Keldora, Eras of Divinity; an Arcanopunk Setting

[Xathan]

In the First Era, there were the Elders, beings beyond nightmare and comprehension, who created the First Ones and shaped the world to their mad whims. Their greatest of their begotten were the Titans, immense beings whose size was surpassed only by their might and will. Eventually, the Titans rebelled against their pogenitors, and the Elders were banished from this plane to Distant Spheres. The Titans began to reshape the world, and introduced their children, the Titanborn. Among the greatest of the Titanborn. were the Divine, known now as Gods, the cycle began anew when the Gods rebelled against the Tyranny of the Titans. Legend has lost how vicious the wars between Elders and Titans was, but it is difficult to fathom that it matched the ferocity of war between Gods and Titans was. The Gods outnumbered the Titans, as the Titans had outnumbered the Elders, yet the legions of Titanborn were endless, and so the Gods created their own soldiers, whom they called Mortals, for they were the first creatures born to known death. Since they were born to know death, they were given a sliver of something new, something called a Soul. The greatest of the Mortals are the Daeva, beings born of almost no flesh and almost pure soul, and the Daeva were the greatest of the soldiers of the Gods. After two hundred years, the war ended. The titans were butchered, shattered, or bound, their essances seeping back into the world. It has been centuries since the Titan Wars, and the cycle has begun again. Mortals have developed new tools, tools beyond the imagination of the Gods, and some have begun to speak of the Tyranny of the Gods. War brews, and mortals must chose between the Gods and Themselves, while keeping an eye out for awakening First Ones, the remaining Titanborn, and the new Terrors spawned of Zhoatech. A new Era of Divinity has begun to stirr, and only time will tell if the cycle will begin again.

Modern Time

In the Wake of the Titan Wars, the Gods slumbered for a time, regathering their expended energies so they might heal their wounds. During this time, mortals uncovered many new tools, not the least of which was Zhoatech. Powered by Corpus, the cast off bits of the Titans, Zhoatech tools are strange, almost insane creations that could be held in hand, grafted to living beings, or even create new, non-life. Zhoatech is fairly pervasive; transport is accomplished as often by beasts of burden as it is by scuttling, spider-limbed walkers, lights that glow with the perversely strange colors of the Zhoa illuminate the night, weapons and armor (both worn and grafted) are used by the military, and the Zhoatech has opened the Xhan-Gi, a realm of information, ideas, and dreams that connects millions in the Zigguropoli of the Divine, while millions more live in the Wastes of Urd, which is any part of the world that exists beyond the Zigguropoli.

The Zigguropoli are centers of commerce, communication, information, and Zhoatech, while the Wastes of Urd are the centers of agriculture, wilderness, and production. The Gods rule the Zigguropoli - each one ruled by some sort of Theocratic government, no matter how benevolent the God is, ranging from the compassionate Scions of Habyela to the sadisticly enforced necromantic quasi-hivemind of the Nelodimos-Is. Meanwhile, in the Wastes of Urd, the Cults of Mortals begin to gain traction, isolated from the luxuries of the Zigguropoli and forced to contend with the dangers of Deep Urd.

Out of the Wastes, which are the edges of where Mortals hold sway, there is the Deep Urd, the Titanwastes. The sole sorces of the Corpus, Titanwastes are transformed by the Titan who's flesh infuses the land: the Waste of Sangoth, for example, contant creates mutated by his preverse desires and are blanketed in the Blood Mists, while the Obsidian Seas' brackish waters hide the body of Maliden the Lost, and the creatures that live within are twisted reflections of her horrid grief. The Jungles of Unknown Sekrith, an Elder One that sided with the Titans until he was laid low during the War of the Divine, teem with the Ophiapods, his tentacled fusions of serpent and octopus.

[ooc]This is a brainstorming thread; I'm not sure how far I can take this setting or where it's going, but it's the first time I've felt inspired to write something in ages and decided to go with it. Questions, comments, snide remarks, all are appreciated.[/ooc]

[sparkletwist]

First of all, I want to say, I think it's great that you've posted something. I remember talking to you on IRC and you mentioned you felt a bit creatively blocked, so I'm glad you seem to have overcome that.

