10-04-2017, 10:35 AM | #11 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Cockeysville, MD
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Re: DF Implied Cosmology
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There is a big "grey" area here like is damming a river un-natural? What about when beavers do it? Is harnessing the wind okay... and at what level? Wind chimes? kites? windmills?
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10-04-2017, 10:56 AM | #12 | ||
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: DF Implied Cosmology
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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 . . . 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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10-04-2017, 11:01 AM | #13 | |
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: DF Implied Cosmology
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(And yes, if you synthesize this with my previous post, most people are a blight on Nature just as Elder Things are a blight on Creation. The worse people get to blighting Nature by contacting the Elder Things for power and blighting all of Creation. This is probably how druids most often come into conflict with Elder Things: via cultists.)
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
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10-04-2017, 12:23 PM | #14 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Re: DF Implied Cosmology
They're also probably rivals for recruiting from the coveted "Chanting circle of wierdos in cloaks around a bonfire in the depths of a dark forest, sacrificing folks on rustic alters with impractical daggers" demographic.
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10-04-2017, 01:16 PM | #15 |
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: DF Implied Cosmology
Yeah, the line between Chesuncook and Summerisle is a thin one.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
10-04-2017, 02:01 PM | #16 |
Join Date: Feb 2008
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Re: DF Implied Cosmology
I'm thinking about cribbing from Exalted a bit.
Clerical magic is basically license from Heaven to perform certain effects in its service. Your license can be suspended or revoked for certain acts. Sanctity is the areas where the authority of Heaven is enforced or recognized. Behind the scenes, Sanctity is where the Pattern Spiders (can't explain, lunch is over) are willing or able to follow you and perform effects at your command. Druidic magic is the flow of geomagnetic energy. Civilization normally causes static because it seldom grows in harmony with these energy flows. Someplace with good Feng Shui would be better for a druid than a normal town, but still not as good as unspoiled nature. Arcane magic is the ability to force your personal energy onto reality and cause change. This is easier in places where reality is vibrant and dynamic (most of the world), but falters in the places where reality has already been damaged. |
10-04-2017, 02:07 PM | #17 |
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Re: DF Implied Cosmology
I always envisioned Elder Things as the true nature of reality. Maybe when the gods made creation Elder Things were part of the primordial soup that formed creation. I always got the feeling that people who dealt with Elder Things thought they were magical or spiritual beings who would do favors them and be rewarded like a god would reward worshippers. But the truth was that Elder Things were mundane and banal and the worshippers are like rats hoping to appease a cat. It all ends in tragedy. The Elder Things don't care about souls or good or evil, they just want to eat or experiment and have no grander plans for humanity than that. It is just that they are extradimensional and beyond human comprehension that humanity ascribes them magical or Divine powers.
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10-04-2017, 02:34 PM | #18 |
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: DF Implied Cosmology
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10-04-2017, 02:47 PM | #19 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: DF Implied Cosmology
I tend to think of the prime material plane as merely the board set up by two political parties. Elder things are all the myriad of independents.
This view may make less sense to non-Amerians that lack such a rigid two party system.
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10-04-2017, 04:32 PM | #20 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Re: DF Implied Cosmology
One possibility would be to tie the various sources of magic to different "pantheons" of entities. Divine (Clerical) Magic involves devotion and prayer to established, "official" deities. Arcane Magic involves invocations and contracts to the Aethyrs, to harness the power of the Decans. Druidic Magic calls upon Primal spirits of Nature, while Psionics tap into the power of the Elder Gods.
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Tags |
cosmology, gebs, gods, primordial entities, squid |
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