Deity

A deity is a divine being of great power. Most deities, particularly those that are of intermediate rank, control some aspect of mortal affairs, referred to as the god's portfolio. True gods are called Estelar and differ greatly from the Dawn Titans.
All deities are either elevated to their positions by a mysterious figure or approved by that figure to be worshiped. No divine power finds a permanent faith and power base without this figure's approval, though there are cases of short-term quasi-divine beings who gather faith from worshipers without being deities. The most noted example of this are the various fiendish cults that have arisen. In at least two cases, the worship from these cults has provided enough power or filled a niche that was not otherwise filled, and the fiends in question had become deities in their own right.
A god's power in large part is determined by worship, the sum total of actions performed when venerating some divinities over others, including prayers and offerings in addition to general deeds and behavior. The more fervent the worship and more abundant the worshipers, the stronger a god becomes. Worshipers are necessary for the continued existence and powers of most deities, and a fade in worshiper population or passion results in a fade in power which, in extreme cases, can cause a deity to die from neglect.

Aspects

Some deities possess alternate forms, referred to as aspects. Each aspect of a deity is wholly separate from the others, separated sometimes across different pantheons and even different worlds. The concept of divine aspects is sometimes lost on or greatly misunderstood by a deity's numerous followers.

Gender

Deities can manifest as either gender, although most prefer to be one gender over another. This is especially true of gods who had once been a mortal being of a given gender.

Types of Deity

Deities can be divided into categories, either by rank, origin, or by living and dead.

Types by Rank

Deities are ranked in increasing divine power from so-called quasi-deity up to overdeity. The two factors to determine the strength of a deity are numbers and the devotion of its followers. It is possible for deities with a small follower base to have a higher standing when the said followers consist of extreme fanatics.

Quasi-Deity (Rank 0)

A quasi-deity, or a hero-god, is a creature with divine characteristics, such as immortality. Children of real deities are generally quasi-deities. It is possible for mortal true dragons to become quasi-deities by becoming and fully developing their capabilities as a dragon ascendant. Unlike normal quasi-deities, who can't grant spells to their worshipers, these dragons can do so after the worshiper in question formally swears loyalty to the dragon.

Demigod (Rank 1-5)

A demigod is, contrary to its name, not a half-god but a full deity, though the weakest of these and only capable of the most basic abilities of a god, which are still of superhuman nature. They generally represent one aspect of mortal life and have hundreds, or even thousands, of followers and are capable of granting spells.

Lesser Deity (Rank 6-10)

A lesser deity is more powerful than a demigod and has more abilities. They generally have thousands, if not tens of thousand, of followers.

Intermediate Deity (Rank 11-15)

An intermediate deity is more powerful than a lesser deity and has more abilities. They generally have over 100,000 followers.

Greater Deity (Rank 16-20)

A greater deity is more powerful than intermediate ones and has more abilities. They generally have millions of followers.

Overdeity (Rank 21+)

An overdeity is, as the name suggests, over everything, including mortals' abilities to understand them. They don't react in any way to anything a mortal can do, and they don't grant spells. They generally have no followers, if mortals know of their existence at all. These beings survive without worship at all.

Types by Origin

Native Deities

The native deities of Elaris are those whose worship arose during the creation of the world or shortly after, and who are only worshipped here. In general, the native deities are worshiped by the native races of Elaris.

Interloper Deities

Many creatures have made their way onto the face of Elaris over the millennia. Many of them brought their own divine patrons with them. Those gods who serve portfolios where no Elarian power exists seem to almost automatically achieve divine status. Those whose portfolios conflict with an existing deity are either absorbed into the existing deity, or may have contested for the power of their worshipers. In the latter case, it is a 'winner takes all' type of event, or the loser would have to accept a smaller portfolio and a subservient position within the pantheon.
Interloper deity is also a term used to describe a deity that exists in multiple pantheons at once while remaining the same individual. A deity with an aspect in a separate pantheon is not necessarily an interloper.

Types by Living Status

Deities can be categorized by their living status: alive or dead. This category held because a dead deity isn't necessarily unable to influence the world.

Dead Deities

Deities, while immortal, are capable of dying. Conflict with other deities, conflict with great mortal heroes, and neglect are the most common causes of a divine demise, though it is also possible for a god to lapse into apathy, drift into sleep on the astral plane, and eventually perish.
Though a deity can die, at least a part of them will always remain. There are instances of worshipers of these deities tapping into these remnants to wield divine magic. Dead deities also have the potential to be resurrected if they maintain some kind of physical or metaphysical presence and a significant base of worshipers.

Abilities

Deities have a number of native and learned skills just like any other sentient creature. Such abilities grow in potency as a deity grows in divine power, yet they are in no way omnipotent, though superhumanly powerful and skilled in a chosen area and those related to it. For example, just because a god may be a greater deity of magic doesnt mean he will be a master hunter or a genius merchant. The deity's abilities start and end with magical abilities and those related to magic.

Special Abilities

Deities of a higher rank gain increasing supernatural powers, both in terms of strength and potency.

