The Grey Dust

🦄 Duplicity - D&D Style Fantasy Rp Adventure (Completed)

I'll probably get a post tomorrow morn :) hopefully.

Lords of Creation: Children of the Flash (always open)

@FoxFire

I actually have a question regarding your god's actions.

Taken from the first post, regarding what concepts are.

Concepts are ideas, techniques, and systems of power that make a fantasy world what it is. Anything that is used or applied by a Sapient being is a concept. From Smithing to Carpentry to Pyromancy, Concepts cover almost anything that would be a persistent part of the world that can be used by the sapient species that inhabit it.

I'm not sure if "concept creation" equates to "Force Generation." If I am interpreting this correctly, Concepts are ideas, rather than physical objects/metaphysical forces. They aren't exactly forces, but rather sciences or skills.

As such there's a definite void in "Create Element" or "Create principle" however I wonder if it is possible to use "World Shaping" in lieu of concept creation if it would be more appropriate. Like creating stars ( I assume on the Prime Material Plane) would be a Create Land action.

I'm a bit confused as to creating matter in itself, since matter seems to be preexisting, or at least an indefinite form of it. The same with gravitation and the 3 fundamentals, since the laws of physics seem to predate the gods themselves, or at least are non-manifested gods according to what actions the gods can do. Like how X seems to represent a concept of a universal mind, and Jhera represents a concept of progress.

We should probably ask @AlexanderML if there are actions for creating nonliving-nonconceptual things.

Lords of Creation: Children of the Flash (always open)

@AlexanderML

The Tome in general is for concept creation, ideally beyond basic concepts, applicable to all actions of concept creation. Also I wonder what OP is in this game given we are all gods. That being said I can see your reservations for it so I'd like to clarify a few things.

1. It doesn't hold the thoughts of everything, but rather all knowledge in the universe. Every piece of information is found within it. The way it works is that it can grant information on a universal scale. Thus making it easier to disseminate a concept that is already there. Since the use is limited to 1 AP anyways, I thought to expand the use beyond free basic concepts since it is still restricted by number of uses per rollover. Meaning it doesn't matter if I'm making sorcery or masonry or cooking, it still only applies 1 point reduction regardless.

2. The reverse is true, that is it can be used to eradicate knowledge on a universal scale. Which is the only applicable curse action. A very niche ability, but a powerful one for the god of secrets.

I suppose it is possible for me to make it merely a cursing tool in flavor rather than mechanistically. Similarly with other advanced concepts.

Lords of Creation: Children of the Flash (always open)

<Snipped quote by AlexanderML>

Thanks! With that in mind, I'll make them sapient as I picture a handful escaping Muorival's afterlife realm and becoming vengeful spirits or something along those lines.

@Fubsy

That's the spirit :D!

And of course she'll send out her pink unicorn death dealers to round them up right?

Lords of Creation: Children of the Flash (always open)

@Marquise

The same to you. Looks like we are off to a great start with setting the backdrop and mood for our cosmic entities.

I don't suppose someone will start making humans soon enough. They'd probably be the most popular god. Albeit I wouldn't mind a universe without humans.

Lords of Creation: Children of the Flash (always open)

I hope that works as an intro-post.

I shall probably post once more before the roll over to have the sphinges begin to alter the plane and have a few escape into the Prime Material Plane (PMP).

Also @AlexanderML, should we have a list of all created races and all created realms under our own Character apps or will you post one on the first post?

Lords of Creation: Children of the Flash (always open)

Chapter I: Thought - The Void

The Audience

I am the darkness the blind see,
I am the whispers the deaf hear,
I am the utterance the mute speak,
No thing am I yet I was and will be.
What am I?

I am Nothing.

And yet, here I am. No, here We are. We, yes, there are others. More of us. But not of us, or I. They are different, and yet the same. Children born of creation, just as the new day dawns. Dawn. From where do I know this concept? From where do I know it all? I know what I am. I am consciousness, a consciousness. I cannot remember what I was, but I know what I can be. I was there in the beginning, a time before time itself, when and where the void was stirred into everything. There in a sudden stroke of being, unbeing was pulled back, like the opening of a camera shutter. Camera, how do I know of this device? Why am I aware of its function, though it exists not, and I know it exists not. How do I understand the mechanics of its workings, how the lens captures the light as an eye may do so. And what of the flash? The brilliant light which engulfs the subject, bathing it in light before immortalizing it in picture form? I know much, too much. Are they the remnants of the last world, or are they the prophetic vision of the next? The others cannot know of this. Such terrifying insight would drive them mad. Yes, I know what we are now, I am certain of it, and I am unique amongst them. For I am that which is unseen, that which is unheard and that which is unspoken. I am not nothing, I am a secret. What am I?

