Frettzo — Roleplayer Guild

Divinus Mk.8: The Eleventh Cycle

Casual, Advanced, Large Group, Fantasy, Romance, Sandbox, Interaction-heavy
A heartfelt thank you to all of the following, without whom Divinus would not have lived and thrived for close to a decade at this point:

@actraiserthereturned, for being the one that created the very first Divinus. Without your creativity, this game that has brought joy and entertainment to dozens of people throughout the years would not have existed.

@Kho, for bringing the game back to life after its original version’s death and thus marking the start of Divinus as we know it, a multi-iteration God Roleplay where people can let their creativity run free. 

@Cyclone, for being one of the pillars that propped up Divinus in its earlier years by assisting Kho at first and then evolving to be the Game Master behind Mk. III, one of the biggest iterations.

@Rtron, who took it upon himself to play the difficult role of antagonist in the early iterations. Vestec (as well as Voligan) was a fun character and it was great to write alongside you.

@Antarctic Termite, for your original writing, friendliness, approachability, and fresh take on the Divinus formula by developing your own branch called Godspeed, which was enjoyed by many (including me), thank you.

@Lord Zee, for your great work in Mk. 4, as well as your continued presence in the games up to the present day. You are a fellow veteran of Divinus now, and your presence is more appreciated than you may be aware of.

@Double Capybara, for your unorthodox writing at times, which was a breath of fresh air in what could otherwise become a bit of a stale environment. That, and your willingness to collaborate and write great things along with others has for a long time been one of the highlights of Divinus from my point of view.

As well as others such as @Enzayne, @BBeast, @Muttonhawk, @Lauder, @Kalmar, @Chris488, @Commodore, @Zurajai, @Goldeagle1221 and @AdorableSaucer.

To all those I’ve mentioned, I wish to extend my most sincere gratitude and admiration. You are all dear friends of mine and will always be welcome back into Divinus should you choose to return.

The Old World is gone.

It doesn’t matter how or why it happened. All that matters is that you now find yourself floating in an endless, lightless, airless void after being summoned forth from non-existence by a whisper.

In front of you is a scroll on which you must write in order for a new Universe to come into being. An Universe which will belong to you and your siblings alone, and one upon which you feel the irresistible impulse to leave your mark upon.

What you do with it is up to you – Will you be a cruel conqueror? A healer of souls? An eldritch monstrosity? There are endless possibilities, but only one thing is for certain… This new world is yours.

Welcome everyone to the latest entry to the long-standing Divinus series of fully sandbox God Roleplays! First, I’d like to thank you for your interest in the game and for your time and dedication should you decide to join us. My aim with this new iteration is to help players build a world and environment where they can have fun and tell the kinds of stories they want to tell. You’re encouraged to write what you want to write, provided it follows the rules of the Guild and this game.

Game Mechanics

Divinus Mk 8 has several player character types, those being:
- Gods, which are a type of transcendental entity capable of deliberately altering the fabric of reality in order to make their will a reality. All Gods have full access to Regular Actions, and may only perform Transcendental Actions as long as they’re clearly related to their Domain(s).

- Heroes, which are mortals that have received a powerful blessing from a God or an Outer God. Heroes are long-lived, supernaturally gifted individuals that have surpassed the limits of their respective races. Heroes may be granted true immortality (chronological and/or conceptual) by Gods via a Transcendental Action.

- Mortals, the backbone and lifeblood of any world worth its weight in salt. These make up the overwhelming majority of Sapient life in the Universe and are usually beings that have been created directly or indirectly by the Divines themselves. This type of character is self-explanatory; humans are humans, elves are elves, eldritch tentacle people are eldritch tentacle people, and so on. They have all the strengths and weaknesses usually associated with their species and as decided by their creator and/or environment.

Keep in mind that this RP can and will likely feature NPC characters across the whole range of types cropping up every now and then, as part of the Questing System to be described further below.

