Return of the God-Kings [OOC/Int. Check/Worldbuilding]

[Arcalane]

Alright, getting this out of my head so it stops bouncing around whilst I'm trying to sleep.

I was never quite satisfied with how Deification and its followups panned out. They seemed very... indecisive and incompletely formed. So here's my own spin on things, a mash-up of... I suppose the best way to describe it is a mash-up of Exalted, Black & White, Elemental: War of Magic, Age of Wonders, and probably a few other things I can't remember right now.

The general history of the world is defined...

Since the dawn of mortal empires, you have ruled them as gods among men, immortal and mighty rulers of your peoples. None questioned your right to lead, not for centuries. You are the God-Kings, spawned by the interactions of mortalkind and the now absent Primal Gods. Unlike the Primal Gods you require a nation of followers to survive, and whilst your powers are formidable, they are far from absolute.

Three hundred years ago, you were overthrown. Your closest and most trusted advisors joined forces and ambushed you all at a great festival, destroying your Avatars and exiling you all to a prison under the deepest oceans. They claimed you had grown arrogant and petty, too absorbed in rivalries and your own egos to tend to your peoples. It was for the good of everyone, or so they said. Maybe it was? None of you remember what went before with any kind of clarity. There were wars and battles. Fierce arguments. Grand banquets. Grander tournaments. Hedonistic salons. Whatever happened, it is all a blur- sounds and light and emotion intermingled into a meaningless haze.

Then, through years of mismanagement and mortal foolishness, your traitorous servants ruined the land. The world lies half-barren, scorched and almost lifeless, once-great cities now in ruin, mighty skyfortresses little more than drifting rocks... but you all have the power to change that with what shreds of power you have left.

Somehow, two of the 'pantheon' escaped the treachery, perhaps because they had always kept to themselves. Satisfied the world had settled itself, they joined forces to break the prison open and free you all from your exile.

And so, you are free again, after all these years. The traitors are long gone, some slain as they tried to capture you, others betrayed in turn, a few dead of old age, and the handful that survived all that... struck down during the calamity.

You are god-kings, and now is your time to reshape the world.

...but not the world itself. Mechanically I aim to keep this as rules-light as possible; my purpose as GM is mostly to settle arguments and provide plot threads for the rest of you to run with and get all tangled up around each other.

The big question I'm mulling over right now is magic. What form(s) does it take?

My present notes revolve around two forms - elemental ('natural') magic, based around good ol' manipulation of fire/air/water/etc. and combinations thereof - and an unnamed form based around the use of spoken or written words. Much more refined and capable of things elemental magic can't achieve by itself, but let's just say you want to make sure you don't want to make any mistakes, or things could go horribly wrong...



Profile:

[spoiler]Name(s): What do you call yourself? What do your followers call you? All manner of beings curiously seem to recognize you by a name of some kind (though perhaps not your 'true' name), unless you use your power to conceal yourself.

Titles: Have you earned any titles for your deeds? Great beasts older than yourselves inhabit the land to this day... are you famous for slaying one of the mightiest?

Associations: What mortal concepts are you commonly thought to represent by beings, and how do your followers represent you? Symbols of War? Justice? Love? Trade? Mining? As with your name, beings can somehow sense your Associations unless you disguise yourself with your power. Only those few God-Kings with very strong Primal heritage are associated with Primal elements such as Fire or Water.

Avatar: Describe your Avatar. Do you appear as that which you really are, or conceal your identity behind illusions? Does your Avatar possess any unique items? Avatars are powerful extensions of your will and your primary (but not only) means of interacting with the world. Should your Avatar somehow be slain (which is entirely possible, if you're not careful), it will regenerate at your Sanctuary.

History: Were the traitors right about your past, or were you simply an unfortunate bystander caught in their paranoid conspiracy? Also, feel free to go into more depth about how you earned your title(s), what your old empire was like, that sort of thing.

Motivation: Now that you are free, what do you plan to do? Build a glorious empire? Unite all people under one banner?

Followers: Who and what were your followers, or what will they be? What do they look like? What is their overall demeanour? Peaceful empire-builders, humble farmers, enlightened artisans, bloodthirsty savages, cunning nomads, tree-hugging druids, stout miners? What do they eat, how are they organized? Are you their sole and absolute ruler, or do they largely govern themselves, only following your loose guidance and given the freedom to carry out your orders as you see fit? What do their buildings and cities look like? Do they all live underground? What unique features, abilities, or talents do they possess, if any? Followers should be humanoid, and have drawbacks to fit any advantages they might have compared to humans - if they are more numerous, individuals may be weaker and have shorter lifespans.

