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Old 02-15-2021, 04:34 AM   #31
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Default Re: The World of Solem

The Gods and the Celestials

When the Creator had formed the Mother both in his mind and in his musical reality, she was filled with joy and together they started their creative labors to form and create the servants that would both build and guard the Creators coming vision for the world he wished to make.

Together they formed thoughts and ideas into magical reality and they decreed that these servants would be called the Gods. They numbers would be few and their powers and interests great and they would both rule and guard the creations to come.

The gods as they came into being and into full consciousness also wanted to contribute to creation in ways both large and small. They fervently asked the Mother if they in turn could with her create their own servants to aid them in their vast tasks as the Creators vision of the world was ever expanding and changeable.

The Mother was delighted with this request and with the Gods began to form and conceive of the beings that would become known as the Celestials, each in the form and powered by the individual gods that demanded they needed them.
Many they were a full host was formed and the Creator gave his blessing to the Celestial's tasks as he foresaw that this would enable his vision to be achieved.

Both the Gods and Celestials then strode the world helping form it's great physical features according to their powers and interests and both the Creator and the Mother were pleased, but from the Place of Shadows watched Azor the Dark One and he was both fascinated and jealous and he vowed to have influence over this pure creation of reality.

Behind the Curtain
So this is my first attempt at a basic creation myth for the setting, but I fully intend to make various contradictory creation myths, depending on the racial or cultural viewpoint telling the stories.
I want to have a three tier religious mythology with the all powerful Creator, Mother and Dark One at the top of the pyramid, then the gods in a pantheon in the middle, then the Celestials grouped under each gods as demigods, avatars, angels, Maia. Which are much more likely to have effect over the setting ie Gandalf, Sauron etc.
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Old 02-15-2021, 04:36 AM   #32
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Default Re: The World of Solem

The next series of posts will be to flesh out the Pantheon of gods and then look at some of the more powerful or influential Celestials.
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Old 02-15-2021, 06:27 AM   #33
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Default Re: The World of Solem

Quote:
Originally Posted by deanjday View Post
The Gods and the Celestials
This looks good. It is the right length to convey the relevant information without losing the interest of the audience.

Quote:
Originally Posted by deanjday View Post
Behind the Curtain
So this is my first attempt at a basic creation myth for the setting, but I fully intend to make various contradictory creation myths, depending on the racial or cultural viewpoint telling the stories.
That makes sense if you're taking the perspective that no one definitively possesses the metaphysical truth.

If you're going this route, I'd recommend writing a 1 page executive summary about the setting. This would be a broad strokes overview of the setting from an objective viewpoint. For example, you could mention that there are celestial beings that claim to be benevolent. But their origin is in dispute.

That way the players have some idea of what the world is like without having to read through all of the mythology.

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I want to have a three tier religious mythology with the all powerful Creator, Mother and Dark One at the top of the pyramid, then the gods in a pantheon in the middle, then the Celestials grouped under each gods as demigods, avatars, angels, Maia. Which are much more likely to have effect over the setting ie Gandalf, Sauron etc.
This looks like a good hierarchy.
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Old 02-15-2021, 06:42 AM   #34
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High Eleven Template Update

I have been giving a lot of thought to making my High Elven race have a twist away from its blatant Middle Earth vibe. I asked RPG.NET for inspiration and have come up with two extra elements to add to them.

1. They were created from stardust. I love the idea of this as it gives me lots of reasons in setting lore to explain why they are so special in the setting. I dont quite know what this means yet but as I hammer out Solem's mythology and religious lore and the Elven creation myths it will serve as quite an inspirational fact.

2. I am giving their template the Telecommunication advantage, making them in the setting the only race with naturally occurring psychic abilities. This will dove tail in with them being created from stardust, air, wind, all the higher elements and will make them much more mechanically unique.

it will also make them more expensive, but I will ensure starting characters are prob at least 150 plus 50 disadvantages so they still have some room to diversify their character if choosing a High Elf.

