Nonbelievers

In the World of Mash'ta, one might have had the misunderstanding that the Gods interfere with the world on a frequent basis, but this isn't so. The last touch of divine force was the creation of the Ebony Tower by the world's most recent addition to its pantheon. Philosophers and religious leaders assume that deities, minus the Living Goddess, really exist in an outer-sphere of reality called the "Aether." After such a long time since divine interference two schools of thought have arisen.

1- That the Gods who anaviated each race hover still over the world and watch, moving only when needed, but the current struggles of the anaviated are below their concern as even the Living Goddess, who sleeps down here with the mortals, will not step in to shape history.

2- That there are no Gods, because there is no logical evidence as to their existence and Mandra is simply a very clever mage or lineage of magi who have altered the minds of those who seek her. Also, that the origin of life is a sutler mystery to ponder than guessing that mythical animals of likeness are the true seeds of sentience.

It's important to note that, for the sake of story, the non-believers are indeed wrong, but they still debate, MUST debate in a world where the Gods rule if not interfere and that each race is united by faith of the unseen, even if different countries claim different dogmas. There are witch hunts for the nonbelievers in every country, which ironically serve to reinforce the faith in absence of God, as would most likely happen according to the Back-Fire Effect. To further this farcical paradox, there exists a race of people, the Crow Kin, who's gift it is to step into the aether and meet with the gods in their individual thrown room, but because their claim is blasphemous, they were all but hunted into extinction, removing evidence needed for the non-believers.

Now that's what I call irony.