Ex-Nihilo: Deity/God Roleplay (OOC/mechanics)

[Of the Quendi]

So the bad news is that I won't finish the OOC threat for today.

The good news means that I can explain my basic ideas for it and you guys will have time to offer some criticism and ideas which I can then consider before finishing the OOC tomorrow.

So here is my thinking: as discussed a fairly classic setting with gods operating in an already created world with the RP geared more towards their interactions with one another and a (for the most part) already created universe) than running around creating stuff (the "pantheon" model if you will). As also discussed I am aiming more for a mythological than a DaD vibe. I have a couple of unconventional ideas for the RP that I haven't seen often in other NS deity RP's.

First I was thinking of introducing a generation system to organize the gods under. My thinking is a simple two-tier system with the elder gods being the gods who was behind the big creation of the cosmos, inventing matter and energy and the laws of thermodynamics and stuff. By the time of the RP these gods would have more or less retired their job done (with two exceptions). In their place would be the younger gods. Those would be human activities and things related to the lives (and deaths) of mortals.

My second, and more unique idea is to divide the gods into two groups. Gods of the Underworld/Afterlife and gods of the Celestial Kingdom. I was thinking of having one Elder God for each of these non-mortal realms organize a group of younger gods with very broadly aligning ideas and motives about the direction of the world. This hierarchy and differentiation between the gods I think might create a fun dynamic. Important caveat: the elder gods would be Primus inter pares only, not supreme ruler deities or anything. They would be as dependent on their younger god allies as the younger gods would depend on them.

Finally, perhaps my most controversial idea, I want to rethink the way deity RP's usually look at domains/portfolios of deities. In all deity RP's I have been in people pick (either in their app or later) something to be the god of and then no one else can have anything to do with that. It has always struck me as a bit odd. No mythology I know of works like that. In Norse mythology half the gods haven't got an actual thing they are the god of. They are just gods. The Greco-Roman mythology is a bit more in to this kind of specialization but still there is plenty of overlap and ambiguity about what a given god represents (if you don't believe me try counting the number of Greco-Roman gods that are the god of war). I wanted this RP to reflect that a bit so I was thinking to essentially be allowed to claim as broad portfolio's as they like with very few limitations from my side with the caveat that other people can claim those same portfolio's thus having multiple gods having overlapping portfolio's. Since that is probably a disaster waiting to happen I was thinking then to have people define a function or role for their god which would be unique to them. So in the example with multiple war gods, Odin and Thor are both war gods in Nordic mythology (along with Tyr, Ullr, Freyja, Modi, Magni and probably others as well; everyone is a god of war) but they are it in different ways. Thor is the big hulking god which a warrior prays to for strength. Odin is more the god the generals pray to for strategic advice and victory. While all those gods are clearly war gods and can be prayed by people going to war the way they are war gods is clearly different. Put simply I guess the interesting question would be less "what are you the god of?" and more "how are you the god of it?".

So those are my three ideas. Hope people don't hate them. If you do its not too late to go back to the drawing board and produce a very standard pantheon-style RP. If you don't hate my ideas let me know what you think, if you have any questions or suggestions for improvement.

Sorry for the long post.

[Greater Loralia]

So the bad news is that I won't finish the OOC threat for today.

The good news means that I can explain my basic ideas for it and you guys will have time to offer some criticism and ideas which I can then consider before finishing the OOC tomorrow.

So here is my thinking: as discussed a fairly classic setting with gods operating in an already created world with the RP geared more towards their interactions with one another and a (for the most part) already created universe) than running around creating stuff (the "pantheon" model if you will). As also discussed I am aiming more for a mythological than a DaD vibe. I have a couple of unconventional ideas for the RP that I haven't seen often in other NS deity RP's.

First I was thinking of introducing a generation system to organize the gods under. My thinking is a simple two-tier system with the elder gods being the gods who was behind the big creation of the cosmos, inventing matter and energy and the laws of thermodynamics and stuff. By the time of the RP these gods would have more or less retired their job done (with two exceptions). In their place would be the younger gods. Those would be human activities and things related to the lives (and deaths) of mortals.

My second, and more unique idea is to divide the gods into two groups. Gods of the Underworld/Afterlife and gods of the Celestial Kingdom. I was thinking of having one Elder God for each of these non-mortal realms organize a group of younger gods with very broadly aligning ideas and motives about the direction of the world. This hierarchy and differentiation between the gods I think might create a fun dynamic. Important caveat: the elder gods would be Primus inter pares only, not supreme ruler deities or anything. They would be as dependent on their younger god allies as the younger gods would depend on them.

