Quote

Ishtar was born from the goddess Inanna. Once they were the same being, but as Inanna's people grew more civilized, her pantheon split in two, with new aspects of the older gods becoming entities in their own right.

.

So I find that it would be very interesting if DF procedurally generatest the origins of gods and from what they derive their power from. And mind, there might multiple types of origins for gods in one world and sources of their power.

Quote

Ye'Cind became so renowned that he was called before the Seldarine, the fraternity of elven gods, to perform at the court of the great god Corellon Larethian. That night he could do no wrong; his performance was absolutely flawless. Corellon was so moved that he transformed the minstrel, making him as androgynous and perfect as the gods themselves, a newly minted demigod.

Quote

...the Kingpriest grew to believe he was a god, and his hubris called down the wrath of the true gods. Their power was seen in the Cataclysm, in which the gods threw down a fiery mountain upon the temple in Istar. The First Cataclysm destroyed the Empire of Istar, sending it to the bottom of the ocean. As the waters covered it, the Blood Sea of Istar was formed.

The true clerics left the land for the realm of the gods beyond. This night became known as the Night of Doom.

The Durro Jolithas, the Tower of the Temple of the Kingpriest dedicated to Kiri-Jolith, was destroyed by a whirlwind.

In Solamnia, no fires would burn.

In the elven kingdom of Silvanesti, trees wept blood.

In the Khalkist Mountains, dormant volcanoes became active again.

Quote from: Mnemnosyne

Another thing to remember is that many of the gods of the realms are ascended mortals. As Karsus proved, when you become a god, you do not automatically gain knowledge and wisdom suited to the task. You simply become a god. And in this setting there are very few gods that are detached. Most of them have their own intentions and plans, and that's the way they're supposed to be. They can be petty, they can be childish, and they can be wrong.

So why is this interesting? Well, in generating the world this would allow for gods come into being during history or to disappear and let these events affect the world accordingly.

Quote

Exarchs are often called demigods (but note that exarchs are not gods (as in Demigods) of demipower status (despite the name) or heroes. Many are ascended mortal servants of greater gods, brought up from the world to serve as agents of their divine masters. Many, but not all, attract worshipers of their own, and they have some ability to grant spells, but are more often simply conduits from the mortal world to the attention of the higher gods.



The divine hierarchy of a deity has exarchs at the top, just under the deity, and other divine servitors under them (known as proxies in older editions).



A Chosen is not the same as an exarch, though it is possible for a Chosen to ascend to the rank of exarch.



An exarch can be any Chosen, Demigod, Saint, archangel, or being of power that pledges their service to a particular Deity. The exarch gains no additional powers from this relationship as they are normally of considerable power already to earn the position.

Quote

...They contacted the god Enlil through his Chosen, Kepeshkmolik Dumuzi, and Asmodeus agreed to release Azuth from his body and to resurrect the Untherite god Nanna-Sin as a non-god immortal and in exchange Enlil allowed Asmodeus to consume Nanna-Sin's divine spark to become a god unto himself. In a ritual performed in Djerad Thymar amid the First Tymanther-Unther War, on Hammer 10 of 1487 DR, Ilstan sacrificed his life to allow Azuth become an individual god once more.

As a Pratchett reader and Black and White player, I'm a huge supporter for the belief = power concept. It would be great to have the player slay gods by cutting down their followers, or achieve demigod-hood by destroying powerful creatures across the world (the sort of thing that happens in mythology).

