03-15-2006, 12:14 AM | #31 | ||
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
|
Re: Homegrown fantasy setting in classical Greece
Quote:
Quote:
The Titans...I can't see them doing much if they're holed up in Tarterus - they almost have to escape. Perhaps that's what started the whole "return of the gods" things. They can flee north of Greece proper, to Thrace or Macedon, which would fit nicely with the idea that Macedon begins to move - they adopt the Titans as their own and use them to fight the Greek gods. That's another take on the Macedon - Greece conflict, although that belongs to a later part of history, really.
__________________
“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...” Marcus Aurelius |
||
03-15-2006, 03:17 AM | #32 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lexington, KY
|
Re: Homegrown fantasy setting in classical Greece
A few random ideas, in no particular order:
Zeus is the perfect example of the "favorites on both sides" dilemma. He was so promiscuous that he had several bastard children on either side of the Trojan War. He had divided loyalties at both the mortal level (feuding demigod children) and the divine (conflicts between his favorites among the gods). When he did get directly involved in the war from time to time, it was either to save one of his favorite heroes from certain death, or because a god had persuaded or tricked him into granting a boon. (In the latter case, fear of Nemesis forced him to follow through on his oaths.) A few Titans fought on the Olympians' side in the Titanomachia, so were not imprisoned in Tarterus. Helios was one of these, or maybe a neutral party (I forget which), so had several descendants scattered through the known world during the "heroic age": Circe; the royal family of Colchis; the founders of Rhodes; etc. These could be recognized by their "flashing eyes," and some (Medea, Circe) were powerful magicians. He was also the patron god of Rhodes and Colchis, because of these ties. (The famous Colossus was an image of Helios.) For the most part, Hades seems supremely indifferent to mortal politics. He's obsessed with properly doing his assigned job (keeping dead souls and imprisoned Titans where they belong), which makes him a notable exception among his siblings. However, if the Titans are actively working to get free, Hades will look for the means to prevent that (possibly working on his own, since he likely has a poor opinion of his brothers' reliability). I'm puttering with my own ideas for a fantasy campaign set in Greece and Egypt. I'll be using multiple pantheons, so those interactions are one of the puzzles I'm still working out. In some cases, certain gods will be worshipped by different names by different cultures; in others, they will be separate gods entirely. Some gods will be rather alien in their "real" forms. (I'm really tempted to merge JHVH, Aten, and Azathoth, for example--too much conspiracy and Cthulhu Mythos reading, I guess.) These cosmic truths are a mystery to the players, who may or may not figure any of them out. My game will be contemporary with the Trojan War, when the Greek "pantheon" is far from unified yet--some Olympians are native to Greece (the Achaeans' patrons: Hera, Athena, Poseidon), while others appear to be imports from Asia Minor or further afield (the Trojans' patrons: Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite). Part of Zeus's agenda is integrating his two "families" into a cohesive whole--which is supremely difficult when they're at war! |
03-15-2006, 03:29 AM | #33 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
|
Re: Homegrown fantasy setting in classical Greece
I've been thinking among similar lines, but a few hundred years later. Simply put, the Dorian invasion prompts the Greek Pantheon to evacuate to another world and take their most noted followers with them. So there are some similarities with Yrth in that the humans are from this world originally.
__________________
“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...” Marcus Aurelius |
03-15-2006, 05:13 AM | #34 | ||||||||
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
|
Re: Homegrown fantasy setting in classical Greece
Quote:
There is a compromise solution for a medium-powered campaign, halfway between gritty-low-power and epic-fights-along-with-the-gods: Herakles enjoys war in itself, not viciously like Ares (who just wants to sow death and destruction), but as an incarnation of the Greek ideal of fight and adventure as worthwhile activities, pursuing arete, etc. Thus, Herakles could just side with the weaker side in the war for a while, and once his side became stronger, he would lose interest and abandon it to pursue some other challenge (like joining the opposite side for yet another while!). I don't mean treachery or defection, but just pursuing challenges for their own sake, in a rather positive mood. Note to self: The war would be much, much longer if Herakles took part. Will it be decided by the attrition of one of the sides? Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
How can a Titan-son lead an Olympian cult? Maybe his Ares is not Ares, but the equivalent Titan (Iapetus?), and prayers and rituals draw energy from the latter instead of the former. He could have statues of Jupiter in his temples, only it is not the Roman Zeus, but Chronos. The mainstream Roman gods are the romanized version of the Greek ones all right, but there is this charismatic young priest that rose very fast in the Roman religious hierarchy until he was in a position to have some specific statues and rituals slightly changed...
__________________
Behind the Aegis - My dark fantasy setting in Classical Greece (discuss it here!). Conversion of the supernatural skills in the Basic Set to Powers. Last edited by Mercator; 03-15-2006 at 05:27 AM. |
||||||||
03-15-2006, 08:53 AM | #35 | ||||
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
|
Re: Homegrown fantasy setting in classical Greece
Quote:
I like Dan Simmons' science-fiction take on Zeus in ILIUM and OLYMPOS: Besides the Fates, he is the only god who knows the full tale of the Iliad and who can predict what will happen next. The other gods have no idea; they are nothing but high-powered characters of a play, of which Zeus is the audience. By all means go and read these books. What about Hera? I haven't seen her role mentioned. Does anybody know of Hera's possible affinity with either Athens or Sparta? My take is simple: at any given moment she will always be doing a) Whatever undermines Zeus' power most; b) whatever pisses Zeus off most; c) both. Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
M. PS: About the role of the Jews and IHVH... I do not think it fits the setting. This is an all-powerful, all-knowing deity, and I can not see what role would it fulfill in the context of the Greek Mythos, at least in the lands within the Aegis. Any ideas?
__________________
Behind the Aegis - My dark fantasy setting in Classical Greece (discuss it here!). Conversion of the supernatural skills in the Basic Set to Powers. |
||||
03-15-2006, 10:12 AM | #36 | ||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
|
Re: Homegrown fantasy setting in classical Greece
Quote:
Quote:
|
||
03-16-2006, 12:29 AM | #37 | |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
|
Re: Homegrown fantasy setting in classical Greece
Quote:
As IHVH - well, he is a god who claims he is all-powerful and all-knowing. Not quite the same thing. He is probably omnipotent within the lands he granted the Jews, but as for the rest of the world? Nah.
__________________
“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...” Marcus Aurelius |
|
03-16-2006, 01:01 AM | #38 | |
Join Date: Oct 2005
|
Re: Homegrown fantasy setting in classical Greece
Quote:
+++|<=== Lord Carnifex --- |
|
03-16-2006, 06:38 AM | #39 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lexington, KY
|
Re: Homegrown fantasy setting in classical Greece
Quote:
In Green Ronin's Testament setting (the Old Testament world, for d20), the authors decided that for reasons of gameability, the Hebrew, Canaanite, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian religions were all equally "true," though characters within the setting would, of course, have their own historically-accurate biases on the subject. |
|
03-16-2006, 06:47 AM | #40 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lexington, KY
|
Re: Homegrown fantasy setting in classical Greece
Quote:
(Similarly, I have a pagan gamer friend who obsessively studies Egyptian, Greek, and other religions. I still haven't decided whether to tap her to brainstorm divine politics, or leave her unspoiled to play in the game.) However, I'm considering writing up bits and pieces of the setting for Pyramid. So you might see some of it there, if I get that far with it and Mr. Marsh likes it enough. |
|
|
|