r/worldbuilding's Official Prompts #1!

[u/Pyrsin7]

I used to do these a while ago. and unfortunately life got me pretty busy and I wasn't able to keep it up. But they were a lot of fun, and I've really been wanting to come back to them!

With these we hope to get you to consider elements and avenues of thought that you've never pursued before. We also hope to highlight some users, as we'll be selecting two responses-- One of our choice, and the comment that receives the most upvotes, to showcase next time!

This post will be put into "contest mode", meaning comment order will be randomized for all visitors, and scores will only be visible to mods.

If you've got any other questions or comments, feel free to ask in the comments!

But with that, on to the prompt! This one is a suggestion left over from last time, submitted by u/Homicidal_Harry:

• What is the nature of Gods in your setting?

• Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods?

• Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

• How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

• Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

• Do your gods even exist in your setting? Even if they don't, how would the people of your setting answer these questions?

If you have any suggestions for prompts of your own, feel free to submit them here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf9ulojVGbsHswXEiQbt9zwMLdWY4tg6FpK0r4qMXePFpfTdA/viewform?usp=sf_link

[u/Equivalent_Mess2870]

Godhood is a title given to People whose actions durably reshaped the world around them.

Said title is almost always given post-mortem, but rare occurrences appeared throughout History with recognition of Godhood staying localised until the protagonist's death.

The Domain of the Greats plays the role of a Pantheon as well as a Library of Records proving a God's existence.

The Triangle of Beliefs refuses to acknowledge the existence of the Domain because of its negative impact on the Guiding Lords Faith's global popularity.

These 'Gods' are still regular humans and hold no actual powers. They are folk heroes incarnate, whose actions were so great that they are questioned by the common people even in their lifetime.

[u/Quick-Window8125]

Q: What is the nature of Gods in your setting?

A: "Gods" are just ascended beings, referred to as Caeui. Or however I spelled it (can never remember if it's Ceaui or Caeui).

Q: Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods?

A: To me, the first option is boring and overdone. The Caeui are just ascended beings in a "heaven", so essentially the second option.

Q: Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

A: You could call them immortal, I suppose. They are similar to the Greek gods in the way that there are many of them; minor and major ones, but that's where the similarities end. If you do something extraordinary or something simply never done before that's fairly significant, when you die, you'll ascend.

Q: How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

A: Very oftenly. Mostly the Caeui related to war; they can lead entire armies to victory or sabotage their enemies to ruin.

Q: Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

A: Very easily. A Caeui can die from their act that made them a Caeui in the first place becoming insignificant. There aren't really any consequences to this, though. The Caeui close to the dead one would probably mourn, but that'd most likely be as far as it goes.

[u/paoebom]

• What is the nature of Gods in your setting?

All gods are fundamentally "something that has ascended" be it a princess in a tower helplessly watching her empire crumble, a magic circle that unfortunately became sentient or a museum that seems to travel in time — All it takes is for a criteria to be met for them to be engraved as divine in the stars. There's much speculation about what it is but no true answer as the event of ascension is exceedingly rare, and honestly I don't know if it's of my interest to have a solid one.

• Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods?

A basic principle I want to abide in the setting is that there's no superior being who created it all, the world came to existence and all deities that ascended are a consequence of some historical event.

• Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

Depends on the god, all of them have a perspective and power too different for an individual to understand but when it comes to the mind it depends on what ascended. By ascending, no matter what did, it will gain thoughts but the thoughts that a living place (The Museum) gets are very distinct if not completely alien to normal humans compared to the thoughts of an ascended human(The Princess).

Things such as going mad by gazing at a god also depends, the domains of some just come with that if you do not take care.

• How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

Frequently but some less than others, all of them ascended for some reason unique reason and fundamentally their existence is just about trying to achieve that. For example, The Museum randomly appears seeking to trade with specific others gaining a treasure in exchange of something it already has, The Princess seeks to see and experience all the world has to offer and so she rose a gigantic tower that attracts all kinds of people and cultures with countless promises.

[u/paoebom → u/paoebom]

• Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

Not only they can die as it is a particularly big part of the setting. To quote myself:

"It is said that a man dies twice, once when their heart last beats and again when they are last remembered, then what a distinguishes a man from a god is simple — They only ever die once."

When a god dies their corpse becomes another layer of reality and so their influence never disappears, one special aspect of this in particular is that Necromancy is the main and likely only form of magic existent in the setting being applied in a ton of ways which includes the limited manipulation of these divine corpses. So at very minimum expect new forms of magic to be born from their death.

One specific case I can tell is the death of the one associated by most to be the God of Thoughts, Dreams and Nightmares. Their corpse is a Language, if two individuals that share no tongues try to talk with each other it allows them to understand what the other intends to communicate as some kind of Universal Language.

This naturally resulted in a boom for the ability of civilizations to connect but problems and chaos followed as it was soon found that this "Universal Language" can only be used when people communicate directly, not through text.

• Do your gods even exist in your setting? Even if they don't, how would the people of your setting answer these questions?

They do and reality makes it painfully obvious what and who are true gods, therefore rather than believing in different deities it's most common the setting for different faiths to interpret the same gods in different ways. Some gods care and actively take part in the religion they want to support, others don't really and just let people believe what they want.

[u/Mazhiwe]

In my main setting, TELDRANIN, Gods are divine entities that are the culmination of a large number of mortal's belief. If the population believes there is a Sky-Father, King of the Gods, then there is one, but their control and power only extends to the boundaries of their believers. They are also representative of only the most popular of viewpoints of the mortal beliefs. If most people think Zeus has Red hair, then he has red hair, if a large portion of people, who live in the North believe that he has Blond hair, then he will have Blonde hair in their region. This also extends to the gods' personalities and even their "backstories".

Gods are not 'Physical' beings, but spiritual beings, but they can assume physical forms if their believers believe that is their natural state, so even if it were possible to harm their physical forms, it would mean nothing to their actual self.

Gods are not 'creators' of worlds or, usually, mortal races, as they require mortals to already exist and believe them into existence first.

[u/MarkerMage]

I think I can offer some interesting answers for my videogame world, Warclema.

What is the nature of Gods in your setting?

So there are three definitions of "god" that I use with Warclema.

There are players, which are entities that are able to exert influence upon Warclema and its inhabitants from another universe. It is unknown to the people of Warclema if the universe of these player gods is a parallel one or if it is one that Warclema is nested within.

There are AI, which is when sections of the laws of physics or programming of the universe are arguably sapient. Warclema has only one confirmed AI god. It governs interdimensional travel to and from Warclema and maybe some other minor things. It's name is "Alice".

Then there are programmers, entities said to have created Warclema and other universes. They are something speculated, but not confirmed.

Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods?

Programmers fits the creator role. While the other two don't fit that role, they are not defined purely by power but by the unreachability of them. In the case of players, they can be incredibly weak, but are able to still have influence from a place where they are safe from physical retaliation from inhabitants of Warclema.

Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

Considering that two of the types of gods I described at the beginning are meant to be me and anyone that plays the videogames that I plan to make, "pantheon of immortals" seems far from what they are. They are pretty much humans that just happen to be in another universe that Warclema may or may not be nested within. Also, there is a prophetic hivemind called the "Spoilers" that is supposed to be psychoanalyzing the players to figure out the details of the world they're from, and they get it pretty accurate, so "vast, indescribable" and "too great for mortal minds to comprehend" are also wrong. I would go with "otherworldly entities in the image of man".

How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

Of the three types, players have the most interaction, often taking control of the main character of the story. The stakes vary depending on the plot, but are often able to entirely decide the success or failure of the protagonist.

Alice's interaction is more often a background detail. She is responsible for humanity arriving in Warclema through interdimensional travel and has some blame for two invasions from other dimensions and an isekai character summoned as part of an experiment due to allowing them to happen. There are implications of her collaborating with the Spoilers. For the most part though, it's nothing that the common person wouldn't just blame "weird interdimensional physics" on.

Programmers are defined by their creation of the world, not interactions with it after its creation. That said, they could transition to players.

Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

Alice would be as capable of dying as gravity. Players and programmers are basically us, so yeah, they can die. It wouldn't be part of any stories I would tell with Warclema, but it is something that will happen. New players will hopefully replace lost players. Perhaps the same might happen with programmers.

It seems I need to split this up into two comments because of the character limit.

[u/MarkerMage → u/MarkerMage]

Here's what I couldn't fit into the first comment.

Do your gods even exist in your setting? Even if they don't, how would the people of your setting answer these questions?

Alice exists within the setting, but the players and programmers, being us, are sort of a meta thing that does not strictly exist within Warclema, but are able to interact with it because the intended medium for Warclema is videogames.

Most people in Warclema will say that there are no gods, that they were part of the world their ancestors escaped from. The strange behaviors that players may cause a protagonist to do are blamed on ambient magic affecting the mind, and such things are usually considered about as dangerous as standing up too fast and getting dizzy, but if you want to avoid it, just stay within the anti-magic areas.

