Metaphysics - Fluff

Spirits:
Spirit is a broad term, especially as it's used by mortals. Technically speaking a Spirit is any creature composed of nothing save divine essence. That means that in addition to the spirits most mortals at least have a basic knowledge of, Void Entities and the Gods themselves also qualify as spirits. All spirits are True Immortals, meaning they cannot be properly killed save by other True Immortals.

The highest spirits are the gods. It is they who were the original creators of the universe. They tore the shapes of the planets, the stars, and the creatures which inhabit all of creation from their very being. However, their first and most beloved creations were called Children, as they're made of that which was torn directly from the gods. Their creations are in turn called Ancients, and their creations Elders. After that come the Progenitors, and it is from the Progenitors that true Spirits were born.

The difference between the Progenitors and Spirits is at times hard to discern and at others as stark as night and day. Most Void Entities would fall into the category of Progenitors, though if they remain in the void they have never spawned a new spirit from their essence. Progenitors are anathema to the subjective reality that most spirits assert upon the world around them, their presence corrupting the very fabric of these subjective realities.

Those Progenitors which have left the void are often quite similar to spirits themselves. They are tainted by the mortal realm, twisted into caricatures of their true selves. This taint corrupts their minds into a cruel mockery of mortal thought, making them at least slightly comprehensible to mortal minds. Spirits as most mortals know them were born in the mortal realm and corrupted from their very conception, thus they are not quite so wracked with madness and mutation as the Progenitors.

Spirits are divided into a number of circles. There are the Sarvocca, at the very top of the pyramid. These are the oldest of spirits, many of whom have children of their own. Beneath them are the Mahana, the second most powerful. Many Mahana are free agents with a number of mortal worshipers or slaves. Beneath the Mahana are the Thora. They are the middle children, neither old nor young and correspondingly weaker than their older and more powerful betters. Most Thora are servants to other, more powerful spirits. Finally the lowest spirits are the Atma, and the Kami. Neither are worthy of notice.

Spirits reside on the same plane as the intelligent races; however, they are composed solely of that which the gods are made of. Thus, they are able to assert their own false reality on the world around them, dragging mortals into it or forcing them out as they please.

The creatures which walk the earth have a divine core, the soul. The soul is a fragile thing, despite sharing a common origin with the essence spirits are composed of extended contact with the divine invariably leads to the dissolution of the soul, its destruction and absorption into a greater whole. The rest of mortals' bodies are composed instead of physical materials, they are shaped of stone and clay just as their creations are in turn. Thus, their bodies may die but that which makes them divine may survive and come to dwell within a new vessel.

Gods:
Mik's knowledge of spirits would suggest that the gods are merely the first of their kind. The oldest and correspondingly most powerful spirits. However, that's an over simplification. Truthfully, they are separate entities. They come from some place Other than any facet of Mik's reality. Some place outside the usual and unusual flows of time and space.

They are not composed of divine essence, but rather produce it. Often they become realities unto themselves, the sheer weight of their divine power collapsing their surroundings into a pocket dimension of their own design. When they speak, worlds are created and reality is torn asunder.

Of course, none have ever seen the gods. Only the oldest of spirits can even produce rumors relating to them. They dwell in a place far removed from this mortal coil, largely detached from day to day events regardless of how spectacular they might seem. Many of them are dead, forgotten, sleeping, or lost.

So in essence, nobody is entirely sure what the gods are, or what they were.