Avatars, Angels & Demigods

When a divine really wants to make an impact on the mortal world, there are various tools or devices they can use to communicate or enact their wills.  On Fletnern, the various different pantheons tend to use different means to these ends:

Dinsthain - The Dinsthain pantheon uses avatars, as seen in Manoto’s avatar of 652P.  This is mainly because the pantheon has a large number of gods.  With this many gods, having one weaken himself/herself for a short time is not dangerous because the others can watch out for the weakened god while the avatar is in the mortal realm.  (Creating an avatar splits the god’s power between him and his avatar thus weakening the god for a time.)  When looked at from the eternal point of view of the gods, this is an incredibly short term risk for long term results.  Some of these avatars are raised to demi-gods after their work in the mortal world is over, while others are absorbed back into the “parent” god.

Jemmistake - There are a relatively small number of Jemmistake gods, but that is how they desire it.  Therefore, they use angels and other minions in order to convey their wishes.  Despite having far fewer followers than the Dinsthain pantheon, the Jemmistake gods will likely have about the same number of minions active in the mortal realm at any given time.  In addition, Jemmistake minions will be far more likely to reveal themselves and their true natures.

Latvich - In the past, the Latvich gods have used demi-gods - avatars that are elevated to true godhood very early on.  While these demi-gods will not stay in the mortal realms for very long (typically only about a year), they can get quite a bit done.

One oddity about the demi-gods is that the Latvich find it perfectly normal that the gods would want to procreate with mortals, while other cultures find this somewhat distasteful.  The Latvich pantheon is also few in number, but by placing these demi-gods in the mortal world, they are able to create a religion and following for themselves.  Then when they take their place in the heavens, they will have a group of worshipers who will help to maintain them, thus expanding the pantheon.

Elven - The elven gods are perhaps the most standoffish and distant of all the gods.  While they do reward mortals who follow their teachings, their emphasis is far more often on things other than the mortals themselves.  They are not known to have ever placed an avatar in the mortal world, though it is possible this happened before history began to record such things.

Dwarven - The dwarven gods are declining due to the communist government in Rock Cove.  Because they are losing power quickly, they will often make their desires known to their more faithful followers personally.  As long as this divine intervention on the mortal plane is directly focused only on the dwarves and their regions, the other gods are not willing to step in and interfere, but amongst the gods themselves, this sort of direct communication is viewed as unseemly.