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[Harry Baldman]

Birth of a Deity, or, the Prophets of Allochthon
An RTD of Gods and Plagues, and All That Is Caught In Between

Times have grown harsh in the lands of humanity, the great unified kingdom of Allochthon. Ravenous, savage orcs terrorize the east, the dead walk in the west, the south is engulfed in the fires of a reemerging dragonkind and the north has grown still and treacherous with faces of false friends. And in the middle of it all, a powerless, or perhaps merely an unwilling king and his men, both with their backs to the wall as the dark powers converge on the limp remnants of human civilization. Unity of man is but a dream, and the land is on the brink of total chaos. Humanity as a whole can smell its death on the air.

With all that in mind, one could very easily see how the average man and woman might be driven to all sorts of things: murder and cowardice, altruism and cooperation, and, of course, prayer. Of these, prayer seems most futile – the Sun and the Moon care not, for humanity is but a speck in an infinite expanse of time to them, and the Gatekeeper has never been known to help without also harming in equal measure. But they pray nevertheless, and though the gods remain aloof, something does happen – the Great Gate, pathway between this world and the next, slowly lurches open, wider than it ever has in the past, and a presence, immense in size yet imperceptible to any mortal eye, slips into the world, seeking and immediately finding five minds, who would soon realize their role in the events to come, to direct its power and decide its path. Thus happens the birth of a brand new deity, one unlike any that humanity has seen before, and one more directly involved in mortal affairs at that.

Spoiler: OOC Intro and Quick Facts (click to show/hide)

Welcome to Birth of a Deity, my first attempt at blending Old Testament shenanigans and high fantasy, or, if you prefer, blending Prophets of the New God and Kingspawn of Allochthon. Hopefully my optimism in the idea is not woefully misplaced!

Basic things to keep in mind:

• Uses a d12 for optimum bonus allocation with 1-2 and 11-12 being exploded into another d12 roll to decide criticality of failures and successes. Like Kingspawn of Allochthon, if you remember that, but with twice the explosion range.
• Theoretically will involve quite a bit of RP, though you can leave that up to me and the rolls if you don’t feel like doing much in that regard.
• There will be charisma rolls as well as first impression rolls, but they will conform to sensible parameters most of the time.
• Godly parameters decided by player input, as in PotNG.
• Uses the Miracle System for granting divine boons, detailed in a post below.
• Not first-come-first-served, but players are rather chosen on basis of interesting ideas.
• Probably not as punishingly difficult as Prophets of the New God was, possibly with a better thought out progression.
• Will start about 5-7 days from now, so take your time with your character concepts.
• Once started, will update about once per three days, more often if everybody posts quickly.
• All of the lore from Kingspawn of Allochthon has been carried over, and there will be more in the Things You Know post.
• Though using old concepts, relatively speaking, is still rather experimental in nature.
• Suggestions about types of miracles to include and mechanical alterations are always welcome, as is feedback and questions.
• Tone - probably relatively lighthearted, though not outright silly.
• The character perspectives of Kingspawn may make a return for certain things.
• Feel free to roll out your characters for the other two games if you made them (with certain alterations), though I can't guarantee they'll get in.

Spoiler: Prophet Sheet (click to show/hide)

The characters are defined like this:

Name: something suitably fantasy-ish will do. Not that you can't be Bob the Prophet, of course.

Gender: two choices, really. Note that this may affect how people react to you.

Age: any age you can comfortably walk in will do. Child-prophets and ancient codgers are both permitted!

Pre-enlightenment profession: this decides what abilities you get at the beginning. You get one free positive ability, the rest need a penalty to balance it. This can be a bonus or a penalty to a certain action, a special skill (for instance, combat training) or lack of a commonplace skill or ability (for instance, blindness). Note that you can have a specific kind of magic independent of God’s work, but this always requires you to add a physical or mental abnormality (up to you what that is this time – see the On Magic part of Things You Know) on top of penalties you'd get for having two or more positive abilities.

Story of enlightenment: a bit of background information on how you came to be a prophet. How God contacted you. Consult the Things You Know post if you wish to be maximally lore-friendly, though I'll probably point out things that don't gel with the setting at all even if you don't. Remember: verbosity is, or at least should be secondary to interesting concepts.

Suggestions for the New God: You have to suggest a single personality trait, a single like and a single dislike that God has. Traits, likes and dislikes that are repeated become more strongly expressed in the New God's will, and are very important for obtaining Miracle Points. You can nickname your God however you please. Go nuts if you so desire. The nature of God is entirely up to you to sketch out.


Example:

Name: Veltipp

Gender: Male

Age: 33

Pre-enlightenment profession: Palace Guard/"Herbalist" (knows how to use a wide variety of weapons, skilled in bow use, possesses intimate narcotics knowledge, often hallucinates, not very good at talking sensibly to people)

Story of enlightenment: Veltipp used to have the most wonderful job in Foghaunt as the guard of the royal palace, home to King Ingmar Fogeye, his glorious spawn and his vast and varied retinue. However, the stresses of the job, which were many and varied and often included orcs in some capacity, got to him over the years and caused him to develop a drinking habit that saw him descend into increasing degeneracy as the years went by, culminating in him drinking himself into a stupor while on watch, a stunt that, in addition to nearly allowing orcs to easily slip inside the palace, got him very much fired from his job. One would suspect that his life would have mostly ended then and there, with him succumbing to his vice. However, fate intervened in the form of Veltipp’s friend Jum, who introduced him to somebody very wise in matters of intoxication, a witch from the wilderness who, for a very reasonable price, provided Veltipp with a very fruitful introduction to the wonderful world of hallucinogens, all but turning him away from the self-destructive path of boozing, substituting those depressing experiences with adventures of audible color and explorations of the deepest reaches of his own mind. During one such adventure he met a most fascinating thing trailing along his skull-sky he saw with eyes turned inward – the Voice, a spirit looking for a ride in open minds the world over, all in the name of a greater, if inscrutable plan. Not one to refuse a fellow traveler of the inner worlds of man, Veltipp agreed to carry the Voice within him, and to engage in a mutually beneficial shared-thought experience.

Suggestions for the New God: the Voice is bizarre, likes altered mental states, dislikes plainness in thoughts or actions.

Spoiler: The Miracle System (click to show/hide)

Important note: much of this is, at the time of character creation, optional reading, so feel free to skip if you're allergic to crunch.

Each player has an amount of Miracle Points (representing how much their is willing to help them) they have accumulated, and they begin the game with five such points. You can get more Miracle Points by pleasing your god (for instance, Veltipp would gain favor from particularly strange and exciting drug trips), and you can increase the number of MPs you get by building a connection to your god through completing Holy Quests. The point of receiving MP is to cast miracles, the cost of which is calculated like this:

Miracle MP Cost = Miracle Effect Cost * Miracle Magnitude Cost * Additional Costs (where applicable).