A quick list of possible NPC characters is as follows:
- Outer Gods
- Gods
- Heroes
- Mortals
- Etcetera

Domains are 'elements' of the universe over which a god has a special understanding of. These 'elements' may range from the broad (such as Fire or Water) down to the narrow (such as Cooking or Rivers). They also range from the obvious such as the four elements to the more obscure concepts such as ‘fear’, ‘adventure’, etc.

All Gods start with a single Domain and may obtain more Domains as rewards from completed Divine Quests and/or by purchasing them themselves. In order to purchase a Domain, a player must first spend a total of 4 MP (or receive 4MP worth of rewards from Quests) on actions very clearly related to their desired Domain and then proceed to purchase the Domain itself for a further 4MP. A God may only obtain a new Domain once every 2 turns (once a month IRL).

Now onto the benefits of owning a Domain – Domains grant multiplicative bonuses to the power of any purchased Regular Action that relates to their Domain, as such a Regular Action taken that costs 1 Might and relates to one domain would have its effective power augmented to 2 Might, while an action taken that costs 1 Might and relates to 2 Domains would have its effective power augmented to 3 Might. 

The multipliers for the effective power of Regular Actions are as follows:
- 0 Domains related = x1
- 1 Domain related = x2
- 2 Domains related = x3
- 3 Domains related = x4
- 4 Domains related = x5
… And so on.

A practical example could be as follows:
A God of Metal wishes to create a race of Metal Golems, so he spends the base 3 MP on them, but as his Domain over Metal is related to the creation, it gets augmented (for free) to 6MP. Thus, he chooses to purchase some extras for his new species and the Golems end up looking like this: 3MP on creation of the species and its basic aspects, 1MP on giving them a divine talent for architecture, and 2MP on giving them bodies capable of assimilating any kind of Metal and Magic into themselves. All for the price of 3MP.

Hopefully you can see how essential Domains are to Gods, how much of a power up they give your character, and how simple it can be for you to obtain new ones.

Deities are incredibly powerful beings and all share a basic threshold of power:

- They can control the weather, landscape, and other physical phenomena within their vicinity.
- They have the ability to appear in whatever shape or form they wish, although they usually settle for a small number of go-to favourite forms.
- Although deities may have critical weaknesses (like Superman’s Kryptonite), normal weapons and magic cannot kill or permanently maim them. Other deities, however, can muster enough power to permanently damage and possibly kill them (temporarily or permanently).
- Deities have limited Omniscience, allowing them to detect anything in their vicinity at any given time, although this does not apply to things or beings which have been concealed by another deity’s power. They may freely sense mortals’ feelings but are unable to peer into their thoughts or memories without the use of Might or Artefacts.
- A deity can travel wherever they wish, however they wish, and at speeds incomprehensible to other creatures. Being present at one end of the universe or the other is simply a step away.
- A deity's essence leaves a mark, or a trail, wherever they go. This trail, unless concealed, can be detected and followed by other deities and concealing the trail takes time and a high level of attention to detail that some deities may lack.
- Any deity is capable of creating their own private plane of existence. It is a pocket of space generally only accessible by them and those they allow into it, but other Divines may break in if the Plane Owner’s been careless in covering up their trail.

Turns are a game mechanism used alongside Might Points (MP for short) with the objective of bringing order to the game by limiting the number of things that a deity may be able to do in any given period of time. They’re purely an OOC mechanic and therefore turns will always progress on the 1st and 15th of every month. All Divines will receive a base 4 MP per turn, and MP accumulates over time if unused.

Due to Mae-Alari’s contribution to the Codex of Creation, everyone gets a permanent 1MP boost to their income. As such, the base income is now 5MP per turn.

Might Points (MP for short) are the currency one must spend in order to perform particularly godly acts.

In this Iteration of Divinus all Gods have access to all actions, with Domains granting a multiplier on top of the base cost of an Action. On top of this, Actions in this iteration are separated into two categories, Regular and Transcendental.

Regular Actions

The following is a short, non-exhaustive catalogue of regular actions one may take in the game.:
- 1 Might: Creating a large island, flooding a valley, calling down a fire tornado on a major settlement, etc.