I will update the High Elf Template
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Old 02-15-2021, 06:48 AM   #35
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This looks good. It is the right length to convey the relevant information without losing the interest of the audience.

I hope so, entries will get expanded as more lore gets hammered out.

That makes sense if you're taking the perspective that no one definitively possesses the metaphysical truth.

Yes, taking a nice queue from Glorantha here.

If you're going this route, I'd recommend writing a 1 page executive summary about the setting. This would be a broad strokes overview of the setting from an objective viewpoint. For example, you could mention that there are celestial beings that claim to be benevolent. But their origin is in dispute.

Good idea, will do this on the first post, once I have a better idea of where I am going lol.

That way the players have some idea of what the world is like without having to read through all of the mythology.



This looks like a good hierarchy.
Yes, I do love the idea of a few Tom Bombadil types running around and also with very high powered enemies, gives you a good solid reason for their existence and potential variation in both appearance and powers
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Old 02-15-2021, 07:13 AM   #36
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The Titans and the Horrors

Azor the Dark One looked on at the beginning of the building of Solem and he coveted it. He was unable to create himself and he greatly hated both the Creator and the Mother that they joyfully was willing their desires and wants into the reality of this new world.

With the creation of the Gods and Celestials, Azor felt he saw his chance to enter this new world and remake and pervert it to his own dark desires.

He reached out from his dark place beyond time and space and spoke to these new beings. He spoke to them of power and whispered in their ears about how the Creator both hemmed in their own creations and was cold and unfeeling to their own wants and ambitions for this new universe.

The gods and celestials, rejected him utterly and sent his unpure and vile thoughts to the Mother who laughed to see the attempt to disrupt and seduce her children.

Azor was thwarted, but his deep hate only become stronger and he vowed to assemble his own army of divine evil beings in both mockery and challenge of the hated gods and celestials.

he searched the dark place in which he dwelt high and low slowly finding other entity's as evil and strange as he. Over much time he found creatures both great and small to augment his forces and he bound them all to his will.

to challenge the Gods he unleashed the Titans on the universe and to destroy the Celestials he created and trained the Horrors and belched them forth from his dark place.
The age of legends was over, the age of shadows had begun.

Behind the Curtain
I want an evil set of counterparts and balance to the gods and celestials and i want them to come from SOMEWHERE ELSE. This is the beginning of the Cthulhu horror influences on the setting as these beings do not come from Solem and have not been created by the Creator and the Mother.
I am taking the terms Titan and Horror from the Scarred lands and Earthdawn as they describe the evil counterparts of the Gods and Celestials perfectly as I did not wish to use the terms devils or demons.
Lastly i wanted a cool change from Middle Earth mythology that in my setting the gods and celestials stayed pure and rejected Azor's evil. He was forced to get his divine army from his own dark dimension. Unlike Middle Earth where many of the Maia were seduced by the great enemy.

Last edited by deanjday; 02-15-2021 at 07:20 AM.
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Old 02-15-2021, 04:55 PM   #37
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deanjday, I notice that you placed your replies to me inside the quote box when you quoted me. Putting your replies in the quotation box makes it look like I'm the one saying them. In this friendly conversation, the issue is mainly that this is confusing to readers. But in a more argumentative thread it would look like you're putting words in my mouth. The bolding helps, but it is still confusing and doesn't explicitly indicate that you are the one speaking.

It also makes it harder to quote your replies. The forum ignores content inside any quote fields within a reply when you hit the quote button. For example, I was only able to get the below quote from your reply to me:

Quote:
Originally Posted by deanjday View Post
Yes, I do love the idea of a few Tom Bombadil types running around and also with very high powered enemies, gives you a good solid reason for their existence and potential variation in both appearance and powers
There are two ways to avoid this problem. The easiest solution is to simply use one quote and put all of your replies after the quote. You could also copy the opening QUOTE tag, paste it at the front of each section of text you want to respond to, and then add /QUOTE tags to end each quote. That way, you can break up a quote into more manageable units.