Cost of Effects:
Blessing or Curse: 1
Divine Knowledge: 1
Comprehend Language: 1
Divine Charm: 2
Healing or Harming: 2
Transmutation or Multiplication: 3
Divine Flight: 3
God's Wrath: 4
Call For Allies: 6
Raising Undead: 8
Resurrection: 20
(Note: more effects may appear over time. Resurrection cost is high due to its implications on game balance.)


Miracle Magnitude Cost:

1 person or object, area of 1 square meter, volumes of 1 cubic meter: 1
2-10 people or objects, area of 2 to 10 square meters, volumes of 2 to 10 cubic meters: 3
11-100 people or objects, area of 11 to 100 square meters, volumes of 11 to 100 cubic meters: 5
101-1000 people or objects, area of 101 to 1000 square meters, volumes of 101 to 1000 cubic meters: 7
1001-10000 people or objects, area of 1001 to 10000 square meters, volumes of 1001 to 10000 cubic meters: 9

Greater magnitudes impossible.


Miracle Additional Costs:

For Blessings or Curses:
Additional Costs are Duration multiplied by Power multiplied by Distance:
Duration: +1 point per turn up to nine. 10 is permanent (note: permanent blessings or curses must have a condition of expiration, for instance, you will be undefeatable until someone gives you a haircut).
Power: +1 point per 2 points of bonus or penalty, +1 point per attribute affected.
Distance: 1 point for Touch, 2 points for Within Sight, 3 points for Out of Sight.

For Divine Knowledge:
Additional Costs are Targeting and Receiver of Vision. Targeted divining (for instance, "Show me what lies ahead on this path!") costs 1 point, untargeted (for instance, "Show me the right path!") costs 3 points. Revelations to oneself cost 1 point, revelations to a touched person cost 2 points, revelations to a person within sight cost 3 points.

For Comprehend Language:
Additional Costs are Targeting, Difficulty and Mastery. Imparting knowledge to oneself costs 1 point, imparting knowledge to another costs 2 points. Difficulty relates to the skill needed for comprehension - languages similar or closely related to ones currently understood (such as the more impenetrable Allochthonian dialects) cost 1 point to understand, more distantly related languages (such as any of the Orcish dialects) cost 2 points, while cracking encryptions costs 3 points. Obtaining a basic, functional understanding and ability to speak the language costs 1 point, complete fluency on par with that of a native speaker costs 2 points.

For Divine Charm:
Additional Costs are Nature of Charming: pacification costs 1 point, evoking fear costs 2 points, provoking aggression costs 3 points, full-on mind control costs 4 points.

For Healing, Harming:
Additional Costs are Power and Distance.
Power: 1 point closes wounds, 2 points heal disease, 3 points restore lost limbs and organs for Healing. Harm has the opposite effects.
Distance: 1 point for touch, 2 points for within seeing distance. Otherwise impossible.

For Divine Flight:
Additional Costs are Duration (1 point per turn).

For Multiplication:
Additional Costs are Number of Times Multiplied, the point cost of which is half the number rounded down. For instance, if Jesus wants to multiply a single fish 10 times, the cost for it will be 3*1*(10/2)=15 MPs. If he wanted to duplicate 10 fishes, the point cost would be 3*3*(2/2)=9 MPs. The lesson here being that it is in Jesus' best interest to violate conservation of mass in relation to a single object as little as possible to save his God-magic!

For God's Wrath:
God's Wrath comes in three flavors: Extremely Painful and Debilitating (1 point), Potentially Lethal (3 points), Always Fatal (5 points). The flavor is the Additional Cost.

For Call Upon Allies:
The Additional Cost equals the number of creatures summoned. Call Upon Allies is unique in that it has no Magnitude, just an Additional Cost.

For Resurrection:
If cast on a person as a preventive measure (lasts for 7 days, can take effect once in this period), the cost is tripled.

Finally, an Additional Cost can be incurred if you try to perform a miracle contrary to the nature of your deity. This cost essentially doubles the spell's cost. For instance, Zebulon would have trouble with charm spells because his God hates blind following of people or principles.

Examples of Miracles:

Julius wants to become invincible - he casts a permanent Blessing of +8 to dodge on self. This costs 1*1*4*10=40 MPs. The condition of the blessing is that he must never, ever eat red meat again.

Elisha is tired of those kids calling him bald. He casts call upon two bears. This costs 6*2=12 MPs. The bears eat the children, then disappear.

Ezekiel wants to summon an army of the dead for some reason. He casts Raise Undead on the remains of several thousand people. This costs 8*9=72 MPs, which is godawfully expensive, but the skeletons are permanent, though.

The Awesomest Prophet wants to obliterate a city of 8753 people with no survivors due to reasons of them lacking awesomeness. He casts always-fatal God's Wrath on the city. This costs 4*5*9=180 MPs, which is ridiculous, but it looks cool enough for nobody to care. Plus the Awesomest Prophet could make that back in a weekend, tops.

Jesus knows that the jig is up and wants to come back from the dead after the coppers get him. He casts preventative Resurrection on self. This costs 60 MPs, which is a lot, but no obstacle for a man as pious and connected as him.

Spoiler: Prophet Progression (click to show/hide)

You start the game at Level 1 - Freshly Enlightened. You level up when you accomplish a Holy Quest, which are granted through revealing visions. Holy Quests are generally increase in complexity as the power of the prophet grows, so don't expect to level up very easily.

When you accomplish a Holy Quest, your connection with your god deepens, and this is reflected in your level. Your level also functions as your Miracle Multiplier - whenever you are awarded one (relatively frequently) or more (rarely) Miracle Points for pleasing your god, the actual amount of MPs you receive is the number of MPs multiplied by the Miracle Multiplier. So better-connected prophets will find it much easier to perform logic and physics-defying stunts through the power of miracles.

However, be warned that once you reach level 11 - Too Holy For This World, you will ascend to the metaphysical location of God and rest at Their side. At this point, you will have transcended mortality. In addition, the traits, likes and dislikes you selected for God will become a permanent fixture of Their personality, which doesn't happen if the prophet leaves the game in any other way.

And don't think that you can just stay Level 10 forever. Eventually, you will get a vision. And when God gives you a vision, They expect you to get things done and get them done hard.

