The Divine Layer

Scope

This file owns the cross-game nature and limits of gods in this setting: what "divine" means, how gods interact with the mortal world through vessels and marked agents, what divine attention costs, and the structural relationship between gods and the demon-origin layer. Specific named gods, their domains, and game-era pantheon politics are deferred until canonical names are committed; the structural facts about divinity are universe scope and live here.

Facts

Fact: Gods exist and operate on a layer of reality distinct from the mortal world.

The divine layer is a separate layer of reality, not a region of the mortal world. Gods do not live in the sky or under the sea or beyond a mountain range; they exist on a layer that the mortal world cannot reach by physical travel. Demons also originate on a non-mortal layer, but the divine layer and the demon-origin layer are distinct and not the same place.

Canonicity: hard canon Cross-refs: ul-shroud.md, ul-cosmology.md, ul-demon-cosmology.md

Fact: Gods do not walk the mortal world directly.

Gods influence the mortal world through vessels, agents, blessed artifacts, and marked heroes — never by direct embodied presence. Any apparent direct divine appearance in the mortal world is in fact mediated: a vessel, a manifestation through a sacred site, or an event interpreted as divine but structured through indirect means.

Canonicity: hard canon Cross-refs: ul-hero-calling.md, ul-shroud.md

Fact: A vessel is a mortal or mortal-adjacent entity that a god works through.

A vessel accepts some cost to divine clarity in exchange for being the channel through which a god acts on the mortal world. Vessels are not Called heroes — the two are distinct classes — but a Called hero may also serve as a vessel under specific circumstances. A vessel is the structural alternative to direct divine action.

Canonicity: hard canon Cross-refs: ul-hero-calling.md, ul-shroud.md

Fact: Divine attention has a cost.

Extended divine focus on mortal events thickens the Shroud or requires the use of vessels. Gods cannot maintain unlimited attention on mortal affairs; choosing where to look is itself an exercise of finite divine resource. This is why divine guidance arrives obliquely and why gods are not omnipresent in mortal life.

Canonicity: hard canon Cross-refs: ul-shroud.md

Fact: Gods have domains or affinities.

Each god has affinities — domains of mortal reality they can influence with relative ease — and other domains they cannot influence cleanly. A war god cannot directly act through a hearth-shrine; a hearth god cannot directly act on a battlefield. This is one of the structural reasons the pantheon is plural rather than singular.

Canonicity: soft canon

Fact: There is more than one god, and the pantheon is not a single unified will.

The setting has a plural pantheon. Gods have aligned and conflicting interests; the pantheon does not act as a single unified will. The Accord of Intervention is one of the structural agreements that holds the pantheon to a shared posture against demon-origin pressure, but it does not erase the differences between gods.

Canonicity: hard canon Cross-refs: ul-hero-calling.md

Fact: Gods can disagree, and parts of the Accord were contested before acceptance.

The Accord of Intervention was not assembled without dispute. Some gods opposed elements of it and accepted it under negotiated terms. The Accord is a treaty, not a unanimous consensus, and its terms reflect compromises among gods with differing affinities and domains.

Canonicity: soft canon Cross-refs: ul-hero-calling.md

Fact: Gods are not omniscient of mortal events.

The Shroud limits what gods perceive in the mortal world. Even within a god's own domain, perception is bounded by Shroud condition. Gods are powerful within their layer and within their domains, but they are not all-seeing observers of mortal life.

Canonicity: hard canon Cross-refs: ul-shroud.md

Fact: The exact names and identities of individual gods are deferred.

Names of specific gods, their domains, and the structure of the pantheon are deferred per Wave 0. Authoring of universe-scope content must not invent a god's name, sigil, or domain until the canonical names are committed in a future wave.

Canonicity: proposed

Fact: Gods' relationship to demon-origin entities is antagonistic.

The structural relationship between gods and demon-origin entities is antagonistic; gods on the divine layer and demons on the demon-origin layer are not allied and do not share interests. The specifics of why and how the antagonism is constituted at the cosmological level are bible-only.

Canonicity: soft canon Cross-refs: ul-demon-cosmology.md

Fact: Whether gods can die is bible-only.

Whether a god can be destroyed or otherwise cease to exist is reserved as bible-only material. It is not surfaced in any player-facing content.

Canonicity: bible-only

Fact: The origin of gods is bible-only.

How gods came to exist on the divine layer is reserved as bible-only material. It is not surfaced in any player-facing content.

Canonicity: bible-only

Cross-references

• ul-shroud.md
• ul-hero-calling.md
• ul-demon-cosmology.md
• ul-cosmology.md