while on top of a Hashihime’s bridge, something terrible is likely to happen to that person.

### Devas (Buddhist, Jain)

Devas are a type of god that humans can be reborn as in the Buddhist and Jain cycle of Samsara. A rebirth as a Deva requires accumulation of good karma. However once their power is exhausted, Devas are thrown back into the endless cycle of Samsara and are commonly degraded into lesser beings as their existence uses up most of their karma.

### Mahraga (Hindu)

The Mahoraga are a class of gods in Hinduism, they are often depicted as anthropomorphic beings with serpentine bodies from the waist down. However, their appearance can differ, sometimes having serpent heads with humanoid bodies.

### Tzitzimimeh (Aztec)

The Tzitzimimeh *(singular: Tzitzimitl)* were a type of monstrous Aztec goddesses who were associated with stars especially the stars that can be seen around the Sun during a solar eclipse. The Tzitzimimeh had a double role in Aztec religion: they were protectresses of the feminine and progenitresses of mankind. They were also powerful and dangerous, especially in periods of cosmic instability.

### Erinyes (Greek)

The Erinyes *(Ancient Greek: Ἐρινύες, pl. of Ἐρινύς)*, were chthonic goddesses of vengeance in ancient Greek religion and mythology. A formulaic oath in the *Iliad* invokes them as "the Erinyes, that under earth take vengeance on men, whosoever hath sworn a false oath." While their true number is unknown, three are known by name: Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera.

### Tudigong (Chinese)

A **Tudigong** *(Chinese: 土地公; lit. 'Lord of the Land')* is a kind of Chinese tutelary god of a specific location. The definitive characteristic of Tudigongs is that they are limited to their specific geographical locations. Often, a person who did service to their local community will be reborn as a Tudigong after their death.

### Jinushigami (Japanese)

Jinushigami are Japanese Shinto folk gods, of an area of land. Their known history goes back to at least the 9th century and possibly earlier. Originally, Jinushigami were associated with new areas of land opened up for settlement. New residents of the land created shrines to the local resident god either to gain its blessing/permission, or to bind it within the land to prevent its interference with, or cursing of, nearby humans.

### Erotes (Greek)

The Erotes are a group of winged gods from Greek mythology, associated with love and sex, and part of Aphrodite's retinue. Individual Erotes are sometimes linked to particular aspects of love and sometimes have been considered as manifestations of a singular god, Eros, their leader.

### Potamoi (Greek)

The Potamoi are a type of river god in Greek mythology. They are the fathers of Naiads, and the brothers of the Oceanids, and as such, the sons of Okeanos and Tethys. These river gods were depicted in one of three forms: a man-headed bull, a bull-headed man with the body of a serpent-like fish from the waist down, or as an arm resting upon an amphora jug pouring water.

### Chenghuangshen (Chinese)

The Chenghuangshen *(Chinese: 城隍神; pinyin: Chénghuángshén)*, is a tutelary gods in Chinese folk religion who is believed to protect the people and the affairs of the particular village, town or city of great dimension, and the corresponding afterlife location. Chenghuangshen are believed to be involved in communal concerns such as the need for rain, and may be involved in personal requests such as recovery from illness. Town residents may appeal to their Chenghuangshens for help in a natural disaster or other crisis. The City God may also be called upon to help those who are accused of crimes. The accused appear before the god and ask for a sign to help prove their innocence. Leaders of a town or city will be reborn as a Chenghuanshen after death. Chenghuangshens have a three-year limit on their jurisdiction over a town or city, much like a politician.

### Amores (Roman)

The Amores are a group of love gods from Roman mythology, they function in a similar manner to the Erotes of the Greek pantheon. The leader of the Amores is the god Cupid.

### Nariu (Egyptian)

Are a type of catfish-headed primeval god, they commonly reside in the second cavern of Duat, the Egyptian underworld. Narius are in charge of the punishment of wicked souls, though the exact details of the punishments are unknown.

### Dijizhu (Taiwanese)

Dijizhu are Taiwanese tutelary gods. Worship of Dijizhu (地基主) is especially common in Taiwanese folk beliefs. Many institutions such as government agencies and companies will honor a Dijizhu when moving into a new building. Household altars to a Dijizhu are also very common.

### Shan Shen (Chinese)

Shan Shen *(Chinese: 山神)* are Chinese mountain gods, they are tutelary gods associated with mountains.