- 1 Might: Create a Hero. Infuse some Divine Essence into a Mortal and turn them into a Hero, giving them increased physical abilities and a lengthened lifespan in exchange for always knowing where they are and what they’re doing.
- 1 Might: Tap into divine power to heal all permanent and temporary injuries, diseases and low-level curses from a Hero or a group of mortals.

- 1 Might: Grant a Blessing. Blessings can be described as passive abilities that are granted to an individual or group. They may be given to a Hero, group of Heroes, Holy Order, mundane order/guild, or a mortal civilization/species. As a rule of thumb, the lesser the amount of targets for a blessing or ability, the stronger it will be. Some examples of blessings are increased fertility, increased strength, instinctive anatomical knowledge, general good fortune, golden ages, etc.
- 1 Might: Cast a Curse. Curses can vary and the limit is your imagination, and they may be cast at the same targets as Blessings. Some examples are infertility, plagues, phobias, strange or unhealthy behaviours, etc. 

- 2 Might: Creating barely-sapient species such as wild goblins, politicians, etc.
- 3 Might: Creating a fully sapient species on the more mundane side such as humans, elves, orcs, intelligent goblins, plant people, cat girls, etc.

- 1 Might: Teaching an important technology/skill/ability to a mortal population. E.g. Fire, Tool making, Architecture, Metal working, Divination, Dragon taming, Chi Regulation, etc

- 1 Might: Creating a Holy Site, maximum of 1 per turn. Effects explained below.

- 1 Might: Create an Artefact with a single Special Ability.
- 1 Might: Adding another Special Ability to an existing Artefact, up to 3 abilities total.

Transcendental Actions

Transcendental Actions are the height of what a God can ever achieve and as such Gods will only be able to pull off Transcendental Actions if they fall within their Domains. In this way, a God of Plants may not be able to create a continent-spanning mountain range but may be able to create a nation-sized tree. Keep in mind these examples represent the threshold upon which a Regular Action become Transcendental, so no Regular Action can be more powerful than the examples below:

- 8-?? Might: Transcendental Destruction. An Earth God may be able to sink a continent into the ocean. A Water God may be able to sweep away a continent with a divine tsunami. A Fire God may be able to ignite the atmosphere and burn away everything on a continent. A God of Dreams may tie a continent’s existence to a sleeping being and then wake that person up, making it disappear. These actions are extremely expensive, are supposed to take more than one post to come to pass, and can be locally counteracted. Used a continent as an example, but if you spend more Might you could do Planetary or even Solar System destruction.

- 4 Might: Granting of Immortality. A God of Life may simply make any mortal or Hero they like both biologically and/or conceptually immortal. A God of Death may grant the mortal or Hero the knowledge on how to construct phylacteries. A God of War may give his Hero the ability to absorb the life force and strength of his vanquished foes, lengthening his lifespan.

- 4-?? Might: Godbane Artefact. The creation of an Artefact that can influence or injure unprepared Gods as if they were mere mortals. A God of Love may create a bracelet that makes everyone fall in love with him. A God of Disease may create the first Divine Disease. A God of Conquest may create a mace that forces everyone else to kneel in his presence.

- 6-?? Might: Superstructure. A God of Architecture may create a metropolis the size of a country, complete with caretakers and some form of public transport. A God of Space may create a solar-system-spanning series of portals. A God of Adventure may fill the world with an endless amount of ruins filled with valuable items and ancient technologies. A God of Earth may raise a brand new continent complete with mountain ranges and all manner of geographical features of their choice.

These are merely examples, meaning that you could choose to spend more on the actions mentioned above for stronger effects - Hopefully you can understand more or less what the scale of Transcendental Actions is. These actions are pretty much guaranteed to earn you in-game enemies and will bring heavy consequences… but hey, at least the stories will be amazing. Do not be afraid to be creative, and please do reach out to me if you feel unsure about anything. This is my first time being the main GM for a Divinus Iteration so this will be a learning process for all of us.

Keep in mind that these catalogues are being left vague on purpose and feature only the smallest action you can take that’ll cost any Might – This is done to provide your creativity as few roadblocks as possible by granting you a greater degree of control over your budgeting and the intended strength of your actions.

