> The following is an excerpt from the book "Gods and You - How to Become a God?" written by Johannes Krell, also known as The Drunken Priest. This is the third volume in the renowned series The Drunken Priest Tells.
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Gods can be difficult to define, and if you ask a priest, they will explain who the gods are. I want to ask the question behind the question: What are the gods in Kalish?
Gods have not always existed in the world, and not everything we might label as gods are truly gods. To help define what gods are, I’ve distilled it into four elements. Therefore, I would say that a god is:
1. A being that was once alive.
2. A being that grows stronger the more worshippers it has.
3. Unable to tread on the mortal plane.
4. Possesses its own sphere.
Let’s go over what each of these points means.
A BEING THAT WAS ONCE ALIVE
All gods have existed on Kalish at some point. They have helped shape the course of history and ensured the world is forever changed. They have represented values seen as fundamental to the world's definition.
For instance, Esselaia represents peace, which is one reason she was elevated to godhood.
A BEING THAT GROWS STRONGER THE MORE WORSHIPPERS IT HAS
Simply put, a god grows stronger and stronger the more people worship them. This is what sets them apart from other beings like spirits or demons.
A god without worshippers won’t die or lose all their power, but they will exist at the absolute minimum level of power they can sustain. Furthermore, a god with many worshippers will have more power than a god with few worshippers.
Therefore, gods strive to gather as many followers as possible.
UNABLE TO TREAD ON THE MORTAL PLANE
Gods cannot directly walk on Kalish. This is yet another aspect distinguishing them from other beings. However, they still try to influence the world using various tools. The most common tool is priests.
Priests can use their god’s power to cast magic. This is either used to help convert other mortals or aid those who already believe in the god.
The most extreme method is an incarnation of the god, also known as an avatar, representing a fragment of the god’s will. This incarnation requires mortal assistance to manifest, often by empowering or possessing an already existing body.
An avatar, however, cannot exist on the mortal plane for long and will often perish or find another way back to their god.
POSSESSES ITS OWN SPHERE
This point is a bit more open to interpretation. It is known that most gods have their own realm of reality, or sphere, that they control. This sphere can be influenced by the god, whether they wish it or not. However, some choose to take over an already existing sphere that lacks a god.
In a god’s sphere, one might often find deceased believers who died in the god's name or other followers. It is important to understand that a god’s sphere is not necessarily obvious, as in the case of Orlek, who chose to take over the sphere of spirits.
Furthermore, one of my colleagues, Professor Emeritus Fluffybush and his colleague Professor Cremeheart, has formulated an intriguing theory about sphere structure that has implications for the nature of teleportation. I’ve included this as an annex to this book.
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS
There are many beings that one might mistake for gods but are not truly gods.
For example, one might think spirits could be considered gods since they were once alive, have a sort of priesthood (if one considers shamans as priests), and have their own sphere.
However, spirits can tread the mortal plane without necessarily disappearing after a set amount of time. This is one reason why the Inquisition is such an important part of the Kelllwan Church, as they help spirits leave the mortal plane.
Mother Nature is often confused with Esselaia, but it’s crucial to understand that they represent two different things. Esselaia is the goddess of peace and harmony, which many life druids find wise, and therefore follow her.
Esselaia was also a life druid herself, which naturally has significant influence.
Mother Nature, on the other hand, is the physical incarnation of nature itself—she is the mortal plane but does not govern it.
The Ilshers are also technically not gods. This may be hard to believe since the Ilshers have priests like other gods, but it’s essential to understand they were created by a personification of darkness itself and a god.
They are therefore more than gods, almost impossible to kill, whereas gods can die. This also means they can walk the mortal sphere without suffering harm.
This is why many gods see the Ilshers as unnatural and a threat, as even a single one can rival an established god.
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> Much of the book then starts recommending spiritual cleansing and how one might achieve godhood. One of the more notable recommendations is to float constantly to ensure "You never step foot on this plane".
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> Johannes Krell has been ridiculed by his peers for much of this book, but some of the assertions that are made have been cited by most known theological papers, as it is one of the first written works that specified these aspects.
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> This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
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> The Annex for the book titled: A short investigation into teleportation and its consequence along with a deep dive into Sphere structure and the Celestial engines - What we understand of Gods, Magic and Mathematics (Shortened to the name: Sphere Structure), has been included as well.
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ANNEX 1: SPHERE STRUCTURE
Over the past decades, we have gathered as much knowledge as possible from Ewen's time. We now believe we are ready to present a solid model of how spheres interact with each other.
