Creating a new fantasy world.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by FuelDrop

I'm going with a fairly generic pantheon for the setting's main religion, borrowing liberally from other games when needed. Different regions worship different gods, different races may have different gods... I want to leave it fairly open at this point so that the players can have some input into their characters' cultural background rather than being straightjacketed.

Greco-Roman style polytheism in fantasy RPGs is overused. How's this for a more classic fantasy take with a dystopian twist:

There's one official Imperial Church, a cult of personality centered around the Emperor, proclaiming him God On Earth. Anyone that claims the Emperor is not Divine is proclaimed a heretic and burned alive at the stake.

In addition, the Church preaches of a Divine Trinity: After creating the Earth, God split himself in three: the God Above, the God Below, and the God On Earth (the Emperor). The God Above is master of the Sky, the Sun, the Moon, and the Weather, and sees All. The God Below is the master of the Dead, the ultimate Judge, and permits the nobility to have Wealth. The God On Earth is Ruler of the Living.

The Angels work for the Trinity as His messengers; most of the Immortal Elves can claim to be Angels taken physical form.

Under them are a number of Saints and Martyrs, heroes and gods of old from before the Empire was founded who are worshipped as agents of the Trinity in their various fields.

Add in the Adversary who was an Angel but rebelled against the God On Earth, taking a few others with him; these became the Demons.

"Divine" magic is nothing more than standard magic with religious trappings.


Thoughts?

[FuelDrop]

Originally Posted by tbrock1031

One thing you can try is having a position of power of the "Emperor's Voice"; publicly, he's acknowledged as being the mouthpiece of the Emperor, rumored to be the Emperor projecting his mind into a different body (plant rumors that the Emperor had a brush with death when physically attacked several hundred years back, so he uses the Voice to act through). In reality, he's the guy chosen by the Inner Council as their spokesperson to the public.

Of course the best thing about this is that suddenly, "Seat on the inner council" becomes a political end-game for anyone who's not already there. The Inner Council themselves, meanwhile, can be trying to deal with the fact that their neighbors aren't in the same imposed status as their empire is. I'm thinking that sabotage to keep them in check while they build up a powerful enough military to conquer them in spite of their tech disadvantage might be their tactics, but that's just a no-thought-put-in initial idea.

[Loukas]

Originally Posted by tbrock1031

One thing you can try is having a position of power of the "Emperor's Voice"; publicly, he's acknowledged as being the mouthpiece of the Emperor, rumored to be the Emperor projecting his mind into a different body (plant rumors that the Emperor had a brush with death when physically attacked several hundred years back, so he uses the Voice to act through). In reality, he's the guy chosen by the Inner Council as their spokesperson to the public.

In Alasdair Gray's Five Letters from an Eastern Empire there's a very interesting take on this kind of ruling council. I won't spoil it by giving away the ending...

[FuelDrop]

Originally Posted by tbrock1031

Greco-Roman style polytheism in fantasy RPGs is overused. How's this for a more classic fantasy take with a dystopian twist:

There's one official Imperial Church, a cult of personality centered around the Emperor, proclaiming him God On Earth. Anyone that claims the Emperor is not Divine is proclaimed a heretic and burned alive at the stake.

In addition, the Church preaches of a Divine Trinity: After creating the Earth, God split himself in three: the God Above, the God Below, and the God On Earth (the Emperor). The God Above is master of the Sky, the Sun, the Moon, and the Weather, and sees All. The God Below is the master of the Dead, the ultimate Judge, and permits the nobility to have Wealth. The God On Earth is Ruler of the Living.

The Angels work for the Trinity as His messengers; most of the Immortal Elves can claim to be Angels taken physical form.

Under them are a number of Saints and Martyrs, heroes and gods of old from before the Empire was founded who are worshipped as agents of the Trinity in their various fields.

Add in the Adversary who was an Angel but rebelled against the God On Earth, taking a few others with him; these became the Demons.

"Divine" magic is nothing more than standard magic with religious trappings.


Thoughts?

I'd rather stay away from the 'living god and divine messengers' angle for the IEs as I'm an outspoken atheist and setting this up could be seen as me making god the bad guy (fake or not), something which might offend the other players. It's an interesting idea, but I don't really think it'll work for the campaign I'm planning to run.

[FuelDrop]

Originally Posted by Loukas

What about a twist in the tale? That the PCs eventually discover that the IE mages are actually defending the Empire/our plane of existence from a demonic/alien invasion? And the purpose of the empire is to provide infrascructure for magical defence, which doesn't need tech advancement?

Or, if they're just thoroughly unsympathetic, have the IE's preparing some magical/planar invasion, based on their own advanced magical techniques, not on soldiers.

I like this!