[Harry Baldman]

The Prophets and The God

God, sometimes called Karse, Orange Pekoe, Dithmenos, the Crafter or even the Creator, is, on one hand, quite pleasant, being a creative, wise, and yet jovial sort. But underneath this surface layer hides quite a manipulative streak. Being a reclusive sort, God does not like to appear before believers as a general rule - it would be cheating, after all. The great pleasures of God are somewhat problem-oriented - it enjoys being five steps ahead, for one, and also solutions to problems that are both creative and peaceful, though the more physical virtues of wanton nudity and hard work are no less important to it. It detests unwarranted hostility and violence as a first solution, and even destruction of anything man-made - violence in general is anathema to it, as is the short-sighted behavior that it signifies. Also disliked is the frightful notion of asymmetry, which is unnatural and not in accordance with God's plan.

Speaking of prophets, here they are:

Spoiler: Derek the Naked Jackal (click to show/hide)

Player: lawastooshort

Name: Derek Pinenut

Gender: Male

Age: 38

Pre-enlightenment profession: Able boatman - River Legs, Wielder of Fire Magic, Drunken Mage, Bendy Legs.

Story of enlightenment: Derek Pinenut used to work on the riverboats trading up and down the Phibe, taking goods, people, news. He was an Able Boatman, and had been for many years: a sharp-witted healthy fellow who could always be relied upon to tie a rope or to handle a boat or to act like an intelligent creature, as long as he was on water. Back on land though, he was a gullible drunkard and an imbecile to boot, apt to spend whatever money he didn’t drink on loose women and barely convincing schemes.

On one trip back up the Phibe, Derek had been spending every evening drinking heavily with one of the travellers on his captain’s boat, a wandering mage who had been trying, every night for a over a week, to explain the basics of magic to the easily impressed eejit.

And then, one evening – an evening of religious festivity, in fact – although the importance of this fact would not reveal itself until the morning, it happened.

Derek had been drinking particularly heavily, even more so than normal, and had spent most of the early evening at the bar of a nearby brothel with the wandering mage. After that point, the details become a little vague to Derek, but at some time that evening, he suffered a wild and hideous vision, an amazing scene wherein he suffered great trauma, and found great reward, and which would be discounted as the purest and evillest of hallucinations had not God himself interrupted to have his say and prove that this was a sign, a portent, an Enlightenment, if you will, rather than just a vicious and gratuitous assault on a defenceless drunken imbecile.

For it happened to be that when Derek Pinenut awoke from his infested slumber, he found that he was entirely naked, and that his legs had been buckled most unpleasantly, and it seemed obvious to Derek with instantaneous clarity that his nakedness, and the gift of his smashed legs, were signs from God that he had been chosen.

He presented his smashed legs to the nearest mayor, and sought to receive sufficient financial aid that he would no longer have to work upon the riverboats. Truly, his hideous deformity was thus a blessing.

He took to wearing as few clothes as possible, in deference to the state in which his God preferred his followers, and to proudly show his hideous deformity. Truly, his hideous nudity was thus a blessing to the people.

And he took to preaching: preaching nudity, drunkenness, the corruption of the old, dressed ways, and the saintliness of the crippled, though only those crippled symmetrically, as that is what God prefers, not the natural variety of wantonly crippled single limbs.

Derek never saw the wandering mage again, but he did start being able to use the arcane powers of magic, albeit it rather badly. This was obviously a gift from above, too.

Suggestions for the New God: Karse, the rarely-uttered name of God, is a jovial god who likes wanton nudity and dislikes asymmetry.

Spoiler: Emilia Forester (click to show/hide)

Player: IcyTea31

Name: Emilia Forester

Gender: Female

Age: 28

Pre-enlightenment profession: Courtesan (Welcome Anywhere, Everyone Knows Her, Victoria's Secret Compartment, Innuendo-Riddled, Fashionable)

Story of enlightenment: Being in the "entertainment" business can be surprisingly stressful, especially when moving to a new area where "customers" are few and far between. Despite this, Emilia has quite the wanderlust, always seeking new experiences. During one of her travels between towns she felt a calling of sorts from a forest. She left her horse behind and walked into the forest, following the call. She quickly lost her bearings, yet kept on following her feelings despite the fear of getting lost in the woods. She eventually found a rather shadowy grove with a circle of stones and sat on a flat stone in the middle. She could hear the calling become clearer, eventually turning into whispers and then speech in her head. She spent hours in that grove, meditating, listening to the voice. She could feel enlightened as life suddenly started making sense. She knew her purpose, to teach others of this new God, Dithmenos, maybe they would find their purposes as well. Perhaps her former "skills" could see some use in getting these teachings to high places, so to say... Divinely guided, she made her way back to her horse and hurried her way to the next town. Only time will tell what will happen there...

Suggestions for the New God: Dithmenos is manipulative, likes being five steps ahead and dislikes short-sightedness.

Spoiler: Edwin Laoren (click to show/hide)

Player: Pancaek

Name: Edwin Laoren

Gender: Male

Age: 62

Pre-enlightenment profession: Old Master, Nimble For His Age, Sagely, Defensive arts, No Formal Education

Story of enlightenment: It was a mellow summer day as Edwin sat in his little house, sipping his tea and pondering his life. It had been over 50 years now that his mentor had taken him up from the streets. From that day onward, Edwin was an old man, regardless of his actual age. For his master came from a  long line of wise old men, and Edwin was to follow in his footsteps. For many years he studied the ways of martial arts, remembering proverbs for every occasion and generally acting like a sagely old man.

And now that the time has come where he is an old man in both name and appearance, he was truly ready. He was bald, had a whispy beard and long moustache and was wrinkly all over, walking slightly bend over on purpose. He would dispense wisdom and train scrappy young kids who were being bullied. Life was peaceful enough, for a while.

One day, when cleaning out his teapot, Edwin saw a most peculiar sight. The tealeaves that had sunk to the bottom made a most amazing pattern, the sheer majesty of it seemingly conveying a divine message. At once he knew what was required of him. And so, much like the time he was chosen to become an old man, Edwin became a prophet for the greatest of gods, Orange Pekoe.

Suggestions for the New God: Orange Pekoe, the greatest of Gods, is wise, likes peaceful solutions to problems, and dislikes violence as a first solution

Spoiler: Pilner the Scavenger (click to show/hide)

Player: Toaster

Name: Pilner the Scavenger

Gender: Male

Age: 34

Pre-enlightenment profession: Scavenger (Brawler, Improvisation, Tunnel Vision)

Story of enlightenment: Pilner came from a poor family in the eastern outskirts of Allochthon, who worked as sustenance farmers, trading for whatever they couldn't get from the land.  A day before his seventh birthday, an orc raid came through his family's farm.  The orcs took everything edible or valuable, burned the rest, and slew his father when he tried to stand up to them.  He, his mother, and his two sisters were driven from the land and forced to scavenge for a living.

