Editing Small Gods (section)

==Characters==

*Brutha, a novice in the Omnian Temple.  He is apparently 17, which is old for a novice.  He cannot read or write but has perfect recall of anything he sees or hears. He can quote chapter and verse from Omnian Scripture. He can also estimate time and distance accurately. Om speaks to him by sending his voice directly into Brutha's brain.
*Vorbis, the Exquisitor in charge of the Omnian Quisition.  He wants to be the Eighth Prophet of Om.  The Great God Om cannot speak to Vorbis, whose mind seems like a hard steel ball.
*Om, a Discworld God occupying the body of a tortoise.  Om had been out on the astral plane and attempted to assume the shape of a bull three years ago, but instead turned into a tortoise. He remained non-sentient in this form until being picked up by an eagle and dropped into the citadel, fortunately landing on a compost heap instead of rocks. Om depends on Brutha to exist and possibly regain power, dreading the fate of gods who become nothing more than disembodied voices on the wind when they run out of believers.  Besides Brutha, Om can talk to other gods, such as the Sea Queen, with whom he has to bargain for Brutha's life after Vorbis causes a porpoise to be killed.  Unlike other gods, Om begins to see humans as important, if only to keep up the number of believers.  He also realizes that he needs prophets to talk to people on his behalf.
*Didactylos, a blind Ephebian philosopher who lives in a barrel and carries a lantern.  He keeps the Library of Ephebe, full of philosophical scrolls that are written but almost never read. His basic philosophy is "We are here, it is now, anything else is guesswork."
*Urn, Didactylos's technically-minded nephew whose knowledge of [[steam power]] leads him to build a steam-powered boat and an Iron Turtle, a steam-powered war engine intended to aid the Turtle Movement. Steam powered machines contradict Omnian dogma, which states that such devices cannot perform work as they have neither minds nor muscles.
*Sergeant Simony, a soldier in the Omnian army who wants to kill Vorbis himself out of revenge for the Omnian annexation of his home country, Istanzia. He is an avowed [[misotheism|misotheist]], albeit only towards Om.
*Lu Tze, one of the Monks of History, who decides to improve Omnian history so it is less bloody.  He spends time working in the gardens of the Omnian Temple observing Brutha while sweeping and keeping the soil beds. He may have arranged the compost heap for Om to fall on, thus allowing him to survive.
*Cut-Me-Own-Hand-Off Dhblah, a "convenience food" merchant working in the Place of Lamentation, the public square by the Temple. He is known for "live yoghurt" that threatens to climb out of its container. He is the Omnian equivalent of the Ankh-Morporkian 'merchant venturer' [[List of Discworld characters#Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler|Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler]].
*St. Ungulant, born Servian Thaddeus Ungulant, a hermit who lives in the desert and communes with the small gods, who serve him imaginary feasts. He actually survives by eating bugs and drinking water from certain plants, which enables Brutha and Vorbis to survive. He has an imaginary friend, Angus, who is real enough to kill a lion that attacks him, and is therefore another small god.
*Brother Nhumrod, Master of the Novices. When Brutha comes to him asking about hearing the voice of Om, he lectures Brutha about demonic voices, on which he is an expert, hearing them constantly himself.
*Death, who appears to several Omnians and conducts them to the edge of the great starlit black desert, which they must cross to face Judgement. All do so willingly except Vorbis, who cowers there until Brutha comes to lead him.
*The Gods of Discworld, who exist because people believe in them. Since they only need belief, they are otherwise callous and unintelligent. The Sea Queen demands lives in payment for the killing of a porpoise, despite Om telling her that the humans with him don't deserve to die.  However, she is easily distracted by a ship full of Omnians in pursuit, killing all but Vorbis. The gods also take the form people believe, so the Ephebian goddess of wisdom, Patina, has a penguin as a companion instead of an owl, because of a sculptor's mistake that people started to believe. Om tells Brutha that all the various gods of natural forces are really the same ones using different disguises and props. In Dunmanifestin, Om encounters Blind Io, the Thunder God and chief of the Discworld gods, whom he strikes, and P'tang P'tang, a giant [[newt]] worshiped by a nation of fifty-one marsh-dwelling nomads.