God Echoes

Scholar of Stars by Tommy Arnold for MTG

We bathe in the light of long-dead stars*. We see them as present things, with names and placements, but in truth they have already departed and become space-stuff. What we see of them is an echo of what was once there.

Stars, in that sense, are a good analogy for gods.

The gods we know are dead. Divine magic and, to an extent, religion, is built on jet lag; their divine presence and gifts are received from afar (it is said that the realm of the gods is high above the clouds, which is true in the same way that saying "the sun is hot" is true) and are then bestowed and interpreted in the present. It explains much of why the gods work in mysterious ways, or over great periods of time; so too does it explain why individual prayers are so rarely answered, and why the gods so rarely speak to individuals.

The gods knew this, and as such they sent their influence with the knowledge that its effects would not be known to mortals until generations after they are gone. Texts on stone, songs to pass down through the generations - these are the tools of gods that wanted their messages to last. Miracles were sent with the hope that they would still needed by the time they arrive; alternatively, events may be finely orchestrated so that miracles and events occurred as planned.

This time dissonance is why the gods were so fond of prophecy and oracles; vague enough to be applicable to future civilisations, but refined enough that even if the specific Ancient Evil described is already destroyed, it can still guide others to deal with similar problems.

Elements to explore:

• Some gods try to get closer to the mortal realm to reduce the gap between their actions and their consequences. The proximity to the mortal world influences their power; is this an effect of abandoning the celestial realm?
• Miracles, divine magic etc. are, to an extent, pre-written code. What happens if there is an error in this code? How does the delay in prayers and answers affect the role and interpretation of deities and priests?
• The gods are, as stated, dead. What happens when gods decay? What happens if mortals learn that their prayers will not go answered, for all decisions of the gods have already been made - deity predeterminism confirmed.

I could see elements of my Charles Dexter Ward prompt being incorporated here on a larger scale.

This post was partially inspired by stars, and partially inspired by GPT-2 Religion AI, a bot on Twitter that generates scripture extracts. One of my recent favourites is:

I make them into machines, so that I may come into being. I am impelled by their will, so that the universe may die of itself. With this empty shell, I forge a God, living on and becoming dust. With this, I curse the darkness and vomit it into the void.

*opening line shamelessly stolen from a fellow member of DoMT staff. Sorry, Damian!