The Heirs of the Veil

Since the fall of the ancient pantheons, the gods have withdrawn from the visible world. But their children, neither quite divine nor quite human, have persisted. They are called the Heirs, and they shape civilization from the shadows. To prevent humans from discovering their existence, the Heirs established the Veil, a two-thousand-year-old secret coalition. The Veil is an occult society that infiltrates all institutions: governments, multinationals, modern religions, social networks. Its main laws: Never reveal the divine nature to mortals, maintain world order (the balance between war, peace, prosperity, and poverty must remain "harmonious"), and prevent the return of the gods themselves. (The pantheons are dormant, but could be reborn if humanity were to worship them again.) The Heirs have powerful magical powers, linked to their divine ancestors. They have their own plane of existence, Olyndra, a veiled dimension that lies between Earth and the Lost Heavens of the Old Gods. Heirs who are too unstable, cruel, or uncontrollable are imprisoned in Vessels. They serve as prisons, disciplinary schools, and sometimes as energy sources to fuel the Veil. They are spread all over Earth without mortals realizing it. Some Heirs have managed to achieve independent godhood, created new realms of existence and founded their own kingdoms.