Millennia ago the pantheon looked very different. There were many more gods, and some of them interacted freely with the people of Orizon, taking material form and wandering the earth to interact with mortals. Then the breaking occurred, and nearly all of the old gods died. Some perished simply by being caught in the energies and were rent to shreds, other gods died fending off creatures that tried to attack the weakened plane. Most of the old gods that lasted died in the great god's war between the gods and the devils and demons of Orizon. As the people were devastated and their world turned to rubble, only the six oldest gods remained to aid them, the others were dead. Over the centuries, new gods began to rise to fill the niches that were left abandoned. Some gods were the children of the survivors, some were celestials, risen to a new height, still, others were mortals that had managed to gain divine power and strength.
The gods of Orizon now visibly act mostly as patrons for the domains and aspects that they represent. They empower and guide their worshipers, bestowing magical blessings, whisper in their dreams, send celestial agents or, more rarely, appearing in an aspect or in-person to act directly upon the world.
Direct influence on the world has become rare for the gods, they seek to balance each other and keep anyone from growing too powerful. The gods are also distracted by their efforts to hold at bay the servants of the pit and outside influences that seek to destroy, consume, or seize control of the plane of Orizon. In addition, following the breaking, Soltis considered the influence of the gods on mortals to be one of its causes and imposed restrictions and laws against excessive meddling.
Within their pantheon, the gods are not truly at peace, they bicker and argue, some oppose each other by the very nature of their aspects, others have more petty motives. The ancient gods rule the pantheon and enforce decorum among their members. They often encourage the other gods to use mortals as pawns for settling disputes.
The gods reside within the celestial manor, which sits at the peak of Orizon’s planar geography, a beautiful mansion surrounded by a lush and lovely garden. The main doorway of the manor acts as a gate to anywhere within Orizon’s planar region, and each of the gods possesses their own individual rooms within the manor, that each maintains and furnishes.
Orizon’s gods can empower the souls of the deceased, sacrificing their own strength to transform the souls that pledge themselves to the god’s service into angels, the more strength sacrificed, the more powerful. These angels often act as the god’s direct representative to the world of mortals.
The Ancient Gods
Following the events of the breaking, most of the gods of the ancient world died in conflict with the outside entities and Esuriiten titans, then again they were brought in to fight against the fiendish hordes raised by Incancatus. Only six divines survived this holy devastation, the oldest of the old gods, the ones believed to have been on Orizon since before the beginning. These survivors were Incancatus, Soltis, Celeste, Karn, Tiad, and Vesperi.
These gods are the focus of the oldest myths and the greatest devotion, most worship is focused around them and the lesser gods fear their wrath and pay them subservience and tribute. The Ancient gods also command the greatest powers remaining from the old world, each retains control of a single solar archangel, the only surviving old angels. None of the new gods possess the strength to empower an angel to a solar’s strength. The knowledge of these ancient gods is immense, they have survived since the foundation of the world and they have seen both the rise and fall and the recovery of the world’s people.
The New Gods
Though they are significantly less powerful than those ancient gods that survived the breaking, the new gods of Orizon are still tremendously powerful, fueled by the power of their faithful combined with the raw energies of Orizon. Some of these gods arose simply because mortals needed them, created from a sort of gap in worship. Some gods were born from the union of other gods. Others were once the servants of other gods, that have risen up to divinity in their own right. Some gods were once mortals, but are now divine, through powerful means and esoteric tools. All of them took in worship and power to inflame their initial spark of divinity, lifting them up to undreamed-of heights from simple spirits or mortality to true divinity.
Regardless of their origins, the gods of Orizon command tremendous power and great worship among their followers. These newer gods are the source of the greatest amount of mythological drama within Orizon’s pantheon as they jockey for power and influence between each other, often using mortals in their schemes