This is the second post about a world building project that I am creating in connection with a role playing game. The games are played using the system called GURPS (Generic Universal Role Playing System) which is rather good for exactly this sort of endeavour as the rules tries to cover the possibility to make the game happen in any sort of setting.
In the last post I showed some of the maps I have made, and the next step will be to show some of the Gods that are worshipped in these lands. As it is a world where magic derives from sacrifices of humans, animals and plants these Gods are not very sympathetic to say the least, and the implications of them being Gods at all is a bit complicated for this post so I will mainly name them and show some of the images I have made. I will maybe one day collect it all in a book, but until then this is what you'll get about the Gods.
So... on the large Isle of Amadeff there has for three hundred years existed a monotheon, a system of only one God. This God is called Norn, and he was once a man. Now he resides in a magic machine driven on human sacrifice and from there he return to some sort of life every five days. The machine is still embedded in the same house where it was originally set up, now know as Norn's House.
Surrounding him is the grave machines of his 11 followers, who now live in machines constructed after the same principles as the machine of Norn, but actually working, keeping them in a living state. A sort demi-Gods and the true rulers of Amadeff.
Before Norn a pantheon of sea like creatures ruled the lands. Norn was actually a priest of these Gods until he discovered the magic technology that helped his followers avoid the horrors of the realm of the dead. These Gods were overthrown in a war waged by the eleven disciples of Norn, and the worship and sacrifice in their honour is now deemed heretic.
Here is the main God, Nuln in a couple of incarnations.
Of other Gods in Nuln's pantheon can be mentioned, Zorg, a crab God, Enema, a mermaid like Goddess of fertility (yea, just change the pronunciation and think of something else).
And this is only some of the Gods that are invoked in Amadeff, not to mention what is happening on the main land. I have been going amokko creating Gods. You will get some of them here in arbitrary order.
That must be it for now. Did any of this make sense? Probably not. I will see if I can find time to show some more details from this imaginary world.
Yes it does make sense! I'm struck by the parallels with our current reality: the fights among the "gods," the use of human sacrifice and technologies to prolong life. Love the 13 medallion, I would not have 'counted' had you not pointed it out.
Are there any warm and fuzzy feelings in this world, or just a lot of battling for supremacy?
Yes, that's a very good question. When we began playing I was actually in doubt what to make of it. Had I gone too far? would it be relatable at all? I found lots of similarities in history - Iron age Germanic, Celtic, West African and Aztec human sacrifices, the archaic Greek ideas of death and the after life, Egyptian hierarchical cult, Fascism and Stalinism, Capitalism and its technological consumerism - but I wasn't sure it wasn't too bleak.
But as role playing is much more than the game master who invents the world it slowly became clear that the players coped just like ordinary people, by focusing on the little tasks at hand, being kind to others even though things are bad etc. It was actually rather interesting to experience.
Wow!!! I love that. The human condition is a thing, even in imaginary worlds. Makes me wonder if everything we call real isn't actually imaginary.
In a way it is. We are all living in a guarded community where our language and its derivatives - stories, identity, science are the barbed wire protected walls.
The three player have each made their own protagonist who deals with things in their own way. One is mad, cruel and ambitious, one is conformist and doesn't question things, and the last hates the system and avoids magic and Gods as best he can while reluctantly taking care of people they meet. So these three roles have each found a sort of way through all the cruelty. They are trying to figure out what is going on and to analyse all the forces that are manipulating them while they also are part of the system. In reality it is really just like the rest of us :)
and gives credence to the claim some make that we are all living in a vast simulation.
The brain in a vat theory :)
I like these fantastical gods more than the boring Christian one. They do seem a bit demanding though.
I was watching a documentary about Tolkein last night. He built a whole world and never completed all he wanted to do with it, so keep going with yours. I expect a movie eventually.
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Yes, Tolkien was one of the pioneers. His project was insane :) Let's see about the film. I am working on some film project right now (as part of my normal business) and there are many interesting ways to do such things these days with computers taking over some of the tedious and expensive tasks. I do plan to make some film myself, but I will finish the last album of Phill first :)
The maps you posted before is related to the history of this game?
you are buildiing a entire world man!!
I am building a world and it gets more complicated by every turn :)
Sorry to hope in.
what are your thoughts about the creature of this world ?
This is all super cool
Thanks :) and there's much more to come.
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