A god is a god. He (or she) is powerful. Otherwise he (or she) wouldn't be a god. It also means that, somehow, he (etc. from now on) likes the human beings, and deals with them... But if there are these gods in this hypothetical story, they are gods, there's no questioning it, and they will punish those who cross them. Because a god is a god. Unless you define them as impostors. I'm just saying my construct about gods. But I am somewhat a little tendencious toward a regular view and understanding of the concept. Now you can do "impostor" gods, gods that are not all that powerful, meeker gods or whatever. I'd question them to be gods or the word god to be appliable to them, but you could think some sort of universe with these beings. (To me they don't make sense as gods, but, well, that's just me...) There's one line in my stories that became a little open to a more fantastic tone, and I'm thinking of bringing a (or more) god(s) in that story... But it's not modern, it's ancient. Somehow, it's modern for the appearance of gods, because it's the 2nd century BC... I don't see much gods in Roman stories (although they do make their appearances...). But there will also be this made up god, which is something from somewhere else that I found interesting, and thought of using. Anyway, I'm really not much into fantasy, but maybe I will put them in that story. And to me, it'll be as fantastic as putting these mythic gods nowadays. It is a conflict to me though to think the collision with the Hebrew god, and I really don't know how (or if ever) I'll find a solution for that (in the story, at least). But I'll put the thinking cap, as soon as I can turn myself to it.
I'll be damned! Something just occured to me (about the collision) that might solve it! But no, That's not what I was going to add here... What I was going to add was that it's a cool thought to put this made up god with the Roman pantheon (or one or two of those gods), and imagine them asking him how the hell (and heavens) they don't know him...
Honestly, I think it would just completely destroy a lot of systems we already have, purely through the amount of power they have. How do you prosecute Zeus for a rape case? What about Loki who was just kinda an asshole? And then you've got to deal with them competing with each other, because there can only really be one origin of humans, and none of them would want to admit they're wrong.
I was also going to suggest American Gods by Gaiman. But there have been many treatments of gods among men in fiction. The whole Injustice arc in DC comics is about superheroes considering themselves gods. All the variations on the Frankenstein meme are also explorations of playing god. Star Trek original series had the episode Where No Man Has Gone Before. Asimov's Foundation series culminates in a man-made god endeavoring to guide the human race to a stronger, more peaceful existence. There is no shortage of source material to draw upon and inspire your approach to the question. In the end, however, it comes down to what YOU believe would motivate a rising god character, and what temptations might corrupt her.
Very true. What you believe would motivate a rising god character... I've been having my internal debates on what's the purpose of my fantastic endeavours... It's kind of funny. (To see me arguing with myself.) ..Because I don't believe in writing fantasy. lol I have two feet on realistic universe(s), and I always have conflict with myself when I venture into fantastic ones, because there are always points of incoherence that bother me. Anyway, it's up to us to solve whatever is weird for ourselves in our own creation...
They would probably be bored out of their minds. Oh look the humans are cowing down again how nice... Maybe you could write how they are trying to find a reason not to hit the reset button and humans have to come up with the answer.
It would be interesting to see what they would do if they had lost all their respective power except immortality.
Although most of these mythological gods (1) aren't so different (or not at all that better) than human beings and (2) haven't actually created mankind...
I think it would depend on the god. I could see some use their powers, whatever they may be, for fame and fortune. So really superficial reasons. They would just want to be known, they would want to be instantly recognized. But then there are other god's who work in secret, using their powers for good. However small the task, but they make lives better every single day.
A couple of people have mentioned DC comics, and that was the first thing that came to my mind when I read the question. So many DC characters, more so than most of those featured in Marvel and other houses, are absolutely ancient mythology level god-like super humans. If you strip away some of the paragon heroics and ludicrous supervillain motivations, you might end up with something like what you're talking about behavior-wise. Something to contend with in a story like this would be scientific and historical fact versus legend (within the fictitious setting, obviously.) For instance, is the sun actually a chariot? Is there really a guy holding up the sky? Were these things true long ago but science worked itself out at some point? There are also discrepancies between mythologies that present interesting questions. When someone dies, do they cross the river Stix or a rainbow bridge? Is the afterlife regional or faith based or some amalgam of several old religious views? Do gods like Yahweh factor in, or only polytheistic pantheons? Lots of interesting and fun logistics to work out on this one. I'm jealous. I love pondering story aspects like these. Hit me up if you need a brainstorming partner!
Or, hell, at the Supergods series. Everyone gets into a superhuman arms race, makes their own gods... And what happens, is hell on earth. Death was a mercy to everyone.
What is a god? (Is it a being with power over humans?) In mythology they aren't the creators of the world. And in Greek mythology, they are children of something else that there was before (titans) that maybe were the creators or maybe some sort of power that helped create the world. In a way, our divergences are due to the fact that we haven't defined what a god is. (Nor do we need, this is a brainstorming thread, and we are not creating a universe together, just sharing our different views.) It's interesting to me to see that we have different ways of approaching the question.
