Greater Gods
The Greater Gods stand at the top of the hierarchy of worshipped gods. Divine beings, like mortals, are not created equal, and there are fundamental differences in power and influence between them; above even the Greater Gods stands only The Dark One, who alone can bring things into being from nothing.1
Nature
The Greater Gods were created by the Dark One as a conscious decision. Their portfolios are wide and can overlap with one another, and they dwell in the heavens, the upper planes. When they walked the world through their avatars, they guided the people and taught them many things.1
Because they were born of the Dark One's will, their existence is eternal, and they can never die as long as the Dark Father lives. At most they can fall somewhat "silent" for a time, as in The Time of Silence.1
Among the other divine powers
Directly beneath the Greater Gods stand the Searne, servant gods with a divinity of their own. The Auxigon are lesser in that their powers cover a narrower concept or a single region of the physical world.2
Not every Greater God is equally understood: many do not see why Zyndalybob is counted among them, but those who truly know him understand why even the gods need him.3 Alarath, Rakash and Volkan are among those named as Greater Gods.4
In belief
In the Empire, the "ideal citizen" is expected to stand on the right side of the eternal conflict: a subject, but also an ally, of the Twin Gods and the other Greater Gods against the absolute darkness.1
Beliefs vary from place to place. Local gods are sometimes met with, and at other times the Greater Gods of the pantheon are interpreted in local ways.1
Notes
Sources
This article draws on:
Related articles
RegionThe EmpireThe human realm at the heart of the Lands of Exile, an absolute monarchy heavily shaped by faith, ruled from Marble City by the unbroken line of the Red Eagle and divided into five provinces under their Sovereigns.ConceptTwin GodsThe common name for Alarath and Amarath, two Greater Gods held in legend to have been made by the Dark One as a single being and then divided. Alike yet different in character, they took the young human race under their care in the Second Age.EventThe Time of SilenceThe years immediately after Victory Day when miracles and divine magic faded from the realm, shaking the High Church and spreading fear until the silence ended within five years.ConceptAuxigonThe proper religious term for divine beings whose portfolios and influence are limited to a narrower concept or a single region, such as nature spirits, gods of the seasons and local deities. Calling them Lesser Gods is thought disrespectful.DeityArcaneusThe god of time, one of the Draconic Gods, whose domains are time and knowledge and whose symbol is the hourglass. The Empire counts him a guardian of time set by Alarath; the Order of Nus'ar held him the only true god.ConceptGeroni religious traditionThe faith of the Geroni city-states as told in the Yeni Dünya campaign, from an old shared theocracy to a turn towards reason, with gods whose names were erased yet who are still honoured as the Mighty Father, the Merciful Mother and the Wise Child.DeityPraxaclasOne of the Draconic Gods, the god of all dragonkin, whose domains are magic and honor and whose symbol is a dragon's head.DeityAgmonThe god of trade, one of the lesser gods loyal to the Greater God Alarath, whom no wise one wants to anger.ConceptDraconic GodsOne of the pantheons worshipped in the realms beside the Exiled Pantheon, made up of Arcaneus, god of time; Praxaclas, god of all dragonkin; and Tyrboxl, god of adaptation and change.