I don't think they are long-lived at all, considering they are already dead...
Which Civilization Would You Live In?
- Thread starter cypher132
- Start date
I don't think they are long-lived at all, considering they are already dead...
cypher132
Emperor
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I keep forgetting they're dead. I would assume you'd live fine with the Scions since they have to attract you to the cities.
Actually I was more along the lines of libraries, scriptoriums and the like, and they seem to be the civ with the greatest focus on this. There are also the Amurites of course, but they seem more focused on the magical and "practical" use of knowledge. Basically I view the Elohim as some kind of historians / librarians (dedicated to the keeping of knowledge, wherever it may come from, but without delving too deep inside the "forbidden" stuff) and the Amurites as some kind of scientists (with a good chance to flip over to the evil side).
Normally I'm not that into lore but that sounds interesting. Why exactly is there no way she can die?
PS: voted Illians
I don't know the full story ... but as the wife of the first human/ fallen god ... they decided to make her in the same image. without any limitations (such as mortality, or heck, the ability to separate her soul from her body for that matter)
So .. as the gods .. she was born with an unkillable body permanently trapping an unkillable soul. Ergo the only way to "deactivate" her would be to cut her into little pieces and scatter them across the globe. Even then, they would eventually make it back into one piece.
It was either her or her adoptive children who figured out how to consume souls. To Os-Gabella (if she did ever practice the art) it would just be a tasty snack, I suppose, a rise in physical and magical power. However, to Flauros and Alexis ... they were able to gain some small measure of Immortality (but only in the medical sense ... could still be killed rather easily).
Even when Sucullus was killed by Mulcarn ... really his body was just separated into pieces here and there. No one knows what happend to mulcarn ... but assuming he was killed with the GODSLAYER his physical form was truly destroyed (only way to destroy the body of a god, other than perhaps the netherblade) ... his soul is floating about somewhere in one of the Vaults, or heck, even on the mortal plane. But he likely won't be able to re-take the sphere of Ice, or any sphere for that matter.
HELL, the Godslayer (and possibly the Netherblade) might be the ONLY way to kill Os-Gabella. If you play the Scenarios ... Os Gabella esentially recruits (decius?) to steal the Netherblade for her. (in at least one version of it ... the evil version I think) ... but she doesn't make her intentions that obvious, if I recall.
Because ... by the Time Os Gabella gains control of the Shieam .... she already has as her primary goal ... to end her own existence. Which is why she wants to either (get Netherblade) or (end creation/ cause Armageddon)
So .. as the gods .. she was born with an unkillable body permanently trapping an unkillable soul. Ergo the only way to "deactivate" her would be to cut her into little pieces and scatter them across the globe. Even then, they would eventually make it back into one piece.
It was either her or her adoptive children who figured out how to consume souls. To Os-Gabella (if she did ever practice the art) it would just be a tasty snack, I suppose, a rise in physical and magical power. However, to Flauros and Alexis ... they were able to gain some small measure of Immortality (but only in the medical sense ... could still be killed rather easily).
Even when Sucullus was killed by Mulcarn ... really his body was just separated into pieces here and there. No one knows what happend to mulcarn ... but assuming he was killed with the GODSLAYER his physical form was truly destroyed (only way to destroy the body of a god, other than perhaps the netherblade) ... his soul is floating about somewhere in one of the Vaults, or heck, even on the mortal plane. But he likely won't be able to re-take the sphere of Ice, or any sphere for that matter.
HELL, the Godslayer (and possibly the Netherblade) might be the ONLY way to kill Os-Gabella. If you play the Scenarios ... Os Gabella esentially recruits (decius?) to steal the Netherblade for her. (in at least one version of it ... the evil version I think) ... but she doesn't make her intentions that obvious, if I recall.
Because ... by the Time Os Gabella gains control of the Shieam .... she already has as her primary goal ... to end her own existence. Which is why she wants to either (get Netherblade) or (end creation/ cause Armageddon)
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
The One declared that everything that the 21 gods made in Erebus was to be temporary. When Nemed decided to give up his godhood and become the first human man he was still in the grasp of his precept of Life so much that he was not willing to face mortality, either for himself or his progeny. He argued to his siblings that mankind should be a race of true immortals like unto the gods themselves, and although the vote was very close all 21 gods chose to honor the majority decision in his favor.
