How do you design a religion where the "gods" are physical,

>>53102825
Make it so that their godly powers can be passed down or bequeathed to others of their bloodline. Maybe its a magic artifact, maybe its divine power, maybe its just understanding how electricity works, but they have something that only they can do that makes them "gods".

>>53102825
Godly powers are inheritated through blood or the will of the former god

>>53102825
Does Egypt ring a bell?

Imperial China?

>>53102825

Have a look at the deity mythologies of China and the Aztecs for some inspiration.

Greeks too. Zeus fucked a lot of mortal women.

>>53102850
Gods are in fact deified ancestors whose godlike properties are passed to a descendant once the latest bearer dies.

>>53102825
The people of Jotenheim don't see Thor as a god. He is just one of their more talented heroes. They live similar ages and many can accomplish similar tasks on his world.

But drop him on Earth and he lives thousands of years longer than humans and can control forces we still refer to as "acts of God".

Being a God is simply a comparison between two individuals. A squirrel might see people as gods.

>>53102825
Easy.
Incorporate elements of the various real-world religions which taught the Gods walked amongst us.
Then have an eternally changing roster of Gods as new ones are born to take up the mantles of their forebears/

Just because they can die doesn't diminish their world-shaking power, nor the desire of man to worship them.

>>53102825
If humans are made in the god's image, then it isn't farfetched to say that all humans were descended from gods long ago. Each generation inherited weaker and weaker powers until you get the mundane humans you see today and the gods are the thing of storybooks.

>>53102825
Check out how deities work in Brandon Sanderson's 'Warbreaker'

>>53103065

Squirrels probably don't see us as gods, simply because they don't think enough about us to care.

Dogs, on the other hand, probably think we are wizards. How does a dog even conceptualize what a car 'is'?

>>53102825

Take a look at at North Korea for inspiration, ad build on the idea that everything said about Glorious Leader is actually true, and even understated.

>>53103142
Good point. There has to be a recognition of self to recognize the difference to another.

Dogs must think humans are the greatest hunters in the world. We leave for a few minutes and come back with this crazy bounty of food.

>>53103142
>I have seen again those Tall Ones return with a great colored stone, glowing eyes shining from its face.
>I think it is hollow, but they use their sorcery to send it across the ground like it is the fastest of dogs.
>Its glowing eyes mock me. I bark at it litanies of anger and dominion to find its place in the order of the world.
>Its cry is much louder, and resembles the honking of geese. Truly, I do not understand what the Tall Ones see in it.

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>>53103209
>being a subspecies ratshit instead of the noble and smart hunting dog
>not realizing that the magnificent beast is a signal that a glorious hunt in the name of the tall ones will start

>>53102850
Is that a common thing?

>>53104645
I mean, not to my knowledge? That was just the first thing that came to mind.

>>53102825
Depends on what you define as gods. If they can die and didn't actually create the universe than the term is purely arbitrary which is still fine. So my suggestion is this
"Gods" exist and are essentially scaled up humans. Take a human and make him 10-30 times more in every way (strength, intelligence, size, lifespan, etc.) and you have a god standing 10-20 feet tall, weighing over a ton, able to juggle cars, able to memorize volumes of encyclopedias, and living for 700-2100 years. Although gods can interbreed with humans they rarely do due to their superiority complex over mortals, their mortal offspring have half the capabilities of their god parent (a 15 foot god will have a son who will reach about 7.5 feet tall). Society functions on the concept of Gods>>>>>Demigods>>>>>Humans. The only reason gods don't outnumber humans is because their birth rate is incredibly low, matching their lifespans with goddesses carrying their children for over two years before giving birth, and their children not reaching physical maturity until they are over a century old. Another issue with gods is that they tend to be born with a "role" resulting in a form of savantism where they are obsessed with a single concept.

The exact relationship between humans varies depending on culture. In some cultures the gods are aloof, they live on distant mountains watching humans from a distance intervening when they see fit, while their demigod children rule as powerful kings and queens. In other culture the gods rule directly using their demigod children as military officers and low level governors.

>>53102825

The Esoteric Order of Da-

>can die by old age

Oh

>>53102825
>Gods
>can die by old age

Pick one

Like a monarchy.

>>53102850
>>53103060
I imagine that after a while, when a god feels his time has come, he walks up to one of his descendants, does some ritual, dies, while his divine soul jumps into the descendant.

Kinda like possessing your children.

>>53103065
>A squirrel might see people as gods
RATATOSKR BOWS TO NO ONE.

>>53108183
Well I guess that Ratatoskr will become stew then.

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>>53102825
"Gods" are aliens/robots/alien robots

>>53102825

Egypt.

>>53102825
Make them worshiped as a collective rather than a group of individuals and you remove most of the problems of the old age thing. An individual God may not be eternal, but The Gods are.

The rest of features are pretty common in real world mythology.

>>53102825
That's basically Hinduism. Many noble families want to trace their lineage to deities or demigods like nagas, kinnaras and yakshas. Gods can die of old age but it takes absurdly long time.

The Norse mythology fits your bill, they just have the apple tree of youth in their back yard.

>>53102825
Make wizards members of the clergy. Bam.

>>53103122
Unless inbreeding

>>53103184
They're not wrong.

>>53103209
Owners buying their first car?

Isn't that just hero worship?

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Obligatory

>>53108095
The Norse gods literally had to eat immortality fruit or else they'd succumb to old age.

>>53102825
you are literaly discribing ancient egypt and a whole load of other ancient cultures.

>>53102825
God kings and heavenly super-people have existed in real life cultures, so those are some good inspirations.

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>>53109538
Even in tumblr's unfunny jokes, dogs remain total bros. If only they didn't slobber all over everything.

>>53111384
Tumblr has good parts and does tell good jokes every now and again. I still prefer the chan, but tumblr's not as bad as reddit, the most white-bread of messageboards.

>>53110734
Same with the Greek.

>>53105317
Gods as creators of the universe is actually a relatively modern thing
Most Gods are descendants of the world makers or inheritors of it (usually after murdering the ones that made the world)

>>53111571
sjw nu-male detected.

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>>53108095
What if taking on the powers of a god means taking on a duty to fight something that will assuredly kill you eventually? They can age, but will never live long enough to die of old age.

>>53112137
>Tumblr
>Any kind of male at all