Moving onto your replies, I agree that having a wide variety of supernatural beings is a good thing. Also, it would probably be best to hold off on writing the executive summary until after the setting is more nailed down.
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Old 02-15-2021, 05:14 PM   #38
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Default Re: The World of Solem

Quote:
Originally Posted by deanjday View Post
Behind the Curtain
I want an evil set of counterparts and balance to the gods and celestials and i want them to come from SOMEWHERE ELSE. This is the beginning of the Cthulhu horror influences on the setting as these beings do not come from Solem and have not been created by the Creator and the Mother.
I am taking the terms Titan and Horror from the Scarred lands and Earthdawn as they describe the evil counterparts of the Gods and Celestials perfectly as I did not wish to use the terms devils or demons.
Lastly i wanted a cool change from Middle Earth mythology that in my setting the gods and celestials stayed pure and rejected Azor's evil. He was forced to get his divine army from his own dark dimension. Unlike Middle Earth where many of the Maia were seduced by the great enemy.
Avoiding the terms devil and demon avoids any preconceptions from That Other Game.

Divine solidarity is a departure point from the Middle Earth setting. But how does this matter in practical terms? There is still an army of evil running around.

Azor being an extra-dimensional completely outside of the world is interesting. What do the natives of Solem call the realm where Azor lives? Does Azor only have access to Solem, or do his ambitions extend to multiple worlds? Is Azor able to intervene personally on Solem, or is he limited to sending his minions over?
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Old 02-15-2021, 05:44 PM   #39
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Originally Posted by Emerald Cat View Post
Avoiding the terms devil and demon avoids any preconceptions from That Other Game.

Divine solidarity is a departure point from the Middle Earth setting. But how does this matter in practical terms? There is still an army of evil running around.

Azor being an extra-dimensional completely outside of the world is interesting. What do the natives of Solem call the realm where Azor lives? Does Azor only have access to Solem, or do his ambitions extend to multiple worlds? Is Azor able to intervene personally on Solem, or is he limited to sending his minions over?
He is currently trapped within Solem sealed away in a powerful magical prison after his defeat in the age of shadows. However his vile nature has corrupted the land around him into a vast evil wasteland desert.

I have not decided on a name for his dimension yet or if it is known about by the races and populace of Solem. I don't see him as affecting other dimensions only Solem, which he is obsessed with.
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Old 02-15-2021, 06:00 PM   #40
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The Black Road

Azor after recruiting his vile army of both Titans and Horrors, concentrated his mind on weakening the walls between Solem and his own dark dimension.

He found that it was impossible to enter the Creators world with any success. Again and again his host found themselves unable to breach the dimensional barriers or if they did they were soon ejected by Helm the god who the Creator had tasked with defending the dimensional barriers as he had become aware of Azor's existence and his foul intentions were clear to him.

Azor soon regrouped however and although he was unable to create from whole cloth he wove a great sorcery that allowed his dark army entrance into the world on the 13th of each month at midnight by travel on the Black Road a vast ebony bridge between the dimensions.

At this evil time both Titans and Horrors could transport themselves with great effort into Solem by using the Black Bridge. This proved easier for the Horrors as they were more able to breech the small cracks and fissures between dimensions.

Behind the Curtain
The Black road is my evil homage to the rainbow bridge in Norse mythology that connected Asgard to Midguard. In this case it connects Azor's dark dimension to Solem but in differing places on each 13th at midnight. I wanted a way that the Horrors particularly can sometimes enter the world and why they are so hard to stop.
please note the Mention of the god Helm who is taken from the Forgotten Realms setting.

Despite Helm's great labors to this very day on the 13th of each month at midnight portals sometimes open to a very dark place and what steps through those portals is nether of this world or any other.
The Black road is still well traveled one way from the dark to the light.

Last edited by deanjday; 02-15-2021 at 06:06 PM.
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