Godhood

A God's Body

A god's body/form is a manifestation of their psyche, often with unearthly appearance. They pretty much exist as a pure, malleable essence of themselves. They don't have a solid body like mortals, however, they're able to make their body solid if they wish. Regular physical attacks won't threaten their survival.

However, magical attacks (made by the manifestation of their own psyche) from fellow gods can leave scars or lasting damages on them. They're still vulnerable to any damages done directly to their psyche (so mental health-related liabilities can still affect them), or having their existence wiped/destroyed by the higher gods entirely.

The "death" of a god, if not by any existence-wiping attacks, happens when their sense of self is destroyed beyond recovery. All gods are also capable of self-destruction, but it'll require a great resolve to pull it off.

This means a god's ability to thrive and survive is heavily dependent on their mental state and will, considering how they lack physical needs (they may 'tend' to these from time to time, for the sake of their sanity rather than physical needs). A lot of them has developed defense mechanisms (similar to coping mechanisms) to protect themselves.

As they exist as an essence of themselves, they often take form of whatever feels 'the most like themself'. They can take form of anything, often with scars symbolizing the kinds of damage they took as a god.

If a god wishes to leave the realm and visit one of the worlds, they will often assume a mortal-like form. Sometimes, they may choose to possess an existing mortal, taking on their appearance and using them as their vessel.

A God's Aura

Despite the gods being able to shapeshift into practically anything, they'll have their own distinct aura that the other gods can sense and identify. This aura is unique to individuals, elicting different feelings. (e.g. God of Destruction's aura often feels heavy and imposing, in a way a looming danger would feel like.)

The aura can shift and change depending on the god's mood, however, it'll remain distinct and identifiable.

This ability to sense other gods will depend on the individuals. Some may be able to sense others, some may not. Being able to sense other gods is usually attributed to more empathetic/social gods, while those who lack/don't have much ability to do so are often assumed to be the more asocial ones.

Like all god abilities, this can be trained and practiced. However, some gods are unable to do it entirely, and some may wish to lessen the extent they can sense other gods.

Becoming a God and Retiring

A god can create another god (or a mortal) on their own, and the created god will assume a role lower than them in the hierachy.

When a new god exists, they're given a domain they'll be involved with. In the other words, they're assigned a role in the Pantheon Realm. But they won't exist with innate knowledge relating to godhood, they'll have to figure stuff out (such as their godly abilities) on their own.

Mortal to Godhood

It's very possible for a mortal to become a god, although it entirely depends on whether they're chosen by any gods (who seek a mortal to replace them or work under them). The chance of that happening is entirely dependent on the god.

The process of becoming a god is pretty much being directly exposed to the Pantheon Realm's space. When a mortal is exposed to it, their soul/psyche transforms to adapt to Pantheon Realm, leaving their physical body behind. The transformation process takes a toll on a mortal, and many mortals are considered dead by this process, due to their physical body being left behind.

If a mortal enters the Pantheon Realm unauthorized (via a god leaving behind the portal to the Pantheon Realm or something to that effect), they're pretty much dead, and a god will often dispose of the newly-transformed mortal. But if they're lucky enough, they'll end up filling the empty spot in the pantheon instead, or the god bothers to replace the now-dead mortal in the world they came from.

Mortals who become gods often carry at least a part of their mortal self to godhood. Such as their original personality, morality, parts of their appearance, etc. Eventually, the mortals-turned-gods would eventually be warped and changed from their original self—becoming someone unrecognizable to those who used to know them in the past.

Giving Up Godhood

Every god except for Creation themself can give up their god status through these methods: self-destruction, being obliterated by the gods higher in the hierachy, or willingly transforming themself into a mortal and living as one. When there’s an empty spot in the pantheon, one of these scenarios will happen to fill the spot (and it usually occurs pretty quickly):

• God of Creation, God of Destruction, God of Time, or the other gods higher than them create the missing god from scratch.
• A mortal will be chosen to become the next god, by the gods who are higher than them in the hierachy.
• For the gods who come in pairs: if only one god remains, they may search for a suitable mortal to replace the missing god themself.

A God's Domain and Duties

Domain

Usually, the gods are obligated to manage and take care of things within their domain, using their own powers and capabilities. Most importantly, their existence maintains the existence and the stability of the domains they're assigned to.

