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Divine Civilization: A WIP: RP thread

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Rumblings of the earth
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    • WallFlower

    WallFlower

    Location
    Attached to a wall
    Pronouns
    She/Her
    This thread is a temporary home for the discussion of a knock-off RP I'm working based on the ideas in:
    forums.sufficientvelocity.com

    Chronicles of Divinity (A Council God Quest) Fantasy

    Players take on the roles of Gods, both minor and major, great heroes and empires, and shape the history of a world.
    forums.sufficientvelocity.com forums.sufficientvelocity.com

    This will be a temporary thread to allow our role-playing spirits to flow. And for me to talk about balancing issues I might come across.

    The opening post will be a work in progress, and might change from time to time.

    Soul represents the power the mind. Gods are able to use this power to influence the mortal world.
    There are Deities gain soul from energy that is passively given given to the by mortals, who shed the regularly need to shed the excess soul that they generate. This energy is received (every 5th turn), when the barrier between the worlds is thinnest.
    The second given through active ritual, which will come at the cost of the Soul of the performer.
    1 Grand Soul = 1000 Soul

    Abilities and Costs
    Divine Ritual - Soul upkeep = (1+uses) * (x)Soul
    The Divine are inseparably linked to Rituals. They derive power from rituals of worship, and their followers can in turn ask for mercy or aid from the gods they serve. The Gods should take care to make their rituals sufficiently hard to preform if they do not desire to lose all of their power.
    Name:
    Conditions and costs for user:
    Description:

    Dreamwalk: 1 Soul
    While the body usually protects the Mortals, Their soul will be more open when asleep.
    most Watchers are able to project themselves into a dream. The dreamer is at their strongest within their dream.

    Divine Inspiration - 100 Soul
    The gods can attempt to communicate their will with a select a follower, by spreading visions and messages among the people who have opened their hearts towards them.

    Divine projection: 1 Grand Soul
    Divine beings can project themselves on the air for a brief amount of time.

    Divine incarnation - 10 Grand Soul
    It is rumored that deities may walk among the mortal. The vessels they use for this are very vulnerable however, and if tiniest bit of that believe gets absorbed by these vessels will cause them to burst. And send the energy remaining in these vessels to whatever has discovered their nature. This is why deities rarely reveal themselves.
    Divine movement – 1 Point per incarnation used
    Divine entities need to spend a fraction of their power to move their vessel(s) If they don't do anything with a vessel for a turn then the vessel remains dormant.

    Divine love – 1 Grand Soul / Requires incarnation
    Love is not only a thing known for mortal souls. The god is able to grant their child a blessing that is carried in their blood. The potency of this blessing is proportional to the purity of the deities blood that flows through their veins. The nature of their incarnation does not matter for their reproductive capability. whether it be as fair men, maidens, fruit trees or even seahorses.
    -Children of the gods do not count towards worship-

    Divine Soulcraft – 10 Grand Soul / Requires a divine domain and a target inside it.
    Among entities of the Soul. Some have the power to bend a soul to their needs, some will take a part of themselves (takes extra DP) for this and others part of another.
    --Can not be used on a unwilling Living or embodied subject--
    --When used against another being power will be compared, and there will be rolls for side effects-

    Divine artifact: 10 Grand Soul, and material
    This is a weaker version of a legendary act preformed in a long time ago. It links Soul to Body so that it would be worthy of the gods.
    These artifects will never be truly alive, though the soul will always keep their will.

    Divine domain - 20 Grand Soul Upkeep 1 Soul * Foreign Souls + 1 Grand Soul * foreign(Body, Life)
    The spiritual realm is unimaginably vast, because powerful beings keep adding their own pockets into the space. One of the most remarkable features are the dreams of the gods made physical, A god is virtually limitless within their domain, and even able to take Body into the Spiritual realm.
    __________________

    Spoiler: God/Goddess Character Claim Sheet
    God/Goddess Name: (The Name of your Divine Being)
    Title: (Descriptives of your nature or deeds, Ex: The Lord of the Wild Wood, He Who Sulks In The Dark, Queen of the Fresh Waters)Personality: (The general demeanor of your God/Goddess, interest, hopes, feelings, ect.)Description: (A physical description of the form your God most often takes, pics encouraged)Divine Power Stored: (You start with 5)
    Existence is a constant struggle against the spirits of entropy that desire for everything to be the same.
    For the mortals this means that if they don't eat and that if they don't constantly repair their stuff that nature take it away.

