Human person @RedNoBlue
How do Gods sustain themselves through belief? Is there an independent power they can draw on, apportioned to them by Ao’s rule based on the number of followers they have? Or is belief itself the energy, a form of psychic emanation that the Gods feed on…— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 29, 2020
…(for want of a better term). If so, how does it bridge such large gaps? 1)
Worship (NOT belief; in the Realms, all sane sentient beings “believe in” ALL of the deities) is a catalyst enabling deities to access more (or less) of the natural energies of a world/plane that I referred to in an earlier…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 29, 2020
1)
Worship (NOT belief; in the Realms, all sane sentient beings “believe in” ALL of the deities) is a catalyst enabling deities to access more (or less) of the natural energies of a world/plane that I referred to in an earlier 2)
…reply (wind, tides and currents, sunlight, heat, and so on).
Ao has nothing directly to do with this, and it’s not based on numbers of followers, but on amount and quality (fervence of devotion) of actual worship: prayers, …#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 29, 2020
3)
…deeds dedicated to the god/done while calling on the god (“Odin, guide my arm!”), offerings, etc. Deities can call on the energies of the plane where they make their home (the part of it they rule and have reshaped to their 4)
…their preferences) and the energies of Toril, where they are venerated: when they manifest (send visions or voices or even avatars), it’s a two-way street: these ‘sendings’ are also sponges absorbing the energy of worship and…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 29, 2020
5)
…transmitting back to the deity. Again, it’s a catalyst allowing them to access more world-energies. They CAN feed on it directly, but in doing so they consume it so it isn’t still extant to be a catalyst, so they can’t use 6)
…it as such to absorb more world-energies.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 29, 2020