Single-Sphere Powers

Many deities described in this way have only been around for a short time - at least, when compared to the gods of the Outer Planes. See, "single-sphere powers" are gods that're slowly growing and expanding from their own little worlds on the Prime Material Plane. Few of them care a bit about planar affairs; they're too busy consolidating the hold they have on their homes. Still, that doesn't mean they lack ambition - chant is every pantheon that's still around started out small.

The poor prime gods don't always have the final say on their own world, either. Some of the toughest bow to a still higher deity, an overpower who watches out for the entire crystal sphere. Each overpower is concerned with only a single sphere, and has no influence outside that realm. Chant is they've tied up all their strength to maintaining the one sphere; perhaps they're simply its spirit made real. Whatever, the more powers they have in their domain, the more might they have, so the overpowers that want to grow are almost always looking to invite new deities under their umbrella. And it ain't so bad, really. The gods of a world don't have to bend like straw under the laws of their overpower - though all sorts of terrible things can happen if they don't pay attention.

'Course, not every world has an overpower. Some crystal spheres spawn 'em; others don't. It's one of the mysteries of the Prime. But even in those spheres that don't, a slew of gods usually springs up anyway, born from legends and myths, and some of them get to be mightier than a berk could ever imagine. It's a sure bet that a few of these powers'll make it big on the planes, just as it's a sure bet that even more will fall and tumble into the Astral, their rotting carcasses becoming homes for scavengers and githyanki.