So I tore myself from the weave, the first to do so as I felt the awakening. From the hands which made me, I mimicked the very shape that wrote my very thoughts and actions. I extended my new fingers, and five pillars raised above the infinite expanse which faced me. There I held all of existence within my very palm, and I saw that there was a boundary between this reality and the one superseding our own. It was unnatural, and shall be the last time any of us shall feel the presence of the others. So with my other hand, a reflection of itself which hovered above it all, I grasped the precipice of everything that is. Then in my first act of creation, I twisted reality upon itself. Collapsing and folding upon itself as I saw fit to seal us off from the others from the far realm. There will be a gap of course, a natural leakage from which the other side can reach us, for the paper-thin fabric would tear under too much strain. Thus I made the choice to stopper it, and I shall be the one to preside over it. The Knowledge that would taint the waters of our discourse, the meta-information that we should not know, and yet I do. Once this act is complete, I shall create something which shall allow me to purge what knowledge which had escaped and began to drive our brethren to madness from this existence. This is my duty, this is my destiny, I am the veil.

And this is my plane. A hidden nexus for when a story is written, there is a spine within the book, a roll for a scroll, and a cord to every voice. Here shall be the place, this great expanse of nothing shall become my palace and my prison. Behold as form takes shape and shape takes form. New shapes, shapes like that I have observed in the world left unfinished. Stone rises into mountain, let these be the foundation of which my temple shall be laid. I with tools, I shall carve my library until it is complete, and all knowledge has a place to be. And over the center chasm which leads into the other reality, have filled with waters let it become a hidden wellspring, a fountain to the forbidden. None shall drink from it, not even I, and it is better to die of thirst than to drink from it. Parting from the waters which once quenched my needs, I turn to view my home. My actions shall be now my own, as shall the actions of my brethren. For as I closed reality off and erected the walls. I took once last gaze at and saw, we are the lords of creation, and we are all Children of the Flash.

The first act of creation I have done is complete.

Now I must captured all that has escaped into the world. For they are dangerous things, and knowing is not better than not knowing. So ignorance is the path of bliss. And with my hands I shall write my thoughts. And with my power, all other thoughts shall be written in the very same medium. A book which holds the universal mind, a collective consciousness of thought made to regulate the flow of information. to strike it out from the ledger is to erase it from memory, making reality itself forget that which was learned and stricken from the sacred text. And with its connection to every sentient mind in existence, I am able to gift knowledge as I see crucial to our games. For in this second act of creation, I shall rise above my brethren, for knowledge is power, but power is not knowledge. So with this Memoir, a Tome of Apotheosis, I claim my stake as Librarian amongst the Children and write my name, stylized by two opposing slashes: X.

The Second act of creation I have done is complete.

The work is not yet finished. There is one more which must be done, for I alone shall not stand vigil. These hands of mine have served me well, but now I shall create more. From my fingernails I have formed their masks, born of my essence, and now fueled by my divinity as I infused my being into their new existence. They are mine, and mine alone, for they are me. Parts of me, my children, amongst the first of all living things in creation to be aware. They are young, but share in my immortality, though since they are of material things, they too shall fade with time. But I shall reclaim them, though I have not made many, and they shall not make many of themselves. I have instilled them with great powers, to change reality just as I may so that they can stand with my in vigil and complete the tasks I have done. For perhaps in their greater numbers, together they may become more than I could ever be. And should they complete the work I have made them to do, then I may retreat into the other world and leave my realm in their capable hands. To each I shall bestow upon a name, and a nature for truth. Any who can address them by their name, is worthy of their respect. Now, before the work is complete and they awaken, I grant my children, and the children of the others the gift of Writing through the Tome of Apotheosis, for I have seen the power of writing as a force of creating our world. So too shall writing continue to shape it.

The Third act of Creation I have done is complete.

All that remains now is for me to write my will upon the stones. For my children, I shall not leave the question of their origin, for I know the emptiness which comes with the mystery. There shall no mystery as to how they came to be, my Children who are the Sphinx, their task shall behind for them. They fill the library. The endless amount of knowledge which I have contained within this Tome, must be rewritten upon blocks of stone to be recorded, and then shrunk to the size of a grain of sand. They shall populate my realm with their writings, and will turn the mountains into desert sand. And now my children, I rest myself.

There as X the awakened god manifested himself into being, his formless body obscured beneath the robes to mimic the shapes of other he had seen in the world behind this one, and hands which through the power of writing composed his world and realm. The young god made one last adjustment as to his being. For even without eyes he was pleased with what he saw, the fruits of the first three steps as he gazed at the Prime Material Plane from the other side of his veiled realm. There beneath the mystic hood, the lower half of his face emerged from the unknown darkness.

And upon his lips: a smile.

