OOC: The God's Game

[BadForm]

This is an OOC thread for the thread "The God's Game." Feel free to post any questions, character questions, feedback or information here. Likewise, I'll post appropriate knowledge that players should have regarding the gameworld.

The IC thread is: The Gods' Game

The first thing that has come to light is religion. Religion on Darras-Mor is a lot more obvious than on most worlds, ancient Earth included. The reason for this is that the 16 gods have already walked the world several times, including stopping three major mage-wars which nearly destroyed the world in history. As they are, individually and together, such frequent visitors, everyone either worships one/several or at least believes in them all. Worshipping non-existant gods, or being an atheist in that world (note that is different from a non-worshipper who just knows they exist but doesn't pay them any attention) is a non-survival trait.

The sixteen god/desses are, in no particular order as each are as powerful:

1) Hessun: Goddess of Nature
2) Ol: God of Society/gold/etc
3) Fraxze: Goddess of Love and Beauty
4) Lyth'r: God of Disease and Decay
5) Zulo: Goddess of the Moon and Night
6) Kimbol: God of the Sun and Day
7) Migni: Goddess of Sleep and Dreaming
8) Prian: God of Toil and Honest Work
9) Aznamo: Goddess of Strength/Athleticism, Messanger of the Gods
10) Skhamn: God of Luck
11) Siusal: Goddess of Magic and Mysticism
12) Stratis: God of Knowledge and Understanding
13) Azara: Goddess of Death (strangely, not the necromancers god - she views that as trying to keep her rightful claim from her, necros generally worship Lyth'r)
14) Loread: God of Life and Birth
15) Haezar: Goddess of the Home
16) Cornac: God of War

As you can see, certain alliegences come more easily between gods, but each one has a constant opponent in the heavens. Oh, and the home of the gods (how original) is Godsholme, their palace atop the Godspire in the Breachland. If it seems unoriginal, just bear in mind people are absolutely certain it IS the gods' spire and their home. More details on them individually will be built up, but for now that's a very quick ready-reference.

 

[Starphyre]

I had already found it...hehe

 

[ARaynes]

Ishkama would most likely worship Skhamn because she relies a lot on chance during dancing and theiving.

 

[Starphyre]

hehe...ok, I won't have Ara be a dancer.

Most of my chars are, at some level


...not in D&D though....bad skill sets.

besides, even if she WAS...James would freeze

 

[ARaynes]

Read my last post dear. Ishkama frequently gets money, quite a bit at that, by dancing nude while people throw knifes at her toes. She has only been hit once. And that was by a woman.

 

[Starphyre]

hehe...dancing nude. James would definately freak

 

[BadForm]

Just made a slight update to the God/dess list - Skhamn was incorrectly listed as a goddess, whereas, in fact, Master Blackfoot, is a god. This is important only in that the design incorporates balance: among that 8 gods/8goddesses, one of each opposing each other. Now to list the gods, and I see 3 I have to detail most to begin with: Hessun, the goddess my char worships, Fraxze (for Memnon's char) and Skhamn (for AR's char). Gonna take one at a time, so if delays occur, please excuse me:

Name: Skhman
Title: Master Blackfoot
Rulership: Chance, all things risky, random occurences - you get it
Patron: Gamblers, Thieves, Jesters, all who rely on fortune
Appearance: Skhamn, second only to Zulo, Goddess of the Night, is fond of not being identified by any but those he chooses to recognize him. That being the case, he generally does NOT assume the same or similar form twice. Sometimes a hobo, sometimes a lord, sometimes a warrior and sometimes a scribe - he has even been known to take forms usually assosciated with other gods. He is, after all, a trickster god.
Tenets: His followers are expected to gamble, and take risks most would be unlikely to follow - trusting to his good will, and understanding when their chances fail, that is his good judgement too. Of course, as with all gods, the extent to which believers follow this depends on the depth of their belief - but so does their reward. Skhamn is a somewhat risky god to follow as can be guessed, and his following tends to be select.
Opposing Goddess: Aznamo

 

[airborne92]

I guess Juran would be a follower of Aznamo and Cornac since he is a knight.

