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Mystic Magic Rose
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>"However, while a typical god exists, and is then worshipped, a totem god is a being that is worshipped, and then exists. As we understand it, the power of mass worship essentially creates a new entity.
>That thing being worshipped could be an idea, an imagined creature or person, a local ancestor, a memory, a place, even an emotion. For example, a tribe which discovers a very large old tree that looks particularly ominous might revere it as being inhabited by a spirit. Even if the tree is completely mundane, generations of veneration could imbue it with such tangible power that it becomes what they believe it to be, and so a totem god is born.
>Now, as their existence is fueled by belief, their power grows and wanes based on that belief. A god who receives ever-growing worship may become extremely powerful indeed. Whereas a god whose influence has waned or whose followers have been conquered may shrivel, and even disappear.
>There is some debate among religious scholars, of what exactly happens to a totem god who disappears this way. Do they "die"? Can such a being truly die? Do they simply lie dormant, waiting for the day they might once again be revered? If such a god were to re-emerge, would it really be the same being, reawakened? Or would it just be a new entity that believes it is the old one? It's not exactly a field easily studied."
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