The Campaign Builder's Guild

[ooc]These are the first vestiges of a setting a friend of mine proposed I build as a bit of a challenge.  He's a big fan of the Law/Chaos dichotomy, and wanted a setting centered around the interplay of those two absolutes.  However, I supplied him with this caveat: I am not a fan of absolutes, and anything presented to me in black and white swiftly succumbs to the effects of philosophical greyscale.

So what began as a simple Mechanus vs. Limbo setting (which is what he'd hoped for) quickly grew into something more akin to a dissertation by the likes of Isaiah Berlin of John Stuart Mills (and it is by no coincidence that they serve as two of the setting's primary influences).

The central "Theme" for the setting is simple:

What is Law?
What is Order?
What is Chaos?
What is Disorder?
What is Freedom, and how does it arise from Order?
Or is it to be found in Chaos?
And in whose hands should Man place the power to supply or deny His Liberty?

Okay, so maybe it is not all that simple...

But it is, in essence, a world in which these questions, and more, define and drive the actions of both the protagonists and their foes.  And of course, the line is forever blurred.  Or rather, as I like to think, there is no line at all.[/ooc]    

There was a time when Man was wild.  In that age, the Terrible Age, the world was aquiver with the thousandfold agonies wrought by an iniquitous beast who knew not Himself, nor His home, nor the Sun, Moon or Stars who watched powerless and horrified as His sins spread, achingly, venomously, like a stain upon the earth.

He was not a beast without guile, this Man.  He knew the ways of fire, of steel, of a killing thunder and a murderous word.  He cloaked his nations in the cold, strangling shroud of industry; He built Effigies to His False Gods that speared the very skies with their grandeur; He bathed his brethren in the blood of the fallen, that His foes might look upon His kin and tremble.

But these were but vulgar tricks.  He was, for all his wit, still a brute of base desire and lustful spirit.  He killed, for want of grander purpose, simply for the sake of the slaughter.  And that which He loved, he loved only for Himself.

When the World Ended, then, He looked upon the wretchedness of His heart and saw only justice in His own unmaking.  As His Effigies crumbled and the guise of the False Gods faded, He fell upon the fractured earth and lamented not His predicament, but His folly.

But this was not His end.

Retribution came, not in the sundering hand of a vengeful God, but the Resplendent Grace of a Divinity most merciful.  It looked upon His wretchedness and saw, within the blighted sepulchre of His soul, the faintest glimmer of Heavenâ,¬,,¢s own irreproachable spark.

So it spake:

[ic=Sellina Dulset speaks...]"To their children, mothers often sing this song, the song the Divinities sang when they first came upon mankind:

It is a beautiful song, but a mournful song.  It is the last song my mother ever sang... before the Justiciars came and took my father's heart as payment for an old debt.  She never sang after that."[/ic]
Thus ended the Age of the Wicked, the Terrible Age, and so began the Age of Concordance.

[ooc]Concordance is a post-apocalyptic setting in the general sense that it immediately follows the end of the world.  It is important to note, however, that the world was subsequently reshaped anew, so it is not necessarily post-apocalyptic in its vision of the future.

The world that preceded the world of Concordance will not be explored in any real detail, but for those of you who must know, it is in fact Earth, after mankind discovered magic and â,¬Å"went crazyâ,¬Â with it.  Of course, the world now looks nothing like it once did: the climate is vastly altered and even the continents are redistributed; so once again, it is essentially irrelevant that Concordance was once the Earth that we know.[/ooc]

[ic=A Nameless God speaks...]â,¬ÂThere are many worlds.

Countless worlds.

A cornucopia of vistas strewn across the great Celestial Firmament, the vast heavenly void in which the Stars, sleeping godlings not yet birthed into the cosmos, drift in quiet solitude amidst the inchoate dreamstuff of their long-dead forebears.  Between these worlds span the Wayward Roads, which wind through the shadows of twilight, grasping at these many earths like the cerulean branches of a grand, cosmic tree.

To travel between worlds through the quietude of the void might take a man a millennium or more, but by way of the Wayward Roads, it is but a matter of a minute or a moment.  In the early aeons, grand empires spanned leagues uncountable: a lone king might have lorded over a dozen distant worlds, and a battle might rage in the silence betwixt suns.  By the grace of the beauteous paths, the cosmos was united in one sight, if not one mind.

But few travel them now.

Some say that when a shadow princess refused a god's advances, he, in his fury, scattered the roads like leaves upon an autumn wind.  Some claim that a great conflict in antiquity sundered and ruined them.  Others still propose simply that the ravages of time-beyond-measure wasted their substance until they were faded and useless.

Whatever the reason, they are broken things now, and to walk them is to invite waiting things from the dark side of one's own mind, or to risk losing onesself in the nightmares or young divinities not yet born.

So for a great while, these many worlds were scattered, the ways between forgotten, and while mortalkind languished in infantile ignorance, a timeless war was raging...â,¬Â[/ic]

[ooc][/ooc]

[ic=Illian the Strange, on the subject of Creation]â,¬Å"In the first moments of the cosmosâ,¬Â¦Ã¢,¬Â

No, thatâ,¬,,¢s not right.

â,¬Å"In the interminable moment before such things as moments were, when there was naught but silenceâ,¬Â¦Ã¢,¬Â

No.  Not silence.  Silence is in itself a property, or at the very least an absence that alludes to the presence of property, and of this thing there were none.

Uh, properties, that is.

How then to put itâ,¬Â¦

â,¬Å"First, there was potentiality.â,¬Â

That sounds about right.  Weâ,¬,,¢ll go with that.

