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Messages - dragharrow

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16
Author Q&A / What are the roots of the Inchoroi's prophesies?
« on: July 06, 2016, 04:04:29 am »
What are the roots of the Inchoroi's prophesies? Not including the fact of their damnation which doesn't seem like a prophesy so much as knowledge.

Off the top my head the major one is the idea that if you bring the population of a planet (or maybe only the right planet) down to 144,000 ensouled creatures, then the way to other side will be shut off. The Synthese also says something about how all of the prophesies must be observed, even the false ones.

This feels different than their attaining knowledge of the other side and damnation. I can conceive of ways they might accidentally stumble on to that knowledge through exotic technologies (through whatever the inverse flame is). My theories are probably wrong but I can wrap my head around the possibility. In that case they have discovered a simple fact of their universe.

The specific goal of reducing the population to 144,000 to shut out the gods has something personal about it. It doesn't sound like something derived from analysis or produced by a computer. The fact that they reference prophesies points a similar direction.

Can you give us some hint of where these prophesies came from? How did the godless inchoroi get a hold of these prophesies long before they came to Earwa?

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Author Q&A / Re: Wracu and Chorae
« on: June 25, 2016, 04:39:46 am »
Not moral center, that's badly phrased. They're more like literal moral compasses.

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Author Q&A / Re: Wracu and Chorae
« on: June 24, 2016, 05:28:20 am »
Wow big stuff.

Not only an answer to why wracu don't wear chorae, but also an answer to why the Cishaurim get burned by the chorae in a different way than schoolman. This even relates to why Mimara is able to use her Chorae to "turn" the wight in Cil-Aujas.

Somehow the Chorae, as the manifestations of philosophical paradoxes, are the moral center of the world?

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Author Q&A / Re: The Author Q&A
« on: June 23, 2016, 10:56:05 pm »
Once a question has an official answer, can we give our own responses?

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RPG Discussion / Re: DMing brainstorm, artifacts and stuff
« on: October 25, 2015, 03:21:23 am »
Hey h, did you see my message?

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The Thousandfold Thought / Re: Ciphrang
« on: October 18, 2015, 05:32:40 pm »
however much power K has, there's probably at least a fee entities he treats with instead of straight up compelling, no? his goal would always be to dominate, but the method might be promises instead of daimos

Yeah it's totally possible. Maybe he has to cut deals with entities that are too powerful too compel. I don't know how likely it is though.

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The Thousandfold Thought / Re: Ciphrang
« on: October 18, 2015, 05:04:25 pm »
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On the concept of "beating a Ciphrang into submission": perhaps the key to this is simply a battle of wills? The Ciphrang, for all their might, are always described as utilizing either raw strength, or otherwise a form of sorcery that seems comparable to the Anagogic variety. Wolves, flies, rats, suns...their "magic" is always represented by something Worldly, never in the abstract sense of the Gnosis. There's no way this is a coincidence in my opinion, though I cannot conceive any good explanation for why this is the case. Regardless, I suspect a battle between a mortal sorcerer and a Ciphrang ultimately comes down to which one of them can overpower their foe's perspective, or at least their enemy's frame of reference. For example, when Akka "defeats" Ankaryotis, perhaps it's not because he really caused the creature any meaningful, material damage -- but instead that Akka's power and focus at that moment was enough for him to establish his own "frame"...his mastery of the Gnosis is such that he can theoretically overcome anything the Ciphrang could possibly throw at him, since the latter seem to be inherently (for whatever reason) restricted to a form of Anagogis.

I agree. When it comes to the works of sorcery there isn't really difference between material damage and enforcing one's frame on another. A sorcerer can cause material damage to the material world, but sorcery itself is already the manifestation of frame and argument. As Ciphrang are creatures made of sorcery I don't think that there would be any distinction whatsoever between material form and "frame". They are themselves conceptual abstractions, like the platonic forms with agency. When two sorcerer's battle they make arguments at each other but the Ciphrang don't make arguments, they are the argument.

As for what happened in that scene I agree. I think the Ciphrang's form took too much damage and collapsed.

on the other hand, is it possible that Kellhus made allies when he walked Outside?  perhaps he has an agreement with some Ciphrang that he will: let them run lose in the world OR help them usurp the gods OR feed them lots of high quality souls OR rewrite reality so that they can no longer be summoned into the world OR capture Shauriatas for them OR teach them the gnosis

I think Kellhus could pull it off but why? What would be the point? There's no reason for Kellhus to negotiate with demons when they can be summoned and enslaved using the daimos. Kellhus already has the scarlet spires under his control, and Iyokis -who is presumably one of the more experienced daimotic summoners out there- has been given a position of distinction among his retinue. I think if Kellhus plans to use Ciphrang, and I assume he does, that he'll simply bend them to his will like he does everyone else.

