I've been musing a little on the D&D cosmology, and come to a conclusion: when using the official cosmology (as when running in a published setting), I'm going to take the view that the gods are missing.
Canonically, the Outer Planes contain the kingdoms and dwelling places of the gods. That will still be the case for me: the kingdoms are there, the citadels and fortresses are there, the whole thing is minded by a cadre of divine servitors of various forms...
But the gods are simply absent.
If asked, those divine servitors will be all too happy to explain, but will then promptly change the subject. It won't even be a refusal to answer - they'll pretty much forget the question, and never quite be able to answer it. It will just be one of those mysteries that can't really be grasped.
None of this actually affects much of anything - it will still be possible to interact with avatars, and aspects, and even the idea of gods. But no summoning can actually manifest the actual god, there's no way to approach, or even find, them. They're just... missing.
With regard to Clerics, this gives rise to another slight mystery, since they still get their spells, and they only get them in the name of those gods. This, again, can't be satisfactorily answered, since the spells are actually provided by divine intermediaries... but if any of them decide to stop serving their masters and grant spells in their own name, that's a rebellion that fundamentally alters their nature, and they lose the ability to grant those spells forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment