Heh, just wait and see what the mages think of the gods
In the beginning there were the six elemental lords:
Fire, earth, water, air, light (energy) and nether (entropy). Each carved out a portion of the multiverse as there own thus creating the elemental planes.
The elemental planes, in contact with each other and being dissimilar in nature began to move relative to each other and the “friction†between the planes generated the Ethereum Arcane, the great sea of magic that powers all spell casting.
The material plane coalesced as a result of fluctuations within the Ethereum Arcane and with its creation came the inevitable rise of intelligence, first drakes and their kin, then the lesser mortals.
The presence of intelligent thought imposes, to a greater or lesser degree, a pattern on the Ethereum Arcane, (essentially this is how spell casting works). With sufficient entities contemplating the same things (what is lightning for example), a permanent pattern is established and may develop sentience. Thus were created the gods.
The gods, once created are almost impossible to completely destroy as the pattern established within the Ethereum Arcane is a new “stable†state so to speak, and while it can be dissipated, it tends to re-establish itself given sufficient time.
Only through the channeling of truly vast quantities of nether can the pattern be sufficient perturbed for it to be fully dissipated. This is well beyond the ken of mortals.
Being entities of pure magic, the gods are able to manipulate the flows of the Ethereum Arcane at will and have influence anywhere where it is present.
As one leaves the material plane and heads out towards the elemental planes one enters a realm of increasing chaos. Strange creatures spontaneously appear and disappear within this realm. Some of these creatures have found ways of holding onto their existence by latching onto the patterns generated by the intelligent races of the material plane. These patterns are twisted by the chaos of their home realms and as a consequence such creatures tend to be unfriendly. Typically such creatures latch onto the ‘vices’ of the mortal races and, as they rely on such patterns for their very existence, work through mortal agents to encourage such thoughts. These are the various daemons and daemon lords.
Whilst they do not have the complete control over the Ethereum Arcane that the gods have, they do have a fair amount of power over the flows of magic and can channel such power to any mortal followers that they may have.
There is an advantage to having more followers. Think of a god as a standing wave in the fabric of reality. Each new follower increases the amplitude a little more, thus a god without followers exists, but only barely, to the point where they are on the brink of no longer being sentient.