Finally, perhaps my most controversial idea, I want to rethink the way deity RP's usually look at domains/portfolios of deities. In all deity RP's I have been in people pick (either in their app or later) something to be the god of and then no one else can have anything to do with that. It has always struck me as a bit odd. No mythology I know of works like that. In Norse mythology half the gods haven't got an actual thing they are the god of. They are just gods. The Greco-Roman mythology is a bit more in to this kind of specialization but still there is plenty of overlap and ambiguity about what a given god represents (if you don't believe me try counting the number of Greco-Roman gods that are the god of war). I wanted this RP to reflect that a bit so I was thinking to essentially be allowed to claim as broad portfolio's as they like with very few limitations from my side with the caveat that other people can claim those same portfolio's thus having multiple gods having overlapping portfolio's. Since that is probably a disaster waiting to happen I was thinking then to have people define a function or role for their god which would be unique to them. So in the example with multiple war gods, Odin and Thor are both war gods in Nordic mythology (along with Tyr, Ullr, Freyja, Modi, Magni and probably others as well; everyone is a god of war) but they are it in different ways. Thor is the big hulking god which a warrior prays to for strength. Odin is more the god the generals pray to for strategic advice and victory. While all those gods are clearly war gods and can be prayed by people going to war the way they are war gods is clearly different. Put simply I guess the interesting question would be less "what are you the god of?" and more "how are you the god of it?".

So those are my three ideas. Hope people don't hate them. If you do its not too late to go back to the drawing board and produce a very standard pantheon-style RP. If you don't hate my ideas let me know what you think, if you have any questions or suggestions for improvement.

Sorry for the long post.

Where would Kemoth be positioned? I was going to have her be as old as interactions between deities, and the creation of divine society.

Would she get all of her dominions?

As a side note, though, people only allow one God to reign over certain domains - which ofc has crossover anyway - because otherwise you get a dozen different versions of the God of War or God of Death and no variety, which is death for an RP.

[Of the Quendi]

Where would Kemoth be positioned? I was going to have her be as old as interactions between deities, and the creation of divine society.

Would she get all of her dominions?

As a side note, though, people only allow one God to reign over certain domains - which ofc has crossover anyway - because otherwise you get a dozen different versions of the God of War or God of Death and no variety, which is death for an RP.

I don't think having people have a relatively free hands in picking domains is going to be that big of a problem for two reasons. Firstly I don't think anyone will actually try to sign up with a huge amount of domains (and if they do I have no trouble making an OP call to impose limits). I think people will be reasonable and pick a number of domains that fit with how they want their god to operate. Secondly people will be expected to define clearly how they are the god of, to use your example, war or death, and in that process differentiate their death/war god from someone else's.

As for your questions about your god. You can apply to be one of the remaining elder gods if its important for you that god has been around since the beginning but judging by the domains of the app you linked to your god is clearly more of a young god. Civilization, arachnids, crafting, machinations are all recent phenomena so based on domain choices your deity should be among the younger gods.

Can you have all your five requested domains? Sure. You would have to find some way to link them together, but I don't see any reason why that shouldn't be permissible.

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

Where would Kemoth be positioned? I was going to have her be as old as interactions between deities, and the creation of divine society.

Would she get all of her dominions?

As a side note, though, people only allow one God to reign over certain domains - which ofc has crossover anyway - because otherwise you get a dozen different versions of the God of War or God of Death and no variety, which is death for an RP.

I don't think having people have a relatively free hands in picking domains is going to be that big of a problem for two reasons. Firstly I don't think anyone will actually try to sign up with a huge amount of domains (and if they do I have no trouble making an OP call to impose limits). I think people will be reasonable and pick a number of domains that fit with how they want their god to operate. Secondly people will be expected to define clearly how they are the god of, to use your example, war or death, and in that process differentiate their death/war god from someone else's.

As for your questions about your god. You can apply to be one of the remaining elder gods if its important for you that god has been around since the beginning but judging by the domains of the app you linked to your god is clearly more of a young god. Civilization, arachnids, crafting, machinations are all recent phenomena so based on domain choices your deity should be among the younger gods.

Can you have all your five requested domains? Sure. You would have to find some way to link them together, but I don't see any reason why that shouldn't be permissible.

So far I like the idea. I entirely agree. I eagerly await your creation of the thread.

