Basics

As a god you are one of the most powerful beings in existence. As such you benefit from a few advantages that set you apart from mortals.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 02:50, Thu 11 Nov 2021.

Celestial Body

Gods are largely more resilient then mortals regardless of their Resilience attribute. They cannot contract mundane diseases, heal from wounds faster, and fatigue more slowly. When in Inner Core or Personal Realms (See Realms for details) they also do not need to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe as they are close to the core of Creation and thus can fuel their basic needs through their divine connection to it.

Tradition and magical effects still operate as normal on gods.

Divine Senses

A god can identify the Rank, Aspects and Nature of a Monster/Creature with a single glance. This does not reveal Attributes or Skills although this can be overcome with the appropriate divination spell or ability.

A god can also note those that are tainted by FAITH (those gifted or modified through Faith) at a glance. This will only reveal the god that has gifted such a mortal with Faith modifications/powers as long as they have met the god prior to meeting the mortal. If they have met the god before then they recognize their signature on their souls. If they have not met the deity before, the mortal will register as any other mortal.

Divinities & Entities will register the Domains of influence as well as rank to the god viewing them unless they can veil this from view through skill or ability.

A Divine is able to view the type of energy released by a being, thus able to know if a power/manifestation is based on the powers of Faith, Domain, Eldritch, Arcanic, Psychic and Natural (those based on natural occurrences within Creation).

Triplet Existence

A god has three lives to live. When killed they return to the primordial dream-realm where gods are birthed until they can reconstitute and resurrect. With each death they are weakened on an essential level until they can no longer reconstitute themselves and their identities are lost forever.

This is the cycle of creation and destruction, birth and death. With the passing of a god into Final Death their Realm will begin to wither and perish before ceasing to exist all together unless passed to an Heir or some other form of influence is brought upon the realm to avoid this from happening. Those souls unbound to a Paradise will be lost to the steady entropy of the Nether or consumed by fleeing monsters and alien forces.

Realm Authority Check

Realm Authority Checks are made when a Deity is trying to influence an area or counter the authority of another force that is influencing an area. Low ranked Deities will normally have a hard time of this until they set up Faith Structures or increase in rank/skill.

The Realm Authority Check is calculated as follows:

DIVINE RANK + SKILL BONUSES + FAITH STRUCTURES IN PROVINCE

Modifiers relate to your skill in Divine Mastery/Realm Authority Mastery and will affect the time needed to have the effect desired take place. As well, if there is a contesting force, this modifier will work against your ability to counter the contesting forces ability to stop you from doing your action. To succeed, your INFLUENCE strength must be +1 or more vs the opposing forth within that province/area. (a Check vs Check of 0 always gives the win to the forces controlling the province. If no one controls the province, then the order of verification to see who succeeds is as follows:

- Divine Rank
- Skills
- Faith Structures in Province

If a tie still occurs due to this then the defender succeeds.

Realm Authority

A God is the supreme authority within their Personal Realm. While truly grand efforts will require Tradition, there are many things that a god can perform with concentration and focus although the time varies depending on the alteration. Employing Realm Authority on a gods personal realm in a province he does not control can be done but will have modifiers.

Claiming a province within a realm is not something that is simply done by stating that it is yours. To consider a province under a deities control requires that any opposing force within the province is removed and that the province itself has been secured from any threats to the deity.

In other inner realms, the god that has control of a province will be able to apply realm authority as well but with modifiers. Outer realms cannot have realm authority applied to them (except as stated) while Pantheonic Realms are limited as to what realm authority can be used.

Aarde Realms are different in that the realms have many more provinces than a regular realm.  Thus while a deity may have much control over on province, it may be surrounded by the influence of other deities all around it and thus limit its control over the area outside of the province which it has influence over.

Personal Realms (your own)



Aarde Realm



Inner Realms



Outer Realms



Pantheonic Realms



Secret Realms



Alter Weather: This will allow the deity to alter the weather in an area to a certain degree. Skill level in Realm Authority Mastery will decide the amount of variation that can be done (see Skills for more details as to the various power level structure of skill levels). Altering weather will work with a difference of degrees (we’ll work Celsius for campaign purposes) from the current temperature, wind strength, types of weather etc. The higher the skill rank, the more powerful the effects can be (as well as scale of the effect)

Alter Landmass: As with Alter Weather, the effect will be affected by the rank in skill of Realm Authority Mastery. As skill increases, control over the effects will be more controlled and the repercussive effects will be limited. Scale of the changes, as well as the time needed to put them in place, will also be diminished. With this one can raise mountains, change a landscape or even bring up cities and monuments from the ground itself. When bringing about changes to the landscape that wish to bring forth an artistic approach one may use other related skills to aid in this (ex: Construction or Artistry)

Alter Mortals: The deity may alter the form of a mortal. It is a long process, requiring weeks to months, but can be done on any mortal. If the mortal is accepting of the alteration, no check is necessary. If the mortal opposes the modification as it is being done then a verification equal to DIVINE RANK + SKILLS + FAITH STUCTURE BONUS vs MORTAL RANK is necessary. The difference must by positive (+1 or higher) to succeed.

It is important to note that alterations to Mortals cannot grant them abilities or skills but it can change their form, behavior, or inherent nature. A species of sea-dwellers can be made to be amphibious but they cannot be made to summon storms. Higher ranks in Realm Authority Mastery will lower the time required to do this. Note that changes made to these mortals will changes their genetics and thus allow them to pass these traits onto their descendants.

Create Portals: This allows a deity to open a portal that is 1 foot larger in diameter than the deity is tall. This portal will remain active for 1 hour upon which it will close. It is a two way portal for anyone travelling through it and can be closed prematurely at the gods choosing. If opened in a realm other than your personal realm an opposing deity may attempt to close your portal if they wish, requiring an opposed Realm Authority Check.

Sense Presence of other Divinities/Entities: This allows a deity to concentrate to sense any opposing deity. This requires the deity (save within controlled provinces in their Personal Realm) to concentrate and sense such presences. The other deity then does an opposing Realm Authority Check to see if they can hide their presence or not. Location is never known, only the presence of such beings (unless special items/powers are used to do this). In ones Personal Realm, within controlled provinces, this effect is passive. Any deity/entity entering such a realm/province will have to do a Realm Authority Check or be sensed by the deity who rules there. If they are able to remain hidden, then they can move about without being known as being present until the deity that is home of that realm decides to actively sense for the presence of other beings in his realm. In that case a new Realm Authority Check will be done.

Paradox

Paradox is the ability for a god to appear in more than one place at once. This ability is restricted only by the status of the realm that the god wishes to be in. In game terms, a God may appear in as many REALMS as he wishes, but no more than one instance may exist per thread.

In terms of how many REALMS he may appear on, this is only restricted by the type of realm it is.



So one can exist in a Core Realm, an Outer Realm as well as 4 Inner Realms all at once. Trying to form an instance in a second Core Realm while still being in another will simply not function.

Note that one cannot paradox to a realm until one has at least visited it once beforehand. Only The Nexus allows a Divine to visit it without having once been to it.

Realm Status

CAELUM REALMS: A realm which has no god and is considered the equal domain of all divine beings. Gods may have as many instances as they desire within realms of this nature although they may not have multiple instances within the same Realm. Paradox allows divine beings to travel freely and near instantaneously through these realms to locations of import that they have already visited. The Nexus is an example of a Caelum Realm. A Caelum realm has no provinces. These realms are marked as Caelum Realms.

CORE REALMS: The Core Realms are realms that contain the essence of Creation. While some of these realms can be visited with caution without ill effect, many have forces that even the Divine need to be wary of. The forces that make up the Core Realms are overwhelming, even to the Divine and so caution should be taken. Core realms have no provinces. These realms are marked as Core Realms. No one can claim ownership of a Core Realm as they are integral to the existence of Creation itself yet many do try and control niches within them.

PERSONAL REALM: The personal Realm of a god is found in the Inner Realms. A Personal Realm is closed to Paradoxing from other Gods or Entities until a century has passed within that realm since the God that it was created from awakens into existence. After this initial century of existence, the realm follows the rules of all other Inner Core Realms for travel to and from the realm. Before a full century has passed within the realm a god must be invited by the god owning the realm to be able to enter it. Gods do not look well onto those that dare to enter their realms uninvited. A god, through Mastery over their realm, may block access to their realm even from those that have come to it in the past. (More on this in REALM AUTHORITY). Personal Realms have 5 provinces that make up the realm. These realms are marked as Personal Realms.

PERSONAL REALM: The personal Realm of a god is found in the Inner Realms. A Personal Realm is closed to Paradoxing from other Gods or Entities until a century has passed within that realm since the God that it was created from awakens into existence. After this initial century of existence, the realm follows the rules of all other Inner Core Realms for travel to and from the realm. Before a full century has passed within the realm a god must be invited by the god owning the realm to be able to enter it. Gods do not look well onto those that dare to enter their realms uninvited. A god, through Mastery over their realm, may block access to their realm even from those that have come to it in the past. (More on this in REALM AUTHORITY). Personal Realms have 3 provinces that make them up but this number may grow or diminish over time.

AARDE REALM: Aarde Realms are realms that are created by Creation to birth new Divinities. As an Aarde Realm is created a new generation of Divinities is born. These realms, upon creation, will be highly influenced by the actions (and inactions) of the Divinities born from it. After a century of existence the Aarde Realms are connected to The Perpetuam, a river that runs through the realms of Creation and links them all into one vast tapestry. Once this occurs, the influence of outsiders may occur as some may see this new realm, and all its riches, ripe for the taking.

OUTER REALM: Outer realms are realms existing outside of the Divine womb of Creation. These realms were formed more from energies and forces rather than realms that came into existence when a god came to be while some are said to be realms that once were part of the Inner Realms but as the deities that brought them to life expired, they began to drift away into the Outer rims of Creation. These realms can have variable effects on Divine beings. Some realms may empower the Divine while others may limit their abilities. Not all Outer realms can be claimed and those that are generally have entities that have laid claim to the provinces within them. Exploring the Outer Core is not something a new god should do on their own. Outer Core realms contain 2-5 provinces. These realms are marked as Outer Realms.