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RPG Discussion / Re: DMing brainstorm, artifacts and stuff
« on: October 18, 2015, 10:38:59 am »
So H, are you still into this? Want to hear about the players have been up to? They've had a few sessions now and the story is starting to develop.

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RPG Discussion / Re: DMing brainstorm, artifacts and stuff
« on: October 15, 2015, 04:52:45 am »
http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LEVvogfB5WhgYAtxU3nIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTByMG04Z2o2BHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkAw--/RV=2/RE=1444867232/RO=10/RU=http%3a%2f%2fdungeonmastering.com%2finstantDM%2finstant_dm.pdf/RK=0/RS=kLcoSweIjHkJMNGSpk4KTZlMYCU-

^ highly recommend the PDF above for the best advice on DMing. The key is to improvise and be flexible. Let your players drive the sessions, let them set out on adventures that interest them and tie in some "hooks" that relate to their characters' back story if they have it. Keep some battle maps on hand you can slap down for any situation when you want to start an encounter, or even just blank grids you can quickly draw or color on. Be a "why not" DM - if your players ask if they can do something, let them. Make them roll for it and tell them you're rewarding  them with a bonus on their next roll to reward their creativity.

Preparation can be a huge time sink that isn't fun for the DMs or their players. Definitely live in your world and daydream in it so your players have a fleshed out sandbox to roam in. But try to be as flexible as possible, as the ability to do anything is what makes tabletop RPGs special.

Yeah I'm pretty good on that front I think. I mostly throw open situations at them and then they drive the conclusions. The players have been running around the frontier and stirring up trouble. They're starting to get involved in politics and intrigue in the area. I'm pretty hands off when it comes to play and don't railroad them.

All this lore stuff me and H have been talking about is really just for fun. I like thinking about the world and fleshing it out. When it comes to actual play, the players totally drive the narrative.


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RPG Discussion / Re: DMing brainstorm, artifacts and stuff
« on: October 13, 2015, 07:25:29 pm »
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Well, Lucifer's knowledge is finite.  So his understanding of God is finite.  Why would he love God, despite him being a despot?  Well, there is the love, so strong, that it can do nothing but overwhelm.  He loves God, not despite God being a contradiction, but because God is a contradiction.  It is all too much.  Love so strong it cannot exist.  Love so strong it makes you want to subsume yourself.  It's too pure, it's overwhelming, it threatens to devour.  Lucifer's love for God is so strong he believes that all things are violence to God.  Even Lucifer's own love is an affront, since he cannot even fathom God in his infinite manifest existence and yet the love blossoms of itself, on and on, a perfect positive feedback loop.  The world is imperfect and impure, a blight on God's (at least in Lucifer's eyes, since, remember, his knowledge is finite) perfect and pure divine corpus.

Lucifer's removal of God is not an act of imprisonment in his eyes, but a sheltering of God from the base and imperfect world that seeks only violence to God's very nature.  Lucifer would bear the failure of the world, the sins of the world, the base nature of the world, and the impure devotion of it's inhabitants to spare it from God.  God apart from the world, not as a punishment, but clemency.  A sacrifice on the part of Lucifer, to bear the sins of the world.

Ok I like this but it doesn’t quite solve my problem. What you are saying lines up almost perfectly with my conception of Lucifer in actual Christianity. The overwhelming love, the failure of the world to live up to God, the inability to choose another path. While the scripture doesn’t really say any of it, that all fits closely with how I see Lucifer from a mythological perspective.

That all makes perfect sense to me in world where God is the good. In the lore I’ve been laying out he’s a tyrant. He isn’t the absolute, if anything, he’s the demiurge.

The love I want Lucifer to feel for God is exactly what you are describing, but what I was actually asking was how I can justify that level of blindness for Lucifer. Yes, his knowledge is finite (which is an awesome idea, thanks for that) but I don’t think it feels right for him to be that blind. If he so believes that God is the absolute good, and that he’s just protecting God, than I think he’s too delusional to make a very good supreme deity. It isn’t inconceivable. The soul is full of contradictions. I’m just not sure it feels right.

Maybe I’m wrong, and I’ll mull it over more but I think I’m leaning the other direction. Instead of Lucifer’s love being delusionally blind, it is savvy and enlightened. Sad and reflective. Like a child who has grown up and discovered that his father is slipping into dementia. Or maybe he just realizes that his father isn’t a the hero he thought he was, he’s actually a villain.