[Greater Loralia]

Where would Kemoth be positioned? I was going to have her be as old as interactions between deities, and the creation of divine society.

Would she get all of her dominions?

As a side note, though, people only allow one God to reign over certain domains - which ofc has crossover anyway - because otherwise you get a dozen different versions of the God of War or God of Death and no variety, which is death for an RP.

I don't think having people have a relatively free hands in picking domains is going to be that big of a problem for two reasons. Firstly I don't think anyone will actually try to sign up with a huge amount of domains (and if they do I have no trouble making an OP call to impose limits). I think people will be reasonable and pick a number of domains that fit with how they want their god to operate. Secondly people will be expected to define clearly how they are the god of, to use your example, war or death, and in that process differentiate their death/war god from someone else's.

As for your questions about your god. You can apply to be one of the remaining elder gods if its important for you that god has been around since the beginning but judging by the domains of the app you linked to your god is clearly more of a young god. Civilization, arachnids, crafting, machinations are all recent phenomena so based on domain choices your deity should be among the younger gods.

Can you have all your five requested domains? Sure. You would have to find some way to link them together, but I don't see any reason why that shouldn't be permissible.

Kemoth is an elder God simply because of her civilization component. I won't be making her a young one at all. Her civilization is quite old too, and she made it after being born (well, the first one failed, becoming... problematic, we'll say. The second one did okay, tho). She was born because of divine society/civilization - i.e. the first interactions of the Gods - making her ancient.

As a side note, crafting and machinations are probably quite old. Gods have probably been crafting far longer than man, and that includes the creation of automatons like those made by Greek deities. Kemoth's true form is arachnid, so that's where that comes from.

[Augustus Legions]

Lets do this new complicated shit

[Of the Quendi]

So far I like the idea. I entirely agree. I eagerly await your creation of the thread.

Glad to hear it.

Kemoth is an elder God simply because of her civilization component. I won't be making her a young one at all. Her civilization is quite old too, and she made it after being born (well, the first one failed, becoming... problematic, we'll say. The second one did okay, tho). She was born because of divine society/civilization - i.e. the first interactions of the Gods - making her ancient.

As a side note, crafting and machinations are probably quite old. Gods have probably been crafting far longer than man, and that includes the creation of automatons like those made by Greek deities. Kemoth's true form is arachnid, so that's where that comes from.

Well as I said you can certainly sign up as one of the elder gods. I think there might be some issues with such a claim but we can discuss that once I set up an OOC thread.

Lets do this new complicated shit

I thought you didn't want to do a reboot?

[Barapam]

I'm up for this new thing, with the new concept, too, even though I got caught up in other things before I finished my app here.

Maybe I'll make a god of laziness, procastrination and bad excuses. I think that would suit me.

[Fahran]

I like the ideas. Perhaps dividing the deities into two spheres with further divisions between elder and younger deities within those spheres and no set domains?

[Of the Quendi]

I like the ideas. Perhaps dividing the deities into two spheres with further divisions between elder and younger deities within those spheres and no set domains?

Is that a question? It sounds like you are stating the premise very succinctly.

[Aurumus]

So, I'm trying to fill out an application, but I have a question about Domain. For the Secundus wave, do you still expect them to be 100% divine, or do they have some flexibility now? Also, does domain change as the RP progresses?

[Of the Quendi]

So, I'm trying to fill out an application, but I have a question about Domain. For the Secundus wave, do you still expect them to be 100% divine, or do they have some flexibility now? Also, does domain change as the RP progresses?

Don't bother. This RP is dead, the only reason it looks alive is because we are planning a reboot.

EDIT: And on that note: Tada!

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

I'm having a bit of trouble understanding the differences between elder gods and younger ones. All I'm getting at this point is that they simply differentiate based on their interests, I'm not entirely certain what else is implied. I'm wondering as to what the point of the whole hierarchy was to begin with and the reason as to why there is a celestial realm and an underworld.

Are Elder gods more powerful? What is the implication behind the whole appointment of rulers of the two realms? What does it mean for one to be a ruler? Are they simply the most powerful? The wisest? How will it be decided who rules what?

Also I wish to know the difference between the underworld and celestial realm. Are we to picture one as being a realm of good and the other of evil? Is one simply a place only for holy beings and the other for mortal souls? Are we going for a classic "place of punishment" vs "place of reward" thing here?

