"You just said the god of the dead was a 'he', is there more than one?"

"They're two separate entities in fairly strong opposition, yes. Saying our names draws our attention and this isn't the time for that, but one is the god of death, undeath including creatures like zombies and liches, and murder, and the other us the goddess of people who have died and the afterlives, and opposes both murder and undeath."

"When you say it draws your attention, what do you mean?"

"We aren't limited by location as much as most beings are, but we aren't omniscient. Various things allow us to see and hear an area - having a body or holy site there, having a cleric or favored soul there, having a major event relating to our domain happen there, and being prayed to or having our names spoken. We also have a limited amount of attention, but being mentioned in a new world is fairly attention-getting."

"So people who'd like to be left alone while discussing current events should instead call you..."

"The Shining One is traditional, or The Sun in some places. Fharlanghn's title is The Dweller on the Horizon and Boccob's is The Archmage. The god of death is kown as The Reaper, and the goddess of the dead is The Stern Lady or Death's Guardian."

"I see. Can you summarize what leads you to believe we have a 'local afterlife system' as you describe?"

"It's fairly obvious, magically, but this language doesn't have words for most of the necessary concepts. It should be easy to confirm by summoning, though."

"I'm sure our viewers will be right on that. Let's pause here for responses from home." She smiles at the camera for a moment, then says, "They're cutting, we'll come back in in five minutes. Are you prepped to cover the controversy with respect to local religions or should I steer away from that, I'm trying not to corner you here -"

"I don't think we are, no. If there's one or two questions that are most important I might have answers."

"I can avoid it. Anything you specifically do want to cover I should set up?"

"I think between this and my blog we've covered most of it. People will want to know what's going to happen next, though."

"We haven't discussed it. I intend to wait and see if this is a suitable place to expand my church, and I know Fharlanghn will have clerics here. And Ehlonna seems delighted with the place, I imagine she'll establish herself."

"Do you want to try to talk about the controversy about that or leave it to the comments section?"

"We can discuss it. With the understanding that I can't speak for any god but myself."

"All right. Ready when you are, Lance -"

They cut back in. "So there are many gods, of whom you're just one, of course, but do you feel that you're getting a warm welcome in this world?"

"Well, of course people are always a little nervous about something new. But overall, yes."

"I've seen people considering treating gods like just another species of magical people - such as the dragons we've yet to see a visit from - and others proposing that you're more like foreign governments in your own right. But I bet you're going to tell me both models are wrong."

"Neither one is perfectly accurate but governments are close, and my church in particular tends to do some of the same things as governments of my world, in parallel - enforcing more subjective laws is better left to people who've been chosen for good ethics and answer to someone who can't tolerate corruption, for example. And it's common in general for clerics of various gods to serve as diplomats and occasionally advisers to government leaders."

"More subjective laws?"

He nods. "Say you have a law saying that parents have to make sure their children have food - you don't want to punish a poor family whose head is doing as well as they can, but you also don't want to allow those conditions for a family whose head is spending the money on drink and gambling with no intention to stop. I can trust that my clerics will help both families in the ways that suit their situations, where a secular judge might not, if they dislike the poor or like taking bribes."

"Do you have examples that people of this world are more likely to find relatable? We don't really have a food scarcity problem."

"I might need to know more about what kinds of problems you do have, then."

"How do you usually keep up with that sort of thing?"

"My clerics will consult me on particularly tricky cases, or when they're seeing an unusual number of some sort of more minor one, and of course anyone can pray to me. I keep an eye on what happens around my temples, too, when I have the time, but that's less often than I'd like."