How can gods prevent their holy aura from killing mortals with radiation?

[Erebus]

When gods descend to the mortal plane, they must inhabit specially built bodies in order to maintain their presence and hold their aethereal energies. These bodies are built in the aethereal realm with Godtech and made in the image of a human being. Since the essence of a God is so large, the smallest these bodies can be made is in the 8 - 9 ft range. Within the physical form is a large core that contains the god's essence. This core functions similar to a miniature nuclear reactor that powers the body and allows the god to control it like a puppet.

Even with these specialized forms, the gods essence is so strong can't be perfectly contained, radiating from the body in a golden hue. This divine radiation bathes the surrounding area with divine energy, including the sentient beings within that area. Human beings can experience various affects from this aura, including light headedness, extreme pressure, shortness of breath, and unconsciousness. Even heart attacks can occur in certain people, which can be fatal.

These gods need to keep their divine aura at benign levels to prevent it from radiating too strongly from their physical forms, so that it doesn't completely overwhelm the humans surrounding it. Mortals must feel the majesty of their presence without suffering the ill affects. I would also like to keep the God's form as biological as possible, to keep the appeared center of a highly advanced being.

What is the best way to make this happen?

 

[CupofJoe]

Create myths and lore that says no-one should ever stand too close or remain too long in their godly presence... Make getting close to one a rare and wondrous event.
If you want something more mundane, give them a coat or robe they can throw open to reveal the god-ness.

 

[WooHooMan]

Is there a story function for the gods’ aura causing ill effects? If not, I’d get rid of that bit. Maybe a heavy exposure to god radiation could have some other effect like inducing trances or something.

If it is necessary, it seems to me like you could just write the story so that the suits are strong enough to prevent that.
It seems kind of silly that the gods would put in all this effort to have specialized suits to prevent radiation and then have it not properly prevent radiation. If I was a god in this setting, I would make perfecting these suits a top priority. This just makes the gods seem mildly incompetent or reckless.

 

[skip.knox]

Yeah, I'd go with the cloak thing, too. Specially-made, of course, so you can have it be something like translucent, maybe even letting the god modulate that, cutting back or revealing more as fits the situation. Lots of choices of color, intensity, etc.

 

[Nirak]

If they are a god, couldn't they just choose to dim down the aura a bit? Or just send part of their essence down instead of their entire being? Like astral projection in reverse

 

[Night Gardener]

I would suggest that specific physiological effects happen to onlookers at specific radiuses. At say, 10 to 15 feet, a sense of euphoria. Start getting any closer and the effects get less desireable. Those accustomed to being close, like priests, can endure it with rituals before, and after, being in their presence with prolonged exposure. Too close? Trance followed by unconsciousness. Closer still for too long? Short term coma. To try and actually rush in to try an touch? A reactionary, repelling force like magnetism. Manage to touch? Death.

 

[ShadeZ]

Perhaps your gods could control and manipulate their aura with training. Humans can learn to control their heart rate and breathing in critical situations and can learn to focus our senses on something or learn to tune certain sounds out of our senses. It makes sense to me these gods could easily and would learn to control and moderate the amount of aura they give off.

If enchantment is a thing in your books they could also enchant something they might wear to dampen their aura or make it not lethal to humans. This could lead to an interesting story concept as you could have gods who think they shouldn't muffle their natural might for humans and some who are seen as "good and merciful" gods by humans who care for humans or view them like pets to where they are willing to both muffle their might and want to interact with humans. A good group of "gods" to look at as well would be the isu and the isu hybrids in the assassin's creed games.