Some of you may remember the premise I submitted to the early stages of the Holy Worlds Community Story.

For those who don't, a key element in the story is a mythical pantheon of gods. The fiction of the pantheon is kept alive by a league of demons who pretend to be different God's through their powers of material manifestation and human possession.

For the purposes of the story, and later stories which will take place at other phases of that worlds history (the large, technologically cyclic history I've mentioned elsewhere), the pantheon needs to be very developed.

The false gods I am about describe are considered the higher gods, and because of their rather mystical nature, the demons represent them using manifestations. (A manifestation can be either demons playing with space-time and matter, or playing with the minds of the deceivable.)

The following text is written from the perspective of a pantheonic priest.

In the Before, when there was nothing, and not even Time existed, there was Nether.

Now Nether, the absence of all things, is an impersonal force. Despite this, the worshipers of Nether hold it to be the highest ideal, and believe that the worlds will eventually be destroyed and all will return to Nether. They also hold death to be very desirable, and remain in the world only while they can further the goals of Chaos and Discord, which they believe will eventually restore the world to the Nether. The Priests of Nether are famed for orchestrating and participating in mass suicides and massacres, and followers of Nether are also noted for their many murders and random destruction.

Follows of Nether also hold his two "sons", Chaos and Discord, in high regard. It must be noted that neither are Chaos and Discord truly male, nor are they sons of Nether.

Chaos and Discord are not personal, but are forces, expressions of the Nether in our physical, mental, and spiritual existence.

Chaos is the force of disorder, and is the source of two lesser forces, Random (Purposelessness) and Insanity.

Discord is the force separation and division, and is the source of the forces of Hate and Fear.

All these are the expressions of Nether, and their principles are honored by the followers of Nether.

Now, it should be known that the Priests of Nether are neither appointed nor generally recognized as an authority, but are merely followers of Nether who take on themselves services which resemble the priests of the other Gods.

It is held as true by all enlightened people that within Nether, there arose from the mystic and incomprehensible a new force: Ether.

Ether, referred to as the Daughter of the Nether, is in fact impersonal, neither force nor being, but rather a substance. Indeed, Ether is the substance, the existence, out of which Time, Matter, and Space were formed.

It was at the time of Ether's arising that the sons of Nether, Chaos and Discord, were born, as a consequence of Nether's force in Ether.

Those who choose to disregard her descendants and follow Ether are known for their opposition of the followers of Nether. Indeed, they hold the purpose of all beings, and specifically man kind, is to ever expand the realm of Ether and hold off forever the thread of Nether. Thus, their every action is calculated to in some way support the Ether.

For these reasons, they support any and all forms of order, the enjoyment of all material pleasures, the pursuit of material gain, fertility, happiness, and harmony. Their ethics demand only that in the pursuit of these things they do not hinder another's pursuit of these things.

From Ether sprang Time, the Triune Governor.

Time itself is an impersonal force, but is held to exist as a joining of the minds of the three personal beings of Past, Present, and Future. Each, limited by his own narrow existence, requires the other two for complete existence, and are thus unified in the force of Time.

There are very few people throughout history who have taken Time or his pieces as their primary god, but Past is held to be the patron of historians and chroniclers, Present that patron of all who taste of pleasure, and Future the patron of fiction, dreams and nightmares, and visionaries.

Created at the same instant as Time was Space, or Potential. Space is different from Nether in that it exists an entity, and that is permits things to exist within it, and is thus an existence itself, whereas Nether is a force and does not permit existence but is pushed back by it, and replaced with Space.

Space, though personal, is at the same time pervasive like a force, throughout all planes of existence. Despite it's pervasive nature, Space remains a distant, mystical being, and is thought by some to be free from Time and therefore to experience all Times in a unified Present, which exists as a part of Space's own being, and not as an experience.

Space, like Time, is not taken as a primary God by most, but is held as the patron of logicians and all those who explore. (Author's Note: Exploration is held as distinct from creation. Exploration merely investigates anything which exists, without creating or altering anything. It is, thus, limited to thought-process.)

Space and Time experience mystical unification in Matter, their "child". Matter is, like Ether, neither force nor being, but rather an impersonal existence, thoughtless like a force, but unified after the pattern of a being. Matter is, in many ways, a lesser copy of Ether, and indeed, all our experiences stem from Matter, by which we define both Space and Time.

There are those who devote themselves to Matter in the likeness of those who serve Ether. Indeed, they are a sect of Ether worshipers who hold that Matter is the highest part of Ether and the greatest foe of Nether. There is little distinction between the groups, other than this doctrine.

Of Space, Time, and Matter, and from within their realms, come to us the lesser gods, Passion, War, and the Dragons, to name a few. Of their servants and personalities this document will not speak.

Here ends the writings of the pantheonic priest.

Well, what do you think? I'll have much more about each of the lower gods, their demi-god servants, and their priests, Huri, and followers, but each in individual threads, as each god represents the center piece of a different culture.

This religion has a very interesting feel to it. I've always liked reading mythologies. This one has a feel of being somewhere between the Greek mythology and Buddhism with it's indistinct forces. I can't wait to see where this plays into our story.