It has long been known that our world is infinite. This was proven by Kirk Bench. Professor Bench demonstrated that, given a straight line passing through two other straight lines where the total angle between all three lines is not 180 degrees, the two adjacent lines will intersect on the side of the first line where their angle is smallest. This led to the first theory that the world is flat, which has been well-understood for many years.
From this assumption, we deduce that our sphere is a plane—and an infinite plane.
Based on writings found by Ewen’s ancient Grandmasters, we have been able to assume that there is also an infinite number of spheres. This implies we have four dimensions, not including time, in which we can exist. In other words, a point in our world can be projected via a function to a point in any other sphere.
This function, however, requires extreme amounts of mana to execute, especially if we do not wish to project toward a sphere's natural (0,0,0) point, also known as the sphere’s source.
If there are infinitely many spheres, what makes ours special? Why is it our sphere where all the battles occur?
This is an excellent question, and one we will attempt to answer. However, to provide a proper insight, we must assume that energy flows between spheres.
This is not a difficult assumption, as many of our magic users draw energy from various spheres. Both priests, who derive their power from their gods, and wizards and shamans, who draw their energy from other spheres.
It is therefore evident that energy flows between spheres. We also see energy flowing out of our sphere, albeit always toward the Whirlpool of Souls. Through this whirlpool of souls we also see it convert energy to worship, which is then flowing towards the gods' spheres.
If we construct this as a maximum flow diagram, where we assume an inexhaustible source of energy, each sphere as a node, and the Whirlpool of souls as our sink, and use the Ford-Fulkerson method, we can thus demonstrate that the energy passing through our sphere is always constant.
This means that when a god is no longer worshipped through our sphere, each prayer from another god's follower contains more worship. At the same time, we know that if all beings and life were to die, the amount of energy passing through this node would go directly to the Soul Maelstrom. This is likely why many entities seek to destroy us.
We should, however, be able to use this energy flow to transport ourselves between spheres.
Given an element that produces energy toward another sphere (prayer/death/object), magic could follow this and transport an entity with it.
It’s important to emphasize that rites, which are the most commonly used somatic components in any spell, are the exact opposite of this, where energy is instead drawn from the sphere of magic, and teleportation via rites would be like climbing up a waterfall.
Thus, it is assumed that teleportation via rites is impossible. This leaves this form of transport to divine means.
Since our flow diagram demonstrates that the natural flow goes toward the sink through our realm, the energy required for this transport would exceed the natural flow from the sphere. Thus, we can conclude that a teleportation would impact a god to the extent that they would lose enough energy to be permanently set back compared to other followers. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that teleportation is theoretically possible but practically impossible.
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> This Annex was used to prove that teleportation is theoretically possible, but practically impossible, and anyone looking into teleportation was seen as wasting their time by any scholar. Throughout the thesis, the only reference made is to the works by the mortal Ewen Uwle, before he ascended to godhood. To show full transparency, an excerpt of that work has also been included here.
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Symmetry - Why Some Laws Cannot Be Broken, Only Bent
By Ewen Uwle
(Excerpt from the Twelve Magical Commandments - Holy text of the Grandmasters)
A change in location or position that preserves the properties of a system is sometimes called spatial symmetry (or often translational symmetry). Another form of symmetry is replacement symmetry, which occurs when one part of a system can be replaced by another part without altering the system itself.
When a symmetrical situation at high energy collapses into a system with a lower or inefficient base state that is asymmetrical, we call this "Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking." This is observed when we cast a spell, where the otherwise symmetrical nature of the system is lost if the magic travels too far.
Here, we often see that this occurs at around five meters, beyond which the symmetry of the magic system collapses into an asymmetrical base state with lower energy, rendering the magic ineffective.
Theoretically, this limit can be surpassed if sufficient energy is supplied to the initial system. It can therefore be assumed that despite the five-meter limit that mortals are subject to, a divine being would be capable of producing systems that maintain symmetry at much higher energy signatures.
Furthermore, a vibration through the magic can help stabilize the symmetrical system but will also cause the magic to obey normal physical laws (such as gravity, air resistance, etc.). This is known from the spell Fireball. However, this also demonstrates that the rules of magic can be bent with the proper means.
Geometric symmetry is utilized by all magic users. This can be proven with simple, sustained magic, where even if the subject moves, the magic remains effective. Most ritual magic, however, does not exhibit geometric symmetry.
Internal symmetry is observed in differences between rites. Wizards are the only ones unable to utilize internal symmetry, as they cannot replace words in their incantations without their magic becoming asymmetrical.