The Living God is a relic of life as it was like before Death entered the world. He cannot die. This is the source of his strength and also his weakness.
Because he cannot die, he cannot effect change by himself - he is reliant on others to do so. He acts through his mortal vessels using their life-force in the process. The life-force is not destroyed but rather transmuted so they when completely used up, the soul is now an immortal being on the otherside. It's still dead of course but people who enter the bargain think it a good deal.
The Living God is more than just the body that everybody refers to as the Pharaoh. It is a vast domain of magical energy that blankets Kethaela and known to the people there as the Holy Realm. Those who worship the Living God have the ability to visit the Holy Realm in their dreams. Their interactions in the Holy Realm strengthen the Living God by allowing him to act and also transforming a portion of themselves into magic. Visitors to the Holy Realm describe it as being a dreamlike mirror of the Holy Country. Dissidents, of which there are many, see the Holy Realm as a false paradise that saps people of their lives and free will, ultimately turning them into unthinking pharaonic slaves.
Because the Living God is a god of life, his authority and the Holy Realm ends at the Crossline. The Living God does not struggle against this limit or plot its demise, he accepts it as a natural feature. But because the people beyond the Crossline are beyond his control and a source of potential havoc, he is careful not to antagonise them. This is the origin of the Holy Country's neutrality.
--Peter Metcalfe
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