Sometimes a deity becomes or can become something different. Sometimes, they can shift into different forms. Parvati is the Hindu goddess of fertility, love and devotion; as well as of divine strength and power. But she has several aspects. One of these is Kali, a ferocious destroyer of evil forces.In The Elder Scrolls, Trinimac used to be one of the most powerful Aldmeri deities, the champion of the High Elven pantheon, encompassing the ideals of strength, honor, and unity. But he was defeated by the Daedric Prince Boethiah. According to legend, he was eaten by Boethiah. The resulting dung was animated and so Trinimac was transformed into the Daedric Prince Malacath. The transformation of Trinimac seemed to affect his followers. They used to be Mer (like elves), but were suddenly transformed into what became known as Orcs.There are some cases where a deity splits into separate entities. On the Forgotten Realms wikia, in the Ishtar article, under Relationships:I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of a split in a deity's followers possibly leading to a split in the deity. If possible, I would think this should be unusual and only under certain conditions.Typically, wouldn't gods arise from other gods? Look to mythology. In most pantheons, they have children, just as mortals have children. Though, sometimes, there are differences.Venus was born from the sea after Jupiter castrated his father Uranus and the blood fell to the sea. And I seem to recall other cases where a god was born from the blood, tears or body parts of another.Frequently, gods would have mortal lovers. Zeus, in particular, was known for this. Also, as I recall, some gods have had children by non-humans. The Norse story of Slipneir, the eight-legged horse, comes to mind.When a god takes a mortal lover, the resulting children may be demigods or at least above-average mortals. These children tended to become heroes or otherwise important historical figures. Frequently, they died tragically. Sometimes, though, the gods (frequently the parent) would have them ascend to godhood. This might be done through an item, such as consuming magical ambrosia or similar. Or, it might be done through divine intervention.A good example would be Hercules. The son of Zeus and a mortal woman, he had god-like strength. When he died due to the poison of the Hydra's blood, his body was burned. But, through Zeus' apotheosis, Hercules rose to Olympus.Obviously, to interact with mortals on a direct level (such as making love) usually requires either physical manifestation or allowing the mortal into the presence of the divine (a way to Olympus, Asgard or whatever).Another possibility is for a deity to possess a mortal's body, often temporarily. The possessed is called an "avatar". This was done several times in D&D, particularly in Forgotten Realms. Such a possession is often with the host's permission or even invitation. Often, the possessed is a devout follower. Sometimes, the possessed is a priest or priestess.(On a related note, see Transformation of the Possessed for a trope on how the body may be transformed to resemble the possessor and Possession Burnout for how possession may have consequences.)I'm reminded of a chapter in the "GATE: Thus the JSDF Fought There" manga where the goddess Hardy posseses the body of Lelei. In this setting, most mortals possessed by a deity would die in the attempt. It takes someone with an exceptional mind to survive. In compensation for borrowing Lelei's body, Hardy has her hair cut. This hair has divine properties, making it akin to an artifact: It can be shaped into whatever magical device is desired, though the choice is permanent.Of course, there are many accounts of avatars in religious texts and mythology, too. Though, this is not usually possession. Often, the avatar is a direct manifestation of the deity born into flesh.Anyway, I am fond of the idea of enabling the player's hero to, through certain deeds, either acquire an item like ambrosia to achieve godhood or impress and win the favor of deities to the point that they eventually bestow godhood upon them. Of course, this should be an extremely rare occurrence which is quite difficult to achieve, making the success of this a noteworthy achievement for Adventure Mode.Also, I feel that it should be possible to win such an extreme degree of favor with deities through means other than (in addition to) acts of heroism. I am reminded of the story of Ye'Cind , the elven master bard in the Greyhawk D&D setting, and how he became a god:I suppose another possibility may be for a mortal to obtain a particularly powerful magical artifact and/or perform a certain ritual in a certain place. And I seem to recall it being implied in certain fantasy stories or sourcebooks that (an immortal or demigod?) obtaining enough devout followers might eventually lead to becoming a deity. Maybe it would require a combination of all three?Thing is, there are many stories of the gods becoming quite upset at a mere mortal attempting to reach their domain, aspire to godhood, or otherwise behave very arrogantly. 'How dare a mortal, a mere worm, think itself the equal of the gods who rule over them!' There are stories in modern fiction which resemble that of the fate of the Tower of Babylon - mortals punished for trying to reach the heavens.How about the story of the Kingpriest of Istar and the Cataclysm in the Dragonlance setting? The Thirteen Warnings made before the Cataclysm were interesting. Among these events:During the Night of Doom, were those clericstransported to the realm of the gods... or what? Perhaps their spirits made the journey, leaving their corpses behind?Also, it was interesting how, after the Catacylsm, the Kingdom of Ergoth was broken from the mainland and split in two. Do you think DF will ever see entire landmasses reshaped by deities or the consequences of players? Will we see extinct volcanoes and certain events that could make them active once more?As this post on a gaming forum points out:Many of the gods of Forgotten Realms used to be mortals. And they often act like it.What do you mean by "disappear"? Do you mean that they disappeared from history, implying that they must have either become powerless, left this world to go elsewhere, or retired from world affairs for a while? Or, do you mean that they died?I did come across a Forgotten Realms reference about some deities losing their power to the point of losing their status as true deities. The Seldarine is the elven patheon in FR. After the event known as Spellplague, most in this pantheon became Exarchs Also, there are references to "Quasi-deities" and "Overdeity", the latter being the ruler or overseer of other deities in a pantheon. I've also heard the term Overdeity used elsewhere, such as in the game Deity Quest.On the Forgotten Realms wikia, the story of Azuth is interesting. He used to be a mortal. Under "The Second Sundering" heading:The story of Azuth, as well as Mystra and many other Forgotten Realms deities (e.g., Lolth, Eilistraee, and Vhaeraun) seems to support the notion that deites are rarely destroyed forever. Some part of their essence remains. And, often, they get resurrected or reborn in some form, often with a slightly different personality or outlook.The above article tells of Asmodeus, the archdevil, consuming the divine spark of Nanna-Sin. It sounds like this Nanna-Sin had been slain some time in the past, only his divine spark remaining. Asmodeus, himself, used to be a servant of heaven, before being cast out and becoming a devil.This, in turn, reminds me of The Elder Scrolls franchise - in particular, the story of how the god Lorkhan was slain, his heart ripped out. But the other gods could not destroy it. Nirn (the TES world) was what remained of his body. Lorkhan disappeared, but his body and heart remained. The Heart of Lorkhan contained part of his essence.The Dwemer found it and Kagrenac used it's divine powers before they were defeated and the entire race suddenly disappeared from the world. Then the Nevarine's generals used it and became the Tribunal of so-called "living gods." (They were effectively immortal and had some god-like abilities and traits.) But the events of Morrowind sees the Neveraine reborn, eventually destroying the heart and the divine powers it granted, making the Tribual mortal again.I despise the idea of mere mortals slaying gods. The notion seems quite silly to me. Same with the idea of a god dying from lack of followers. After all, how would gods even exist before they created the world, before they created or obtained followers of their own? What even separates a god from mere mortals? By definition, mortals are mortal... susceptible to death. But gods? They'remortal and, by most accounts,I could see players erasing a god's power such as eliminating their followers (or, perhaps, destroying their temples or certain artifacts, etc). I could see a god become so ineffectual that they become obscured in (disappear from) history. I can also imagine other gods banishing one of them to a different realm or injuring or imprisoning one, particularly if said god became weak from lack of followers, etc. But destroyed outright?