PANTHEONIC REALM: Pantheonic Realms are realms that were created by the gods themselves using a Seed of Creation. While they may have been created at various times of existence, all share one thing: They were created and shaped by the gods who brought them into creation. These realms can be found between the Inner and Outer Core realms. These realms cannot be claimed as Inner Core realms but can bring boons to the Divine who establish their presence upon them. These realms are usually the site of FAITH WARS as gods establish their faith among the beings that live upon these realms, vying for control or balance with the other gods and entities that are established there. Pantheonic Realms contain 2-10 provinces, dependent on the amount of gods that took part in its creation. These realms are marked as Panth Realms.

SECRET REALM: A secret realm is a realm that cannot be accessed by paradox. They exist outside of the womb of Creation, untethered from the Perpetuam. These realms must be accessed through gates or other special means and travelling to them removes all other instances from other realms. These realms are usually realms that the Divine venture to under very careful planning for to have but one instance of oneself is a dangerous thing for a Divine being. Secret realms can contain 0 to 5 provinces. These realms are marked as Secret Realms.

A god must maintain at least 1 instance at all times. Attempts to remove your last instance simply fail. A god is assumed to be of one body while Paradoxed across Realms. Knowledge, Souls, and distilled Aspects/Natures gained by any instance become available to all instances.

If a god creates an Artifice item or Invokes a Monster they exist only in that Realm and must be brought across through Portals or equipped to an available Artifice Slot.

It is important to note that damage suffered, including reductions to Aura, are shared across instances. Spell uses, however, are not. No magical effect not instilled into an item permanently is simply lost. This is regardless of duration or Rank. Healing across realms follows its own rules. See HEALING section for details.

Aarde Realm

An Aarde Realm is a realm that is created within Creation when a new flock of Deities are born. Such realms are vast and rare and seen as realms to push ones influence by deities/entities as they vye for the Faith/Control over the mortals that inhabit them.

The Aarde realm that will be the birth place of the current deities will see them born of it. They are a part of the realm itself, they having been created from it just as their Personal Realm was born of they and their Domain. Yet this realm, the Aarde Realm, is its own place. Just as the mortals born of this realm, the deities are born of it as well yet their status as divinities places them above the mortals in terms of the power they hold.
 How the divinities will influence the realm itself is upto them.

As described earlier, the first century will see the realm unhindered by outside forces. Once a century has passed since their awakening, the Perpetuam will begin to flow through the realm in select areas, opening their realm to being explored by outside forces.

Their are hundreds of Provinces within an Aarde realm, these provinces each needing a week of travel for a mortal on foot. Thus these provinces would be much smaller than those of other realms. Yet to establish once control over such provinces requires the same form of work as other realms except with one added need: Establishing a Faith Structure.

Faith Structures will establish a range of influence over a certain amount of Provinces on an Aarde Realm dependant on their size. See Faith Strucutures for details.

Personal Realm

Each Personal Realm has 3 Provinces. At the beginning of the game the god will appear in one Province which will contain a majority of their race. This province will still be under dispute as they will need to ensure their land is free of anyone or anything that would oppose their rule. As the deity expands his will and control over his realm he will overcome the challenges that are brought forth. It is to be noted that even once a realm is tamed it will always bring forth challenges, wanting to break free from the control the deity has upon it. The Realm Authority Skill will aid in ensuring these contesting forces are minor and limited.

As described earlier, the first century will see the deity unhindered by outside forces within his realm. Once a century has passed since his or her awakening, the Perpetuam will begin to flow through the realm in select areas, opening their realm to being explored by outside forces.

When the realm, as a whole, is under the control of the deity it shall gain a REALM BOON.

Realm Boon: A realm boon is an effect (decided by the player with GM discretion) that will give an overall effect to beings within the realm. This will affect all, sometimes with certain parameters set in place, to either benefit, or hinder, them.

Example: Balis takes control of the 5th province within his personal realm. Being the god of magic, he feels the energies of the realm flow through him, taking on a nature of his very domain as all magic within the realm gains a bonus to spell threshold when cast.

With each Province under the god's command the other Provinces become more difficult to gain as the realm itself will try and fight the dominant force that the deity represents. While the realm is of the deity, and they deity a part of the realm, they are to forces vying for dominance. The Monsters in the region have been given time to feast and grow more powerful, to organize and build, and even rally the support of outside forces and entities should they be permitted.

Gaining provinces outside of your personal realm will not give any boons in terms of abilities or powers. These are usually taken to expand ones Faith, control valuable resources and gain passive Essence gain as well as possible increase the Divine rank of the deity.

Time

Note that time runs differently upon each realm. While a minute may pass in one realm, a week or even years may pass in another.

In game terms, it means that each instance of yourself exists in REAL TIME of the other. So, if in your own realm you are walking for weeks to go to one place or another yet in the Nexus you are talking with another god, both are happening at the SAME TIME. Time is fluid and no one can be acting ahead of another since time, for the gods, is the same at all time: it is happening in the immediate.

Note that while this is true where instances of a god exist in many realms, when a realm is left on its own, time will flow ever forward. The Inner Core runs at a different pace than the Outer Core and the Core realms. Wary to the gods who venture into the realms beyond the Inner Core without keeping an instance in their personal realm.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:01, Fri 30 Sept 2022.

Essence

Essence is the key resource of all gods. Nearly all actions are fueled by the use of Essence and its consumption. Essence is pure spiritual energy that is released when a being dies.

The primary gain of Essence is passive. As a God you will gain 100 Essence each week per Divine Rank (real time) and may obtain bonus Essence for outstanding role play or completing major objectives. As you grow in strength your passive Essence collection will increase, although there are means of augmenting this.

Another method of gaining Essence is to kill monsters. When a monster is slain it releases a quantity of Essence relative to its rank. Please reference the monster section for further details.

Essence can also be used as Currency. In game terms, a god may transfer his essence into forms of payment to mortals or other being. While Divine/Entities will use Essence itself as a currency, mortals do not. They use more tangible forms such as gold or paper money. A Divinity may pay off a mortal using Essence which will take the form of the currency the mortal/being uses.

Ex 1: The Deity meets a human merchant. He requests an armor of endurance from the merchant. The merchant requests 2,000 gold pieces in payment which the deity pays by passing forth some Essence which becomes gold pieces before the merchants eyes.

Ex 2: The Deity appears before a primitive hunter. He is in need of a place to rest and rewards the hunter. As the primitive hunter has no form of currency, it views food as a form of payment and thus the essence becomes a nutritious basket of fruits and meats for the hunter to use to feed his family.

Thus while Essence may form a currency other than gold or food or other items, it cannot create something that the deity simply wants (such as a weapon or the like). What will be formed by the Essence is in "the Eye of the Beholder", so to speak, becoming that which the payee truly sees as a form of currency and not necessarily what it wants (like a luxury car).

1 Essence = 10 Gold Pieces (or value there off).

While a deity cannot make fractions of essence in payment he may keep the excess owed when the value is created (so keeping 3 of the 10 gold for payment for example)

Domain Mastery & Incarnations

Mastery of ones Domain is something all Divine, at one point or another, will wish to accomplish. While Minor, Major, Greater and Arch Powers allow one to call forth a form of this control, calling upon ones Domain can grant major boons to your allies as well as allow a deity to ravage an enemy.

One will gain an Incarnation that they will be able to call upon at certain levels of their advancements, Mastery's that are known and understood by the Deity and can be called upon without worry of loss of control or failing in manifesting it.

Your ability to call forth Incarnations beyond those known will require practice. Incarnations are not mastered easily and while a deity may bring forth effects of an Incarnation they do not know, its effects are never as great, or as constant, as when known.

Essence Consumption

As previously mentioned Essence is consumed to fuel various abilities. Below is a summary of some of the costs.



Advancement

When major objectives are accomplished a god increases in Divine Rank. These Ranks provide attribute and skill improvements, some bonus, and at certain thresholds provide Titles to reflect their increased power.

Note that there are ranks about the 10th. When a god reaches the rank of 11+, they gain access to powers beyond that which are held by the gods of lower ranks. These powers are grand and can have great and devastating effects on large areas or vast amounts of people. These powers normally take much power to manifest and thus are not used often yet the fact they are able to be called upon by a god makes them beings one would not want to take on without much preparation and aid.

Detailed below are the ranks, titles, improvements, and benefits.



Skill Point Gain: Gaining skill points in a skill is straightforward in its approach. It may be applied to any skill the god has a rank of Novice in or better. Skill progression is as follows:



If one applies it to a skill rank that cannot be raised fully, the % gain for the skill in question will be calculated as SKILL POINTS / POINTS NEEDED TO RAISE.

Ex: Jorgan gains 3 Skill points upon attaining his new rank. He applies them to his skill of Tradition which he is already of Journeyman skill (3). He thus gains (3 / 5 = 60%) 60% gain his his skill bringing him to 3 [60%], thus needing only 40% more training to reach the next rank.

Minor/Major Power: Gods gain new powers they can call upon at certain ranks. They can gain a Major Power that accesses their Primary Domain or can gain a Minor Power.

Salient Ability: As a God you gain a salient ability. This salient ability is innate and requires no Essence to activate. It is not as powerful as a Divine Power yet should be a reflection of your Gods being, based on his actions/way of thinking. It is a formidable natural ability of the god that mortals would be unable to do themselves unless empowered somehow.

Resistance: You are now resistant to some source of harm. Subtract your Rank from any damage that you would suffer from this source. Sources should be limited (blades, fire, etc.)

Honor Guard: Your divine power has reached out and ceased fragments of Creation, molding them into a group of protectors whose loyalties are absolute and powers are reflective of their god. These units are considered Elite and are treated as if they possess Natures the same as your Domains. They also gain 1 ability for each of your Domains (two if you only have 1 Domain). If such a unit exists already elevate them to the appropriate status and refund any Souls spent in their advancement. An Honor Guard is comprised of 5 Elite beings. If less than this are formed then the remaining energy will enhance those that exist. If more are created, then the energy to create them will be diluted among them. Honor Guard are unique and thus have their own personalities and thoughts yet are completely loyal to the Deity and will change in temperment as he/she does.