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Yeah, I don't see it working thematically or even sensically for Michael to arrive, blazing sword in hand, clad in robes, unveiling his plan.  More like in the cackling of the local madman, or the drunken musing of the town lush.  I kind of like the idea of Michael shepherding the downtrodden and disenfranchised of the so-called Kingdom of Lucifer.  He fancies that these would not be God's lost children (even if that it probably false).  The players can either buy in to these mechanations, as their so-called, "good deads" or be skeptical, as to what the real aim is here and who is behind it.  The guise of a noble quest, they can take the offer of such a noble cause at face-value, or be suspect of what is really going on.

Yeah totally. Well said, I like that.

I was skeptical about using Michael for that role at first. I tend to see him as even more of a jock than Lucifer so I generally envision him as sincere and straightforward - not the scheming type - but I think you’ve won me over.

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RPG Discussion / Re: DMing brainstorm, artifacts and stuff
« on: October 13, 2015, 02:52:32 pm »
Hey H, I was a little drunk when I typed this up so it kind of goes off the rails a little.

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Not a problem, it's no sweat, easy to spin yarn from my armchair here.  That has always been my 'trouble' with storytelling, I can spin, but I can never weave yarn, if you follow what I mean.

I follow. I tend to run into the same problem myself. It’s something I’m trying to work on.

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OK, that makes sense.  God is a despot.  Lucifer is not, so there is definitely room to play with the concept of 'rule-gone-awry.'  I need to think more on grander implications.  I think a central theme here is freedom and it's costs.  At what cost does Lucifer's allowance of freedom come?  At what cost does his love come?

Yeah, that’s exactly the kind of angle I want to take with this. But exploring grand themes is tough lol

Another thing I’m wrestling with is Lucifer’s love for God. When I was first fleshing this out I planned on having God be a fairly unambiguous tyrant, and on casting Lucifer as a kind of promethean freedom fighter. But I’ve always really liked the idea that Lucifer’s love for God is unrivaled and I keep arguing with myself about how I can work that in. It wasn’t something I planned for and it doesn’t easily fit in with the mythology as I’ve set it up. Why would Lucifer love this tyrant God so much? I guess God could have just programmed that into Lucifer nature but that isn’t very interesting. Ideally, Lucifer’s love for God is something pure, not pathological. I’m not sure it’s a concept I’ll end up trying to include but it’s on my mind. Introducing some moral ambiguity to God is probably a good idea anyway. Thoughts on what that should look like?

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Indeed, that is good. One thing that begs though, is if the Nonmen were God's chosen people, why did they choose to not back Christ upon realizing he would bring back God? Is it because they realized that God was a despot and so they wanted to keep the power they gained in his absence?  It's deep, because when we, in the real world, say "so-and-so is God's chosen" what we really mean, "so-and-so has chosen God" but in your world, it literally means that God has chosen them.

Yeah, exactly. I like the idea of them rejecting God’s favor. I haven't decided exactly where I’m going with it yet though.

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Loosed from the shackles of God's indomitable will though, they chose freedom rather than a return, even a return that brokered 'elevated status.'  That's kind of fascinating, how they gave up so much in the name of freedom.  Raises interesting questions about the worth of freedom at such a high cost.

There’s also the question of what benefits that “elevated status” actually conferred. I can think of a few main things that the chosen people usually receive in myth. Possibly some divine assistance in the form of miracles. This is D&D so we can assume that this exists, probably in the form of paladins and priests with Saint-like abilities from God. Divine guidance is pretty ubiquitous, prophets and oracles. The big one though is entrance into heaven. Why did they give that up? And how does it work in this world? Now that God is overthrown, do you need to worship Lucifer to get into Heaven?

I hadn’t considered that God’s absence allows mages to manipulate the Word more freely. I’ll consider that. Regardless, I don’t think the forerunners rejected Christ because they were power hungry. I want to make it weirder than that if I can.

Maybe heroism is just in their nature. Different varieties of this are pretty standard for elves and elf-equivalents like the Nonmen. Elves are naturally good or wise or whatever. It’s almost an essential trope for elder fantasy species.

I especially like the way Bakker did this with the Nonmen. They aren’t fundamentally good obviously. As a society they’ve committed more than their fair share of atrocities, and the personalities of individual Nonmen seem to vary as much as human personalities do. But it seems like they are fundamentally “epic”. They’re sort of Nietzsche-ian. They have this ancient greek vibe, like they’re genetically predisposed to behave like characters from the Iliad and the Odyssey. Maybe they only come off that way because all we get as readers is historical accounts and folk stories but I doubt it.

