Here's our thread for all discussion needs. I considered making it elaborate, but ultimately there's no need. I'm ready to comply with your standards as far as I understand them.

Now I'm sure you'll have things to discuss with me, but here's some basic details.

I imagine the gods in this story to be nigh-omnipotent. They can be challenged by the other gods, but beyond that the universe is pretty much their plaything.

Not that the gods have taken much advantage of that yet. Each god has created a domain for themselves, a home that is suited to their desires. But they have not created life, at least none of the intelligent sort. The universe is largely devoid and barren. The gods all have their own interests, and spend their time pursuing them as they like. They also naturally have bonds with each other, but the nature these relationships take varies.

After a timeless eternity of idleness, our story begins when one or more gods decides for whatever reason to turn their hand to the idea of creating intelligent life. That is the focal point of the story for now, and the characters may be fleshed out even as they discuss the matter of creation with each other. The question is, how willing exactly each god is to the idea of creation.

For the gods themselves, I have two in mind that are fairly well developed. And perhaps I might add a few others for fun and variety, but I have no strong opinions on that one way or the other. I'm mainly just focused on the two. How many gods are involved can be as many or as few as we'd like. Some gods might not even come to exist until later in the story.

That's a wrap on the basics. Any questions, critiques, comments?

Okay, when you say domain, do you mean a planet where they enjoy being, or a solar system, or. . . .I think a planet would be nice. Also, I like the idea of them taking on a mortal form to be on these worlds, and perhaps a different form for each world, so if one wants to visit another's world they kinda have to conform to the environment. A show a respect I guess.

I'ma bit of a Feist fan, so how about our "Gods" are actual beings who went through a rip in space and ended up in this "Void" where they decided it would be fun to mess with it, to see what they could make/do. This would allow us to have a very flexible "God" number/types seeing as some would slip in and out of this universe. Some would claim this universe as their home, and others would be visitors.

Oh, I just had this vision of a "Visitor" deciding to make this place his home, and the idea of making new life here would be this "Young upstart's" idea and the other god would be someone who's been here a long time and finds the idea interesting. While most look at the new guy as an outsider he has a little support from the more outgoing gods, and the other main(The long time resident) would kinda be more critical of the new guy, but not completely dismissive like most of the other gods.

I personally go world and plot first, characters last, so while I will not try to dictate to you about your character building I will say I'll be making my own character :P I can play either character, if you like the idea, however I feel myself leaning more towards the new guy. Mostly because you've been thinking on this creation longer than I have :P

Well those are my thoughts on that. Your thoughts on mine?

Yes, planets are fine domains. I imagine they'll be close together for the most part, just so one specific part of the universe is analagous to a sort of "heaven" (minus the cloud imagery). Each god would have their own planet, and other gods can meet them there (or send messages for a god to come to them). I do believe it's customary for the gods to show respect when on the other's territory. I do also agree that that they have preferred, often humanlike forms that they take on. I wouldn't call those forms "mortal," though, since that would suggest that they are at all vulnerable.

Your idea of where the gods come from is a fascinating one, I'll gladly integrate it.

Your idea of a new god being one that wants to create life is fine by me. You can make a character like that. Of the two characters I have in mind, one is largely in favor of creation, while the other is largely against it.

I can agree to that.

I'm glad you like the idea.

Oohhhh, fun idea! I am running another RP where both me and my partner have two main characters. Wanna do that here since you already have two characters in mind?

Sure, two characters is fun.

Anything else? Should we move on to the characters?

I'd like a little thought on the void itself. Is this just black nothingness? Is there random crap floating around from the "Gods" making stuff and leaving it to drift when they get bored with it? Also, I wanna talk about the nature of the rift a bit Is it some big rip in space, more like a portal, or is it even stationary? I like the idea of a part of the universe just having this almost gate like thing where the rift is, and no one's normally around it. "Heaven" would be a bit of a ways from it me thinks. Your thoughts?

I was thinking black nothingness, yeah. The idea that past creations would just be floating around isn't a bad one, but most of the world would still be empty. If it were anything but a blank canvas, that'd sort of detract from the idea that this story begins at the start of creation.

The rift I figured was an energy based barrier. Of course, that's just my original thought.

I imagined the god's territory being largely detached from the world. A place at the edge of the universe where the gods "look down" from "above," in a manner of speaking. A gate would serve nicely to stress the point that it's a separate realm.

I agree.

The rift is, in my mind, yes energy. I was just getting I little drawn to the side on what kind. Tears are unstable, portals are created, and so on. . . .So, an energy field that was established after the initial rift was formed to stabilize it. . . .Now maintained by a gate of sorts? Does that work for you? I still like the idea of it being well away from "Heaven".