As he grew into adulthood, both of his sisters eventually married into other families and established comfortable lives for themselves.  His mother became a servant woman in the capital of Foghaunt.  Pilner, however, found himself unable to settle.  He would work odd jobs for a week or two to earn enough coin to repair his boots or whatever small task he could not handle on his own, then head back out into the wilds.

Though his chosen lifestyle typically left himself focused on the here and now, in quiet moments he wondered what his purpose was.  He was contemplating this purpose one evening in a tavern a bit too hard, which lead him not to notice the argument behind him turning violent.  A chair was thrown, one patron dodged, and it broke over Pilner's head.  As he lay on the floor unconscious, a vision came to him.

He was in the ruin of a city, with smashed buildings and the debris of humanity all around him.  Small fires burned here and there, lending a haze to the area.  A figure stood before him in the gloom, standing atop a pile of broken tools, buildings, and other various constructions.  It was humanoid in appearance, but with four arms.  With one arm, it picked up things that were broken.  With both upper arms, it repaired them.  With the fourth arm, it placed the repaired items back down.  Pilner could not see its eyes, but he felt the figure looking at him.

"I am the Crafter, the Builder, the Fixer, the One who Finds what is Lost.  Humanity is at a turning point, its pieces lost and scattered, dulled and blunt, misplaced and forgotten.  You must find the cure, the salvation, the answer to the problems.   The plagues, the curses, the terrors of the night must be stopped.  You are the instrument, the tool, the hammer that I swing.  Go now and spread my message, my words, my commands, my instructions.  The world can be made right by the hands of man but I will provide the guidance, the council, the orders.  Fix what is wrong, what is false, what is headed to destruction."

The arms move faster as the figure speaks, then suddenly stop.  The repaired item in its upper arms - a miniature castle, representative of Castle Fogeye - is suddenly torn asunder by all four arms.

"Fail and there will be nothing, void, emptiness."

Pilner wakes up and stands.  Without looking at the fight raging around him, he walks past the brawlers and straight out the door.  He had a purpose in life, and nothing was going to stop him from filling it.

Suggestions for the New God:  The Crafter is creative.  He likes it when followers come up with creative solutions to problems on their own, and dislikes destruction of anything manmade.

Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)

Player: Playergamer

Name: Jim

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Pre-Enlightenment Profession: Shepherd: Herder of the Flock, Commoner's Voice, Filthy Peasant.

Story of Enlightenment: As Jim knows well, sheep are wanderers. One day, a few of his sheep and a violent ram wandered off, and he started tracking them. A few miles away, he found them with a man in an empty field. He saw the man place a hand on one of the sheep, and the ram instantly charged him, trying to protect her. The man casually gestured at the ram, and it suddenly stopped, and wandered off a few feet to chew on some grass. He watched in amazement as the man slowly calmed each of the sheep, turning them from mostly tame animals into completely docile, complacent friends. Jim followed the man, and saw many, many great things, too many to recount in these pages. He finally asked the man who he was, and the man said he was the Creator, god of all on this planet. Jim then asked why he had taken his sheep, and He answered that he had not taken the sheep, he had taken the shepherd. Jim, confused, asked what this was supposed to mean. The Creator explained that he had taken the sheep as a test for Jim. He wanted to see if Jim had the perception to notice they were gone, the determination to search for them, and the loyalty to continue to follow them, trying to retrieve them. The Creator gave his sheep back to him, and explained that he needed a Prophet, a man to lead the world, the entire world, into a new enlightenment. He could head back to his home, and lead a meager life as a shepherd, or he could lead the world from the dark into the light, and be remembered forever as the Great Savior. Jim chose to follow the Creator, and he disappeared, heading back to his home, up in the sky. Jim set off, determined to set his name, and that of God, into history.

Suggestions for the New God: The Creator is reclusive, likes hard work, and detests unwarranted hostility.

The Waitlist

People who can get in will be inducted based on a vote between the active players and also depending on who's actually available.

• Ethereal - Ethereal
• Varee - Valelion
• Kaferian - Cuhullin

Cold Storage

Spoiler: Brennus (click to show/hide)

Player: Arkansan

Name: Brennus

Gender: Male

Age: 32

Pre-Enlightenment Profession: Woodsman/Outlaw (Woodsman, Mighty, Good At This Violence Thing, Animal Cunning, Wanted Criminal, Scarred and Rough, Uncouth Lout, Uncontrolled Temper.

Story of Enlightenment: Warm, damp air wheezed out of Brennus's lungs and a half second later chill dry air rushed in. He had been stalking this particular beast the
better part of the day. The sun rays now flickered dimly through the branches of the trees, he had only a short time till night fall. This was a
beast like no other, a gargantuan black bear, even on all fours it was the height of a man at its shoulders. Thrice he had hit the beast with an
arrow and though it had ran Brennus did not feel he had truly wounded the beast, no it was as if it was simply wandering off from some minor
irritation.

He would have his prize though, one way or the other. There was no other way about it now, his arrows seemed to do nothing but perturb the bear so
he would have to confront it head on. Now here was a challenge a man could relish in, meeting such a monster on equal terms! He had maneuvered it
into a small clearing in the forest, a river behind the bear, and him in front all it would take is to enrage it into a fight now would be simply
revealing himself. Brennus crept from tree to tree crouching near the base of each as he made his way closer to the clearing.
The draw of the bow was tight as it would go when he released it. A broad headed arrow sped like a bolt of lighting to toward its mark, and found
its home in the scarred flesh of the great bear. The massive beast roared its annoyance. Brennus dropped the bow by the base of the tree he had
used for concealment and hefted his great boar spear and charged. As fast as his leg would carry him he rushed forward, the bear returning the
gesture heading as fast as his great legs would carry him toward Brennus. At the last moment Brennus crouched and braced his spear with his weight
and the bear reared upward preparing to hurl his great bulk on Brennus. That was the last thing Brennus remembered. He came to with the feeling of
warm, sticky blood caking his hair and running down his face. A dozen bright lights of pain seared through his body as he pulled himself up onto his knees.

It was if bells were chiming in his head and the world were turning much too fast. The drumming of hooves sounded in the distance and wild shouts
of exultation rang through the air. The sun was well onto setting now, but there were ghostly lights in the distance, pale fires dancing through
the tree line. Translucent shadows of hard looking men and savage hounds surrounded him, the greatest among them rode up to him. He could make
out no features and no words were spoken, it simply nodded toward the carcass of the great bear and toward Brennus himself, but he understood.
Knowing, that was the word for it, he knew what he must do. The world was returning to its proper state, Orcs ride in the east, Dragons in the
south and the dead walking in the west, savagery. The world was meant for the beasts and to survive man must return to his bestial nature, men
most become the greatest predators of all if they were to survive. Civilization had made men soft, complacent, but that must all be cast off if
they are to survive. A thousand other things filled his head that night, images, rituals, forms half understood and wholly mysterious to him.