â,¬Å"In that instant before instance, there was the infinite potentiality.  A profound tension that surpassed quantity and definition, that filled the spaceless, timeless, directionless void that preceded all Creation.  It was all that might be, all that could be, in all the unborn worlds, all the undreamt dreams, for all that it was without form.

â,¬Å"It preceded form, and though it did not promise form, it flirted with the possibility that there might be such things as formâ,¬Â¦ such things as space, time, direction, destructionâ,¬Â¦ dreams, nightmares, laughter, lust and lunacyâ,¬Â¦ all the things that we know, and all the things we shall never know, for they never did come to be.

̢,"And all at once (simultaneity is, of course, inevitable when there is no time to separate the instances) there was stasis, immutable, unmoving, and equally formless.

̢,"Thus, in that moment before moments, there was Stasis, and there was Potential.

̢,"Stasis was, within itself, incapable of action, for, being static there was nothing in it to act.

̢,"Potential was, within itself, incapable of action, as, being without substance there was nothing to act upon.

â,¬Å"But in their unity, the lifelessness of Stasis was lifeless no more, and the impotence of Potential was impotent no more.  The first True Moment, then; the first instant of Creation, was born in the meeting of these two truths.

̢,"Thus was born causality, and so, within causality, we find the essence of both Order...

"And Chaos"[/ic]

Hmmm, this sounds promising. Gimme more philosophy!

I've also always been interested to see a law-chaos world. Bring it on!

Túrin

Horray for Law/Chaos conflict. I've tried doing it off and on, but the idea of Good vs Evil is so ingrained in our mentality it is hard to ignore that. I can't wait to see more.

PS - I love the philosphy, and the first 8 lines made me laugh: sounds like one of the discussions me and one of my friends have all the time.

Lookin' good good lookin'.

The philosophy is very cool, as is the attempt at a law/chaos focus, something I've never really been able to grasp because of my love for fiends and the idea that in Law/Chaos, a devil would probably be more likely to work with a paladin than a demon. But ignoring that fragment of rambling, I look forward to seeing more of this setting and of your previous ones as well. :)

[ooc]The problem with a setting such as this is not only that the Good/Evil dichtomy is virtually ingrained in our brains, but that, because of this, most people fail to see that a Law/Chaos world is easily as complex as an expressly "moral" one.  But once one injects the concept of freedom into the Law/Chaos concept, you'll find that it gets pretty interesting.  The axis of ethics (AoO; that's what I call the Law/Chaos part of alignment, as opposed to the axis of morals) is pretty bare in D&D: essentially, Law = confinement, Chaos = liberty, and that's ultimately fallacious, as chaos limits freedom as readily as law.  So at least on the gamer's level, the meaning of the AoC needs to be redefined as a facet of a character's personality.

How does freedom help define an AoO setting, then?  Well, it's basically summed up in the first post:
Law, explicitly as a system of total control, damages freedom.  A totalitarian regime, for instance, is an obvious example of draconion law implemented to cow the populace.

By contrast, Law employed simply as a means by which a people can be kept from harming others, promotes freedom.  The Bill of Rights is such an example (sans the Second Amendment; that truly terrifies me)

Chaos, as a means of spreading fear and confusion, damages freedom.  A bomb on a subway train or a misplaced airliner on a collision course with a tall building are both elements of detrimental Chaos.

By contrast, Chaos as a simple expression of liberty and the opportunity to pursue one's passions is, by and large, supportive of freedom.

That's the simple way of putting it, but it gets complex:

For instance, at what point does a law cease to merely promote safety and begin to damage freedom?  When does a man's freedom become so unchecked that he, in turn, comes to harm the freedom of others in the simple expression of his own liberty?  And what freedoms are essential to humanity?  Should a government ever arbitrate that a man's inaliable "rights" can be forced upon him; that to refuse onesself certain liberties is a self-destructive act which a government cannot permit?

And that's merely on a basic sociological level.  It can get even messier.

All these questions and more go to great lengths to define the issues a player might be confronted with in such a setting; be it in the machinations of the political arena, or the ineffable interplay of the cosmic forces (gods, spirits, overdeities, etcetera) that shape the very fabric of the world.  A character might find himself battling with the same conundrums he'd encounter in a moral-focused setting, when he finds that certain tyrannical villanies are truly the "lesser evil" in the face of a world without limitations, or that the liberties he once championed have their own destructive elements.

I recall once, when George W. Bush remarked "There ought to be limits on freedom."  The statement caused quite an uproar in a nation purportedly devoted to the liberties of its people, but given further thought, how wrong was he really?

Questions like these are at the essence of Concordance.[/ooc]

Quote from: Salacious AngelBy contrast, Law employed simply as a means by which a people can be kept from harming others, promotes freedom.  The Bill of Rights is such an example (sans the Second Amendment; that truly terrifies me)
[snip]
By contrast, Chaos as a simple expression of liberty and the opportunity to pursue one's passions is, by and large, supportive of freedom.

