UBCSFTOYWSAS - Ugly Bruce's Concise Summary For Those Of You With Short Attention Spans
Supreme Gods
Emory- God of Gods
Callum- God of War
Andrea- God of Knowledge
Catherine- God of the Unknown
Gods
Rhiannon- Godess of Love - Knowledge
Luke- God of Death - War
Ralph- God of Chaos - War
Liam- God of Trickery - Unknown
James C- God of Passage - Unknown
James- God of Fertility - Knowledge
- God of Messages - God of Gods
- God of the Harvest - God of Gods
Another reminder to mods reading this thread : It is not meant to go in creativity yet because I am asking the general community for input on it. If it should go in another forum here on TSR, fine, but the whole point is for the TSR community to see and have their say on it. It belongs to all of us here at TSR after all, not just those who frequent the creativity board.
So : basically this wiki is for working on the mythology and logistics for the world concept that was started on the last day of session 1 (This was at Narrabundah, for those of you who aren't going there). Now I am aware that there is a lot of ripping off other mythologies and stuff, but I'd still like to see where this goes. Sooo...I need people's input! Particularly since I can't remember all the details.
Now currently, all I really have is the state of things currently, along with a few of my own suggested additions that I will note. Note that just because I'm organizing this doesn't give me any more control over it than anyone else...if I could go make a wiki for it I would. This is a group project and everyone is equally welcome to contribute.
So since I only have the state of things present, I'll be requiring the state of things past to be submitted. So myths and legends and things about why the world is the way it is now. Stuff explaining the various elements of what there is at the moment. Any submission will be considered provided it's original work (to an extent =P), so flex your creative muscles and bring the history of this world to life! Which reminds me, we need a name. Archworld, anyone? XD. But seriously, name suggestions are welcomed too.
An important note : Yrome gets majorative credit for this. After all, he was the one who started it! Anyone else who was involved can tell me who they are and I'll stick their forum name up here along with their position of the pantheon. I'll put a list up once someone comes forward. Also, he has the right to add or remove things as he sees fit, given it is his creation. So don't complain to me about it; he gets the last word!
Okay, here's what I have at the moment. It's not in any particular order, and we should probably write it into some sort of story, but for the moment we have a bunch of fragments. Once we get enough, then perhaps we can piece something together. I must also point out that the gods still require names, so submissions there are welcomed. (Also note that this is basic framework-y stuff. There are notes in brackets strewn throughout it where things are missing. Submissions for these missing things are welcomed.) Soooo, this is what I have at the moment; make sure to tell me if I missed anything or messed anything up.
MYTHOLOGY STUFF STARTS HERE
The world was created by four "supreme" deities : the god of all gods (whom I will now refer to as the "overgod"), the god of war and suffering, the goddess of the unknown, and the god of knowledge. Along with these four, there were eight other gods, lesser in power but still, y'know, GODS. (I know there were Death and the Underworld lol, Nature and Traveling, Trickster, Chaos I think, Love, and I'll need someone else to remind me of the others).
The Overgod, is the god that started creating the world, hence He holds the most power, but only uses it as a veto, to change the world as he feels neccesary(this may be caused by strange meteors thundering into villages), and to have the best looking shrine (Arrogant dastard that he is). Otherwise he is rather lazy and does nothing but listen to the other gods bickering and keep an eye on the world. Having created most of the world, he does care for it and tries not to let things go too out of control.
The Trickster is, naturally, a trickster god. Although the Trickster God is the goblins deity, he still controls any trickery that occurs elsewhere. (more info anyone?)
The God of Death is rather lazy as gods go, being content to send his servants to handle death on his behalf. He enjoys competition, and thus is willing to gamble the spirits in his Underworld for a chance at a good contest, since he gets precious little entertainment. He spends most of his time partaking in these contests or occasionally doing some of his work himself where he has a personal interest in it. He also has a tendency to open large chasms underneath things when he gets angry, causing parts of the surface to fall into the Underworld (though this is rather rare).
Then there are the four horsemen, who are lesser in power than even the most minor of gods, but far stronger than any mortal. They are Death, who is the primary servant of the god of Death and the Underworld and does most of the menial work involving guiding spirits to the underworld and such, and the horseman of War, who is a servant to the god of War (predictably). The remaining two are Famine and Pestilence, who long ago were merged into one being (A story on how would be nice!). They are in charge of, naturally, famine and sickness. The merge has brought the combined being's power much closer to that of a god than the other two, and the combined being serves no god. The horseman Death wields a scythe mostly, but also carries a sword. War uses a sword first and foremost and a bow as his secondary weapon, whereas the famine/pestilence merged being has a bow primarily but also wields a scythe.