Brennus knew his purpose on that day. Other men may have cast off the experience off as the lunacy of a brain that had been rattled about its
skull and starved for blood pouring from a dozen wounds. No Brennus knew, he must gather the strong and show them the ways of the Great Huntsman.

Suggestion for the New God: The Great Huntsman is savage like the woods he stalks, he admires feats of strength, and he abhors weakness.

Spoiler: Wilhelm (click to show/hide)

Player: Wwolin

Name: Scheming/Gleaming/Dreaming Wilhelm (Prefix depends on current personality)

Gender: Male

Age: 28

Pre-enlightenment profession: Trader, Crusader & Masquerader (Mercantile Aptitude, Big Stick Mastery, Man of Many Voices, Multiple Personalities, Bad Memory

Story of enlightenment:
Wilhelm was born to a travelling caravan out in the eastern reaches of Allochthon, and had his hopes set on becoming a master trader ever since his father gave him his first gold piece. Over the years, he scraped together whatever money he could find, and when he finally came of age, he bought his own oxcart and left to travel the country, pedaling his wares to whoever would buy them.

Wilhelm was born to a small family in a small town in western Allochthon, and had his hopes set on becoming a knight ever since he saw his father vanquish an undead that was attacking the town. Over the years, he studied whatever techniques he could find, and when he finally came of age, he bought his own mace and armor and left to travel the country, offering his weapon arm to whoever needed it.

Wilhelm was born to one of the great houses in Foghaunt, and had his hopes set on never having to work a day in his life ever since his father took him to his first real party. Over the years, he sought out entertainment wherever it could be found, and when he finally came of age, he did the exact same thing, attending parties and performing for whoever would invite him.

In truth, Willhelm has no idea which of these stories, if any, are true. Some days, he finds that he can swing a mace around with ease and looks back fondly upon the days of training with his father. Other times, he haggles goods in the market down to more agreeable prices, wondering what on earth he ever did with his old cart. Occasionally, he even finds himself to be the center of attention at parties that he never recalled being invited to. Every once in a blue moon, however, Wilhelm's lives slow down just enough for him to realize that the one thing that's tying them all together is a constant whispering inside of his head. Honestly, it's a bit more of a quiet whine than a whisper, but whenever he listens close enough, Wilhelm can hear it saying things like "Come on, go to sleep so that you can be the knight now", or "You've been adventuring for like twelve whole hours, let's go to a party or sell stuff or something".

Suggestions for the New God: That Darn Whiner is well, whiny, likes all things shiny, and dislikes boredom

[Harry Baldman]

Things You Know!

Set the First: A Basic Primer on Allochthon

Spoiler: Entry 1: On Allochthon's General Geography (click to show/hide)

Allochthon is a relatively new country, or rather a union of countries, having existed for a little over three full generations in total. It is landlocked, and sports a very rough circular shape. Its borders are best defined as 'settled as far as circumstances allow', and have not really been formalized in any treaty. The most notable geographical features are four large rivers that run through most of the country - the Phibe, the Keilern, the Goltierra and the Meandering - and the Broken Fingers, a tall mountain range to the south that, while technically not part of the union anymore, is nonetheless very much visible from quite the distance and has a distinct effect on the climate of the area. It is known that the sea is not too far to the north, but the area is sadly inaccessible and intrepid explorers or pioneers have not been known to ever return. The weather is mild, and the landscape is dominated by gentle hills, mixed forests, lakes and swamps and bogs of several kinds.

The de facto capital of the country as well as its only somewhat sizable city is Foghaunt, the seat of the current King of Allochthon, Ingmar Fogeye, and so it has been for all of unified Allochthon's history. It is the only city in the country that touches all four rivers - the Phibe and the Meandering skirt each other very closely here, and the Goltierra and the Keilern both merge into the Phibe not too far away. It's a bit of a transport hub as a result, inasmuch as one can say that these days, and virtually all of the goods of the southern half of the country, what little there are, pass through here.

Spoiler: Entry 2: On Allochthon's Political Nature and History (click to show/hide)

Allochthon was not always the relatively large empire it is now. In fact, as mentioned, its current state is a relatively recent development, and assimilation into a unified culture has hardly even begun to occur, given the voluntary nature of the joining and the generally hands-off nature of the last two kings' rule. So a lot of disparity in tradition within its borders is to be expected.

Allochthon's creation was a direct reaction to what was basically the rapid decline of the human race. Currently, Allochthon represents the near-totality of known human-settled lands - the fact that it is roughly the size of Germany should be rather telling of the general state of things. The cause of the unification was the progressive loss of land to various hazards, including, but not limited to orcs, dragons and the undead - centralization of power helped put aside various differences and formulate a unified stand against the varied threats - through sorcery, grit and cunning the shrinking of the humans' area of habitation was stopped and even partially reversed - the extermination of the dragons was a particular point of pride for Heer Fogeye, whose family, on his earned merit and whatever merit his descendants would presumably inherit from him, was named the Royal Dynasty of Allochthon, with a rather dramatic 'forevermore' added at the end that they probably didn't really mean.

After that, things were quiet for a while, and then resumed getting steadily worse again as new threats took the place of the last ones, and were promptly neglected by the relatively disinterested sorcerer-kings following Heer, including the current one, Ingmar Fogeye, who has ruled for about thirty or so of the fifty five years of his life. The Fogeyes have been getting progressively less popular over the years as the influence of the threats - dubbed the Four Plagues by the populace - has grown.

And that brings us to now, when the fair union of Allochthon is in dire straits indeed and one sees more of the Four Plagues or at least their aftereffects every day than King Ingmar or his guards. The mood of the country is rather fearful, and a sense of doom hangs upon the air.

