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Old 10-07-2021, 01:24 PM   #1
thestor
 
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Default Default Gods who LOSE power through worship 2

Over a decade back (boy, do I feel old now), I posted a thread about the consequences of a setting, where gods LOSE power through worship, instead of gaining it, as is sometimes seen. The idea would be, that the gods cannot prevent this, as they are worshiped, they are drained of power used to feed the wonders and miracles their priests perform. The consequence being, that popular gods would lose power eventually, forcing the people to search new ones and their appropriate rituals to mine, creating some dynamic in the Pantheon.

Back then, I also suggested that priests of a god would try to anti-selytize to prevent worship of their favored god to keep all the power of themselves.

While this musing brought some fascinating idea from this forum, I would like to ask you now about the same set-up, but with one of two variations:

Variant 1: The draining of power doesn't matter to the god
That sort of power that is drained to feed miracles in the mortal world means nothing to the god (to gods enamored with mortals, maybe twice as much). So, the gods themselves have no motive to prevent worship, any attitude they have to it would be personal preference but not something vital to them.

Variant 2: The draining of power feels good to the god
Or maybe by having their power tapped in the mortal realm, they gain power in the divine area, irrespective that they grow weaker in the mortal plane. The idea would be that the gods have an interest in getting tons of worship, but the more one god is worshiped, the less useful it becomes to its followers. Just one idea coming to me, corrupt high priests who warp the public rituals so they don't actually work, while keeping the real ones to themselves.

But again, I am posting this, as over a decade (ARRRGH, so OLD) ago, to read what consequences you think such a setup could have.
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Old 10-07-2021, 03:12 PM   #2
RyanW
 
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Default Re: Default Gods who LOSE power through worship 2

One thing this might lead to is that religions can have spiritual power or temporal power, but not both (at least not for long). Any religion large enough to be a big political player (or one with enough political power that it starts to draw in members who want a piece of that power) would more quickly run out of spirit juice.
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Old 10-07-2021, 03:59 PM   #3
ericthered
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Default Re: Default Gods who LOSE power through worship 2

It also gives a reason to be a dark or evil god. Make it unpleasant to worship you, and fewer people will do so. Of course, they then get large amounts of power, so you become more tempting to worship.


If a god can rapidly change the appropriate methods of worship that's also a defense stratedgy.


The second option, where Gods feel good loosing power, is my favorite of the two.
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Old 10-17-2021, 02:11 AM   #4
thestor
 
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Default Re: Default Gods who LOSE power through worship 2

Quote:
Originally Posted by RyanW View Post
One thing this might lead to is that religions can have spiritual power or temporal power, but not both (at least not for long). Any religion large enough to be a big political player (or one with enough political power that it starts to draw in members who want a piece of that power) would more quickly run out of spirit juice.
Temporal or spiritual power, that would be a great choice!

An idea that came to me, a god that is worshiped massively and thus can give very little in ways of miracles or other aid asking his faithful to do his work for him, that is solving the flocks problems so they stay faithful.
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Old 10-18-2021, 02:39 PM   #5
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Default Re: Default Gods who LOSE power through worship 2

There was a Cthulhu mythos story - quite possibly not by HPL himself - that involved a Great Old One cult that was actually syphoning power from the thing they claimed to worship. Hilarity, as always, ensued, but it would make an interesting plot twist for a setting, especially for a "cult of the banished/imprisoned/forbidden god" or other squiddy critter. Especially when the PCs get finished eradicating their worldwide network and find out what they actually just achieved...
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