The Spoilers, who are basically doing Laplace's demon style calculations to predict the future however, could tell you all about Alice and how it's thanks to her that they're here and that they often communicate with her to get access to micro universes to use as calculators. They could also probably give a psychological profile of the current player that includes some of the videogames they play. They are not allowed to talk about such things as part of a peace treaty that puts limits on how they're allowed to use the information they find out from their calculations, but they do have this information. They believe that there is a chance that the players are incorrect about their universe being a videogame installed on a computer and that it may be a computer program that somehow taps into some interdimensional input/output. They believe there is still a chance that it may be possible for them to use interdimensional travel to meet the players if they pursue multiversal exploration. Programmer gods are something recognized only as a possibility by them.

[u/pengie9290]

Starrise

What is the nature of Gods in your setting?

They're incredibly ancient, immortal beings who possess incredible power. More specifically, they possess the ability to break the first law of thermodynamics by making energy out of- or turning energy into- nothing.

Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods?

Language and gods are both human-made concepts. Whether something is or isn't a god depends on what the term is taken to mean. My world's gods are older than the concepts of divinity or godhood, only learning of them when humans found them and realized they lined up with a lot (but not all) of the details commonly attributed to gods. (This isn't just me being pedantic about linguistics, it's how these gods themselves view the question.)

They certainly don't "predate time itself" or anything like that, though. They came into being at some point during this world's Precambrian Era, at around the time organic life began forming. And while they're immensely powerful, their power has very clear limits, to the point that in some areas they're technically inferior to the average human.

Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

They're certainly NOT too great for mortal minds to comprehend. Ever since human scientists captured, studied, and experimented on them around a bit over a thousand years ago, there have been mortal minds who not only comprehend them just fine, but even understand them better than they understand themselves.

Physically, a god's true form- or "core", as they've come to call it- is a crystalline-looking sphere roughly 10cm in in diameter. In addition to housing their consciousness, granting them equivalents to sight and hearing, and storing and generating their divine power, these cores also possess all the abilities one might expect from a sphere. For example, they can roll when placed on a slanted surface. With no actual control over where they're going. ...Needless to say, these cores aren't capable of much.

However, they can generate a fake body- or "shell", as they call it- around their core. This shell can be shaped, colored, and moved however they like, so long as it's in direct physical contact with the core. They usually shape their shell into the human forms they're usually seen as by humans, with their core typically located somewhere within the shell's chest. But while these shells may look human, that doesn't mean they are. And while this may be a good thing in some ways, like infinite regeneration or having no need for food or sleep, there are downsides. The gods' shells don't possess any senses at all, meaning the gods can't do things like smell, or taste, or feel any physical sensations at all. Not only that, the material these shells are made of is frail enough that an average toddler could tear them limb from limb, provided the god didn't use magic to stop them.

[u/pengie9290 → u/pengie9290]

How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

Frequently. Or at least one of the two does.

The Knights of Solaris claim to be led by a human chosen to lead them by the "Goddess of Light" Solaris. However, Solaris believes people should do what they can to help one another when possible. That's the whole point of her Knights, to help those in need whenever and wherever they can. And as her divine status is no excuse to not hold herself to the same standards, rather than simply choosing a human to do the work for her, she pretends to be human and personally leads the Knights herself. And since that wasn't enough for her, she not only helped found an internationally-operating law enforcement agency, she then joined it herself, working at night as an Interpol agent while her human persona is supposed to be asleep. She's actually quite good friends with a number of other Interpol members, high-ranking Knights, and a few royals she fought Eclipse alongside.

Speaking of whom, the other deity, the "Goddess of Darkness" Eclipse, would love to be interacting with the mortal world too. She used to, but then she lost a battle against Solaris and some human heroes a few decades ago. Ever since then, she's been serving out an immortal life sentence for having committed more atrocities that anyone can count. Even when she was free, though, she rarely ever took such a direct role in mortals' lives, usually being content to pick out just one or two unlucky victims to torment until they either died, or she couldn't think of anything else to do to them that'd make them suffer more than letting them go back to as normal of a life as what she's done to them can allow.

Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

The gods are literally invulnerable. There is no known way to kill a god, or even harm one at all. As such, they used to think they were invincible.

But they've since learned that such statements often end with an unspoken "yet".

There's no known way to kill a god. Yet.

Do your gods even exist in your setting? Even if they don't, how would the people of your setting answer these questions?

It's well-documented fact that the gods exist. However, that doesn't mean the common person's understanding of them is accurate. While their answers to these particular questions would probably be largely the same, minus some details, there's still plenty of things they don't know, and plenty of things they believe which are untrue.

[u/Tandy600]

What is the nature of Gods in your setting?

The oldest of "gods" are really more or less primordial forces that many cultures have ascribed diety-like qualities to. While not known in most systems of faith, all gods save for these primordial few were brought about through the collective power of faith various societies placed in their gods. That collective power, while not responsible for creating the primordials, still has the power to shape and alter them.

I.e. gods are created by mortals and not the other way around.

Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods?

The primordial gods created the universe as it is known and do precede time. However their "personhoods"- their self-awarness- came about much later after civilizations began to attribute those qualities to them. The rest of the gods of this setting vary greatly depending on the culture. There are weak and strong gods. Old gods and young gods. But, none of these predate time like the primordial forces do.

Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

The various cultures of this world all have at least some basic concept of the primordials, but their mythologies frequently vary. With so many contradictory faiths coalescing to form and alter the primordials, these gods are a constantly shifting pastiche. There is no single "true" form to these primordials, instead representing all and none of the myriad depictions all at once.

The remaining gods in the various culture's pantheons all vary, but are for the most part taken to a single recognizable form that rests in the collective conscious of that diety's patrons.

How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

The primordials very being is what makes up the universe itself. In that sense, the primordials are constantly interacting with the world. All other gods interact to whichever degree the people believe that they do. For the most part, because it requires a great amount of belief to form these gods in the first place, it is the most "realized" gods that also tend to have the most interactivity with the mortal realm. This of course fuels a greater sense of belief in that god and further solidifies the god as an extent being of the universe.

Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

Absolutely. All it takes is people to stop believing in them. Whatever domain that god might have been responsible for- let's say the god of winter- would eventually fall back into the natural order of things- being controlled by the primordial forces. The death of a god, however, is a slow process and whatever powers that god may have wielded do not simply return to the primordial forces in an instant. There could be great chaos and trouble in the time in between. Frequently, what happens is that the people, seeing something terrible happen, renew their offerings and prayers which in turn could revive the god. Alternatively the people may start praying to gods of other domains which may eventually give them the power to over take the domain entirely.

Do your gods even exist in your setting? Even if they don't, how would the people of your setting answer these questions?

The gods both do and do not exist depending on certain conditions noted above. In cultures where the faiths are new or small there may not be enough collective power to form a god. This would be no different than a society believing in a pantheon in the real world. Belief in that pantheon may eventually dwindle or their mythologies may eventually become swallowed up by a larger system of belief through religious syncretism.

[u/Norman1042]

In my Rogue Spirits world, gods are the souls of dead mortals who grew powerful through receiving sacrifices in their name. For most gods, this process happened a long time ago as a result of ancestor worship. Gods live in the Spirit World like all spirits, but they are powerful enough to carve out a divine domain within the Spirit Realm. Normally, spirits eventually fade, but divine domains prevent that. This provides a huge incentive for people to worship a god in hopes of getting entrance into their domain after death.

Most gods appear in a humanoid form with varying amounts of inhumane features. This is because gods want more followers, and a humanoid form is generally more approachable. Some gods do manage to make "incomprehensible horror" their "brand" so to speak, though.

They interact with mortals semi-often because doing so is necessary for them to maintain their following and the power-sustaining sacrifices that they give. Theoretically, any mortal with the right training could speak to a god, but the gods don't accept audiences from anyone except their chosen high priests. Gods can only perform miracles when a large number of people pray for something to happen, and that thing fits within their domain. The people have to all pray for the exact same thing to happen, and they all have to do it specifically in the same god's name.

For example: a large city is facing a famine. The priests of that city then organize a large-scale prayer where they tell the people praying exactly what to say and to dedicate the prayer to a specific harvest goddess. Although not strictly necessary, most gods require a choice of sacrifice for a large miracle, so several of the city's finest animals are sacrificed. After a period of constant prayer, if everything was done right and the goddess is willing, then the crops in the city outskirts' farms will start to suddenly thrive and bear fruit. Mortals generally ask for miracles sparingly as it big miracles can be difficult to achieve, and they do not want to wear out a god's goodwill. Successful miracles can save or doom whole cities.

God can die if they lose all their followers. Without sacrifices from their followers, a god becomes a normal spirit and will wander the Spirit Realm, eventually fading. This doesn't happen often, and usually only to small gods, because faith is persistent.

[u/RoyalPeacock19]

The God in my world is Tal O’ha. He is a truly immortal, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent being who defines the nature of good and evil. Discussing him in the world is not complete without his first creations, the Oh’anen. They are not gods, but are heavenly beings who have been given managerial control over the world (for the most part). I believe there is exactly 58 of them. They are powerful beings with excellent prediction powers and are technically immortal, but can be injured and split into many pieces, making them functionally dead (but not really).

