Rambling about Lore: Gods and Domains (Patreon)

I haven't rambled for a while.This is something that won't ever come up in the story. At least, not directly. Most likely not even indirectly. But I still want to talk about it, because it's a part of the world-building I'm kinda proud of.That said, here's a light spoiler warning.If you're the kind of reader who prefers to leave mysteries mysterious—even if they’re not plot-relevant—then don't go past the line breaks. While nothing here affects the actual progression of the story, I don’t want to break your immersion.Everything after the three breaks below is extra lore that exists outside the narrative, but is a part of the world and otherwise harmless to learn about.*********Okay! So...There are a lot of ways stories portray gods. Some go with a more "capital-G God" approach, while others depict them as just really powerful beings with influence over specific things.I’ve always liked the former. Divine, unknowable entities. But I also love the idea of Domains. As in, the metaphysical concepts that gods represent or govern.So I merged them.The result ended up a bit… eldritch. These gods are all-powerful and beyond comprehension, but paradoxically relatable because of their Domains.That’s how Morena, Goddess of Life and Death, and Fylem, God of Time and Eternity, came to be.Their origins are intentionally left unknown. I haven’t decided if they were created, self-made, or something else entirely. And I honestly kind of prefer it that way. Some mysteries should stay mysteries, even to the author. It feels more believable, I think.Anyways, the key to making these unfathomable entities relatable was in their Domains. In this world, a Domain isn't just something a god controls. It's something they are.Morena is the easiest example.Her Domains are Life and Death. That means she doesn’t just command life and death—she is life and death. Every life that is lived, she experiences. Every death that occurs, she feels. And not just the event itself, but all of it. Joy, pain, grief, love… every little thing that makes up a life and everything that comes after it.To put it another way, there’s Morena the Divine, and there’s The Goddess of Life and Death. Two faces of the same being. Just different aspects of one self.Because she experiences what it is to live and to die, she knows what it is to be mortal. And that’s where the "human" side of her comes from. She feels love and loss. She has hopes, regrets, empathy, and longing. She's as human as any human.Just on an entirely different scale.But her Domains also limit her.Yes, she could destroy all life in the universe with a thought. Because she’s Death. But she’s also Life, and to unmake life completely would violate that part of herself. Likewise, she could grant eternal life to all—but that would be anathema to the Domain of Death.It’s a balance. Limitless power, constrained by its own nature.That’s actually why I chose to have all divine Domains come in opposing pairs. Domains aren’t just about what you can do, it’s about what you must do.Fylem, the God of Time and Eternity, works in a similar way, though his Domains are more abstract. Basically, he's like the embodiment of wisdom gained over time, for all of time into eternity. Among other things.But this is already triple the length of any other Ramble, so I’ll cut it here.I think I talked about all the main cool things anyways :D