"The difference between mortals and those who walk the path of the divine… is called lineage."
Long ago—back when the gods still pretended to care for mortals—their curiosity turned dangerous.
They wanted to recreate mankind.
Not through warmth, not through love, but through any means necessary.
In the Forbidden Scriptures of the High Pantheon, it is written that the gods used unfounded methods to shape life.
Had it been the simple act of lying with a maiden, it would have been merciful compared to what they truly did.
For beings so "holy," the gods seduced men and women alike, pulling them from their homes and lives.
Those taken vanished for two-score years…
And when they returned, they were not the same.
Their faces changed.
Their mannerisms warped.
Their souls… altered.
Explain it then—
From where does a human obtain star-shaped pupils?
From the moment divinity seeped into the world, balance shattered.
Every domain touched by a god began birthing children with traits tied to their patron's nature—eyes that reflect constellations, skin marked by runes, voices that echo like storms.
The gaze of a god is not a blessing.
It is the beginning of ruin.
The power granted by lineage varies with its purity.
Once every hundred years, a child is born with the complete manifestation of their divine ancestry—
A perfect vessel.
Others carry only fragments: a single trait, a single gift.
But even the gods cannot escape the one rule carved into the bones of existence.
A rule placed upon all things—upon mortals, upon beasts, and yes… upon the divine themselves.
Divinity given to humans always comes with a curse.
And those blessed—or deceived—carry the heaviest curses of all.