The world was created by the O’hanen mostly, though under the direction of Tal O’ha, who started the whole project and guided its direction.

Both Tal O’ha and the O’hanen intervene in the world, though in different ways. They both give for warnings of the future, which are prophesy from Tal O’ha and oracles from the O’hanen. By their own forethought or Tal’ O’ha’s, the O’hanen also intervene in the world to try to direct it in the right direction.

The O’hanen and Tal O’ha do not tend to show their true forms to the world, however, as in the present day their true forms are a little… uncomfortable to deadly to mortals.

[u/Niuriheim_088]

What is the nature of Gods in your setting?

In my Labyrinth of Creation, Gods are entities composed of Dynamic type or greater energies.

Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods?

Dynamic Type Gods are bound by the Concepts of Time & Space, but higher types (Cosmic, Celestial, & Eaternal) completely transcend the Concepts of Time & Space.

Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

They are all immortal, but some operate solo while others are in pantheons, and they all reside in different parts across the entire Labyrinth of Creation (think like a multiverse, but bigger). Some are humanoid, fairy-like, eldritch, energy-like, and all other different kinds of species types. There are even civilizations of these gods as well.

How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

Rarely ever do any types higher than Dynamic ever bother to waste their time with mortals.

Since most of my stories are specifically about the lives and or events of gods, they tend to have high involvement, with the protag most commonly being a God of some type.

Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

This is a complicated situation, as Death, Destruction, & Erasure are not equivalent subjects in my Labyrinth.

• Erasure ranks the highest, and all beings can be erased.

• Destruction is the second highest, with there being entities that transcend the Concepts of Creation & Destruction. Thus they cannot die or be destroyed, but they can still be Erased.

• Death is the lowest, with there being entities that transcend the Concepts of Life & Death. Thus they cannot die, but they can still be Destroyed & Erased.

If a Dynamic God dies, nothing significant occurs. But if a Cosmic God dies, is destroyed, or erased, then so to will everything that participates in them die, be destroyed, or erased. Generally this can cause lower realities to collapse completely.

Do your gods even exist in your setting? Even if they don’t, how would the people of your setting answer these questions?

They do exist. And most mortals can’t answer these questions with 100% guaranteed accuracy. But Gods can answer them rather well depending on their type.

[u/W_T_D_]

What is the nature of Gods in your setting?

The gods were initially formed closer to the beginning of the universe, following the big bang. There were two at the start, and through their combined cosmic efforts, seven more were "birthed." Each god is a sentient, psychic planet within the same galaxy. There are of course other sentient planets in other galaxies, but they don't know of the group known as gods, nor are the gods aware of them.

The gods act as divine beings who instill their followers and faithful with blessings. In return, these followers become one with their deities in death. At least that's what's promised. The horrifying truth, however, is that these "gods" have nothing to do with the afterlife. They instead secretly devour the souls of their followers in order to sustain themselves. Mortals of course are completely oblivious to this fact. Should this massive secret ever come out, it would have catastrophic consequences.

Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods?

They did not create anything but each other, really. They are immensely powerful beings perceived as all-knowing, but they are truly just selfish manipulators.

Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

Many are aware that the gods are sentient cosmic entities, but most have their own interpretations and propagandized depictions of them. Humans tend to picture the gods as humans, dwarves as dwarves, orcs as orcs, etc. The exception -- the Betrayer God Malvara -- is generally depicted as monstrous.

How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

Rarely in any direct manner (mostly because they can't except through conduits and worshippers who wield a negligible amount of their power). The gods feign concern for mortal affairs, but in reality could not care less about what people do to each other. They simply want more followers and worshipers so that they can become more powerful.

Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

Absolutely, and two of them have died in the past. Each instance of death caused massive ripples throughout the galaxy as immense psychic energy was released. In the grand scheme of things, this wasn't terrible, and mortals would honestly be better off if all of the gods died.

Do your gods even exist in your setting? Even if they don't, how would the people of your setting answer these questions?

These gods exist in a lower-case-g kind of way. They are gods not in a biblical sense, but as a labeled way. Even they don't know what the afterlife is like or if there even is one. If there are true capital-G Gods, they are as afraid to find out the answer as anyone. Despite this, the mortals of the planet Tyor absolutely believe the gods to be the almighty divines.

[u/cat_five_brainstorm]

• What is the nature of Gods in your setting

Each god is oriented around a concept, and usually embody that concept (for example, the gods of Project Management and Delegation tend to take a leading role while the gods of alcohol and parties tend to be more fun loving; an exception is the god of relationships, who is a hermit and has no actual experience with relationships of any sort, making him even more incompetent than the typical god.

In terms of how the gods operate, image the development team of an MMORPG or live service game. They are all on the same team, and generally seem to be trying their best to thread the needle between not making the mortals suffer and ensuring that they won't get complacent and bored (the paradox that living in a utopia is actually boring). They don't intervene on behalf of or communicate with individuals, they are entirely focused on the big picture. Having no contact with mortals, constantly trying new things, and being a "team" of thousands of different perspectives, they aren't great at their jobs, with most of their changes having unintentended consequences. "Divine blessing" has become slang for anything that is bad or unpleasant that one nonetheless doesn't want to go away. For example, a job that you hate when you are living paycheck to paycheck is a divine blessing, because the only thing you would hate more than your job, is losing it. Mortals clearly have a pretty dim view of the gods (and the confidence to express it because they know that the gods don't bother worrying about individuals).

• Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods

They created the universe. They almost certainly used an off the shelf template or getting started guide, because the fundamentals of the universe: the physics, the magic system, and the actual planet are sound. It is only once they started being creative that errors cropped in. * Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

They are mostly humanoid and are understandable. Nobody really understands their goals though. They seem to want to be good to the mortals under their care, and have at least a rudimentary sense of morality that is embedded into their decision making, but why the gods bother, nobody knows.

• How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

Every few months they will "patch" the mortal world. Sometimes tweaking tiny things, sometimes creating entirely new species or lands. Shortly before applying the patch, the God of Release Notes sends a dream to all clerics to let them know what is changing and why.

Mortals can pray to the gods, but it is sort of like being a chatter for a popular Twitch streamer. As millions of messages flood in, the gods can really only get a rough sense of what people are trying to express by looking at a sampling of messages and looking for themes. As a result, religions are almost like political parties aimed at the gods. They are organized around ideologies of how adhearants of the religion want the gods to do, and they try to convince other mortals to ask the gods for the same things. For example, the most popular religion is dedicated to praying to the gods to ask them to stop changing things and just let mortals fix whatever problem crops up.

• Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow

No. They don't exist in the mortal plane, and don't require anything to sustain themselves. Even if a concept went obsolete, they would just be idle (though that would not stop them from offering "helpful suggestions" on stuff they know nothing about).

• Do your gods even exist in your setting? Even if they don't, how would the people of your setting answer these questions

Very real. And if anyone had any doubt, then it would be quickly cleared when all the clerics indicated that a new island would soon be forming and be a good source of coal, and 2 days later, it pops into existence and shortly thereafter, coal prices crash.

[u/gramaticalError → u/cat_five_brainstorm]

Incompetent gods are amazing, and I like how passive aggressive you are towards them throughout this entire comment. One question I have though: You mention that the gods probably used an off the shelf template, but does this mean that there are other, potentially more competent "gods" there weren't involved in the creation of this world? Could a new god theoretically join the team?

[u/cat_five_brainstorm → u/gramaticalError]

 Incompetent gods are amazing, and I like how passive aggressive you are towards them throughout this entire comment.

Thank you. They are fun to worldbuild with because they themselves are worldbuilders and I can justify any stupid/funny idea with "it sounded good at the time".

And if I ever need to see how the mortals would react to the gods, I just need to scroll social media for something like Helldivers 2 and imagine how people would react if the studio controlled people's lives.

You mention that the gods probably used an off the shelf template, but does this mean that there are other, potentially more competent "gods" there weren't involved in the creation of this world? 

Yes. Also implies that there are other worlds with more competent gods. If I decide to go down that direction, things are ready for an Isekai story. Though in typical divine blessing fashion, after the Demigoddess of Isekai Heros finds a loser from Earth and tells him that he'll return after defeating the demon king, the hero will realize that his life is a lot better than on Earth, and so will limit the Demon King much better than the native population could do on their own, but won't allow the demon king to be fully defeated.

Could a new god theoretically join the team? 

It is a possibility I hadn't considered before. Don't get your hopes up though, one competent god on an ineffective team won't change much. Maybe if they added a God of Anticipating Consequences, but the pantheon doesn't really think they have a systematic problem.

[u/_Ceaseless_Watcher_]

[Eldara] Nex, Elders

• What is the nature of Gods in your setting?

Nex (the gods of my setting) are inherently creative beings, their drive to create and maintain being the central aspect of their nature. They question "why did the gods create X?" can almost always be answered with "Because they find it interesting."

