Category:Religion: Difference between revisions

There is a hierarchy of beings on Avlis.

Mortals are the obvious ones. They live and die like anything else, and they can be killed by just about anything with enough power... and some things without so much power.

When a mortal attains a very large amount of power, as well as the attention of the gods, they may sometimes be transformed into an Immortal. Immortals never die of age or sickness. But they can be killed normally, however, this may prove to be an almost impossible task. Weaklings don't become immortal. Only the very powerful and influential can ever even hope to attain this.

Some Immortals choose to just live forever in comfort and relative inactivity. But, others sometimes try for more. Sometimes those who follow an Immortal, i.e. their henchmen or soldiers, may become very fanatical in their devotion. This fanaticism can spread sometimes under the right conditions, especially if there are a lot of charismatic followers who can convince normal laymen of their leader's greatness. Once the number of these people who idolize and devote their lives to this leader gets up into the thousands, the leader starts to notice subtle changes in his or her abilities. They become stronger and gain some very magical qualities. They can still be killed, but they begin to find that it takes an Immortal to kill them or even another Hero. Petty physical attacks hurt, but they don't seem to produce any lasting damage.

As the number of followers increases, the Hero begins to change further. By this time, there are tens of thousands of followers, and they are now outwardly worshipping the Hero.... it is at this point that the Hero becomes a Demigod. He's immediately approached by Mikon and led to a new home on another plane. But he soon finds that he is able to send small pieces of himself, once in a while, back to his old home. These pieces are called avatars and they are very powerful in and of themselves, but nowhere near as powerful as the Demigod. The new deity now finds that nothing can kill it, except another deity of higher stature... meaning a Lesser, Intermediate, or Greater god. The demigod also finds that it can function in two places simultaneously fairly easily.

As the number of followers of a Deity increases, or as the Deity gains power in other new ways available to it, its status also increases. Demigods can become Lesser gods who can become Intermediate gods who can become rarely... Greater gods.

Greater gods in the sphere of Avlis all answer to The Supreme, although the role of this entity is almost non-existent.

See also:

The Age of the Gods

Time of the Dawning

Deities

Gorethar	O'Ma	Dru'El
Toran	Mikon	Forian
Valok	Aarilax	Maleki

Deific Chart

The Nine Major Gods

Other Greater Gods

Intermediate Gods

Lesser Gods

Spirit Gods

Heroes

Demigods

Demon Lords

Demonic Pseudo-Deities of the Underdark

Celestial Spirits

Dead Powers

Followers

Holy Symbols and Robes

Holy Warriors

Places of Worship

Recommended cleric domains by deity

Religious Orders