Continuing on my thoughts about switching the gaols to either Vast sized world or Lord of the Land. I think that, before mechanics, it comes down to different narratives. To different aesthetic choices. Let me explain.
If we take Lord of the Land, than Molly becomes connected to her world in a way that she normally wouldn't be. In a very real sense, she becomes its goddess, more so than she normally would by right of creating it. The world's natural phenomena obey her will as it goes - inside her soul, Molly is more than her body. She is closer to awakening as a primordial.
If I instead use Vast size... Assuming that the area at least 500 kilometers wide can still be called "a narrow strip of land" (and in ecological sense it still is), the size of the cities becomes... incomprehensible, really. As in - I start losing the ability to imagine them. A city over 500 kilometers wide, a futuristic city at that, with skyscrapers and high density of population? That's not something we as a species have ever dealt with. It's a society billions, perhaps tens of billions large, crammed together, interacting in different and not yet discovered ways. Probably with arcologies and stuff like that existing within the Cities. At this point each City would be more than a nation state as we understand them. The aesthetics for Molly would also be different. The world inside her soul, its problems, its scope would be significantly larger than Earth. She would be a ruler, creator, warden, goddess of a world that's bigger than Earth. Essentially, what would be peaking through Molly's eyes would be something for which an individual human life, hell, the lives of everyone on the planet, would be, if not a rounding error, than at least less on the balance than her own well being. Because even from a purely utlitiarian perspective, when choosing between condemning a world with 8 billion people, and a world with 50+ billion, the world of 8 billion people would lose. And that has narrative weight. That has interesting storytelling in it.
I have, I think, a possible solution - the Great Labyrinth below the ice, the Malfean-inspired moon-sized ruin, which is basically a Terra Incognita of the setting. Inititally I introduced it when convinced to take Gaols. If I drop Gaols, the Labyrinth stays in the setting. It just gets more ruined / inhospitable. We would need to make effort to explore it, to conquer parts of it, to repair some of its systems, to claim some of its mystical nodes, and to awaken long dormant spirits, or remake them. This, essentially, sets us to get Gaols via in-story effort which is more than "we order our loyal subjects to build a secure prison complex". It would be an adventure. The same with Grand Grimoire trait. I have mentioned that the Labyrinth is populated with primitive tribes (with a possiblity that deeper layers are populated by far more advanced and powerful ones, up to and including someone straight from earlier ages). The description is like this:
This would give me both Vast size, and Lord of the Land.
If we take Lord of the Land, than Molly becomes connected to her world in a way that she normally wouldn't be. In a very real sense, she becomes its goddess, more so than she normally would by right of creating it. The world's natural phenomena obey her will as it goes - inside her soul, Molly is more than her body. She is closer to awakening as a primordial.
If I instead use Vast size... Assuming that the area at least 500 kilometers wide can still be called "a narrow strip of land" (and in ecological sense it still is), the size of the cities becomes... incomprehensible, really. As in - I start losing the ability to imagine them. A city over 500 kilometers wide, a futuristic city at that, with skyscrapers and high density of population? That's not something we as a species have ever dealt with. It's a society billions, perhaps tens of billions large, crammed together, interacting in different and not yet discovered ways. Probably with arcologies and stuff like that existing within the Cities. At this point each City would be more than a nation state as we understand them. The aesthetics for Molly would also be different. The world inside her soul, its problems, its scope would be significantly larger than Earth. She would be a ruler, creator, warden, goddess of a world that's bigger than Earth. Essentially, what would be peaking through Molly's eyes would be something for which an individual human life, hell, the lives of everyone on the planet, would be, if not a rounding error, than at least less on the balance than her own well being. Because even from a purely utlitiarian perspective, when choosing between condemning a world with 8 billion people, and a world with 50+ billion, the world of 8 billion people would lose. And that has narrative weight. That has interesting storytelling in it.
I have, I think, a possible solution - the Great Labyrinth below the ice, the Malfean-inspired moon-sized ruin, which is basically a Terra Incognita of the setting. Inititally I introduced it when convinced to take Gaols. If I drop Gaols, the Labyrinth stays in the setting. It just gets more ruined / inhospitable. We would need to make effort to explore it, to conquer parts of it, to repair some of its systems, to claim some of its mystical nodes, and to awaken long dormant spirits, or remake them. This, essentially, sets us to get Gaols via in-story effort which is more than "we order our loyal subjects to build a secure prison complex". It would be an adventure. The same with Grand Grimoire trait. I have mentioned that the Labyrinth is populated with primitive tribes (with a possiblity that deeper layers are populated by far more advanced and powerful ones, up to and including someone straight from earlier ages). The description is like this:
The Head Warden is, obvsiously, supposed to be Molly. I could make them more hostile to outsiders, and distrustful of any claims anyone makes of being such a head warden. Something like "one would have to lay a path of conquest down to the very core of the Labyrinth in order to claim the title, for the hate the tribes have for the outsiders is legendary indeed". This would probably allow them to be modelled as a resitsance movement (• Resistance Movement (Cost: None; gain 1 point): A minority of the Realm's inhabitants fervently hate and resent you, and seek your overthrow or demise. You may only select this option if your Hell is Loyal, Committed, or Fanatical.). This would give me 1 more point, at which point both Vast size and Lord of the Land become available for purchase. The issue here is that this feels a bit like cheating. They would be, by design, confined into the Sphere. They won't be part of common day society. We would interact with them if we try to explore the Sphere, to claim it. Essentially, they would represent increased resistance to getting Primordial-tier prison system, beyond-ancient lore, stuff like that. Molly would have to negotiate with them, convince them, or fight them. The text of Resistance Movement says that the "minority population seeks your demise", which feels like active attempts should be in the books. Which this idea doesn't actually generate - unless Molly ventures into the Sphere, they would be pretty safe to ignore. If @DragonParadox is ok with this, I'll be taking this option, probably. It gives us a lot of actual plot potential. It also meshes well with Godsworn story by @myrix which I just love to bits - there are definitely shades of possible resistance movement motivation in Soaring Enlightment's thoughts.
This would give me both Vast size, and Lord of the Land.
