NOTE: The following is not canonical to the current lore of Terrafirma. For the updated version of this article, click here.

Excerpt of a lecture by Sk’lar’o’lar, professor of history and religion in Quarger.

There’s been many interpretations on how the Pantheon of Seven have physically appeared in Terrafirma. Because of the incorporeal nature of the pantheon, such interpretations are broad and varied and largely never agree.

The oldest surviving account of an encounter with a god comes from an ancient elvish text and as a result is extremely archaic and dense. It is difficult to parse and all texts I have found referring to it havn’t been helpful. Most sections I and other historians have been unable to translate, and the sections we have translated seem to rely on cultural knowledge that has since been lost to time. There seem to be scraps of helpful information, but I cannot verify it because the authors have been lost to time after the Fall of Arkannon. Regardless, the text seems to summarize a halfling’s encounter with Nylak. The halfling describes Nylak as a manifestation of eyes and claws. He doesn’t have the form of any known race of mortal, although that is to be expected. The most infamous interpretation of Nylak’s physical body is the night sky itself. Since each star is one of his many watchful eyes, it would be a safe assumption that the bleak darkness envoloping them would be Nylak’s body.

I disagree with this interpretation, however, as it is known it is quite difficult for a god to physically manifest themselves. I am not a heretic, I would not say that I believe Nylak too weak to manifest himself constantly, but it seems improbable and unnecessary to me.

Not that this has stopped Dahlania or Stashikatt, however. There are untold numbers of stories of their exploits visiting Terrafirma. Generally they manifest themselves as incorporeal mischievous spirits. If you have ever lost a hat to a sudden gust of wind, you may have them to thank for it. Stashikatt is of course represented most often as a Sphinx or any other manner of cat like spirit such as a lion or tiger or even domestic house cats. Very rarely does it ever manifest as a creature that stands upright on two legs. The only instance of this that can even be considered close to verifiable is of course the great priest Long Cat. While imparting knowledge on the scientific and magical logistics of being a godly avatar wasn’t very high on their to do list, they did share some information on their condition.

They explained that part of Stashikatt’s soul resided within theirs and that it had always been part of them. They claim they have some of Stashikatt’s knowledge because of this and that is why they are able to explain. Essentially, when a potential avatar is born, the relevant god will slowly begin merging parts of their souls together. It is unclear what makes a potential avatar, but we can imagine the standards are quite high due to how few there have been. They say the soul merging process needs to happen slowly and over a long period of time to ensure that the mortal isn’t overwhelmed by the alien mind of a god. Long Cat has often said that they are unable to think clearly oftentimes because of the consistent interjections by Stashikatt, although Long Cat believes these to be a blessing as they give them a clear and direct path of action. To put it simply, they found it very difficult to decide on what to eat for breakfast, but very simple to strategize a battle.

Dahlania’s most common manifestation is simply as a human man. There are a lot of stories claiming to have interacted with Dahlania. I don’t put much stock in these stories however, because most of them seem to be odd interactions with drunks rather than the god of fertility and revelry. Some do seem to have some kernel of truth in them, there exists tales of people being challenged to drinking contests by a stranger and finding themselves in another plane of reality by the end of the night, only to return to their beds in the morning. In my opinion, these people most likely simply overindulged.