The tie breaker was Mammon, who at the time was the God of Foresight, who had the power to see the future outcome of any decision. He declared that this choice would not matter, although he did not publicly reveal his reasoning for this; he had foreseen that the One would soon return, Agares would openly defy Him, and he believed that the sudden end of his vision meant that their maker would kill them all and unmake everything they had created. He was terrified of his own death, and thought it best to prevent Gabella from experiencing a similar fear.
To The Twenty One Gabella, was the crowning masterpiece of creation. Her form was superior even to that taken on by the former god Nemed, who was to be her husband. They were so proud of their combined work that they chose to imbue her with significant portions of their power, making her very nearly a goddess herself but without a single precept that would dominate and limit her will. Mammon alone chose to withhold his gift, because he thought it a greater gift to allow her to live in ignorant bliss as to their coming doom.
At the moment she was given life Gabella was closer to omniscience than any mortal would ever be (thanks to Oghma's gift), but she lacked the foresight to understand what was going to happen when Nemed introduced himself to her as her husband. She was very willful, and would not submit to this man that was throwing himself on her during the first few moments of her consciousness. When he attempted to have sex with her, she quickly castrated him (although he of course healed from this almost instantly, as he is as immortal as she). She could not be convinced to submit, and despised that the gods thought they had the right to make such decisions for her. The world was still very new to her and very confusing, especially as their gifts to her left her so full of the elements of creation that the whole world felt as if it was part of her. Junil immediately decided that the decision to make her was a mistake, and that she must be unmade. Camulos quickly sprang to her defense, arguing that they had chosen to give her free will and must respect her freedom. (Although their symbols would latter switch, at the time Junil was the sword and Camulos the shield.) As she had been given immortal life though the joint action of The Twenty One, their agreement was again required to undo this. Before a decision could be made, Ceridwen gave Gabella a means to escape and provided hera hiding place at the Bair of Lacuna. The gods decided to put off dealing with the Gabella issue until after they made a new wife for Nemed. They learned enough from their first mistake to make this new mother of humanity physically mortal, although they still fashioned an immortal soul. Anisedora was given only very minor gifts from the gods, lest too much power overcome her or make her as rebellious as her precession. She turned out to be extremely gentle and submissive. Humanity inherited her mortality and physical frailty, but our souls come from Nemed. (In general human souls are naturally immortal and contain divine sparks, elements made by The One himself, but Anisadora's was artificial; without a divine birthright the ages in Arawn's Netherworld have worn as heavily on her as life in Erebus has worn on Os-Gabella, leaving her as an entity of profound sorrow and bitterness.)
The gods were divided into 3 camps, those who wanted to destroy her, those that wanted to preserve her, and those who had not yet been convinced to lean towards either side. These camps would eventually form the good, evil, and neutral gods, respectively, but it didn't really have anything to do with good and evil yet. All the gods had different reasons for their positions. Although Mammon had opposed changing the status quo by making humans, he opposed changing ti again to get rid of her. Camulos valued freedom, and Esus thought they should trust she would come around eventually. Agares saw himself in her and thought it would be as wrong to take away her power as it had been for The One to take away his. Junil had no place his his worldview for anyone that would defy their authority, and Sirona anticipated that immortality could be hard on her and saw euthanasia as more humane. Aeron was too proud of having fashioned her body to see it destroyed, and came to lust after her greatly himself. He decided that Nemed was just too weak, and that Gabela should instead mate with him while he was still a god, in order to create a race of immortal demigods that would dominate creation, enslave the children of Nemed, and honor their father Aeron above all others. Aeron tracked Gabella down and decided to rape her. He would have succeeded, had not The One intervened to prevent it. Things happened just as in Mammon's vision, but it seemed it only happened because The One wanted to protect Gabella. The One cast down Agares and the rebels with ease, but did not try to destroy them or the world. The end of Mammon's vision was not his death, but Mammon's own desire to control the future becoming to powerful and corrupting the sphere of mind from being foresight to greed.