Many, if not all of the gods also have a champion: a (usually) mortal being who is basically their presence on the world, but is only called upon very rarely. I am currently only aware of the champions of War and Death; if you'd like a champion, toss me a description and I'll put it in. Note that champion is just the general term; the "champion" can be anyone from a shaman to a powerful warrior to a hermit!
Champion of War: incredibly strong and violent, as you would expect. Has a lifespan of around 300 years, during which time he must take on an apprentice to train as the next champion of war. Once he dies, the apprentice will take his place.
Champion of Death: Immortal and impossible to kill by mundane means. Currently has stitch marks around his neck where he had sewn his head back on after the champion of War cut it off to see if he really was immortal. If his body is destroyed beyond repair, he can ask the god of Death to fashion him a new one, which he invariably will. Can also contact the spirits of the underworld and communicate with the dead, but cannot directly summon them or anything.
Champion of Trickery: The champion of the Trickster god is a goblin, obviously, who lives in the deepest shaft in the goblin tunnels. This champion practices sorcery and spirit magic, specializing in trickery, illusions and misdirections. It is believed by the other goblins that he arose to this status and power by tunneling the furthest towards the center of the earth and they all strive to dig further than he.
While there are many places of worship, each god (supreme or no), has a specific location associated with them. Pilgrims from all over the land travel to these places to worship. The locations have all had temples built on them by worshipers, but originally all that stood at these sacred locations were great titans made from stone, metal, or even wood and bone depending on the deity. Naturally, the supreme god's locations carry much more importance than those of the "normal" gods. (Anyone wanting a description of their location's current status can submit it! I will do mine later. Note that I will refer to the titans only from here on in)
The Trickster God's major shrine is located in the goblins underground network, however there is a minor shrine on the surface for those ain't-goblins too scared to venture down. It is the surface shrine that is used by the ain't-goblins to determine the trickster's leylines.
In fact, the supreme god's titans are the main method of navigation in this world. They are placed in such a way that each supreme titan is the same distance from each other supreme titan (any ideas what this distance should be? Remember that it will define the size of the planet!). Thus instead of latitude and longitude, places are referred to by their location on any given side of the tetrahedron formed by the four points. The lines running between the supreme god's titans are known as major leylines, those running between a supreme god and a normal god's titans are known simply as leylines, and finally the lines running between two of the normal god's titans are referred to as minor leylines. Naturally the major leylines form the tetrahedron, so the tetrahedron has long been a symbol of piety and holiness.
A location is still given as two lines as with latitude and longitude, with the place to be found being the intersection point. But the lines themselves are defined differently. For the purposes of abbreviation, when writing direction the Overgod's titan is abbreviated to "O", the god of War and Suffering's to "W", the god of the Unknown's to "U", and god of knowledge's to "K". A line is defined by which titan it starts from and the smallest angle it makes with a side of the tetrahedron.
Hence, a typical location might be: SB10°W BW20°S. The first half refers to the side SB of the tetrahedron tilted 10° towards the side SW, whereas the second half refers to side BW tilted 20° towards side BS. The point where these lines cross is the place that this particular bearing refers to. Note that this means an increase of 1° in each bearing may not mean the same change in actual distance; this is due to the properties of a triangle as opposed to a square. As a result, more bearings are concentrated around the titans and major leylines of the supreme gods, which the people claim is because of their divinity but the actual cause is simple geometry. Often a place will only be given a rough location as being in an area enclosed by several leylines where accuracy is not required. (Yes, this is a bit technical, but hey, latitude and longitude would look equally confusing to someone from this world =P)
After death, a mortal's spirit travels through the ground to the Underworld, which lies a long way beneath the surface of the planet. The spirit is escorted by the horseman of Death or another one of his servants, or very occasionally Death himself. There, they are judged based on their past deeds and placed in a section of the underworld accordingly. Of course, these sections correspond to the division of the tetrahedron by the leylines, so someone who worshipped War and caused much pain during their lifetime would be placed near the titan of War.
The Underworld has seven layers in total. Depending on how much an individual was aligned towards a certain deity, they will be placed at a certain depth. The deeper they are placed, the more aligned towards that god they were. This follows because the gods themselves take residence in the center of the planet, so the places closest to them are taken by the most devout followers, though there is a LARGE distance between the seventh level and the residence of the gods.