Zone of Influence: Your Divinity allows you to establish a Zone of Influence around yourself. This Zone is stationary and replaces your Aura (which, while the Zone is present is dampened). It will establish your Domains as a dominant force, allowing you to present a claim within a range of 10 feet * (Divine Rank + Divine Mastery Skill). You will be able to manifest Incarnations of your Domains within this Zone of Influence at no cost. Other Gods/Entities may try and remove this Zone of Influence, contesting it. This becomes a battle of (Will + Rank (Divine or otherwise) + Divine Mastery Skill). Mortals may try and contest such a Zone but cannot use Rank to contest unless it is empowered by Faith.

Incarnation: Your ability to call forth upon your Domain has grown and you gain a mastery to calling a form of it to manifest upon your command. While this Incarnation is controlled, it is costly as requires an investment of 100 Essence to manifest. The effects of an Incarnation are powerful effects that show the true might of the Domain of the deity and will influence over a large area/numbers of targets. These are not as powerful as Arch Powers due to their scale and power but are more powerful than Major Powers. A god can make the effect gros in powers/range or even effect by increasing its increment (see Essence chart for cost)

Divine Hero: Your divine power reaches out once more and forges a Divine Hero. Divine Heroes are generally forged from the Faithful of a god but may take the shape of another form as decided by the god itself. A Divine Hero is your mortal instrument in which to exact your will. They are treated as if a Rank 5 unit whose Natures are the same as your Domains and gain up to 3 Aspects of your choosing (based on what you have gathered in the past but do not necessarily own). If an existing being is elevated to the status of Divine Hero they can gain Aspects up to 3 and they gain your Domains in addition to any Nature they previously possessed up to a maximum of 4. Refund the cost of any improvements and gain 1 ability for each Nature possessed, excluding any that were already possessed.

Mastery: You have reached the end of your path and with it has come mastery of a skill. Mastery of Skill is an achievement that grants the ability to forge or do things that regular practioners cannot. (See Mastery in the Skill section for details) Mastery is applied to a skill that can be Mastered (Rank 5). A god must at least be Journeyman (Rank 3) in the skill to have it boosted to Mastery. An example mastery may be pyromancy for envoker, riding for knight, and artifice for blacksmith.

Immunity: You are now immune to some specific source of harm. Any form of attack using this type of source will simply cause no harm. Note that empowered items would see the abilities/powers cause harm but the item/source itself would have its own damage removed.

Example: Rivalon is immune to Iron. He is struck by a longsword made of Iron (2 Weapon Base) that is also imbued with the ability to cause a burst of fire for a threshold of 8. The blade itself would cause no harm (removing also Might bonus and skill bonus that was part of the damage) but the burst of fire would strike forth, scorching Rivalon for 8 damage.

An immunity must be specific and not to vague. One can choose weapons made of Iron but cannot say all metallic weapons.

Heir: You have amassed enough power to spawn a new god. Your Heir inherits a primary domain related to your own and a secondary domain of the GM's choosing. This new Heir does not have their own Realm but can forge one using a Paradise Seed. If you experience final death you may continue the game as your Heir who inherits all that you possess. Heirs will have their own personality and free will. How they are dealt with will decide how they react. If the deity dies and takes them over then they are under their control and the decisions made by the Heir, at this points, are the players to decide.

Arch Power: Arch Powers are powers related to the Domain of the god. These powers, unlike Major Powers, are grand in their effect. Almost primal in their grasp of the Essence to empower this ability, the cost to bring this power to bare is costly in both Essence and to the gods physical being as well. While these powers are not used often, the fact that they can makes the gods who have access to them given the respect they deserve.

Example of an Arch Power would be the Odinforce which protects Asgaard, and the realms, from harm and intrusion by the forces that would bring down the realms protecting by the Kings of Asgaard. While its use is passive in the more general sense, its continuous activation forces Odin to enter the Odinsleep, forcing him to be vulnerable during this time and leaving the realms of Asgaard vulnerable to attack.

The scale of these powers will relate to their effect but could span many kilometers, to provinces, to realms themselves depending on the effects they have.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:55, Mon 30 Jan 2023.

Aura

Every god is shrouded in a sphere of invisible divine power. This shroud acts as a dampener to any damage that would be dealt to the god. The strength of a god's Aura is equal to their Spirit plus their Divine Rank and reduces damage by that value before being further reduced by armor. Certain items can augment the efficiency of an Aura and even bestow it special effects. Attacks which are half or more than the current aura reduce its power by 1 until it is allowed to regenerate, often at a rate of 1 per 5 minutes (game time). Note that as the aura is shared among all the instances of the god, the minutes must transpire equally in all the realms for it to regenerate.

Even an unconscious and dying god benefits from their Aura.

An attack is considered to be one form of attack that causes damage. Thus 2 fists striking a god would see each fist attack considered separately. This means that if they can do enough damage an opponent using multiple attacks can bring down a gods Aura very quickly.

Celestial Vault

A deity has the capacity to store energies within itself. This is true with Essence, as well as Natures & Aspects (as described below). They are also able to hold, within their beings, the souls of Monsters. The amount of souls they can gather and hold within themselves is limited by the Divine Rank and Spirit. A Divinity is able to hold 2 * (Divine Rank + Spirit Attribute) of Monster Soul Ranks within their being.

These souls can be called upon through Invocation (see more on this under Invocation) or used in Animancy (Fusion, Genesis, etc).

There are ways for deities to collect more than this amount of Monster Soul Ranks through magical means or items etc.

Diseases and Ailments

Diseases of mundane nature have no sway over gods but magical and theurgic, as well as other types not mentioned, afflictions do. If a diseases threshold value is higher than the gods Resilience, or Will (depending on the disease, plus any relevant skills or abilities) it takes hold. Diseases normally impart some negative condition which lasts until it is cured or otherwise removed.

Ailments, unlike diseases, affect gods equally. These ailments are often bodily conditions such as starvation, thirst, confusion, etc. An Ailment takes hold if the gods Resilience or Will is lower than the threshold and lasts until remedied in some fashion.

Ailments by their nature can increase in intensity if ignored and can debilitate gods if left unchecked.

Language

A god instinctively knows how to communicate with other Gods and Mortals. Mortals must have a spoken language of some kind for the Deity to be able to understand and communicate with them. Note that the fact the deity is able to communicate with a mortal does not mean he knows the language, it simply is their Divinity translating their words to be understand in the language of the mortal and vice versa. For a Deity to then read/write or teach such a language to another, he will need to LEARN the language itself.

These boons and limitations also extend to any Intelligent monsters that has a spoken language.

Note that understanding the words spoken is different than understanding the written word.

Vitality

A being has a number of Health Points equal to 10 + (10 * Resilience), with each God beginning with a minimum 20 HP. When injured, HP is reduced by a factor equal to the Damage - any armor that the god may be wearing or in the case of magical defenses, shielded by. If a god is reduced to 0 HP they are unconscious and considered dying. If they suffer further harm, reducing them to -6 or lower HP they are dead and lose one of their lives until they experience Final Death.

Mortals and Monsters do not follow this rule. If reduced to negative hit points  they may survive upto a negative amount equal to their rank. Anything below that and they are considered dead.

Healing

A god  heals 1 HP each day (game time) per point in Resilience regardless of their activity. If a god is reduced to negative HP but is not dead they will recover to 0 HP within an hour (game time) and then begin healing at the usual rate. This rate can be augmented by abilities and magical items.

Monsters heal at rate of 1 HP/Resilience/Day (game time) but only while resting. If active this rate is cut in half, rounded down to a minimum of 0.

Mortals heal 1 HP/Resilience/Week (game time) although this doubles if resting. Gifted (or better) Units heal as if Monsters of equivalent Resilience.

Gods can exist on multiple realms at once yet while their bodies are synced for their Aura’s and damage taken, it is not for healing. Thus healing the wounds on one realm will not aid the god in another realm until atleast 3 rounds have passed (3 updates by the GM) in the realm that is not the one where the healing took place. This is to take into consideration the time delays that differ from realm to realm.

Aramanth

If a God is dying (between 0 and -5 inclusively) you may decide to do Aramanth upon them. By drinking your opponent god’s blood as the final blow, thus draining their life, you gain 25% of their Essence that they have at that moment once they die as well as gain 1 in Divine Rank (while lowering the God who died by 1 Divine Rank).

Note that Aramanth is dealt at a rate of 1 HP damage per round of action (shielding has no effect upon this).

This act defiles the god doing Amaranth and they gain a Corruption. Corruptions are both boon and curse as they give the god some special ability but also a weakness.

Example: Sabris, the Mad God of Beasts. Corruption - Feral: The possessor is no longer affected by abilities that would target their Will. In return they cannot recognize friend from foe, attacking enemies or perhaps even their Faithful Units, bound Monsters, and allied gods once they begin fighting.

If Aramanth is done upon the final life of a God, then the remaining Essence the God had are taken in full by the God that is doing Aramanth, as well as any accumulated Monster Souls, Natures and Aspects that the God had accumulated and not used. As well, the God doing Aramanth will gain one of the Domains controlled by the now dead deity as a Secondary Domain, increasing their total number of Domains beyond that which they were born with.

Sanctum

A Sanctum is a special location which can only be created within a Realm which the God has control over the ENTIRE realm. The only exception to this is a Caelum Realm which will allow a deity to make a Sanctum within even though he/she cannot claim control over this type of realm.

Within their Sanctum, gods are effectively immune to harm.

- None can enter a god's sanctum without permission and that permission can be revoked as they deem necessary, forcibly expelling the now intruder. (A gods Will and Divine Rank will come into play to deny access to another being. This may vary based on the god itself. The Deity who owns the Sanctum gains a +10 on this check.)
- A god who dies within the bounds of their sanctum does not lose a life and instead regenerates in their Throne Room.
- A god has total awareness of everything that occurs within their Sanctum, even the thoughts of their Faithful and bound Monsters, should they possess any.
- A god can paradox to any location within their Sanctum.

The layout and composition of a god's Sanctum is up to their discretion although chambers and areas with a Tradition effect still require the expenditure of Essence to make permanent. However, all Sanctums have a Throne Room which is the heart of the Sanctum in which none can enter outside of the god. From their Throne Room they can observe any Province they command in their home realm and commune with any of their Faithful.