For example, a God of Death usually finds themself dealing with the souls of mortals from the major worlds (if said major world's mortals have one). If they're destroyed or gave up godhood (without anyone to immediately fill the role), it may affect the deaths occuring in the major worlds—like the dead suddenly coming back to life for no identifiable reason, a large population suddenly drop dead, etc.

Two gods often share the same domain at time, to help each other out. It's technically possible to have a single domain for their own, but they'll often find the burden too heavy to bear, to the point of threatening their sanity and survival as a god.

Other Duties

Apart from their duties within their domains, gods are obligated to contribute to the pantheon (and the entire universe) itself, too.

A God's Abilities

Their powers allow them to create, perceive, and control things—within a limit imposed by the higher gods and by their mental state. A god can also freely manipulate themself and the gods lower than them.

Despite its vast potential, they can be exhausting to use, and all gods are vulnerable to its mentally straining nature (that threatens their existence as a whole). If heavily exhausted, they may find themselves unable to use their abilities as intended.

The process of gaining an ability looks like this:

• a god exists/is created
• they get and develop their own traits and all, or already has their own traits (if they're mortal turned god)
• they start to discover and learn about the abilities they can use (the abilities they have/can easily learn will depend on their existing traits and experience)

Power of Creation

Nearly all gods have the ability to create things from the thin air, from worlds, mortals, to anything like. However, the extent of things they can create will be imposed by the upper gods/their own domains/their own psyche.

The creations they create are often imperfect, and doesn't exactly follow the creator's expections. It'll take practice to be able to create something more precise consistently. (And getting inspiration from other things will definitely help with this process, too!)

This power work with intention-based system, where things can pop into existence with just an intention. It may be functional, but may have unexpected inconsistencies or flaws. Hell, gods don't tend to be aware of every single consequences their creations could have.

Some gods may be predisposed to a certain kinds of flaws in their creations, such as their mortals having a tendency to die in a specific gruesome manner.

All creations will carry their creator god's aura, too.

To Alter A Mortal

Gods are able to manipulate and alter a specific mortal for whatever purposes they wish. They could just give a mortal extra cat ears for fun, mind control them, or whatever they can think of.

Non-comprehensive Abilities List

These are pretty much to give an idea of stuff a god can do. Most of these abilities are something that needs to be learned/practiced to do properly.

• Wordless Telepathy
• Transformation
• Possession
• Teleportation (with themself and all the things they can control)
• Creating clones/duplicates
• Giving a mortal blessings and/or curses
• Mind reading (in literal sense)
  • literal sense as in: if a mortal thinks in a language that a god doesn't know, the god would have no idea what are they thinking about, unless they have studied the language before
  • they can try to take a peek in their mind to sense their current emotions/intentions. whatever a god does with this information, it will depend on their intelligence.
• Giving out prophecies to mortals

Resonance Phenomenon

As a unique phenomenon among gods, whose body is a manifestation of their psyche, gods who share a very deep bond with each other are able to experience resonance phenomenon.

This phenomenon synchronizes the gods' emotions and thoughts with one another, even if they're far away from one another. Allowing a god to feel what their partner feels, and to sense their thoughts. On an extreme end, they may adopt the same consciousness, mannerisms, and sense of identities with each other.

It often happens involuntary, and may cause distress to a god who hates the other, but has a very deep connection with them otherwise.

This phenomenon will typically begin whenever all sides feel as if their identities becoming the one with the other. So it usually happens between two partner gods, like the Major Gods who came in pairs.

Pseudo-Resonance

Sometimes, gods may artificially implement a way to feel another god's/mortal's emotions and thoughts, often one-sided. It usually serves as a tool rather than a natural phenomenon.

It often takes a form of leaving behind some kind of a device to track other god's thoughts, whether it takes form of a mortal following the target around, or a location with thought-tracking powers. This device is often created by the tracker's own powers, once they learn to create something capable of receiving thoughts/emotions as an input.

However, most gods will quickly recognized they're having their thoughts/emotions seen and tracked—so they'll either avoid locations that can track their thoughts, removing the tracking device themselves, or "hiding their thoughts" deeper inside their psyche. The most effective way to stop having their thoughts tracked is to confront whoever's using this power.

Hierachy

Gods in Pantheon Realm come with a strictly-defined hierachy. Any higher gods can screw up the lower gods, and not the other way round. At most, the lower gods may end up irritating the higher gods.