So, let's dive in, shall we. :yumm:

It has this strong "mythic" feel to it, of course. For the initial creation story, I am reminded of Greek myths, or for that matter, Exalted. It was a good read, but, to be totally honest, I'm glad it's over with quickly and the "Modern Time" section is there next. A lot of settings (this one being no exception) tend to start with the creation story. While it's good to have some idea where everything is rooted, the thing is, for the average person walking around in the setting, the creation story is not actually that relevant. I think that with this place being so wrapped up in the epic mythological history, it's a little more relevant-- but I'm still glad you kept the creation story brief, because the fact remains that I think a portrait of what is going on right now is much more valuable to a potential setting-consumer than what happened ages ago.

It's an evocative portrait, too! This "modern" world has a strong dystopian sci-fantasy feel to it. The way you didn't bother to really make a distinction between magic and ultra-tech--  because Zhoatech is really both-- is an approach that I'm fond of and have done as well. Do you see Zhoatech as frozen, or is it something that people can research? (Essentially, is it science, or artifacts?)

Also, I don't want to be that obnoxious person that shoves their own stuff in everyone else's threads, but I do have to say, as one of the CBG's most ardent advocates of setting-mashing, I think there are enough parallel themes that mashing this up with Asura or First Age (or even Asura and First Age) would create quite the intriguing mixture indeed.

[Xathan]

Well, better late then never; I probably should have responded here sooner, but we discussed a good deal of this on IRC. I'm glad you like the Mythic history and its brevity; there will be more mythic history, because it's very intrinsic to the setting (Especially the Titanwars since the Titanborn are common leftovers from it), but that's going to be revealed more as blurbs in various entries "Here's this creature, here's how it impacts the world, oh, and it was a creation of Being X during Y." I think of this style of revelation as Mythos revealing - Lovecraft never said "Alright, guys, here's how the mythos plays out", but little things appeared here and there thoughout his works that congeals into a whole.

I wanted to keep Zhoatech both Magitech and regular tech; if there's more than one source of both in a setting, it starts to feel very schitzoid in how it works. Keldora can handle two: Zhoatech and divine power, and even that feels a bit scattered to me, but since the whole point of the setting is the conflict between the two, I suppose I can deal. :P And Zhoatech is absolutely science and living and created and born and reborn. If I take this to the point of an actual setting/system, rules for players making their own Zhoatech will be in there. What limits it some is the power source; requiring Corpus, which can only be found deepest past the Wastes of Urd, making it dangerous to aquire.

No need to apologize, I did it to you. :P

It's funny you should mention mashing - the first draft of this had Dhaevas as the new Divinity that were eliminated because they were too much like Asura and I wanted to bring mortals to prominence. If I were to mash Asura and Keldora, I would totally just place the Asura as the role of the new Divinity wave and bobs your uncle. :P Dhaevas are still going to appear in Keldora, but instead that name is going to be used for the local equivalent of Cyberpunk Runners and whatnot; they don't have any special powers, it's just a name for a particular subset of people.

By the way, next up: How Is This Punk?

[Xathan]

Arcanopunk: What it means for Keldora

The whole "BLANK-punk" Phenomena is one that's been discussed and rediscussed and analyzed to no end, so I figure it's best to explain what I mean by Arcanopunk and how it relates to the overall setting of Keldora.

The "Arcano" part of that word relates to the fact that everything depends on mystical elements to work. Zhoatech is not powered by steam, oil, electricity, gears, or any other construct of pure science. Corpus, the flesh of dead Titans, is used to power it. (Corpus could also be gained from dead Gods or Dead Elder Things, but Godflesh is hard to come by and very, very illegal, and Zhoatech powered by the flesh of dead Elder Things tends to take on an aspect of the Elder Things, making it dangerous to use for the wielder's sanity and for reality. Unlike the Titans, the Elder Things cannot truely die, only slumber, so their "Corpus" contains a bit of their nature imbued into it.) As such, Zhoatech is strange and weird and intended to seem and feel that way at all times; a Zhoatech tool is powered by the flesh of a devine being that has died. Think about that for a second. If it was a classic DND world, Zhoatech would be classified under Necromancy most likely. As such, Zhaotech has a unique, vaguely dark/dystopian look to it as well as a magical look; I considered calling it Necropunk, but that invoked too many images of bones and skulls, and any other kind of "punk" wouldn't get the right feel.