The faces of Law and Chaos you show here are already getting very close to each other (arguably, neither can really be called to be anything else than Neutral on the AoO). When done right, you can get a very interesting (socio-)philosophical edbate out of this. I'm all for that, and willing to express my own opinion about these topics at some time. But I'm wondering, isn't this too heavily philosophical, drawing too much on real-life discussions, to be interesting as a game setting? As you are pointing out the grey shades in between, this seems to become a setting of philosophical/ideological clashes that really defie the law/chaos dichotomy. My question is this (forgive me for rushing things): how to make a viable campaign setting out of these ideas (that, I might add, really have nothing to do with D&D and everything with social philosophy)?
Túrin

Quote from: TúrinThe faces of Law and Chaos you show here are already getting very close to each other (arguably, neither can really be called to be anything else than Neutral on the AoO). When done right, you can get a very interesting (socio-)philosophical edbate out of this. I'm all for that, and willing to express my own opinion about these topics at some time. But I'm wondering, isn't this too heavily philosophical, drawing too much on real-life discussions, to be interesting as a game setting? As you are pointing out the grey shades in between, this seems to become a setting of philosophical/ideological clashes that really defie the law/chaos dichotomy. My question is this (forgive me for rushing things): how to make a viable campaign setting out of these ideas (that, I might add, really have nothing to do with D&D and everything with social philosophy)?
Túrin

[ooc]That really is the question, isn't it?

But I would argue strongly that these ideas can have everything to do with D&D.  The problem at hand is that most people, when they think D&D, think swords and sorcery, castles and demons.  I, by contrast, envision the internecine politics of entities who embody the substance of ethical quandaries in their very souls; I see the wars fought for lofty ideals that seem at first glance antithetical, but which fray or even crumble when analysed up close; I see a world defined in the most literal sense by its philosophies, and shaped by the fears and wants of its people.

So I suppose you might be right in a sense.  For those who want "classic" fantasy, I advise you look somewhere else, because this is certainly anything but.  However, it remains fantasy, and potentially breathtaking fantasy at that.  Ultimately, it may come to pass that Concordance is detailed in such a way that it cannot be played, simply observed.  If so, that is fine, for I am more in the business of crafting worlds than settings. (If you want a good setting of mine, I advise you check out Dystopia.  It's more user-friendly)

But it would be impossible for me to explain in simple terms the ways in which these issues can be incorporated into D&D.  Better and easier for me to simply detail Concordance, and let you see for yourself.

This, I will do very soon.

More to come.[/ooc]

Very well. I'll stick around and see what happens.

[ic=Odrisk Tanzarrick speaks...]"I remember, in my youth, there was a man as old as this Age, who had seen the fall of Man and the rise of Order, whose name no-one knew (and he himself would not speak it).  He lived upon a hill west and a little east of the village, and They would say 'stay away, that man is drulehg and he will steal your soul.'

But youth is a time of contrary action, so I sought him out.

I found him on a stone, and he was singing.  It was a strange song, dark, and I confess it made me fearful.  But I looked upon him and saw only the man, weathered and weary.  He smiled at me, and I sat before him.  We spoke then, about many things.  He told me of the Terrible Age, of the War, of the Gods, of the Remaking.  He told me stranger things: that there was no such thing as Time, or Action, or Consequence or Consciousness.  No Choice, no Chance, no Future.  These things i laughed at, and I thought him a fool.

But then he grinned a wicked grin, and he pointed to the hilltop.

'That is where the world ends.'

I laughed then, but nevertheless I followed him, doubtful, mocking, superior, to the top of that hill...

I saw...

Understand that I am forever a skeptical man.  I believe what can be evidenced, and no creature, man, nor god, will ever trick my senses...

But I'll be damned, he was right."[/ic]
[ic=Sumnathikos]"When the Gods first came, the world was broken and burning and half of humanity was a mindless slavering animal bent on the rape and destruction of its lucid kin.  They, the Gods, ceased that terrible war, healed the wounded Earth and cast the maddened men into the dark places beneath the world.  They promised peace, and even now amidst the chaos we believe them.

But the Remaking is not an easy task, and the places we now know are not yet whole, so They must forever strive to bind the fractured elements of this Plane as one.

And there are some who would seek to tear It apart once more..."[/ic]
In the most general sense, Eris is a world like any other.  It has geographies with oceans, nations, peoplesâ,¬Â¦ but at the same time, it is something altogether different.  The earth upon which the people tread is a falsehood: a veneer spread thin across a vast terrible construct, a place like Hell and Heaven all at once, with ten times a thousand alien worlds scattered like fallen leaves across its face.  There are spirits in those hidden places, with strange intentions and stranger minds, whose name no man is permitted to speak and whose appetites would make a psychopath quail.  There are gods there, too: False Gods and Heretical Gods, Gods of Undreamt Dreams or Forgotten Elements, Gods of Worlds-That-Will-Never-Be, or Words-That-Are-Seldom-Spokenâ,¬Â¦

Many, many gods.

And they say that there are people there, too.  Nations of fire and ice, kingdoms of peril and pain, full of men not unlike us, but who hide from the grace and glory of those who would shepherd them along the righteous path.  We do not blame them, but sometimes we pity them.  And there are some who even fear them.

[ooc][/ooc]

[ic=Xu-por, spirit of glass]"This is a war you cannot possibly hope to win.

The foe you face dwells in another place: beyond Shape and Sequence, Cause and Consequence.  It is mindless, but that is not to say that it is without intent.  Its claws rip through the Veil of Worlds and tear the tendons of Sensibility; its voice is fit to send the Gods trembling and weeping.

You strike it with weapons of thunder and mist, but it has no flesh to sunder; you shackle it with chains of silence and reason, but it knows no such thing as captivity; you chase it through the labyrinth of Time, but wherever you chance to find it, it is not.

It is the One True Force, something flawlessly profound in a fashion no divinity could claim...

You cannot win."[/ic]
[ic=Felix speaksâ,¬Â¦]â,¬ÂSome find the notion of a perfectly causal universe disconcerting.  I donâ,¬,,¢t.  I think itâ,¬,,¢s comforting: no matter what happens, you can rest assured that itâ,¬,,¢s for a reason.  Of course, this whole â,¬Å"chaosâ,¬Â business is a little worrisome.â,¬Â[/ic]
The Chaos War, or the Belset Lhazz as it is called in the language of Unison, is a war that has existed, in some form or other, since the birth of the Cosmos.  It has many facets, and, according to varying divine accounts, numerous possible causes.