Other than this, they are pretty widely varied. Some are completely apathetic to individuals or even entire civilizations, while others take favorites, or may keep mortals as pets in a way. Some are diligently maintaining Eldara since its creation, while others have lost interest in it and have gone on to create a whole bunch of new, wacky things for the universe.

• Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods?

The Nex were born slightly before the Mortal Realm, which hosts the Universe as mortals can comprehend it, but they did not create the realm itself. That was created by a higher tier of god called the Elders, though technically the group of 9 elders that created the Mortal Realm also identify with the Nex name. It's all a bit messy, but gods and mortals are fundamentally different, with different kinds of souls even. Gods of all tiers are truly immortal, but Nex are incapable of time travel, while mortals can do it.

• Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

Elders are the primordial gods, the ones more ancient than time itself. There's 47(+9 younger) of them, and as long as they can agree on something, their power multiplies together. It's always been 47(+9), and there is not a high chance of any more being born, unless the cataclysm that created those extra 9 repeats itself.

Nex are infinitely generated out of the scar tissue of the aforementioned cataclysm, though the younger ones are progressively weaker than the older ones at birth, only being capable of becoming stronger by absorbing enough energy from the Mortal Realm.

• How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

Elders exist outside the dimensions available to the Mortal Realm, so they need to operate through the Nex, who are in turn tied to the timeline of the realm, and are allowed a very high level of autonomy within their overall tasks. The Nex are generally not prone to interacting with mortals directly, but some of them have grown closer to them over time, and may reveal themselves or even offer some deus ex machina type help to them as long as it is not upsetting the timeline itself to a degree that the Elders would disapprove of.

• Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

No, they are truly immortal. Elders are part of the fabric of existence itself, while Nex are tied to the Mortal Realm's timeline, their souls being safely etched into time itself. If a nex is diminished enough in power, they can be forced to spend a long time in a pocket-realm to heal, or be dispersed into so many tiny pieces that they have no chance of reassembling themselves over any mortal lifetime, but they will eventually be able to do so.

• Do your gods even exist in your setting? Even if they don't, how would the people of your setting answer these questions?

There are a couple of made-up gods in my setting, most prominently the 6 gods of the New Erigian Empire's state religion. They are a more traditional family of warrior gods, with the mother and father being the original creator gods, their spilled blood forming the seas while their chipped and shattered bits of armor being the bedrock that all dryland resides on.

[u/gramaticalError]

I have different sorts of gods in pretty much all of my settings, so I'll answer each question for each of the three in my flair. It seems like this post is too large to be posted, so I'll post it in multiple parts.

What is the nature of Gods in your setting?

Electronic Heaven: The world is a simulation, and the gods (which are called "heretics" by the Island of Control) are the administrators of it.

Mauyalla: Gods don't actually exist, and are just believed in in the same way they are in the real world. Within these beliefs, though, there's different answers depending on which religion you look at. In Supetism (The national religion of Mauyalla itself) there are no "gods," but rather "angels," that operate the world and keep everything running behind the scenes. The first three of these angels could be considered similar to gods, though, and these first three angels are fundamental aspects of the universe, representing birth, life, and death. Every angel (and human being!) after these are the reincarnations of the Angel of Birth. In Hiengxânism, (The primary religion of Wengsha, a nation with which Mauyalla shares a border) the goddesses Xianjyiu and Puengxen are personifications of the duality of the universe, created when the goddess Hiengxâ (Goddess of everything & nothing) tore herself in two to allow the universe to exist. (If you merge up and down, you have neither.) In Xenyiuism, (An offshoot of Hiengxânism that is more common) Xenkân and Yiufir are personifications of the duality of the universe in a similar way, but they have existed since the beginning of time and were not created. There is no Xenyiuist equivalent to Hiengxâ.

Chiropractra: The titular Chiropractra is the absolute goddess and creator of the world. She originally a human, though, and was bestowed this power by a group of scientists that existed in the world before her own.

Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods?

Electronic Heaven: The first three numbered administrators created the simulation. The rest where just random survivors of the world outside the simulation, (Which was destroyed in a large barrage of meteor strikes.) and they were given slightly limited administrator rights to the simulation to help guide the people.

Mauyalla: In Supetism, the world is something that just inherently exists. It did not need to be created. Human life, though, was created by the Birth Angel, the Earth by the Life Angel, and the afterlife by the Death Angel. In Hiengxânism, before the world existed, there was only Hiengxâ. Eventually, she grew bored of the nothingness and began to thread pieces of herself out to create light & darkness, ground & sky, life & death, &c. She soon realize that just threading individual pieces out would not be enough, so she tore herself apart, creating the goddesses Xianjyiu and Puengxen along with every other piece of the universe. In Xenyiuism, the universe was originally several strings of unrelated concepts that could not express themselves. These concepts eventually came together to form higher orders of beings (Much like the process of cells to living beings) until they formed the goddesses Xenkân and Yiufir.

Chiropractra: Chiropractra created 99% of the current universe. The rest was created by the previous god (currently know only as "The Defiled") and was kept intact because Chiropractra could not bare to destroy the world she had grown up in.

[u/gramaticalError → u/gramaticalError]

Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

Electronic Heaven: The gods all have human forms and are nearly immortal thanks to a now-lost technology from the world they came from. The world they come from might as well be indescribable to the people of the simulation, though. The few people that have accidentally fallen out of the simulation have basically just gone insane, despite the fact that the simulation is roughly modeled after the real world.

Mauyalla: The Supetist angels are typically depicted as hovering rings of light with solar-flare-like "eyes," indicating the length of their life. Occasionally, they will take human form, but these traditionally do not look any different from average humans, with the sole exception of the eyes being impossible to recognize or comprehend. (Modern depictions often place the light-ring around their eyes in the same way modern depictions of Christian angels have wings.) In Hiengxânism, only Hiengxâ herself is incomprehensible, as she is literally nothing and everything at the same time. Xianjyiu and Puengxen are aspects of the world itself, so they fall in line with that world. Typically, they are depicted as human, but they can appear in really any form. In Xenyiuism, Xenkân and Yiufir are both definitively human-shaped. Humans are said to have shaped themselves in the goddesses' image.

Chiropractra: Chiropractra was human before she ascended to godhood, and this too directly tied to her sense of self for her to change it. Her world's natives don't look exactly like her (especially the "angels," which are just blobs of goo) but she has transplanted several humans from her old world into her current one, framing it as an afterlife.

How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

Electronic Heaven: The second and third administrators rarely interact with the world; they'd prefer to let it run its course. The fourth to eleventh administrators interact with the world fairly often, some running businesses and others being performers or others building superstructures in the middle of the desert. It's basically just a power fantasy for them. The first administrator is obsessed with an extremist utilitarian morality, which makes her fairly unpopular with the rest. (especially the second and third) So while she'd like to interfere more, she holds back to save face. This eventually lead to her totally disappearing from the world.

Mauyalla: They're fictional, so they can't really interact with the world at all. Within the myths, though: The Supetist angels maintain the world, as mentioned earlier, but they very rarely show themselves and directly interact with mortals. Despite this, they have interactions with the world are extremely important to them, as they are naturally soul-less and must develop a soul over the course of their existence. Once this soul has been developed, they reincarnate as a human. (Two humans, actually, but only one of them is really "them." The other is the human whose soul they were created from.)

Chiropractra: When she first created the world, Chiropractra was extremely involved with everything. She micromanaged everything to be exactly how she thought it should be. At this point, though, she didn't realize that she was a god. She just thought she was a hero chosen by (the Christian) god. When the Defiled revealed this to her, she got in a large fight with him and then ran away to (what was now) her throne in the center of the sun. She's been there pretty much ever since, and the entire world is thus falling apart, because most of what she made did not fit the laws of physics at all and was only functioning due to her interference. (Eg. The ten habitable rings around the sun have been reduced to only three. The rest fell from the sky and landed on the surface.)

[u/gramaticalError → u/gramaticalError]

Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

Electronic Heaven: Killing them all is the primary goal of the Island of Control, and they can indeed die if their connection to the simulation is forcibly severed. (Due to the many failsafes that have been implemented, the only way to do this is to crush their heart at point blank range.) There probably wouldn't be any major issues if they were to all be killed, as the world is largely able to function alone, there would be no one left to bring the people back into the real world once it became habitable again.

Mauyalla: Supetist angels cannot die. Eventually, they'll incarnate as human beings, and in this state they can die, but all this will mean is that they'll enter the afterlife and eventually become the source of a new angel. When this angel incarnates, they'll both be reborn as humans. The deaths of the Hiengxânist goddesses, however, is a major part of the religion's eschatology. When one of the two dies, everything they represented will slowly wither away into nothing. With nothing to counter the surviving goddesses domains, they too will fade away, until everything has returned to the state of nothingness that it was born from. At this point, Hiengxâ will revive and probably just created the world again. On the other hand, either of the Xenyiuist goddesses' deaths would just result in their domains reforming and expressing themselves in a different manner, potentially introducing new concepts that remain single-cellular and abandoning concepts that were no longer "good enough."