As far as the Punk part, this one is justified if you are at all familiar with Cyberpunk. The massive cities of mashed together people that exemplify Cyberpunk are found in the Ziggropoli. Xhan-Gi fills the role of Cyberspace as a realm of information and a pivitol part of daily life. The various religions of the Gods take on the role of Cyberpunk corporations; even the most benevolent of them are totally driven by desire to gather more worshippers (similar to profit for a corporation) and stamp out any competition, but adds a religious element of zealotry to their security forces. The people who fight against the Gods and live on the fringes of society, struggling to make the best they can of a crappy world, are Dhaeva, "False-Gods", who don't have any powers beyond normal mortals other than their Zhoatech, taking the place of Cyberpunk's Runners. Part of the reason the various new terms in Keldora are given a vaguely Cantonese/Mandarin/Japanese sound to their names is to attempt to evoke the feel of some of Cyberpunk without bastardizing actual real-world cultures too much.

Hope people are enjoying this still!

[sparkletwist]

I'm glad you've defined how "punk" applies here. One thing that kind of bothers me about a lot of "steampunk" (and other -punk genres) is that it often really just refers to more a technologically advanced 19th century, or whatever era-- the "punk" thing is often kind of an afterthought, because there's "steam" but there's no real "punk" to it. At least, it doesn't show up in the same way that "cyberpunk" contains cybernetics and a punk feel, anyway.

I agree with your decision about "necropunk." To me that would definitely conjure up technology based on necromancy, with bones and skulls everywhere, sort of like something out of Warhammer 40K. And, while that imagery may be sort of cool, I don't think it's what you're envisioning-- it's not what I'm envisioning for this, at least. The name "Zigguropolis" is of course evocative, making me think of something more like the pyramid from Blade Runner.

I personally prefer the former spelling "Daeva" (like in Persian) as opposed to "Dhaeva" which sort of looks like fake-Sanskrit. (The real Sanskrit spelling is just "Deva.") But that's just me.

[Xathan]

I'm glad you've defined how "punk" applies here. One thing that kind of bothers me about a lot of "steampunk" (and other -punk genres) is that it often really just refers to more a technologically advanced 19th century, or whatever era-- the "punk" thing is often kind of an afterthought, because there's "steam" but there's no real "punk" to it. At least, it doesn't show up in the same way that "cyberpunk" contains cybernetics and a punk feel, anyway.

That's what's always bugged me about most non cyber -punk genres: they should be called -tech (Steamtech, Deiseltech, Davincitech). It's much more accurate and doesn't make the -punk not matter anymore.

I agree with your decision about "necropunk." To me that would definitely conjure up technology based on necromancy, with bones and skulls everywhere, sort of like something out of Warhammer 40K. And, while that imagery may be sort of cool, I don't think it's what you're envisioning-- it's not what I'm envisioning for this, at least. The name "Zigguropolis" is of course evocative, making me think of something more like the pyramid from Blade Runner.

It's not what I'm envisoning either. If I had any artistic talent, i would probably get a blast out of drawing Necropunk and feel like that totally should be a thing now and kind of love it now that I think about it...it's not Keldora, and it's not what I want for Keldora. *Puts Necropunk in the misc drawer for later mashing*.

And yes, that is EXACTLY what I was picturing for the Zigguropoli, only with a little bit more magical looking. (It glows more and probably has some random floaty bits for the various Deties to live on.

I personally prefer the former spelling "Daeva" (like in Persian) as opposed to "Dhaeva" which sort of looks like fake-Sanskrit. (The real Sanskrit spelling is just "Deva.") But that's just me.

I went to fake-Sanskrit spelling because both Daeva and Deva have been abducted by DnD and other fantasy worlds to mean "Angelic being" which is kinda ironic since it's pretty much the polar opposite of what a Daeva is in mythology (as far as I understand it), where I want go with the "false/bad god" connotation of the real world, so in typical fantasy logic figured I'd butcher the spelling of the word a 'lil bit to remove it slightly from it's roots. I considered going with the old Iranian spelling of daiva, but the random H makes the word look and sound a bit more like the fake-cantonese/mandarin/japanese language I have going on aaaaand I've always been a sucker for a good ae. However, if you know of any other alternate spellings for the word since that's kinda up your alley I'd love to hear them. :)

Also, since you're the only one commenting here, anything in particular you'd like to see next?

