The True Gods rose up over the bleeding husks of the Old Gods, taking advantage of the deific carnage wrought by the Godswar and banishing their former masters beyond the Veil. Rising as a new pantheon, the True Gods began the slow and careful work of helping their mortal followers survive and recover from that ancient cataclysm, carefully guiding them into a new age of freedom from divine masters.
Over time they raised up Saints from their mortal followers, to act as their voice and hands, and to guide mortals with more familiarity and personal attention than the five great Gods are capable of. Now, they watch over the mortals of the Continent, doing what they can to aid them in their sorrows and their glories, and empowering them to fight against the darkness that lurks in mortal hearts and beyond the bounds of the Veil.
<aside> š Note: The True Gods and their Saints are currently under construction; Bakharos is entirely complete, but everything else is in some state of in-progress. Please bear with us, and weāll try to get these out and finished as soon as we can.
</aside>
Most of the people of the Continent are Pantheists, following all five of the True Gods as a cohesive pantheon and praying to each as makes sense in a given situation. Even those who dedicate themselves to the service of one of the Five still respect and pray to the other four when itās appropriate. A Mystic of Druathos, for example, might well send a prayer to O-Del to help them craft something, or to Taerek for eloquence and patience when attempting to teach a lesson, rather than relying on one of Druathosā Saints for aid in something outside of their domain.
Serving one of the gods or their Saints does not require repudiating or denying the others; it is a choice of philosophy and a pact of mutual assistance where and when it is needed, not a matter of master and servant. Mystics and lay-followers of a god choose to follow the principles of that god above those of the other four, and to act as an agent of their god in the mortal world. The gods canāt act directly in the mortal world very often without disrupting the metaphysical equilibrium in an area, so they depend upon their mortal followers to act as their eyes, hands, and mouth, to shape events to further their deific agenda without the god having to reach down and do it themselves.
Those who choose not to believe in the True Gods are in an odd position on the Continent. The Gods are real, and their existence can be verified by anyone willing to pray to them and perform their rituals; this makes true atheism (the rejection of the Godsā existence) functionally similar to real-world flat-eartherism, a fringe conspiracy theory that marks someone as a functional idiot in the eyes of most people. Those who insist that the Gods donāt exist, despite all the evidence to the contrary, are looked at with disbelief, and are often struck with a curse by the local Mystics if they insist on pushing their crackpot ideas on others in a community.
Those who accept the existence of the True Gods but refuse to worship them are looked at with suspicion by most, as to do so is seen as being halfway to worshipping the Old Gods. However, over time a philosophy known as Mortalism has grown up amongst those who choose to abstain in their worship: the belief that one should live according to oneās own moral code, built piece by piece through philosophical and ethical debate and reasoning, so as to live a just, moral, and fulfilling life without needing to resort to the Godsā edicts and teachings for guidance or support.
Mortalism emphasizes the need to depend upon yourself and your own strength of body, mind, will, and spirit, rejecting all extraplanar and supernatural assistance or guidance; magic by itself is seen as a tool, but divine magic is viewed by Mortalists as a crutch and a beguiling influence that leads its practitioners astray from their true self and beliefs.
Though Mortalism is seen by many as an odd personal choice, the rigor with which it has been argued and shaped over the centuries has earned it a certain level of grudging respect from those who do follow the gods. The fact that its philosophies often align with the teachings of the gods ā the reliance on oneself, the emphasis on logic and ethical behavior, etc. ā means that philosophical arguments about ethical and righteous behavior between Mystics and Mortalists often end up being quite productive and constructive, provided that they stay away from the influence of the Gods on mortals.
Mortalists are often the first to be suspected of cultist sympathies, due to their lack of a clear allegiance to the True Gods. However, most investigators actually consider them to be the least likely to aid the Old Gods or their servants, as anyone capable of holding strong to the Mortalist philosophy usually finds the Old Godsā creeds far more repellant than those of the True Gods.