Minor Gods

Role

Minor Gods, as the name suggests, are gods of lesser power than The Major Gods. During the The War of Black Ash they took up the role of protectors of their individual species, with the goals of protecting their natural environments, keeping their kind from going extinct, and keeping balance with other species. There may only be one minor god of a species at any given time, however there can be multiple minor gods who fulfill similar roles. A species without a minor god is at extreme risk, as they are not being guided and may cause conflicts with other species and have no one to protect them should a god that views them as a rival from simply wiping out the entire species. As such, when a minor god dies and there is no heir to replace them, Shia, the God of Death and Mora, The God of Life will choose someone to replace the fallen god. This is done by most often, choosing a person granted Immortality to fill the role. If none are available and the species has not yet gone extinct, a random person or the chosen heir of another god may be forcibly put in place, usually as a temporary measure.
All minor gods derive power from multiple sources, not only their own individual prowess. All minor gods are influenced by the state of their species, as if their kind is doing well, they will enjoy steady amounts of power that grows with the health of their species. They also derive power from their followers and cults, with offerings, prayers, and priests being significant boosts to their strength. This is heavily influenced by their reputations, as gods who have a reputation that gains them more followers, will increase their power regardless of if that reputation is good or bad. More often than not, the minor gods seek to have a good reputation despite this, as it is much easier to sway people to worshiping them. A key factor is also having their followers denote a god as their Patron God- that is to say, their primary god.

Interactions and Politics with the Major Gods

Minor Gods work under the influence of the Major Gods, as no matter how powerful a minor god becomes their power will almost always pale in comparison to them. The major gods regardless of their own position in the hierarchy are able to make even the haughtiest of the minors change their behavior and act differently, even without threatening war through not only their own influence, but the respect and fear other gods have for them. Just like mortals, many minor gods are followers of the majors as well, particularly Goddesses, who were born mortal and during their mortal lives often already had a patron god.

Interactions and Politics with other Minor Gods

One would think that among the minor gods, there would be a high degree of peace and clarity, like that between the majors, aside from Shia and Mora's constant war with one another. This couldn't be further from the truth, as war and strife seems to be the norm. Minor gods are well known for their conflicts with one another and frequently declaring war on those standing in the way of their goals, and these wars can often shape the future of the world. Some of these wars are more symbolic than anything else, such as that between Sekhmet, Goddess of Lions and Novi, The Goddess of Orcas, as they are both gods who represent athletes and compete for being the most well known one, but have never come to blows about the subject. This is not the norm however, as most wars between gods are vicious, cruel, and bloody. The war between Ferventi, God of Wolves and the god of badgers is perhaps the most well known, as it devastated an entire region that to this day remains devoid of life.
Due to constant battles and a high risk of bloodshed, there is extreme pressure on minor gods to form allegiances with one another whenever they can. Often this is done between symbiotic species, that cannot survive without one another, but also can be between predator and prey species, such as Ferventi's historical allegiance, as the god of wolves, to the line of rabbit gods, due to his relationship with the fallen god Cryce. Common reasons for minor gods to become one another's allies include romantic or sexual relationships with another god, shared territory and ideals, common goals, shared threats, and having war declared upon them by a common enemy.
It is also incredibly common for minor gods, regardless of the state of war or peace between them, to forge strong relationships with one another, and often pursue each other for sexual and romantic relationships. For the most part, although this is not an official rule, it is expected that minor gods seek other gods as partners and forge strong bloodlines of demigods. Such is the case with Ferventi, who has quite a large amount of children with other gods. Polyamory is the norm, as most minor gods will have a primary partner, their most beloved and respected, and a harem of other partners both romantic and sexual. The goal of this is to have as many possible heirs as possible, in the event the god is unexpectedly killed.
The Wars and Alliances of the Gods

The Big Five

The Big Five are the five strongest of the minor gods. They have incredibly powerful followings, often with cults with tens of thousands of people globally, and often have the largest areas of influence. It is unknown when or where the term originated, only that it began with mortals and the concept of it as well, as most minor gods do not recognize it as having specific criteria or ruling. Being a member of the big five offers a great amount of influence, due to it's importance to mortals. The gods within the big five are:

Ferventi, God of Wolves, at the top of the five, as he has the most numerous followers and arguably is powerful enough to rival even the major gods.

Yung Pagoni, God of Peacocks, as Yung's cult rivals that of Ferventi's and is only slightly smaller, and that Yung is the mate of and considered Ryou, the God of Wind's heir, so is granted power equal to that of her if needed.

Olrath, the god of Blue Whales, due to her age and having raised so many of the minor gods.

Soliairs Taeyang, due to completely revamping the way they are worshiped and expanding their cult and high level protections to ordinary people.

And Novi, The Goddess of Orcas, for similar reasons to Soliairs, but also her great popularity and many allegiances with other gods.

Interactions with mortals

Minor gods often are household names to mortals, and which ones are the most prevalent depending on the region. For the most part, the minor gods are heavily respected and known for their protection and great gifts given to mortals who worship them, and gain cult followings as a result. Regions that build temples and shrines to particular gods are known to receive much more protection from them, and so this has created a culture of competing for the attention of minor gods, with different cults in the same area building grander and grander temples and shrines in an effort to gain the most influence over each other.
It is also of note that although it is the norm that minor gods generally keep serious relationships and prospective partners to being other gods, it is not a hard rule and those that wish to often will pursue mortal partners as well. This was the case with Yung Pagoni, God of Peacocks, who had begun dating Soliairs Taeyang as a teenager, while Soliairs was still mortal. Yung is also known as a lover of mortals quite literally, having a great number of children with mortal women. Ferventi is the greatest example of a minor god who lays with mortals frequently, as he fathered such a sheer number of children to mortal women that he created the modern race of Werewolves.