A Beginner’s Intro to Deific Studies
Author	Althogort the Frank
Type	Introductory textbook
Subject	Theological study

Excerpts from

A Beginner’s Intro to Deific Studies

by Althogort the Frank

Excerpt from:

“Introduction”

As is commonly known among those even casually familiar with the field, a non-divine entity, such as a humanoid, dragon, or any other sapient creature, can go through a complicated and difficult process to attach their lifeforce to a particular concept. The concept can be anything – love, hatred, Thaunian muffins, war, papercuts, justice, the colour green, paperback erotica novels, or anything else.

The process involves a series of incredibly difficult rituals and is known as Threshenal’s Greater Deific Ascension Trial, after Threshenal, god of wheels, the first to discover and perform it. Scholars are generally agreed upon this fact, however, the minor god Nuzhin, god of snow angels, and his followers claim seniority. This is supported by no reputable sources (Shunk p136, Effords p38, Telcar pp49-229). Upon completing the Trial and successfully attaining the connection, this person becomes an ascendant theologue.

Once this is done, over time, whenever that particular concept is engaged See Appendix 6: Example Reference Chart of Concept Engagement, the theologue gains conceptual-engagement power. The amount of power is determined by a few factors, including but not limited to:

• The strength of the engagement. Actions more directly or purely associated with the concept are stronger engagement than more indirectly connected actions. If the concept is, for example, licking grass, then licking grass because you’re doing forensic analysis is weaker engagement than licking grass because you like the taste of grass, which is weaker engagement than licking grass because you just want to lick grass. See Chapter 7: Purity of Intent in Conceptual Engagement, along with appendices 4, 6, and 7.
• The strength of the concept itself. This is influenced by how widely-known the concept is (triangles is a stronger concept than triskaidecagons, even though both are polygons), how distinct the concept is (prime numbers is a stronger concept than neat bugs, As it happens, there is, as is common knowledge, a god of “neat bugs”, but Gorp is a much weaker god than Primus, god of prime numbers. since whether a number is “prime” is clearer than whether a bug is “neat”), and how much emotional attachment is connected to the concept (robbery is a stronger concept than tax fraud, even though both are theft), among other factors. See Chapter 3: Conceptual Strength.
• The amount of time the theologue has been linked to the concept. The longer someone has been linked to the concept, the stronger their connection is, and the more power they gain from engagement. See Appendix 8: Charts, section 3: “Time and Age of Theologues over Power”.

Additionally, people sincerely and genuinely doing action in the name of the theologue as if the theologue were already a god – action such as prayer, sacrifice, asking for and gaining assistance in matters related to the theologue’s chosen concept, etc – can deliver significant conceptual-engagement power to the theologue. Utchward, the god of carpentry, purportedly made much of his progress to godhood as a theologue from giving aid in carpentry from those who asked it in his name. Tushbert p337, Exgarnbort et al pp37-39, the Clean p47.

If the concept already has a god (like if you’re going for being the god of mental health or the sun or hugs or unrisen sweet baked goods, etc Respectively Thera, Capri, Shinstoll, and Popt.), the vast majority of the concept’s conceptual-engagement power goes to the god already attached to the concept, and any theologue attempting to gain purchase may get little-to-none of it. It is not unknown for a theologue to succeed in this manner (Telcar p398) but it is extremely difficult and has only been known to happen with particularly strong concepts (Butsch pp37-38, Skinwinder et al p3). This can be mitigated somewhat with the process of joining a pantheon. See section: “Pantheons”, along with Chapter 9: Pantheons, and Appendix 5: List of Known Pantheons.

Once enough Further reading: Understanding the Deific Threshold by Eshparticles Backnack and Reaching the Stars Above by Augustus Kai. conceptual-engagement power is gained, the theologue crosses what is known as the deific threshold, ascends, and becomes a god. Ascension greatly strengthens their own power, their ability to bestow that power upon others, and their attachment to the concept – along with making them, to some extent, noticeably less “human” in their thought process and psychology. Exact details of this are unclear, but it is generally thought to involve the gods being less capable – albeit not entirely incapable – of what we generally consider “basic” humanoid emotion such as love, spite, or fear (the Warm, Gods of Many Shapes, p137; Netchson pp522-527).

After becoming a god, more concepts can be linked or associated with the god in question, See Chapter 12: Resultant Gods, section 16: “Multiconceptual Divinity”. Further reading: Gods of Many Heads and Gods of Many Names, both by Fordock the Warm. although a god that ascended through Threshenal’s Trial always has their strongest connection to the concept that they ascended with, unless their link to that concept is severed.

If a god that ascended through Threshenal’s Trial has only one linked concept, and that link is severed, the god dies. See Chapter 12: Resultant Gods, section 19: “Death of Gods”. Further reading: Death in Heaven by Edgar Pawforth, What Dreams the Gods See Above by Shuffled Bintrinder, The Cold Underworld of Warm Divinity by Netch Netchson, When Gods Die by Netcscho Netchsdottir, Poison to Belief: The Event Which Dares Not Speak Its Name (volumes one through eighty-nine) by the Black Writer, and We Were Once of Olympus by Tina Grey.

Pantheons

Pantheons See Chapter 9: Pantheons and Appendix 5: List of Known Pantheons. are collections of voluntarily associated gods, often, but not always, connected to a particular culture, location, or group of people. Generally speaking, pantheons have no more than one god per concept, and often have more than one concept per god. Those who follow a specific pantheon are known collectively as a religion.

If the gods of a pantheon select a mortal to ascend to their pantheon, the theologue member-designate can choose a concept to link (usually one that is not already linked to one of the gods in that particular pantheon), and then when followers of that particular pantheon (or those in the region associated with the pantheon, etc) engage in that concept, most or all of the conceptual-engagement power goes to that theologue, even if there’s another god outside of that pantheon that is already linked to that power.

For example, there is already a commonly-known god of betrayed lovers: Exezesis. However, if there were a pantheon of gods associated with Grumpt’s Plateau in northern Gorun that decided they wanted their own god of betrayed lovers, and they selected a theologue to ascend to the position, then, upon the completion of Threshenal’s Trial, the theologue in question would gain the majority of subsequent conceptual-engagement power from lovers being betrayed in the Grumpt’s Plateau region, especially from those aware of or following the pantheon in question.

Pantheons can have any number of members, including, technically, a possibility for a pantheon of one. Monotheistic pantheon gods are rare and significantly less powerful than regular gods, Effortworth p96, the Loud pp220-246, Black Writer p12. albeit not quite as weak as one may presume as devotion from those of monotheistic religions is known to be ardent bordering on worryingly frenzied. Further reading: Monotheism by Bundlefundle McSree, Dangers of the Zealot by Ashwinder the Loud, and A History of Religious Extremism in Monotheistic Cultures by Cronch Effortworth of Meberak.

Excerpt from:

“Appendix 6: Example Reference Table of Concept Engagement”

Note: Each concept is listed by name, greater associated/connotated concept(s), then conceptual strength.