The One chose to leave Creation intact, but to sever it from the True Heaven. He ordered the gods still loyal to him to protect humanity and guide us towards a state of enlightenment in which we would be prepared for his eventual return. He did not order the good gods to wage war in his name, but in time this happened eventually anyway. The evil gods grew more and more corrupt, but as no lesser angels were created before men and many demons of the evil gods were originally benevolent it seems this was not immediate. When the godswar reached its greatest height (once Sucellus and Danalin joined) it seemed that the forces of good would be victorious, but that the destruction would be so great that humanity would be destroyed in the crossfire and the purpose of their fighting would have been in vain. Dagda's archangel Cassiel convinced his mater that they needed to end the war, so they brought together the neutral gods to force both sides to call and truce and negotiate the Compact. As part of the compact the Twenty One agreed that anyone violating it would forfeit immortality and become vulnerable to the godslayer. As the power of the weapon comes from the agreement over the condition in which it could be used, it is unlikely that it would work on Gabella.
During the 7th generation of man (probably long before the signing of the compact), Os-Gabella's material instinct got the better of her. Her first experiences with males forcing themselves on her left her with an intense dislike of the masculine sex and revulsion at the concept of ever having sex. As such, her material instinct lead her not to reproduce but to kidnap two mortal children and raise them as her own. The elder child, Alexis, became terrified at the idea that she would be the first being in that Bair of Lacuna to die, and used her access to the teachings of Ceridwen to devise a means to study death in an attempt to prevent her own. During her second murder, she used unholy runes to keep the soul trapped in the agonized victim's body, until she eventually allowed it to escape into her. She consumed the soul and added the years her victim would have lived to her own life. She gained great power in the process, but as the victim was an acolyte of Lugus the god of light cursed her sot hat sunlight would forever supplement her conscious by causing her great pain and the panic of intensely feeling the guilt and remorse she normally suppressed. This curse would be passed on to all the other with whom she shared the ritual (starting with her younger brother Flauros), and has come to be seen as a defining factor of vampirism.
Alexis and Flauros had a major falling out with their mother Os-Gabella. They are devoted to Aeron (if not explicitly as worshipers, at least by embodying his ideals), and are seen by the God of Murder as the children he wished to father through her. Os-Gabella holds a major grudge against them for betraying the one who raised them for the one that tried to rape her.
The Netherblade was a weapon fashioned by Laroth, the master of Kylorin's school of Spirit Magic, likely after he chose to inhabit the Netherworld in hopes of achieving godhood over the sphere of death. Its was likely fashioned from souls that lacked the willpower to serve in his army. It has the power to rip the soul out of a mortal's body and bind it to the Netherwold. It is unlikely that it would have much of an effect on Gabella, but she would likely at least think it worth some experimenting. Being trapped in Arawn's vault is not a complete enough death for Gabella. She might not really be trapped at all, as her proficiency in dimensional magic is great enough that she can already come and go from just about any plane she wants whenever she wants. She may have also already used power similar to it when she bound Hyborem to the physical realm in order to hasten the end of the world.
The tie breaker was Mammon, who at the time was the God of Foresight, who had the power to see the future outcome of any decision. He declared that this choice would not matter, although he did not publicly reveal his reasoning for this; he had foreseen that the One would soon return, Agares would openly defy Him, and he believed that the sudden end of his vision meant that their maker would kill them all and unmake everything they had created. He was terrified of his own death, and thought it best to prevent Gabella from experiencing a similar fear.
To The Twenty One Gabella, was the crowning masterpiece of creation. Her form was superior even to that taken on by the former god Nemed, who was to be her husband. They were so proud of their combined work that they chose to imbue her with significant portions of their power, making her very nearly a goddess herself but without a single precept that would dominate and limit her will. Mammon alone chose to withhold his gift, because he thought it a greater gift to allow her to live in ignorant bliss as to their coming doom.
