God
The term god refers to concepts such as spirits, natural forces and superhuman beings. In Japan's native Shinto religion, "god" is usually considered synonymous to the term kami (神). It should be noted, however, that kami include a broader spectrum of beings than those found in monotheistic religions (e.g. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, etc.), or even some polytheistic ones. Shinto is at its roots an animist religion, meaning that any being (alive or dead), object or even phenomenon can be considered a god. Also, it should be noted that the 'G' in "god" should not be capitalized when referring to Shinto gods or any other gods from polytheistic religions.
Like many polytheistic religions (e.g. those of ancient Greece and Rome), Shinto gods live among humans and have direct impact on their daily lives. While their personalities are mostly similar to humans, they possess two aspects known as Ara and Nigi (荒・和): when they are worshipped, they'll protect people and grant them blessings (ご利益 gorieki), but when angry, they'll create disasters and curses (祟 tatari). In some cases, the Ara and Nigi aspects of a god are so different in appearance and behaviour that they are named or worshipped separately. A shrine (神社 jinja) is a place for gods to occupy in order to interact with humans, which can vary in size from a small box or shelf (found in many homes) to an entire building and grounds.
Types of Gods[edit | edit source]
Dragon[edit | edit source]
- Main article: Dragon
Dragons (竜 ryuu) are reptilian creatures viewed as gods in some cultures, and monsters in others.
Divine Spirits[edit | edit source]
- Main article: Divine spirit
Divine spirits (神霊 shinrei) are the spirits of humans who ascended to godhood before or after their death.
Gods in Rogen[edit | edit source]
In Himawashi, gods are known as one of the most powerful of the other species and acts like guardians. The creation gods are described as colossus beings when out of the land but can change size when entering the land, this is the same to the major gods like the sun goddess, Anlyn. Minor gods don't change size.
Like the other residents, they're sometimes given a surname to match their element or personality. For example, Incognito Anaminazu's surname is based on her morphing identity or Maricia Tensamashiro's surname could be related to her appearance. Gods can change their name if they either go to a different land or if they want to make a epithet, like Haikara Tairageru's name was "Hel" but later changes it to enter into Himawashi to hide herself from the other side.
Creation gods are often split into generations depending on each family member (According to Sophietta, Himawari and Shidai are 1st Generations due to them being parents to the 2nd Generations, Zen and Engen).
Characters under these species[edit | edit source]
- Anlyn (sun)
- Demiris Nightlight (day)
- Marillia Nightlight (night)
- Himawari (creation/1st Generation)
- Shidai (creation/1st Generation)
- Zen (creation/2nd Generation)
- Engen (creation/2nd Generation)
- Haikara Tairageru (death)
- Incognito Anaminazu (identity?)