Incarnation

Example

## Common Knowledge

On Orelisle, people worship many different deities. Some of them may even have miracles attributed to them. None, save for perhaps the most devout scholars of the Sym’fadè Confederacy, know that some gods do truly exist, and that there are machinations behind their emergence.

## Affected Regions

All of reality is technically affected by incarnation, but it is a rather slow process. Generally, incarnation only occurs in areas with large, long-lasting mortal populations who are not exposed to or influenced by other deity-like beings (such as dragons, elemental spirits, pre-existing progenitor deities, or actual deities in the case of those outside the Material Plane).

## Related Groups and People

As all progenitor deities are created by incarnation, by definition all progenitors are related to it. The following progenitor deities are known to exist

* The Dark Elven Pantheon
	+ Lolth/Maelstrom, Muse, Vague, the Masked Lady
	+ Worshipped to varying degrees by all Dark Elves and Drow
* The La’Sep
	+ Ogon’, Ateş, Tân, Z’jarr, Brand, Āgō, F’joer
	+ Worshipped by the inhabitants of the Obsidian Crescent
* Amora
	+ A goddess of love worshipped in Barnia
* Equis
	+ A god of balance who was split into two halves and imprisoned by Polaris until 10,020.
* The Goddess of Serenity
	+ A goddess who does exactly as her title suggests.
	+ Worshipped by certain groups of Heron-folk
* Sol Invictus
	+ A bellicose sun god worshipped by various warrior cultures throughout Orelisle
	+ Idolized by the former Meztec Empire
* Sol Lux
	+ A benevolent protector god worshipped by denizens of Myrdirit and beyond
	+ Also Sol Invictus’s son, sometimes called the Unconquered Son or the Unconquered Sun, Jr..
* Vi
	+ A goddess of purity worshipped by many groups of elves
	+ Her influence disappeared off the Material Plane shortly after the Fel Invasion in 10,016 A.B.

## Overview

### Powered by Belief

Mortal societies will very often invent deities, sometimes to explain natural phenomena, sometimes to unite themselves to a single cause, or any litany of other reasons. Those societies, then, spend several lifetimes in worship, dedication, and absolute faith to those deities. The mortal soul, however, has the curious power to exert its will upon the world in tangible ways. Though this sort of manifestation normally requires extreme resolve and training, it can also manifest through group thought over a long period of time.

If a large group of people believes in a divine entity, with a clearly defined domain of influence, for a long enough time, the collective manifestation of that group of people will cause that entity to begin to exist. This newly-created entity, referred to as a progenitor deity, has influence over whatever domain of powers they are believed to have, and has whatever personality traits that group of people has assigned to it. Progenitor deities can use the powers granted to them by their worshippers to directly affect the world: giving signs of their approval (or lack thereof), defending their base of faith, or even performing miracles.

The exact metrics by which a progenitor begins to exist are foggy, but generally the body of worship needs to stay consistently close to 10,000 living people and the length of worship must be at least 1,000 years. These values may change based on intensity of worship (a deity being one of many worshipped vs. being the sole idol of worship vs. being the sole focus of the culture), size of people, and length of time worshipped.

A mortal can, in a manner of speaking, be raised to deitydom through incarnation, but it will not be that mortal’s soul that exercises the powers they receive. The soul of a progenitor deity and the soul of a mortal are two fundamentally different things. If a person is believed to be a deity in life, and they meet the qualifications to become a progenitor, no power is granted. Instead, a progenitor deity begins to exist upon the deified mortal’s death. The new progenitor has its own soul, and the personality that the deified mortal is believed to have, while the soul of the original mortal is condemned to the same fate as all other mortal souls.

Sometimes a deity, even after millennia of consistent worship, does not manifest into a progenitor. The qualifications for progenitor status are unknown, but one simple marker is that deities whose powers conflict with the way that reality itself is structured (such as beings beyond time, or beings who beings with limitless power over all things) will not become progenitors.

The power that a progenitor deity wields is directly proportional to the size of their base of belief, as well as the length of time they have existed. Once a progenitor deity begins to exist, it will continue to exist so long as some group of people believe in it. This can be expanded to include even tangential awareness, though this form of “belief” yields less power than actual worshippers. Additionally, since the base of worship determines the power set and personality of a progenitor, if those things change over time the progenitor will slowly change to reflect the new beliefs.

A progenitor can be killed by other creatures if it is somehow bound to a physical form, though if its faith base persists it will simply be re-manifested in a new form several centuries later. The only way to truly destroy a progenitor is to destroy its followers, such that the entity’s worship no longer sustains it. In such a case, the progenitor will eventually weaken and fade away into nonexistence. An alternative to this, especially in cases where the progenitor is evil, is to kill the entity in question and perpetuate the belief that it is dead forever. If this succeeds then when the progenitor returns, if it ever does, it will simply be dead and inert.

### Progression

Progenitor deities, or just progenitors for short, are born without fanfare. When they first come into being, though their personality, soul, and power set are defined, the actual range of their capabilities begins relatively small. A newly-”born” progenitor can affect the world only in small ways, usually through coincidences. As it develops in power and its worship ebbs and flows, however, these coincidences may begin to manifest as signs to their worshippers, unnatural circumstances, omens of things to come, and so on. These grow into small miracles, misfortune befalling their detractors, blessings upon their believers, and eventually appearances of the deity themselves. Further into their development, they may exhibit large displays of their power, smiting the foes of their devout, directly communicating with their followers, and even physical manifestations of the deity.

## Importance

Incarnation literally creates deities from worship of the deities being created.

## Social and Cultural Impact

The influence of a progenitor deity is a powerful thing, and can act as a sort of anchor for a society’s culture that keeps it from deviating beyond certain bounds. In particularly extreme cases, some progenitors may even assert direct control over their faith base and command them to perform deeds in their name. The actions of some progenitor deities have had massive repercussions, some of which are listed here:

* Long ago, the members of the Dark Elf pantheon (Maelstrom, Muse, and Vague) commanded their followers to wage war against all other people. Their defeat forced them underground in an event modern Dark Elves call the Descent, and is largely the reason behind their presence in the Underdark.
* Shortly after the fall of Old Binturia, the followers of Sol Invictus founded the Meztec Empire and waged a millennia-long conquest against all of Orelisle.
* In Zondros, a cult of murder and misfortune led to the birth of a monstrous, unintelligent progenitor named Edenven, who stoked the flames of conflict for nearly 2000 years before finally being destroyed by a unified military effort.

## Origin and History

Incarnation is a natural consequence of the natural will that all souls possess, and as such it is as old as the soul itself. The earliest known progenitors appeared millennia before the fall of Old Binturia.

## Further Information

* Amora
* Dark Elves
* Equis
* La’Sep
* Goddess of Serenity
* Pantheon of Fools
* Reality
* Sol Invictus
* Sol Lux
* Soul
* Vi
* Zondros