Spirits- Midara is an animistic world, where every living (and the vast majority of not living) things have at least some spiritual presence. Every rock, every blade of grass, every drop of water. The vast majority of these spirits are no more remarkable than the physical elements they're connected to. The spirit of a raindrop is fleeting, ephemeral, less individually meaningful than a mayfly. The spirit of a river can be vast, ancient, and powerful beyond mortal comprehension. Both, by definition, remain water spirits... but that's almost the only thing they'll share in common.

Mages and Monsters- Magic capable beings, including many nonsapient beasts, are the product of spirits "breeding" with living things. First-generation hybrids are highly mutable and difficult to anticipate; as almost any spirit other than the most temporary might breed with almost any living thing, the possible combinations are bordering upon the infinite. The only sure things is that the hybrid will in physical form resemble the corporeal parent (which is the mother in the case of most animals), but may have such traits as extra limbs, wings, or other body parts... and their Magical Affinity will be identical to the spirit parent.

The power of the spirit parent also mattes; weak spirits may not even have a notable impact on their offspring, while the strongest sire demigods.

Things get even more messy when it turns out that most hybrids retain their spirit parents' ability to breed with just about any living thing, producing an endless array of chimera, gryphons, manticore, centaurs, and the like. Many bawdy jokes and tavern songs exist speculating upon the... mechanical difficulties... of these couplings...

Other patterns are as much imagined as real, with no real rules beyond the assumptions of the scholar writing that particular manuscript.

It is known without question that over time the magical blood dilutes into the gene pool until it reaches a fairly predictable stable, if weak, point. This often results in odd features- the most common being unusual eye, hair and skin color. Altered eye or ear shapes, unusual body hair, tails, claws, and on rare occasion wings have found their way into the bloodline as well, creating a vast array of peoples... but those people are still descendant of humans, along with some long forgotten blend of spirits.

To ensure their magical bloodlines, many of the upper class go out of their way to court spirit favors, in hopes of being gifted with a hybrid child. That this lets the powerful remain powerful is... well, there's no escaping the shackles of power and politics, regardless of the reality.

However, genetic surprises aren't unheard of, however, and sometimes long-dormant magical lines can blend together in just the right combination of alleles to produce incredibly powerful people with no direct source of magical blood. In public, they're often called champions of the people... in the private halls of the old blood, they're often derided as "mud heroes".

In any case, it's the magical monsters that the wealthy and poor alike are more concerned with. Animals and plants, and the spirits which mate with them, vastly outnumber humans... so while the rules seem little different in animals as to how bloodlines work, the sheer overwhelming numbers place humanity at a disadvantage, fighting a ceaseless war with the environment itself.

If a Mud Hero can turn back the tide, drive back even a single dragon and in doing so save thousands of lives, then the nobility can simply grant them a title and invite them to a party. Meanwhile, the scattered enclaves of human civilization remain cowering behind magically augmented walls, and even the powerful hesitate to traverse the wilds.

Lesser Gods- In Midara, most people don't place a lot of seriousness on the "Ideal" of godly beings, or that a being has to be some sort of infallible, perfect thing in order to be worshiped. That's a luxury for people who aren't in a constant state of war with the world itself. In Midara, there are only two things one must do to claim godhood. First: call yourself a god. Second: destroy everyone who disagrees with that opinion.

However, lesser gods don't tend to be given much attention when they're not in the actual room with their followers. Powerful as they are, they are given respect, and if they act in a way that is good they can earn loyalty and love, or gain fear and servitude if they inclined to the other direction. But ultimately they can only be in one place, and are often still mortal enough to die of aging sooner or later.

Few scholars even bother collecting the names of these lesser gods, save in local historical records.

Ancestral Gods- These beings are spirits, and exceedingly powerful ones at that. Nigh immortal, these beings are locked in one place, their equivalent physical form, but it's usually a vast body and they can turn their attentions anywhere within it. Ancestral gods can have tens of thousands of people living within their domains, who worship them. They are offered prayer, because they will hear. They are shown loyalty, because they will remember. Sometimes, they even are biological ancestors of many in the villages and cities that line their bodies.

