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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercule" data-source="post: 1455648" data-attributes="member: 5100">I'm still working it out, but I'l give what I've got so far (and maybe yoink a couple of ideas along the way). I absolutely detest subjectivity and "belief=power".  Power flows from god to follower, not the other way around.  Gods exist, for the most part, as a separate race unto themselves, although there have been a handful of mortals who have ascended to divinity. So, what makes gods care about the mortal realm?  Well, a god has the ability to augment his natural power by tying it to a sphere of influence, a bit like an item familiar.  The thing is that most of these spheres exist primarily in the mortal realm.  Death, storms, lies, etc. exist everywhere, but you find them in the greatest concentration on the Prime.  In fact, that is the reason the Prime was created, to be a nexus for the spheres and power the deities. As each sphere waxes and wanes in cosmic prominence so, too, does a deity's power who is associated with it.  Many deities are content with relatively low-maintenance spheres that return lesser, but consistant, power.  Others have spheres that are a bit more demanding, but quite important.  Oceans, which just kinda sit there are at the top end of the former category; while death, which happens universally and with great frequency is at the high end of the latter. For the record, the god of fear is the most underrated god in the cosmos -- even by most other gods.  Part of this is because most beings are afraid to admit to themselves how much impact fear has in their lives.  So, by being covert, he is actually accumulating power power.  I sort of divine recursive loop. A deity who takes up a sphere is required to maintain it, too.  A god of death must cause, directly or indirectly, death.  A god of storms must cause or stay storms.  Of course, there is incentive because the better maintained a sphere is, the better the payoff is. Now, the $64,000 question is: "What determines the importance of a sphere?"  It cannot be just another way of dealing with belief, or it is still a subjective, worshipper to god flow of power.  When I get that question answered, I'll have 95% of the work done. I'm moving in the direction of having a handful of hidden "overgods".  They control/represent fate and other core concepts that no god can tap into.  The more impact something has on "fate" and the flow of the universe, the more divinity it bestows.  I initially drew this idea from the old Masters/Immortals boxed sets and the spheres in there.  Entropy played a significant role in my game way back when, but I cannot for the life of me remember what the other four spheres were.  Can anyone help out, here?</blockquote>

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