NDNESVI(Reboot): Myths, Legends, and Gods

But seriously, guys.

Every pantheon needs a Chaotic What god to stir crap up, otherwise things stagnate and some insane wizard with a boner for power comes along and usurps and/or kills everyone because no one's skills are up to the task of flicking him across the landscape like a paper football. You're all welcome.

Posting to express interest and intent to join

Novice_Writer54 said:

Question- Anyone interested in starting up some kind of joint story plot? I have some ideas for how Patron's actions can impact the world, but in my view joint stories are always more fun.

I have some ideas of my own, but I'm up to try somebody else's as well.

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Well I have the following plan for the three God turns.
1. Cold awakens, creates the northern polar cap and Giants.
2. Cold discovers it is slowly melting away and tries to freeze everything that exists, perhaps leading to a war with other gods.
3. Cold retreats into the north to melt away in peace and creates some final show of great power.

After that comes the mythic era with heroes, young gods, and ancient empires, and that's where my giant race will come to be used... To rise and fall before the coming of the third era.

Hey Terrance, I'm working on a sea goddess right now, do you think our gods can have some sort of bitter rivalry considering I was going to make her super protective of the oceans and you just burned away a chunk of it?

Vash: God of Fate and Change.

Formless and immaterial, Vash when he chooses to appear can manifest in many different forms. Most often though he appears as a small black haired human child with golden eyes. Vash governs the fate of all things, and the constant change of everything within the flow of space and time. He is the one who ordains the natural order of existence and the rightful ends of all things. He is also in a way the god of magic, for magic is nothing more than will causing changes to manifest in existence and Vash is the Lord of all changes.

In terms of personality, Vash is stern and gentle, fierce and kind, wise and frivolous, vindictive and merciful but always and at all times serene. The conflicting aspects of the Lord of Change and Master of Fates confounds the mortal races, but this only serves to show that no mortal can ever know the mind of a god.


Major Action: the Binding of Time

Vash the Lord of Change, ordaineth that time henceforth shall be always forward, linear and in proper sequence with each cause resulting in effect onward until the end. The inviolability and unalterability of the past shall be LAW, and no mortal or immortal power shall have the power to violate this ordinance, alter fate or make non-existent that which has already come to pass as time proceeds ever forward. (summary: Makes it impossible to render null anything that has already happened or violate chronological linearity)

Minor action 1: Vash shall descend upon the mortal races, and grant each man in ten thousandth a gift. This gift shall be the power to manifest their will to render change in the world. Ie the gift of magic. (summary: the gift of crazy mages)

Minor Action 2: The most gifted amongst those he has blessed Vash shall claim and transform into great winged beings with armoured hides and strength of body and mind. They shall have long-life and great ability in magic far beyond that of mere mortals. These beings shall become known, revered and feared as dragons. Scourge and blessing to the small races each in the proper time. (summary: the gift of fire-breathing lizards)

Jehoshua- I'd be curious to know a little bit more about your magic system. Since I've established "Chi" as something which exists in-universe, it would be good to have a distinction between them.

The thing is that I've already established that Chi depends on emotional motivation, which is very similar to willpower since you need "You killed my family" levels to have Chi in the first place, and that "Yinshung" have the strongest emotions so they often gain Chi for much less motivation through sheer desire.

This means both that magic and Chi are too similiar, and that Yinshung might be too unbalanced.

erez87 said:

Well I have the following plan for the three God turns.
1. Cold awakens, creates the northern polar cap and Giants.
2. Cold discovers it is slowly melting away and tries to freeze everything that exists, perhaps leading to a war with other gods.
3. Cold retreats into the north to melt away in peace and creates some final show of great power.

After that comes the mythic era with heroes, young gods, and ancient empires, and that's where my giant race will come to be used... To rise and fall before the coming of the third era.

Click to expand...

My basic plan was a lot looser. My first turn actions were intended to allow me plenty of stories about characters with powerful emotional motives, and in particular the dissonance between people whose lives had been destroyed by the Cult and the Cult thinking they're doing these people a favor. After that, I was going to create a group who basically excelled in ability to predict how others would act, human or not, to Death Note-esque levels of complexity, then introduce some kind of great Ideal that could inspire future stories.

