Deity

A deity is a metaphysical being with origins in the Ether. A deity is not a tangible being but a vibration in the Ether that exerts effects on the material universe via puncture events. In other words, it does not exist in physical space, but may influence physical space through the exertion of energy.

Deities are sentient, temperamental, and exist in all places at once by virtue of their nature as etherverberations. They have a complex history of interaction with the sentient beings on Gaedera. Many humans around the world have established religions surrounding the worship of deities, and to this day the theological definition of a religion includes the criterion of centrality of the deity.

Origins
It is believed, and widely supported, by accounts and stories from the deities themselves, that the deities were formed in the hot core of the universe in its very first moments, remaining ethereal--music in the xenotons--while the material world formed. Some deities found anchor on barren planets and stars in galaxies far from Gaedera’s; the majority, however, innately sought to develop consciousness, and were drawn in by planets whose conditions were far more hospitable to life.

Organisation
The deities are organised in a hierarchy as follows: Archaic, Upper, Lower and Shepherds. Which level of the hierarchy each deity occupies is largely determined by the manner in which the deities arrived and anchored to planets.

The grandest deities seized their worlds first, bearing the burden of initiating life, force and matter formation of their own unique design on each: these are the Archaic Deities, and generally each world has only one. Gaede was the first to come to Gaedera, choosing the course of its growth and catalysing abiogenesis.

Collectively, the upper and lower deities are known as the Empire deities, as they are often involved in warfare and the expansion of territory, much like the beings and entities they rule. Indeed, they sometimes guide mortal conquests.

Some of these deities anchored to species and clades of living beings, guiding them to develop greater complexity and shaping their development. Species diverged increasingly as new deities arrived. Some of these (such as Celel, Goddess of Rain; Laveda, Goddess of Ships) govern the conditions surrounding other phenomena both related and unrelated to life, some older and some newly-emerged. They are subdivided into Upper and Lower deities depending on the geographical scope of their influence.

Shepherd deities are simply lower deities who have been captured by an upper deity, and tend to be patrons of specific aspects of their superior's domain.

Naming of deities
All deities have a name in Hies Loricoda, the divine language, which cannot be pronounced by mortals (though it can be approximated).

Numerous deities also have local names given by the peoples of the world. For instance, the deity Soreco is known as Sor'o by the people of the Maba nations, and Sorko by the people of the Orbon nations, as her name is pronounced in their respective languages, Ismaba and Orbono.

Deities are also often assigned genders by the peoples who worship them, resulting in some of them being known as gods or goddesses. Often, the gender is derived from humans projecting traditional concepts of gender presentation on the way that these deities appear to them. A nation like Niro, where gender is not seen as an inherent quality of people, would not assign genders to deities in such a fashion. These culturally-relative standards do sometimes result in the same deity being assigned different genders by different peoples. For instance, Almer, the deity of candles, is not gendered in Niro, but seen as a goddess in other places where her influence resides.

Found in more than one continent

 * Gaede: The archaic deity, primordial of Gaedera. She is known in parts of the Solan nations as Tierra.
 * Ihir: God of the sky, an upper deity and patron deity of Astra (in Petrosa) and Helfi (in Akido).
 * Seraha: Goddess of snakes and snake spirits, to whom she is known as Selaha, an upper deity whose influence is found across both Akido and Petrosa.

Irgaedera

 * Aledira: the goddess of light, ruling over parts of Irgaedera above the Orbon Line: Ro Orbon, Ro Gtero and the northern parts of Ptrao.
 * Ceida: the goddess of thunder, an upper deity and patron deity of Mes Keidana.
 * Celel: the goddess of rain, patron of Maba and challenger for Gatanis.
 * Soreco: Goddess of fire, upper deity in the Maba nations (Maba and Gatanis), where She is known as Sor'o, and patron of Maba. She is also known as Sorka in Orbono.
 * Ocir: God of ice, upper deity in the Maba nations (Maba and Gatanis), and patron of Gatanis.
 * Acetara: God of lightning, upper deity found on Ptrao, a patron of dragons.

Petrosa

 * Beghul: God of language, an upper deity and patron deity of Bel. Beghul has 255 shepherds.
 * Laveda: Goddess of ships and fortunes, an upper deity and patron deity of Aora and Cedan.
 * Semara: Goddess of whales, a lower deity across Aora.
 * Itli: God of clouds, an upper deity across the Solan nations.
 * Salo: God of the Salo Mountain, a lower deity in Sonora.
 * Omari: God of gold, upper deity in the Solan nations and patron deity of Oro.
 * Lilin: Goddess of the horizon, a lower deity near Astra, daughter of Ihir.
 * Xeheta: Goddess of mushrooms and decay, a lower deity in Orsand.
 * Elenit: Goddess of winter, upper deity and patron deity of Orsand.
 * Hesil: The god of whales in Orsand, where he is known as Hesyll, son of Elenit.

Akido

 * Duris: Deity of death or sacrifice, upper deity and patron of Niro, where he/they are known as Niro.
 * Almer: Deity of candles, a lower deity found over the island of Anami-shu where she/they are known as Anami.
 * Mirot: Deity of seedlings and germination, lower deity in Niro and patron deity of Rika-shu where he/they are known as Rika.
 * Galin: Deity of frogs, a lower deity in Niro.