It is likely that as the RP progresses, characters will fall into relationships and do their thing. The fruit born from the union will be left up to the player’s discretion but for the sake of guidance, one can normally expect the following:
God x Mortal = either mortal or hero offspring
God x Hero = hero offspring
God x God = God

They are beings that exist outside of our World, beings of unknowable scale and power that seem to gain something from merely tapping into our World and interacting with its denizens. At times, your character(s) may hear an unintelligible whisper in the wind, a paranormal rhythm in the way their roof leaks, or perhaps see a wholly different entity staring back at them from the other side of their mirror. These encounters will be the first sign a Mortal/Hero/God will receive that an Outer God is attempting to communicate with them. Upon being noticed, the Outer God in question will immediately demand a Quest be completed for them.

The Outer Gods will generally only interact with our World through the framework of Quests. This system is simple to understand. IC, the Outer God(s) will establish a communication channel of some sort with their temporary Champion and dictate the objective of the Quest to the lucky person. OOC, they are merely a plot device I can use as a GM to easily dispatch quests to players in order to help them along with their plots or help drive player interaction while building a more lively world at the same time. NPCs may be created in order to flesh out the Quests, and players may choose to do whatever they wish to those NPCs.

All Quests will offer rewards once completed and the reward will usually be something useful or convenient to the player character. Rewards depend on the Danger Level of the Quest, with Danger Levels being divided into three categories:
- Mundane Quests, which take place entirely in the Mortal World with little to no local Deity interference.
- Divine Quests, which are usually undertaken by Heroes and take place in both the Mortal and Divine world and have the potential to influence both of them significantly.
- Transcendental Quests, which impact every level of society, both mundane and Divine, and usually feature multiple characters at the same time and have the potential to destroy continents, planets, solar systems, and Universes and wipe entire civilizations off the history books. These Quests can reward anything, even the most unimaginable things.

Before you ask, yes you can DM me and ask me to come up with a quest for you and I’ll do so when my workload allows.

Holy Sites are extremely important locations and/or structures located in the World that have been blessed by some kind of Divine power. They’re resistant to erosion and intentionally inflicted damage and may either be created by Gods themselves or given as Quest rewards. 

Each Holy Site you create, defend, and maintain boosts your Might income per turn by 1MP, up to a maximum of a 4MP boost, bringing your max MP income per turn up to 9MP. This means that any Holy Site you create after your first four will not boost your income further… Instead, any extra Holy Sites created provide redundancy to your Holy Site network, meaning that if you had 5 Holy Sites and one of them got destroyed or defiled, you’d still receive the maximum boost of 4MP. In the same vein of thought, should you have 4 Holy Sites and find one of them has been destroyed or defiled, your Might income Boost would be immediately lowered to 3MP.

On top of offering a Might Income Boost, Holy Sites can also be granted Blessings. As such, a Temple of Life might be blessed with an aura of Healing which boosts the natural regeneration of anyone within its sphere of influence; while a Blood Colosseum might send people who self-identify as warriors into a bloodthirsty rage.

Maximum of 1 Holy Site per turn.

Artefacts are simple – They are tools that have been imbued with Divine Essence through one way or another, granting them one (or several, depending on the Might invested) special ability capable of outclassing the vast majority of mundane Magical Tools/Weapons in their specific niche. For example, an Artefact could be as simple as a Divinely Sharp Sword capable of cutting through a 2-meter thick Stone Gate, or it could be as complex as an unbreakable Fishing Net capable of capturing a person’s soul and making them forget how to make tacos.

Keep in mind that Artefacts are powerful, but even they struggle to damage Gods. In order to cause real damage to a God you will need a Godbane Artefact, which are extremely expensive and dangerous pieces of equipment. Godbane Artefacts may, as with everything else in the game, be created by the Gods themselves or given out as Quest Rewards.

Generally speaking, gods will usually engage in wars and combat indirectly through their minions/slaves/worshippers/heroes and so on. Such wars and battles will take place like in any other RP: players can either write the battle out in a play by post manner or (preferably) collaborate and write the scene together in order to write something terrific that everyone would like to read.