Sanctuary: Every god-king has a Sanctuary, a physical place they may retreat and tend to their wounds or business, free of interference. Describe yours. Is it a forbidding palace? An ivory tower? A vast library? A great and sprawling mausoleum? Your Sanctuary is the heart of your Nation[/spoiler]



Short version is; you're demigods, you got betrayed and imprisoned, things went to hell in a handbasket, now you're free. Time to set things right again.

Anyhow. Register interest. I want to know what you people think went wrong in the past, and how we can fix it this time around.

Player	|	Character	|	Nation	|	Associations
GM	|	Tharsus	|	???	|	Fire, Forging
GM	|	Kal'thurion	|	???	|	Magic, Arcane Knowledge
	|		|		|

[justacritic]

... So much like Exalted and maybe if you have the treatises on white and black you should look at them. I think those books might explain what sort of idea you should go for in this magic problem you have

[Inumo]

I'd be interested in it. I still have yet to really play with that 1st person perspective. Maybe this time I'll take a less passive role, which probably was part of the issue during the older versions. I think there was also the problem of questionable GM support; I think OSaS is the only one that's managed to survive, in a sense, with so little GM input.

[ShadesFox]

I'm interested.

I think the biggest issue in the past was short term goals. The over reaching goal was always clear, but from point A to point Z didn't have any clear intermediate steps. There was no sense of "we must beat the demon dragon god king, that troubled city over there looks promiseing as a jump off point."

[AmberCross]

I was here for Deification and its ilk, and so I shall be here for this one as well. I was never really satisfied with how those other two turned out either and getting closure for it would be nice.

[VAE]

Hmm. Depending on how much time ABtP will take to handle, I might join in as well, prob'ly with Horiv since I rather liked the concept.

[Arcalane]

I know a couple of others may also be interested. But anyway, more on WIZARDRY.

Elemental Magic:
This stuff is derived from the powers used to create the world/universe/etcetera. It comes naturally to the God-Kings, seeing as they're the offspring of the Primals and Mortals. You can sling around a lot of power, but not do complicated things. Harder for mortals to learn, but not impossible. Controlling it is based on will and personal effort, with a side of imagination. Shaping fire into giant dragons or exploding phoenix missiles? Sure, why not. But it's only really good for short-lived temporary effects, unless you have somebody (or somebodies) to stand around maintain it/'channel' the effect.

Basic elements like Earth, Air, Fire, Light, Dark, etc. tend to be the most commonly learned, but that doesn't stop you branching out into, say... Ice, Acid, Electricity, Mud, obscurer things like Time or Fate, or even what we might consider 'Eastern' elements like Void, Wood, and Metal. This is where claiming sole control of an Aspect comes in handy; gives you more control over a given element! Now you see why they liked to fight over who owned what?

Written/Spoken/"Rune" Magic:
This is where things get interesting. By stringing together various words of power, you can get all kinds of much more interesting effects. This form has a lot more power potential, but the catch is that you have to know and understand the words you're using, and you have to say/write/engrave everything carefully and clearly or else it can screw up fantastically. They have the benefit of being preparable ahead of time, in a form much like paper talismans. Write the words for 'fireball' on a strip of paper, then later point it at someone and light it up. Instant fireball! One use only, of course. Engraved stuff can be used like an enchantment; whack a bunch of runes on a sword and you could make it super sharp and super strong. Or burst into flames at inopportune moments. Glow when orcs are around. That sort of thing.

The problem with knowing and understanding is you have to find all the damn Words, and a lot of them are forgotten or lost. If you're really good and know enough of the language you might be able to make your own or guess at blanks in your 'dictionary', but that's pretty unreliable. Only one guy (an ex-mortal mage who used it to ascend to semi-godhood and blew up his own library, who also helped free you all from the prison, incidentally) knows the lot, and he doesn't like sharing a lot of them because of how dangerous the form of magic is. Mortals and God-Kings can learn it with equal ease/difficulty.

[Arcalane]

So, any of youse mugs besides Meany and Tez actually working on profiles? There's an empty one in the first post, I could dig out an example if you'd all like.

Feel free to PM me with any questions you might have, either here or on the usual IRCplaces. Or post them here! 's all good.

[SquirrelWizard]

I'd be interested.

I might tweak my old trickster god from the old thread.

[AmberCross]

*sigh* As much as I would love to join this and continue the saga of this doomed RP, I seem to have more on my plate than I expected so I don't know whether I will be able to really commit.

[justacritic]

Relevant to my interests. I'd like to join this sort of RP.

[Arcalane]

So how're those god-kinglets coming along, folks? You've had almost three weeks!

[Meany]

Woman, I've had mine done, and you know that perfectly well!