[Of the Quendi]

I'm having a bit of trouble understanding the differences between elder gods and younger ones. All I'm getting at this point is that they simply differentiate based on their interests, I'm not entirely certain what else is implied. I'm wondering as to what the point of the whole hierarchy was to begin with and the reason as to why there is a celestial realm and an underworld.

Are Elder gods more powerful? What is the implication behind the whole appointment of rulers of the two realms? What does it mean for one to be a ruler? Are they simply the most powerful? The wisest? How will it be decided who rules what?

Also I wish to know the difference between the underworld and celestial realm. Are we to picture one as being a realm of good and the other of evil? Is one simply a place only for holy beings and the other for mortal souls? Are we going for a classic "place of punishment" vs "place of reward" thing here?

The Elder Gods are gods that designed the universe, the Younger Gods are the ones who organized life on the planet the RP is (mostly) set on. Gods are differentiated by generation and abode because I thought that would be fun thing to try. Elder Gods are not more powerful than Younger Gods, thats very important for me to stress and if it isn't clear in the OP I will have to update it. Nor are they the "rulers" of their respective planes. Not in a monarchical sense at least. They created, or at least organized the creation of, their planes but they are more like a landlord than a king for the gods who reside on the plane. A landlord who is as dependent on his tenants for rent as they are on him for housing.

The Underworld is not Hell and the Celestial Realm is not Heaven. They are simply two different kingdoms of the gods. CR is probably a nicer and more lively place than the Underworld which after all is filled with dead people but they are not good and evil places, they are just places. Beyond that I will leave the specifics of each place be up to the gods there, especially the two elder gods.

[Fahran]

Is that a question? It sounds like you are stating the premise very succinctly.

Yes. I pretty much liked all the ideas you proposed. Celestial v. Chthonic is a cool idea especially, and one echoed in many mythologies. I imagine the Underworld would host deities of death, fertility, rebirth, wealth, disease, and perhaps the oceans and seas. The Celestial Realm would host the deities of the sky, weather, light, and more abstract concepts like law, justice, and crafts. Both of these would, of course, have significant degrees of overlap.

I'm a bit hazier on what to expect from the division between elder and younger deities. I might recommend having three elder deities for each realm as a maximum and to perhaps construct parent-child relationships between them and the younger deities. We'd need an in-world explanation for all of these divisions as well.

[Of the Quendi]

Yes. I pretty much liked all the ideas you proposed. Celestial v. Chthonic is a cool idea especially, and one echoed in many mythologies. I imagine the Underworld would host deities of death, fertility, rebirth, wealth, disease, and perhaps the oceans and seas. The Celestial Realm would host the deities of the sky, weather, light, and more abstract concepts like law, justice, and crafts. Both of these would, of course, have significant degrees of overlap.

I'm a bit hazier on what to expect from the division between elder and younger deities. I might recommend having three elder deities for each realm as a maximum and to perhaps construct parent-child relationships between them and the younger deities. We'd need an in-world explanation for all of these divisions as well.

I am getting a bit of cold feet on the generation division myself to be honest, people seem to be sceptic about it. I introduced them because I felt the two distinct planes needed a head, a primary deity of the respective planes, someone the respective deity groupings could organize around and develop a shared background. With people signing on to an RP with two elder gods serving in that capacity I think its a bit late to expand their number. If I were to make that big a change I might be more inclined to drop the generation system to be honest.

Have you given any thoughts to what kind of deity you would like to RP?

[Arasi Luvasa]

I would probably go with Anamara again. I like the character. I'm definitely in if it comes around, though I suggest it move a bit slower to allow people to actually react.

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

I would probably go with Anamara again. I like the character. I'm definitely in if it comes around, though I suggest it move a bit slower to allow people to actually react.

And THATS the gospel of truth!

[Fahran]

And THATS the gospel of truth!

Tfw the soundtrack of Disney's "Hercules" becomes the soundtrack of the RP.

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

And THATS the gospel of truth!

Tfw the soundtrack of Disney's "Hercules" becomes the soundtrack of the RP.

Hehehe somebody got my reference hehehehe

[Arasi Luvasa]

Tfw the soundtrack of Disney's "Hercules" becomes the soundtrack of the RP.

Hehehe somebody got my reference hehehehe

So did I.

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

Hehehe somebody got my reference hehehehe

So did I.

Yay!!

[Of the Quendi]

I would probably go with Anamara again. I like the character. I'm definitely in if it comes around, though I suggest it move a bit slower to allow people to actually react.

I certainly hope it will move slower. Thats why I made a rule against one-liners.