To put it at its simplest, it is the war of Order versus Chaos.  Some have called it the struggle of Liberty against Conformity; and others proclaim it the battle of Reason against Madness.  Whatever the name, and whatever the ideologies of its participants, its enduring presence continues to define the structure and function of existence.

[ooc][/ooc]
In order to understand the principles underlying the Belset Lhazz, one must first know the fundamental principles of the universe.  From the outset one might think this an impossible task, and on the most absolute and all-encompassing level that is probably correct, but in truth the nature of the relevant universe is actually quite easy to comprehend.  Central to its operation is this simple concept...

Physical entities are understood to exist on four planes or â,¬Å"dimensionsâ,¬Â.  The first three dimensions â,¬' the Spatial or Incidental dimensions â,¬' are relative, in the sense that they can not only be perceived subjectively (i.e. uniquely by all participants), but also travelled between freely.  The fourth dimension, however, while subjective, cannot be traversed freely by physical entities.  It is, for all intents and purposes, linear and irretraceable.

For this reason, physical entities are considered incidental or three-dimensional, as, while present in the Temporal (or fourth) dimension, they are totally subject to its advancement and incapable of freely navigating its axis.

However, the Temporal dimension itself is not expressly a one way street.  It is as much a bi-directional axis as the Spatial axes, and for truly Temporal beings it simply introduces a â,¬Å"fourth plane of mobilityâ,¬Â.  In such a fashion, if one were to somehow free themselves of their physicality, they would find that moving backwards through time is as easy as moving forwards.  In this fashion, "time" as we understand it, would disappear.

And this feat is not impossible to achieve...

[ooc][/ooc]
[ooc][/ooc]
When one considers time in relation to four-dimensionality as opposed to as a solitary linear axis, the entire existential paradigm is re-contextualised.  Essentially, causality is unified, and all events at all points in timespace can be immediately related to each other.  This revelation has one principal ramification: more than being simply deterministic, reality can be expressed as a single instant stretching across the entirety of all four axes.  Thus, we find the key (albeit esoteric and rather uncomfortable) tenet of the GodHead:

This can be derived from the proof of the preceding tenet (â,¬Å"Time is an Illusionâ,¬Â), and herein â,¬Å"Instantâ,¬Â refers to both time and space, suggesting that the universe is a single, unified, static singularity.  It is the belief of the Godhead that such is the perfect, ideal state of reality...

Alas, it is not that simple.

One of the near-universal conceits of modern intellectualism (as well as the driving force behind the Belset Lhazz) is the dichotomy of Order and Chaos.  This dichotomy manifests in two primary forms: that of Perceptual Order and Universal Order.

Put simply, Perceptual Order entails the notion that on the ultimate level, all things are ordered, but that on a relative scale, certain self-contained orders can be disrupted by external factors that have not been accounted for (and for which there are no contingencies) within the environment.  In this system, Chaos is considered to be any foreign agents, which are often termed free radicals.

This is the perspective from which the GodHead views humanity: it understands that they are ultimately creatures of reason (on some level), but insists that the orders to which they conform are not the unified orders that comprise the Pale Empire, and therefore consider them something akin to free radicals themselves.

Thus, the Godheadâ,¬,,¢s intent is to create One True Order, making the existing order both perceptual and universal; consistent across all levels of reality.

The Universal Order, by contrast, suggests that even when expressed as a single four-dimensional unit, reality is far from a perfect order.  The foundations of this concept can be observed in the ramblings of the philosopher-poet Illian the Strange (see the third post), who identifies the distinction between cause and effect as being central to existence.  In essence, stasis, or Substance, is reality in its entirety, whilst potentiality, which most identify as the â,¬Å"Prime Moverâ,¬Â, is the force that first gave substance a definite form, and is wholly distinct from reality.

Here, then, substance is Order, whilst the Prime Mover is Chaos, for chaos is capable of all things, but is determined by nothing.

The reason why the universe is not a place of pure order is irreducibly simple:

There is chaos.

When cause and effect were united to from the Cosmos, the two forces were inextricably affixed to each other.  The defining boundary between the two is the enduring presence of Absence, the nonexistent point from which magic is derived.  Paradoxically, it is Absence that prevents chaos from utterly overwhelming order, and unfortunately, it is a boundary that is far from cohesive, for whenever magic is harnessed, the conduit through which mana is siphoned (which passes through Absence) allows for the momentary and instantaneous manifestation of a Mishucalth (chaos spirit), an ephemeral being of pure disorder.

The consequences of the summoning of a Mishucalth are devastating.  Being totally irrespective of the collective causality of the universe, it creates a ripple effect forward throughout timespace, effectively reshaping the face of reality.  This is indistinguishable from standard cause effect when observed by three-dimensional entities, but true temporal entities perceive it as a violation of the stasis in which the Cosmos is supposed to exist.

[ooc][/ooc]

Fascinating. Just... fascinating.

Just to get this straight: when you say "time is an illusion", you really mean "there is a fourth dimension, but it is not linear the way we normally understand time" (which leads to the conclusion that existence is a static four-dimensional unity), don't you?

I love how mind-blowing this is. I have a book regarding theories related to spacetime and time's actual existence and can say this thread gets me thinking as much as the book does.  Do you read up on a lot of subjects like time, the universe, and physics?