Spoiler: Entry 3: On The Four Plagues (click to show/hide)

Though they certainly don't make up all of Allochthon's problems, the Four Plagues have had definite negative effects on the mood and continued viability of the union, and, by extension, the future of the human race, mostly due to the way their lifestyles seem to require impinging on human life, liberty and happiness. As the name implies, they are four in number, and each endangers the kingdom from a different direction:

• The Orcs of the East tend to raid and hunt in Allochthon, and are known for their preference of mounted warfare, mobility, adaptability and generally driven, sometimes obsessed natures. Orcish raids have existed for a very long time, but until recent years their menace was mostly limited, as were their numbers. This does not seem to be the case anymore, and their raids have been going deeper and deeper into human lands, and their pillaging, though not overly destructive or murderous, have been known to bleed communities dry of resources. What's more, attempts made to hunt any of them down after especially bloody rampages have met only failure (accompanied by the loss of trained and well-equipped knights in some cases), and so the King has stopped bothering with pursuing them most of the time, which hasn't helped the situation any.
• The Dragons of the South are one of the more distressing recently emerged threats that Allochthon must contend with - there are few survivors of the dragons' attacks, but all reports agree - the attackers are definitely, assuredly dragons, which is news that both calls into question Heer Fogeye's most notable accomplishment and fills the populace, raised on tall tales of winged lizards raining death from the sky, with very well-founded fear. The dragons obviously dwell somewhere in the Broken Fingers, but, as it often happens with anyone who goes past the borders of Allochthon, nobody who's gone too far to look has managed to return.
• The Undead of the West are an ancient enemy, repelled during the creation of Allochthon, but never really properly eliminated. Known to be led by Mother Iucunda, who is apparently immortal and blessed by the Gatekeeper itself, hence her ability to create a veritable kingdom of undead, they know no rest, hunger or any other of those things that virtually define the life of the average Allochthonian. What's more, there has been a distressing tendency for the dead of the western parts of Allochthon to rise from their graves without any apparent reason aside from what people theorize to be Mother Iucunda's growing influence. And the dead increase in number much, much faster than the living, as is popularly known, which leads to an ever-increasing number of the dead walking the west, which has led to violence in many places, and said violence has not gone in the humans' favor.
• The False Men of the North are ultimately of unknown origin, though it is speculated that they must have come from the sea, as there are few other avenues of approach they could have possibly taken. The false men are mysterious shapeshifters, and they are said to be able to completely imitate the appearance of another being, human or not. And over time, fewer and fewer reports have been coming in from the north, leading to the conclusion that their populations, which cannot be said to be friendly toward humans in any way that anyone knows of, are slowly expanding in what seems to be a silent, slow invasion of Allochthon.

Spoiler: Entry 4: On Magic (click to show/hide)

Magic, as it is known to the people of Allochthon, is mostly a rather poorly understood process of getting what you want through an effort of will and usually dramatic movements as well. Magic is mostly of two kinds - altering reality with one's mind, and making objects begin to alter reality, also with one's mind. Learning magic requires one to master modes of thought that are, at a glance, quite unconventional and nonsensical, and if retold in a conventional way to a regular person, will sound like bold-faced lies and/or nonsense. Contrary to popular belief, the study of magic does not require discipline as much as it does malleability - the greatest trouble of mastering magic is attaining mastery, acceptance and understanding of its fundamental lies (most people can only master one particular subset of these, hence the way magic users tend to specialize into particular types depending on what they do), then somehow reconciling the obvious untruths learned with the fundamental truths of the world, or at least what they appear to be.

There are three basic ways most people who become magic users go - one is the way of the complete failure, in which the aspiring mage grasps the fundamental lies, then fails to reconcile them with the fundamental truths - the truths become lost to the mage, and they become completely incoherent and distressingly able at using magic, which hardly ever ends well for anyone. The second is the way of the moderate success, where the mage manages to reconcile the lies and the truths, but does not do so completely. In this case, the mind of the mage becomes twisted to one degree or another - mental abnormalities manifest soon after the attainment of magic, and they vary from person to person. In the last case, the mage manages to reconcile the lies and the truths so well, their mind experiences no turmoil or conflict. These people remain perfectly normal mentally, but somehow the conflict between the lies and the truth still asserts itself, and tends to do so in the form of a physical abnormality of some sort, usually a deformation or addition of the fleshy nature. The most severe cases are, for example, King Ingmar's younger brother Oyar, who apparently sprouted another head after learning his magical abilities, and the most innocuous ones are a slight warping of the general bone structure, making the body a little strangely-proportioned.

Despite their quirks, however, mages generally have a good reputation in Allochthon, if only because their powers give, or at least gave Allochthon quite the edge over its less magical enemies.

Spoiler: Entry 5: On The Gods (click to show/hide)

The gods of the world are beyond number, and the ones that people worship vary greatly between regions of Allochthon. The ones recognized and worshiped by all, though, are only three:

• The Sun - right up there in the sky during most of the day, the Sun provides warmth and light, which translates to light - as such, it is quite the popular god, and it usually isn't named anything other than the Sun, or whatever the local word is for it. The Sun is usually assigned a kindly disposition by mortals, though there really is no proof of such a thing.
• The Moon - the Sun's cohort, the Moon is the guardian god of the night, protector of the Sun and of humanity in its nightly activities through its light. Some say that the Moon is the Sun's husband, some maintain that it is the Sun's wife, while others say that the Moon is the Sun's offspring, and there are even a few who say that the Sun and the Moon are two eyes of the same god. Forces of nature that they are, no official confirmation of their relationship has been obtained.
• The Gatekeeper - the god of birth and death, the Gatekeeper, unlike the Sun and the Moon, seems relatively involved in mortal affairs (it'd have to be - after all, it is in charge of opening and closing the gate to the afterlife) - there are more reports of visions and blessings given by the Gatekeeper than any other god by a very large amount. It also seems to be the most human of the three gods, if only by a small margin, and rumor has it that it is the least predictable one. As such, it tends to have a varying role in mythological narratives, though these days it is perceived as more villainous simply because of its association with Mother Iucunda.

The other gods (whose actual existence is not in any way detectable) are usually personifications of various things - in Foghaunt, for instance, each river is also perceived as a god, and each is regularly sacrificed to in order to bring increased trade and various profits. No beliefs are formalized or organized, and only a minority of the relevant folklore has been collected and written down, which makes it difficult to make too many sweeping statements about any mythological matters.