At the moment she was given life Gabella was closer to omniscience than any mortal would ever be (thanks to Oghma's gift), but she lacked the foresight to understand what was going to happen when Nemed introduced himself to her as her husband. She was very willful, and would not submit to this man that was throwing himself on her during the first few moments of her consciousness. When he attempted to have sex with her, she quickly castrated him (although he of course healed from this almost instantly, as he is as immortal as she). She could not be convinced to submit, and despised that the gods thought they had the right to make such decisions for her. The world was still very new to her and very confusing, especially as their gifts to her left her so full of the elements of creation that the whole world felt as if it was part of her. Junil immediately decided that the decision to make her was a mistake, and that she must be unmade. Camulos quickly sprang to her defense, arguing that they had chosen to give her free will and must respect her freedom. (Although their symbols would latter switch, at the time Junil was the sword and Camulos the shield.) As she had been given immortal life though the joint action of The Twenty One, their agreement was again required to undo this. Before a decision could be made, Ceridwen gave Gabella a means to escape and provided hera hiding place at the Bair of Lacuna. The gods decided to put off dealing with the Gabella issue until after they made a new wife for Nemed. They learned enough from their first mistake to make this new mother of humanity physically mortal, although they still fashioned an immortal soul. Anisedora was given only very minor gifts from the gods, lest too much power overcome her or make her as rebellious as her precession. She turned out to be extremely gentle and submissive. Humanity inherited her mortality and physical frailty, but our souls come from Nemed. (In general human souls are naturally immortal and contain divine sparks, elements made by The One himself, but Anisadora's was artificial; without a divine birthright the ages in Arawn's Netherworld have worn as heavily on her as life in Erebus has worn on Os-Gabella, leaving her as an entity of profound sorrow and bitterness.)
The gods were divided into 3 camps, those who wanted to destroy her, those that wanted to preserve her, and those who had not yet been convinced to lean towards either side. These camps would eventually form the good, evil, and neutral gods, respectively, but it didn't really have anything to do with good and evil yet. All the gods had different reasons for their positions. Although Mammon had opposed changing the status quo by making humans, he opposed changing ti again to get rid of her. Camulos valued freedom, and Esus thought they should trust she would come around eventually. Agares saw himself in her and thought it would be as wrong to take away her power as it had been for The One to take away his. Junil had no place his his worldview for anyone that would defy their authority, and Sirona anticipated that immortality could be hard on her and saw euthanasia as more humane. Aeron was too proud of having fashioned her body to see it destroyed, and came to lust after her greatly himself. He decided that Nemed was just too weak, and that Gabela should instead mate with him while he was still a god, in order to create a race of immortal demigods that would dominate creation, enslave the children of Nemed, and honor their father Aeron above all others. Aeron tracked Gabella down and decided to rape her. He would have succeeded, had not The One intervened to prevent it. Things happened just as in Mammon's vision, but it seemed it only happened because The One wanted to protect Gabella. The One cast down Agares and the rebels with ease, but did not try to destroy them or the world. The end of Mammon's vision was not his death, but Mammon's own desire to control the future becoming to powerful and corrupting the sphere of mind from being foresight to greed.
The One chose to leave Creation intact, but to sever it from the True Heaven. He ordered the gods still loyal to him to protect humanity and guide us towards a state of enlightenment in which we would be prepared for his eventual return. He did not order the good gods to wage war in his name, but in time this happened eventually anyway. The evil gods grew more and more corrupt, but as no lesser angels were created before men and many demons of the evil gods were originally benevolent it seems this was not immediate. When the godswar reached its greatest height (once Sucellus and Danalin joined) it seemed that the forces of good would be victorious, but that the destruction would be so great that humanity would be destroyed in the crossfire and the purpose of their fighting would have been in vain. Dagda's archangel Cassiel convinced his mater that they needed to end the war, so they brought together the neutral gods to force both sides to call and truce and negotiate the Compact. As part of the compact the Twenty One agreed that anyone violating it would forfeit immortality and become vulnerable to the godslayer. As the power of the weapon comes from the agreement over the condition in which it could be used, it is unlikely that it would work on Gabella.
