BACK TO INDEX
On Next Lecture
Send a spelling or
grammar correction to: Tracy Johnson
"Welcome to your first lecture in Religion for the Enlightened. My name is Reaccus Sowodnen and I will be your professor for this course. I see that you come from many cultural backgrounds and thus have all been raised with a specific idea of what the gods are. Because of this, the first thing you all must do, in order to get the most out of my class, is to assume that everything you know is incorrect. The only thing that is correct is what I tell you is correct. If someone who is not me has given you different information, that person is wrong. I know that many of you are thinking that I am not the first, nor probably the last, person to tell you something of this sort concerning the gods. But let me make this very clear; I am always right."
"The Grey college is the most renown teaching institute in the Flanaess and I have been teaching this class for the last 60 years. In my time as professor I have taught kings, emperors, mages, great warriors, and professors from other colleges. Every important individual anywhere in the Flanaess has been influenced by my teachings! When you stand in front of these people later on in your life, be assured that they will think as I told them to. Do you really want to look foolish and try to tell them otherwise? No? Good, let's get down to work then."
"The first question that comes to mind when thinking of deities is 'where do they come from'. There are many possible answers to this question. Some say that the deities always existed. Others say there were some original deities that always existed and the original few created the rest of the deities. Another popular concept is that the deities are mortals that transcended to godhood via their efforts on the mortal planes. All of these are correct, in a way. Some of the younger deities are ascended mortals that existed between the age of the Suel Imperium and today. Most of these have taken the easier path to immortality by linking their fortunes with those of an existing deity that facilitated the mortal's ascendance. A very select few were able to find a raw source of power that only they could control and tapped into in order to ascend. As an interesting note, if a deity opposes the ascendance of a mortal it becomes almost impossible for him to attain godhood - he must find another deity as a patron that does not fear a religious war."
"The older deities existed before the Suel Imperium and very little is known of how they gained their powers. Many philosophers theorize that in the distant past there were many sources of untapped power for mortals to grasp. As more and more deities ascended, less sources remained for other mortals to utilize. Eventually the situation reached its current state with only a few difficult to access sources remaining for today's mortals to find."
"The deities have been classified by mortal beings in different levels of power or influence. Some have argued that the level of power of a deity denotes his status among them and his ability to control the other deities. This line of thought is garbage. The levels of power given to the deities come from our mortal interpretation of their sphere of influence. If you have decided that Beory, the goddess of nature, is more powerful than Delleb, the god of knowledge, then this arrogant mentality will lead you into trouble. Each god is absolute within his sphere of influence and can grant their followers the ability to invoke miracles in their name. The power of the miracle granted is solely dependant on the faith of the priest and not on the perceived power level of the deity."
"In my treatise on deities, available in the library, I have linked the source of power to the sphere of influence of the deity. This link, besides providing the deity with power over their sphere, also influences the mentality or outlook the deity has towards different mortal behaviors. Continuing with the example of Beory, we can assume that she has existed for a very long time, as one of the easiest sources of power to tap would have been the force of nature. By tapping into that source to achieve godhood, she has "limited" herself to making certain that the force of nature continues to grow. Otherwise her source of power would stagnate or shrink."
"Now, having dispelled this common myth of mortal ratings indicating deity's powers, I will describe the standard levels of influence that mortals have given to the deities. The highest level of power is that of a Greater Deity. These deities are the oldest known and have usually tapped into the most obvious source of power. These sources include that of nature, the sun, death, disease, etc. The second level is that of intermediate deity. These deities are a further refining subset of the greater deities - such as war being a subset of death and light being a subset of the sun. The 3rd and final level of true deities is that of Lesser Deity. These deities have further increased the subset already begun by the intermediate deities. Typical deities include the subset of swords from war and flame from light. Below this levels are several types of unformed deities including quasi-deities, hero-deities, and demi-deities. Each one has particular qualities that will be examined in depth later on in this course."