A Sanctum can be created using 5,000 Essence and can withstand damage as if they possessed a Resilience and/or Will five times greater than their god and possessed an Aura that was five times as powerful.

A god whose Sanctum is destroyed loses 1 life.

Sanctums also have a Zone of Influence equal to their Divine Rank x 100 feet. Within this range they can construct fortifications and other structures as they deem fit. Faithful and bound Monsters within this area are treated as if they under the effect of the god's Helm or Spectre respectively.

Paradise

A Paradise is a second Realm, one for the deities Faithfuls Souls if the god so chooses. A Paradise obeys the will of its creator and is more mutable then their Personal Realm. Souls within a Paradise can never truly perish and will continue indefinitely into the future even if their god is slain.

A Paradise is created through a Paradise Seed, a small piece of Creation with the power to birth new Realms. All Realms are made from a Paradise Seed and their rarity makes them highly coveted.

A Paradise has a single entrance within the gods personal realm (or other realm if he chooses so). If this entrance is destroyed then no souls may enter the Paradise and it becomes a Lost Realm. Paradises built by gods with Sanctums have their entrances within their Sanctum and benefit from its protections.

When the chosen of a God enter the Paradise, they cannot be summoned by another God (even if their true name is known) but may be called upon, by the God himself who created the Paradise for his Faithful, at half the cost that the Invocation would cost.

Without a Paradise the Faithful suffer the same fate as those without a Faith that offers them a Paradise upon death.

Enhancing Mortals

Mortals have five tiers: Novice, Adept, Elite, Gifted & Heroic.

A Novice is rank 1 and has no special skills.

An Adept is rank 1 and has a class which provide a +1 bonus to relevant actions.

An Elite is rank 2 and has a feat that is relevant in their class providing a +2 bonus to Thresholds that have to do with their class.

These three ranks are ranks that can be gained naturally over time by Mortals (yet it is difficult and can take a VERY LONG TIME to get to Elite).

Gifted mortals almost never reach this rank on their own (yet can through certain circumstances). They are the epitome of their class and are of rank 3. They will gain a special ability when becoming gifted and also gain a resistance that is related to their class/life thus far in some way.

Heroic mortals are only able to attain this rank through the enhancement of their deity. These are considered mortal gods by the mortals of that race and these mortals will gain a special ability and a minor powers related to the Domain of their gods choosing. Heroic mortals are of rank 5.

Note that the ranks listed are for the "common or average" mortal advancement. Some may be a level higher (or more) in the same category due to special circumstances but these are the exceptions vs the rule.

Mortals improve with time, often on the order of months to years, but a god can accelerate the process through the consumption of Essence. A Novice individual can be made into a more advanced individual accordingly.



Mortals can wield items of Artifice and can be further improved through Alteration Animancy as if a Monster of their lowest equivalent Rank up to the maximum limit imposed by that Rank.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:59, Fri 30 Sept 2022.

Souls

Monster Souls - Monster Souls are souls which are obtained from the death of monsters. Their souls may contain Aspects and Natures of the monster they originally belong to. Monster Souls have several uses.

The first is simply the dissolution of the soul to obtain Essence and the distilled Aspects and Nature if it had any.

The second is to bind the soul to yourself as your Familiar. You may have one such Familiar at any given time. Familiars can be summoned to your side at will and if killed will resurrect after 1 day (game time) so long as you are alive. Familiars may also Paradox with their bound deity but only one instance of the Familiar may exist at the same time. A Familiar will grow, with time, to align itself more prominently with the Domains of the deity. They will never grow beyond Rank 10 and a Monster Soul that is beyond 10th Rank cannot be bound to a deity as a Familiar. The removal of the original familiar will strain the Divine Core of the deity and any subsequent souls bound to the deity as a familiar will make the bond less pronounced, thus the soul will never grow beyond that which it was once bound to the deity. A Familiar gains an empathic connection with the deity which will grow with time to other more prominent abilities.

One may also bind a soul to a mortal. This will have the same effect as a Familiar for that mortal but the monster’s soul will not develop beyond that which it was once bound. They will have an empathic bond with the monster itself.

The third is to keep the Monster Soul to be invoked to aid. Of course, Invoking monsters does have certain limitations, especially if the soul being Invoked is of stronger Will than the god.

Finally the soul can be used to craft items or augmented. Please reference the Animancy and Artifice section for further details.

Mortal Souls - These Souls possess the memories and identities of the person they belonged to. Without a Paradise these souls will be claimed by the Nether, their fate linked somewhat to the deity they followed while also being influenced by forces within Creation.

If a Deity forms a Paradise he may look to reclaim these souls from the Nether. This is normally will require a task/tribute to be accomplished/given which will test the deities resolve or even life. If successful, the souls of his/her Faithful may then enter his/her Paradise instantly, their souls forever safe from the influence other than the Deity him/her self.

If a Paradise exists then the souls will travel to that location and be re-born as the god has dictated.

If a god suffers final death, then those souls outside of a Paradise are lost to the Nether, their form commonly twisted into monsters by the forces that strive to wreck havoc upon Creation. Yet those within the Paradise continue on indefinitely.

A god may consume the souls of the Faithful that are within his Paradise or travel to the Nether to gather the souls of his Faithful. Doing so grants the deity 25 Essence per soul consumed. Note that the repercussions of this are felt by the Faithful and may have repercussions on the Faith that god possesses with his faithful of that race, as well as those of other races that follow his or her word.

Monsters

Monster is a general term for the beings which inhabit the various Realms. Some are twisted beings that were once other than what they are now, garnering power from remnants of Creation to empower themselves while others, over time, evolved into what they now are. While not all monsters are malevolent, all form a specific mold: They are creatures that are more than what mere mortals are. Most are aggressive and simple-minded although more powerful monsters may demonstrate intelligence and even motivations beyond simple survival.

However, Gods should not be led astray by this as monsters are not beings with a soul of their own. By taking on the power over time they have lost their souls in exchange for that power. That, however, does not prevent a god from showing mercy or favoritism to certain beings and some gods have even allowed monsters into their paradises where their cores are made stable by the constant influx of spiritual power.

True Name

The True Name of an Entity, Divine Being or Monster of power is a powerful tool. This does not affect mortals or mundane monsters but those of great power may have such a name. With the True Name of such a being, one can force the one whose True Name you know to do your bidding.

Of course, this is a dangerous thing to try if one is unsure. It is a battle of Will, one that will be played out when the being is Invoked.

If the Will + Rank of the one Invoking the other is higher than the Will + Rank of the one being Invoked, than the one being Invoked must do one service for the other and cannot refuse this act. Note that the act cannot be one that would have the one invoked kill itself or give something of its own to the other. It is a service and one that must be accomplished within a reasonable time. For every hour that passes the Invoker gains a -1 on his ability to control the one summoned.

If the summoned being is equal or more dominant than the Invoker, he may decide to ignore the request or even take revenge on the one that summoned him so. Beings do not like to be controlled in this sense and wary to those that would dare abuse of this power.

Every god has a True Name that is given to them when created. This name is not the same as that which they go by. Gods do not give this information lightly yet there are ways for others to find out such names.

Aspects

Aspects are qualities of a Monster which largely define its form and behavior. It will affect its attributes, qualities and skills.

A massive hydra-like monster might have Aquatic, Serpent, and Dire as Aspects to represent their habitat, form, and size respectively.

Aspects are powerful as they can be bound to items using Artifice and bestow those qualities to the bound item or wielder. Each aspect has a rank, the rank ranging from 1 to 5. The higher the rank, the more prominent this aspect will have on its form, skills, attributes and behavior.

Natures

Natures are the essentially essence of a creature and gives it power and abilities. They are equivalent to a minor form of a Domain or partial representation of a Domain.

As in the previous example a hydra is likely to have a Water and Poison Nature to represent its prodigious command of currents and ability to vomit forth streams of poison.

Natures are powerful because they can be bound to items using Artifice to give the item that nature. As with Aspects, Natures have a rank of 1 to 5. The higher the rank, the more prominent this nature will have on its abilities and powers.

Monster Rank

Each Monster has a Rank which shows its relative strength. Ranks start at 0 to 10. A rank 0 creature should be a nuisance for a beginning deity while a rank 1 should be a small challenge. A rank 2 should be a challenge of equal footing or so for a new deity while a rank 3 should be a formidable foe. Note that ranks should be considered as exponential in growth (thus a Rank 1 Monster is double the strength of a Rank 0. A Rank 2 is double the rank of a Rank 1 and so on)

Note that some monsters achieve a rank beyond 10th. When this occurs they normally become Entities.

Entities

Entities are beings of great power. Some would say they are the counter-balance to Divinities, the counter to their existence. Entities are normally born or formed from a Domain just as Divinities are. They may have been mortals who have taken on the divine powers somehow or Monsters that were twisted and able to surpass what they are through some action or kill.

Yet Entities are not Divinities, being something different yet having a base that is the same. Both are able to call upon the powers of Domains yet the ways they do so is different. Divinities normally see Entities as a threat, and vice versa yet just as not all Divinities strive for the betterment of Mortals and Creation, so to is it for Entities.

Entities, just as Divinities, have no souls yet do have a core that makes them what they are. When a being becomes an Entity, they gain powers somewhat common with Divinities. While Divinities are born from Creation through the formation of an Aarde Realm, Entities are created without true known reason or cause, simply becoming through actions or the simple fact of existing.

Killing an Entity is not final, just as with Divinities. Entities can be killed outright if they control no realm/province yet if they do have Faithful or such places to call home they may respawn over time, exacting revenge upon those that have killed them.

Monster Death

On the death of a monster it releases Essence relative to its Rank. If the souls is broken down then it will provide an additional amount of Essence and may release a number of Aspects and Natures up to the maximum they possess. The deity will get to choose the Aspect/Nature he receives from the soul itself but only a certain amount of them will be had. Those not chosen will return to Creation. Ranks in Animancy will allow you to choose additional Aspects/Natures that are available within the soul.

Note that Rank 0 souls do not give out Aspects/Natures. They are to weak and fragile that when destroyed the Aspects/Natures that were bound to them dissipate back into Creation.



