11: Overview

Felinia was serious.

“There will be two main types of courses. The first will be presented by me and focus on my type of Divinity. The other will be secondary and cover things like politics, using and developing your powers, scheming, disguising yourself and more. That one is not essential learning, but highly recommended.

“After I give you a brief overview of the divinity you will be offered, the course will be divided into segments. The Overview will help you understand how they tie in together.

“First segment is Deities as individuals. This covers things like what they are, requirements, what they are comprised of, rules, Divine powers and Domains

“Next is Deities as groups. This covers Pantheons, conflict, underlings and other related issues.

“Next is Deities and mortals. This will cover dealing with mortals, followers and others. Issues like Clerics, heresies, dogma, consecrations, Prayers and more.

“Then comes Deities and the Dead. This relates to what happens to the souls of the dead followers of yours, or if a Deity dies, what happens to the souls of their dead followers.

“Finally we will come to Death and Resurrection of Deities. How to kill a Deity and how to come back from it, or even bring others back. Yes, not even killing us will be sure to keep us down!”

She looked at them and the last part had gotten to them.

Garion was surprised at the sections and Jane whispered to him “I think this might be her first time teaching. The structure is very odd. It doesn’t flow well towards the end, I think.

“Now for a quick overview of this type of Deity. They are called the Estelen, and are very similar to the Estelar of a fantasy game called Dungeon and Dragons. In fact, that system is the main backbone of this system. I have also incorporated aspects of different systems as well. However, if you want to get ahead, find a copy of the information about the Estelar and read up on them and their tricks.

“Each solar system or world system will be in a massive crystal sphere in an endless sea of ether. Each sphere will be overseen by an Overgod who will have the responsibility of insuring that the rules are followed, duties fulfilled and the general smooth running of that world in whatever system they have. They have final say over who is accepted as a Deity of that world.

“The Estelen will have the duty of furthering different aspects of life. They will actually counterbalance each other. If there is no God of Destruction then how can the God of Renewal work? How can there be a God of Creation if there is nothing left to create from. How can there be a God of Justice, if there is no God of Evil? How can those who have been mutilated and their bodies destroyed rest in peace if there is no god of Death and the Dead?

“Deities draw power from belief in them. This means that there can only be a limited number of Deities at a time due to a limited number of followers. Each main population group and race will have their own Deities at the start. Of course, this means people will worship the ones they consider most important to them. As the populations grow, so may the Pantheon.

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“They also draw power from their Domain growing stronger. In winter the Deities of cold and ice grow stronger. In times of pandemics the Deities of sickness flourish. When a water supply is tainted by a mine’s run-off, a Deity of Poison would grow stronger there, even if they have no extra followers.

“Deities may fight, merge with each other or create new ones. Mortals may become Deities.”

Taking a breath to let them mentally recover a bit, she continued

“Deities repay worship in different ways. One is by furthering their Domains and duties, and another is via miracles and granting prayers.

“There are limited by some rules. These are important

* A Deity must act in furtherance of their Domains, or they lose the Domain. It does not matter if it is because something is stopping them. Having agents do it on the Deity’s behalf is allowed.

* Deities are not allowed to act as Deities in areas they have no followers. For example, a Deity of mountain range in a desert would not likely be able to act as a Deity in village in a glacier if they never heard of them. This is to prevent people stirring up problems they have no business in.

* A Deity is not allowed to act as such, or mess with the politics of a world where they are not recognized by the local Overgod as a Deity. Again this is to prevent people causing problems.

* They are to try to not mess around in areas where they have no just claim. An example is a Deity of Horses would not have much cause to deal with pig farms. This is also to avoid causing problems.

* In each Pantheon no two Deities are allowed to have too similar portfolios of Domains. There are two exceptions. The first is if they are focused in massively different ways, like Good Luck and Bad Luck Both are Luck Domains, just focused differently. The second is if one is an underling of another. These underlings will be limited to being Demi-Gods. For example, a God of Fire might have a Demi-god of Fire Elementalists. A Deity of Murder might have a Demi-god of Assassins and another of Poisoners. Both are murderers, but subgroups of it. This is to prevent conflict as Deities of the same Domains seek to mess with the one thing too much.

* Demi-gods are limited to a single Domain. This is in order for them to be able to focus on it and not give any Deity they owe loyalty to indirect access to other Domains they should not. However, there may be sub-Domains they can focus on. A Demi-god of Elemental Fire might have Fire Elementalists and Fire Elementals.

“The rules boil down to a few simple ones

* Do your job.

* Don’t cause problems.

* Don’t get involved in what isn’t your business.

* If you have to deal with someone too like you, settle it.”

She stopped there and told the people “Of course, this applies to Estelen, not any other beings like Demon Lords, Arch Fey, Primordials or Celestials. There are different and no-where near as limited, but normally are less powerful.

“Any questions so far?”

Someone called out “If Demi-Gods are limited to a single Domain, but these other beings are not, does that mean that it is possible for one of them to get many Domains without being a Demi-God, and become a full Deity with all their Domains.”

Felinia smiled. “Yes! You have just identified a nice loophole that people can use. And as a bonus I will tell you this, it is possible for a Deity who is afraid of rule 5 to make themselves into some other being with all their Domains intact. They can then wait for the one they were worried about being defeated by to change or be destroyed before returning to being a Deity. However, the Overgod would have to OK it. I will look badly on them if they are frivolous in doing that. There are other issues with trying that, but they minor compared to that.”

Most of the people was stunned and Garion whispered to Jane “I think things are going to get odd?”

Jane softly replied “Why?”

“I think less are going to try for Godhood straight off, but try to be other kinds of being until there is an opening for them.”