Gods in the world of Usiren are immortal spirits. They are not immaterial, omnipresent, or intangible, but they relate to matter differently than mortals. Gods have a hierarchical relationship to each other, and while the most powerful gods are incredibly powerful, the hierarchy extends downward seemingly without end, and there are minor location-gods and family gods who are comparatively humble in their abilities to affect the world.

Gods gain power to affect the material world by sacrifice, and are typically served by priests who perform these sacrifices and communicate with the god. There are many kinds of priests, and they may have specializations within the religion. There are also prophets, who are priests called by a god directly to further the god's own intrinsic goals. The organized religions associated with different gods can be quite diverse. Gods do not typically prescribe particular administrative rules of the organized religions associated with them, seeing this as an uninteresting mortal matter, unless organizational changes dramatically impact the sacrificial efficiency of the religion. Multiple organized religions sometimes worship the same god, but there are important practical limitations to this because gods are not omnipresent.

When mortals notice gods affecting the world in a dramatic way, it's described as a miracle. The activities of gods can be more subtle, and often are. Especially powerful gods may act in such a way as to be indistinguishable from the outworking of natural phenomena, and indeed, it's debated if there is a meaningful distinction to be made there at all.

As noted above, gods are not omnipresent. They are bound to matter much as mortals are, but in a different way. Gods inhabit an idol (typical for city gods), a numinous natural place (typical for nature gods), or some kind of special shrine. They may, rarely, inhabit some kind of mortal body, as an incarnation. Gods must be petitioned at their locus, and receive sacrifices nearby as well. They also perform miracles near their locus.

Gods can have more than one locus, transferring between their hallowed places, idols, or shrines, but not at the same time - each is only in one place at a time. An additional locus for a god can only be created using a piece of the original locus - otherwise a new, likely similar, god is likely to come into being in the new locus. The great majority of gods have only one locus, e.g. the unique idol of a city god.

Gods can commune with each other only if they are nearby - they do not have omniscience, though their subtle faculties of sense-perception can often observe things that are not evident to mortals, even spirits. So, for example, two idol-gods can only communicate if their respective idols are brought in proximity to each other.

All gods are part of the divine hierarchy, divided into two divine families, that of the Serene Goddess, and that of the Wild God. The highest-level gods within the families are widely known and have many worshipers, but tend to be quite aloof except at times of great historical importance. Their religions are often powerful and, in the case of the Hallowed Immortals, may be rigidly organized. Numinous place, idol, and shrine gods can be found in both divine families.

The divine family of the Serene Goddess, the Hallowed Immortals:

• God of Cities (C);
• God of Justice (J);
• God of the Sun (S);
• Naterir, Goddess of Fecundity (F);
• Goddess of the Hearth (H);
• God of Agriculture (A);
• Goddess of Crafts (T);
• God of the River (R);
• Goddess of Health (E);
• God of Kingship (K);
• Goddess of Propriety (P);
• Goddess of Divination (D);
• God of Writing (W)
• God of Valor (V);
• Goddess of Giants (G);
• God of Humans (U)
• Goddess of Domestic Animals (M)
• tbd

The divine family of the Wild God, the Manifold Spirits:

• Goddess of Hunting (H)
• Goddess of Fertility (F)
• God of Storms (S)
• Goddess of the Mountains (M)
• God of Herdsmen (E)
• God of Drudgery (D)
• Godess of Cleverness (C)
• God of War (W)
• Goddess of the Woods (O)
• God of Death (A)
• God of the Burning Sun (B)
• God of Chiefdom (I)
• Goddess of the Moon (N)
• Goddess of Sorcery (R)
• Goddess of Unicorns (U)
• God of Scorpion-Men (P)
• God of Wilderness (L)
• tbd