GODS AND STUFF
A BIT OF BACKGROUND, in the form of a long ramble because I can't write these things in an organized fashion to save my life:
The gods of American Gods are of the sort where they come from the dreams of humanity--in other words, human belief is what brings gods into being. So long as they are believed in, the gods survive; but they must also be true to what is believed about them. It seems that when gods find themselves totally without believers, their nature starts to deteriorate; after this, it is easy for them to die for good by forsaking the core of what was once believed about them. There are at least two or three canonical examples of this.
Gods can be killed in more conventional manners as well; they can revive totally unscathed, but this is a lot less likely if they don't have believers. All of a god's power comes from belief. So, in AGverse, Jesus could revive himself without batting an eye in America; Horus, on the other hand, would have a lot more trouble.
All gods have a few abilities in common:
All gods are connected to and able to, at any time, enter "backstage". Backstage is basically the mythical undercurrent in any given place. In the human world, gods tend to be bound to the laws of reality to some degree most of the time, although they can do things that humans believe or believed that they are able to do. Backstage, on the other hand, they are fully what humans believe them to be, no matter how few believers they have left. (For an example, in the real world, Selene would just be some chick with weird powers that have something to do with the moon, but backstage, she is the moon--and so is every moon goddesses that was ever believed in, but there is no real interference from this apparent contradiction.) This often means that they'll appear as many, many different things all at once. In Horus' case, he'd appear a falcon-headed man, a pharaoh, a full bird, and a small boy sitting on a lotus, to name a few. (This isn't shown in canon, but it can be inferred from what was actually believed about Horus in ancient Egypt.)
Gods can affect people and events in a very low-key sort of way that's more akin to a very intense charisma than any kind of actual conscious power. If a god stays in a small area for a very long time, that place starts to bend to their nature, whether or not they're putting an effort into it (though if they do put an effort into it, then the effect is much more pronounced and controlled than otherwise). On a smaller scale, gods can cause humans to want to do, think, or say things they otherwise would not, without said humans knowing why or even questioning it. They can also draw information from humans, but not in the "reading minds" sort of way. To my recollection, they're never shown to actually know what someone is thinking at a specific moment, but they can find out little things, like names and such, if they are willing to put in a bit of effort. Gods' ability to read other gods is a bit more inherent: if two gods bump into each other, randomly, on a street, then they will each be able to know who the other one is without even asking.
The gods of American Gods are of the sort where they come from the dreams of humanity--in other words, human belief is what brings gods into being. So long as they are believed in, the gods survive; but they must also be true to what is believed about them. It seems that when gods find themselves totally without believers, their nature starts to deteriorate; after this, it is easy for them to die for good by forsaking the core of what was once believed about them. There are at least two or three canonical examples of this.
Gods can be killed in more conventional manners as well; they can revive totally unscathed, but this is a lot less likely if they don't have believers. All of a god's power comes from belief. So, in AGverse, Jesus could revive himself without batting an eye in America; Horus, on the other hand, would have a lot more trouble.
All gods have a few abilities in common:
All gods are connected to and able to, at any time, enter "backstage". Backstage is basically the mythical undercurrent in any given place. In the human world, gods tend to be bound to the laws of reality to some degree most of the time, although they can do things that humans believe or believed that they are able to do. Backstage, on the other hand, they are fully what humans believe them to be, no matter how few believers they have left. (For an example, in the real world, Selene would just be some chick with weird powers that have something to do with the moon, but backstage, she is the moon--and so is every moon goddesses that was ever believed in, but there is no real interference from this apparent contradiction.) This often means that they'll appear as many, many different things all at once. In Horus' case, he'd appear a falcon-headed man, a pharaoh, a full bird, and a small boy sitting on a lotus, to name a few. (This isn't shown in canon, but it can be inferred from what was actually believed about Horus in ancient Egypt.)
Gods can affect people and events in a very low-key sort of way that's more akin to a very intense charisma than any kind of actual conscious power. If a god stays in a small area for a very long time, that place starts to bend to their nature, whether or not they're putting an effort into it (though if they do put an effort into it, then the effect is much more pronounced and controlled than otherwise). On a smaller scale, gods can cause humans to want to do, think, or say things they otherwise would not, without said humans knowing why or even questioning it. They can also draw information from humans, but not in the "reading minds" sort of way. To my recollection, they're never shown to actually know what someone is thinking at a specific moment, but they can find out little things, like names and such, if they are willing to put in a bit of effort. Gods' ability to read other gods is a bit more inherent: if two gods bump into each other, randomly, on a street, then they will each be able to know who the other one is without even asking.