Chiropractra: Chiropractra is absolute. She will not die unless she wills it, and as depressed as she is at the moment, she's not suicidal. She'll probably be around until a new god or goddess emerges, as that's how this world's cycle of creation works. It's pretty unlikely this new god will be like her and leave parts of her world behind, so she'll almost certainly be entirely dethroned when this god creates their own world and enter a state of total nonexistence along with everything else.

Do your gods even exist in your setting? Even if they don't, how would the people of your setting answer these questions?

I basically answered this one at the beginning, but just for clarification: The Electronic Heaven "Gods" do exist and often interact with the world. None of the Mauyallan gods or angels actually exist, but some stories are written as though they do. (All of the stories I write in this setting are presented as stories written in the setting.) Chiropractra does exist, but she hasn't shown herself for a very long time, which is causing people to doubt that she has existed. Most demons / humans that are alive in the present were born / arrived thousands of years after her disappearance.

[u/cat_five_brainstorm → u/gramaticalError]

Island of Control

Are they part of the mortal world or part of the world outside the simulation?

[u/gramaticalError → u/cat_five_brainstorm]

They're part of the simulation. It was founded by three people who discovered that the reality they were in was a simulation, and they made it they're mission to kill the gods as punishment for "trapping" them and and not telling them about the outside world.

[u/Deblebsgonnagetyou]

• What is the nature of gods in your setting?

Gods in my setting are the same as gods in real life- ambiguously real beings who cannot be confirmed to exist but are nonetheless important fixtures of culture and daily life. Every culture has gods of its own and their own concept of how they work/what they are.

• Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived by gods?

It depends. To followers of the serpentine religion native to the coasts of the Serpent Channel, the gods are ancient creators predating the world, being the third category of being to come into existence after dragons (viewed as a kind of weather/nature spirit but not gods) and stars and subsequently forming the world from primordial chaos. To the followers of the old Sootoch animistic beliefs, there are both major gods who predate and made the world and minor gods who are uplifted from mortality by major gods for their great deeds and could be viewed like saints.

• Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

Many deities take the forms of animals and mythical beasts, like the Great Serpents of the serpentine religion or the Savaki triad of the cow, the eagle, and the deer. Other religions have "human"-oid gods like the Ettnons' gods and others have a mixture of person-like gods, animalistic gods, and intangiable gods, like the Sootoches', where the major gods tend to be concepts and objects given thought (such as the sun or the wind) and minor gods may be Sootoches, animals, plants, or rarely other races.

• How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

Like our gods, the gods of my world don't interact with the mortal world in a verifiable way, but the people may perceive their influence in places. The Sootoches believe that the minor god Zet, who was once a mortal Highwood greathawk, was responsible for driving demons and vengeful spirits to the forest floor, leaving the canopy where Sootoches live a plentiful place. The Tayuffs believe that the gods thaw the ground allowing summer to come if they are paid their due respect over the long winter. The noble wyverns and some other followers of Serpentine religion believe that the Great Serpents lie watching the world beneath the island of Seremere and will rise to protect it in its time of need

• Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

Again, it depends, but generally no. Minor Sootoch gods could be killed, though this would not have any huge effect on the world, and the Great Serpents could be killed, but since they have already given the world over wholly to the custody of mortals, this would only remove the contingency of their return.

• Do your gods even exist in your setting? Even if they don't, how would the people of your setting answer these questions?

I leave this up to interpretation... but probably not. Most people in the world, however, would be fairly sure that their own exist at the least, while the well-travelled or simply well-educated might be doubtful having seen the variety of religion or have trouble reconciling other gods into their own worldview (though it has been done- serpentine religion in fact includes the traditional Ettnon gods as the stars and many Sootoches, especially in the Lowwood, believe in a sect of serpentine religion which blends Sootoch animist beliefs simply replacing their major gods with the Serpents.)

[u/NOTAGRUB]

What is the nature of Gods in your setting?

Each god exists as an energy of sorts currents, waves or storms usually, but they manifest into mortal bodies occasionally, traveling the sea for a time. The three main factions hate each other with a passion unrivaled by any other war in history. The gods of the sky are pompous and cruel, they tend to offer no help, but fling insults at the other two factions. The gods of the land were almost entirely killed, existing in hiding for fear of being finished off, only the Father of the Mountains, the Lady of the Sands and the Dweller of Deepest Stone still live. The gods of the sea were the killers, violent and secretive, they have since drowned the world in an endless sea, forcing life to adapt around their plots.

Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods?

Oh they built the world, and they've since torn it apart with constant wars, general bickering and a list of grudges long enough to wrap around the world twice. But they do not predate time itself, there were the Highest Beings before them, who left them in charge, suffice to say it was a bad idea.

Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

While they tend to exist as small manifestations of their domain, they are generally human-like when they do choose to manifest as immortals, but since that leaves them vulnerable, they prefer disposable mortal bodies

How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

Frequently, most of them rarely leave the mortal world alone, since they have no where else to go, beings like the Devourer of Ships, the Knight of Tempest's Eye or the Berserker of Thunder's mere existence can be a blessing or curse on those around them

Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

While only another god can kill them, the gods can very much die, and once they do, there's no one there to protect their domain and it tends to be destroyed, when the gods of the land fell, the gods of the sea were able to take over the world, only unable to stop a few, gods can be reborn from this, but it takes every other god within the pantheon who still lives to bring them back into existence

Do your gods even exist in your setting? Even if they don't, how would the people of your setting answer these questions?

If I were to impersonate some random civilian from my world when asked, "Oh the gods exist alright, and they don't let the rest of us forget it, if you didn't dive you had to float and if you couldn't float you died, there wasn't any other choice, no one's seen an elf for a good century or so, the gnomes divided, a new mountain springs up every couple of months but ends up riddled with dragons before anyone else can reach it, the last three fishing vessels we sent out got destroyed as well, mark my words, the gods are out there, and they'll make it your problem"

[u/CallyGoldfeather]

1) There are two types of Gods. The first are conventional "faith makes you divine," and they come from several places. The second are primordial concepts that predate reality, and their existence causes reality to manifest around them. The first type are the vast majority of the divines in the setting, with mortals reaching godhood on a somewhat regular basis (around once/twice per century or so). Every culture has their own laundry list of divines, and sometimes lesser ones are lost in the cracks and fade into obscurity. The second type, the primordials, are for the most part dead or missing. Long ago, they built everything from the ground up for their own entertainment, but they for the most part grew bored and left, only one remaining in an active state.

The vast majority of divines that currently operate are pre-existing spirits, made by the primordials in the first place to manage reality. Upon the primordials leaving, they took up the mantel as best they could, and have since grown into a good portion of the modern pantheons.

2) Both, as mentioned above.

3) They are far closer to Greek Gods than to Cthulhu, but neither are really accurate. The Primordials were fairly eldritch, but only in that they were incomprehensibly powerful and large. They were painfully comprehensible in their mind, little more than spoiled children who were bored. The modern divines, on the other hand, are as varied as can be. Some gods are plants, who's fruit is said to be where islands come from. Some gods are elected by the population on the last one's death, to allow the spirit of the former divine to re-enter the body of the last one. One god is a charging bull, who dances across the sky and brings about day time. There are a lot of them that are rather humanoid, but just as many that aren't.

4) Very frequently, and in fact many exist entirely within the material realm. The afformentioned Bull is named Valor, and he is the sun in the sky for a large portion of the world. Hard to get more tangible than that, right? Quite a few are distant, but just as many have tea and crumpits with their followers regularly.

5) For the non-primordials, death is not even very uncommon. Should the general population cease to worship you, you will wither and die unless proped up by other divines. Conventional weaponry is not very effective, but there are spells and rites that can harm gods. Should one actually perish, whatever aspect of reality they managed would go wild and rouge, usually sprouting several spirits of its own creation to manage it once more. For example, should Valor be slain, the sun would go out and never rise again, until the collective worship of all of mankind brings about a new divine. Or, more likely, several small competing ones.

Primordials can not die. They are acausal and *are* reality. To kill one would be to kill gravity, or electromagnetism. At worst, you can harm their physical avatar. This is annoying at best.

6) Yes, and sufficient belief in one that does not actually exist will make it so. Theoretically, the revival of a dead god is possible through that method, but it is more of a clone than the actual original returning.

[u/ArmadilloFour]

There are no actual "deities" in my setting, but there are three moons which are worshipped as divine by most of the world. This is because the moons are the source of magical energy in the world--people on the planet are able to draw magical energy from them when they're visible in their orbits, and channel it outward to cast spells.

But the plot of my story involves characters learning that those moons actually are alive--they're massive spiritual entities that orbit the planet on set schedules. This is because there are a number of (hundreds of) smaller spiritual beings seeded across the planets, most of which are not recognized as such by people, and the Moon Spirits (so to speak) come by every 20-70 days and essentially feed off of them. The "Moons" that are worshipped as gods, drift by in their orbit around the planet and absorb magical energy from the smaller beings, then drift off into the dark periods of their orbit again to sleep. It is a sweet gig, tbh.

