Quote Originally Posted by GartredZW View Post
It's not a distaste for spiritualism, it's just a cultural and religious trope. A lot of folklore in various east asian religions revolves around spirits and gods being born from normal people. They sometimes go corrupt, and have to be killed by heroes who sometimes become gods themselves.
I can see the argument about demystifying the FFXIV pantheon, but I think that's kind of what the game is all about at it's core. The scions are made up of almost all uber-educated scholars above 99% of the world. The group started as the "circle of knowing" and most of what we do involves trying to turn magic into a science.
^ What this guy said. Gods in Eastern mythology are rarely Judeo-Christian omnipotent creators or even Zeus-like figures, they are often ascended mortals who reach a pinnacle point in their journey of cultivation, very Taoist based. Look at all the "sennin" type gods in Chinese lore, half of the Heavens used to be "great sages" who left their mortal coil.