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by FuelDrop

... magical items [are illegal]... though fortunately, most magic items aren't instantly distinguishable as such and those that are can generally be kept under wraps by all but the most unlucky.

What magic system are you planning to use? If it uses conventional Magery, remember that anyone with that trait gets an IQ + Magery roll to recognise magic items as being magical when they first see, and when they first touch them. So the IEs may well use "magic-sniffers", without telling them what their ability means. They'd be sent to search the home of anyone suspicious; don't think in terms of US law as being how this kind of government should behave.

[FuelDrop]

Originally Posted by johndallman

What magic system are you planning to use? If it uses conventional Magery, remember that anyone with that trait gets an IQ + Magery roll to recognise magic items as being magical when they first see, and when they first touch them. So the IEs may well use "magic-sniffers", without telling them what their ability means. They'd be sent to search the home of anyone suspicious; don't think in terms of US law as being how this kind of government should behave.

And this is why the first mission that the PCs will be getting magic items on will be a quest to recover an ancient relic that protects from divinations. Prevents scry and fry, random thought reading at checkpoints and someone realizing that they're carrying illegal magic items. At least, that's the theory.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Loukas

What about a twist in the tale? That the PCs eventually discover that the IE mages are actually defending the Empire/our plane of existence from a demonic/alien invasion? And the purpose of the empire is to provide infrascructure for magical defence, which doesn't need tech advancement?

Or, if they're just thoroughly unsympathetic, have the IE's preparing some magical/planar invasion, based on their own advanced magical techniques, not on soldiers.

better yet they're planning An invasion and the PCs are part of the army. cue mayhem when they come across a world that does not consider the immortal elves immortal.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by FuelDrop

I like this!

You might want to borrow (steal...) some ideas from Harn. One of the key concepts of that society and its pantheon was borrowed (stolen...) from the way Medieval and Renaissance alchemists thought about knowledge.

To them, knowledge was inherently dangerous, and therefore had to be controlled for the good of all. That's why alchemist journals read like recondite metaphors, written in code. One had to first demonstrate moral discipline, before one was permitted to know dangerous things.

In Harn, the god of knowledge is symbolized by a black lantern, because, "Knowledge without wisdom sheds no light." The island, itself, is very tightly controlled, and as such has started to slip behind the technology of the mainland.

The reason is that the fabric of reality is badly frayed on the part of the world (Kethira) upon which Harn is found. Naturally-occurring dimensional passages (Barisi Points) appear commonly, and an ancient precursor race (the Earthmasters) also created interdimensional gates that further tattered the fabric of reality.

Most of those gates are abandoned, now. The Earthmasters are all gone, and nobody is really sure why. However, the mages who specialize in that area of study have a nasty tendency to completely freak out, try to take over the entire island and then lock it down with fanatically loyal troops.

Apparently, the Earthmasters weren't destroyed -- they fled (at least, that's my favorite interpretation...).

So, maybe The Empire (PP) exists because the IEs believe they have a great responsibility to protect the world from some existential threat. However, because their responsiblities are so heavy, and the stress is so great, they feel they deserve every entitlement -- the best food, the finest clothing, the most desireable slaves.

And, of course, absolute obedience.

In our world, the concept that "knowledge must be earned" started to break down in the 16th Century, and then started to die in the 17th Century with the creation of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge. The notion that members should consult with one another, that members should publish their work openly, and that members should subject their work to the rational critique of peers, was a strange and alien concept. That's why so many bitter feuds existed between members, early on.

It also played a key role in the advancement of science, in the Western world.

So, what if you did something like that, with your campaign? You have an empire in which knowledge is considered horribly dangerous, and is therefore restricted only to those who demonstrate "sufficient moral responsibility" -- all of whom just happen to be the ethically superior IEs, of course.

That means, once your PCs gain sufficient notoriety, they might get recruited into the "Imperial Society for Arcane Discovery," a clandestine group (membership in which is immediately punishable by secret execution) devoted to the exploration of ancient sites, the discovery of ancient knowledge, the exploration of lands beyond the empire and the destruction of the corrupt ruling classes.

At some point, maybe they discover the "Existential Threat" is a hoax, and has always been a hoax, and exists only as a justification to maintain the status quo.

Or, maybe, it's real. If that's so, then destruction of The Empire (PP) means the revolutionaries in the Imperial Society now have to take on the responsiblity for the defense of reality, themselves.

[DangerousThing]

Originally Posted by FuelDrop

I'd rather stay away from the 'living god and divine messengers' angle for the IEs as I'm an outspoken atheist and setting this up could be seen as me making god the bad guy (fake or not), something which might offend the other players. It's an interesting idea, but I don't really think it'll work for the campaign I'm planning to run.

I'm an outspoken agnostic and I have no problems with "god" ruling an empire or two. It's happened enough in history from the ancient Egyptians to the divine right of kings.