[sparkletwist]

I went to fake-Sanskrit spelling because both Daeva and Deva have been abducted by DnD and other fantasy worlds to mean "Angelic being" which is kinda ironic since it's pretty much the polar opposite of what a Daeva is in mythology (as far as I understand it), where I want go with the "false/bad god" connotation of the real world, so in typical fantasy logic figured I'd butcher the spelling of the word a 'lil bit to remove it slightly from it's roots.

First of all, I think you've got quite a bit of leeway in your use of the term-- there are plenty of people who aren't familiar enough with the monster manual that they wouldn't even think of that, for one. In addition, D&D may have decided on one definition, but this is far from ubiquitous in fantasy gaming: White Wolf has a vampire clan called the "Daeva" so that's clearly far from anything resembling an angelic being.

The actual mythology is a bit complicated. Ancient Indo-Iranian mythology centers around two groups of gods in opposition. The words used in Avestan, the Persian literary language, were ahura and daeva; in Sanskrit, the Indian literary language, they were asura and deva. As you can probably guess, these words are related. The interesting thing (and one that suggests a bit of an ancient culture clash!) is that the two cultures reverse the moralities of the two-- in Zoroastrianism, the Ahuras are the good guys, fighting the Daevas. So, yes, them being the "false gods" actually works. However, in Indian tradition, the Devas are the good ones, fighting the usurping Asuras. (And yes, that means my setting is named for the "bad guys"! This was intentional, as I wanted a bit of moral ambiguity.)

So, my personal opinion is that I like the idea of using the word Daeva and I like the idea of it meaning something close to mythology. I'm not quite so crazy about them just being essentially "deckers" but I don't know enough about what you're trying to do there so I'm certainly not about to pass judgment

the random H makes the word look and sound a bit more like the fake-cantonese/mandarin/japanese language

Not to me, to be honest. All of the languages you've named have a more staccato feel to them whereas something like "dh" makes me think of a more drawn-out, aspirated sound. This is probably rather subjective, though.

Also, since you're the only one commenting here, anything in particular you'd like to see next?

My big thing is always getting the feel of a setting by imagining what it would be like to be someone walking around in it. So, anything related to a "street level" view would be good: what does stuff look like? what is the general level of social development? what do people do all day? what do they eat? what kind of moral codes are in place? what are the hot issues of the time and what do most people think of them? what kind of slang words might they use? etc...

[Xathan]

First of all, I think you've got quite a bit of leeway in your use of the term-- there are plenty of people who aren't familiar enough with the monster manual that they wouldn't even think of that, for one. In addition, D&D may have decided on one definition, but this is far from ubiquitous in fantasy gaming: White Wolf has a vampire clan called the "Daeva" so that's clearly far from anything resembling an angelic being.

I did not know that. I actually LIKE the Daeva spelling better than Dhaeva, so I probably will change that back.

The actual mythology is a bit complicated. Ancient Indo-Iranian mythology centers around two groups of gods in opposition. The words used in Avestan, the Persian literary language, were ahura and daeva; in Sanskrit, the Indian literary language, they were asura and deva. As you can probably guess, these words are related. The interesting thing (and one that suggests a bit of an ancient culture clash!) is that the two cultures reverse the moralities of the two-- in Zoroastrianism, the Ahuras are the good guys, fighting the Daevas. So, yes, them being the "false gods" actually works. However, in Indian tradition, the Devas are the good ones, fighting the usurping Asuras. (And yes, that means my setting is named for the "bad guys"! This was intentional, as I wanted a bit of moral ambiguity.)

Aside: you really, really should do a series on the mythology of that general area and how to incorporate it into settings, since you seem so much more knowledgeable about it than anyone else I've talked to. (You also should revive that one setting that was very much "traditional fantasy done Indian/Iranian/Central Asiatic style" - what was that called again? I'd love to give it a read-through.) And that's funny, because I intentionally picked the Daeva's because they were the "bad guys" in the Zoroastrian tradition for that same moral ambiguity reason.

So, my personal opinion is that I like the idea of using the word Daeva and I like the idea of it meaning something close to mythology. I'm not quite so crazy about them just being essentially "deckers" but I don't know enough about what you're trying to do there so I'm certainly not about to pass judgment.