 

[Starphyre]

Araelle would worship Siusal

 

[BadForm]

So I'll add Aznamo and Siusal to the list to get written up asap... Then, once the gods are out of the way, I can focus on an overview of a couple of important lands... ayeayeayeayeaye.... hope you guys like background material.


Name: Fraxze
Title: The Gemstone Lady
Rulership: Beauty, love, sex, aesthetics
Patron: Whores and allied trades, lovers, jewellers
Appearance: Always bedecked in the finest clothing of the race she appears as, always looking rich and beautiful (in the eyes of that race - don't expect her to be the same for an orc as a nymph), and always glimmering with gems studded into her clothes and even as dust/sparkles her hair. In this way Fraxze is always recognizable when she walks the world.
Tenets: Refinement is the order of the day to Fraxze worshippers, ensuring they look as elegant and sensual as possible. However, this does not just extend to looks, for a Fraxze worshipper, the book must always be judgeable by its cover. They are expected to be sensual, to be lovers, to be erotic and yet refined. Further, one of the things commanded of all Fraxze worshippers is to assist others in being the same...
Opposing God: Lyth'r

 

[BadForm]

Name: Hessun
Title: The Green Goddess
Rulership: Nature, the plant and animal kingdoms
Patron: Tribal folk, woodsmen and hunters, hermits
Appearance: Frequently she appears as a wildwoman, dressed tribally, and surrounded by verdant growth. Green is her color, and leaves her normal clothing. That said, sometimes she wears the furs and red of the animal kingdom - whatever the case, she is 'natural'.
Tenets: All Hessun worshippers embrace nature above the structure of society. The more extreme feel that protection of nature implies the destruction of society, but most do not. What is required is balance - just as the balance between the carnivore, herbivore and plant maintains the wildlands, so the balance between life and death, chaos and order and so forth is required of Hessunites. This is why many of her worshippers are woodsmen and hunters, those who take enough from the land to both maintain order and maintain themselves - they way of life of most creatures. Hessunites are given to the whims of their goddess, which is why they can switch between carnal and relaxed readily.
Opposing God: Ol

 

[Weasel699]

hey i was wondering..i checked out the game and it looks great could i join in as like a Felpur < anthro Cat..like a humanoid type feline?> and have him like the horny member of the group and a jester since because he's always horny the only real reason they left him in the group was that he was funny and added comic relief to the group?
so
Shane
Felpur
Horny Jester

 

[BadForm]

Weasel - I have no objection to your character, as it is by no means overpowerful - as a jester what sort of skills are you aiming at? The only reason I ask is that I also stated you shouldn't be UNDERstrength, as most jesters would be. Oh, and for anyone trying to understand why such a critter would have occurred - several of the races came about due to the great mage wars - 3 major wars between nations in the world's history (over a century ago now). However, you should be aware, weasel, that people who DON'T know you will think of you as a freak, and a reminder of how magic nearly destroyed the world back then.

 

[Weasel699]

well if i remeber from the only game that had a jester i played but not as a jester they was kinda like a bard and a thief right? so he's gonna have a guitar and song funny songs that'll distract his enemys while the others beat the crap outta them but he can fight too because it said the jesters could be deadly
so
Shane
Felpur
Horny Jester
able to play songs to confuse enemys
and when needed could take care of himsel with a small sword or some type of weapon
and able to pick pocket and locks just not as good s a thief would

 

[Kelson]

Kelson Eversilver worships Loread, Goddess of Life, and is a level 8? sylvan elf bladesinger. Skilled in florentine and ranged combat, he currently carries only a pair of longswords. One is a flame tongue +3, command word need only be mentally thought in this case. The other Kelson hasn't determined yet. The only other object of note is his elven chainmail +2. I'll add soon.

 

[BadForm]

Just a couple of notes: if it helps you to have "n-weapon with p-power +x" in your description, that's fine. However, it would be a mistake to presume that will be payed attention to numerically. What I am looking at from such descriptions is "a magical sword with increased damage potential and a flaming strike" or whatever the case is. This will be run as a role-playing, not roll-playing game. That's also the lesser of the two reasons I have not made reference to d&d, gurps, hero, everquest or any other system - think freeform, and try to tie things in to your character thats all. The comment about mid/high level refers only to the fact that they should be relatively powerful characters, not to be easily taken out by a band of goblins etc, but must also rely on each other to achieve major efforts throughout the game.