Invocation

Invocation is the temporary summoning of a Soul/Monster/Entity or Deity whose soul a god possesses  or that you know the true name of. To invoke a soul you must expend souls equal to 50 + (10 times its Rank) and it remains manifest for a scene or 1 hour; whichever is more appropriate. To maintain them beyond that time is their 10 + (Rank * 10) for each additional scene or hour.

A god can have a number of Monsters Invoked equal to their Divine Rank + Will. Any others Invoked above this limit are lost to the god as they regain their form and independence, often to flee or attack their previous master.

Note that while souls of monsters owned by a god are controlled by it, they are only subservient to the god if the gods (Will + Divine Rank) is above the (Will + Rank) of the soul itself. If the gods Will + Divine Rank is not enough to control the soul, then the soul is free to decide if it will obey or not. Intelligent souls owned by a god of low Will and rank can be more of a nuisance when summoned than a boon.

When a soul is invoked, it will complete its task (if the Divinity has control over it). Once the task is complete, the soul is free and will escape into the wild, the souls energy escaping within the realms fabric to reform later on.

If the deity wishes to avoid this from happening, they will have to Attune the Monster soul to itself, stabilizing the energies that form the Monsters Core. Doing so costs 100 Essence + 100 Essence per Monster Rank. Once this is done, the soul of the Monster is harmonized with the deities and will not turn upon the deity at any time and will return to the deities Celestial Vault once its Invocation is complete. Thus this is a way for a deity to keep certain Monster Souls at their disposable for multiple uses. These souls are stagnant in terms of development unless the deity alters them through Animancy.

Invoking an Entity or Deity using their True Name follows the same principle/cost but as these beings have no Souls they are not permanently bound to the god invoking them. Ensuring control over such beings being invoked is paramount to ensure they do not exact revenge afterwards for calling upon them.

Invoking the soul of a Faithful from ones Paradise is done as like a Monster but once completed, the soul returns to the Paradise.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:40, Tue 12 Sept 2023.

Animancy

Animancy is the method of creating new souls through the use of entire souls or Essence combined with Aspects and Natures. There are three methods of animancy: fusion, alteration, and genesis.

Note that the Animancy Skill Rank determines the level of Essence once can work with. The Sub-specialty of the Animancy Skill (Fusion, Genesis and Alteration) will affect the Chance of Rank/Nature/Aspect Increase in value.

Fusion is taking two Monster Souls and combining them together. This process can only be used on Monster Souls of the same Rank. The new monster inherits a random collection of Aspects and Natures that the two material souls possessed, up to the limit imposed by their Rank. Fusion has a chance to increase the Rank of the monster which is related and determined by the rank of fusion material souls. The god has no control over the outcome save for what he puts into the fusion itself.



Alteration is taking the Essence of an Aspect or Nature and adding it to a Monster/Chosen/Created Soul. This new Aspect or Nature is gained up to the maximum limit imposed by the Souls Rank. If added in excess of this level the Aspect or Nature will randomly replace one already possessed by the soul, although the replaced Aspect or Nature is simply lost. However, there is a likelihood that the new Aspect or Nature will combine with an existing one at the same likelihood as fusion based Aspect/Nature combination. The same limitations exist in terms of Aspect and Nature complexities.

Genesis is the process of creating an entirely new Monster Soul. This is done by combining Aspects and Natures that the god possesses and expending the requisite amount of Essence to stabilize it. Genesis has no chance of Aspect or Nature combinations but may see the value of a Nature/Aspect (randomly) increase.

The chance of an Aspect/Nature increasing in rank is the same as Fusion.

Genesis cannot fail but the cost of having control over what is created comes at a cost of Essence. Rank in Animancy determines the level of Genesis one can create.

Note that a monster created through Genesis can never rank above 10 but its descendants, if any, can.

Rank Limits and Genesis Cost

Artifice

Artifice is the act of combining Aspects and Natures to items. For the purposes of Artifice there are five classes of items: Helm, Raiment, Sceptre, Arms, and Ward.

Helms are worn upon the head and can be anything from traditional armor helmets to circlets or crowns. Aspects and Natures instilled into Helms bestows the quality to those beings/monsters under the wearers direct leadership or command.

Raiment's are worn upon the body and can be anything from fine armor to elaborate robes to even a simple cloak. Aspects and Natures instilled into Raiment's give the wearer those qualities while worn.

Scepters are held in the offhand and can be actual scepters, wands, blasting rods, or similar channeling implements. Aspects and Natures instilled into Scepters can be applied to beings & monsters under the wielders command or leadership.

Arms are held in the main hand and can be any weapon. Aspects and Natures instilled into Arms give that item a quality or special property related to the qualities placed within it.

Wards are worn on the hands and neck and can be anything from simple rings to elaborate jewelry. Aspects and Natures instilled into Wards grant those qualities to the god's Aura, augmenting them. Other beings gain a lesser version of the Aura which possesses only the qualities given to it by the Ward.

While many of the properties Artifice bestows upon items can be replicated with sufficiently advanced divine magic, these are not impeded by efforts to dispel their effects (unless specialty spells are cast to diminish the effects of these items, which could lower its effects temporarily but not permanently. This is extremely difficult to do) and do not have usage limits.

A normal item of Artifice can possess a single Aspect or Nature and a being can wield a single item of each type at any given time. This leads gods to build divine armories where they stockpile and store their most powerful items when not in use. Items possessed by a god travel with them when they Paradox.

Aspects and Natures instilled into items of Artifice cannot be seen using a god's Divine Senses although those with the appropriate skills can determine them through analysis. The same applies for dissembling items of Artifice to obtain their constitute qualities.

While low level items of Artifice can be created with less chance of failure, the stronger more powerful creations of Artifice (created with rare items that can contain more than one Artifice/Nature) have greater chances of failure upon creation, making one lose the aspects/natures/equipment used for the attempted creation.

Arcana and Traditions

All gods have an innate understanding of magic, although their Spirit determines how strongly connected they are to the universal fonts of magic that flow through Creation. Regardless of Spirit however all gods can perform divine magic, which is referred to as Traditions, and are the first Awakened beings to be capable of doing so.

Arcana: Arcana is used by mortals. Such magics are more primal and less fluid than Traditions. Arcana affects monsters at a penalty of -2 Threshold while affecting gods with a penalty of -5 Threshold. This thus affects spell rank and threshold and will affect the spells when cast to aid, or hinder, such beings.

Traditions: Traditions is the magic used by the gods, entities and other powerful creatures within creation. These spells have no penalties when used against monsters or gods but also have no bonus against mortals since they are already at full strength.

At character creation the god will pick a Tradition to define their style. The basic Traditions/Arcana are Protection, Creation, Summoning, Healing, Divination, Necromancy, Enchantment, Evocation, Transmutation and Illusion although additional Traditions/Arcana will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Each Tradition/Arcana is related to a specific attribute to relate to the type of effort the deity needs to use to manifest this manifestation of power. This will also help determine how easily a god will be able to learn and progress in that specific field.



Note to choose wisely, based on your characters style. Once chosen, THAT TRADITION will be the type of spells you will be casting (thus a God using the Tradition of EVOCATION cannot cast Nercromantic Spells unless he gains another Tradition through training (See Training Traditions).

Given the free form nature of the game, spells and other expressions of Tradition will be up to the player's discretion but results will vary depending on GM interpretation. To assist players, however, consult the following information:



Each situation is PER THRESHOLD used for the spell. So casting a spell with 10 Thresholds means you must state how many Thresholds you use for each category. Putting 0 Thresholds in RANGE means it is a TOUCH based spell.
Each category is explained as follows:

Range: The distance the spell will begin to take effect at. You may put 0 Threshold in this category and make the spell a TOUCH spell.

Duration: This is the amount of time the spell will last per Threshold put into the spell. If it is a combat spell it will last less than a non-combat oriented spell. You may put 0 Threshold in such a spell and make in INSTANTANEOUS.

Area of Effect: This is the amount of area the spell will cover when it takes effect. Thus casting a Rank 2 Fireball with 2 range and 1 in AoE will make the fireball strike at a range upto 10 meters away with an area of effect of 5 meters squared.

Effect: This is the ratio used for the effect of the spell for whatever it does (if required). Examples of this would be a healing spell. Cast at Rank 3, each threshold of a healing spell would heal 1 hit point.

If your Traditions Attribute + Traditions Skill Rank Bonus + Tradition Specialty Skill Rank Bonus is 5 then you can cast Spell Rank 1 spells at maximum. Alternatively if your Traditions Attribute + Traditions Skill Rank Bonus + Tradition Specialty Skill Rank Bonus is 11 then you can cast Spell Rank 2 spells at maximum.

You can cast a spell at your maximum Spell Rank for your major action or cast a spell of maximum Spell Rank - 1 and attack as your major action. This is useful for spells that buff yourself or allies / debuff your enemy.

Your Traditions Skill (and specialties) + Traditions Attribute determines both maximum Spell Rank and the relative power of some types of spells, such as shielding and offensive spells. An offensive spell cast with a Traditions Threshold of 6 is equivalent to a Sword attack whose Skill Threshold is a 6. In simpler terms it can do a max of 6 damage.

Note that threshold of spells are used to buff/debuff effects on the recipient, cause damage as well as decide the duration or distance of the effect. Practicing ones spells use before engaging in dangerous situations is useful to avoid surprises, especially as a god learns the use of their spells effects.

Casting Tradition Spells

The number of times a being can use Traditions is limited by their Spirit and Traditions Skill. In a given day a number of spells equal to 2 x  (Spirit + Traditions Skill) can be cast, although spells cost more uses depending on their rank.

Rank 1 Spells: 1 Use
Rank 2 Spells: 2 Uses
Rank 3 Spells: 5 Uses
Rank 4 Spells: 10 Uses
Rank 5 Spells: 15 Uses

Note that this is relative PER INSTANCE of a God. So if a God can cast 6 spells per day and is using spells in his realm and also casts two spell in a Caelum Realm, then each instance would have the following of spells left to cast: 5/6 in his realm, 4/6 in the public realm.

Learning Spells

A god must learn his spells through practice and training. Learning a spell takes time  and effort thus a god learning spells must do so without other actions taking much of his time or concentration.

Training time is reduced by the Intelligence Attribute plus any other modifiers to learning Traditions the being has at a ratio of 1 week per point.