Spoiler: Entry 6: On Allochthonian Society And Mores (click to show/hide)

Allochthon's society is fairly diverse, considering that, for all cultural intents and purposes, the borders between the kingdoms did not actually dissolve. As such, many things tend to vary between parts of Allochthon. In one kingdom you may find serfs toiling in fields for the lady of their manor, while in another you may find peasants owning and working their own plots of land, and elsewhere still you might locate knights tilling their own fields while their land is not in peril. It can get fairly mixed up at times. Certain opinions and norms persist in most places, though. Here are some of them:

• The idea that noblewomen are best suited for administrative, financial and legal work of most kinds, while noblemen are more suited for military service, diplomacy and other active pursuits. The lower classes, naturally, are mostly suited for menial labor and acting as infantry. Of course, this is mostly rooted in tradition, and isn't a belief that is particularly deeply held in these fairly desperate days, especially as the Plagues force more men and women outside of their natural habitats and makes them turn to different work than what society used to expect of them. And it's not unusual for a mother of a family that has no daughters to train one of their sons in the ways of managing the estate upon inheritance if marriage is looking like an unlikely prospect.
• Deity worship is very uncontrolled and loose, and people usually worship whatever deity is most relevant to their daily lives or specific to the area they inhabit. Often when people move to other places, they tend to change their most worshipped gods as well.
• Most places in Allochthon do not look very favorably upon travelers, and hospitality is most certainly not sacred. Even a peasant is not beholden to grant a traveling nobleman from a land different than his own a place to stay the night in most places, though this does not mean that they will refuse the opportunity every time.
• Users of magic tend to be exceptions to the previous rule and many others, as common sense has it that, if somebody in your vicinity has superhuman, unnatural abilities that can possibly benefit you, you should go out of your way to be nice to them, particularly since magic users have been known to respond very poorly to attempts at persecution in the distant past.

Handy facts that one should remember about other parts of society are that, as a general rule, communities in the north and west are more hierarchical in nature, while the east and south has more closely-knit, familial communities, and that the overall level of civilization tends to decrease steadily as one moves away from the larger population centers and rivers. There are tales of some hunter-gatherer communities that have actually moved back into the deeper woods in response to the decline of organized society and the way that the Plagues seem to target civilization itself more than individual people.

Overall, though, it is hard to create a unified picture of Allochthon, since Allochthon itself is fragmented, and most of its parts operate completely independently from one another, with little to no input from the king these days, not that input from the king would necessarily be taken seriously there.

Spoiler: Entry 7: On The Ancient Gnomes (click to show/hide)

In the wilderness of Allochthon a great many things can be found - of these the most visible are great, richly inscribed structures, mostly possessing a rectangular layout, and typically jutting up no higher than a few meters from the ground, with several sets of wide stairs leading to their level, if not entirely flat tops. Most are in a rather sad state, having more than half-crumbled in response to the unrelenting assault of the elements, but there are a few examples of these that are remarkably well-preserved, mostly ones that have had different structures built atop them by later inhabitants of the area. These are the foundations of the settlements of the Ancient Gnomes, as they are popularly known, having disappeared from Allochthon some time after human settlements were established in the area (early records from over nine hundred years ago are the only contemporary sources of information, and their information is quite sparse indeed), and their civilization, while not known to possess any magical ability, is still rather romanticized as a very enlightened sort of people, with sprawling, ever-changing warren-like settlements built atop the foundations that have remained today - a vision slightly compromised by more studied individuals pointing out the rather pernicious squalor one would experience in a city that built upwards rather than outwards.

Rather interestingly, all of the foundations seem to be built from the same sort of stone, known as gnomestone (it looks quite a bit like, and indeed is gabbro bricks held together with darkish mortar that typically doesn't seem to have washed away too much, for visual reference), and since it is not known to be found anywhere in Allochthon, has given credence to the idea that the gnomes have greater settlements somewhere further away from human lands - ones that may have survived to this very day, some speculate. Unfortunately for modern historians, gnomestone was very much liked by human architects of old, and most of the largest, most obvious sites of gnomish settlement were mined for their gnomestone bricks after their original inhabitants' departure, and nothing of their deep foundations remains, although one can still make out remains of inscriptions in some of the repurposed gnomestone constructions, such as the older parts of the outer wall of Castle Foghaunt, which was made from bricks used in at least two prior human structures. Sadly for historians, most of the arcane markings typical of gnomestone bricks are much newer than the gnomes themselves, and are actually left by humans either writing in unfamiliar Allochthonian scripts or, in rare cases, broken Ancient Gnomish. Many such inscriptions are lewd or humorous in nature, and a particular dirty joke inscribed on a series of bricks in the Temple of the Rising Sun in eastern Allochthon was found to be ancient and incomprehensible enough to possibly be an actual gnomish joke, only told rather poorly by a secondhand source in addition to losing quite a bit in translation. Original gnomish inscriptions are practically nonexistent, if only due to intense weathering and human activity, though some examples are thought to exist in the Fogeyes' private collections and the properties of other more affluent families - mostly gnomestone markers bearing geological data or names of places, or a series of directions to nearby settlements, boringly enough.

But foundations and gnomestone are not the only architectural legacies of the ancient gnomes - also among their achievements are rather rudimentary irrigation systems that a careful enough eye could potentially spot in the vicinity of gnomish ruins, quite a few roads linking sites now mostly lost to time and human reconstruction, and also a few clogged-up aqueducts and remnants of underground sewer tunnels at the largest sites (typically worked into the structure of the foundation, though extending much further outward) much too small, cramped and filled with assorted refuse and unfriendly animals for anybody to bother exploring. Peculiarly, none of these have all that much gnomestone in them, presumably due to shortage of the material.

Of gnomish culture, little is known aside from a few quirks determined by the human traders of old - for one, they seem to have been rather averse to stepping off their gnomestone for unclear reasons, and also preferred to communicate with traders by shouting at them from atop their warren-towns, exchanging goods through crude gnome-operated wooden elevators, none of which remain from ancient times. Their towns, being built of wood from the foundation upward, haven't survived to any degree, and their methods of warfare, what little is known of them, appear to have chiefly involved ranged combat, and not very developed in the eyes of modern or even contemporary man. The gnomish language, having no other name than Ancient Gnomish, appears to have had relatively little regional variety, and is reasonably well-documented to the degree that anyone can learn it from materials available, though its deeper complexities, given the apparent lack of focus on writing on the part of the gnomes themselves, the fact that examples of writing preserved are largely trade agreements or plain texts and the nonexistence of gnomish literature, remain mostly unknown.

And that is the story of the Ancient Gnomes - a poorly understood civilization at best, and gone before humanity could form closer ties with it, its mystery nevertheless has captured the minds of many, and the image of gnomes as ancient keepers of forbidden wisdom in modern Allochthonian literature and the older popular folklore it invariably draws from has proven to be a popular one, tempting many to go exploring the wilderness in search of lost holds harboring treasures of untold power, and the way many seem to meet their doom in this manner has served to only further the intrigue, causing a surge in popularity of both learning Ancient Gnomish and seeking adventure in the lesser-known areas of the country, though the latter has been stymied by the very much present danger of the Four Plagues.

[Crimson]

Wow. This is really detailed and also complicated at the same time. Really like it. I do wish to ask a question first. Regarding miracles, is it possible for two or more players to cast a single miracle in order to like strengthen the miracle's effect or simply halve the MP cost between themselves?

