GODS

Life began to emerge on planets through natural process. These creatures were without true thought or creativity, something only the primordial soul possessed. They simply reasoned enough to survive. The primordial soul had another thought; what a marvelous game it would make to be these creatures, to become small, limited, and infinitely varied. It thought for a while on what the rules of this game would be, and finally decided on something so deceptively simple that it would be able to entertain itself with this game for all eternity. It would split itself into smaller souls, some smaller than others, and impress them upon the creatures that had come to be. It would grant some of it's own creativity and individuality to them in this process, and would leave when the creatures died as they all inevitably did. When this happens, the smaller portions of the primordial soul would return to the whole, and decide what form it would take on the next go around. But to make this game work, all memory of being the primordial soul must be forgone when a mortal form is taken on. All memories of previous mortal forms must also be forgone. In this way, the game is assured to be interesting as the fragments of the primordial soul will all have to search for a meaning to the world they find themselves in, and their own world-view to apply to it.

In this way, religions emerged, as a certain sense of being part of something larger or that something larger exists is impossible to completely remove. Mortals crave to worship something because of a kind of separation anxiety. Magic can be wielded by them because their soul possess a fragment of the creative potential of the primordial soul it came from. The exact method is irrelevant. Simply believing strongly enough that magic can be used is enough to use it, and believing that it can't be done is enough to make it unusable. In this way, the miracles performed by religious zealots are done, as are the spells of mages

Gods do not exit, truly, but there are some mortals who have risen to the level that they are called gods, empowered by the beliefs of those who worship them. Others are simply the manifestations of the combined belief of many mortals. But none of these gods truly created the universe, even if they believe it to be true and can be dated back to millennia past. Very, very few mortal scholars are privy to this truth. The primordial soul is the one true God, but it neither needs nor demands worship. It is devoid of morality, form, gender, and philosophy. It is simply a child entertaining itself with a game. And you are part of it.

Why do true gods necessarily have to be responsible for creation? The idea that being able to get things started is evidence of being perfect in every single way is a silly Medieval idea that never had any basis in reason. Different gods could be supreme in different ways. Maybe there's a one that caused other gods, a different one that caused time to begin, one that created matter, one that shaped the planet, one that created humans, one that's the strongest and could kill all the other gods if it so desired, a different one that's omniscient regarding observable events, and another one entirely that has exclusive access to moral facts.

How do you explain the existence of different kids eating at different lunch tables?

>How do you explain the existence of different pantheons?
I don't.

Here's a crazy idea.

Similar Gods of different pantheons are actually family. Zeus, Thor, the Thunderbird. They're all brothers. Of course, most people don't work at the same company as their brother, so they show up in different pantheons. Spider Anansi, Brother Coyote, Loki, all brothers. Hades, Hel, Yama, Osiris are brothers and sister.

What if all their uncles work at Nintendo?

I prefer my gods and clerical magic, to be vague enough so that there's substantial doubt over whether they exist at all.

All gods of every pantheon share something in common: they're the exact same omnipotent omnipresent omniscient guy just playing different roles

God, Satan, Odin, Thor, Loki, Osiris, Seth, Quetzalcoatl, Anansi, Sky Father, all of 'em. It builds morale, you see. Gotta give the little guys something to fight for.

There are a ton of beings who could be called gods. How legitimate they are depends on your standards. The more influential of these may be known by many cultures, perhaps under many different name as people don't always speak the same language. Or have the same history. Some of these gods may be more local.

Pantheons may consist of a mix of such entities. Typically they're a culture in themselves, a group of deities with common history who interact with one another. More influential gods may have a role in many of these cultures, though their relationship may differ.

Gods associated with travel or adventure may be more commonly known, as well as gods of greater power. One key point to note here.Mortals don't know everything about the gods, and are often confused on details.

>How do you explain the existence of different pantheons?

The same way I explain different nations: some powerful individuals rule an area.

>I'm not saying that this means that the gods aren't real, but I want to see how do you imagine it's possible for Zeus and Thor for being the god of the thunder (and other stuff).

