5e game: gods and magic

GODS

There are seven gods (two good, three neutral, two evil) but every god can embody any domain, An evil god with a cleric of the Life domain might be rare, but terribly useful for torture. The gods generally interact with the world via clerics and paladins - many of them are chosen by the gods to serve them and their magic often aids adventurers who protect the world from varied threats.  

It is said that there were more gods once, and a war, but this was long ago, even before the fall of the eight wizards, and has become mostly myth. The gods are all concerned with the preservation and safety of this world, though methods and motives differ among them.

Most villages and every city contains a temple to the gods, which is largely a gathering place for locals as well as training for clerics, paladins, scholars healers etc. Smaller towns have shrines to specific gods and shrines can be found commonly during travels. The gods are said to respond to prayers spoken in shrines more often and it is rare - though not unheard of at all - to get audiences with at least one god in such places.

OOCly the stories about there being other gods is represented by the fact that infernal entities, the language and realm(s) are almost unheard of. The inhabitants of those realms are often old gods and the servants of them seeking a war back into the world. Much of the celestial-class monsters and entities are pretty much in a constant battle with them on the higher planes. It is, perhaps, also why high-level adventurers are rare, since many tend to be drafted into this war and vanish from the normal world.

Atien and Caldor [Good]

Atien is the god of Creation. It was she who brought the world into being even though the power of all the gods is necessary to sustain it. She is deeply concerned with the preservation of the world and many clerics of the Life domain are drawn to her.

Caldor, her husband, is the god of death. It is he who made the world beyond this one for the dead, though little is known of it by the living. His rule of the afterlife is generally seen as benevolent since spells to bring the dead back to life exist. He is the most beautiful of the gods, and some say the kindest as well.

Muan, Ranbir, L’tosh [Neutral]

Muan is the deity of birth and agriculture. All cities have at least one shine to Muan and no two depictions of the god are the same.

Ranbir is the god of trade, luck, and travel, beloved and feared by merchants. Travellers who do not put some token into the common roadside shrines to the god tend to have more problems befall them than otherwise.

L’tosh is the goddess of knowledge, which some say compasses magic as well. History is within her purview and all scholars venerate her above the other gods.

Ashkatan, Seshan [Evil]
Ashkatan is the god of war. He can be called upon to make and end war, and tends to revel in chaos - though this includes disruptions to social orders and other acts more subtle than detractors of the god might suppose.

Seshan is the trickster, and doesn’t even call themself a god. Seshan appears as any species, neither as male nor female and pretty much takes the piss out of everything, though often with a dark intent.

Clerics serve one god of their choice (unless they are chosen by the god into service). The same applies to paladins.  

The nature of magic:

Wizardry remains the most common (and safest) application of arcane magic. Sorcerers are generally considered dangerous (and sometimes scary, esp. with the stories about wild magic) while Warlocks are less trusted because of the Pacts they make that are poorly understood by others, and sometimes even by the warlocks themselves.

Clerics are generally trusted - depending on the god they serve, of course, and the way in which they serve Them. Clerics can recognize other Clerics - and Paladins - on sight and know what god they serve, though it is rumoured that followers of Seshan can trick this ability if they have to.

Bards and Druids are said to have magic sourced in the world itself, though how that makes it different from divine or arcane magic is often a debate for scholars.

Other-Class magic is generally held to be the result of exposure to magic as far as the common people are concerned, rarer but generally considered less powerful or scary. Most people would be unaware a rogue or fighter could use magic at all in the general run of things - which can be quite useful.

In general, most villages have at least one healer and a few people with cantrips at their disposal though it is often just the mend one. Potion-makers are relatively common because of adventurers, however.