Seeing your plans, I have a few ideas. Feel free to pick one or several, or of course come up with your own.

A- The Cult began to act in Cold North's jurisdiction, triggering conflict before the Gods. I'm guessing that Cold North is starting to care for people, while Patron is compassionate and incapable of understanding that he isn't doing these Giants a favor by causing such suffering just to give them motivation for Epic Quests.

B- The story of a single character we take turn writing, a giant who Patron is trying to turn into a hero, and who Cold North also takes a particular interest in. We improvise and see where it goes, but try to push it towards things that set up for future stories.

C- The story of a hero who is ambitious enough to try and stop Cold North's freezing. Because they are an outsider, we can use them to give descriptions of giant culture as well as covering a bit of Patron's activities. They fail (because them succeeding would disrupt too much), but their attempts to reach Cold North could be interesting.

good thing I created something that violates the law of time before time was linear

Magic is basically like the "will and the word" from the Belgariad fantasy series (because its simple, and I don't want to institute some complex system that could impede on other peoples stuff in the future). That is to say exactly what I said in my application, the exercise of pure will (intent) to render supernatural changes in the substance (state of being) of the world (in short magic is simply willing things to happen). Only certain individuals would have sufficient will to effect changes, this ability to impose ones will upon the world being the essence of the gift of Vash.

The distinction between gods and mortals then in the sphere of magic would simply be the degree to which a being can exercise will to amend the world. Gods having superior (verging on infinite) perception and comprehension as well as inherent power (divinity) naturally would far outclass the limited and finite faculties of mortals when it comes to effecting change in the world.

At any rate, this doesn't conflict with your chi system. Chi is biophysical and internal, where magic is metaphysical and external. Chi deals with the functions of the body and mind of an individual (greater strength, speed, etc), where magic is the pure act of imposing change upon the world external to an individual by force of will (causing a tree to spontaneously combust, causing a stone to levitate, etc). At least that's how I perceive Chi to be from your application. Additionally willpower as it pertains to magic is pure will for something in particular to happen. Its not emotion so much, but is much closer to suspension of disbelief that what one is intending to happen is impossible according to the laws of heaven and nature (Ergo its, "I want this to happen, and believe it will happen in my minds eye, and indeed I believe this will happen to the point of total absence of doubt that it wont happen, which together with my intent, results in the actualisation of my intended act of magic in reality").

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@AA: Every good law needs an anomalous abomination to go against it , you can even interpret such things to be the impetus behind the binding of time to begin with. That said time-skipping into the future is still legit if your portal-seat is in fact bound by the linearity of time (and if changing place-in-time is also valid).

KaiserElectric said:

Hey Terrance, I'm working on a sea goddess right now, do you think our gods can have some sort of bitter rivalry considering I was going to make her super protective of the oceans and you just burned away a chunk of it?

Click to expand...

You can certainly view it that way. Entirely accidental from his point of view, as he merely went bump in the darkness, essentially.

Novice_Writer54 said:

Question- Anyone interested in starting up some kind of joint story plot? I have some ideas for how Patron's actions can impact the world, but in my view joint stories are always more fun.

I have some ideas of my own, but I'm up to try somebody else's as well.

Click to expand...

I have ideals concerning ambitious Chromarches. We can work something out for them.

is my penguinsplination okay now

Jehoshua said:

@AA: Every good law needs an anomalous abomination to go against it , you can even interpret such things to be the impetus behind the binding of time to begin with. That said time-skipping into the future is still legit if your portal-seat is in fact bound by the linearity of time (and if changing place-in-time is also valid).

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It's bound by the circularity of time, and circles are just lines that have been drawn in a loop.

Jehoshua said:

Magic is basically like the "will and the word" from the Belgariad fantasy series (because its simple, and I don't want to institute some complex system that could impede on other peoples stuff in the future). That is to say exactly what I said in my application, the exercise of pure will (intent) to render supernatural changes in the substance (state of being) of the world (in short magic is simply willing things to happen). Only certain individuals would have sufficient will to effect changes, this ability to impose ones will upon the world being the essence of the gift of Vash.