This one ties into your question below; the Daeva name comes not from what they do, but just like the deckers/runners of cyberpunk are seen as the primary foes of the corps, the Daeva are seen in Keldora as the primary foes of the gods. Cults of personality spring up around Daeva with particularly legendary histories or insane exploits, sometimes with the Daeva not even knowing that it happened! (see: Firefly episode Jaynestown for how this can look). Since what I read (the Zoroastrian Daeva) had them as "false gods" and the "foes of the true gods" as I understood it, it seemed like a natural fit.

Also, since you're the only one commenting here, anything in particular you'd like to see next?

My big thing is always getting the feel of a setting by imagining what it would be like to be someone walking around in it. So, anything related to a "street level" view would be good: what does stuff look like? what is the general level of social development? what do people do all day? what do they eat? what kind of moral codes are in place? what are the hot issues of the time and what do most people think of them? what kind of slang words might they use? etc...

I'll do my best on this one! That's always the hardest for me, so it might not end up being what I do next, but I'll be working on it. :)

[LD]

re: your comment on mythology of the Iranian/Indian area.

Phoenix set this up. Look in the top right for Mythology Resource links for some ideas. -->
http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=Mythology_Resource

[Xathan]

re: your comment on mythology of the Iranian/Indian area.

Phoenix set this up. Look in the top right for Mythology Resource links for some ideas. -->
http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=Mythology_Resource

That's crazy helpful, thank you. :)

[sparkletwist]

That's a good source, and it's going to be better than anything I can tell you if Iranian/Central Asian is what you're really looking for.

The setting you're thinking of was called "Sraloka," and it was a setting for a Pathfinder game that never materialized-- I got busy, and then I decided I didn't really want to run Pathfinder after all. :grin: Anyway, Sraloka was based more in Thai and Cambodian culture, which was, of course, heavily influenced by Indian culture-- so it was more of "Stuff to the east of India" as opposed to "Stuff to the west of India."

[Poseptune]

Disclaimer: This is not a genre that I am terribly familiar with. I tend to avoid the whole BLANK-punk, but since you asked me to take a look I have. My views and comments are as an outsider.


Creation Mythos:
Pretty standard Mythos; Creations overthrow creators. You have a few more "generations" than the Greeks or some of the others that use this in their settings.  The opening is pretty vague, but I see you meant it that way as you are going to delve into the details within your still to come blurbs. A few questions popped into my head while I was reading.

The Titans were the greatest of the First Ones creations but not the only. Were they the only sentient creation? Could not the combined force of First Ones and their other creations not quell the rebellion? Did the other creations join the Titans? If they did, would they have tried to take control once the First Ones were banished? I know the Titans are probably just a stepping stone to setup the current Gods v Man scenario, but I provide the questions that came to mind in case they get the creative juices flowing.

The Gods being the third generation in this cycle, would they not have put in place safe guards in place to prevent Man from rising against them? Did they believe mortality sufficient? When they woke to find that their creations were using the flesh of fallen Titans as an energy source as well as a tool to augment themselves or create new non-life, why would they not try to put a stop to it? They know the cycle exists as they are the product of the second cycle, awakening to see the start of the third should make them wary.

How rare is Corpus? I imagine there will be corpus hunters, but how valuable and abundant is the stuff? It seems as this would be the ultimate of non-renewable resources. If the Gods outnumbered the Titans, how many Gods are there? It would seem to me that there wouldn't be enough volume there to support a world using it for everything. How long ago did man start using Corpus? Do grafts and new non-life creatures consume the Corpus? Does using it to power spiderwalkers and such things consume the corpus or does it last forever? Is it removable once it is infused? How much power can a cubic inch of the material provide? Can the flesh be cut with mortal tools or do the pieces have to be used based on their size when found?

[Xathan]

Disclaimer: This is not a genre that I am terribly familiar with. I tend to avoid the whole BLANK-punk, but since you asked me to take a look I have. My views and comments are as an outsider.

That actually helps - if it appeals at all to the outsider, that makes me happy. Also, I've missed your reviews in general - you're the one that got me started on the 'review in the form of an barrage of questions' mentality, and NOTHING helps me write as much as that. :) Also, with you back around, I maaaaaaaay be reviving Sooth and mashing it with Pirates! since you were always one of my best reviewers for those.

Creation Mythos:
Pretty standard Mythos; Creations overthrow creators. You have a few more "generations" than the Greeks or some of the others that use this in their settings.  The opening is pretty vague, but I see you meant it that way as you are going to delve into the details within your still to come blurbs. A few questions popped into my head while I was reading.

