Basic Trope: Gods that are older and more powerful than the current pantheon, despite not being as heavily worshipped.
- Straight: Paleotropos is an old spirit that, while it is not as extensively worshipped as its children, is far more powerful than the current gods.
- Exaggerated: It turns out that Paleotropos is a child of Archaeotropos, who is a child of Prototropos, and this continues.
- Downplayed: Paleotropos was alive before the current gods, but lives alongside them and seems to be only slightly stronger
- Justified:
- Paleotropos came from an earlier civilization, and was abandoned or adjusted by a newcoming culture to be a form of precursor to the current gods.
- Paleotropos is a god of primordial elements, like day and night, while the younger gods take on more human roles, like war, peace, harvest, and households.
- Inverted: New Gods who have come to replace the current pantheon.
- Subverted: Paleotropos claims to be an older and more powerful god, but is actually just a master at looking old and powerful.
- Double Subverted: ... that's what he wants you to think.
- Parodied: Grandpa God
- Zig Zagged: ??
- Averted: The currently worshipped gods are already the oldest beings out there.
- Or there are just no gods altogether.
- Enforced: "We need to show that there are different gods in our story... hrmm..."
- Lampshaded: "Paleotropos seems... old. Definitely different from the other gods."
- Invoked: Paleotropos killed his generation of gods, knowing that younger, less powerful gods will appear later.
- Defied: The other gods kill Paleotropos.
- Implied: While Paleotropos is never stated to be this trope, there are far less references to him in the story and the few references depict him as much more powerful than younger gods.