[AmberCross]

Huh. If I'd known it would take this long to start, I would have joined anyway. My only real constraint is that I have a three part time job overlap through much of July. Would it be possible to join in late once the rest of this takes care of itself?

[Arcalane]

Assuming we ever get that far, maybe.

[justacritic]

Hello Arcalane? I've sent you a PM with a character write-up, did you receive it, and if so was there any problems that I should fix?

[Arcalane]

I've had precisely three submissions so far. This ain't goin' anywhere, folks.

[Inumo]

Deadlines. They motivate folks.

[justacritic]

Also are you setting any particular limit on number of people?

[ShadesFox]

What sort of profiles do you have now?

[Arcalane]

I swear you people are just trying to give me a headache, now that I sit down and look at things.

(Also, deadlines demotivate me, so there's not much point to that.)

Let me make this abundantly clear; the God-Kings are the result of the Primal Gods and Mortals getting it on. Possibly behind the bike shed when nobody's looking. They're half-mortal, half-primal. Unless someone can come up with really really good reasoning, there will only be one that somehow ascended to that position from being a mortal.

There used to be a lot more god-kings-- but a lot of them are gone now. Competition for ownership of aspects could get pretty fierce, and hostile takeovers happened now and then. The Primals are still 'around' (if they were 'dead', you'd know) but aren't paying attention to your little ball of rock and water any more.

Also, something else that needs to be clear; you need a nation, you need land, and you need followers. More importantly, you will start with a settlement. At the heart of that settlement is your Sanctuary. To use a game comparison if you've played Dungeon Keeper, then the Sanctuary is basically the Dungeon Heart. It's big. It's important. It has a fixed location. It's a home fit for a demi-god.

...okay, so a Dungeon Heart isn't quite a perfect comparison.

Setting yourself too far back (whether it happens to be technologically, by having an excessively pacifistic streak, your followers lacking thumbs and a predominantly humanoid stance, or what-have-you) for flavour's sake can and will bite you in the ass once you start meeting up with each other. You have absolutely no reason not to try to kick over each other's sandcastles once you get the opportunity to do so, beyond any reasons you present on your own behalf; a standing army, for instance, is great for discouraging invasions.

To be honest I'm skeptical this is going to work, regardless of interest and players. But it might be worth a shot.

[SquirrelWizard]

working on my profile, do we need to include our demigod's parentage?

[Arcalane]

Not necessarily.

Also, drastically reworking the aspects system -- so don't get too attached to anything.

Ed: Aspects as they are... are now Associations! Associations are merely why you are worshipped or respected. They are usually thematically appropriate (for example, a god-king who carries weapons everywhere will likely be associated with War, whilst one who appears as a wealthy merchant will be associated with Trade) but have less of an impact on you than they did before.

Territory has been canned, but is still sort-of in -- I'll cover that in a moment.

Aspects are still in, though heavily changed. In short, places of great power (such as a Primal's old Sanctuary, if they had one) called Aspect Sources slowly produce elementally-aligned stones/magic rocks/whatever you want to call them. Every few decades, they produce the equivalent of a motherlode, or in the case of highly destructive elements, a small nuclear weapon. These Aspect Shards can then be carried off and stuck in your Sanctuary, granting a degree of control over that Primal Element. There's a catch, though; once 'installed', the power leaks out into your Territory, influencing it, you, and the inhabitants subtly at first - but more and more obviously so as you collect more shards of a given type.

For instance, if you collect many Death-aligned Shards, your Territory will slowly become a barren wasteland, its cities inhabited by gaunt and pale people, whilst your Avatar would take on a more appropriate appearance - perhaps becoming more like a mummy or a skeleton. Too many shards, and the dead may begin to rise from their graves to serve you! This can be offset by maintaining a balance of 'opposites' - an equal amount of Life and Death Shards would roughly cancel each other out, at the cost of reducing control over both elements compared to if you just focused on one of them. An uneven balance of Life and Death could have more peculiar results, such as turning all of your people into plague carriers! Aspect Shards and Primal Elements are unpredictable like that.

Back when all the God-Kings were imprisoned and everything went to hell in a handbasket, the Aspect Shards were scattered across the World, and the locations of the Aspect Sources lost to mortalkind. Securing whatever Shards they can get their hands on, and finding/securing the Aspect Sources is seen as very important to/by God-Kings. Sometimes this meant raiding their neighbours for them- well, that's life. You have something we really want and you won't trade it or hand it over, then we take it by force. Certain mentalities would say you didn't deserve it if you couldn't protect it, etc. etc.

You don't start with any Aspect Shards, essentially making your nation, people, and avatar into blank slates. Don't worry - acquisition opportunities will present themselves soon enough.

That's it for Aspects for now. I have a lot more than that on the side, but that's a rundown of the changes.