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Old 10-04-2017, 10:56 AM   #12
Kromm
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Default Re: DF Implied Cosmology

Quote:
Originally Posted by martinl View Post

I have a mental model where reality is a house, the Gods are the "owners," Squiddies are "vermin," and the rest of creation is "furniture" or "servants."
Oh, it's much worse than that!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kromm View Post

Mana is the collective life force of all deities, associated with no one of their kind and capable of existing independently of them as long as there are any gods.

Elder Things are innately reality-warping and live in the higher dimensions from which mana leaks [...] Their powers are some sort of mana unfiltered for mortals – much as gods' powers are unfiltered for themselves but "stepped down" for clerics.
That is, the gods' collective existence gives rise to mana, and mana's reality-warping effects empower and possibly even beget the Elder Things. Thus, Elder Things aren't merely vermin in the house of the gods . . . Elder Things are a reaction to the gods' very existence. In effect, they're a supernatural virus or prion that evolved in or from the supernatural genetic matter of the gods. They're a literal plague on the godhead and on Creation – Anti-Life in a way that some plague demon that can only infect mortals, even one that detests Creation, could never hope to match. Elder Things aren't against Creation; they endanger its existence because their existence intrinsically endangers its creators, with no more malice than a lethal microbe.

Many unwise mortals are incapable of distinguishing "detests this Creation and is willing to grant powers to mortals to help reboot it" (as with demons and the Evil faction in general) from "threatens Creation, including demons and the rest of the Evil faction, merely by existing" (as with Elder Things). They see only that (1) Creation is The Man, man, keeping mortals down; (2) both the Evil faction and Elder Things stand in opposition to Creation; and, (3) Elder Things can unmake even demons, so they must be more powerful. So some of these fools decide to ask the Elder Things for power, because it's like going right to the top, over the head of the gods and demons. And they're promptly unmade by the simple act of even contacting or being in the presence of beings inimical to Life and Creation. The mind is the first thing to go, as it's so complex and delicately balanced . . .

Quote:
Originally Posted by martinl View Post

I think this means Jedi & Sith are feuding Druid clans.
See also this thread. But more seriously, the Force and Nature's strength have a lot in common in the picture I painted. At first glance the Force might look more like chi or psionics, but those are "my life" and "my mind," respectively, while the Force – like Nature's strength – is "all life" or "all minds."
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