[ASH/INFO] "What Do Gods Believe In?"

[Dave Van Domelen]

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 .|, COHERENT                                            An ASHistory File
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 '|` COMICS PRESENTS                              What Do Gods Believe In?
                                        copyright 2019 by Dave Van Domelen
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     Mortals in the ASH Universe know many things about the gods, but have no
real way to know which facts are true, which facts are false, and which facts
are simultaneously true and false.  This file is an "out of setting"
explanation of what's actually going on, at least to the extent that mortals
limited to linear time can comprehend.  The gods are embodiments of the
violation of natural law, and grammar doesn't fare too well in their presence
either, especially once they start traipsing about the timestream kneecapping
each other.

     Pureblood Homo Sapiens Magi, or small-g gods, have no proof that there
is a state of being above them, a God above gods.  This God above gods would
be as much beyond the gods as gods are beyond mortals, and there may even be
intermediate states in between.  The important point, though, is that none of
the gods has any proof that there's anyone above them...it comes down to
faith.  In terms of that faith, you can roughly divide the gods into three
main camps, although there's haziness at the boundaries and gods have been
known to change their minds.

     The three main camps are Ascensionist, Atheist, and Theist.


ASCENSIONIST

     Ascensionists are by far the most common camp.  They not only believe in
the status of God above gods, they believe that such an entity arose (will
arise) from among the ranks of the gods.  Just as exceptionally powerful
mortals eventually discovered the secret of godhood, an exceptionally
powerful god will eventually discover (has already discovered) the secret of
Godhood with the very big G.

     Time being malleable, many take the inaction of such a God as proof that
no one is currently in that role, but once someone figures it out, time will
be immediately restructured so that that God had always been God.  Others
simply think that the putative God has other reasons to not make their
existence known to mere gods...perhaps it's a prophecy-style loop where
direct interference could prevent their own existence.  Even gods who have
spent subjective millennia acclimating to the nature of time can give
themselves headaches thinking about that.  Some even think that God is
somehow unable to interact with His native reality, although most who hold
this extreme of a position tend to be counted among the Atheists below.

     Regardless of whether a god thinks the job has been filled yet, there's
also a spectrum of beliefs regarding how many can ascend:
     There Can Be Only One - Those holding this position feel that as soon as
someone does ascend, they will lock the door behind them, using their
transfinite power to bar others from joining them.  Adherents to this
position can and do still make alliances, usually with like-minded gods, of
the "once we eliminate the competition, we'll turn on each other," type of
agreement.  Some will disguise their beliefs and ally with more cooperation-
minded gods, with the intent of betraying them later.
     As Below, So Above - At the other end of the spectrum are gods who feel
that the next level up will be much like the levels below.  Any number of
gods can ascend, and then the competition will start to figure out if there's
yet another level above that, and so forth.  They still see an advantage to
being first, of course, so they'll compete just as hard as those who think
there can only be one.  Just because the first one can't bar the door doesn't
mean they can't grab the best stuff first.
     Come Together - As a middle ground between these views, some believe
that the door can't be shut behind the first to ascend, but any later
arrivals will become part of one God, a gestalt entity.  The fewer gods that
do ascend, the more influence the successful ones will have, so those who
believe in this are often the most vicious when it comes to utterly
destroying rivals...no one wants a powerful enemy to just show up later and
spoil things, yes?

     Of course, while some of the Ascensionist beliefs may seem more
cooperative than others, this is mostly a surface gloss.  Whether it's "me
over all of you" or "me and my buddies over all of you," all Ascensionist
gods do everything they can to hamstring the opposition.

     Since gods themselves are disconnected from causality, the main attacks
involve removing proof of their existence from mortal history.  Undo miracles
by stepping back in time and removing the conditions needed for the miracle.
Turn a historical avatar or priest of the rival into a faded myth by making
sure their parents never met.  "Demigods" may or may not survive this sort of
attack, but even those who survive lose much of their influence.  The less
proof there was of a god's existence in the mundane historical record, the
more that they were reduced to myth and legend, the weaker their hold on the
faithful.  If you were thwarted every time you tried some big obvious move to
gain worshippers, you had to resort to dreams and portents and being subtle.
To the extent that the time-mangling "Causality Wars" can be said to have an
order, the Godmarket of 1997-1998 represents one of the last actions of the
"active" phase.  It briefly proved to mortals that the gods did exist after
all, but ended in such a way that led mortals to reject them entirely...so
not really a successful gambit.  After this, everything entered a sort of
cold war of feints and parries.

     Ascensionists may still sometimes seek a boost of raw power, but after
the Godmarket most realized that if they were going to ascend, they needed to
find a smarter way to do it than "grab all the power and burn it at once."


ATHEIST

     An Atheist god sounds like a contradiction in terms, but it just means
that these gods don't believe there is a God above gods.  This doesn't mean
they have no motivation to win the wars of the gods...being top god is still
pretty sweet even if it's not incomprehensibly more powerful.