If battles should become direct, and one god takes up the sword against another, then the procedure will be much as above. Remember, narrative comes before all so simply pouring Might into a brute force action may not always guarantee victory.

Now on to God Death. Gods may injure one another, but murdering a fellow god requires a level of effort that makes accidental killings nearly impossible. At the very least, it would take a couple solid strikes with a godkiller level weapon to kill a fellow god, and it usually takes more than that.

There is also a difference between a god’s body being destroyed and a god’s metaphysical soul destroyed. As such, a god may be physically killed but somehow come back to life later on if the killer is not thorough in destroying every trace of the victim’s essence.

If, however, a god is killed and their very essence is destroyed, then their existence (both physical and metaphysical) will cease to be. While PC's may not be able to achieve this without being kitted out in the most insane equipment in the history of Divinus, be warned that certain actions (or inactions) may bring upon you the wrath of that which can and will (you will be warned if you are in danger).

Heroes are living beings that have been blessed by a God for whatever reason, usually for the purpose of allowing them to take on Divine Quests on behalf of the God that blessed them.

- All Heroes, by default, are healthier and longer-lived.
- All Heroes are more resistant to damage, illness and environmental hazards than their fellow mortals.
- All Heroes have varying levels of sensitivity to magic and may learn how to cast it with the proper training, even if their races are normally unable to do so.
- All Heroes can sense when something is out of place in their vicinity, allowing them to prepare themselves for ambushes, traps, assassination attempts, etc. even if they are unable to directly detect concealed beings. When a hero says they've got a bad feeling about something, they really ain't lying!

While Heroes are unable to directly perform any tier of Divine Actions, they may request an action be performed by the Outer Gods on their behalf as their reward for a completed Quest.

Some Rather Important Rules
Tʜᴇ Gᴏʟᴅᴇɴ Rᴜʟᴇ: Tʜᴏᴜ Sʜᴀʟᴛ Nᴏᴛ Gᴏᴅᴍᴏᴅ
It's funny 'cause you're a god and all! Some people think that this means normal RPing rules don't apply, but they do. You cannot take control of another player's god, that's basic. 

However, there is more space for battling for control when it comes to creations, and it can make for some very interesting play - imagine creating a hero who is then influenced by another god and doing some of their bidding before returning to your true path after you guide them once more etc.

Tʜᴇ Fᴀɪʀ-Wᴀʀɴɪɴɢ Rᴜʟᴇ: Tʜᴏᴜ Sʜᴀʟᴛ Gɪᴠᴇ Fᴀɪʀ Wᴀʀɴɪɴɢ Bᴇꜰᴏʀᴇ Iɴꜰʟᴜᴇɴᴄɪɴɢ Aɴᴏᴛʜᴇʀ's Cʀᴇᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
It's all good being able to influence another god's creation, but before doing any such thing, you must tell the other player that you will be influencing said character, either in OOC, PM, or on Discord. They MUST agree before you post in the IC influencing their creation. If you believe another player is being unreasonable and you should be able to influence a certain character or civilization, then bring the matter to myself.

Tʜᴇ Gᴏᴏᴅ Sᴜᴍᴍᴀʀɪᴛᴀɴ Rᴜʟᴇ: Tʜᴏᴜ Sʜᴀʟᴛ Sᴜᴍᴍᴀʀɪsᴇ Yᴏᴜʀ Pᴏsᴛs
Sometimes you read a post the writer finds fascinating, and which many others may also find fascinating too. However, others may well find it dull as dishwater. As a Good Summaritan, you should give a comprehensive and short summary of any posts at the bottom of your post, in a hider labelled 'Summary'. These summaries should ideally very clearly state what happened in the post, what you’ve created, and how much Might you’ve spent and have remaining.

We're all here to have fun, these are the three most important rules to Divinus. I do not write any more because RPGuild rules are generally the same, so use your common sense and come to the GM if there are any issues.

