I'm not sure I understand the point of small and forgotten gods...

I got Wanderhome yesterday, and I have SO many questions... I also may have missed something somewhere, so please do forgive me if they are answered somewhere.

Why are they there? What do they actually do? Are they part of making the world run "as it should"?

Why "gods" - what makes them different from being spirits, elementals, ghosts, or some other form of intangible thing? What happens when they get worshipped? Being forgotten seems to have done something to them, but there's no notes about what happens in the case of the reverse. Following on from that, why should they be worshipped?

Why are they forgotten? They seem to be everywhere, and someone's often paying attention to them, if the playbooks are any indication...

There's just so much here that seems to be assumed about them, without any real explanation or coherent framework to actually make them into the world. What am I missing?