NOTE: This article was originally written on November 15th of 2023, although significant changes had been made on the date of the article’s posting. To view it in its original, non-canonical form, click here.

The following is an excerpt of a lecture given by Sk’lar’o’lar, professor of history and religion in Quarger, recorded by Clin-Clack, archivist of the Verdaunte Historical Society.

“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 haven’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 closest analogue one could draw would be to that of an impossibly large black dragon, though the most common 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 enveloping 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 inconvenient and wasteful. Nylak is nothing if not pragmatic.

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 or a loosely bound manuscript 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 gained some of Stashikatt’s knowledge on the practice. 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 specific and circumstantial due to how rare an event it is. 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. Another example of an avatar in recent memory of course comes from Emperor Izan the Great, who is still alive to this day, but his emergence as an avatar is unusual and should be disregarded in this -“

An unintelligible question is asked by a student sitting behind Clin-Clack.

“Ah, yes, I shouldn’t assume you all to understand the logistics of Southlander culture. Especially given how different human culture is from our own. While you are all familiar with the individual Izan, as the superhuman Dahlanian avatar responsible for eradicating the demonic presence in the Southlands, you may not be familiar with his birthing circumstances. I was fortunately very lucky to be able to speak with him on the subject to get his own account of his birth. He was born to two thugs turned mercenaries during the Elemental War, though his birth only predated the Rupture by a matter of days. What hard occurred was he was kidnapped by some Tharizdun worshipping cultists who intended to use Izan as a human sacrifice, as the intentional and malicious murder of a newborn child was what was required to bring Tharizdun into the material plane. They were foiled, however, as just as the knife was to be plunged into his infant chest, Dahlania’s light shone down onto the scene, as he possessed Izan rapidly, forcing him to mature mentally and physically in a matter of seconds.

This has, of course, had done irreparable damage to Izan physically and psychologically. He has spent his life in deep chronic pain with untreatable issues with his bones and muscles, his only option being to treat the pain either through long warm baths or opium. Mentally, Izan doesn’t always seem lucid. It is my belief that Dahlania himself uses him much more as a puppet than is customary for avatars. It is never the goal of a god to fully possess an individual, they do wish to give their avatars a degree of free will, but due to the circumstances around Izan’s birth, the options were full possession by Dahlania, or allowing Tharizdun to enter Terrafirma and the death of an innocent child. Dahlania, of course, picked the former. Through this example of Izan, it backs up Long Cat’s account of divine possession and reinforces why it is important the process is slow and over the course of decades, rather than in an instant.”