So some variation of that is one possibility for why they rejected God. Something in their alien psychology put them at odds with him. The simplest form of this could be similar to the Nietzsche-ian heroism of Bakker’s Nonmen or the tragic sense of duty that the Tolkiens elves have. The Forerunners recognized that their God was a tyrant and so they stood against him.

The other possibility I see that relies on their culture alien psychology is something you mentioned. The Forerunner’s could value freedom more than God’s Grace, or despise servitude to such a degree that they couldn’t bear God’s dominion. It could be weirder than that too, like they despise peace so much that the idea of eternal tranquility in the bosom of God. Anyway, whatever explanation I go with, I want it to say interesting stuff about them. Whatever gives me the most meat to work with going forward I should probs pick. What exactly does it say about them if they venerate freedom so much they choose it over God.

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I admit, I am partial to the idea of God having a confederate Angel 'on his side.'  My first thought goes to Michael, since it would have been him who had lead God's fight with Lucifer in those early days.  Now, he slowly attempts to covertly work to bring back God, by the resurrection of Christ, but his work is slow because he cannot be seen to be openly defying Lucifer.

I’m definitely into this. My plan right now for the overarching narrative is to have the players stumble into an angel’s scheme to open a gate to hell. It’ll be up to them whether they get played by the angel or start trying to unravel the conspiracy.

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The player characters can be pawns of Michael, perhaps he appears to them, presents something as a Holy quest, but really unwittingly aiding in the Resurrection, to perhaps find the tomb of Christ (or something similar) or sundering it, or perhaps something else. No doubt, the Nonmen would not be pleased about this, so there is a potential conflict there.

Ideally I’d like to draw them into it more subtly. The game is still in a kind of gritty noir western-y place, so direct contact with an angel would be out of place. I’m gonna try to bring in the epic powerhouses slowly. I want the players to feel me slowly turning the heat up as the angels plans proceed and the world approaches catastrophe.

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RPG Discussion / Re: DMing brainstorm, artifacts and stuff
« on: September 30, 2015, 06:41:50 am »
Awesome stuff all around H. Thanks so much for helping me brainstorm this.

My biggest question is probably, what are the ramifications of God's absence (and Lucifer's reign)?  Is it just a transference, like all things attributed to God simply now are applied to Lucifer?  How has the Church changed, what are the differences of it under Lucifer and God?  Where God was perhaps only, or mostly, intercessional, Lucifer is more "hands-on," but rewards those most like himself?  Therefor the Chruch is largely oppressive, rewarding those who seek dominance and lack humility and hubris?

I tend to think of Lucifer as an innocent. Maybe a kind of mirror for Christ. For me, Lucifer has to be the highest of God’s creation, the grandest. The first angel, he is noble, strong, smart and kind. His love for God is unimaginable. Unfortunately, he is, like all angels, incapable of change, and is forced to rebel. That’s just my thoughts on the character and those fudge the cannon a lot but that's where I’m coming from.

In the world of my story he is a definitely a force of good. For the sake of a simple and fun mythology, the God figure is a clear bad guy. Lucifer’s motivations in real mythology are complicated, but here, he is simply overthrowing an evil overlord. So to answer your question, he is an unambiguously good deity, and many of the traits of the Christian God are simply transferred over to him. He does reward those more like himself, but the differences between him and the Christian God aren’t that dark. He values freedom and strength more highly than mercy. He values chivalry. He values truth. The angels were God’s soldiers and he was first among them. He is lightbringer, a knight in shining armor. The problems with his rule are probably mostly born of the fact that by his nature he is a hero and not a king.

So that’s what I have as a starting point. I’m open to changing stuff though. Your feedback is really good and none of this is set in stone yet. I need notes on this stuff so if you think something doesn’t work or could be more interesting by all means let me know.

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Lucifer is not omniscient, but fancies himself so.  His plans have no been working out as he really wished.  The more he tinkers, the more goes wrong, perhaps?

This I really like and am going to use. Lucifer is a good guy but he is proud, and this is a really interesting way for that to manifest. Totally the kind of flaw a jock like Lucifer would have.

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I guess this brings me into my next part, what is the story of Lucifer?  Are we on the idea that he was an Angel, cast out of Heaven for wishing to supplant God?  So, he established an Underword empire, so called Hell, and from there perhaps crafted Nonmen?  In other words, Nonmen are part Angel?