Yeah, I decided to take the myth cycle to another level - I actually orginally had another cycle between First Ones and Titans, the Elder Things, but decided two cycles of lovecraftian beings (the First Ones being those of extradimensional quality, a la the Color out of Space, the Elder Things being of the world but alien a la the, well, Elder Things of "At the Mountains of Madness") would be redundant. :P

The Titans were the greatest of the First Ones creations but not the only. Were they the only sentient creation?

There were their most sentient creation. Other creations of the First Ones were sentient but not fully - they were more bound to the will of their masters than the Titans. In fact, that's sort of what made Titans what they were - they had free will.

Could not the combined force of First Ones and their other creations not quell the rebellion?

The problem was twofold. First, the Titans could create new things themselves, the Titanborn, which are strange and unusual but non-mortal or non-diety things, which evened out the numerical advantage. (If I were to have, for example, Fae or Outsiders, those would be the creations of the Titans). Second, the Titans were bloody massive on a scale most games don't touch - they were the sizes of lakes, of mountains, of islands. The greatest of them, now dead, is Lunathiol, and her corpus composes one of the moons.

Did the other creations join the Titans? If they did, would they have tried to take control once the First Ones were banished?

There were not free willed enough to be able to for the most part, though as the First Ones fell or were banished some of the Titans were able to bind them to their cause, while others fled deep within the world - they other Firstborn were just too scattered and weakened from the death of the First Ones to be much of a threat.

I know the Titans are probably just a stepping stone to setup the current Gods v Man scenario, but I provide the questions that came to mind in case they get the creative juices flowing.

Absolutely! And fleshing out the Titans is important, because their existence is as a vital stepping stone between the First Ones and the current era.

The Gods being the third generation in this cycle, would they not have put in place safe guards in place to prevent Man from rising against them? Did they believe mortality sufficient?

That was their thought before the Slumber, that having a finite lifespan would keep Man from ever gathering enough power to be a threat. They didn't count on how bloody inventive Mortals would become when they live every moment knowing that, not only it could be their last, but eventually it will be their last.

When they woke to find that their creations were using the flesh of fallen Titans as an energy source as well as a tool to augment themselves or create new non-life, why would they not try to put a stop to it? They know the cycle exists as they are the product of the second cycle, awakening to see the start of the third should make them wary.

It absolutely did, but the creation of the Zigguropoli and institutionalizing the use of Corpus and Xoatech was believed to be sufficient to quell their strength. Many of the Gods believed that they were already too late to stop the cycle from beginning and it was decided that a series of carefully constructed controls could avert the uprising and the next stage in the cycle. Ormua, Goddess of Fate, actually argues that the Gods can only avoid destruction by taking a subservient role to Mortals, though most find that idea appalling. So, in short: yes, it made the gods very wary, but they were too wary to believe that a violent or overtly repressive stance would do anything but spark the next cycle. 

How rare is Corpus? I imagine there will be corpus hunters, but how valuable and abundant is the stuff? It seems as this would be the ultimate of non-renewable resources.

Corpus, given the size of the Titans, is fairly common if you can locate it - the problem is the Titans died in remote areas, and the closer you get to where they died, the more Titanborn you encounter. That keeps the price high - a good analogy is Oil in the real world, which was not entirely accidental. If you can get to Corpus/Oil (Going into remote, dangerous locations for Corpus, building elaborate drills that can penetrate deep into the earth for Oil.)

If the Gods outnumbered the Titans, how many Gods are there?

42. :P I actually don't have a set number, but it's greater than 30 and less than 200 - it'll depend on how many I end up making and how large the world becomes. I'll probably never answer this question 100%, just to give anyone running a game in this world wiggle-room.

It would seem to me that there wouldn't be enough volume there to support a world using it for everything. How long ago did man start using Corpus?

About 100 years ago, give or take. It's been fairly regulated and stunted by the Gods for the past 50, but a great deal of advancement was made in the interim. And given the size of the titans, I hope that clears up exactly how much of this their is. It also helps that the Gods were rather...creative in how they killed the Titans, often scattering body-parts over a wide area, so it's not just a few large masses. Parts of Lunathiol also occasionally break off and fall to Keldora as well.

Do grafts and new non-life creatures consume the Corpus? Does using it to power spiderwalkers and such things consume the corpus or does it last forever? Is it removable once it is infused?

