Gods are immortal; they cannot die. Each deity embodies such vast eternal realms of power - facets of the very building blocks of creation - it is nigh-on impossible to cause one to "cease" to be. It is only through rare conflicts of direct "might" known as CONTESTING that the Gods are able to cause each other short-term but nonetheless serious hurt. Contesting is public and most mortals will witness a deity battle in their lifetime: there are numerous levels of contest, ascending in "might" hurled between them, from the 'warning' through the 'rage' to the 'decimation'.
Should a God be blasted by a contest so strong it burns away all of their Available Might, severe consequences occur: the divinity is struck down from their lofty position and forced - in a stricken state - to flee to the nexus of his/her divine realm; a place of sanctuary far from the mortal world, where none but the Gods may venture and none but the realm-deity holds sway. At this nexus location the God will remain helpless, bound as if captive: secure from true destruction but unable to use any divine powers and deprived of most of the standard movements, actions of physical exertion, etc.
Deity "might" comes from various sources, but broadly speaking it is accumulated by all divinities by dint of their presence, their actions, their patronages, their mortal followers and those in cities and guilds of their patronage, by offerings and victories and festivals and indeed some hundreds of factors. Around every Avalon month these accumulations reach a point where they become parsed into, amongst other aspects of a God's power, their available "might". At this point a stricken deity will be infused with might sufficient to summon their reserves - the fundamental long-term "might" - and draw it forth to replenish (and then some) the "might" available for immediate use. It is not unusual at this point for some deities to wreak a terrible revenge - one of the main deterrents for use of CONTEST between the Gods - and at the very least the deity is likely to draw forth sufficient reserve "might" to weather the damage of being contested again; even if that be another 'decimation'.
In a way, then, the stricken state is more serious than any mortal death: it can last for up to an Avalon month during which time the God is as helpless as any mortal paralysed by some crippling affliction. It is a matter of great shame and loss of face to be forced out of the mortal realm and to lie stricken and impotent, clinging to the nexus location - sundered from Avalon - trapped on the divine plane. Small wonder, then, that the 'war' let alone the 'decimate' contesting is a battle seldom fought.
In a singular reversal of role, it is the mortals who possess the greater power to rescue their deity from the helpless stricken state: by performing the Festival of Hope or the Festival of Glory (depending on the extent of the stricken damage). Both festivals are catalyst for the mortals to be able to send power - in effect - across into the divine realm, to revival the God and bring about the most awe-inspiring and deadly of events: a stricken deity newly empowered and rising...
