In a setting with real gods, have you thought about who firs worshipped them?

The gods were not worshipped when they interacted with humanity. They'd consider it rather strange and tell the humans to stop (most of them, anyway). Instead there were "societies" that followed one god primarily, who acted as their mentor. Masons were often followers of Standigana, doctors were part of the Skiowana society, those fascinated with the study of magic in a scientific manner would join the Skadan society, and so forth. People could join multiple societies, because everyone was welcome, but most focused on one most relevant to their interests.

But after the gods began to retreat from human contact following the War of the Gods, things started to change, and the societies took on increasingly religious natures. The gods abandoned humanity entirely in the aftermath of the Second War of the Gods, collectively agreeing to stay out of mortal business so as to avoid more mistakes and conflict.

After a few thousand years, full-fledged religions existed with widely differing ideas on gods, originating from the various societies. Some took elements from multiple societies in a syncretic manner, others became centred solely on a single god, to the exclusion of all others.

So, oddly, only after the gods were gone did worship truly begin.

/r/worldbuilding Thread