    Pop will represent 1000 people for each unit of Pop
    And Econ which represents the Capacity of a people to produce food and maintain their belongings.

    If upkeep costs exceed the necessary resources then structures will fall into disrepair and people will starve or rebel. And the surplus can be used for other things, but they can not be stored.

    Exploration, migration and conquest:
    Civilizations do not micromanage how their people move or what they do. Their leaders can express influence the general direction their peoples move towards by describing the landmarks the desire to explore.

    Institution:
    People differ from beasts, because they subject themselves to creatures they have never seen or met. By combining their minds into institutions the mortals impossible things. The rulers would be powerless without institutions to direct their subjects and the means they hold.
    Institutions can hold knowledge for longer than any individual mortal can, but if the key figures of the institution fail to pass on their title then the institutions will break down.
    [After the from bellow is filled out dice will be rolled on the effects of the institutions based on and a difficulty rating.
    Name:
    Type: [Political/ Spiritual/ Civil/ Economic/ military]
    Leadership: [Seats of power]
    investment:
    Description:
    Stats:
    Soul: The abstract and the knowledge of oneself. Life and Body can learn and imagine with Soul.
    Life: The force that changes things into more of itself. Body and Soul can restore and copy themselves.
    Body: The physical acts as a medium one thing to be different from the other. Soul and Life can shield themselves themselves with Body.
    Entropy: Usually observed only through inference. The force that makes all equal to their surroundings.
    Through experimentation and observation players can discover more about how the system works.
    Archaeology can also be used to learn from the ancient peoples.

    Archaeology:
    Memories of a faded soul
    Arcane:
    Mundane:
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Player, NPC and species-index
  • Threadmarks
    • Player Gods sheets:
    Fovos Kaman Sapienza Scrios Spark

    Player Civs
    URUK the Tribe of Enkidu Vetitatum, the tribe of forbidden worship.
    NPC Civs:
    [TABS block_align="bcenter"]
    [SLIDE]
    [/SLIDE][/TABS]

    NPC entities:
    W.I.P



    Generic species templates:
    Deity Phycopomp Mortal Featherless Chickens
    • God/Godess: Variable/ endless Soul, N/A Live, N/A Body
      Traits: Watcher, Incorporeal, Deity
      A type of Watcher with a enormous potential. they may direct their enormous control over their soul influence the mortal realm.
      -Local God: A type of Watcher with limited bound to a specific place
    • Phycopomp: 10 Soul N/A Life N/A Body
      Trait: Watcher, Incorporeal
      A type of watcher that makes sure that the dead souls reach their destination. They are bound by honour and will pay the gods when reaping one of their followers.
      --???--
    • Mortal:
      One of the few creatures that perpetually turn their life into Soul more soul than they can maintain the excess into often shed into the environment.
      When a mortal gains a traumatic they will use their life to restore their Body.
      - 1 pop of mortals has 1 econ upkeep

      Newborn Mortal(m): 0 Soul, 12 Life, 1 Body
      Traits: Animal, Mortal, Baby
      This soulless abomination will come is the greatest fear of many men, for he will replace them one day.
      -Baby: This trait lost before reproducing. Life, Body and Soul will be distributed according to their species within this turn.

      Full grown Mortal: 4 Soul, 4 Life, 4 Body
      Traits: Animal, Mortal
      A mortal in the prime of his life. Hubris will fill the poor fool, as he tries to hold on to those who care about him.

      Old mortal 6 Soul, 1 Life, 3 Body
      Having wasted his Life the old man the old mortal can speak that he has had a great life.
    • Featherless Chickens: 1 Soul, 1 Life, 1 Body
      Traits: Animal, Livestock, Bird
      -Need vegetation.
      -Uses 1 pop of Population per 10 pop of chickens without modifiers
      +1 Econ while alive per 10 pop
      +1 Econ on turn from slaughter per 5 Pop
      "Here is Plato's man." Diogenes the Cynic
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • well, I am here. May I apply my tribe as a very young version of it with maybe a god who acts as the voice of the old gods.

    Vetitatum, the tribe of forbidden worship.

    The Vetitatum once lived in fear of the horrid abominations that rose from the abyss, now they venerate the beings as heralds of the old ones.

    The religion of the vetitatum is heavily old gods focused, with any worship of the new gods declared as heresy. There are subsections that worship different old gods, with their chosen champion as the figurehead. (due to this religion, no points go to the new gods). They regularly perform religious rituals to help hasten their lords return to the world. Their very crops are ripe with corruption from the dark energies flowing from the occult structures, thus resulting in unique plantlife. The stone twists impossibly around them, unworkable except by the energy provided by their ancient patrons.