During the 7th generation of man (probably long before the signing of the compact), Os-Gabella's material instinct got the better of her. Her first experiences with males forcing themselves on her left her with an intense dislike of the masculine sex and revulsion at the concept of ever having sex. As such, her material instinct lead her not to reproduce but to kidnap two mortal children and raise them as her own. The elder child, Alexis, became terrified at the idea that she would be the first being in that Bair of Lacuna to die, and used her access to the teachings of Ceridwen to devise a means to study death in an attempt to prevent her own. During her second murder, she used unholy runes to keep the soul trapped in the agonized victim's body, until she eventually allowed it to escape into her. She consumed the soul and added the years her victim would have lived to her own life. She gained great power in the process, but as the victim was an acolyte of Lugus the god of light cursed her sot hat sunlight would forever supplement her conscious by causing her great pain and the panic of intensely feeling the guilt and remorse she normally suppressed. This curse would be passed on to all the other with whom she shared the ritual (starting with her younger brother Flauros), and has come to be seen as a defining factor of vampirism.
Alexis and Flauros had a major falling out with their mother Os-Gabella. They are devoted to Aeron (if not explicitly as worshipers, at least by embodying his ideals), and are seen by the God of Murder as the children he wished to father through her. Os-Gabella holds a major grudge against them for betraying the one who raised them for the one that tried to rape her.
The Netherblade was a weapon fashioned by Laroth, the master of Kylorin's school of Spirit Magic, likely after he chose to inhabit the Netherworld in hopes of achieving godhood over the sphere of death. Its was likely fashioned from souls that lacked the willpower to serve in his army. It has the power to rip the soul out of a mortal's body and bind it to the Netherwold. It is unlikely that it would have much of an effect on Gabella, but she would likely at least think it worth some experimenting. Being trapped in Arawn's vault is not a complete enough death for Gabella. She might not really be trapped at all, as her proficiency in dimensional magic is great enough that she can already come and go from just about any plane she wants whenever she wants. She may have also already used power similar to it when she bound Hyborem to the physical realm in order to hasten the end of the world.
JonathanStrange
PrinceWithA1000Enemies
I'd chose to live in the Ljosalfar civilization, preferably with Thessa as leader, and FoL as the state religion. Hopefully, the Ljo civ would be located on a medium to large continent that could be easily dominated by the Elves - it'd be a drag to be continually at war on an Pangaea-sized world.
Strangely enough, one of the Dwarven civs would be my second choice: I hear those Dwarf fortresses can be challenging and fun to build.
Strangely enough, one of the Dwarven civs would be my second choice: I hear those Dwarf fortresses can be challenging and fun to build.
but even if Os Gabella travelled to the Netherworld, she would not "die" as other mortals stuck in the Netherworld would ... she would therefore not experience an "afterlife" unlike her mortal kin who have travelled to the plane after death.
I would think, then, that if the Netherblade truly could separate her soul from her body, then perhaps it could be of use to her. However, if it merely teleported her "alive" status to the Netherworld and "trapped" her there, then yes, it would likely be of little to no use.
However, given her dimensional powers, as you say, she would likely not actually be "bound" to the Netherworld, and using the Blade on her might only "teleport" her there, maybe at the advantage of saving mana?
However, if it truly separated her soul from her body, and gave her a "death" ... then I think she "could" be satisfied and be consumed by her afterlife.
The above statement could certainly be true for the Godslayer, I would think. At least in as far as her soul would be severed from her body, in a permanent sort of way.
As to the statement of the Good gods being the most powerful at the time of the Compact .... this makes a lot of sense. It would give the underpowered Agares and his "allies" the time needed to grow their strength (through the stealing of more souls than they were due, and the machine of hell creating more demon lords, and many more lesser demons)
However, it would seem that a second gods war would be inevitable ... one where Agares felt that he was now powerful enough to challenge the good gods out in the open, and one where humanity was "probably" destroyed with finality ... and then perhaps the One would come to destroy everything.
However ... all we get in our own Armageddon counter is the 4 horsemen and the Avatar of Wrath ...
Wouldn't it be cool if we had a SECONDARY armageddon counter??
One triggered AFTER the AC hit 100?
One that leads to a powerful Godswar??
I would think, then, that if the Netherblade truly could separate her soul from her body, then perhaps it could be of use to her. However, if it merely teleported her "alive" status to the Netherworld and "trapped" her there, then yes, it would likely be of little to no use.
