The Origin of Gods
The gods/goddesses were created by Mkodi second, behind mortals, although this is a fact that few gods and no mortals today now know. Originally, they had been intended to be the mortals' keepers, but something went wrong: after generations of of death and rebirth, all but the oldest of the gods remember or care about that initial profession. The gods are most akin to the Greek and Roman gods: there's many of them, they tend to bicker among themselves quite frequently, and they tend to like playing games with mortal lives, as if the mortals were pawns on a great big chessboard. Gods rarely if ever work together; most are too proud or suspicious of one another to do so.
Domains and Powers:
Each god has a certain domain: they are, in effect, living personifications of their domain. Please see God Powers thread for a list of powers that the gods have. Some domains are very broad, while others are specific, and any powers the god has will reflect this. All gods have approximately the same amount of power, although this power can be magnified if gods work together. This happens very rarely, though ... gods do not, in general, work together well. All gods were created when their domain was: as a consequence, there are very few new god souls.
There are three types of powers among gods. Ones that all gods have; temporary god powers; and one permanent god power. Please note that you are not required to have your god have temporary/permanent powers at all. If you do wish to RP them with temporary/permanent powers, however, they must be OKed beforehand. These powers cannot be changed once decided.
Powers shared by all gods:
- Flight
- Teleportation
- Shapeshifting and/or illusions over only themselves. This can be for an indefinite period of time.
- Influencing offspring so they don't look like their god parent, they look like their mother/mother's family or father/father's family. They cannot, however, do more than sway the current genetic makeup of the cub, suppressing the god's genes in the breeding.. If anyone wants to do this in breeding, they must make a note of it in the breeding form.
- Longer lifespan than mortals
Temporary god powers:
All gods can have up to 3 temporary god powers. These powers may last anywhere from a few seconds up to 3 days.
Permanent god power:
Each god can have one 'long-term' affect power, which can last permanently. While it doesn't necessarily have to affect another SoA's coloring/breeding/growth image, it certainly can! However, this power must fit the god's particular domain: IE, the goddess of birds could change someone into a bird, but it would make no sense for the god of water to do this. This power may be used once every two months. To use this power, the god owner must post in the God Used Powers thread, with the RP proof to back it up. It may be used on anyone, regardless of how you obtained your SoA (could be custom, could be freebie, could be a breeding. etc.).
Do not harass people about getting to use these powers. They will state in the God Powers thread how they may be contacted if you would like to put forth your SoA to get this power used on them.
Lifespan and Resurrection:
Lifespans for gods vary, but most live longer than mortals in the absence of unnatural death. This can even be tens of generations longer. When a god dies, it is reborn (with it's same domain) into another god, who may or may not look like or even be the same gender as a previous life. Some remember nothing of their previous lives...others, little. Some, by contrast, remember everything in sometimes agonizing detail. Mortals do not share this resurrection, when they die, they die. It is cause for some contention between gods and mortals, because gods - unless they choose to give up their powers entirely and become mortal - can not go to 'heaven,' or what is assumed to be heaven, since no one returns to tell about it once they're there. Should gods choose to give up their mortality and powers, either another god soul is 'born' to take their place, or a mortal soul must become immortal in their place. They can not return to godhood if they do so, it's irreversible, and if they die, they die forever like a mortal.
Belief
Belief is the food of the gods. They do not, in fact, need to eat, although most do out of habit. In most cases, it's enough that the domain itself exists and that people belief in the domain to sustain a god. If mortals lose belief, the god's soul will be trapped in a void forever with other lost souls, both mortals and previous gods. This happens only very rarely - for instance, when a particular species of animal goes extinct from the earth.
Belief can even make a god, even if something does not truly exist, provided there is enough general belief in it.
Offspring
God x god breedings will always produce more gods. God x mortal breedings, however, will produce mortal seers. Seers are not often trusted in the god world, as they have the ability to look into the past, present, and most importantly, future ... something which the god parent cannot do.
Mkodi
Mkodi is often considered the Great Goddess, although the term is misleading. All gods and mortals alike owe their existance to Her. Unlike the 'gods,' who die and are reborn, She just is, which suggests that She is, perhaps, something quite different. Very few gods or goddesses know anything about Her: one who does is Death, who resentfully guards Her heavenly gates.