Quote from: WitchHuntI love how mind-blowing this is. I have a book regarding theories related to spacetime and time's actual existence and can say this thread gets me thinking as much as the book does. Do you read up on a lot of subjects like time, the universe, and physics?

Time and the universe, yes, but not so much with physics.  Which is not to say that physics fails to interest me: far from it.  But I was a rather... "late developer", mathematically speaking.  I'm hoping to catch up over time, though, because it would be a shame to waste an intellect such as mine...[/ooc]

There are many Gods.  Some say they are as many as the stars in the sky (ironically, the stars, too, are gods).  Others claim there are more divinities throughout the cosmos than there are mortals to worship them; that every zephyr, stone or whispered promise is the purview of some petty microcosmic deity.  Whatever the truth of the matter, the Pale Empire recognises thirteen divine beings as the True Gods of Creation.  Known collectively as the GodHead, these grand and terrible beings lord over the Empireâ,¬,,¢s innumerable worlds with a bloody iron hand, from the magnificent heavenly world of Nessar.

Also known as the Highest Lords, the August Kings or, less reverently, the Merciless Ones, these three indomitable figures hold their seat in the Palace of Multitudes.  Together they are in command of what are enigmatically called the â,¬Å"three essences of mortalityâ,¬Â: Agony, Irony and Transience.  Through their mastery of these essences, and unified under one divine cause, the August Kings hold total sway over the fates and actions of mortalkind.

The Trinity are the oldest gods counted among the GodHead, and, with the possible exception of Temeris, it is unknown from whence they came.

[ic=The Terror Beside the Mountain, Excerpt]â,¬Â¦When I came down from the summit, there beside the mountainâ,¬,,¢s foot was a great tree, many miles from base to canopy, and it was all of bronze aglow with a fire many times hotter than any hell.  Its leaves were knives, its bark festooned with iron nails innumerable, and across its face were strung countless sinners who wailed as they roasted and lamented as the blades cleaved their flesh.

And seated before that tree there was a man, black as obsidian with eyes veiled like the gibbous moon.  All across his flesh, wounds wept a dark substance that crept across the earth like rivers, and as he looked upon me, he smiled.

â,¬Å"Behold, for I am Agony.â,¬Â[/ic]
Agony
Maenachus
A Waxing Gibbous Moon
The Terrible One, The Blood Fiend, Lord of Agonies

The oldest and most feared member of the Trinity, but also the one seemingly least concerned with the governance of the Empire, Maenachus dwells in the horrific Palace of Temperance, a great fortress of ivory and onyx, slick with the blood of the billions slain in his name, and standing on foundations wrought from the anguished memories of his conquered foes.  He is a creature notorious for his phenomenal cruelty (could the embodiment of agony be anything but?), and innumerable worlds have fallen to hellish ruin by his decree, often over slights other gods might deem trivial.

Ironically, he is a creature of unassuming appearance, appearing most often as a handsome man with jet black skin and bright pale eyes.  But he is covered all over in terrible unhealing wounds from a time not even his kindred can recall, and his indigo blood (which flows constantly) is said to have a murderous mind of its own.

The Terrible One commands a host of eighty-eight thousand sechuddra (aspects of pain), though none have been sighted since the Alabaster War, and they are assumed to lie dormant in the catacombs beneath the Sanguine Halls, awaiting his dark summons.  His mortal servants are often counted among the Arbiters, where their vicious brand of justice serves to strike fear into the people of the Pale Empire.

Irony
Elokhavastra
A Snow-White Raven on a Pale Branch
The Contrary Queen, Lady of Expectations

Generally regarded as the leader of the Trinity (though many speculate that Maenachus is more powerful), it is Elokhavastraâ,¬,,¢s radiant image that most often adorns imagery of the GodHead.  She appears as an albino raven with golden-edged wings.

She revels in deception, and even among her fellow gods there are none who know her true form, or indeed her name (Elokhavastra means, literally, â,¬Å"the one whose name is Trickeryâ,¬Â).  A single world from her is enough to convince any mortal man that his entire life was ill spent, that all he understands is false; and if not outright liars or frauds, her followers are all at least invariably something other than they seem.

The Contrary Queen has no fixed dwelling.  It is said that she spends her days in the skies above the golden city of Xamsara, or navigates the dark celestial currents that run between worlds.  When the GodHead holds court, she alights on the shoulder of Zaphot, whom many believe to be her consort.

Transience
Temeris
A Starry Sky, Split Asunder
The Impermanent One, The Dancing Lady, Lady Ephemera

When Amsaris, First among the Divines, was slain by Koliseht during the Alabaster War, Maenachus worked an insidious magic that none knew to exist anywhere in the Cosmos: he seized her fading form from Beyond the Veil and brought the goddess back to life.  However, such a powerful magic was not without its flaws, and the being restored in the Resurrection was not Amsaris as the Empire had known her.  Her memory was fragmented, her powers muted, and her form altered.

Now named Temeris, this new goddess dwells in the Sun-Realm of Illael, once the palace of the treacherous sun god who had slain her.  She most commonly has the appearance of a young child, with auburn hair and cobalt eyes, and she is incapable of speech: only the GodHead can comprehend her will.

Temeris is lady of all things fleeting, and her form shifts from moment to moment: she might change from beast to bird to veil of shimmering starlight all in the blink of an eye.  Her followers are never of single mind, and it is said that if ever a god came dangerously close to Chaos, it is she.  But none dare question her intent, for her first death partially anchored Temeris in Time, and this allows her to sense the profane disturbances of Chaos like lesions on her own flesh, something the Godhead deems invaluable.