Spells learnt at a lower level can be cast at higher ranks but will only have their Thresholds modified, not the effect. So learning to cast a Fireball at 1st Rank will have a Fireball that will have a burst of fire as a result in the area selected (modified by Thresholds put). A Fireball learnt at 3rd Rank will possibly have a more varied effect such as a swirling inferno effect at its epicenter.

One may not known more than the # of Spells Known allowed in there Divine Self but may learn MORE spells than this, using items or other means to store the spells themselves. In that case, those extra spells would need to have the item/source when being cast and are always considered a full round action to cast due to them being cast by accessing them from a source/item rather than simply calling for the Tradition from your divine self.



Teaching & Training Traditions/Arcana

Training in a Tradition is done by practice and use, as well as attempting greater feats with the Tradition at your disposal. As one gets to use their powers more often and study the ways with which they function, one will develop the skills, and the sub-specialties, of that Tradition.

To teach a Tradition to another, one must be at least ADEPT (rank 2) in skill for that field. Note that a god who knows Traditions may teach a mortal in the art of Arcana of that Tradition and may himself be taught from a mortal an Arcana which would become a Tradition for him thanks to his ability to process the energies in a more refined way.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:18, Thu 11 Nov 2021.

Skills

There are six ranks for Skills.

0: Unskilled
1: Novice (+1 on Thresholds)
2: Adept (Allows access to learn sub-specialties of that Primary Skill if any going forward. +2 on Thresholds)
3: Journeyman (+5 on Thresholds)
4: Gifted (+10 on Threshold)
5: Master (+15 on Threshold and Gain Special Ability based on that skill)

For all basic skills (Running, Jumping, Swimming, etc.) a god is considered to have Master Rank in and cannot fail at these tasks unless some outside force is acting against them. These basic skills do not have sub-specialties or specials associated with them.

Skills are linked to an Attribute. For certain skills the Skill Rank Bonus + Attribute will decide the threshold value to see if you succeed at some action or not. In other cases, the Skill Rank Bonus will add to the threshold of actions (such as Combat). In certain cases, skill add to the success rate of certain actions (as %). These will be categorized below.

When a Skill reaches Adept Level you gain access going forward to sub-specialties related to the skill (if it has any).

At Journeyman level and beyond the bonus to Skill Rank Bonus rises exponentially.

Finally at Master level you gain a special ability that can be used under some circumstance.

Example: Master, Blacksmithing: Items forged by you are always of superior quality and have a 33% chance of gaining an Aspect or Nature.

Periodically you will be rewarded with Skill Progression, given as a percentage, and when you reach 100% you increase to the next Skill Rank and the Progression sets back to 0. Progression is often given in 5-30% increments (Divided by Skill Rank you are trying to attain) and will decrease in amount and frequency as Rank increases.

Skills can be trained during downtime which is stated when a god wishes to do this. Downtime will vary but generally lasts 1-30 weeks. During this time the deity in question is focused on this training but may do small tasks aside from this but nothing that will take him away from his work/training. Thus he may keep an eye on things but would not be handling the day to day tasks or travelling or the like.

Here is a skill tree to show the progression of skills. Note that while some are specific (ex: Block), others are vague in title which means they have various forms (Ex: Specific One-handed Weapon).

So for example, a person can take COMBAT, then Two-Handed Weapons, then Swordsmanship, then Longsword. All of these skill points would add to their threshold in combat with that weapon. To become a MASTER of the LONGSWORD, they would need to gain 3 in each of the skills before it and then 4 in LONGSWORD.

Only certain skills can become a MASTER class. This will be marked by an *

* = Master Class possibility
Italicized = Name of Skill to be determined by choice

Skills that combine the Skill Rank to the Attribute to determine success



Tradtions/Arcana Skill (Add to Threshold of spells, not rank)



Divine Skills (Skills only available to Divinities and Entities)
*** Animancy Skills add as a % at a rate of 5% * Rank ***



Teaching Skills

A being with a Skill Level of 2 (Adept) or higher may teach other beings their Skill so long as their skill level is higher. Instruction of this level is only capable of providing them with a skill level one level below your own.

Sub-Specialties cannot be taught unless the being that is taught the new skill already is an Adept or better in the Base Skill.

Example: The God of Games and Tests instructs his Chosen in his skill Mason - Labyrinths, giving all of the Unskilled Chosen a Novice level Mason skill and the Novice and Adept Chosen a sub-specialty in Labyrinths. The Novice Chosen could then go on to become Adepts and select a second sub-specialty, Construction.

The time that this instruction takes depends on the being taught. Gods are naturally fast learners and obtaining this degree of skill through the instruction of another god is instantaneous through the transfer of knowledge that requires the two gods to touch one another in some fashion (hands, hand to shoulder etc).

However if a god is instructing a Chosen or intelligent Monster then the process takes considerably longer; weeks (11-30 game time, doubling for every rank above Novice being taught) of instruction unless they are gifted in some fashion to obtain information more quickly. This duration increases dramatically if the God wishes to teach a being Tradition often taking months (6-25 game time) for them to grasp. The learners attributes, as well as that of the deity, lower the time needed to train accordingly.

A god can learn from a mortal being but are subject to the same restrictions laid above as a mortal teachers cannot deliver the same amount of information as another god could in the same time period.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:35, Fri 30 Sept 2022.

Faith

Faith is the energy gained (from now on called Faith) from the faith of those who pray/believe/have faith in the God in question.

To establish ones faith, a deity must do two things.

1) Setup the tenets of his faith which is done in many forms: Actions, prayer, acts of devotion, sacrifice etc etc. These are normally dictated by the god or his religious leaders and then followed by the devotees. For a faith to be considered solid, the deity must establish 3 of them which will include how the followers are to show their faith (there could be more than one way) as well as ways/actions they must live by/do to show their devotion or live by the tenets established by the deity.

2) Establish a focus for his people to devote their faith to. This can be the most basic such as a monument (statue, totem etc) or a church etc.

Once this is done, the god will feel the faith of his followers begin to flow to him. He/She will automatically gain 100 Faith for this action.

As a god gains more and more followers, the flow of Faith will increase. Within the Personal Realm or Aarde Realm of their birth, the faith will gather and be able to be used by the deity in that realm without hindrance. If a deity wishes to use Faith in other realms, they will need to form a Foci.

This Foci is normally worn or carried by the God on his Instance since, in most cases, the God wishes to have access to this Focus of his Faith to be able to use its powers. In certain cases, the God can form the focus within a realm to avoid it being taken from his being in another realm. This forces the God to go to this place where the Focus is to be able to use its pool of Faith. Note that this is an important factor for if the God is not in contact with his Focus, he cannot grant/use (nor can his followers) the powers of his Faith in a realm other than his Personal Realm or the Aarde Realm of his birth.

Pantheonic Worship

Pantheonic Worship is the pooling, by the Gods, of the faith of their faithful. This allows all the Gods within the Pantheon to benefit from the pool of Faith that is gathered in the worship of them. This generally occurs when Gods create a realm together, to avoid conflict within that specific realm as to whom will gain more souls and avoid wars between their churches. While followers may sometimes still commit acts of war against other beliefs within the Pantheon, this then is an issue that is regulated between the Gods as such acts do not benefit the gods since they still can access the pools of Faith. To note that a god that has NO structures of faith will lose his faithful over time and , if that occurs, would lose the benefits of the Pantheonic Worship. Such things happen when a God forsakes his faithful in a realm with such a setup, or rival gods decide to wage war upon one another, eliminating the faith of a rival god to gain the benefits of the pool for themselves.

Note that while Pantheonic Worship is one form of worship, it is only one of many options. This form is normally reserved for a grouping of gods that agree to work together for the realm in question and not for individual gains.

Basins and Foci of Worship

Faith is stored in various ways.

The deity acts as a basin in and of itself yet will only allow the deity to cultivate a set amount of Faith  before it is capped and needs to be used (or else see the excess lost).

Foci or Basins of worship can thus be used to pool Faith for later use.

Pantheons use Basins as it allows for the faith to gather in one place for all to access through a special Foci that is created for the Pantheon itself for each god.

Without the Foci being in contact with the Deity (Pantheonic or Personal) the God will be unable to use the Faith of his followers in realms other than his Personal Realm (in the case of Pantheonic Faith, that will only be able to be accessed through the use of a Foci).

Making a Foci is an expensive procedure.

Here are the costs, in souls of each type of Foci/Pantheonic Basin:

Divine Core of the Deity = No Cost. (Allows upto 500 Faith to be stored in excess)
Foci (Personal) = 5,000 Essence (Hold an unlimited amount of Faith + See Below)
Personal Basin = 1,000 Essence (Hold an unlimited amount of Faith but only allows the use of Faith in the realm it is made in)
Foci (Pantheonic) = 500 Essence (Does not hold Faith, is only a conduit for it)
Pantheonic Basin = 25,000 Essence (Total, divided by gods forming Pantheon) (Holds an unlimited amount of Faith + New Realm)

Foci are special items that are directly linked with the god it is made for. This means it is, in part, a reflection of their Domains. The Primary Domain will gain the primary look/powers while the secondary domain will modify the initial look of the foci to reflect itself while giving off secondary powers.

Personal Foci/Basin: 1 x Major Powers (Primary Domain) + 2 Minor Powers (Primary or Secondary Domain) + Bonus of (Divine Rank / 2 round up) to Threshold for some effect/ability/power of Gods choosing. These powers can only be used while holding/using the Foci.

Pantheonic Foci: 1 x Major Powers (Primary Domain) + Bonus of (Divine Rank / 2 round up) to Threshold for some effect/ability/power of Gods choosing. These powers can only be used while holding/using the Foci.

Note that losing a Personal Foci is like losing a part of yourself. Those that have a hold of the Personal Foci will have access to the powers the Personal Foci holds and the loss of this Personal Foci will have consequences for the deity in question.

If the Will + Rank of the bearer is less than the deities, deity may know the location of the personal foci as long as he/she is within the same realm of the Personal Foci. If notm the foci's location will not be known to the deity unless he has some other means to locate it. This is why some Gods choose to have their Personal Foci as a throne or the like, to avoid it being taken from them. This is less costly but has limits to its influence/use.

