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I see that some of you are still around for this second class of religion. When we left off last I had finished explaining how the different deities have tapped into various sources of power. If you missed last class, please leave now and return next month when I will begin teaching these classes again. I do not have the patience to bring you up to the level of knowledge that the rest of the class has.
At these words, several of the students packed their scrolls and worked their way out of the classroom.
Yes, thank you for leaving. Don't disturb the rest of the students on your way out. Now we can commence the class without any unruly elements. Today's class is entitled "Sharing Power". In this class I will attempt to make you understand how and why the different deities share these sources of power.
As some of you are sure to have noticed many deities have similar if not identical spheres of influence. The most well known example of this is the twin brothers of Hextor and Heironeous. Both of these deities share the sphere of War among the Oeridian people. How this came to be has many different myths. Some scholars postulate that the two deities were actually mortal twins that ascended to godhood and shared the source of power. Others speculate that they are the twin children of one or more older deities. These minor details are best left for other courses later on in your studies, if you choose to pursue them.
What is known, is that when two deities share the same source of power a conflict will occur. This conflict may take centuries to manifest itself, but occur it always does. There are many reasons that a delay in this conflict exists.
One of the reasons for this lack of conflict is because of insignificance of the interloper deity. Suppose that a newly arisen deity becomes the spirit-god of a particular grove of trees. This deity would immediately come into conflict with Beory - goddess of all nature. Considering that Beory's influence spans planes and worlds, it comes as no surprise that the minor drain on the power source caused by the spirit-god goes unnoticed by Beory for a long time.
Another reasons for the lack of immediate conflict between deities is one of synergy. Using Lendor and Cyndor as an example of two deities that share the sphere of influence of Time. Lendor's followers on Oerth were predominantly Suel and they were the only ones contributing to the increase of the power source that he was tapping into. Lendor becomes aware of Cyndor, a new deity tapping into his source of power. Lendor approaches Cyndor and threatens to destroy him for his arrogance. Cyndor responds by showing that he has influence among the non-Suel tribes - people that Lendor has not any opportunity to convert. Therefore they agree to share the source of power and each seeks to increase the overall size of the source by means of their respective followers. This benefits both deities in the short term as the source of power becomes larger and allows them to "repel" other deities. Similar synergies could have been achieved between Rao - a Flan deity - and Delleb - an Oeridian one.
Fear is another reason for lack of immediate conflict between deities. If a deity is in a precarious situation and a new deity begins to tap into the same source of power it is possible that the older deity does not react immediately. This fear may be due to several reasons. One reason would be that the newcomer has a powerful cult following that is in a position to cause substantial damage to the older deity's faithful.
A final reason would be one of preoccupation. The older deity is already involved in so many other issues that he does not have the opportunity to deal with the interloper. This is one of the rarest of reasons as to most deities having too much to keep aware of is extremely unlikely. They are nearly omnipotent and omniscient in their domains and as such this reason is a short lived one and the new deity must quickly establish his presence before being destroyed.
This concludes this class. In next class I will instruct you on the issues of deities vying for sources of power and what happens when a deity loses.
If any of you have questions or comments you may leave a scroll in my office at ricdii@yahoo.com under the name of Reaccus Sowodnen.
The college will ensure that I am made aware of your request.