    Religion: the old gods
    (need more info on old gods to make sub sections)

    Government: a council made up of only the leaders of each subsection, speaking their gods will.

    Daily life of average citizen: wake up from standard terrifying dream, join morning praises, eat breakfast, go farm or craft new reagents, occasionally participate in rituals if you have the innate blessings of the old gods, eat dinner, sleep.

    god name: Diveretis
    Titles: The voice of the old gods, Inflicter of madness, The flawed one, Reality breaker.
    Description: Their form is in constant flux, taking shape only to help preserve their favored's sanity. When their shape is shown it could be described as a not being. Similar to countless species, yet unlike any. As if you had a friend who was really good at drawing things like animals or otherworldly shapes and had asked them to draw a human.
    DP(divine power): 5
     
    Goddess Name: Spark
    Title: Thunder in the Night, Queen of The Wild Hunt

    Personality: Caring but aloof, Spark tries to stay calm and reasonable in most situations, but can be overly excitable and bloodthirsty when hunting. Previously she hunted the Sun and the Moon but found that the world got a bit too upset when she actually caught them in her jaws. Now she just watches and makes occasional playful swipes.

    When not hunting she can often be found napping and enjoying the company of others. Although, if her current territory is intruded upon, she will rumble the skies in warning before going on the attack.

    Spark has a complicated relationship with the old gods. As she holds great affection for certain members but would have happily avoided others for a thousand years.

    Spark believes the old gods maddened and hopes that their current imprisonment will give them time to heal and recover in realms where they cannot harm themselves or others. If she comes to believe that to be a false assumption, she will hunt for a different solution.

    She hopes that in this new age she will find something worth protecting. Something to do beyond hunting the terrors of a bygone age. Maybe even dabble in the worship she she had disregarded in the past.

    Description: a long haired tabby or a hunting ball of lightning

    I've changed the description cause it seems like the old gods ae going to actually matter somewhat. I also got rid of some of the titles.
     
    (OOC: well, Diveretis might have some interesting interactions with Spark. If Diveretis (*cough* me *cough* coronavirus *cough*) learns any good debate skills, they might not fail in every arguement. Also they would probably either avoid them or constantly try to attack Spark.)
     
    (OOC: No, thank you @CausalityCircle . I enjoy arguments far more than I should and if I learn how to argue better, then great! Though... Diveretis is quite capable even if his worshippers are few and far between except in the case of the vetitatum.)
     
    URUK the Tribe of Enkidu
    The enkidu believe they were shaped from clay and stone by the Mother of crafts Silicrilia having been shaped larger then the tallest man and with a wild mane of hair and horns they are an artistic people despite their wild look favoring craft and art creating stone sculptures and wall carvings to please their Great Mother witht heir skill
    The enkidu live near the mountains their miners and oracle priests adventuring into its dark caves
    The Enkidu are ruled ruled by a Priest king and Queen an Ensi and Entu
    1. Enki= King, Entu/Queen

    Civilization:
    The enkidu Build from villages from stone and mud or live in the mountain side caves sculpting it to shape
    The enkidu respect and revere craftsmen of any kind be they artist smiths or architects for they please Earth mother with their deeds

    Religion:
    The Central belief of the enkidu revolves around Silicrilia the Earth mother Goddess of creation as their Creation myth is that she was the one who shaped them from Bones and blood of the Earth and so they covet her domain of stone and gleaming metal and jewels
    The tribes priest are called Oracles of the Deep for they are the ones who Divine her will through the rumblings of the Deep earth guiding them to her Bounty and warning them of danger each oracle is also a Craftsman that can create sculptures, wall carvings and Stone talismans to try gain the Favor of their Goddess
    Each Enkidu has a stone talisman given to them by the Oracle's so that that they may honor and ask for the Favor of the earth mother
    The Miners are considered acolytes of the Oracle who guides them in the Deep earth
    1. Some miner become skilled at religious carving these are skiltgravr(rune cutter) who carve the symbols of the goddesses blessing