A god can pretty much destroy/kill any gods lower than them in the hierachy. If it's a god equal to them (like the partner gods), it's more of a struggle, and attempting to kill one's partner god will often end up in mutual destruction. If a god wants to kill a god higher than them, they couldn't just walk up and wipe them from existence, but they can try using psychological tactics to manipulate them into their own demise.

Major Gods

The Beholder Triad

The trio of the ones who hold the most power in the Pantheon Realm.

• God of Creation
• God of Destruction
• God of Time

The Fate Holders

The gods with significantly more vast domains. They almost always come in pairs, as two partner gods with the same power in the hierachy. Gods who came in two may be family, friends, strangers, lovers, and other kinds of relationships—as long as they're able to manage their powers together somehow.

When a half of the pair gives up their godhood or is destroyed, a heavy toll of the other god's responsibilities would fall on their remaining partner, adding the extra strain onto them. The remaining god would usually find the other potential god, lest they'd eventually self-destruct from the strain of godhood.

• Gods of Nature
  1. Illustro-Nathereth, the Equinox
  2. Theltere-Dranogh, the Twins
• Gods of Mortality
  1. The Guardian Gods
  2. Eli-A
  3. Valei-Deswyn
• Gods of Psyche
  1. Unnamed Psyche Gods
  2. Vinlei-Chesar, the Lovers
  3. Egatha-Irtia, the Archenemies
• Gods of Possibilities
  1. Vrios-Irrus, the Fate Holders
  2. Genofi, the Eye of Contradiction

Minor Gods

The Embodiments

The minor gods who are created by the Fate Holders often fall into this group. They're usually assigned to assist the major gods out with dealing with the worlds.

The list of gods here doesn't indicate their hierachy over each other. They're all roughly at the same level of the hierachy, unless specified otherwise.

• The Three Swordsmen of Zenith Ocean: Created by the Gods of Nature, as the deities of Zenith Ocean.
• The Celestial Gods: A group of gods serving under the Gods of Nature.
  • Natiana, the God of Darkness
  • Celessia, the God of Light
  • Riya, the God of Flames
  • Zelis, the God of Water
• Gnosis, the Deity of Knowledge: Created by the Gods of Psyche, as the one who gathers knowledge throughout the major worlds.
• Atlas, the Deity of Battle: Created by the Gods of Psyche, as the one who supports mortals with strength and might in battles throughout the major worlds.

The Reassembled Ones

The former gods who were destroyed/got their godhood taken away—are brought back to existence in the Pantheon Realm, since they may be fondly remembered by the other gods. But they wouldn't keep the same power they had as gods. Instead, they usually reside in the minor worlds.

The process of their "revival" involves reassembling their past memories, that's usually kept with the God of Time. When one is brought back this way, they wouldn't end up becoming the exact same person as what the others formerly knew them for, and they usually develop their own identities from there.

Their role in Pantheon Realm is pretty much supporting the other gods, giving them advice or helping them sort things out from time to time.

• Former Gods of Nature
  • Indus and Navi (reassembled Illustro-Nathereth)
• Former Gods of Mortality
  • Libertas and Naledi (reassembled Guardian Gods)
  • Arcturus and Errai (reassembled A-Eli)
• Former Gods of Psyche
  • Meleph and Canopus (reassembled Unnamed Psyche Gods)
  • Vega and Castor (reassembled Vinlei-Chesar)
• Former Gods of Possibilities
  • Veritate and Irena (reassembled Vrios-Irrus)

The Artist Gods

An experimental group of gods. Another support for the other gods, and the ones who were assigned to help with the formation of newer major worlds.

More about them can be read here!

• Vein
• Heart
• Mind
• Eye

Other Assorted Stuff

putting wip for stuff im planning to put in the future too yay

• "angels" is pretty much a broad term to define mortals who are favored by the gods, especially those who work directly under said god. however, the term is used very loosely in APCverse. not every "mortals who are favored by gods and work under them" are referred to as angels, such as Lumi
• a god's schedule typically includes attending to their godly duties, interacting with others or pursuing one's mission, and rest.
  • rest/recovery phase is vital for survival
  • attending to their duties is vital to maintain the world they live in, and the worlds they take care of
  • interacting with others/pursuing one's mission is vital to continue existing as a god. it may be considered less important than rest/work, but without it, they'd make for a pretty depressed god—which isn't a good sign, considering how mental health is wholly tied to their existence.