Originally Posted by tacticslion
... I think it depends on what you mean by "gods". In many fantasy tropes, especially those influenced by pre-Judeo-Christian ideals and Eastern philosophies, "god" does not automatically include "good" in its essence.
However, to respond to your points: the most powerful devils in Judeo-Christian thought are, in fact, believed to be "fallen" (or corrupted) archangels.
And: I believe the key word missing here is "incarnate". The idea of a divine entity becoming incarnate is that a) the incarnate has all the same personality traits and qualities of the divine entity without necessarily having full automatic access to the divine state.
To put it in a specifically Christian perspective, Jesus was God Incarnate - He was in all ways God, placed into the corporal form of a human being - His own body. He was not in the state of being Divine (even though He was, just to throw the confusion of the great Mystery in there) but was, in fact man, that is, mortal. He was not automatically inherently omniscient, omnipresent, or omnipotent. Instead he was taught and spoken to by the Father (Himself, still in the Divine state) to know what needed to happen next and, occasionally, to know the distant future (prophecy including foretelling the future such as Jerusalem's fall and forthtelling the current state of things/immediate actions needed to be taken such as the rejection of the scripture in the hearts of people and the need to go through Samaria); was granted authority by the Father to work miraculum (healing the sick, walking on water, feeding the five thousand, etc), and was shown things and taken places that he couldn't have been present for (Nathan sitting under the tree, "they said in their hearts", the living status of the woman at the well in Samaria, etc). The fact that He wasn't in constant access of all of that (that He was not constantly exercising it) did not mean that He wasn't God, but rather that He was God made Man. He responded in every way that God would have, had God been in the same situation He was in.
Same idea here. They aren't necessarily 'gods' in the sense that they aren't actually ascended or inherently divine entities of their own right. Rather, they are the 'incarnates' of the chaos gods. At least that's the way I've been taking it.
Or, if religious theory isn't your thing: they are written to be reflections of four fictional deities of chaos, heavily influencing Brian's writings to make them into the characters they are in 8-Bit.
Edit:
Note: I am myself a Christian. A very large number of people who are much, much more intelligent than me could probably rip my explanation above three ways to Tuesday, however I'm not attempting to push religion (mine), proove my point (religiously), or argue the implications of Jesus being Man or Divine or whatever. I'm simply trying to explain it in a (relatively) straightforward manner by using something most of us in the Western world are (at least vaguely) familiar with. Also, I like to use (paranthetical notations) even when it's not (called for). (Because it's fun. Quiet you.)
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