Editing Skein of Worlds:The Divine Realms (section)

== Apotheosis ==
There are three known ways to achieve apotheosis and become a new deity. (I say that, but few people even know it's possible, much less how to do it.) None of these options are simple or easy.

The first is to gain believers. This may sound simple enough, but getting someone to believe you are actually a deity when you aren't is anything but simple, let alone convincing the number of people required to achieve apotheosis. They may say they believe in you out of fear or respect instead of out of truth. ''Note: Does worshiping an idea create a deity or find someone appropriate and make them the deity?''

The second possibility is to steal part of another deity's divinity. This can be accomplished any number of ways from winning it in combat or in a game of chance to actually stealing something representative of that deity. In some ways this is the same as gaining worshipers, since the tales of this event will often convert at least a few people, and somehow, no matter what the circumstances of the original event, the tales will get out. Exactly how this happens varies for each such event, so no real conclusions can be drawn about how this works in general, at least for the moment.

Finally, there are ancient secrets that theoretically can allow anyone to become a deity. In practice, only very powerful individuals can actually benefit from these. Such secrets are always very well hidden, and each time someone finds them, they invariably hide them elsewhere to prevent others from finding them. Additionally, the paths laid out in this ancient knowledge are arduous, requiring a large investment in time and energy that only an already powerful individual can manage. A being that becomes a deity in this manner is often fairly weak for lack of worshipers, but since they are actually a deity, gaining the first few worshipers becomes much simpler.

No matter how it is achieved, apotheosis always results in the creation of a new divine realm linked by a thread of belief to the sphere where the deity's worshipers are. The new deity instinctively knows that this realm exists and how to get there from anywhere on the Astral Plane. What sphere of influence a new deity will have is primarily determined by how they achieved their apotheosis. If it was by gathering worshipers, then what they worship the deity for will determine that deity's sphere is. If they stole their divinity, how they did so will determine their spheres. The ancient secrets demonstrate different paths for different spheres of influence. (The path required to become a deity of war or a deity of knowledge are very different.) Rarely will a particular finding tell of more than one such path. If someone should find some of this ancient knowledge and be unsatisfied with the possibilities it offers, they must continue their search for more such secrets.

[[Category:Skein of Worlds]]