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what are the gods? are they formed by belief, or are they powerful mages?

EvaTheWarlock wrote:what are the gods? are they formed by belief, or are they powerful mages?

In Pantheons of the Megaverse we have some hints that the gods are the offspring of ancient alien intelligences, the spawn of which have assumed/become trapped in their current forms by some attachment to particular species, like Humans. They are empowered by belief through some not very defined process, but it's generally assumed that worshippers in the act of devotion/sacrifice donate some small dribble of PPE to their chosen deity...more PPE via events like animal/human sacrifice.

There are exceptions(it's a big Megaverse)...there are exceptionally strong god-like beings like Elementals who draw their power from their universes of origin, ascended beings who have become god-like through patronage of a god, and other mechanisms....

While most gods/god-beings are powerful magic-users(comes with the territory of manipulating the underlying yllem of the cosmos, it's possible to have gods who are simply really powerful psychics or superpowered beings.

taalismn wrote:

EvaTheWarlock wrote:what are the gods? are they formed by belief, or are they powerful mages?

In Pantheons of the Megaverse we have some hints that the gods are the offspring of ancient alien intelligences, the spawn of which have assumed/become trapped in their current forms by some attachment to particular species, like Humans. They are empowered by belief through some not very defined process, but it's generally assumed that worshippers in the act of devotion/sacrifice donate some small dribble of PPE to their chosen deity...more PPE via events like animal/human sacrifice.

There are exceptions(it's a big Megaverse)...there are exceptionally strong god-like beings like Elementals who draw their power from their universes of origin, ascended beings who have become god-like through patronage of a god, and other mechanisms....

While most gods/god-beings are powerful magic-users(comes with the territory of manipulating the underlying yllem of the cosmos, it's possible to have gods who are simply really powerful psychics or superpowered beings.

in the incan pantheon in SA2, there is even a goddess who was originally the 'soul' of a wormwood style living planet which the other incan deities rescued (a bit too late) from a planet eater and helped teach how to manifest in deific form.

EvaTheWarlock wrote:what are the gods? are they formed by belief, or are they powerful mages?

Some Gods are born from Alien Intelligences.

Some gods, canonically, are Alien Intelligences.

Some gods are demons or mortals who ascend to godhood via beleif or being granted it by an existing god. Dimension book Dyval has rules for how much worship is required for a demon to become a god.

Some Gods simply spontaniously come into being.

Some Gods are mortals who acheived so much worship in life they became gods and Ascended.

Some gods are the children of existing gods.

Some Gods are Mortals who become adopted into a Pantheon and raised up by existing Gods.

There is no one "True Nature" of Divinity. It is a destination with many paths leading there.

My general take is: The Gods are often powerful individuals in their own right, who become Gods, and gain power, through the belief of others. Some will be descended of Gods or other powerful creatures; some may be their own creators, or arise spontaneously through belief. However, for almost all of them, killing all their worshipers doesn't kill them, just renders them of merely very high level with a huge amount of experience (and any boosts they gave themselves as gods).

Mark Hall wrote:My general take is: The Gods are often powerful individuals in their own right, who become Gods, and gain power, through the belief of others. Some will be descended of Gods or other powerful creatures; some may be their own creators, or arise spontaneously through belief. However, for almost all of them, killing all their worshipers doesn't kill them, just renders them of merely very high level with a huge amount of experience (and any boosts they gave themselves as gods).

minor nitpick, I would include the fact that the boosts they got or gave themselves also depend on how they were created/empowered.

IE you get a bonus to a physical stat that is essentially powered similar to a spell from Deific power (IE the belief of followers) it is likely to be functionally disabled if they can't afford the cost due to lack of followers(belief)
if its powered by "magic energy" ppe or ISP then it will likely depend on them "casting" or channeling power (or tieing it to a mystical power source like a ley line.
or if they essentially changed their body to permanently incorporate the change it may just work.

guardiandashi wrote:or if they essentially changed their body to permanently incorporate the change it may just work.

That's what the wise ones do. "I have all of this power now. This power makes me immortal BUT I can lose this power. Might as well use a fraction of it to make me immortal, regardless of the status of my power."

And the smart ones tell others to do this.

There's the Enlightened Immortals from Mystic China. By the time they reach the end of the many paths/transformations, they may as well be gods...or maybe 2001: A Space Odyssey's StarChild.....

IMagine there is a puzzle room. It's really hard to get into. It's nearly impossible in fact. But there are ways to get in.

Some ways are easier; some peoiple are shown a way in by those already inside. Hell some people are born inside. A couple of the ways are more well trode; some are evne kind of understood. But there are a few ways that are so secrative only one or two people have every managed them.

That is divinity in Rifts. As others point out, it's not a single, definitive 'state', it's more like a quality one has or gains.

Whatever you want.
Since both Rifts and real life are actually just fantasies anyway, you can do whatever you darn well like in your campaign.

MY PERSONAL VOTE, because its much more interesting and leads to more campaign opportunities, is the theory that gods are created of pure believe, from a special energy that only belief, COMBINED belief generates. And it make a super being who guards and protects us. BUT, that being is sad, because its smart enough to know its superior, to those beings which created it, and now need it for love and guidance and protection. And they will never truly understand the epic proportions of your mutual symbiosis. And its sad but also beautiful as most sad things are.

Yeah, WAY more opportunities with that theory, than the other popular one that gods are just super power humans. (Like Old Atlanteans. )

Honestly, I would be inclined to go a Magic the Gathering route here.

Each plane has a World Soul, which creates its own beings, whether primordials, eldritch horrors, and gods (Clash of the Titan Olympians). These planes tend to solar system sized. It might even be possible for some mortals to become corporeal gods.

Those that are bigger tends to have life evolve normally, so some gods in say the Three Galaxies were at one point mortals that became gods; or maybe even an alien species of humanoids like the Beings from Star Trek, Olympians from Doctor Who WU.