(These smaller beings are mostly rooted in place and are just recognized, if at all, as strange anomalies--one is a nature spirit in a dense forest where bizarre creatures emerge from nowhere; one manifests as a trio of siblings with clairvoyance on the side of a sacred mountain. Things of that nature, which are not huge enough to seem divine on their own, just weird and unexplainable.)

Can they die? Yes they can! Again, the main plot of my story involves some of those lesser spirits plotting to enlist humans to travel (magically) to the surface of the "Moons" to kill them. This would be fairly catastrophic--all of human society is founded on the widespread use of magic. Magic is used to increase crop yields, or create water, or heal illnesses, or various other important uses that have allowed them to sustain an unnaturally large population. If/when the moons disappear, and the magic disappears with them, the results could be a societal collapse of apocalyptic proportions.

[u/Historical_Egg_5202]

What is the nature of gods in my setting? Ok so a god in my eyes is a being who is above a certain power level, whiles also having a large skill set of powers.

Gods are group based off of certain things, let’s go over them:

• Cosmic Gods: These gods have cosmic power, they can create and destroy and normally don’t do that much when it comes to god war. Cosmic gods do not have ages as they can come out of nowhere without even having any origin, making them unable to have a actual age • Eldritch Gods: These ancient gods are super old, wow, eldritch gods were the beings to create the natural forces of nature and unlike cosmic gods who create galaxies and stars, eldritch gods work more on the planets where they create landscapes, destroy stuff, break physics, and fight for power. (Also… eldritch should be spelt Eldridge) • Shadow Lords: these gods are in the shadow realm, unable to get out, a rift between our realm and the shadow realm was opened by wood people named oaklings, when they tried to use dark magic. The rift was too small for bigger shadow lords to pass through since they can’t really change size except for a tiny few, and only a little amount of shadow creatures escaped including a shadow lord who takes shape of a human teenager. Shadow lords are all about seeing through shadows and using dark magic, and they also take over the minds of people in our realm through the rift in order to cause as much chaos as possible which their temporary vessel. (The mind control is inspired by the great race from The Shadow Out of Time by H.P. Lovecraft, love that guy) • Extraterrestrial Gods: These gods are SUPER DANGEROUS, mostly because they are not from our reality, they reside in their own domain realms where they are most powerful, and in order to get to our reality they send their message inside of the heads of people, making cults to do rituals to rip the barrier between our reality and their’s, the thing is, their laws of physics and properties of reality are completely different from ours making them unpredictable, bringing them to even a threat to mid level cosmic gods.

The gods are just super powerful creatures, the creator of everything is Gale-Coromana, giant dark fish dude who started the Big Bang than went to sleep.

Deities cant really be deities because of all of the creatures on my planet Crypte, you control thunder? Great now see if you can match multiple red raptor like creatures with wings with multiple jaws of teeth that can see your blood. But supernatural creatures that are kind are still treated better than normal people, mostly by compliments, if that supernatural creature did something amazing, then yeah they are worshipped. Deities are respected by immortals, yes.

Now if we were to say a deity was actually a serious god with some sort of kingdom worshipping them, it depends on how generous the god is, most of the time the god returns blessings. If the kingdom is attacked, if a major tribute is made, the god might even come down to eliminate the enemy.

If a god dies, there is really no consequence, this is because gods aren’t really the gods of things, they represent things, or are just super powerful, let’s say the most strongest man on earth died, sure people will be shocked but the earth will still be fine after the drama is over. The only way for it to be big is if one of the four superior gods died, the four strongest beings that protect the universe, made by Gale-Coromana himself to protect his work.

Gods either live somewhere space, other realms, or their domains, people know this, mostly cults, they know because of the god they are worshipping transmitting their knowledge over. Normal people have most likely seen a god in their lifetime, mostly because the deities that roam the planet, live there, and if they aren’t making a difference, they are just normal people. Deities are not as powerful as gods but are either Demi-gods, or just scraping the title of god.

[u/Phebe-A]

The unknowable, undefinable divine power of the Universe permeates and transcends the physical Universe; its basically the soul of the Universe and the Universe likely exists because this power ?chose to become embodied/became embodied? thereby becoming the Universe. It's more correct to say that the Universe was born than created, but ultimately any descriptions we try to apply to the Universe/divine power of the Universe are inherently limited and incomplete due to the limitations of mortal minds and languages. This divine power of the Universe is, however, the ultimate source of all place spirits, deities, disembodied spiritual beings, and souls, but these are more in the manner of emergent phenomena of the Universe, than deliberately created. Of these place spirits and deities are most likely to be worshiped by mortals (aka meeting the definition of a god = a spiritual being considered worthy of worship).

Place spirits range from astro-planetary beings (the souls of stars, planets, and similar astronomical bodies) to local place spirits on planets. The age and power of these beings varies, the soul of a star or planet is going to be much older and more powerful than that of a mountain, which in turn is much older and more powerful than the spirit of a small pond. They may manifest in ways that take on the appearance of local mortals, but their true nature and appearance is that of the place that constitutes their locus. Since they do have 'bodies' they can die, in the sense that if their locus (or their connection to their locus) is seriously damaged or destroyed, then they (can) become a disembodied spirit. However, they will most likely be reborn as a similar type of place spirit, rather than fading back into the divine power of the Universe. Indeed, some (more minor) place spirits die and are reborn on a regular basis. Direct interactions with mortals are all over the map, ranging from regular and clear communication to communicative, but difficult to understand or interpret what they want/mean, to completely uncommunicative, and direct interaction with the actual place spirit to interaction with a deity empowered by the place spirit, to generally ignored or even disbelieved. Place spirits (or place spirit deities) may or may not be worshiped, and the boundaries between 'deity that we worship' and 'spirit being that lives in this place, with which we interact or communicate' can get very fuzzy. Place spirits generally have the ability to make changes to or manipulate their physical locus, in at least limited ways; whether they are willing to do so at the behest of mortal worshipers is another matter. Place spirits can also be affected by things that mortals do to their locus.

[u/Phebe-A → u/Phebe-A]

Deities are living foci for some portion of the divine power of the Universe (or in many cases the power of a major place spirit) which are created by the interaction of mortal minds with the spiritual aspect of the Universe (or place spirit) through the association of names, symbols, attributes, and lore with some aspect or source of spiritual power. Deities draw their power from a limited portion of the 'spectrum' of the Universe's divine power, but may still be quite complex, with multiple aspects that may at times appear contradictory. Deities are, by their nature, limited -- they cannot be omni-anything no matter what they (or their worshipers) claim - but their limits may still be vastly more powerful than any mortal. Although deities are, in a sense, created by mortals (although, like place spirits are better considered emergent properties of the Universe), once they come into existence, they become independent beings with free will within the parameters of their base nature (a deity originally conceptualized as a merciful, healing deity cannot be cruel or a trickster). That nature can shift and develop over time, as people's perceptions of the deity change, but deities can also resist changing in accordance with people's beliefs (which usually results in additional deities with the same or similar names coming into existence). While place spirits have a physical locus (aka a body, although not a human type one), deities are beings of spirit that may manifest the appearance of a body, but don't (usually) have a physical aspect. Beings whose primary existence is as a spiritual being, but which can manifest a physical aspect at will are unusual, but not unknown. Deities can sort-of die, if there is lore of them doing so, but don't really stay dead, at most they may become tied to the Underworld/Land of the Dead portions of that culture's spirit realms. Ultimately, deities fade from existence when no one remembers them. Because deities are spiritual beings, their ability to affect the physical world is generally limited to manipulating probabilities. Deities empowered by place spirits can also affect their associated locus, if the underlying place spirit allows. All deities can inspire, guide, and support mortals spiritually.

The four planets of my project are (or can be) connected by magical interplanetary gates. Historically, there has been a lot of population movement between Terra (us + magic) and Alterra (an alternate Earth); everyone living on Alterra is a descendant of immigrants from Terra. More recently, people from Terra, Alterra, and Eranestinska (Earth-like planet, inherently magical inhabitants) have collaborated to magically terraform and settle Patchwork (an Earth-like planet whose first planetary spirit died and is now being revived under the influence of a new, very communicative and interventive planetary spirit), resulting in lots of travel between Terra and Patchwork. On Terra many people have ceased to believe in (most) of the deities once worshiped on this planet (often accompanied by a disbelief in magic and spirits generally). This appears to be the result of the rise of monotheistic religions followed by widespread adoption of materialist/atheist belief systems, creating a feedback loop, where people's disbelief makes it harder for deities and spirits to interact with mortals, increasing people's disbelief, which increases the spiritual and magical 'resistance factor' of the planet even more... On Eranestinska, worship of their deities has declined in the last few generations, as the practices fell out of favor with the ruling class who prefer to believe that they are the most powerful. Alterra has very numerous, interactive deities and place spirits, to the point where the local implementations of what are monotheistic faiths on Terra have become monolatrous on Alterra.

[u/Disastrous-Case-3202]

-Post/metahumans, consequences of human actions, and multidimensional deities.