Lucifer succeeded in his rebellion and locked God in Hades. He now sits in the throne of heaven and rules as God did. I think the forerunners were God’s chosen people, and that humans are Lucifer’s. When God created them they were mud people. Animals without consciousness. Lucifer gave them the apple and elevated them.

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OK, that aside, Lucifer rebels and through means unknown, managed to switch places with God and partition Hell off from the world to keep God locked away?

Now, perhaps God finds a way to squeak out some of his will, or maybe some other Angel decides to help God, and so Christ is born.  He realizes what has happened, perhaps by the guidance of that Angel, and so works to free God.

Yeah, God is locked in hell now. I wasn’t sure whether Christ should be the son of God or Lucifer but I’ve been leaning towards God. The birth of the Son is part of God’s nature, and so it offered a chance for God to retake the heavens and the earth.

I don't know if that answers all your questions so let me know if I missed something important or there's an area of the lore you'd want to explore cuz I'd be down. Really good thoughts on artifacts, I'll think about those. I still want more Bakker style artifacts. Bits of philosophy in material form.

Thanks again H. Let me know if you have any other thoughts

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RPG Discussion / Re: DMing brainstorm, artifacts and stuff
« on: September 24, 2015, 09:54:00 pm »
For the mythology I steal from all over the place. The main good deity in my setting is Lucifer. I know that sounds like I'm trying to be super edgy but whatever. So, Lucifer won the battle with God and now he and a group of archangels make up the pantheon. God is locked in hell instead of Lucifer. Magic comes from him. Mages imitate the voice of God to control the Word which is the substrate of creation.

At some point in distant history a dark Christ was born on earth and tried to free the Father. He went to war with the nonmen and destroyed their cities one by one. Eventually, their greatest sorcerers met with each other and the most powerful consumed the others. He faced the Christ in a final climatic battle and won but the nonmen were forever broken.

That's basically what I have right now. I'll try and come up with some ideas for artifacts next but lemme know what you think and if you have any cool ideas.

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RPG Discussion / Re: DMing brainstorm, artifacts and stuff
« on: September 24, 2015, 09:25:10 pm »
Ok cool. I'll start with some general plot and setting and later I'll throw out some ideas for artifacts that we can kick around.

My game is pretty tropey so it's all stuff you've seen before. It takes place at the edge of a Rome like empire. The players are wardens, basically marshal style lawmen. A small town on the wild west style frontier was taken over by a group of bandits who killed the previous sheriff and moved in to occupy the town. They are sent to kill the bandits and set up camp in town as the new law. Because it's the frontier they become the major representatives of the crown in the area.

After they killed the witch they've stirred up some political intrigue. They put together a council of prominent citizens to help rule. Ostensibly they did this in order to restore the rule of law but really I think they just wanted to have a way to keep track of the major players. After that they played around with the government of the town and then later went on a short delve into the nearby undercity. I don't know exactly where the plot will go from here.

I'll talk about mythology and history in a bit


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RPG Discussion / Re: DMing brainstorm, artifacts and stuff
« on: September 24, 2015, 08:46:23 pm »
Hey dragharrow,
I have a list somewhere of ideas for you.  When I get home I will try to find it and edit this post.
Awesome, thanks man.

Lol, I like the substance use thing, that's hilarious. I don't know if I would ever use that though, I would want to de-incentivise consumption at my table lol. Wouldn't be fair since I tend to make it through 40 when we play. No complaints that it's effected my GMing though. I do find that the weed smokers go through short periods of quiet after they hit the vape though.

I like all those H. I don't know about the soul trapping stuff though. Bakker does the animata in such a distinct way, super different than they're normally used. I don't think I could elevate soul binding beyond the standard. I'm still down for brainstorming in that direction though.

Speaking of lenses, maybe some kind of lens that allows perception of the Outside?

A book that can somehow devour knowledge, rather than impart it?  This seems really OP and mean, haha, maybe it just devours memories?

I really like these two and I'm sort of exploring both of those concepts with my not-nonmen already. Great minds. There's a nonmen undercity nearby my players and two of the points of interest line up with what you're suggesting. They're these two deep pools of water in the depths of dungeon, the first was were they disposed of their dead and it can now be used to glimpse in chaos of the outside. The other pool of water is in the mage's library. They used it as a kind of sorcerous hardrive. Both can be accessed by the players but at severe psychological cost. So we're on the same page.

Anyway I'm totally down to post some general lore and plot if you guys are interested. I really want to bounce ideas around with people. Have you guys been playing recently?

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