The Chained Watcher

World Building: Gods

This chapter is mostly for info-dumping, though it is phrased as a conversation. I mentioned False Gods before, so here's a bit of an explanation as to what they are and what sets them apart from real gods.

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Tango idly kicked his legs while sitting on the edge of a block. Since Grian had shown him and Cleo how he enchanted/recolored things, he had stopped bothering to hide the process from the Secret Seekers. Not that any of them are complaining, since any information they gather from it is to their benefit.

Unfortunately, the only thing they'd really learned is that Grian can enchant stuff a lot more easily than they had expected. And yes, that's including the speed with which he'd made the magic quill. Even with less than half of his attention on it, none of them could perceive any loss of speed when enchanting stuff.

Looking over to where he was at now, Grian was setting up a little note block jingle at the entrance to a new puzzle room on Hermitcraft. Mumbo was also there, just kinda hanging around while thinking out loud. The mustached redstoner was musing aloud while wondering about the Church and how they worshiped Watchers.

"I wonder how often Watchers impersonate gods. Like, what even makes a god a god? Can anything be a god, so long as it has followers? Are there even any gods in the first place?"

His meandering thoughts were interrupted as Grian offhandedly commented, "Gods? Yeah, of course there are."

The way he said it was completely casual, like if someone asked if you had a pet or if you liked a certain type of food. Like someone who is certain in their knowledge, but... No, he's right there, just ask. "You're knowledgeable about gods?"

"Somewhat, depends on the type. Physical, spiritual, or false?"

Well now, wasn't that a loaded question. He hadn't even been aware that there were different types in the first place, so how was he supposed to answer this? After a couple seconds of silence, Grian glanced up in confusion, then made a sound of understanding. "Ahhh, so the long answer then." He set down the note blocks in his hand and sat on the ground, prompting the other two Hermits to sit in front of him.

"Where to start... you know what, let's just start with Spiritual. Spiritual Gods are probably what you first imagine when you picture a god, and are usually born when a religion gets enough genuine pious worshipers. They are the embodiment of their concept, and are inseparably linked to the religion they spawned from."

"Their power grows as their religion does, and wanes with it as well. If their religion is eradicated, they too shall cease to exist. Sometimes they are simply born as a god, other times the soul or spirit of a remarkably compatible follower manages to ascend and take on the role of their god before the power of Faith has accumulated enough to coalesce into a god. The usual terms used to differentiate these are 'Created' and 'Ascended'."

Grian paused to make sure they were following along. "Once a Spiritual God gains enough power, they can project an Avatar of their Will upon the earth to walk amongst their followers. This Avatar is, to the common folk, nearly indistinguishable from one of them. To beings with strong enough senses, though, it is a clear beacon wherever it resides. To be honest... At this point, there is very little difference between a Spiritual God and a Physical God, with the only real one being the dependence on their religion."

His head tilted slightly, thinking. "Ah, I almost forgot. There have been cases in the past where Spiritual Gods have attempted to go against their nature. A God of Peace waging war, a God of Farmers salting the earth, a God of Healing commanding the undead. None of those Gods last long, their followers turning against them as their very being tears itself apart."