Mortal Possession

Gods choose their mortal vessels with care. You will never see them⁠ in a not aesthetically pleasing body—or at least not get them to admit to their presence⁠ in one. They will also always prefer nobles, so that they can be given a minimum amount of respect even when not proclaiming their presence to everyone. Their favourite will always be the high priests leading their own Church, such as the Church of the water god or the Church of the forging god.   To possess a mortal, gods take an immaterial form and superimpose themselves with the mortal's body. They then shift their form so as to take hold of the body with their magic and inhabit it. Because of their power, a god's will always supersede that of a mortal, allowing them to move the body around without problems. Horrifyingly, the mortals stay perfectly aware of what's going on and of what their body is doing, and they cannot escape into unconsciousness.

Mortals do not feel the emotions or thoughts of the god possessing them, but the gods themselves are aware of everything going on in the mortal's mind at the time of possession. Unsurprisingly, it is very easy to anger the god by thinking something inappropriate. Even less surprising, few mortals survive their first possession. One needs to have a very particular mindset in order to stay forever grateful for the god's presence, or excellent training in the control of their thoughts over long period of time.   Another danger is that the gods have to be constantly in control of their powers while inside their mortal vessels. This is very difficult to maintain over even an hour for most of them. If they slip a tiny bit, this never ends well for the mortals. While the gods certainly understand this basic fact, they tend to forget it every time their anger is roused and they attempt to use their full magical powers.   Beyond such drastic consequences, possession that lasts for too long leaves the mortals drained of energy afterwards, in some cases barely able to move for months. This is not because their body was damaged, but because it got used to working on a lot more energy and cannot cope anymore without it. Nevertheless, if they survive this first hurdle and recover, the mortals will then become very healthy and gain enhanced magic sensitivity and magic control. Most people let themselves be blinded by greed and think these rewards make it well worth the risks.

While not everyone can notice gods possessing mortal vessels, for people sensitive to magic, this does make a subtle glow similar to the brand gods sometimes leave on mortals they have touched. Gods can go through more or less effort to dim that glow, especially if they want to go undercover to do something twisted. Nevertheless, many gods do not really bother to do much beyond insuring that most commoners cannot see them and bother them.   For those of us able to notice their presence despite those efforts, the gods are everywhere and inescapable. This makes it even more obvious that our kingdoms and politics are nothing but a game for them and us their puppets. And even whatever illusions of control we have could be taken away from us at any moment...