There's more than one painter in this world. More than one writer. More than one singer. Yet there are famous ones out there, and those we consider better than others.

>Also, there are gods more powerful than others.

Yes.

>While the christian God can do, see and be anything he wants, Vishnú [Sorry if I'm wrong] is dreaming reality by itself, so it would mean that God is just part of the dream of a higher being.

Or it's propaganda on the part of their followers, and the gods aren't as powerful as that.

Gods don't get a magical means of transportation beyond what is noted in their myths. The Gods of Thunder can ride the lightning, but that only extends as far as the storm. Otherwise they're stuck walking like us regular chumps.

>how do you imagine it's possible for Zeus and Thor for being the god of the thunder
Because they're simply different names for the same guy. Though, Thor's equivalent in Greek myth is actually Hephaestus and Zeus' equivalent in Norse myth is Týr.

>Zeus is Tyr, not Odin

>Though, Thor's equivalent in Greek myth is actually Hephaestus

Not really. Thor is an important figure in Norse myth and is completely unlike Hephaestus. There's no equivalents because they aren't related.

oh...you found me out heh? I'll be seeing you soon user.

Zeus and Tyr are both derived from *Dyḗus Ph2tḗr, user. Both even dropped the second part of the name, though Odin's cult probably borrowed or stole some traits that originally belonged to Dyēus.

>they aren't related
They absolutely are. They are both derived from *Perkunos, the hammer-wielding thunder-god of the Proto-Indo-Europeans.

Different local interpretations of the same entities that have been slowly exaggerated through out the generations.

So basically, when people pray to Thor, and other people pray to Zeus, they are both praying to the same god. They simply have different names that the mortals in different regions of the world slapped on them.

The gods are all about as powerful as one another, and frequently lie about their capabilities.
The only creator god that actually created anything was the first creator god, and they are long lost to time. Everyone else is just claiming they did because gods are lying gloryhounds.

>5: only one god or pantheon is true, the remainder are demons and spirits
Or maybe the line between what's a demon, a spirit, and a god is rather blurred to begin with, and what some people call their god, others call a demon, while some other faiths sees the worship and veneration of all spirits as equally valid.

H-ha! We all know Nyalathotep is just a made-up thing from the mind of a crazy old racist scifi writer, r-right g-guys?

Sure but why do different cultures have different gods?

Infinite Planes. As in there are multiple worlds with people on them and on some of those worlds Thor is the thunderer and on others Zeus is but in worlds where Thor is the thunderer, people have never heard of Zeus and vice versa. Of course, with infinity being all infinite and all, there are a few worlds where people are aware of both. But since both gods already have more than enough followers elsewhere, they make no move to eradicate worship of the other on worlds where they are both known.

I also see each god as having their own plane to reside in, and pantheon's being formed when several gods decide to socialize and create a new shared plane that they congregate in from time to time.

The idea that gods are perfect is a silly modern idea that never had any basis in reason.

Territorial monopolies, much like ISPs in America.

How is it any less silly than imperfect gods?

Any more*

It's crazily optimistic and naive to expect anything to be perfect, ever.

In one book series, if I'm remembering correctly, HP Lovecraft is actually the psuedonym of a sorcerer who was one of the big bad's lieutenants during the awful magic war a few hundred years ago. All his cosmic horror writing are inspired by the actual eldritch horrors he and the other bad guys worshipped.

St. Augustine put it best.
There are still Gods/Angels/ what have you, just all in a hierarchy to weaker to stronger, which the top of the heap, totally omnipotent, TRUE God at the top.

Being a god is like have a job. You manage things associated with said job & get paid by having magical powers in your downtime. Due to the nature of said divine powers, it's likely much of their work time is spent shitposting or dicking around but no one complains unless it's so bad that galactic order is harmed. People take shifts & regularly argue over who gets to be sex god for their dates next Friday.

"Mortal minds are so limited. What's wrong with having different heritages?"