The Powers of Entropy and Exergy are created and sustained by belief, and the beliefs of trillions of sapients in the Cassandra Galaxy have led to the Four major powers of Entropy and the Three of Exergy emerging amid a host of minor ones. As opposed to their great foes, the Powers of Exergy, the Powers of Entropy tend to favor chaos, individuality, idiosyncrasy, and disorder. As opposed to their great foes, the Powers of Entropy, the Powers of Exergy tend to favor order, collectivism, rigid moral codes, and sacred vows.

Though often called gods, including by themselves, the Four and the Three, as well as their minor brethren, are a purely natural phenomenon, a quirk of the existence of intelligent minds perceiving the universe. Those who manifest a particularly strong belief in one of the Four can allow for them to act upon the believer and even the believer’s environment with a number of local quantum effects that can appear miraculous or even impossible. It’s important to note that the strongest weapon against interference by an adherent of the Four or the Three–the Seven, as they are sometimes called–is disbelief. A strong and sincere enough disbelief will blunt any power these beings seem to possess, and an avowed and committed atheist will have nothing to fear so long as they do not waver.

The true nature of the Powers has led to some sapients wondering if it is possible to birth a new one through intense and directed belief–or to kill one through targeted skepticism. Thus far, all such efforts have failed because the belief must be sincere, and to birth a Power or to attempt to elevate oneself to that level requires a certain level of insincerity, and even a sliver of belief will rescue an imperiled Power from death. Many a cult has risen and fallen dedicated to wither propositon, and for their part the Powers seem indifferent, regarding the birth or death of one of their own with little sentimentality.