A Pantheonic Foci is less powerful than a personal one but is still a powerful item to hold. As it is also a manifestation of a gods Domain, the powers within it reflect this. If held by another being, it will grant the powers to that being without interference. As the personal foci, a god will know where his Pantheonic Foci is if within the same realm of it. Through the Pantheonic Foci, a god may access the Basin of the Pantheons Faith. What is taken by the God is known to the other Gods that pay attention to what is done. (For gaming needs, a thread is made displaying the uses of the Faith by the Gods, on a per use basis for players, on a weekly use by NPCs)

For the Faithful to be able to call upon the powers granted to them by the deity through Faith on any realm, the deity MUST have a Personal Foci. If not they are limited to where the Deity is/has a Foci or has influence upon then realm (such as the Aarde Realm or his Personal Realm)

Time in a Pantheonic Realm

Pantheonic Realms are different as they are created by the Gods that create a Basin. This Basin is the core of the realm itself: Without it, there would be no realm. This Basin is, for all intents and purposes, indestructible except through very powerful means. The flow of time is the same as within the Inner Core. If time is left to move on its own, days will equal days. If the Pantheon, as a whole, decides to let time flow more quickly then all the Gods would agree to remove their direct influence from the realm itself, leaving their faithful to "trust" in their presence as time speeds on. This can be beneficial to advance the growth of the faith as a whole but may lead to trouble if certain actions are left in play (or put in play) by Gods/Mortals. Elite (or better) faithful of a God may call upon the Gods to come to their aid and if they do, the God(s) would choose to intervene or not. If they do, the flow of time would return to a day by day and all Gods would be aware of this. In a Pantheonic Realm, one God cannot let the flow of time go on without the acceptance of the other Gods for any action from the other Gods will return the flow of time to a day by day rate. That is why a good Pantheon is one where the Gods all agree to the workings, or have a structured hierarchy.

Powers of Faith

Faith is used in many ways. While the powers it can manifest are related to the domains of the deity, they manifest in two forms.

For the deity, apart from the gains of the Foci, Faith can be used as Essence are used for animancy yet the results will be tied more closely to the domain of the deity rather than the essence of creation. A deity using Faith to create animancy can have full control over what is gained by the recipient, whether it be an object or even the creation of an entity. The creation of such objects are the equivalent of putting part of the deity in the creation and thus items of such kind will normally wield the NATURE of the Gods Domain as part of its makeup. Any power gained through the creation of such an item is always related to the Domain of the god.

The faithful of the God can be enhanced with powers related to Faith. A faithful of the God can be granted powers (either individually, or as a community such as a group of warrior, priests etc). Granting such gifts costs an amount of faith per week, which is deducted from the amount of Faith gained weekly. So to have a group of warrior such as Paladins with the power to rebuke undead would be a formidable group to have when fighting the God of Undeath, it would limit the amount of Paladins available to the God in question for the cost of each Paladin within the Faith would be "charged" weekly. This is to allow a certain level of control over the amount of available "Faith Enhanced" beings within the church.

Powers given to those individuals/groups of Faithful are to the gods discretion but must, as always, fall within the Domains of the god in question. The God of Life cannot have his priests of faith wrap themselves in the shadows to be invisible to the naked eye. Yet the Priests of the God of Life may be given the ability to heal others X amount of hit points per day as an ability.

These abilities are aside from those gained through rank progression and may be removed from a faithful at the will of the deity.

Here is a list of some possible uses for Faith. Note that other uses can be available:

- Enhance a follower with a Blessing: 10 F.P.
- Create an Item of Faith (Per Minor Power): 50 F.P.
- Create an Item of Faith (Per Major Power): 150 F.P.
- Enhance a follower from Novice to Adept Status: 25 F.P.
- Enhance a follower from Adept to Elite Status: 50 F.P.
- Enhance a follower from Elite to Gifted Status: 125 F.P.
- Enhance a follower from Gifted to Heroic Status: 500 F.P.

Enhance a Follower with a Blessing: Enhancing a follower with a Blessing will not change the rank of the follower but will grant him one power based on the faith as decided by the deity. This is granted as a MINOR POWER.

Create an Item of Faith: A holy item that will have a power as related, in terms of effects, as items of artifice. This requires no aspects/natures but is related to the Domains of the Gods and its power is chosen by the deity upon creation. A Holy Item may have more than 1 power by investing the faith cost multiple times. Note that any who hold this item will be able to use its powers. Placing a restriction on the use of the item by non-faithful would require it to be set as a power in and of itself. Note that as any other creations of faith, the item may be "depowered" by the deity by removing the flow of faith to it, rendering the item as a simple item forever more. Yet it may be reactivated by sending the flow of Faith to it once more. This will not cost the cost of CREATION of the item, only the weekly cost of "activity".

Enhance a follower in Rank of Faith: Enhancing a follower in rank of Faith is the same as rendering a unit adept/elite with souls but is done with faith. If a unit is already adept/elite/gifted/heroic, then he will gain extra levels of rank in what pertains to his Faith aspects. This is done to individuals but the powers gained are decided by the deity, while the evolving of the unit is based on both the unit itself as well as the influence the deity may wish to focus upon. A unit raised to adept status would gain +1 Rank and gain 1 Power of the Faith while a unit raised to Elite status would gain an additional +1 Rank and gain an additional 1 Power of the Faith. This means an Elite Unit (from Essence) could be raised to Elite Unit of Faith and thus have a total of +4 Rank from initial creation. Note that any RELIGIOUS LEADER that helps to enhance the devotion of the followers of the faith (and thus helps gain more faith points) must be one that is enhanced by Faith (and not through Essence alone, although they can be both)

Expanding the Faith:

Expanding the faith is done by establishing the religion yet a focus is needed for ones faithful to focus their devotion to. The form of this can be had through multiple methods such as prayer or sacrifice yet a focus is normally decided by structures to establish the deities place in the world of mortals.

Once a structure is established, devotion will begin to flow as those that bare witness to it become the basis of the faithful of that god in that realm. Such structure are created by the use of Essence and while these are examples, these are not limited to these forms and may be expanded upon:

- Consecrate a Monument Structure: 250 Essence (2 F.P. / Week, 1 Aarde Provinced)
- Consecrate a Church Structure: 500 Essence (5 F.P. / Week, 3 Aarde Provinces Influenced)
- Consecrate a Temple Structure: 1000 Essence (12 F.P. / Week, 7 Aarde Provinces Influenced)
- Consecrate a Cathedral Stucture: 2000 Essence (25 F.P. / Week, 15 Aarde Provinces Influenced)

Each form of structure will grant a certain bonus to the amount of followers of a race a god will have within a realm. It will also grant a bonus amount of Faith Points per week. It will also, on an Aarde Realm, spread the influence of the deity upon other Provinces around the province which the structure was built. When two "Structure Influences" supercede a Province for influence, the largest structure will win. If both are equal, then unless the faithful of the deities or the deities themselves can come to an arrangement a Faith War will occur in that region.

To help expand on the amount of faithful that a realm will have one needs to establish FAITH ENLIGHTENED priests of ones religion. These can help spread the word and thus help in expanding the faith throughout the realm more quickly while also granting a way of enhancing the amount of faith gained per week. Both the Faith Leaders and the Form of Faith will aid in this while the Structures of Faith will allow the faithful of that province to focus their faith towards the deity in question.

Faith is gained through the expansion of the faith into other provinces of a realm and thus expanding ones faithful to those areas. As this happens, more of that realm has faithful and thus grants more faith to the deity. Other faiths within the province itself will also affect the amount of faith gained, dividing the potential basin of faith to be gained among the religions present. So a province with 3 deities with established faiths within it will see its faith divided by 3 and perhaps see a Faith War take place unless the deities form a statute of peace. This is why faith wars are not uncommon within realms.

Usage of Faith

While using Faith to create and grant powers is one thing, once an item or unit is enhanced it needs Faith to maintain its potency and abilities. This is why a large base of followers will allow a deity to have more Units of the Faith at his or her service and thus help in defending his Faith and faithful, as well as him or herself, from interlopers.

As a deity creates permanent items/units/structures with Faith, his weekly upkeep will be updated. If a deity sees his upkeep surpass his intake of faith, as he runs out of excess faith he will see his faithful begin to lose their ability to use powers or see his Holy Items lose their effects. This is why many gods, when they wage war on each other, try and remove the structures of the rival gods Faith to lower the amount of followers that will believe in the rival god, thus lowering his or her ability to defend itself.

This can be seen in the Realms & Souls thread.

Here is a list of upkeep costs. Other costs may take place based on the usage of Faith.


This message was last edited by the GM at 04:03, Fri 30 Sept 2022.

World Development Rank of Realms/Populace

Every world develops at various paces and each of ones peoples will develop certain categories more than others. Such gains are done through involvement and guidance by the deity, needs of the population and various aids that they may come across over time.

Guiding a population to improve in certain categories will see them advance in such categories more quickly than others and thus one may find that one culture may be advanced in War yet less advanced in Production. Others may be equal in all while others may surpass in one category but be primitive or simply not have developed at all in another.

This chart thus helps in showing the progression that a race/people has in each category. In terms of game play, it is used mainly to aid in the role playing aspects of knowing where one stands but may also aid when looking to trade with other realms or prepare for certain events.

It will also aid in helping races/people, and god, to navigate various technologies in other realms as they come across them. A god entering a world that is ranked 10 in Medical Development may see them baffled if their own people are ranked 1 in Medical Development.

This difference will cause adjustments to rolls in dealing with such things, the difference of such ranks between the God/People and the Tech they are dealing with causing a +/- on their usage of such items.

Each Development Category has ranks ranging from 0 to 10.

When seeing how well one can interact with another technology, the modifier will be calculated as follows:

A = Users Development Rank in that category
B = Development Rank of item being viewed/used
C = Modifier

A - B = (C * 2)

So if A God arrives in realm with a Military Development rank of 8 and his own realm has a Military Development rank of 3 then when dealing with equipment of that realm, to understand their use etc he would have the following modifier:

3 - 8 = (-5 * 2) so -10

If the reverse were true, meaning the Deity has a Military Dev Rank of 8 and the realm is ranked at 3, then his modifier would be:

8 - 3 = (5 * 2) so +10

Development Categories

The following are the Development Categories. They are all encompassing of the various possibilities within each. Of course while Military may include all that encompasses Weaponry, Armor, Strategy and equipment the focus of each specific one will vary from realm to realm.

