What is Azlans special purpose compared to the other old ones? Does he take after Cthulhu in that he focuses on causing panic and sending heroes and populations insane or does he have something deeper then that?
Also, if the Rival stretch goal were to be reached, how powerful would these rivals be in relation to you? Would they be able to do everything you can and practically act like an NPC Old One, or are they more like "regional" terrors that are as much a hazard to you as they are to the world?
Azlan gets a total of 15 power orbs by the endgame, that seems pretty huge considering that most of the gods get between 4 and 10. He also has abilities that hide him and mess with peoples heads and dreams so he seems to be an advanced stealth manipulator god who doesn't want to go overt at any time. Plus once he hits 15 orbs he straight up wins the game. We don't know what his later abilities do but a lot of infiltration rituals, such as doppelgangers, use a lot of power so he can leverage a ton of magic around the world through empowered agents.
Azlan's core ability is that he can mark X number (more orbs the more he can do concurrently) of people and slowly alter their personality and traits - it is one of best ways to push the world in the direction you want but is compensated for by the lack of other direct powers that other Old Ones may have.
RE: Spymaster concepts - Azlan is a lot of fun to play, but I think it's because you are less a spymaster than a pupper master - pulling at the strings of the world. Do you have a few examples of failed spymasters types I could look at?
Old Ones themselves do NOT get worshipers, it is the religions of the world that get worshipers... but you can be the power behind the religion and essentially usurp the place of the God/Concept they were worshiping.
Rival Old Ones introduces three types of challenge
1) True Old Ones like yourself, these rise in the same as you and seek to manipulate the world via the same mechanics. You'll find yourself needing to identify who they are, figure out their goal, and then deal with them. Otherwise your war in the shadows gets a lot more cluttered.
2) Lesser Old Ones who have remained in the world, these great beings were never sealed away, and have created empires in the world for themselves. They function like normal nations but with a greater connection to ancient powers.
3) Ancient Creatures of Lesser Power - these are introduced through events, but also move through the world similar to heroes. They are ancient beings who never quite ascended to the ranks of power you have, they may serve you, or they may wish to usurp your position. Dealing with them is essential but complex.
So you have your "peer" element that will use the same mechanics as you, this is the most complex part of the game for us to deal with - principally from an AI perspective. Then you have nations that are run by Great Evils, and these lesser creatures that wander the world pursuing their agenda.
These elements are subject to change based on testing.
On funding trends - I hear they're all garbage, but from the metrics and postmortems I've read it isn't rare to raise 50-100% of what you raised the first week in the last week, while the middle two weeks are generally a slow trickle. I'm ECSTATIC that Gods are back in, such a good mechanic, but of course I look forward to the other stretch goals as well.
If it looks like we are going to reach Procedural Generation we will be able to rebuild the map, that is going to be an interesting collaborative process - I'll probably reach out to all the backers with sample styles and we'll settle on what we want our artist to create.