However, given her dimensional powers, as you say, she would likely not actually be "bound" to the Netherworld, and using the Blade on her might only "teleport" her there, maybe at the advantage of saving mana?
However, if it truly separated her soul from her body, and gave her a "death" ... then I think she "could" be satisfied and be consumed by her afterlife.
The above statement could certainly be true for the Godslayer, I would think. At least in as far as her soul would be severed from her body, in a permanent sort of way.
As to the statement of the Good gods being the most powerful at the time of the Compact .... this makes a lot of sense. It would give the underpowered Agares and his "allies" the time needed to grow their strength (through the stealing of more souls than they were due, and the machine of hell creating more demon lords, and many more lesser demons)
However, it would seem that a second gods war would be inevitable ... one where Agares felt that he was now powerful enough to challenge the good gods out in the open, and one where humanity was "probably" destroyed with finality ... and then perhaps the One would come to destroy everything.
However ... all we get in our own Armageddon counter is the 4 horsemen and the Avatar of Wrath ...
Wouldn't it be cool if we had a SECONDARY armageddon counter??
One triggered AFTER the AC hit 100?
One that leads to a powerful Godswar??
nzk13
Some Jew-boy on Noble.
but even if Os Gabella travelled to the Netherworld, she would not "die" as other mortals stuck in the Netherworld would ... she would therefore not experience an "afterlife" unlike her mortal kin who have travelled to the plane after death.
I would think, then, that if the Netherblade truly could separate her soul from her body, then perhaps it could be of use to her. However, if it merely teleported her "alive" status to the Netherworld and "trapped" her there, then yes, it would likely be of little to no use.
However, given her dimensional powers, as you say, she would likely not actually be "bound" to the Netherworld, and using the Blade on her might only "teleport" her there, maybe at the advantage of saving mana?
However, if it truly separated her soul from her body, and gave her a "death" ... then I think she "could" be satisfied and be consumed by her afterlife.
The above statement could certainly be true for the Godslayer, I would think. At least in as far as her soul would be severed from her body, in a permanent sort of way.
As to the statement of the Good gods being the most powerful at the time of the Compact .... this makes a lot of sense. It would give the underpowered Agares and his "allies" the time needed to grow their strength (through the stealing of more souls than they were due, and the machine of hell creating more demon lords, and many more lesser demons)
However, it would seem that a second gods war would be inevitable ... one where Agares felt that he was now powerful enough to challenge the good gods out in the open, and one where humanity was "probably" destroyed with finality ... and then perhaps the One would come to destroy everything.
However ... all we get in our own Armageddon counter is the 4 horsemen and the Avatar of Wrath ...
Wouldn't it be cool if we had a SECONDARY armageddon counter??
One triggered AFTER the AC hit 100?
One that leads to a powerful Godswar??
I second the idea of a secondary armageddon counter!
P.S.
Congratulations on 2000th post.
Brenador
Warlord
Kuriotates, they have the most freedom.
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
You consider the subjects of The God-King with the mind of a dragon to be the most free? Their very name means that they are but the property of a lord.
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
Kurios (or rather κυριος
is Greek for Lord. I don't really speak Greek, but am quite familiar with that term as it is used in the new testament and many early christian hymns to refer both to God the Father and the Son. I believe someone on here who speaks fluent Greek said that Kuriotates would be a adjective denoting possession by the lord, although the word wasn't actually used by the ancients.
is Greek for Lord. I don't really speak Greek, but am quite familiar with that term as it is used in the new testament and many early christian hymns to refer both to God the Father and the Son. I believe someone on here who speaks fluent Greek said that Kuriotates would be a adjective denoting possession by the lord, although the word wasn't actually used by the ancients.
BvBPL
Pour Decision Maker
A communitarian would argue that being the possession of a benevolent being would in no way inherently negates one’s freedoms, and the Kuriotates certainly strike me as a inherently communitarian.
If you want to argue that such an establishment would inherently limit one’s liberties then I think you’d find more agreement, although a communitarian would argue that such liberalism is inherently destructive.
--
I used inherently four times in two sentences? Wow. Way to win one for the adverb.
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