Monsterpedia Supplemental

  Gods and Spirits

  The subject of gods and spirits is a difficult one, not just because of the dangerous religious implications. Our intent in this monsterpedia is to cover what we do know, and common thoughts around those beings that aren't human, but also aren't monsters. Our personal beliefs and theories are left to the notes.

  While there's a lot of argument around how often gods interacted with humanity in the past, it's objectively true that the number of interactions with gods increased dramatically with the Fall. This caused a massive impact on real world religion. Polytheistic religions had a massive boost, while monotheistic religions fractured and altered to explain what was going on around them.

  The largest two remaining monotheistic organizations are the humanity purist groups, and the Mage Towers. Humanity purists are the descendants of more aggressive churches, while the Mage Towers collected the more intellectual teachings and traditions.

  So what can gods do? Well they mostly can yell at their followers and those that enter their sacred chambers. The number of people who can hear gods in general are relatively limited. More often a worshiper has to deliberately ask for advice and guidance. And depending on the deity's interest in meddling, toss in a donation as well.

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  More interestingly gods can channel power through those trained to let deities access their magical abilities. This allows for the casting of spells without using spell chips, a spell core, or even following a lot of the rules of magic. However, the power that can be accessed this way is limited. Pushing a human past their magical limits can lead to lethal burnout, which is why most 'Saints' or channelers who wield deity power are potent magic users in their own right.

  Spirits are creatures that are not worshiped as gods, but have several similar powers. Most common spirits are heroes of legend, servants of gods, or famous monsters. They are especially prevalent in the stronger polytheistic religions like Hinduism and Shintoism.

  It's somewhat of a mystery what separates the two. They can be called on like dieties, and they can grant powers to humans as well. One of our authors personally knows a channeler that can summon the power of oni. Yet they aren't gods despite the similarities. Nor are they monsters.

  The possible explanation for that falls into some dangerous territory, so for the monsterpedia we'll skip those possibilities. However there are two major differences. Spirits can sometimes be more powerful than a deity when directly channeled, and they seem to have different personality quirks depending on their caller.