-Both. They are future humans, but immeasurably ancient in the timeline of the setting. In several hundreds of thousands of years from now, we have mastered the macro and the micro, the conventional and quantum, and have spread beyond our own universe. In a culmination of our own ability, hubris, and ideological conflicts amongst our own, we create a multiversal threat in our own image that surpasses us and annihilates humanity across several different universes. In an 81 year span, we dwindle from trillions to a few million. In a final, desperate act, we create a universe separated from the greater multiverse, and created/seeded several star systems ideal for earthlike life and steered it along desired paths in an attempt to restart intelligent life and prepare them for the inevitable return of their enemy.

-Yes.

-They attempt to stay as impersonal as possible, refusing to intervene even in extinction scenarios. The universe is a very big place, and they can always start over. The interaction of a god(like individual) will be demonstrated, to galactic consequences.

-Yes they can, but doing so often if not exclusively requires a god or individual exceeding a god killing them. Following consequences would vary by circumstance. Depending on the individual killed, it could result in the end of the universe.

-They do physically, but exist outside of most beings' knowledge or perception. There are a bare handful of "mortals" that are aware of their existence, until one reveals themselves later in the story. There is no worship of these individuals, but perhaps awestruck, horrified reverence, as one might revere or respect the awesome power of a black hole or supernova.

[u/EmperorMatthew]

1: Gods are beings sometimes former mortals thought to be rulers over a certain aspect of the world like war, nature, ect.

2: The only one of the gods to have created the universe is The Child of the Stars who used endless amounts of beads to create the stars, comets, meteors, planets, moons, everything else which he did so on a whim hoping to entertain themself.

3: They are normally altogether in a pantheon but may be the main god of small settlements who heavily focus on what domain that God holds. Like a village focusing on healing would worship Elias the Goddess of Healing and Health. They also take on a humanoid appearance with some abnormal features like The Child of the Stars being made of the cosmos itself from their eyes being literal stars to having a black hole in their chest and a white hole on their back or Aran-Igis the goddess of all things related to crafting and forging.

4: It's believed that they do frequently interact with mortals especially The Child of the Stars who loves to play amongst them. Most other gods mainly interact with mortals who believe and worship them leaving mortals who worship other gods alone out of respect for one another.

5: Not normally no but as The Child of the Stars is the strongest and oldest of all gods its thought that he could very easily kill them should they wish using his universe ending powers hence why all other gods fear and respect them listening to whatever they say for them to do.

6: I don't believe they really exist in my setting as just like in real life you can believe they are real or not real it's up to the person. Etanians native to Etanus who believe in the gods which is most of them would answer by explaining things they believe to be true about the gods.

[u/Dex_Hopper]

What is the nature of Gods in your setting?

The gods are manifestations of concepts and domains. They embody aspects of reality and keep that aspect in check, in some cases. Stellata (the goddess of fate and knowledge), for example, is the universe's intellect investigating itself. Thalassa (the goddess of the sea and strength) is the world controlling its own chaos, occasionally unleashing storms and devastating waves while minimizing natural disasters the rest of the time. Corvus (the god of the dead and order) is the universe imposing clear divides between the living and the dead so that zombies and vampires do not simply rise of their own accord whenever some stray magic hits a corpse. Psema is the one who made the rules of magic a thousand years ago when mortals discovered how to tap into that power, and he's the world ensuring that no one mortal can ever become more than that. Stuff like that.

Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods?

More the latter than the former. The gods did not create life and matter and the world as it is, but they did have a very heavy hand in guiding it to become what it has. They surely predate any kind of human civilization, but not the universe itself. As I explained above, the gods are like the universe's way of expressing itself through incarnated aspects, rather than omnipotent creators with absolute authority over the world and the way it functions. They're gods with a little g.

Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

Mostly the former. The gods have certain forms that artists favor when depicting them in tapestries and statues and other visual works. The gods themselves, however, reserve the right to appear in whatever way they wish, be it as the sun and moon themselves or as old beggars who may smite you if you commit a heinous enough transgression against them.

How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

Not very often, though it wasn't always that way. The gods used to put a very firm hand on the steering wheel, but that led to an apocalyptic event that obliterated the greatest empire the world has ever known into a scattered collection of city-states and small nations that have barely managed to assert any kind of status quo after three hundred and fifty years. Lately, the gods have taken a step back by popular vote. They grant the miracles that their followers ask for, when they ask for it, and they don't put any more pressure on humanity than that. They're not forbidden from breaking this rule, but they risk bringing the wrath of the other gods down upon themselves and so prefer not to.

Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

Theoretically, yes, but the only thing capable of killing a god must be another god. The world almost found out what this would look like during the Fracturing, the massive war that they caused that broke the world, since it was the gods' fighting that caused everything that happened. Since gods are manifestations and managers of worldly aspects that occur without their input but are brought to order by their presence, I would have to assume that a god dying means their domains becoming uncontrollably chaotic and disasters wreaking havoc on mortal who attempt to access those domains. Thalassa's death would mean lethal storms and tsunamis flattening whole coastal cities. Corvus' death would mean the dead rising of their own will, revenants and ghosts becoming commonplace and the barrier between life and death being rendered meaningless. Pastor's (the god of the sun and life) death would mean eternal night and mass infertility.

Man, this is fun! I didn't have answers to a lot of these questions before I sat down to answer them, so I've actually fleshed out my worldbuilding by engaging in this post. I might have to come back for round two!

[u/KonLesh]

1. Gods are bound to the Demi-Elemental Lord Galaxy. Born from Galaxy's life essense they work to Galaxy's creations and to refine magical energy for Galaxy to consume.

2.Gods are powerful beings created/born from Galaxy to assist it in defeating the elementals. Galaxy is beyond the comprhension of mortals thus gods act as middlemen.

3.Neither, about 30% of gods are world souls whose purpose is to refine magical energy in planets so that it can be fed to Galaxy. 65% of gods used to be world souls but their world was consumed by a leviathan and in a last ditch effect the god shattered their world to take on its aspects to fight back against the leviathan. 5% of gods are called aspect gods. They come from the massive black hole in the very center of Galaxy where all of the refined magical energy is fed too. Being directly born from Galaxy, they have an understanding beyond the other gods and lead the other gods to fulfill Galaxy's will.

1. Gods are constantly interfereing with the worlds. A world soul shapes the land and encurages evolution to create magic dense environment. Then gods go down and teach mortal races how to refine magical energy and send it off world for Galaxy to consume.

2. A leviathan is able to break down gods and magic to empower themselves and their Elemental Lord. A world soul will become a god try to survive the conflict inorder to survive to help another world. Gods dying will release all of their magic causing a massive catastrophe and breaking apart the order of galaxy.

3. Gods are really. A mortal just come and say hi to the god. World souls are more "a feeling" that someone on the world can relate too.

[u/EisVisage]

Oh shits oh gods oh fucks a new sticky just as the year ends

I'll answer for my current world, Drakuvar.

What is the nature of Gods in your setting?

They were incorporeal god-creators, and are now un-desiccating dragon corpses.

Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods?

Creators of the universe's matter, but not its time. They have control over creation, nothing else, as vast as that domain is.

Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

They are otherworldly immortal entities that later took on the shape of very much killable dragons to rule the world.

How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

Depends on the era. Originally, not at all, so people stopped worshipping them eventually (except elves). Then they took over rule of the world, leading crusades to stamp out aberrant faiths (the elves needed no crusades). Then they had a civil war with only 5 gods surviving, fought over whether to kill their dragon children for not being like adult gods when hatching. Many dragons fled this war, causing a dark age for mortals (except elves, who redirected the dragons) that the survivors couldn't stop.

More recently the dark age ended as mortal peoples and dragons became allies. The gods fought this alliance, seeing it as a deep insult to their godhood for anyone to ride on dragons. The first fight ended with just one god alive to surrender. The second fight was that last god creating a new creature, the kobolds, and trying to kill all other peoples with them.

Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

The last god died too. The kobolds live on, having used the energy they drew out when helping to kill him to give themselves wings. Their creations were always destined to be independent the moment they had been created. This meant resistance was inevitable with time, and now means the world as a whole can keep existing without them.

Do your gods even exist in your setting? Even if they don't, how would the people of your setting answer these questions?

The elves would know the entire first half from their ancient religion, everybody else would be varying levels of aware of anything happening after the dark age began. The world's peoples are currently just starting to understand the past, and the old gods' role in it.

[u/mining_moron]

Since for Kyanah, resource efficiency and systematic complexity are axiomatically good, their gods are cosmic optimizers iteratively refining the universe. Essentially sentient processes which they define and categorize by naming them, a process known as theogenesis. Essentially God X comes into existence when the name X is associated with optimizing processes of a specific sort, like a sentient cosmic meme. Most would call them optimizers that arose naturally as a product of a universe that trends towards greater refinement, not creators, few cultures even have elaborate creation myths.

Gods can "die" in the sense that their names stop being associated with optimizing forces by their worshippers. If X no longer means a particular aspect of cosmic optimization,  then God X doesn't exist anymore, it's kind of "dead". 