[ooc][/ooc]

Beneath the Highest Lords, the Ten Emanations or Divinities comprise the Heavenly Court of the GodHead.  It is by their ruling (enforced by the bloody-handed Arbiters) that the Pale Empire is guided, and decisions are determined by majority vote, with ties resolved through the ruling of the Trinity.  Though unified in their pursuit of the Perfect Order, the Divinities are notoriously conflicted in their approach to that end.  This flaw, above all else, may prove the Empireâ,¬,,¢s undoing in the Chaos War.

[ic=Memories in the Stars]When the woman ceased her dancing, and the chaos in the skies had quietened, she raised her hands to the heavens.

There, scattered across the firmament: ten new stars in perfect orbit about the sign of the Broken Song; a new constellation.

And she spoke:

â,¬Å"Know their names, for they are the Lords of this Earth, and of all others.â,¬Â[/ic]
Regality
Eylon
A White Crown
The Alabaster King, The White-Handed Lord

Highest among the Ten Emanations, Eylon is called King of Kings, for he embodies the power and pride of those who sit on the thrones of nations and worlds.  He is a glorious figure: a bald man with a featureless face, well over three metres tall but slender and sinuous.  His skin is pure white, and slightly translucent, and his voice (which emanates from the very air around him) can slay armies or stir whole worlds to action.

Eylon is considered by many the leader of the Divines, though in truth he has no more explicit power than any of his peers; rather, he sways the votes of his fellow Divinities through his phenomenal tact and persuasive power.  In such a manner, it was by his insistence that the GodHead waged the millennium-long war against the Sun Gods, and for that reason it was called the Alabaster War.  It is a strange thing, then, that the White Handed Lord was once a Sun God himself.

Violence
Hod
A Broken Wing
The Black Lord, Father Venom

When the Demon Kings of Imnaroketh (the Thirty-sixth Hell) amassed their armies against the Pale Empire early in the First Aeon, the GodHead forged a tenuous pact with the Foul Legion of Hastur, the Emperor of Samkaris (the Fourth Hell), ensuring their allegiance in the coming conflict.  In return, Hastur was granted a seat on the Empireâ,¬,,¢s council, albeit with great reluctance.  When Hastur eventually succumbed to old age (even gods die, given time, and the Black Lord was older even than Maenachus), he was succeeded by his â,¬Å"sonâ,¬Â Hod.

Hod is a brute of astonishing size, rippling with muscle and sinew, and covered in horns and the accumulated trophies of millennia of hellish conquest.  His voice sounds like the cries of all the wretched souls in all the hells, and he is accompanied by the bitter stink of blood.

Ignorance
Zaphot
A Closed Eye
The Sightless One, Lady Blind

Zaphot is unique among the gods, for, even by divine standards, she could hardly be called alive.  When she was but an infant, sleeping within a young star, Chokhmah, prophesying some dark future for her, seized her from her manger and killed her.  Then, for reasons he never revealed, he breathed a false-life into her flesh.  Thus Zaphot is a deathly spirit-creature, residing halfway between this bright Cosmos and the Whispering Void of the next.

The Sightless One appears as a young woman with black hair and emerald eyes, a pair of black feathered wings extending from her back.  She is sightless, and many call her naïve to the affairs of the Empire, but she remembers clearly the nature of the Divine Afterlife, something even Temeris cannot boast.

Sorrow
Chasod
A Red Teardrop
Lord of Tears, The Weeping One

No-one truly knows from whence Chasod came, nor can it be clearly stated at what point he entered the GodHead.  Most commonly, he is said to have been born in the tears of the traitor-goddess Lehoset when her homeworld was condemned to ruin by Maenachus, and indeed Chasod endorses this, though not even the other Divinities appear to recall this.

The Lord of Tears is a frail, aging man with a wiry grey beard and long white hair.  He is constantly weeping red tears, and his faint, rasping voice inspires lethal sorrow in all mortals who hear it; for this reason he does not speak, even amongst his fellow Divinities.  What great sorrow inspires such grief in Chasod is a mystery to all, but it is whispered that he truly laments the inevitable fate of all sentient beingsâ,¬Â¦

Knowledge
Chokhmah
A Serpent Encircling a Moon
The Serpent Prince, The Many-Eyed

Certain conspiracy theorists claim that the Netherine Court lurks unseen behind the actions of the GodHead.  While this is undoubtedly false, the Naga Lords do have a voice upon the Council: Chokhmah, the Serpent Prince, whose five progeny rule the many brackish realms of Tconsoor.  He, in turn, is the progeny of Mezacoatl, the father of all serpentkind.

The Serpent Prince is, as his name suggests, a snake of great size: his silver body is as thick as a manâ,¬,,¢s torso and fifty feet in length.  Like his brethren, he does not slither upon the ground; rather, he glides through the air as an eel might swim through the water.  Disturbingly, Chokhmah has no eyes; they were plucked from his head by his own father as penance for an ancient slight against his kin.

Thus, he, like Zaphot, is blind, but he is far from ignorant.  It is said that no secret within a mortal mind may be kept from him.

[ooc][/ooc]

[ooc][/ooc]

A brief comment, before I head off to work.

Your deities are frighteningly evocative-- would that I could weave such compelling images in so few words. More noteworthy, the Godhead represents an interesting mix of clashing principles. I've seen many pantheons illustrated, but none so deliciously opaque as one presided over by Irony perched on the shoulder of Ignorance.

I'll be keeping an eye on this, certainly. It's fascinating.  Longer comment later.

I read somewhere in the core books about a world with two plates (planes if you will) facing each other. One is ordered society (law) and the other is awildernes of beats and disorder (chaos).

It seems to fit your philosophy, maybe you could use it.

i think it is in the DMG

Quote from: Luminous CrayonA brief comment, before I head off to work.