     Atheists make up a pretty small minority among gods, and they often keep
their belief to themselves...it's hard to convince a potential ally that
you'll pull your weight if they know you don't think the brass ring exists.
Especially since there have been a few notable cases where a god later
revealed to be an Atheist sabotaged an ascension plan in order to grab power
for themselves.

     An odd subset of Atheists does believe that there is a higher level and
that it can be attained, but they insist that those who reach that level are
incapable of (or uninterested in) interacting with the mortal universe.  In
short, they equate ascension with death...whatever lies above is an
afterlife, with no guarantee that they'd take their power with them into it.
These "Anti-Ascensionists" tend to have trouble making allies, but are also
fairly safe from attack because most other gods assume they aren't the
competition.  A few now-former gods actually tried to "save" their brethren
from ascension plans early in the wars, and were ruthlessly suppressed or
even killed.  (The joke would be on everyone if it turns out the way to
become God above gods is to be killed while still retaining the power of a
"regular" god.)


THEIST

     The Theists not only believe in God, they believe that God was never a
Pureblood, but was always an incomprehensibly powerful force above them all.
They worship God in the same way mortals do, fueled by faith rather than a
transactional sort of bargain.  They find the entire Ascensionist movement to
be blasphemous, an affront to the true God.  Instead, they not only try to
convince other gods to join them, they speak of God to the mortals as well,
presenting themselves as mere messengers.

     In other words, Angels.

     Early in the Casuality Wars, the Theists were largely ignored or subject
to ridicule.  "Hey, Gabriel, are you ready to start worshipping me once I
ascend?" is the sort of jibe they would be subjected to.  At best, they were
seen as grooming themselves to serve the eventual winner(s).  At worst, they
were benighted fools who thought like mortals.  

     Never large in numbers, they nonetheless did have some factions within
them.  Not everyone agreed on the details of the God above gods, although
this was more of a matter of (usually) polite debate rather than a source of
schism.  More dangerous to their unity was the issue of proselytizing among
mortals.  Some felt it was important to bring the message to the mortals
through direct action and miracles, others thought this was too much like
trying to gain worship for themselves.  But even the more activist faction
was seen as no threat to the Ascensionists, because they weren't trying to
win, or even trying to gain the power of worship.  Anyone they converted to
worship the God above gods would end up worshipping the winner, after all.

     A funny thing happened after the first few major actions of the
Causality War, though, after many gods had already been reduced to faded
myths half-remembered by mortals.  The Angels started to gain worshippers
anyway, despite not trying.  Since no one had been attacking them, their
handful of demigods and miracles still existed.  There was scant proof Zeus
existed, but there was solid documentation of the times an Angel cured
leprosy or inspired someone who then became a semi-divine hero, or similar
acts.  Lucifer, leader of the "we need to be dropping miracles on the mortals
to open their eyes to the glory of God" faction of the Angels, was
increasingly being equated with God by mortals, or at least seen as sitting
at His right hand.

     In probably the last major overt action "prior to" the Godmarket, a very
temporary alliance of Ascensionists (and a few pissy Atheists) decided to
level the playing field.  In addition to "mythologizing" prominent followers
of the Angels and their God, they had a Clever Plan to cast the Angels as
enemies of God, tempters and deceivers who tried to get the faithful to
worship themselves instead of worshipping God.  It almost worked, too, but
Lucifer realized that her faction had left the Angels open to the attack.  In
penance, she and several of her most trusted companions martyred themselves.
They absorbed the entire attack, becoming known to history as devils and
demons, but leaving the reputations of the rest of the Angels largely intact.
These events were referred to in the one-shot "Wall Street Angels".

     [Note, unlike most Greater Demons as described in the 2010 file
https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/ASH/Demons, the Fallen Angels do retain the
ability to gain power through worship.  But they are averse to courting
worshippers, due to the events that led to their Fall.  So, for practical
purposes, their "Grandipotence" is on a par with the other Greater Demons
they tend to get lumped in with.]

     The Angels were still recovering from this when they engaged VERY
carefully in the Godmarket, but they were able to weather the storm until
events forced the Ascensionists into the "cold war" phase of the Causality
Wars.  With the "be subtle" faction of Angels vindicated, they were well
positioned to benefit from the new status quo, ironically coming out well
ahead in a fight they hadn't even been trying to win.


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Author's Notes:

     This just came out of a train of thought that ran away with me while I
was out shopping.  So I jotted down a few notes on my phone, and typed it all
up once I got home.

     While https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/ASH/Demons states that the
Godmarket was one of the first major conflicts of the Causality Wars,
comparing it to World War I, it was also the last major operation of the
first phase.  What counts as "World War II" in the Causality Wars has not yet
been revealed, nor is it known what mortal eras were or will be impacted.

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