Kyanah gods are exactly as real, and interact with the world, exactly as much as human gods. That's all I'll say on the matter. Some Kyanah are atheist, some are devoutly religious and live their lives trying to emulate and gain the attention of their favorite gods, most are casuall religious, they participate jn the traditions and would answer "yes" if asked if they believe, but their lives don't revolve around religion.

[u/ThexLoneWolf]

The gods of my setting, Misty Seas, are more like ethereal spirits that happen to hang out around my world. As people began worshiping these spirits, their power and influence grew until they became something resembling gods. They're not really immortals like Greek gods, but I wouldn't say they're beyond comprehension, either. They can massively influence the world, but generally don't interact with mortals beyond the bare minimum requirement, which depending on your interpretation, is practically not at all. They can't really die, but they can lose their influence over the world if they lose enough worshipers, so some spirits do take a vested interest in keeping their respective religions alive.

[u/UndeadBBQ]

Karamoria - A DnD setting.

What is the nature of Gods in your setting?

They are chosen successors of the old gods, that came into power after a "cyclic" event. That means an apocalyptic event that requires a "reset" of the cosmos for it to continue to function. For this reset to work, the gods - synonymous with the cosmos itself - need to die. However, leaving their powers with a mortal can save their creation from total annihilation. Often the world just continues as it was before the event, with miniscule changes in it that prevent it from happening.

In this cycle, devils, demons and the Shadowfell have been brought into an alliance. Instead of fighting each other in the Blood War, they streamed out into the Material Plane and ravaged it. During the very last battle of the cosmos, the heroes were able to strike down a pretender to the title of "god of all", and inherited the cosmos to do with as they please.

Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods?

They are the cosmos. They neither predate it, nor are they born in it. They are (meta-)physical manifestations of it. There are only 5 such beings (currently), yet hundreds of others are perceived as "gods". These are often only agents of the five, or singular entities capable of incredible feats. These are also the ones most likely to actually interact with the mortal realm.

Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

Mortals put them into pantheons, and weave stories about them and their holy deeds. If the gods entertain this categorization often depends on the individual god. Their true form is infinite and infinitely varied, forever changing the cosmos, and the cosmos changing them. They are beyond comprehension of mortals (with some singular individuals amongst the trillions and trillions of inhabitants in the cosmos who get a good idea about it, often due to them enhancing their understanding with magic).

How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

The Five interact with mortals on extremely rare occasions. Caravera, the god of Death / the Cycle, is obviously the one interacting with each and every single mortal at least once. The next one comes down every hundred years or so when he spots an (one) individual with great potential (amongst the trillions and trillions). Peladriel, the Southern Star, is the god of knowledge and wisdom. All in all a very chill dude, who genuinely loves mortals, and wants to cheer the especially talented ones on to do good in the world they inhabit. The Trifecta Alune, the trinity of honour, justice and righteous wrath, as well as Levi, Goddess of Liberty, are at best passively interacting with mortals, via signs and cryptic answers to prayers. Mara, goddess of nature, is completely silent, only ever communicating via her agents, if at all. Nature just is, it needs no intervention.

The stakes of the gods are often scaled-up versions of who they were in their mortal lifes. The Trifecta Alune was a Paladin of the old God of the Cycle, bound by honour to a degree that even Death shied away from taking her. Humble, even in her divine existence, she raised the souls of two companions up into these heights, splitting the goddess into three. Peladriel was a drug-addicted druid, unsure of his place in the world, who came to cherish knwoledge and wisdom, becoming an archdruid and eventually the archdruid. He is known for being merciful, patient and for being a bit of a goofball, always in the mood for some tomfoolery.

Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

Individually, gods can die and would be absorbed by the other gods. It requires an apocalyptic amount of energy, and is often accompanied by horrid atrocities committed. You don't kill a god by sticking a sword into them. You kill them with rage, and despair, sadness and apathy. They must stop to care about the cosmos, for it/them to die. Some who endeavoured to destroy the gods did so by turning worlds against them. Some die due to mourning (as the last Goddess of Death did). Once that happens, the beginning of another Cycle is on the proverbial horizon. Cataclysm across the cosmos, as the essence of the gods lose their shine. Destructive forces become greater - representations of a god's anger and hatred that they are.

What can't happen, is a discontinuation of the cycle. If no successors are found, some will either take their power, or even just happen upon it. Sometimes this creates a cosmos dead on arrival, sometimes it creates one that has no direction at all.

Do your gods even exist in your setting? Even if they don't, how would the people of your setting answer these questions?

Yes, they do, but for most mortals that's neither here nor there. They obviously see with their own eyes when clerics cast magic via prayer, so something has to be out there. That, even the greatest sceptics agree on. The human over an ant-hill metaphor comes to mind, just that in this case, five humans oversee an entire forest full of ant-hills. They interact with just the tiniest percentage of ants, and most of the time the ant isn't even aware of it. There are world with 0 interventions, that know the gods only by the effects of worship. Some worlds (mostly the ones where the gods originated) know them as close observers.

Just like this, the answers would vary by world, by nation, by culture, even city to city. The culture of the Wäger, chosen people of the God of Death, have entirely different stories than the archmages of Peladriel, or the Assassins of the Levicasta - a cabal of tyrant killers.

[u/Acceptable-Cow6446]

• What is the nature of Gods in your setting?

The Peers, the first gods, were born of the Dying Tree and grew first as trees. As they became themselves, they created the worlds. As mortals perceived and named the worlds and their conception of the gods, these names brought the Peers to their fullness. Aside from the Peers, there are the later gods. The later gods include the children of the Peers, as well as aspects and locations in the natural world and mortals that have ascended.

• Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods?

The Peers are creators, but they were also born alongside creating - much like how a parent becomes a parent when they have a child. Some of the later gods ascended by perception.

• Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

The Peers and some of the later gods are vast and indescribable. Many of these make avatars or take avatars via possession. It’s not uncommon for people possessed by a god to never know it as the gods often sort of ride along with mortals in order to experience life and death.

• How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

They interact quite often. Many of the later gods are local natural phenomena. The Peers have their games they play with mortals - often without the mortals knowing. Sometimes the stakes are high and sometimes not.

• Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

Yes, sort of. They tend to come back though. Quite a few of the Peers and later gods “die” regularly as part of natural cycles. This creates a sort of whale fall of spiritual, cognitive, and/or physical bounty. Actually ending a god, especially a Peer, would involve a concept fully dying even in memory. If the concept was thought again, the god would begin returning.

• Do your gods even exist in your setting? Even if they don’t, how would the people of your setting answer these questions?

Despite the active presence of the gods, atheism and agnosticism are fairly common, especially within academic and scientific communities. Naturalism and humanism are the dominant atheologies.

[u/RegionHistorical6428]

• What is the nature of Gods in your setting?

There are two types of gods: Greater Deities and Lesser Deities. Greater Deities include Outer Gods and Conceptuals, smaller groups among two branches of gods, while Lesser Deities include Angels, Demons, and Great Old Ones, larger groups among three branches of gods.

• Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods?

The latter, though some of them predate some worlds. There were two greater dimensions that came before two lesser dimensions, and the Outer Gods and Conceptuals were the first creatures to populate the greater dimensions, making them a lot older than other species.

• Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

Lesser Deities are more of the former while Greater Deities are more of the latter. Angels, Demons, and Great Old Ones are powerful, but their power has limits. Conceptuals and Great Old Ones are incomprehensible.

• How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

There are four dimensions: Infernius (where Demons come from), Eldron (where Great Old Ones/Outer Gods come from), Haloes (where Angels/Conceptuals come from), and Mortalus (which is basically just a normal world). Multiple versions of Mortalus exist in certain planes within Haloes, but everything that exists there in the way of something that's actually mortal is just a puppet show for the Conceptuals.

Instances of these gods breaching/trying to breach Mortalus are very common, but mostly among Lesser Deities since the Conceptuals never want to leave Haloes and most of the Outer Gods don't care about anything that happens outside of their world (also either of them exiting their realms would cause levels of destruction akin to a dimension-wide black hole).

As for why: Demons have a hierarchy based on souls collected; they like to interfere with Mortals to claim their souls and become more respected. Angels are there to do the same thing but for different reasons; they're loyal to the Conceptuals who have what is basically a scary version of heaven where they rule over any souls they collect. Then there are Great Old Ones who do the same thing as either of those, but instead of claiming dominion over the souls, they just harness the energy from them to increase their own power.

In addition to trying to claim souls, they sometimes just try to enter Mortalus and use their power to claim dominion there. It doesn't happen very much within short spans of time since the process for traveling between Dimensions is complicated, but it's a very common plan.

• Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

The process is mostly just like a human dying. Nothing really happens. It's only Outer Gods and Conceptuals that are completely unable to stop existing, but Great Old Ones, Demons, and Angels are killed all the time.

• Do your gods even exist in your setting? Even if they don't, how would the people of your setting answer these questions?

Yes. They exist and all of my people know about them. A majority of them see having anything to do with them as shameful.