On the Universe and the World:

Just remember, what we currently have is an empty 'World'. Before we can begin creating things (or, indeed, destroying what has been created or bringing about chaos, untold misery and destruction), we must create a 'Universe' within this world. The universe is basically the skeleton which we can then begin building meat upon, the husk which we slowly fill up, the empty cell membrane which we must fill with all those fascinating things which complete it. In the beginning all there would exist is a 'World'. A completely empty world where nothing exists - space, time, the universe as self-contained 'thing', 'plane of existence', or 'dimension', the laws of nature, physics etc. All that doesn't exist, it's not even a 'void' or 'vacuum' in the sense that outer space is a 'vacuum'. What must be created, first and foremost, is the 'Universe' as a new dimension or plane of existence within 'The World', Time must begin, Space as a thing must be created, the Laws of Nature and Physics must be brought about (default as they exist in our world). If you are confused, then think of 'The World' as outer space in god-terms, and 'The Universe' as planet Earth in god-terms, and a god's personal plane of existence as a separate dimension within 'The World' i.e. something like a satellite.

On Creating the Universe:

Now, for a universe to come about, all the gods must pool their power into the Scroll (named the Codex of Creation) present at the center of all things and creating a 'Big Bang' effect. The process of adding one's power consumes 4 Might, which may seem like a lot considering it's the entirety of your MP pool at the start of the game, but consider that you're funding the creation of a brand new Universe and the price will start to seem small! Plus, I will be giving everyone a hefty amount of bonus MP once the Universe has been created, so you won't feel strapped for God dough when it comes to creating all those neat mountain ranges and mud pools.

In any case, through this Big Bang each god can then will things into being, such as galaxies, stars, planets etc. The power of the pooling together of energy, this moment of divine unity, as well as the Big Bang, carries their will forth and a universe is born which can then be built upon. For instance, once the universe is complete, we may find that something like water does not exist, or seasons, or fire. We can then go our separate ways and do as we like. While not necessary as the game develops, we might want to all focus on developing one planet first, and bring life to others later by replicating the first. 

The 'big bang' experience may well be different for each god, but one defining feature of it is that it will be BIG (hence, BIG bang). And it will be a bang (hence big BANG). Huge and noisy is the way gods like it! To qualify this, the very experience of the 'Big Bang' will be different. This is as much a physical 'creation' as it is a spiritual, ethereal, intangible one. This isn't just the beginning of the universe as a physical 'thing', this is the coming into existence of infinite timelines and futures, lives, tragedies, seasons, and so on. A god like Vowzra (god of Time), for instance, may find it to be an awe-inspiring, overpowering thing, he may be carried off, mentally, into a thousand futures and see a thousand flashes of lives that could be. One like Escre (god of Spirits) may suddenly sense all the lives that will ever be within him, Vestec (god of Chaos) may be engulfed by all the powers chaos can muster and so on. It may create an epiphanic experience. On the other hand, it may be purely physical, perhaps the raw power and ear-piercing sound may drive a god to near madness, it may fill them with joy to know that this is their doing, they may be filled with inexplicable terror and so on.

On the Scope of 'Creation' in Rules 1 and 2:

When we speak of 'Creations' in these rules, we mean important creations. Heroes, specific monsters, entire races, major temples, etc. If you create a race that naturally reproduces, another God could play around with a faction of that population (until another God chases them off that is) without seeking permission. If Astarte creates an entire race of Ug the Cavemen, Vestec can convert a portion of them to his religion. Or turn them into forging cyclopes. Or just smite a portion of them. Maybe drive his own race to war with them. Whatever suits his fancy. Naturally, this might irritate the creating god and they can retaliate if they so wish. Vestec cannot, however, exterminate the entire race without prior permission. Nor can a god meddle with specific characters deemed important by a player without permission.

In summary, you have to get permission to screw with major creations of a Player, but not for minor things. (If you feel something is minor, and the creator says it's major, talk to a GM. They'll mediate.)

Now, for the sake of maintaining OOC peace and order, when you agree on something via PMs or OOC, use clear language which leaves no space for doubts. Things like 'Yes you can do that,' and 'No you can't' are examples of clear language. Things like 'Maybe,' 'You can try,' 'That sounds like it could happen,' 'Hmm,' are not clear.

