UPDATE: Still recruiting! We're particularly in need of more Justinian factions in the West and Red Pantheonist factions (perhaps loyalist to the Old Pantheon) in the north! More Yuwanists also welcome. everyone welcome!
Note: This is Sacrilege War III, names and themes that appear to be the same as ones created by Flagg, are actually from Sacrilege War II(GMed by Flagg) and Sacrilege War I (GMed by Serpentine88) and as such it was Serp who created the names and themes originally.
- • (Grim)dark fantasy setting, high-magic (lots of magic, creatures, etc).
• Gods actually exist and actively intervene in the setting.
• Everyone is involved in a global proxy war between gods. Factions are determined by religion, which is pre-set because the religions gods are actually real and controlled by the GM (or in the case of the Red-Pantheon, semi-controlled by the players with restrictions).
• World is a single earth-sized pangaea, logistical issues are solved by magical portal gates and air-transportation. The world is also literally flat (well, technically a convex bowl shape).
• The world has a material and a celestial plane, though the latter has never been successfully entered while still alive.
• All magic comes from gods, the vast majority of it distributed by existing gods to their servants and followers. There is some leftover magic in the material plane distributed long ago by dead gods but is a finite (and running low) supply.
• In general, technology should be 15th-16th century for all factions
• Most magic is gained from gods giving magic in return for the sacrifice of souls. In this setting, a soul is a non-physical element of the mind which accounts for ‘consciousness’. As such, any intelligent being as well as any conscious animal has a soul.
• Each Celestial Entity is represented by a star in the sky, a god’s mirror reflection from the Celestial Plane, with Red Gods having smaller and more faint Red Stars (where their name originally came from). Justinian’s star is known as the Pale Star of the West, and is by far the largest, enough so that Justinians call it the New Sun. Yuwan is represented by a smaller yet brilliant Green Star in the East. Which has long since been called the Celestial Emerald.
• Genuine possibility this world will end in an apocalypse. RP will increasingly become more like a horror story as events unfold.
CONCEPT INTRODUCTION:
The world, known as Materia is a world of divine cycles. An imperfectly designed world created by very real yet equally imperfect gods. Doomed to die. Since time immemorial, pantheons of gods have risen, ruled, and changed the world, though each as incapable of fixing the world as the last and so are then inevitably destroyed as they were replaced by new gods. Each cycle the world has decayed further… ever onwards, ever downwards… in entropy towards a final darkness.
It has been exactly 300 years since the fall of the ‘Old Pantheon’ of gods, beginning an age of global warfare and strife. This time however, the conflict has reached unprecedented levels as this time the cycle has failed, occurring in a broken half-finished state, perhaps indicating that the entropy of the world is approaching its final end. Rather than forming a new pantheon to rule over the world, the gods remain divided, no unifying force ruling the heavens. Rogue angels have assumed the role of fake gods, one of the Old Pantheons gods still somehow lives... Furthermore, rather than a new pantheon of gods, only one new god was formed. Justinian, a god that declares itself of mortal origins and which intends to end this world, replacing it with a new, perfect utopia.
Justinian slaughtered most of the Old Pantheon in a great heavenly deicide known as the War In Heaven, but because it failed to kill all the other gods, the world has been plunged into 300 years of holy war as the remaining gods turn to their mortal instruments to destroy each other. This mortal proxy war is known as the Sacrilege War, and so 300 years ago, the three-way global war begun, the mortal races by divine providence commanded to annihilate the faithful of other gods.
So as they fought and continue to fight, the world is drenched in magic; powers in exchange for sacrifices handed to mortals to bolster the war effort. Divine miracles are a daily affair, the existence of gods an almost universal truth - even as the gods declare each other false and themselves as the only true gods.
This is the story of a doomed world… and the near endless numbers of mortal sacrifices that will be consumed in the name of its last ruler. Yet salvaging Materia is never out of reach for those that dare.
FACTION GAMEPLAY:
There are three supranational factions that each player-nation belongs to, these factions divided by religion - that is service to a very real god or goddess. Gods are the source of all magic in this world and regularly perform miracles. Some gods such as Justinian are so interventionist that they are essentially the religious leader of their own religion. It is expected that players will all have common histories and cultural elements due to the world's history and faction system (though the third faction, the Red Pantheon, are the most customisable - including the ability to make your own custom national deity, though in exchange are also the least united and objectively the weakest faction)
APOCALYPTIC THEMES:
The world is also filled with secrets and hidden lore that players will gradually discover over time. The world also has a number of preset methods to which an apocalyptic event may be triggered by either players or by world events. As the story goes on and the likelihood of an apocalyptic event increases, the genre of the RP will gradually shift from grimdark military high fantasy to something more along the lines of a cosmic horror story.
SETTING:
This setting is also a very deep, complex one with a great deal of world-building, particularly since Sac War has been built up in previous versions over the years, hosted by both Serpentine88 and Flagg. Of note is a detailed cosmology concerning the gods and the ‘heavenly’ cycles as well as the detailed magical system this world abides by. Players are expected to take some effort to read through or at least skim through this information so they understand the kind of world they are RPing in. It is also suggested that they at least read the mythos and mechanics of the faction they join, as each god and their associated faith have unique attributes and ideals which you should consider when joining that faction.
