Of Strange Gods and Idles

One issue I had been struggling with is what kind of gods, if any, should I include in the setting. Deities by their vary nature are powerful enough to control the world like omnipresent wizard, and immortal. I also want the gods to be dark and somewhat deranged. On top of that, the setting is built around the remanence of a super high-tech civilization. What would they leave behind that would be god-like, then I thought about the A.I. systems used in sci-fi to run cities and spaceships. They also have a tendency to go mad. In this case, they have lived a really long life and seen much horror. So my idea was to include static, non-amusing artifacts that house a powerful machine brain that at one time, was given the power and responsibility of controlling the enviroment around them, and to serve the needs of the people and/or indigenous life. Over time, as people became more primitive, they became more god/like, and their effects became more and more mysterious and magical. Then it hit me, this sounds like the Loc-Nar form DEN of Neverwhere and Heavy Metal the Movie. I kinda like the evil green glowing orb, but I also like the idea that they can take a wide range of forms, and glow in a wide range of colors. They could look like stone blocks, crystals shards or skull, cut gemstones, metal containers, and so on.

Although to most people, they are not just some machine brain built in some high-tech container. They are powerful spirits that are connected to their world by a shrine or alter. Such a shrine just happens to be where they live. They can communicate to people who call for them by name -- they can even appear in any form they want. They can execute an old program if the right words are spoken -- this takes on the form of a magic spell. Such "spells" can alter the enviroment, remove or conjure inanimate objects, project different types of energy and fields, improve communication, treat injuries and so on. Like Gods, they have spheres of control, but in their case, they were built to serve some purpose. One might have been built to manage the enviroment of the world it resides, and thus their programs are limited to effecting the geology, biology and climatology of its world. As such, it would serve as a Nature God. Should it be taken off world, the entire planet could suffer without its presence to maintain its delicate ecosystem. Another could have been built for planetary defense, but has became an aggressive militant, and now is worshiped as a war god.

It should be noted that they are not all evil and insane. Many have developed quarks in their personality, and with others... As Marceline the Vampire Queen (from Adventure Time) puts it: "I'm not mean. I'm a thousand years old, and I just lost track of my moral code."

There role in the game is to serve as the source of magic, to serve as gods, and to be used as powerful artifacts by those who are brave enough to try to harness their tremendous power.

I'm Back!

WOW, I forgot I had a blog for this setting. =P I have been caught-up with so many things, I been forgetting to update this blog.

Well, not to long ago, Simon Washbourne was thinking about genre-mixing for his new edition for Barbarians of Lemuria, at the Lords of Lemuria forum. His idea was about putting barbarians... IN SPACE!!! So I noted that I was working on something similar. So I posted my notes, and he seems to like it.

So now I'm back on track. I have nine or so worlds thought-out, more artifacts, additional ideas, and I made some pics using HeroMachine 3 to help folks visualize what characters in the setting look like. Mind you, the heroes are meant to look "beefcake/cheesecake," as its primary inspiration is '80s sword & sorcery. So here are some typical barbarians:

Although most barbarians lack the fancy gear they have, these two are example of player characters. They are fitted with personal force-fields call Shield Crests and a shoulder plate to power them - a Sun Spaulder. Civilized folk form the City States or Kingdom Worlds tend to have better clothing.

 I'm going to update as often as I can.

About the Setting

I have been working on this setting for some time. It came about from an enjoyment of A Princess of Mars, the kitchen sink fantasies that made-up of 80s cartoons, and years of playing (first edition) Gamma World in an equally gonzo way. One of the most influential factors in creating this setting was reading the early He-Man mini-comics, as noted here, in the second paragraph. It was just one world of many, that was ravaged by a prolonged war, and the protagonist - the evil skull-faced sorcerer Skeletor - was just a petty despot, who is not just trying to take over Eternia, but also what to find a way to get off world, so he could takeover more worlds. This not just played-out like a generic Sword & Sorcery adventure, but was also full of Buck Rogers-styled technology and adventure. I really like this premiss, and I wanted to take it to the next level, and build a whole setting out of this.

So in the universe that I am working on, the galaxy was once the home a galaxy-spanning civilization, who developed an understanding of science and physics to a degree, where they could alter the workings of reality. They made earth-like worlds - with full gravity and atmospheric pressure - on the smallest of moons, and even on layers of gas giants. They linked worlds with a network of transit gates, that allowed people to step into another world, like it was in another room (like the Stargates, but without the fancy water show). The quality of life (along with some posthumanist manipulation) was as such, that people could live for centuries with youth and vitality. They could even make major changes to their environment, without any real effort.

It was glorious, and beyond what we know as being idyllic, and it lasted a long time... until it fell apart from the inside. The reason for this was lost to legends, when the galaxy erupted in chaos and warfare. The initial battles played-out like old mythologies, where the gods waged wars in the havens, and thundered armageddon onto the worlds! Centuries has passed since the conflict ended, and the galaxy was thrown into a state of barbarism. Pieces of technology are still lying around or hoarded away, but a far too few who have any understanding with how they fully work, and for most, figuring out their functions requires a lot of experimentation. There are still people who use and maintain these artifacts as jealously-guarded family heirlooms, but production of new parts are limited, if at all. Some of the artifacts still in use are airships, gates, personal force fields (as noted here), and energy weapons. Some of the systems that allowed people to toy with reality are still in affect, but they are so complex and tricky, only few, if any, have any discipline with it. Although a product of a forgotten science, those who know these tricks are called "Sorcerers" or "Wizards," and their control over it is called "magic" or "Sorcery." As they have the power to control the fabric of reality, they are rightfully feared by those who have no understanding of it. Many of these systems were damaged, and can be harmful if not triggered right.

Most worlds are in primitive states, as the conflict have been enough to ruin their delicate ecology, or reduced them into barren wastelands, and most of the great cities have been laid to ruin. The use of reality-distorting weapons have had a mutagenic effect on life, with a lot of mutants and beastmen, and many worlds have been altered in strange and exotic ways. There are a few worlds that have been left mostly unscathed, but they survive by being sheltered to everything (and everyone) else. In the chaos, there are no shortage of despots - many of them are Sorcerers - who are trying to build their own empire.

Those who are brave enough, and strong enough, can explore the galaxy. Planet-hopping can be done by airship, and each world has its own potential for action, adventure, exploration, survival, romance, mystery, political drama, and even empire-building - what ever the players what!