Your deities are frighteningly evocative-- would that I could weave such compelling images in so few words. More noteworthy, the Godhead represents an interesting mix of clashing principles. I've seen many pantheons illustrated, but none so deliciously opaque as one presided over by Irony perched on the shoulder of Ignorance.

I'll be keeping an eye on this, certainly. It's fascinating.  Longer comment later.

[ooc]With the GodHead I wanted the pantheon to be something other than a bunch of complementary deities whose portfolios serve to accentuate and contrast each other.  In Concordance, gods have come and gone over the ages, introducing concepts that might be at fundamental odds with, unusually juxtaposed with, of simply out-of-place in the pantheon at large. The original Ten Emanations all made sense together, but these ones do not.

Also as a side note: the idea for the "Ten Emanations" is based on the ten enumerations or sephirot of the Talmud.[/ooc]

Quote from: So-KeherI read somewhere in the core books about a world with two plates (planes if you will) facing each other. One is ordered society (law) and the other is awildernes of beats and disorder (chaos).

It seems to fit your philosophy, maybe you could use it.

i think it is in the DMG

Ah, yes.  The Twin Paradises of Bytopia.  I've always been a fan of that particular imagery, and I plan to use it, although not in order to express the Law/Chaos opposition.  Rather, that's the orientation of many of the Infernal Realms (i.e. the Hells).[/ooc]

That is Bytopia, I believe. It kind of fits the philosophy and it's one of the trippiest of the Outer Planes (in my opinion), but I don't know if Salacious is one to use core material :)

[ooc]You're right, there, Mezerous.  When I use core material I feel kinda... dirty.  Not to say that Core's a bad thing or anything - far from it - but... y'know... kinda dirty.[/ooc]

Yeah, Core is kind of like the sandbox of the D&D game - it's great fun the first few hundred times you jump in, but after a while of transporting ever-valuable sand and rocks across the box while never venturing out, you start to get sick of getting covered in dirt for the same result.

:)

I like how you are using the Tree from the Talmud to name and describe these deities, in part. There is a unique flavour to your campaign world because of them. I'm looking forward to reading more.

[ic=Confrontations]Robilarâ,¬,,¢s hand smoked, and he laughed sardonically as the man stumbled, gasping, blood frothing from his mouth.  Ã¢,¬Å"You picked the wrong time to look to the stars, old man.â,¬Â

With a clatter, the astronomer crashed into a stack of books and instruments, falling flat on his arse.  He stared blindly, shocked, mouthing silent words.

â,¬Å"Understand: this isnâ,¬,,¢t personal.  The Archivists got wind of your little discovery, and they sent me toâ,¬Â¦ sort things out.â,¬Â  Absently spinning the face of a nearby astrolabe, he continued.  Ã¢,¬Å"You canâ,¬,,¢t be permitted to know what you know.  There are certain orders that must not be disturbed.  I donâ,¬,,¢t know what it is you saw, and I donâ,¬,,¢t care.  Iâ,¬,,¢m just here to make you forget.â,¬Â

The old manâ,¬,,¢s chest rose and fell softly, weakly, then, raising a bloody finger, he pointed.  Robilar turned, following the astronomerâ,¬,,¢s gaze.

â,¬Å"Oh fuck.â,¬Â[/ic]
In the torchlit halls of Collmeteane, a thousand levels deep into the bowels of a nameless Apocalypse-world, the lifeless Archivists labour as they have laboured for millennia upon millennia, recording the history of the Pale Empire.  Before Amsaris crushed Lord Roâ,¬,,¢Sat and set his worlds aflame, the Archivists were undying artists gifted with an expressiveness not seen anywhere else in all the mortal worlds of the Cosmos.  But the Divine Motherâ,¬,,¢s burning scourge stripped them of all individuality and emotiveness, and now they are but fleshy automatons, forever aflame and tormented, consigned to fill unceasingly the annals of an empire they despise.

[ic=History]The Dark Aeon (beyond time)
Cjybeld, Murseig and Fyrn shape unspeakable wonders in the featureless Void on the very verges of the Cosmos.  Cjybeld delves into the Eldritch River, discovering magic, and in doing so comes upon the Chaos Gate.  Peering inside, she is horrified by what she sees, and warns her siblings against the Arcane.

The First Aeon (c. 12â,¬,,¢532â,¬,,¢000â,¬,,¢000D.E and prior)
Neberus and Mtarta, the Dark Demiurges, awaken in the darkness of Nimliggeid.  Neberus creates the Scmota, beings forged from pure shadow in his own likeness.  He shelters them in Sceltaime, the first Dark City.  Mtarta takes umbrage at his creation, and seeks a way in which to undermine it.  She wanders for a long while, eventually happening upon the first star, Ulisheth, and raises him to maturity.  At Mtartaâ,¬,,¢s behest, Ulisheth assaults Sceltaime, destroying it with his radiance.  Neberus, in his rage, kills Ulisheth and rapes Mtarta, impregnating her with Omillion, the Prince of Ten Thousand Shades.  Mtarta dies soon after her sonâ,¬,,¢s birth.

Omillion, under his fatherâ,¬,,¢s tutelage, learns the secrets of shadow and reforges the Scmota in such a manner that they are now impervious to light.  In an act of treachery, he commands his creations against his father, and Neberus is overwhelmed and slain.  From the Demiurgeâ,¬,,¢s corpse, Omillion crafts Hirsyne, the First Sword of Darkness.  He then wanders Hisseln, the Path of Aspirations, and there discovers the Starlit Void and the thousands of sleeping star-children therein.  Using Hirsyne to cow the newly awakened godlings into submission, he then commands the Scmota to build a temple to his dark glory at the Heart of the Universe.  This Umbral Hall spans a million upon a thousand leagues.

