I really liked Peter's answer. He said most of what I was thinking,
but I'll throw in the few remaining thoughts that aren't pure
repetition.
- With regards to the refining effect, I suspect that going through
your initiation quest would have an effect not unlike a combination
of going through military boot camp and become "born again"
religiously. You are still you, but the process is so extreme that
it will leave permanent imprints upon you. Some fight against this
and change as little as they can (but change more than they realize),
other embrace it and make massive changes (but are still more
themselves than they realize). Subsequent levels of devotion etc are
probably at least as wrenching. Although there is clearly still slow
drifts of the personality, I think there is a real and noticeable
change from taking these steps.
- There is a fantastic example of the refining effect in a trilogy of
books by Michael Scott Rohan, (in no particular order) Chase the
Morning, The Gates of Noon, Cloud Castles, trace a very ordinary
man's course from first crossing over to the "other world" to
becoming something very pure and beyond human (and in telling that I
probably help spoil the end of the third book, but I don't know how
to make this point otherwise). If you want a literary example of a
person become a daimone you could do worse. (The books also are full
of cool concepts, and might make the basis for a neat neat role
playing campaign, however they are a little uneven as stories in my
opinion. Still, worth reading for more than the how to become a
daimone lesson).
So I agree that people start off as essentially human, however they
can become less fully human, for better or worse, as they progress
spiritually. This effect was obvious with the empire of the wurms
friends, but I think in many ways it applies to at least the theistic
religions, and I'm sure the other ones too, just that we know less
about them.
The one sort of exception is probably the Red Goddess. Her cyclical
nature includes many things, so what you become as you enter deeper
into her mysteries might be _almost_ more purely human as we'd think
of it....but probably not quite.
All just IMO.
Bryan