They also share a symbiotic relationship with their worshipers- the magical energies generated from prayer are individually minuscule, but enough matches can burn as bright as any bonfire. In turn, the spirits (especially water and earth spirits, the most popular Ancestral gods) can drive off monsters, serve as dispensers of knowledge and magical blessings (and sometimes even demigod offspring), and ensure peace between city-states. Even if the culture wasn't so caught up on respect of elders (it's hard to get more elder than a river or mountain), it's just not a good idea to piss something off that can kill everything you've ever loved in an eyeblink. Conflict between cities that worship the same Ancestral god are handled with diplomats, lawyers, and priests. War is for outsiders.

These gods are numerous, only truly noteworthy to those in their territory and neighboring territories, and lack any real power outside that territory save what magical protections they can grant to shield their servitors in wars with foreign Ancestral territories. Still, no scholar who writes a map does so without painstakingly listing the name and core territory of every Ancestral god.

High Gods- More "concepts" than "beings", these gods are worshiped by peoples across the world and believed to be as old as magic itself. There eighteen High Gods, one for each Aspect of Magic, and these beings have absolute control over that element as well as more than a little power in neighboring fields. They can be wherever their Aspect resides- and each Aspect exists in most places.

Some debate if there are only the eighteen, or if there are entire micro-pantheons for each element, as it is rare for worshipers to describe their prayer-visions as the same as other worshipers, and most appear of differing sexes, species, objects and sensations with each worshiper. Most scholars who favor the same-being theory point out that even Ancestral gods are often above the limitations of a singular form, and the High Gods are far above any Ancestral god. Some suggest that perhaps they are above even the concept of self, and can be singular or plural as they see fit... in any case, their power to perform miracles and grant visions to their worshipers is never in question.

Every High god has some worshipers, but they are less active and less interested in mortal affairs, and thus more a concern for scholastic mages and dedicated clergy. The largest churches in question serve the following High Gods:

Ecross: God of Nature; favored by anyone who enters the wilderness. Is one of the more notable "war gods" of the setting. Ecrosian religious orders believe strongly in large families, self-reliance, and personal growth. Bravery and cultivation are core tenants.

Ifaril: God of the Forge; favored by the dwarves and and most artificers. As with Ecross, Ifaril pushes a doctrine of growth, but the growth of knowledge and society as a whole, rather than Ecrosian individualism. Responsibility and caution are core tenants.

Nemil: God of the Rains; perhaps the most universal god, Nemil represents cleansing, healing, and freedom. Would likely be the most popular of all the High Gods, but is notoriously unreliable.

Yeris: God of Ice; Not a popular 'worship' god, but one whose priesthood is well respected for their power against the monsters of the land, when not accused of being a suicide cult. Yeris preaches an embrace of the inevitable, and that part of a good life is dying on your terms, without regret or resistance.

Glage: God of Consumption; Few admit to following this nihilistic god of death and flame. A self-oriented deity that has no interest in bravery and is the opposite of slow cultivation. Teaches a life of callousness, and then going out in a blaze of glory. Favored amongst mercenaries, bandits, and gamblers.

Klero: God of Light; an that teaches order, discipline, and devotion to Truth above all other things. Their rigid doctrine earns them little love amongst the common people, but their skill, power, and efficiency attract quite a few amongst the military and scholarly castes.

Lenor: God of Sight; Sometimes also known as Goddess of Magic, this one embraces pursuit of knowledge not as part of some other goal, but as the goal in and of itself. These scholars care not if or how their knowledge is used, simply that they know it. Distrusted for their penchant toward forbidden magic, and their nasty habit of using scrying magic for blackmail purposes.

(There are plenty of others, but that's enough for now.)

The Seven: These beings are above even the High Gods, and have little or nothing to do with human life. They are only known to exist because the High Gods mention them in a manner of respect and perhaps fear. They have no known names, no interest mortal action, and if they act in the world, they do so without mortal knowledge. Can on occasion be referred to in religious texts, or used in creative profanity (Three Above, Four Below is a term for something so morally offensive that only a universe where evil rules can allow it to exist).

There are no rituals or shrines devoted to The Seven, nor do scholars have any sort of strong opinion on them. They exist, they don't care about humanity, and they don't expect humanity to care about them, and there might be seven of them (though that's questionable), this is all that is known.