These kind of can be bundled into single extended answer: Corpus is not consumed by being used to power, but it is not an infinite source of energy - after being used for a certain amount of time, it must be returned to the Corpus Primus where it was collected from to "recharge". The process takes about 3 months per cubic inch to recharge, and fully depleted Corpus shrinks slightly as it recharges, so it will eventually run out.

How much power can a cubic inch of the material provide?

Roughly speaking, a cubic inch of Corpus can power a lightbulb for a year. Exactly how that plays out is variable, for I am a lazy bastard and do not want to have to do calculation too often. In game/story terms, Corpus will run out when it is narratively interesting for that to be a problem, (in a game, this would earn them an action/hero/FATE point)

Can the flesh be cut with mortal tools or do the pieces have to be used based on their size when found?

Modern mortal tools, powered by Corpus, can cut it - at first, however, they had to use the pieces as they found them.

Thanks again for the questions! Any more that arise would be greatly appreciated. :)

[Poseptune]

Disclaimer: This is not a genre that I am terribly familiar with. I tend to avoid the whole BLANK-punk, but since you asked me to take a look I have. My views and comments are as an outsider.

That actually helps - if it appeals at all to the outsider, that makes me happy. Also, I've missed your reviews in general - you're the one that got me started on the 'review in the form of an barrage of questions' mentality, and NOTHING helps me write as much as that. :) Also, with you back around, I maaaaaaaay be reviving Sooth and mashing it with Pirates! since you were always one of my best reviewers for those.

I am not officially back. I still do not have any homebrewed material in the pipeline. However with something to review I will remember to check in more often. :-P

Edit: I just noticed I lost one of my golden globes under my name. :-(

Could not the combined force of First Ones and their other creations not quell the rebellion?

The problem was twofold. First, the Titans could create new things themselves, the Titanborn, which are strange and unusual but non-mortal or non-diety things, which evened out the numerical advantage. (If I were to have, for example, Fae or Outsiders, those would be the creations of the Titans).

Not very intelligent of them to create a being that could also create beings. At least the Gods learned that lesson and did not intentionally give mortals the ability to create other beings.

Second, the Titans were bloody massive on a scale most games don't touch - they were the sizes of lakes, of mountains, of islands. The greatest of them, now dead, is Lunathiol, and her corpus composes one of the moons.

That is quite a big larger than I was envisioning.

Captain:That's no moon that's a Titan.
Officer1: Uh sir Titan is a moon. Of Jupiter I believe.
Captain: Oh shut up.
(I don't know what that was but I left it.)

When they woke to find that their creations were using the flesh of fallen Titans as an energy source as well as a tool to augment themselves or create new non-life, why would they not try to put a stop to it? They know the cycle exists as they are the product of the second cycle, awakening to see the start of the third should make them wary.

It absolutely did, but the creation of the Zigguropoli and institutionalizing the use of Corpus and Xoatech was believed to be sufficient to quell their strength. Many of the Gods believed that they were already too late to stop the cycle from beginning and it was decided that a series of carefully constructed controls could avert the uprising and the next stage in the cycle. Ormua, Goddess of Fate, actually argues that the Gods can only avoid destruction by taking a subservient role to Mortals, though most find that idea appalling. So, in short: yes, it made the gods very wary, but they were too wary to believe that a violent or overtly repressive stance would do anything but spark the next cycle.  

Given the corrupting nature of the Corpus. I imagine that there would be a group that opposes its use (much like anti-oil groups in our world) that could get the support of the Gods.

Do grafts and new non-life creatures consume the Corpus? Does using it to power spiderwalkers and such things consume the corpus or does it last forever? Is it removable once it is infused?

These kind of can be bundled into single extended answer: Corpus is not consumed by being used to power, but it is not an infinite source of energy - after being used for a certain amount of time, it must be returned to the Corpus Primus where it was collected from to "recharge". The process takes about 3 months per cubic inch to recharge, and fully depleted Corpus shrinks slightly as it recharges, so it will eventually run out.

So even the grafts and new non-life need to be recharged? Interesting. Given that the dead titans corrupted nature when they fell how dangerous are the grafts? Is there some Insanity mechanic that is going to be used in this setting?

That's about all I can think of for what is posted. If you get some blurbs up, I'll take a look at those.