SPECIES:
This is still essentially a high magic setting and allows most of the traditional ‘races’, elves, dwarves, centaurs, giants, etc. It is suggested to stick to the more typical fictional species if you don’t want your species to be criticised and judged by the GM (searching for min-maxing nonsense). Note that some species such as dragons and elves have a significant presence in the world-building lore so you need to take previous history into account when adding your own. It should also be noted that some species are banned. This includes;
-Undead (Necromancy does not function the way most fantasy settings do because no god will give the magic needed to perform necromancy. You can animate corpses in the same way you could animate a fork or chair, but you cannot return a soul to the living world after it has died. An attempt at doing so without a god will result in you being hunted down and ‘lightning’d’ by one or all gods, even if they are fighting each other).
-Angels/demons/djinns etc (You can use angel and demon looking people, particularly Justinians who may have individuals that are magically altered by their god to make them appear like angels with wings and so on. However, actual angels/demons are restricted due to cosmology issues).
-Ectoplasmic entities (An ectoplasmic entity would require enormous amounts of magic at a constant rate to exist, which is highly impractical. Thus a whole species of them is pretty much impossible. Ectoplasmic entities as such do however technically exist though)
-Animated inanimate people (While golems and animated objects exist, they are not sentient and cannot be made sentient, as such you cannot play as elementals, golem-people and so on)
MAP OF MATERIA
(with established nations at present)The centre east and west of the world, those lands without names attributed to them, are place-holder NPC nations. New players can choose to hijack/take over or replace an NPC region if they so wish.
The majority of the arctic far-north of Materia is still empty space, and those regions are still up for grabs to whoever is crazy or desperate enough to claim them.
THE FACTIONS:
There are 3 factions to choose from, all (mostly) fighting in a 3-way conflict. Factions are determined by religion, which is extremely important in this setting since the gods are not only very real, but very active (some more so than others). Two of these factions are focused around holy cities located to the far west and far east, both of which emanates out a sphere of influence from these nexus points, however they also have influence over any region with sufficient amounts of their followers or magic is distributed. The third faction (the Red Pantheon) are far more decentralised, acting as smaller localised spheres of influence, mostly in areas where the two greater factions have little control.
Each faction is at war with all others in this global conflict known as the Sacrilege War, a 300-year long holy war directed by the gods themselves, the gods ordering their mortal followers to desecrate and/or destroy the religious icons,constructs and holy sites as well as convert or kill other gods followers.
The three groups each have their own ideologies, histories, beliefs and powers as explained below, but in summary the three factions are:
-Justinianism: Followers of the God Justinian (Also known as Justinius or Justice or a thousand other local cultural names), based in the West, where its holy city sits. Emphasis on holy paladins; witch hunters, possessed hosts acting as demi-avatars of their god (represented by individual dead historic heroes), blatant orders from their god, monolithic clerical bureaucracy and religious military orders. Rejects the material world for an ideal spiritual one and wish to remake the world with a “Great Reconvergence”, creating a perfect utopia. Infamous for totalitarianism, mass surveillance and occasionally committing genocide.
-Yuwanism: Followers of the Goddess Yuwan, based in the East, where her holy city sits. Emphasis on magi, vague visions and dreams from their distant secretive godess, ancient schools of collected knowledge and excessive use of magic. Fights for the status quo and stability, balance between the celestial/spiritual and material world… even if it means sacrificing millions to maintain it. Infamous for mass slavery and mass unwilling sacrifice.
-Red Pantheonism: Followers of the Red Gods, rogue ex-celestial servants of previous pantheons based in their own respective locations. Emphasis on witches, monsters, curses, corrupting existing institutions, selfish whimsical deities, demi-god bastards and a lot of blood sacrifice. Many care little for the spiritual world and care for personal pursuits in the material one. Infamous for corrupting civilisations and treating mortals as expendable playthings and tools, and generally advocating nihilism and social darwinism.
As can be seen, it should be said that each god is not particularly likable. The gods of this universe are not pure benevolence and sunshine. The factions are grim and commit heinous crimes regularly… that said, each faction does have their positive sides. Justinian is genuinely fighting for the creation of a utopia via the Great Reconvergence, and tries to create a high standard of living for its followers. Yuwan believes in positive liberty, so while she allows her followers to enslave each other, she usually likes giving her followers free will and the choice to decide how to live and make decisions rather than forcing ‘enlightenment’ on them. She also indirectly assists in improving the livelihood of her peoples’ societies and often acts as a teacher of sorts, attempting to allow her followers to reach enlightenment themselves. Red Gods are capable of personal relationships, differing from Justinian who is too impersonal and Yuwan who is too distant… and as such they can actually feel respect, friendship or even love for mortals. While each faction views the Sacrilege War as a white and black morality conflict (particularly the Justinians), its actual morality is determined by the players.