Gods of the Old Days

In ancient times, the gods were humanoids chosen by Tower Administrators to be their representatives in the world. They underwent a special, highly secretive ceremony that bound them to the Administrator and allowed them to siphon the Tonelico's energy through a subspace link, without the same restrictions an Administrator is placed under. This same link could be tapped into by trained individuals to draw upon a portion of that deity's power.

These deities were sustained through the link, needing neither food nor drink, and gaining immunity to aging, disease, and the like. They were not invincible however, and more than once a god died. In this case, they were usually replaced within a handful of years by a new chosen one.

Becoming a deity required the chosen on to give up some of themselves, and they were given non-specific names, like The Stag Lord, forsaking any name they once had to live only under their new title.

The major deities of this time were:

• The Stag Lord, god of the natural order, death, and hunting

• The Comptroller, god of finance and taxation

• The Great Old One, god of retirement and peace

• The Butcher, god of farming and ranching

• The Prince, god of politics and rulers

• The Core Entity, god of general human interests and expansion

• The Sacred Flame, god of light and life

• The Unkillable Soldier, god of war

• The Professional, god of games of all types and entertainment

• The Judge, god of justice

• The Mechanic, god of transportation and machinery

• The Coatfather, god of research and development

• The Godfather, god of gods

In military service, worship of the Stag Lord and the Unkillable Solder were the most popular, war and death being naturally on the minds of most soldiers. The Sacred Flame and the Core Entity also saw worship to a lesser extent.

The Core Entity and the Professional saw the most worship overall. The general expansion of humanoidity to other worlds and the humanoid need for entertainment and gaming in various forms drew massive throngs of worshipers to their folds. They were followed closely by the Great Old One and the Mechanic, the former due to a large aging populace and the latter because of the prevalence of mechanical transit in their era.

The least worshiped god was the Godfather, who was only worshiped by the other gods and a tiny handful of humanoids. He was created by the Administrator on Durango after several conflicts between gods caused near-catastrophe. She felt that a guiding hand was needed to keep them in line and help direct their efforts to the overall benefits of humanoidity, so she designed a being that had near-absolute power over other deities, but very little ability to impact mortals directly.