My point is that the Goddess in the story rewards a devout servant of hers with her blessing. Surely, if she didn't care one way or another about being worshipped, she wouldn't have bothered.
As for your comment about Gandalf and Sauron. I am sure Sauron's minions must've thought of him as on an equal level of a diety. Should Sauron have asked them to worship him, they likely would. But instead, Sauron orders them to conquer Middle-Earth for him. Since, after all, that's a better use of recources. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
As for Gandalf; I doubt he would have *allowed* people to worship him. I am quite sure he would be appaled by the thought. That's why it doesn't happen. If he had wanted to, I am sure with all his powers he could have made people believe him to be a diety, and worship him.
See, that is the thing. People do not simply worship dieties because they are dieties. They worship them out of fear, or awe. They worship the Goddess of fertility in the hopes of getting good crops, or the God of the heavens because they fear otherwise they will be struck down by lightning.
You say your Goddess protects them, but exactly why does she protect them? I mean, what are they, to her? The normal relation between a diety and lesser mortals, is that the diety provides protection, for which she is worshipped in return. If you want to substitute that with a completely new, original concept, that's fine.
But in that case, give good motivation for the Goddess to protect the people living on this coast. If she doesn't do it for their admiration, what does she do it for? The kindness of her heart? Unlikely. I mean. Think about this; imagine being a diety. Imagine that the passing of a century is like the blink of an eye. Why would you then care about the short livespans of mortals?
That's why the vanity displayed by the Gods of the Greek pantheon works. Their craving for people to worship them gives them motivation to give, or withhold their blessing.