So if a deity develops his peoples Military Development to 8 it does not mean they have Land, Naval and Airforce available. This will depend on the development of his people yet their potential to grow into these other avenues is easier. This will come down into the role playing aspect of the campaign for those people.

Military: This encompasses all that has to do with combat and war. From equipment to strategy. When wars are fought between races of varying levels of Military Development, the bonus or penalty on the results based on the difference in level will apply.

Production: This encompasses resource gathering, energy development, manufacturing, crafting  and other aspects of the kind. It is generally seen as being of higher quality for a higher Production rank but this is not necessarily the case for all products made by a race.

Construction: This deals with infrastructure, fortifications, building materials and architecture.

Transportation: Forms of transportation, development of types of transportation means as well as the ease of which it can be done fall into this category.

Communication: From the written language to telecommunications, this encompasses all aspects of passing along knowledge and word to another.

Sciences: This shows the development of the sciences, from medical to physics and beyond.

Governance: How a society rules their people via laws, structures within society, bureaucracy and government.

Cultural: This is the level of social, and cultural, development of a nation. The arts, social development and general views of a people towards one another, and others. While a high rank does not mean a culture will be open to other races, it will show how they view themselves, through their arts and actions. It will also show the importance a culture places on such things (Ex: Klignons via Ceremonial combat)

Arcanic: This is the influence of Arcana within society yet also the development of Arcanic knowledge for the general masses of the people. While not everyone may have access to it, the structure set up for its use and acceptance within society is how this rank develops yet is also tied to its own advancements in knowledge and development. How is Arcana used in society? Is it integral or a side note? Is it only used for particular tasks or is it integrated with technology?

Faith: As with Arcanic development, how is Faith involved within ones culture and what is its influence and development over time? Is it extremely involved in the every day life of the people or is it more of a secondary aspect to their society?

Development Ranks

Each Category has ranks ranging from 0 to 10. Here is the classification and general "value" to each. Value is estimated as the equivalent to a time period and for ease of comparison has been used with the European standard. If used in a more Asian context, or other nationality, one can equate the value of this value to the equivalent of that nationality. These are general guidelines to aid in understanding the principles at play in your Peoples society and not to say that each develops in that same vein in every category.

Rank 0 - Primitive: This will range from little development almost equivalent to the Stone Age. While this does not mean the ones within this rank are not intelligent, it simply means they have developed no, to almost no, advancements in this category.

Rank 1 - Bronze Age: Such as within the -3,000 to -1,500 B.C., it is comparable to early Aegean society.

Rank 2 - Iron Age (Primitive): This is the beginning of the Iron Age, ranging from -1,500 to -500 B.C. Comparable to Archaic Greece upto pre-classical period.

Rank 3 - Iron Age (Classical): This development equates to the ranges of years of -500 B.C. to 400 A.D., striking with the general times of the Classical age. Roman Empire (from beginning to end) is a good example of technological levels of the time.

Rank 4 - Iron Age (Renaissance): Ranging from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, this sees the introduction of items like gun powder, higher arts etc. This would be working in the ranges of 400 to 1,500 A.D.

Rank 5 - Modern Age (Early): This goes from the Classicism Era to the Scientific Revolution. Ranging from the years of 1,500 to 1,800 A.D.

Rank 6 - Modern Age (Middle): This is the time of the Industrial Revolution and most of the 19th century. This would be equivalent to the 1,800 to 1,900 A.D.

Rank 7 - Modern Age (Late): Equivalent to the 20th century, it sees the general advancement found within.

Rank 8 - Future Age (Early): Equivalent to the 21st century, we can see developments of high levels of electronics and capabilities within a society. Present day to what can be imagined to come in the next 50-80 years

Rank 9 - Future Age (Advanced): Equivalent to most science fiction eras, this will vary depending on the amount of effort placed in this time. Ease of use and manipulation with greater yields/benefits would be the way of development of various categories in this age.

Rank 10 - Enlightened: This is beyond what most science fiction can imagine, intertwining both science and fantasy into one. Imagination would be the limit as to the potential of what is possible in such a society.

While development of such ranks may be easily marked when it comes to Military or Infrastructure it is less so for Arcanic and Faith. In those cases, it is more set as to how the development and use of these within society and by the people is rather than an equivalent to our own history (as they do not relate).

Advancing Development Ranks

This is done through role play on the most part. As years pass the people of a realm will develop. As a rule, races will develop more quickly than we humans did (for game purposes), not taking 5,000 years to get to the Modern Age so to speak. Yet your actions will speed up, or slow down, their process as a whole.

As a general rule, when a race goes on for a few years there is a certain level of development that is decided. This may see, depending on the amount of time left to advance, go from no advancement, to one age to perhaps two or three, depending on how long one allows to go by and what tools they had to use to aid in this process.

Thus no set value can be placed on this as it depends on your own actions within your realm.

It must also be noted that the longevity of a race will play in the development of their ranks. A long-lived race such as Elves from the fantasy novels would see their development in many categories slowed while humans or short lived races may see their development increase more quickly due to their shorter lifespan.

Yet some deities may wish to advance their society faster through insight. This can be accomplished at the cost of Essence.



It is a heavy cost but this will enlighten your whole people, and all of their society, up one rank in that category. The cost is for one rank up and thus going up multiple ranks at once takes the cost of each rank individually.

One can have a society at rank 10 in Military and Rank 3 in Medical and rank 0 in Culture.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:55, Tue 04 Oct 2022.

Combat

Initiative

Combat is an inevitability for gods as monsters and their violent nature often clash with the objectives of the god. When in combat a god acts first and then their opponents. If the god has mortal allies they act in accordance with their relative strength with ties being going to the side of superior number.

If fighting another God, the initiative is of who strikes first is decided by the God with the highest FINESSE + DIVINE RANK. If equal, Agility trumps Divine Rank. If equal again, then the GM will roll the dice to see which strikes first.

Actions

An individual can take any number of actions which could reasonably be done within 6 seconds. This is ultimately up the final discretion of the GM but can be the delivery of simple orders, the casting of a spell, attacking. Dodging is applied automatically in the GM's summary of actions and need not be considered an Action by players.

A spell can be cast in addition to another major action such as attacking if it is cast as if one RANK lower than maximum.

Artifice items are considered passively activated and any activation are purely cosmetic in nature.

Following is a list of actions that can be taken in a round. Note that every round a being has 3 Action points they can use. Every action has an Action Point value. Instantaneous Actions can take effect immediately at the beginning of your round.

Every ROUND has 3 types of actions:

1) Instantaneous Action
2) Minor Action
3) Full Action

General actions follow in the following categories.

Instantaneous Action: (0 Action Points)

- Passive Effects (those are always on)
- Activating a non-damaging magical item that you have equipped
- Calling forth a familiar

Minor Action: (1 Action Point)

- Activating a Divine Power (Minor or Major that is not a passive power)
- Invoking one Creature forth
- Casting a spell at -1 Rank
- Skill use (if done separately from a Full Action round. Skill use must be relevant and logical to be considered a minor action. )
- Using a Salient Ability
- Blocking/Parrying


Full Action: (2 Actions)

- Melee/Range Combat
- Casting a Spell at full rank
- Casting a Spell (extra than that able to know instinctively) from an item/source
- Summoning more than one creature at a time

Grand Action: (3 Actions)

- Incarnation

Now certain actions are not listed and may fall into the "case by case" basis.

Damage

Unarmed damage is dealt by comparing the threshold of the attackers relevant Attribute + Skill versus the defenders threshold of relevant Attribute + Skill. If the threshold is higher then the attack is successful and damage equal to the difference in threshold is dealt. If the attack is equal to the defense then the defender suffers 1 damage from a glancing blow or transmitted force (but does not lose any of his Aura due to a glancing blow).

If reduced to 0 HP the target is considered dead unless they are god in which case they obey the rules laid out in the above Vitality section.

When armed the weapon provides a bonus to the threshold. While this varies, mundane weapons typically obey the following scheme:



Note that if you wish to use two weapons while fighting, you can use two small weapons or one small and one light. If you are not skilled to use two weapons, you will have penalties.

Note that one SMALL and LIGHT weapon can't be used if you equip a SHIELD.

If fighting with a Heavy Weapon that you have ADEPT (Rank 2) or better skill with, you may add 50% of your MIGHT as extra damage (note that this is considered a full action and cannot be done if casting Tradition/Magic in the same combat round)

Offensive Tradition/Magic provides a +1 per threshold range of the spell cast. (0-3 threshold spell is +1 while 7-9 is +3). Magical items will often have a cumulative effect or special property.

Defenses

In similar fashion to offensive items, defensive items provide a bonus to the defensive threshold of defenders. This value varies depending on the material of the armor.



Defensive Tradition/Magic follows the same scheme as offensive Tradition/Magic.

Special Skill Notes in Combat

Dodge: Used to avoid a hit. This is normally in the defensive aspect of the round where it helps to decide if the enemy hits you or not. Dodge is used by all when it comes to avoid ranged targeting.

Block: In this instance your looking to block the blow, not dodge it. So it is trying to absorb part of the blow using your strength (rather than dodging it). Effects are the same  than dodge in combat roles but is more for characters based on STRENGTH vs FINESSE. Note that BLOCKING means that contact with the enemy is done. While this is handy for character based on MIGHT stats, it means that the opponent is in CONTACT with the defender as the defender blocks the attack. This is normally considered when the defender has a SHIELD or if he is strong enough to block the blow with an arm or other appendage, or weapon.

Parrying: Parrying looks to deflect the blow. If successful (meaning target does not strike you as you parried their blow) you gain a Bonus equal to PARRYING SKILL on your next strike due to their guard being open. The bonus is equal to the difference of the opponents strike value vs your parrying value.

Special Circumstances

When improperly skilled and improperly armed you are at a great disadvantage but there are several things that can be done to offset the situation in your favor. These will vary in effect but can give bonuses/penalties ranging from +8 to -8 depending on the circumstance as deemed fit by the GM.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:19, Tue 22 Aug 2023.