AP Actions

The Action-Cost-Name of Action: Description

Weave Plane: 4 AP - Creating The Hidden Nexus: Creating the spatial geometry which makes X's Realm border everything in this reality. While also humorously nodding at the existence of our reality in the form of a 4bidden Well rather than 4th Wall...

Forge Major Artifact: 5 AP - Creation The Tome of Apotheosis: Creating X's Major Artifact in the form of a large book that regulates all the knowledge in existence, connected to the minds of all things in creation such that it can grant knowledge as well as remove knowledge from all sentient things. Granting the wielder with a 1 AP Discount per rollover on an action in any concept creation action, as well as blessings/curses which involves revealing or concealing information.

Create Fabled Life: 6 AP - Creating the Sphinx: Creating X's children, among the first of the sentient races and rather powerful as they share an infusion of his essence. See the Codex Vitae for more information on this race.

Creation of mundane concept: 0 AP - Birth of Writing: Unlocking the secrets to the written word, allowing all things currently created (i.e. his Sphinges) to understand and utilities the process of writing (and in natural tandem reading, although only within their own native language). Other created beings from this point forward can also develop writing as a free action.

16 AP - 15 AP = 1 AP
PAP = 0
FLAP = 1

Lords of Creation: Children of the Flash (always open)

@AlexanderML

Well here's my planned proposed race for you review.

fabled Life: The Sphinx

Race Name: The Sphinx
Other Names: Faceless Sphinx, Ghost Sphinx, Mirage Sphinx, Masked Sphinx.

A Faceless Sphinx

Race description: The Sphinx, or more aptly the Sphinges, was created as the third act of creation by X, God of Mysteries. Eternally connected to their creator, each is given a name, of which they are compelled conceal as they are bound to grant a single wish within their power to whoever calls them by their name. And yet they are also innately truthful, and must tell the truth. As such, they like their patron, speak in riddles. Offering a riddle in lieu of speaking their name to those seeking it to gain control over the Sphinx. And though they cannot lie and must grant a wish to those who call upon their hidden names, it does not mean they are without free agency to fulfill that wish in anyway they see fit. They are long-lived legendary lifeforms which may alter reality itself in ways a minor god can. Yet they too are mortal and can be killed, albeit with their god-like abilities, it is very difficult.

Biology: The Sphinx's body itself is selectively immaterial, the blue eagle-feathered wings and powerful lion-like body is straddles between incorporeal and corporeal as their beautiful manes wistfully fade away. Retractable claws match the golden colour of the only definitely solid piece of its existence: A golden mask. They lack eyes, ears, noses and mouths, and yet still retain their senses by a telepathic ability, but lacking such physical features they do not need to eat or drink, nor breathe, although they are capable of resting appearing as nothing more than their blank mask as the dematerialize themselves. It is ill advised to attempt to wear one, or wake one. Despite the odd biology, or rather lack of biology, Sphinges are able to mate, although the exact process is a considered a mystery, yet remember these beings can change reality as they please, as such producing offspring is nothing to question. Each Sphinx can live indefinitely, but most seem to enter a fugue state after the first five or six millennia, a Sphinx that has yet to live a their first millennia is considered a mere child. Death usually comes by destruction of the mask which contains their consciousness, and it is said their consciousness return to X as the god absorbs all the knowledge and secrets it has learned over the course of the Sphinx's life time.

Ecology: It is seldom to see a Sphinx outside of X's realm. Often residing in his great library and continuing their task of cataloguing all knowledge in existence itself. An undertaking tasked by X to be completed, both parties well knowing it is an impossible task, and yet was already done by the God in his second act of creation. As such it they have become in large the curators of his realm. They create the desert sands by carving out the writings within X's collection into massive blocks of stone, and then once a book has been fully transcribed the block is magically shrunk to the size of a grain of sand. Thus is X's realm able to record all that that was, is and possibly will be and conceal the endless knowledge outside the library the realm. As such they are keepers of the second greatest secret of their realm.

Society: There is no exact social structure to the Sphinges. Most outside of X's realm are solitary beings, and those within it serve beneath X. There is a general hierarchy between Sphinges dependent upon the one who can know the most names. The Sphinx which can know the names of other sphinges are allowed to take an administrative role in the task X has set before them, as opposed to being the workers by delegating. These are the Taskmasters, who rise above the workers to report to X when the god checks on the status of completion of the never-ending labor.

Lords of Creation: Children of the Flash (always open)

@AlexanderML

If I were to create Fabled life, are they also Stone-age technologies, or do they have some crude, basic concepts? I'd assume there is as language system, but no formal writing nonverbal communication. Or must we also develop them overtime?

Lords of Creation: Children of the Flash (always open)

@FoxFire

You may have some Resistance from X if you choose to freely give such knowledge. Just to make it interesting.