The distinction between gods and mortals then in the sphere of magic would simply be the degree to which a being can exercise will to amend the world. Gods having superior (verging on infinite) perception and comprehension as well as inherent power (divinity) naturally would far outclass the limited and finite faculties of mortals when it comes to effecting change in the world.

At any rate, this doesn't conflict with your chi system. Chi is biophysical and internal, where magic is metaphysical and external. Chi deals with the functions of the body and mind of an individual (greater strength, speed, etc), where magic is the pure act of imposing change upon the world external to an individual by force of will (causing a tree to spontaneously combust, causing a stone to levitate, etc). At least that's how I perceive Chi to be from your application. Additionally willpower as it pertains to magic is pure will for something in particular to happen. Its not emotion so much, but is much closer to suspension of disbelief that what one is intending to happen is impossible according to the laws of heaven and nature.

-

@AA: Every good law needs an anomalous abomination to go against it , you can even interpret such things to be the impetus behind the binding of time to begin with. That said time-skipping into the future is still legit if your portal-seat is in fact bound by the linearity of time (and if changing place-in-time is also valid).

Click to expand...

Alright, that's enough distance I suppose. It makes me a little curious how Yinshung and Chi users will fit into it- after all, having emotional motivation on the level of somebody who has lost their family should, at least in theory, mean more willpower with which to act.

I don't see much intersection apart from very specific circumstances. Afterall, as I said, its will for something "in particular" to happen. Emotional motivation for vengeance against the killers of ones family may lead to a general will for the perpetrators death true enough, but this emotional zeal is quite a different beast compared to specific will for some random rock to levitate (to the point of disbelieving in the physical impossibility of the action) as an example.

The very specific circumstances where emotional zeal might make a difference are 1) in the rare occurrence where a yinshung or chi user also has Vash's gift and 2) perhaps in an actual confrontation if the protagonist wishes to see the object of their emotion subjected to some specific change, in which case if their will is sufficient to deny the impossibility of the act then it may actually happen. (then again it may not, after all the gift of Vash is in effect having the correct "perspective" to work magic. If you lack the gift then no matter how strongly you feel about something the lingering doubt as to its possibility [and reality] would prevent it from actualising as a work of magic as compared to simply fantasising about something)

Jehoshua said:

I don't see much intersection apart from very specific circumstances. Afterall, as I said, its will for something "in particular" to happen. Emotional motivation for vengeance against the killers of ones family may lead to a general will for the perpetrators death true enough, but this emotional zeal is quite a different beast compared to specific will for some random rock to levitate (to the point of disbelieving in the physical impossibility of the action) as an example.

The very specific circumstances where emotional zeal might make a difference are 1) in the rare occurrence where a yinshung or chi user also has Vash's gift and 2) perhaps in an actual confrontation if the protagonist wishes to see the object of their emotion subjected to some specific change, in which case if their will is sufficient to deny the impossibility of the act then it may actually happen. (then again it may not, after all the gift of Vash is in effect having the correct "perspective" to work magic. If you lack the gift then no matter how strongly you feel about something the lingering doubt as to its possibility [and reality] would prevent it from actualising as a work of magic as compared to simply fantasising about something)

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It's your magic interpretation, so I suppose I can accept that.

EDIT: Question. Does mind-affecting magic exist in Belgarion? Because come to think of it, stacking that with Chi powers is both a scary possibility (perhaps I'm thinking too much like a scientific determinist here, but we haven't established any reason why such magic should not be "real" emotion) and dramatically interesting because to Patron it would be such a disgusting thought. Might be the basis of some early Empire.

AA, I actually love the idea of an unchanging, wisecracking geometric dodecahedron that is experiencing all time simultaneously and has vast powers. I'm envisioning a Stage 3 party of heroes finding it in a cave and taking it on a journey to do something

Double A said:

is my penguinsplination okay now


It's bound by the circularity of time, and circles are just lines that have been drawn in a loop.