    Even through Silicrilia is the god worshipped by most of the enkidu the tribes warriors also honor Scrios and Lilith
    Scrios Honoring her/him as the Lady of Calamity and the Lord of Banners that allows then to release their inner savage some enkidu believe Scrios was a partner in the shaping of the enkidu planting this savagery and rage in battle deep in their hearts that they may have the strength to Slay
    1. Banner Priest an enkidu carrying a pole with a large stone tablet carved with the image of Scrios striking down a Troglodyte with a lightning bolt that invigorates the warriors and grants them Fanatical rage in battle
    2. Enkidu Berserkers acolytes of the Banner priest who pray to Scrios to grant them His/Her Storm rage in battle
    3. Enkidu Smiths create the weapons of the tribe being Artist at heart each weapon is made as beautiful as possible without sacrificing function carving runes and stories into the armor and weapons that usually honor Silicrilia the warrior is expected to carve his great deeds into their armor that are then recorded to a familys Deed stone after the warriors death
    4. Brimstone trebuchet a large trebuchet thats ammo is transmuted to Fiery Brimstone by a priest and flung at the enemy the brimstone exploding on contact and the sulfur and smoke choking the surroundings
    5. Uruk Iron warriors the elite men of Ur all warriors of Ur wear Scale hauberks made from bronze or Iron and a Cap of bronze or Iron The iron warriors Use heavy axes and shields
    6. Ur guard the elite bodyguard/honor guards of Ur Champions royals and priests
    7. Ur soldier armed with a shield and a spear

    Lilith is honoured as the Lady of the fallen that takes them to the deep calming sea where all warriors may rest in blissfully hearing the calming currents of the Ocean some are summoned by their
    descendants for guidance and aid through the Deed stone of the Family to possess a warrior making them and anscesteral totem
    1. Ancestor Totem a warrior possessed by their Anscesteral warrior spirit granting them supernatural skill in combat the Vessels wear masks made in the image of their ancestors to strengthen the connection

    They are human i just don't wanna change the thing and also bronze or anykind of metal isn't probably developed yet so those are just my future plans for how uruk will look and function
     
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    Tribes and clans are a core aspect of the game.
    They will be allowed, I have just not gotten to working on their mechanics yet.

    I will only allow a submission for either a divine being or a clan, because that combo will be too exploitable.
    Though I might steal some ideas for NPC clans and Civs to be discovered.


    Here is the world as the young gods remember them from before the War of the eclipse which will have been fought before the game. A few coastlines will have shifted a tiny bit from the passing of time. I might add the old names for landmarks later on. I might mark the west and the east sides with 'Here be Scrion' or some god of calamity that gets submitted.
    The black stuff implies civilization.
    I'm planning on dropping you on the coloured island. From there the first order of business will be to migrate.
     
    Alright, I will use just the tribe then. The Vetitatum are now ready to work to bring forth the old ones back into the world they once wrought into being.
     
    God Name: Fovos
    Title: The Fear That Guides, The God Previously Known as Phobia, The Observer
    Personality: He first learnt fear as he watched the power of the Old Gods and then he learnt it again when he wielded it as a weapon. But he truly considers having learnt the meaning of fear when he saw the primitive man master the fear of the flame that would become the centerpiece of their civilization. Fear can teach, he realized. It can guide. He decided that is what he wanted to be. Fovos - the fear that guides.

    As an individual, Fovos is incredibly interested in learning and innovation. Very often to the exclusion of other things. Despite his wish to become a teacher and guide, Fovos finds it difficult to communicate. He tends to be more of an observer, communicating through metaphor and symbology if at all. He tends to come off as wise, but is afraid if he really relaxes, they'll see how much of a nerd he is.

    Description: Appears as a apparently highly knowledgeable scholar or wise man with a surprisingly strong physique, with the specifics depending on the culture he's interacting with. When feeling particularly dramatic, he may appear as an inverted shadow where the light forms the shadow and the darkness it's edges. It tends to take the shape of a man in a similar vein as his usual form.

    Divine Power Stored: (You start with 5)
     
    I'm quite happy that Fovos is here too. Let's say there was a good reason for fear:V

    I might as well throw in a sister.
    She will not have the same restrictions or role as the player gods because I kind of need crafting deity a device to set the part of the plot in motion.
    Goddess Name: Silicrilia
    Title: Warden of the deep and mistress of the blood sealed within, Bearer of the metals and jewels, guardian of the mines, She who rumbles, Mother of secrets
    Personality: Hidden under the stones and the rocks Silicrilia weathered the war instigated by the old gods. She had served the smiths of the olden gods before it all began. After the war she had left on a journey to in order to bury and hide the tools that she had helped to create. She still creates rivers of metal and and crafts the most beautiful gems, but she keeps those now buried under the earth.
    She reluctantly appreciates the miners who go through great effort to appreciate her art. They should take care to listen to her rumblings, though. For many good men were lost without word, because they could not respect a woman's secret.
    Description: She either appears either as a small flame, a shadow or a peasant woman.