Basic Abilities

A deity grows in its mastery of its skills with increased divine rank and from demigod status upwards learns to rapidly conduct actions that have something to do with its portfolio. The number and complexity of these actions increases with its rank. Once a lesser deity, a deity's skills stop fluctuating and once intermediate are always conducted at its maximum capabilities; not only their skills but at everything they did.
Deities have the power to create minor servants by granting autonomy to their own thoughts, memories, or moments of attention. Such vestiges of themselves are known as empyrean iotas.

Physical Attacks and Defenses

With increasing rank, it becomes more and more difficult to hit a deity with a physical attack, and even when hit, deities are resistant to attacks made by weapons that weren't enchant with, from mortal perspective, exceedingly strong magic. Their own attacks increase in accuracy and ignore the resistance against creatures, whose resistances are keyed to a creature's philosophical orientation against the deity.

Supernatural Defenses

With increasing rank, spells and psionic powers have a decreasing likelihood to work against them, and even if they do, they are less and less likely to work because a deity's physical resilience, reflexes, and strength of will increase with its rank. They also gain an increasing resistance against fire and gain outright immunities against some effects, though these immunities are generally ineffective against higher standing gods.
A quasi-deity is immune to effects that force alteration of its physical form, try to sap vitality, temporarily or permanently decrease its physical and mental capabilities, or addle their minds. From demigod and onwards, deities gained additional immunities against harm from acid, cold, and electricity. These immunities are effective agaisnt various physical disabling effects and sources such as poison, diseases, sleep, stunning and paralysis, disintegration, and magical effects that can kill them if not for the immunity. A lesser deity is also immune to any magic that is directed at binding or imprisoning it.

Movement

A deity generally moves fast. They can move through the earth, can swim and also climb but not necessarily fly. Once at demigod status, they can teleport without fear of errors as often as they want and once at lesser status they add plane shift to their abilities.

Supernatural Abilities

A deity is capable of granting divine spells and special abilities called domain abilities, once they are at demigod status. When they can grant spells, they can cast domain spells as often as they want at increased strength, use the abilities associated with these domains with increased frequency and strength and, given they have sufficient training as a cleric themselves, they can cast clerical spells with great flexibility. Demigods, and those who are stronger, can turn one of their favored animals into their familiars. Greater deities can cast all their spells at maximum strength at no cost and without fluctuation in their effectiveness. All deities can create supernatural items that are associated with their portfolio, just by being able to cast the magic associated with the item in question. Truly unique to deities are their auras and a set of abilities called salient divine abilities. Their auras can be used to cause fear and awe among mortals, bolster the resolve of their mortal allies and crush the resolve of their enemies.

Senses and Communication

A deity's ability to sense things extends to a length counted in miles from demigod status and upwards. Their most dangerous ability is probably the one to sense things without being in aplace. This ability to sense remote things functions by centering their sense around something dedicated to them, a shrine or other sites or a follower of the spying deity. This ability can be used for only a limited amount of time, and deities can use this ability to block the senses of lower ranking deities or to send omens and telepathic messages to their followers. Creating an avatar is, as useful as it is, risky because it stunts the deity's ability to sense remotely as long as the avatar exists with heavier limitations as more avatars are made. Their portfolios give true deities—demigods and upwards—the ability to sense whatever happens on Elaris concerning their portfolio, though with some limitations. A demigod is only able to sense it when a thousand or more are somehow associated with the event, a lesser deity when five hundred or more, intermediate and greater deities sense every event regardless of scale. A lesser and intermediate deity is able to continuously sense an event a number of weeks in the past, greater deities can actually sense future happenings.

Divine Realm

A deity has some kind of place it calls its own, where it is at its strongest and has some control over it. They can fill the place with sensory environmental impressions, sound, smells, and so on. A lesser deity even with sounds that hold a meaning, such as speech. Intermediate deities and upwards are capable of creating buildings and alterations to the landscape by will alone. Even more profound ability to change starts with lesser deity status. A lesser deity can manipulate its realm's ties to the astral plane and can bar or limit magical travel inside it. From intermediate status onwards, a deity can strengthen or weaken certain magic of its choosing while greater deities can even control gravity and time.

Pantheons

A pantheon is a grouping of deities, often with overlapping worshipers. All of them are based on races of cultures, usually with strong geographic ties. No two deities in the same pantheon can claim the same portfolio.

Human Pantheons

Of all the races, humans have the most pantheons, although many of those have vanished or were combined with other pantheons. Some, however, remain distinct, such as the Cetandari Pantheon, Kuneiri Pantheon, Celestial Bureaucracy of Lungao, Estaklaia Pantheon, Thornlayan Pantheon, and Botari Pantheon.

Demihuman and Monstrous Pantheons

Beyond the many human pantheons, various other races have their own pantheons of gods and goddesses. These include the Elvish Pantheon, Dwarven Pantheon, Gnomish Pantheon, Orcish Pantheon, and Halfling Pantheon, among others. The Draconic Pantheon is among the most ancient pantheons.

Other Monstrous Faiths

Monsters tend not to want to worship the deities of the more civilized races. Many monsters have their own gods, whose portfolios consist of dominion over the creatures that worship them, such as the Bullywug god, Groggureg. Some species however, have a whole pantheon of gods, such as the goblins and Goblinoid Pantheon.

Fiend Worship

Some fiends have gained enough mortal followers on Elaris to achieve a divine portfolio. Most of these fiends are demons from The Pit, such as Krivun, while devils have also managed to ascend but at a much lower rate.