Native American Gods

The Anasazi are a race of superhumanly powerful humanoid beings worshipped by the original North American tribes of the modern United States and Canada from about 3000 BC when their first sacred sites and communities began to appear into recent times. Many of the Anasazi still have worshippers today, but they no longer traffic with their worshippers to the extent they did before the European invasions of North America.

The Manidoog dwell primarily in Shipolo, an extra-dimensional cosmology of worlds adjacent to Earth by Ekutsihimmiyo, a bridge which connects the two realms; an interdimensional nexus between Shipolo and Earth exists somewhere near Mount Rainer in modern Washington with other access points in the Four Corners region of the United States. According to ancient legends, the mortal descendants of the Manidoog reached Earth through a cave near Mount Taylor in Nevada. The human worshippers of the Manidoog called their gods by varying names unique and distinct to their individual tribes. The Algonquin tribes had several similar names for Manabozho throughout their lands while the Navaho to the west knew him as Tshohanoi and the Eskimo clans far to the north knew him as Tulugaak or Torngasau. The Manidoog no longer actively seek worshippers on Earth, but are still worshipped today. They still appear on Earth on very rare occasions. Owayadota still appears to his mortal protégé, Red Wolf, while Hotamintanio once secreted himself into Asgard to remind Danielle Moonstar of her Cheyenne heritage.

The precise origin of the Manidoog, like that of all of Earth's pantheons of gods, is shrouded in legend. The earliest known Native American gods were Gitche Manitou, the Great Spirit, and Nokomis, the Earth-Mother. It is believed that Nokomis was actually Gaea, the primordial earth-mother who had survived the destruction of the Elder Gods of Earth by infusing her life into the life-giving essence of the Earth. Many of the Elder Gods had degenerated into demonic status and were destroyed by Atum or had fled Earth for other planes of existence. Atum had been born from Gaea by mating with the sentient biosphere of the Earth known as the Demiurge. Atum later departed the earth after shedding the excess demonic energies of the Elder Gods he had slain; some of these energies becoming demonic beings like Mephisto, Satannish, Mikaboshi and possibly Khlog and the Adversary, a demonic force that takes on typically Native American appearance.

The Manidoog have several varying accounts of their origins as a result of the cultural diversity of their worshippers, and as a result, lack any form of a truly unified pantheon. Several of the Anasazi, such as Hino, Tawa, Hotamintanio and Owayodata share roles in various separate minor tribes of the Manidog. The Eskimos, for example, revere Sedna, the sea-goddess, as their Great Mother, while some Canadian tribes revere the water-god, Raven, a trickster, as their patron deity. According to a wide majority accounts ranging from the Navaho to the Algonquin, Manabozho had been cast from Shipolo due to the treachery of his half-brother, Coyote. Manabozho befriended the original Native Americans on Earth and welcomed the Lenni-Lennapi, the mortal descendants of the Native American gods to their lands when they traveled to Earth. After doing as much good as he could on Earth, Manabozho was allowed to return back to Shipolo when Gitche Manitou stepped down to allow him to rule in his place over the Manidoog.

Around 1000 AD, Manabozho was approached by Odin, Chieftain of the Asgardian gods, whose Viking worshippers had seized parts of Greenland and Western Canada. Odin had called upon the rulers of the other gods once worshipped on Earth to discuss the threat of the Third Host of the Celestials. The Celestials had threatened to seal off the portals of each of their godly realms unless they promised to stop interfering in mortal affairs. Both Odin and Manabozho in liege with the other god-kings swore to this pledge and even made a vow to Odin to donate the necessary life energies to the Asgardians slain during the Fourth Host of the Celestials. When Thor came to Shipolo to petition a portion of the required life energies as part of this vow, Manabozho saw that a debt had been paid to his realm and offered Thor the necessary energies to restore the slain Asgardian gods to life. As part of this pact, Manabozho gathered with the other godheads to discuss other threats to the gods of Earth. When called upon by Odin, Manabozho sent Tawa to battle the primeval entity Demogorge and later traveled to Asgard when Thanos of the Eternals seized the Infinity Gauntlet.

Many of the worshippers were ousted from their homelands granted to them by their deities when Europeans colonized North America and founded outposts that would become the modern United States and Canada. The Manidoog like the Coatli gods to the South were forbidden to act on behalf of their worshippers due to the pact with the Celestials although Coyote, pressured by the anamaqkui (spirits) of his worshippers lashed out years later before hampered by Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange. The Eskimo gods of the North, however, felt antagonism from extra-dimensional beings known as the Great Beasts who managed to bind them from ever returning to Earth. Eventually they pierced the veils between both worlds that Nelvanna might conceive a child of both human and godly characteristics to serve as a champion against the Great Beasts. This child became Snowbird of Alpha Force, a team of costumed adventurers based in Canada. (It is not entirely sure if these Eskimo gods who lack the physical characteristics of the rest of the Manidoog are on the same order of the Innua of the Anasazi. They could actually be members of the Lenni-Lennapi, but this is uncertain).

Several of the more noble and beneficent deities of the Manidoog have had closer interactions with mortals through Earthly agents. For several years, Owayodata has mentored and guided several generations of warrior braves under the name of Red Wolf, the most recent being William Talltrees. Hino once lent his power to the mortal, Inali Redpath, a SHIELD Agent of Sioux heritage, but when Redpath ran amuck, Thor took it upon himself to confront Hino to remove his godly gift from Redpath