Omillion makes one law for the star gods and the shadow folk:

For millennia uncountable, Omillion sleepsâ,¬Â¦

The star godlings mature, and, in Omillionâ,¬,,¢s absence, begin breeding with the Scmota, flouting their lordâ,¬,,¢s sole decree.  From such unions are born the Mellhywne, the Spectral Gods.  The Mellhywne create the first worlds, and lord over them with the Sun Gods watching above.  The Scmota retire to their palaces in vast caverns carved into the very face of the Cosmos itself.

(c. 8â,¬,,¢040â,¬,,¢000â,¬,,¢000D.E)
Omillion awakens in his Umbral Hall, and, seeing the unity of dark and light that has proliferated in his absence, is angered.  He seizes the Scmota and scatters them in their trillions across the Void, so that all is dark, and binds the Sun Gods to their respective worlds so that they may not travel the Void.  The Mellhywne, in his eyes bastard spawn not fit for living, are interred deep beneath the earth, where their parents cannot find them.  He also strips the Scmota of language, and forever removes comprehension of their words from all who would ever hear them.  He then wanders the Path of Aspirations once more, returning to Nimliggeid and leaving Hirsyne behind at the bottom of the Eternity Vault.

For millennia, there is silence.

(c. 7â,¬,,¢385â,¬,,¢000â,¬,,¢000D.E)
From deep in the heart of his world, the brooding Mellhywne, Ferhatut, begins to shape the face of the earth, eventually creating Nimlis, the First Life.  Ceparte, the Sun God, spies Nimlis from the skies and nurtures her.  Nimlis divides and multiplies for countless generations.

(c. 7â,¬,,¢621â,¬,,¢000â,¬,,¢000D.E)
The Abrogha tear through the Veil of Souls, disrupting the Cosmic Equilibrium.  The Scmota defend the Cosmos against the onslaught, and after a million years of warfare the Dead Ones are repelled.

(c. 7â,¬,,¢618â,¬,,¢400â,¬,,¢000D.E)
Uchthassalsed, highest among the Scmota, creates the first wyrms, Rodhei and Iubeld, from his own blood.  He commands them and their progeny (not yet born) to watch over the Sun Gods, the Starlings and the Mellhywne.  The wyrms nest in Ymsut, the Place of Fears.

(c. 5â,¬,,¢387â,¬,,¢000â,¬,,¢000D.E)
The Nimliad, descendents of Nimlis, establish a world-spanning empire.  Ceparte inspires them to create the Starry Road, which delves deep into the Void.

(c. 5â,¬,,¢331â,¬,,¢550â,¬,,¢000D.E)
The Nimliad reach another world and colonise it.  Through the Nimliad, Ceparte communicates with the Sun God of the new world.  Once more, the Nimliad set out across the Void.

(c. 5â,¬,,¢298â,¬,,¢362â,¬,,¢000D.E)
The Nimliad have colonised 3â,¬,,¢828 worlds and reunited 2â,¬,,¢655 Sun Gods.  Through communion, the Sun Gods discover a means by which to contact their siblings who have not yet been encountered by the Nimliad.  Thus, the Ephemeral Star is forged on the Nimliad homeworld, Ferhatut.

(c. 5â,¬,,¢298â,¬,,¢129â,¬,,¢000D.E)
3â,¬,,¢389â,¬,,¢103â,¬,,¢475 Sun Gods are united by the light of the Ephemeral Star.  Construction of the Wayward Road begins.  Shaped by the individual whims of various Mellhywne, and altered by the different lights of the Sun Gods, countless new beasts are sired from Nimliad stock.

(c. 5â,¬,,¢101â,¬,,¢357â,¬,,¢000D.E)
The Wayward Road connects more than a trillion worlds, with millions upon billions of disparate races within them.  Communication between worlds becomes lax, and for the first time there is dissent amongst the Gods.  War is imminent.

(c. 5â,¬,,¢101â,¬,,¢342â,¬,,¢000D.E)
The Astral War begins.  Untold numbers of worlds are destroyed, consumed first by fiery fury and then bathed in impossible chill as their lords are slain by their rivals and the light that warms them dims.

(c. 5â,¬,,¢100â,¬,,¢216â,¬,,¢000D.E)
Finally, the Astral War ends.  The Wayward Roads lie sundered, and the Sun Gods are embittered and distrustful of their siblings.  The Ephemeral Star dims, severing contact, and the Mellhywne go once more to sleep.  Eons pass, nations rise and fall in brutal succession across millions of worlds.[/ic]

Mmmm... what did he see? :O

[ooc]That is the question.[/ooc]

[ooc][/ooc]

Still going strong here. Got any more?
Túrin

[ooc]Alas, not at present.  I'm currently juggling very belated updates for Dystopia and my new Immortal setting.  But they shall come!

Ahem.  Eventually.[/ooc]

I'm glad to hear that Dystopia has not been abandoned in favor of these other projects. I'm always a little confused about how people manage to keep up with numerous projects at once (I know I could never manage it myself), but it's good to hear they're all still active.

I'm confused about how/whether to respond to threads like Showdown at Twilight. Is it meant for responses? At any rate, I'm hanging on every word.

[ooc]Those kinds of posts are kinda like teasers.  Showdown at Twilight is the intro post to Immortal/Elves in the Sky, just to give my fellow posters something to read and to advertise that the setting's coming, I suppose.

The next post in the thread will be the one to respond to.[/ooc]