By VanMorgan in Dark Ages
Throughout history, aislings and those before us have attempted to discover the origins of a multitude of gods. Volumes upon volumes have been dedicated to the subject. Yet what of their deaths?
The Earth-Sea gods lived and were worshipped for millennia by the Aosdans. Yet what became of them? Do they slumber like our Lord Chadul? Did they indeed die, or simply cease to exist? What could destroy a god?
Popular belief says that when a god is no longer worshipped he ceases to exist - for all practical purposes he "dies". We have some record of the Earth-Sea gods. Wizards today make use of the elements that they once represented. Is it not possible, even plausible, that their "essence" lives on? Were they not indeed a force of nature itself in a way. Do they not live on in every elemental spell cast? Are they not still conscious on some basic level? It is easy to dismiss it, as a conspectus of most aislings would do today. But if I begin to worship the Earth-Sea gods again - what happens?
I do not hold the belief that a god is only as powerful as his flock of worshipper's. Ceannlaidir "leapt from the primordial fire" as any temple attendant will tell you. No grinneal, aosdan, mundane, aisling or otherwise "worshipped" him into existence. Life existed, conflict was possible, therefore so was he.
The same can be said of Sgrios. There is no record of him before Danaan 1985. Does that mean he didn't exist, or that we were simply not aware of him? If we all ceased to worship him, won't he still scar you when you die? Is he the personification of death? A dubhaimid that needs the spark of an aisling to maintain his physical form? Do his origins matter when the concept of death has always existed? Has there not always been an entity to represent death - if nothing but death itself, its' name didn't always have to be Sgrios.
Imagine if all creatures of minimal intelligence died at this moment. There is no one left to worship Sgrios, no spark to feed on, no matter to decay, no aisling to wreak destruction.(we'll just stick to him as the example to avoid headaches and complications). According to those who believe in the "worshipper theory", doesn't he die or cease to exist as well? But - and here's the rub - what if an aisling is born again somehow, Deochs later?
What of Sgrios? Did he die, will he be reborn too, and will someone else take his place?
The answer is simple. He never died. For the concept of death, destruction, and decay lives on, even if there is no one around to conceptualize it. There is still some form of living matter to decay, still something to be destroyed. The "being" Sgrios may perish due to lack of "food" (i.e. aislings soul's to feed upon), but the concept of death, destruction, and decay that he represented is eternal. Should he fall due to something of this nature, another would simply take his place when the time is right. (I.e. when other intelligent beings discovered, understood, feared, accepted, and perhaps began to worship the concept of death or destruction).
Some gods don't die. They become known by a different name. (See: Maerista, "Book of the Black Cow") For example, Chadul is known as Natesh by the Mikul. Danaan is known by at least four names of different races - the Grimlocks, Kobolds, Mikul, and the one we know her by. And what of the Adoration? Does the "spirit of Danaan" not wash over you? How can her spirit, her essence be felt if she is really dead? How can a god without the power to manifest a body, have the power to give her essence to an aisling? Go ask her worshippers if she is truly dead.
Do the remnants of Aosda live on in our time? These Medenian Elemental Spirits sound suspiciously like the Earth-Sea gods of old. Isn't it quite possible these spirits are the same deities we knew as the Earth-Sea gods, simply called by a different name. We are not Aosdans. Our perceptions are not the same. It's not a far stretch to assume that these are the same gods, but we are unable to visualize them in the same way the Aosdans did. We see Chadul, the Mikul see Natesh. The Aosdans saw their Earth-Sea gods, we see the Elemental Spirits of Medenia.
So the question still remains. Do Gods truly die? An aisling is not measured by neither his abilities, powers, nor by how hard his assail hits someone. An aisling is measure by his memory. How he treated others; how others remember them being treated by that individual. We remember and revere some of these supposed and alleged "dead" gods. Do they not by proxy of our history live on in our minds, our memories, and our hearts? Beings so powerful, their minds help to forge the world around them. How can the essence of that truly die?