Secondly, just to note, Loread is Male - a god, it's Azara, his opposite number, who is female. I believe I have them listed correctly, but will correct if not. I'll also add Loread to the list of gods to write up relatively quickly. Oh, he is a difficult god for an adventurer to follow as he requires his followers to only use combat in defense of those who cannot defend themselves, only when an attack is certain and only as a last resort (ie you already tried other methods of calming the situation) - his followers tend more to the priest persuasion than the paladin.

Finally, anyone who thinks the magi CAN or WILL be able to do absolutely anything is laboring under and unfortunate misapprehension. I have mentioned the mage-wars previously, these were when magic was at its zenith, before the gods got involved. I'll give more information about them later, but the problem with magic is when you get into truly powerful spells, they tend to have unfortunate unexpected side effects... Mages are powerful, as are other characters. They are not omnipotent.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

True about magic. Arzat is a high-medium powered character (12th level Necromancer), & his art has changed him. He can no longer eat meat, it makes him physically ill if he does eat it, & casting truly powerful necromantic spells drains him ( loses a point of con for 24 hours with certain spells).
As for his God, he worships Stratis: God of Knowledge and Understanding. he also is not evil, but Lawful Neutral ( tho he is walking that LN/LE line)

 

[BadForm]

In order to assist Abbie in playing his necro, here comes Stratis, the god of knowledge. Oh, and Abs, just a note - although magic can affect the person, the truly HIGH level magic can be world-twisting.

Name: Stratis
Title: Master Purple Robes
Rulership: Knowledge, philosophy, the 'new' fields of science and technology (both are extremely primitive on Darras-Mor)
Patron: Scholars, scribes, philosophers, teachers, those of a scientific mind
Appearance: Three words: tall, old and purple. Whatever race he appears as, Stratis always appears as an elder, and a tall one. He sometimes appears frail, but normally he uses a 'wise-man' look rather than any other. He stands head and shoulders above most of his race, and despite his apparent age and slenderness, is impressive. His divine color is purple, the symbol of knowledge, and he always appears dressed in long purple robes.
Tenets: Seek knowledge above all else. Shun the chaos of skhamn and siusal and embrace order in all you do. These are the basic tenets of Stratis. It would be untrue to say that no magi follow him, despite his opposition to the goddess of magic, but rather those who do are magical scientists, documenting their experiments and trying to solve the underlying formulae of magic just as much as their philosophical and scientific brethren try to understand the workings of the mundane world.
Opposing Goddess: Siusal

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

thats interesting, the god of magic opposing the god of knowledge.

i'm trying to come up with a good post right now ( used up all 3 of my brain cells posting on my Star Wars thread I'm on), then we can see how I piss Ishkama off this time.

 

[Weasel699]

i think shane would be worshiping a few gods and goddesses like Skhman ,Fraxze and Hessun <--- because he is an animal kinda lol

 

[Arc da Rat]

<slips in>

Damn BF ... Where do you come up with all this stuff ...

<copies & paste the info for future reference>

here AW you can have some of mine ... <hands him some live braincells>

 

[BadForm]

Well, as I say, dedication to one god is by no means compulsory. Many do follow one god, many don't. There are, as previously stated, even some who don't trust in any of the gods, but only know they exist.

As to the opposition between Siusal (goddess of magic) and Stratis (god of wisdom), think of it as a magic/science and chaos/order type of thing. Although magic is taught, it is taught as spells and facts, not as underlying theories (in general at least, which is the point I made about those magi who follow Stratis looking for the underlying issues).

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

oh, it made sense, I just thought it was interesting

& I have played many characters that worshopped whoever was most needed at the time of prayer.

 

[BadForm]

Arc - this is based heavily on a world I began creating about 12 years ago for an rpg that never I never played, but I have based several unfinished stories in various parts of the world. Hence I have a pretty good knowledge of what the world is like - 16 gods, 16 lands, etc...

 

[Arc da Rat]

BF~

I am still in awe of what you have come up with ... <bows to yer greatness> ... I have a hard time just trying to roll stats for a character in a paper rpg ... I still have not yet played one in RL ... LOL