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I have decided in my infinite mercy and wisdom to allow it. I'll leave it up to your divine peers to judge your wacky actions

Two things.

One, wouldn't penguins be in the "cold south"? Also, are you mocking Tai with laser sight penguins?

Two, yeah, AA's thing was cool now. Changed the only thing I had an issue with. May you roll 20's in your time of need!

we can share the penguins for I am not a jealous god

Terrance888 said:

You can certainly view it that way. Entirely accidental from his point of view, as he merely went bump in the darkness, essentially.

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Excellent... *rubs hands together evilly*

Far in the unknown void, entombed in a prison fitting for its sole inhabitant, Nitäl the Blood God remains eternally. His crimes are as numerable as they are vile, for his ever unquenched thirst for blood knows no limits. While other gods create and grow, He instead devours and destroys. If it were possible, He would devour all living creatures of the world, paying no mind to the fact that such an act would leave no further blood for consumption. His very name is synonymous with the apocalypse, for his release would be the beginning of the end times of this world.

His imprisonment has lasted an eternity. The wardens of his confines have long since faded away, and their names are lost to the ages. No one knows who locked Nitäl away during the infancy of the world, and no one with the histories of such a time remains to sing their praises. Nitäl is quite literally a looming hell, the likes of which have been neither experienced nor prophesized.

There is, of course, a singular problem presenting Nitäl, the solution of which has eluded him for millennia: his captors had not erred in the design of his tomb, and though time may erode many things, his prison remained the exception to this maxim. He could not escape, despite the centuries of violent attempts to do so. The way was shut, and it could never be opened from the inside; no amount of force can change it.

After thousands of years of failure, however, came a remarkable undertaking that Nitäl’s wardens had not predicted; faced with the insurmountable odds against him, Nitäl adapted to best it. He learned that no amount of force would suffice to initiate his escape. Discretion, rather than brutality, would win him this victory, and for that He needed to hone a new craft. Though He could not physically leave this tomb, his consciousness found cracks in it – not nearly large enough for him to be free, but large enough for a small fabric of his inner mind to drift above. There, He found a new world, and its changed state instilled a voracious hunger that drove him nearly to the point of madness. New creatures, multiplying ever rapidly, blind to the threat that lurked below, now ruled the land above. Many of these creatures possessed a sentience Nitäl had never sensed before.

A sentience that could be exploited.

In these creatures Nitäl planted a seed of vile corruption, a soft craze for evil and unspeakable power that only He could provide. It took generations for these sentient beings to understand the dim whispers speaking in their minds, with its grandiose promises of unachievable lost magics.

And some listened.

Now there exists a cult of horrid sorcerers, armed with forbidden blood magics that Nitäl provided; a cabal whose sole purpose was to find and free their invisible and indomitable master, to hasten the apocalypse and cash in on the promises He made to them…

* * *​

​

Major Power: The creation of Nitäl himself. He is a monstrosity of brutish strength and an avatar of the apocalypse. His power knows no bounds and is inconceivable to a mere mortal's mind; however, he remains eternally entombed in the void, unable to free himself from his prison. He is an entity of the old times and a titan that predates recorded history; as such, his existence is unknown save for a few myths and the doctrines of his cult. His release would spark an Armageddon unmistakable in its horror and thoroughness.

Minor Power: The creation of His cabal. Through his whispers and promises of power, Nitäl has attracted followers who yearn to obtain these vile rewards. Initially, these cultists remain separated and decentralized; however, over generations of influence, they slowly learn of each others' existence and collect into a pseudo-religious collective. They remain secretive, although their growing power exerts boldness and pride in some of these followers...

Minor Power: The creation of blood magic. Unmistakably evil but limitless in power, blood magic is the art perfected by Nitäl Himself. It is not widely used, both because of its secretive nature and its abhorrent undertones, though members of his cult study extensively in its features. Although it is potent in nature, it requires blood sacrifices to function, and the blood of sentient creatures is most useful in such experiments...

I paid special attention to make sure this didn't break your final rule, though I can adjust things as necessary.

Welcome back Dread!

@KaiserElectric

Mwahahahaha.