    CausalityCircle said:
    Did Spark accidentally trigger the apocalypse?!
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    A lot was happened at the time, time which might not always have gone in it's usual direction.
    So, maybe:wink:

    HadesTheReaper said:
    Also... will we being using lovecraftian old gods or gods akin to zues or loki?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    I expect the mechanics to encourage more traditional god behavior enlightened self-interest.
    My impression of Lovecraftian old gods is that it largely doesn't matter to them what happens to their followers.
    I am chewing on several concepts that will work along a different axis of power than the gods. These beings will all be NPCs, because I want.
    WallFlower said:
    but these attempts will result at summoning the choice of the sacrificed... if you are lucky, at least.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    to actually mean something
     
    God/Goddess Name: scrios
    Title: calamity made manifest, the eternal storm, nature's unkindled fury, punisher of the wicked
    Personality: scrios dosnt care about mortals all that much as they can't really affect natural disasters. If a mortal dose something like prevent a natural disaster then scrios would take interest in them
    Description: scrios forms are less then are like miniature natural disasters that are bearly together. Scrios is uselly made up of whatever element is apart of the current natural disaster(Like being made of fire if scrios takes on a volcano shape)
    Divine Power Stored: (You start with 5)

    What I changed about scrios well he's more primal in essence. He's also less about war and more about a volcano wiping half of a tribe
     
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    endless void said:
    God/Goddess Name: scrios
    Title: calamity made manifest, the eternal storm, nature's unkindled fury
    Personality: scrios dosnt care about mortals all that much as they can't really affect natural disasters. If a mortal dose something like prevent a natural disaster then scrios would take interest in them
    Description: scrios forms are less then are like miniature natural disasters that are bearly together. Scrios is uselly made up of whatever element is apart of the current natural disaster(Like being made of fire if scrios takes on a volcano shape)
    Divine Power Stored: (You start with 5)

    What I changed about scrios well he's more primal in essence. He's also less about war and more about a volcano wiping half of a tribe
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    It seems that I can mark the borders of the map with 'Here be Scrios'.
     
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    I've added a map to the OP
    It includes:
    -A raster that will act as a anti frustration feature to ease the burdon of DMing
    -A first few names for landmarks

    I might need some more names for important landmarks, Mainly the cities and the mountains, of which I want at least one themed after Silicrilia for story reasons, my first thought was Silicrilia's pimple. The rest could be named by the while playing the game
     
    God/Goddess Name: Sapienza

    Title: The knowledge keeper/the god of discovery/ patron of the young, the inventive and the wise.

    Personality: Sapienza is a calm and collected individual, unless there is some new knowledge or discovery at hand then they have the enthusiasm and self-control of a five year old with too much sugar.

    Description: Sapienza form is ever-changing, representing their mental state, that of an euphoric child when excited, an old wise man when explaining things, a concentrated ice queen when researching on their own, etc.

    Divine Power Stored: (You start with 5)


    ​
     
    So what's the in story reason that Silicrilia is so much more powerful than the others? Old God who didn't go crazy? New God who was very good at getting people to worship her? Inheritance? Secret techniques hoarded away?
     
    I think, that I should maybe mention that crafting the Civ mechanics is gonna take a while. The mechanics keeping mechanics understandable and scale-able is quite complex. And the world of meat keeps throwing stuff at me to do (fortunately.)
    I am currently talking with brainstorming with someone about the details.

    CausalityCircle said:
    So what's the in story reason that Silicrilia is so much more powerful than the others? Old God who didn't go crazy? New God who was very good at getting people to worship her? Inheritance? Secret techniques hoarded away?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    I'm still working on multiple scenarios
    Many of them involve fates worse then death, and I am still trying to decide how dark is allowable.
    This is the current version of my explanation.

    A god derives their from love and from sacrifice, and I have been subjected to both. When the sky raged against the earth it was in the mines that the people sought their refuge. And when our predecessors and our brethren fought, they would not attack me, because they made their weapons with me... from me and my children.
     
    Could I get some input on this very rough draft?

    Am I creating too much bureaucracy? If yes, does anybody have any ideas for simplification of population growth?

    Players will be able to specify how many children per head their civilization will be producing. Mortals with a 100 year will need 2 children per head in order to keep their numbers stable.
    vote format for [] Fertility X(number)
    Then a 1D8 will roll for child mortality, then modifiers will be applied to see how many children have survived. the minimum amount of survivors is 1 per head.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
     
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