Deities

When the universe began, the Eternals were there. When they disappeared, the Deities took over. What used to be the most powerful entities in Avestra, worthy of worship and praise. Some open, others engimatic. Above all else, powerful and not meant to be trifled with. One of the three immortal races in Avestra, they stand at the pinnacle of divine power with the Eternals and the X'ith'ila being the only other beings who have shown power equal in measure to theirs. With these two existing with them and one being an obvious foe, the role of Deities in the universe is ever changing and the question remains: What will they become in the face of the Eternals and the X'ith?

Civilization and Culture

History

No one knows where the gods originated from. In the gap between mortals gaining sapience, the birth of the Outsiders, and the disappearance of the Eternals, the gods came to be. What role they served in the universe is unknown as the different realms took shaep on their own. Stories tell of their role in giving rise to the ancient empires of the dragons and giants and even liberating later species from their reign. However, the different outsiders described some gods as aloof and engimatic, staying away from them. While others described them as taking notice of their efforts and the like. When The Calling went out across the realms, the gods took no part in The Blood War on either side. They took no part in any cosmic conflict until the X'ith'ila invaded the rest of the cosmos.

To the mortals of Avestra, it is heavily debated how helpful the gods were. Clerics, Champions, and Paladins alike fought to defend against the X'ith and their aberration allies and celestials and fiends like tried to fight back. But quite a number of scholars and former religious figures alike saw that as not enough and that the Gods had abandoned them. The return of the Eternals only caused even more turmoil in the debate as their power turned the tide of the war. While their power diminished after the war, the Eternals were no less strong. Some gods took to these new arrivals well, even as the mortals recognized their role in creating the known universe. Others greeted these arrivals with apprehension, especially with some Eternals and gods being too similar

In the end, the Gods had no choice but to accept that the Eternals were here to stay and with as indiviudalistic as the gods are, they have taken to their presence in different ways. And as mortals claim Eternals are true examples of divinity and others wish to wipe out the worship of gods, the deities of Avestra continue to pursue their own agendas, unknown to many except their most loyal and powerful.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

The mortal races are tied to deities as much as the deities are to them. Their worship has srpead the knowledge of them all over the world and certain gods have played key roles in the history of mortals whether knowingly or unknowingly. With the return and influx of the Eternals, this relationship has started to be questioned. Some mortals question whether the gods are as powerful as they say they are and others deny the gods as gods, believing they are not worthy of worship. With religious schisms rising over these issues, the role of deities in the lives of mortals may one day change.

The Eternals returned from their absence to a world filled with beings who took what some believed to be their roles. Most took this in stride, taking their new-found freedom to do as they pleased. Others viewed this as an affront and wish to relcaim the roles they believed were thieirs. Nonetheless, Deities and Eternals have not come to blows and there is a tenuous peace. What will come of this relationship between the two immortals has yet to be seen.

Lifespan

Immortal