Understandably, the Underworld is very big. The spirits of the dead spend their time partaking in activities relevant to the area they have been assigned e.g. spirits under the God of the Unknown might spend their time playing Cluedo or some such. Travel between the areas is possible, but since spirits can only fly at about twice their worldly running speed, it takes quite a while. Within 24 hours of dying, a spirit may also challenge the god of Death to a contest for their life, but there is a long waiting list for this process (the 24 hour restriction only applies to getting in line for it). The god of Death allows this because he enjoys games and such. Because of this, there is no particular penalty for failing other than not being able to try again. The actual game to be played is decided by where their spirit was placed.
Many of the gods have been granted dominion over a small realm, where they manage every aspect of it directly without interference from any of the other gods. Even come the apocalypse, these places will remain whole and intact to be managed by their presiding god alone. Note that these realms do not necessarily contain part of the Underworld, though some of them certainly do. (I only have a couple of these noted here - please submit a thing for your realm and I will add it!)
The goblins don't actually live on the surface, they live underground in a vast network of tunnels. They have an outpost settlement on the surface to guard the entrance and look out for invaders etc. but also to trade. Living underground they don't really get many plants and such. They are a tricksy folk obviously, and aren't particularly aggressive, though they like to play pranks on each other or the ain't-goblins (which is what they call the humans. or really.... anything that's not a goblin).
When not tricking people or doing other things, the goblins tunnel deeper and deeper into the earth, believing that if they dig deep enough they will be able to ascend to champion status as the Trickster's champion is believed to have done. They also believe that if you tunneled even deeper, you would ascend (or descend as the case may be) to the realm of the gods, and be bestowed mighty powers. No other god is allowed to interfere with this place or it's inhabitants; the areas of the Underworld below it also belongs to the Trickster and is where his goblins all go when they die.
While the Underworld is far too large for the god of Death to entirely control, he does have control over his contest hall and surrounding parts of the Underworld. In his hall, Death makes the rules, basically. Though the Overgod of course has veto on this since he granted Death this boon. The area above the contest hall on the surface also falls under Death's jurisdiction, and is the only place the spirits of the deceased are allowed to make any sort of contact with the surface, and even then only via Death's champion. The champion, naturally, lives in the area.
END MYTHOLOGY SECTION
I haven't put in the specifics of the village we made; I believe that job falls to someone else who recorded more information about it. Other than that...I know I have missed out a LOT of information, which is why I'm starting this thread here rather than on the new creativity forum. Because there needs to be some general chatting about what goes in and what doesn't and who has what powers and such. If you'd like to write up a bio for your deity, feel free. I'll probably have a section for them somewhere.
Now, you may notice that some of the things I've put in here weren't officially cleared with everyone on the day we did this. Those are my personal additions, but I certainly don't want mine to have precedence over anyone else's. Therefore, feel free to dispute or object to them.
And finally, a note to people who were not involved in this process. Don't feel left out! Ask Yrome if there are any divine positions left. If he says no, there is still the option to write pieces of myth for the new world, provided the deities who are used in your mythology agree with it. And we'd like your opinions anyway. So basically, have at it! I'd love to see some good discussion and other related stuff here ^_^. And I know I missed a bunch of stuff, so point it out! This is just a basic framework type thing.
Oh, and please no "THIS IS SUX0R!!" or similar nasty flame-y stuff. Go ahead and criticize, but make sure it is CONSTRUCTIVE! And bear in mind that this isn't my product, rather a joint effort from many different people (who should all post here to be counted!). I'm just the person who bothered to organize it :P
Currently we are looking into forming an Evil Pantheon, composed naturally of gods on the more evil side of things whose aim is to screw up the world as much as possible for their own amusement or other motives.
Evil Pantheon potentials: Ugly Bruce (who has first pick of position since this was his idea) Albert Kendrell (who will be multitasking and also managing the Trickster)
Specific thanks to: Jirin, for reminding me who the fourth supreme god was, and pointing out a couple of gender errors. Albert Kendrell for his work on the Trickster and goblin races. Ugly Bruce for writing a concise summary for those of you with short attention spans. Yrome, for coming up with this in the firstplace and his submissions on the Overgod.
Edit log: (note that most of this is just me adding in other people's contributions!) First edit - included the name of the fourth supreme god and expanded a little on communicating with the dead. Second edit - added in more Trickster details and such. Also opened up the bio section for the deities, but not much there right now. Third edit - Linking to Ugly Bruce's summary for those of you with short attention spans. Clarified a couple of points and spell checked for the first time. =P Fourth edit - Added Yrome's piece on the Overgod and my own piece on Death.