What are the gods?

What are these beings to whom we had onced worshiped, angels from high or low, good neighbors, their servents? 

If one looks at the gods of ancient polytheism, they see imperfect beings that are unfit to be called celestial and divine. They all have a degree of pride and arogance and temper problems, Zues is a adulterer and womanizer, and even the chinese deities is humanly beurocratic, which is probobly worse than hierarchy.

In a World of Darkness lense, they all seemed like Fae/fae, but is that the case? Are there some mythological pantheons that show characteristics of high divinity and do not behave like fae? Are there some gods who are worthy of their place within the rest of the supernal? 

I know people are going to say that the WoD is open ended and it's ultimately up to me, I'm just making a decusion/suggestion piece for everyone.

NOWOD:

I know people are going to say that the WoD is open ended and it's ultimately up to me, I'm just making a decusion/suggestion piece for everyone.

I'd postulate that many beings have masqueraded as the same God. Simply put in some stories Zeus is all-wise while in some stories he is just a giant douche...

Perhaps at different times, different beings claimed to be the same god

food for thought...

An interesting theory.

Majunior:

To be honest, I think a lot of "Old Gods," with their flaws, could be explained as being high level Mages. Think about it....

This is a great idea, and would be a Hell of a lot of fun to implement into a story. Players could discover a grimoire written by a particular "Old God." You could have it full of rotes that duplicate mythic abilities associated with him/her, or an entire Legacy dedicated to assumption of godhood. Some of the Greek mystery cults centered around a particular deity could have been about finding an apprentice to take the god's place after death/ascension, and might even be around today. There are so many possible hooks associated with Majunior's idea.

Majunior:

An interesting theory.

There is also the theory that all gods are actually one and the same.

To be honest, I think a lot of "Old Gods," with their flaws, could be explained as being high level Mages. Think about it....

*thinks about it*

Disbelief would kick in and everyone would forget about it.

Some gods are simply extraordinarily powerful spirits who developed mortal followings. Essence cults pop up, and son the spirit is gorging themselves.

Some gods are distorted stories of supernatural creatures. Some one witnesses a something supernatural, so they blame the gods for the closest explanation.

Some gods are stories built up to help keep secret masters in power. They work as the ultimate explanation and the ultimate authority for dealing with the ignorant.

Some gods are simply myths used to explain natural phenomena.

Shock:

*thinks about it*

Disbelief would kick in and everyone would forget about it.

Wolfgar:

Some gods are simply extraordinarily powerful spirits who developed mortal followings. Essence cults pop up, and son the spirit is gorging themselves.

The Book of Spirits does mention that people have believed spirits to be gods.

Page 28, Book of Spirits
The human race has worshiped spirits since the dawn of time. Men and women have praised and offered reverence to spirits throughout history, often believing they were worshiping their pagan gods or holy elemental beings. Just as spirits have been misunderstood as demons and angels in times past, so, too, have they been viewed as pagan deities, and been worshiped as such by both ancient peoples and New Age souls.

In my "book", being worshiped as a god, makes you a god. Maybe a normal person could beat the crap out of you, but you'd be a god (at least until those that worshiped you saw you get the crap beaten out of you by a normal Joe). 

EDIT: Meaning, being called a god doesn't mean you have the power most people believe a god would have.

Gods are powerful Spirits who did and still do inhabit the Supernal Realms. When the Exarchs stormed the Supernal, many of those Gods were dethroned, enslaved, killed or banished. Banished Gods tend to reside in Hisil (the Shadow). Dead Gods reign in the Underworld. Mad Gods play their eternal games in Arcadia. Twisted Gods burn in Hell. Fallen Gods abide in Heaven.

Majunior:

Shock:

*thinks about it*

Disbelief would kick in and everyone would forget about it.

Would it?

What if those Mages chose to find a way to suspend the forgetting part, strictly for the purpose of casting themselves as Gods in their own right?

Supernal Magic is Supernal Magic, no matter how you phrase it. once a Sleeper realizes that something Supernal is going, the Abyssal shard works overtime to shut it down and the Abyss as a whole backhands the Mage like a poor pimp who realizes that one of his hoes have been holding out on him.

Meh. Maybe.

Shock:

Supernal Magic is Supernal Magic, no matter how you phrase it. once a Sleeper realizes that something Supernal is going, the Abyssal shard works overtime to shut it down and the Abyss as a whole backhands the Mage like a poor pimp who realizes that one of his hoes have been holding out on him.

Supernal Vision is a Prime 3 spell which gets around that problem.

Or may be, the Abyss and the Lie has been widening with the pass of centuries, and so the paradox and disbelief. May be in the past, when the Abyss was "smaller" (although size is bot something that should be applied to the Abyss), disbeliefwas not as strong as today, and they ere remembered.

Or those mages are pre-fall, so there was no paradox nor disbelief.

The way I see it, "god" is a very subjective term.  Any of the following could be considered a god by mankind: