Gods of Arr-Kelaan

The Gods of Arr-Kelaan is a fantasy/humor webcomic drawn and written by illustrator Chuck Rowles and aided with visual effects and coloring help of his brother Steve Rowles. It's hosted on its own site, as well as some publications still found on a webcomic portal/community known as "The Duck" (formally "Drunk Duck").
The comic, although still online and available in printed works, has been on unknown hiatus since Early 2010. The comic at its most popular updated twice a week, with the comic gathering approximately 4400 unique hits per day. It has been featured on Comixpedia, the Webcomics Examiner and Comic World News, and in print in the "Weekender". Rowles has also done book signings.
The world of Arr-Kelaan was created in 1986 by Len Zaikoski, a friend of Chuck Rowles, for use in a role-playing game. Rowles initially contributed one deity, then a few more, then found himself with a full pantheon and stories to tell about them. He started drawing the comic to do so, initially intending it to be in pamphlet form but ending up taking it online. "Gods" has been published in several paperback print collections, and one of its five major story arcs is only available in print.
Setting.
As the interstellar cruise ship "Traveller" on its maiden voyage (with Earthling passengers and a multiplanetary crew) comes under pirate attack, its captain panics and does the impossible, sending his vessel plunging into an alternate dimension. Upon waking on the world of Arr-Kelaan, the survivors discover they have gained the power of gods: they are indestructible, they can hear the thoughts of mortals, create anything with a mere thought and even bring back the dead. Arr-Kelaan itself is something out of a fantasy novel, with mages and dragons.
Campaign.
Zaikoski's Arr-Kelaan grew into a full-scale Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting, compatible with 2nd edition rules and available online. In contrast to many RPG-derived works, Rowles' Arr-Kelaan is scantly recognizable. The geography and the basic D&D elements of a vaguely medieval society and polytheistic/henotheistic pantheons are the same, but whereas the game focuses on adventurers in a world stably ruled by Travellers-turned-gods for millennia, "Gods" portrays the effects of the Travellers on the world and each other when they first arrive and establish themselves.
Structure.
"Gods" shows its offline origins in its full-page paperback layout. Stories are organized into lengthy arcs, which in turn are split into "issues" of roughly two dozen pages each. Pages are designed to form a whole more than to stand on their own; conversations often carry over for several, and there are few overt last-panel punchlines. "Gods" is normally black and white, although issue "covers" and "Volume Zero" are in color. Partway through "Consequences" "Gods" made a switch to full colour, there are plans to add color to all pages from "Consequences".
The comic's plot is highly character-driven, to the point of largely leaving the mages and dragons on the wayside: When asked how "Gods" fits into the fantasy genre, Rowles answered "With a shoehorn, I think." The great number of characters forms an ensemble cast, though in practice Ronson has received the most exposure.
Stories.
The timeline of "Gods of Arr-Kelaan" can be somewhat confusing, as the events were neither drawn nor shown in their chronological order.
Here are the stories in order of their own timeline, with the more supplemental ones indented:
Characters.
"Traveller"s.
The "Traveller" gods are the survivors of the spaceship crash, who awakened years if not decades later all over the world to find themselves apparently appointed its rightful deities. Mentally they're unchanged, and a central theme of the comic is their adaptation to their new positions. Most are human beings in shape; two are of demihuman races and three of monstrous humanoid races, all endemic to Earth's universe. The name is a slight misnomer, as several are from the "Competent Offender", the pirate vessel that attacked the "Traveller" and in fact supply much of the pantheon's sinister side.
As deities, each is associated with a domain that reflects their personality or traits (the survivors, and thus the domains, were "almost certainly" not determined randomly. ) What they're actually known as can vary: Salsmen of Deceit is much more likely to be worshipped as Salsmen of Power. They hear mortal prayers associated either with them or their domains. In "Myths and Legends", a large group of people unhappy and afraid draws both Bunny (happiness) and Shadowscared (fear). One without a following hears everything in the vicinity.
Their godly powers amount to reality warping around themselves: spontaneous item generation, flight, teleporting themselves and others to where they've already been, slowing their perception of time, polymorphing, telepathy, the traditional fireballs and lightning bolts, etc. Gods generate divine power spontaneously, without any external source, and in a very real sense they are beings of this power: Their appearance is now entirely a personal choice (many loom huge when appropriate, Claremont's gone subatomic), with a default to how they see themselves , and they are impervious to physical damage and pain, up to and including atmospheric reentry without a vehicle. They can sleep but need not to. The "Traveller" Gods are not entirely immortal when facing each other, non-"Traveller" gods or legendary magic items.
The "Traveller"s start as rough equals, but their powers are limited by their levels of skill in wielding them. . Making new life is thus far too complex, resurrection is only possible if the soul is available. The acquisition of magical artifacts has given some gods an advantage.
Priests and clerics draw upon their patrons' strength as magical power. The closer the followers' beliefs are to the ideals of their god, the more power they have. The gods could leave Arr-Kelaan and settle on another world, although their powers would be weaker. This is the same drop in power experienced by earth gods who came to Arr-Kelaan.