Moreover, if a player does godmod or goes beyond their remit or does something that requires permission, try not to post a revenge post of godly godmodding to get them back. Godmodding is an issue dealt with OOCly, attempting to take vengeance won't sort it, and the RP could easily devolve into godmodding bonanza if enough like-minded people are about.  

A Comment on the Roleplay's pace: 

Divinus games typically start out FAST, but do not be intimidated as the pace usually slows down to very manageable levels after a couple weeks. These games last quite a while too, so do not feel as if you are in a rush to do anything. We’re here for the long haul and to have fun, not to make RPing feel like a job. For reference, Divinus Mk. 2 started several years ago and is still kept alive by a core playerbase.

On Considerations for Combat:

Might - The more of it you have, the more powerful the strikes you can deliver. An attack which uses 6 Might could very well obliterate a large portion of a continent if not deflected properly. If an attack using higher Might, or an army with higher Might, goes against one of less Might, it will generally win out, unless tactics and strategy are also at play.

Tactics and Strategy - This is really about the individual and how smart they can be about their battle. If they are very intelligent about it and deliver one act of genius after another, then things should swing in their favour due to their cleverness, brilliance, or due to some kind of divine intervention no matter if they are physically stronger or weaker than their opponent.

Writing quality - This is just a matter of pure writing quality. Is it gripping? Does it make sense? Is it well thought out? This will be a factor a GM considers when deciding who should win in cases where players cannot decide between themselves.

Plot line/Player agreement - If the players have agreed what the result will be, then that will override all the above (yes, that means that a tiny gecko could steamroll a Hero of War if both players agree to that result.)

A Comment on Creating Species:

No completely new species, upon being created, will have a fully functional social order or knowledge. Species must either be created and developed ICly, or the first post (detailing their creation) must also detail their development/evolution/growth to the present day. For instance, when humans are first created, they will have no knowledge of 'society' or 'magic' or even something like 'self', 'identity' etc. unless they are taught it or naturally develop it over time.

These things can either be given them in the creation post (meaning the player would have to detail their growth, giving a reasonable time-frame) or they can be allowed to develop naturally ICly, with contribution from the original creator and other players. If a new species has evolved from a previously existing species, then it can be assumed that they have all the knowledge of the original species, as well as anything new that has been given them either directly by a god or by virtue of their evolution, and said evolution must be detailed in their creation post.

Try, as much as possible, to ensure that we do not have cases of creation ex nihilo when it comes to species, intelligent or otherwise. In general, try to logically build things up and based on what was there beforehand, or if you are creating something entirely new then do try to make them fit in nicely with what’s already there.

Of course, it is not expected that every planet will follow such a route, but the point is to develop and build upon what others have done. This is not a rule, merely an expression of preference by myself, for whatever it is worth.

On Balancing Game-Play, Plot & Character Development, and Technological Advancement:

Natural technological advancement should be slow and there should be a focus on the development and growth of the various civilisations in existence (growth of nations, conflicts, godly politics etc.) When granting technologies, players should be aware of the seismic consequences this will have on the game-world as a whole. Sometimes it is far more interesting to explore a certain technological period in depth before allowing for advancement in technology but I do understand the draw of the magitech or even sci-fi aesthetic, especially when mixed with more traditional fantastical civilizations so do reach out to me and other players if you want to create something that may be unorthodox.

On Using More Might than you have:

Technically possible, but consider the possible consequences of such an overextension of your God’s essence. Temporary mortality, permanent injuries, ripping of the fabric of reality, etc. are all possible when pulling off crazy stunts.

1. I wanna join.

Introduce yourself in the OOC, and once a place opens up, you can play a Godling. Feel free to join in all our very serious conversations, heated philosophical debates and other very, very serious stuff we tend to very seriously do in this very serious thread about very serious things.

And on that very serious note, don't forget to read the entire OP! If you have any ideas concerning your potential future character, or what you would like to one day unleash upon the universe, have comments on anything or any questions at all, don't be shy and talk to us.