Instead of a gate how about a energy barrier that separates the "God's" realm from the rest of the universe? Something that formed almost naturally due to the concentration along this outer edge of the universe?

Heaven can be well away from the barrior, sure. As for the barrior itself, you say "almost" naturally formed? So as if the excess energy the gods were using in their creations created a potent force, and one god decided to stabilize it further?

Anything else?

I think we're having a slight issue in terms here.

Rift - The place where the gods came into this new universe and is used for passage between their world, and this new universe.

Barrier - The energy between the god's personal worlds and the rest of the universe.

SO, with the rift I see an actual device, like a gate(Big round circular or arch shaped thing) hanging in space around the rift point keeping it stable.

And with the barrier thing you wanted it would yes, begin as the energy being created by the god making their own personal worlds and would become solidified later on to keep their creations from crossing into "Heaven" uninvited.

Ah, you meant that. My apologies, we never properly defined what "rift" meant, so I just tried to assume from the context.

OK, so you envision that the rift is some sort of gate. But...if all the gods are coming to this new universe from their various worlds, then wouldn't they logically be coming from several different places? You'd expect there to be several gates. Or, perhaps each of the gods made their way there through small tears they made in their original universes. Tears that each one naturally closed off once they were done using them.

The gods all came to this universe from the same place, and are all essentially the same kind of being, which is why they are all basically equal in power. It's why they can live in harmony the way they do because, honestly, none of them are better. The only ones that have made it through the rift are equals. The rift they use is the only one leading to this new universe without any real definition(When they arrive at least) however if you like the idea of other rifts opening up, we can play with that later too :P So yeah, they all kinda blundered through one rift and after coming over decided to stabilize it just in case they wanted to go back, but now most are happy in the new universe so it's more for the transients from their home universe.

That is, if you like the idea.

Oh, so for whatever reason there was a rift in the home universe they all share, and they each individually found it.

hm...if they all came from the same preexisting universe, then I don't quite see the point of this setup anymore. If they don't come from different worlds...then they should all share the major history of their world. And in that case, there are two options. Either they came from a world without life, in which case the whole "from another world" thing seems largely superfluous; it's just an arbitrary change of scenario for them. Or they came from a world with life, which goes against the basic conceit I had that they were creating life for the first time now.

If we assume that life existed in their past universe, than we need to manufacture a presumably complex past for them instead of just going with the natural progression of an event occurring for the first time.

I'm thinking more that there was some catastrophic event in their home world and they were forced to flee it and a handful of them came through the same rift and found this universe at the beginning of it's life and decided to settle here. Others escaped through other rifts to other places, but not many survived the event making our gods very rare, especially in such a large(Relatively speaking) group. The ones who would come through the rift are ones who went to other universes and want to, maybe, in a way, be with their own kind? Most don't stay, feeling out of place in this new society the gods have built, but it's not like out group rejects others, just kinda distant until they are forced to interact. Think of it like they were one of the first universes to develop, and the first to bring about their own downfall, which is why they need a new place to live, but 99% of all universes out there are still in their infancy like the one our group finds themselves in. . . Make more sense?

That makes more sense, yes. If that's the way you want to go about it, I don't see why not.

Seems we have a pretty decent foundation, should we move on to the character aspect?

Sorry. I feel like I just did a big take-over. . . .

However if you really don't mind or wanna add anything we can move on to characters. . .Normally I'd go right into character sheets, however I do want one more little thought to ask: Do you think all the gods should be the same general form in their natural form, and if so, any ideas? I has tons, always do, however I feel you should have the first say here :p

Take over? If I had a problem with anything you said I'd just tell you. The devil is in the details of course, but up to this point nothing you've said necessarily contradicts the story I had in mind.

In any case, I imagined the gods as largely human looking, albeit larger than life. There can be exceptions to that, but I was approaching the idea from something of a Greek mythology viewpoint.

Oh good :P

So, in their natural form, giant people. . .I can dig that :P *Shifty eyes* May I add they can change size and form at will? I has a funny idea where on a few of the god's planets they changed themselves for fun into, say, giant flying snakes :P After the thumbs up thumbs down on that, I think we're set for character building. Here is the template I like using. I of course can't force you to use it, however I like providing it so my partners know what information I look for in a character sheet. Also, I have moral objections to using other people's art without asking(feels kinda like stealing to me), so I personally will not be using pictures.

Name:

Race:

Age:

Height:

Weight:

Hair:

Eyes:

Skin:

Build:

Clothes:

Accessories:

Powers/Skills(If Applicable):

General Personality:

Background:

*Checks for pulse*