2. I want to make a few creatures another character made loyal to me.

You can convert a small number of another character's creations without asking. Bigger actions against important creations require that you seek permission from the player in question.

3. I want to create a species which is mega-loyal to me and is immune to the approaches of other gods.

You can create races which are blindly loyal to your character, whose loyalty is basically gene-encoded. You cannot make them immune to being messed with, converted or in any other way affected by another god.

4. So, is there any posting order or can I just get working on my post?

There is no posting order or limit, you can post in any order and as many times per turn as you can. Do try to allow two players to post after your last post before you post again though.

5. I want to create a species that goes 'Harungamunga' upon emerging into the world.

That is scientifically impossible. The Inherent Laws, the Fundamentals of Existence, and the Alpha and Omega all dictate that the first thing any creature can say upon emerging into the world, is 'Wow'. Your creatures can say 'Harungamunga' all they want, but their first sound must be 'Wow'. This is MANDATORY and failure to comply will result in your species being cursed with universal lactose intolerance.

6. How do I know a new turn has started?

An IC post will come up which will say 'Turn [insert turn number here]' in big writing with a summary of how much Might each character has available.

7. I want to create another planet!

You can if you so wish. There are billions of barren planets out and about however, so creating a new one from scratch may just be a waste of Might...

8. Do we have a sun?

Yes.

9. Do we have a moon?

Not at the start. That will be up to you, the players, to create.

10. Does the planet Galbar rotate? Does it have gravity?

No it doesn- OF COURSE IT DOES YOU, MINION!

11. I want to do more than one thing with 1 Might Point.

It is entirely possible to do more than one thing with 1 Might. You can teach an intelligent species more than one idea, concept or technology using 1 Might alone, and create a few fantastical non-sapient species with 1 Might. Feel free to experiment in-game in this regard. For example, I won’t bat an eye at someone teaching Humanity about Fire, Stone Tools, and Shelter-making for 1 Might, but might be a bit concerned if I see someone trying to teach cavemen about Quantum Physics, Rocketeering, Steam Engines and Teleportation for 1 MP.

12. How long are the days and years on Galbar?

Assume Earth-like statistics unless otherwise specified in-game. So days are 24 Earth hours, a year is 365 Earth days.

NAME
ALIAS (IF ANY)

Domain
e.g. Water
Tell me a bit about your Domain, what specific powers it entails.

Pictures, descriptions or both are fine. You can specify preferred forms and what forms they adopt in particular circumstances.

Description
What is the essence of the character? For example, if they are a god of war, are they a savage killer, a shrewd tactician or warrior king type of war god? If they are a god of magic, are they a wise type of mage, or evil and wicked? This is more about how they are viewed by others, what kind of aura do they give?
Musical Theme
Let’s add some spice!

[center][h2]NAME[/h2][b]ALIAS[/b][sup] (IF ANY)[/sup][/center]
[u][b]Domain[/b][/u]
e.g. Water
[hider=Description]Tell me a bit about your Domain, what specific powers it entails.[/hider]

[hider=Appearance]Pictures, descriptions or both are fine. You can specify preferred forms and what forms they adopt in particular circumstances.[/hider]
[u][b]Description[/b][/u]
[indent]What is the essence of the character? For example, if they are a god of war, are they a savage killer, a shrewd tactician or warrior king type of war god? If they are a god of magic, are they a wise type of mage, or evil and wicked? This is more about how they are viewed by others, what kind of aura do they give?[/indent]
[u][b]Musical Theme[/b][/u]
Lets add some spice!

The information above may seem overwhelming, but keep in mind that it's a ruleset that has been developed through nearly a decade of constant iteration. You're not expected to understand everything from the get go, and questions are always welcome. I'm usually quicker to reach through this RP's Discord server (available on request), but will do what I can to reply to questions here as well.

More information will likely be getting added to this post over the next few days, so do keep an eye out for any announcements in relation to mechanics updates and the like. All players with approved characters, please post your characters in the Characters tab.

With all of that said, we're very close to getting this show started my fellow rpgamers. Godspeed!
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