[Harry Baldman]

Wow. This is really detailed and also complicated at the same time. Really like it. I do wish to ask a question first. Regarding miracles, is it possible for two or more players to cast a single miracle in order to like strengthen the miracle's effect or simply halve the MP cost between themselves?

Makes sense for it to work that way, yes, though it probably means that two prophets can simply share the cost for the same miracle between them in any proportions, which in turn would allow for larger miracles for divided costs.

[lawastooshort]

Spoiler: Derek the Naked Jackal (click to show/hide)

Name: Derek Pinenut

Gender: Male

Age: 38

Pre-enlightenment profession: Able boatman (Experienced boat and rope user), Wielder of Fire Magic, Drunken Mage - can only cast magic when drunk enough to not overthink the truths and lies part, Bendy Legs - can't run.

Story of enlightenment: Derek Pinenut used to work on the riverboats trading up and down the Phibe, taking goods, people, news. He was an Able Boatman, and had been for many years: a sharp-witted healthy fellow who could always be relied upon to tie a rope or to handle a boat or to act like an intelligent creature, as long as he was on water. Back on land though, he was a gullible drunkard and an imbecile to boot, apt to spend whatever money he didn’t drink on loose women and barely convincing schemes.

On one trip back up the Phibe, Derek had been spending every evening drinking heavily with one of the travellers on his captain’s boat, a wandering mage who had been trying, every night for a over a week, to explain the basics of magic to the easily impressed eejit.

And then, one evening – an evening of religious festivity, in fact – although the importance of this fact would not reveal itself until the morning, it happened.

Derek had been drinking particularly heavily, even more so than normal, and had spent most of the early evening at the bar of a nearby brothel with the wandering mage. After that point, the details become a little vague to Derek, but at some time that evening, he suffered a wild and hideous vision, an amazing scene wherein he suffered great trauma, and found great reward, and which would be discounted as the purest and evillest of hallucinations had not God himself interrupted to have his say and prove that this was a sign, a portent, an Enlightenment, if you will, rather than just a vicious and gratuitous assault on a defenceless drunken imbecile.

For it happened to be that when Derek Pinenut awoke from his infested slumber, he found that he was entirely naked, and that his legs had been buckled most unpleasantly, and it seemed obvious to Derek with instantaneous clarity that his nakedness, and the gift of his smashed legs, were signs from God that he had been chosen.

He presented his smashed legs to the nearest mayor, and sought to receive sufficient financial aid that he would no longer have to work upon the riverboats. Truly, his hideous deformity was thus a blessing.

He took to wearing as few clothes as possible, in deference to the state in which his God preferred his followers, and to proudly show his hideous deformity. Truly, his hideous nudity was thus a blessing to the people.

And he took to preaching: preaching nudity, drunkenness, the corruption of the old, dressed ways, and the saintliness of the crippled, though only those crippled symmetrically, as that is what God prefers, not the natural variety of wantonly crippled single limbs.

Derek never saw the wandering mage again, but he did start being able to use the arcane powers of magic, albeit it rather badly. This was obviously a gift from above, too.

Suggestions for the New God: Karse, the rarely-uttered name of God, is a jovial god who likes wanton nudity and dislikes asymmetry.

[Harry Baldman]

Pre-enlightenment profession: Able boatman (knows how to communicate with drunkards, magic ability tbc, bendy legs)

Possibly I did not clarify this enough - if you have magic, that necessitates an additional physical or mental deformity on top of the regular penalties - thus you would need another one, although I could see myself making an exception in the case of a deformity like this, given how far-reaching its effects would be.

[Ethereal]

Name: Ethereal

Gender: Male

Age: 26

Pre-enlightenment profession: (This might seem a bit messed up, I'm a bit confused on this part.)
Scholar - Able to understand/learn/remember quickly.
Memory Magic - Able to recreate magic he's seen/used before.
"Potty Mouth" - There's a chance he might speak of information in which should not be said/spoken of.
Close Combat Anxiety - When fighting with a melee weapon, he will struggle.

Story of enlightenment:
Ethereal wasn't always a socialized soul. Well, who could blame him? He was born into a family of scholars, where they considered society to be a mere distraction to pure knowledge. He grew up in a library, not a park or anything of the sorts. He was home-schooled. His family believed public education was another blockade to pure knowledge. They believed that pure knowledge is gained from books and other humans that know of pure knowledge. When other kids would be playing in the park, he'd be in his home, in the library, reading books. However, his glorious times in the library did pay off. He secretly began to read on magic...not just any magic. Forbidden magic, Memory Make, to be exact. He learned to create magic that he's previously seen. Albeit, he did keep it a secret from his family. He didn't want them to exploit his pure knowledge.

At such a young age, he knew he was far more advanced than any other scholar in the kingdom. He embraced his isolation from the real world, allowing him to practice his reading and magic skills. The books he read, mostly about magic, began to seep into his inner mind, allowing for true knowledge. Lies and truths were nothing but mere illusions to him. In his teenage years, his family began to wonder what he did in the library. They noticed his pattern of entering the library became more frequent. They would occasionally drop by, knock on the door and ask what he was doing. He always gave the same answer, "Reading books.", his family took it. Meanwhile, in the library, he would be practicing fire magic, necromancy and matter manipulation.

That's when his secret came out. During family supper, he began to speak words of magic that his family didn't understand. Luckily, that's a good thing. The words he spoke, were a binding spell he had read up earlier. He didn't realize his mouth moving until his family began to yell. He looked at them, confused. He noticed they were tied up to their chairs. Not with rope, no. His magic was far beyond such useless pieces of string, his family was tied with air. Gravity Magic. He had mixed the two spells he had read earlier, and used them on his family. The countless apologies from him flooded his families ears. They didn't wanna listen. Their hearts were broken, not because he's using magic, but because he lied to them.

That night, he left his home. He managed to free his family, however. Hours after the incident, he had written a note to his family, about his departure. He would leave when the sun set, into the forest. He was in search for one of the four plagues. To vanquish him from this world, for he believed he was not fit. During his adventure to the north, to see if he could find the False Men, he discovered a fairy. The fairy began to ask about his journey. He had lied, of course. He told about his adventure to search for herbs and plants to aid his family, for they have caught a disease. Being a fairy, she knew the truth. She secretly hid the knowledge of knowing, and went along with his story. The fairy had accompanied him, blocking him from his real goal...death. She had formed specific plants, pretending that these plants had powerful healing qualities. He took them, unaware that these plants would show him what death was like...the torture of it.

When he was sleeping, the fairy took it upon herself to use the plant on him. She found a mortar and began to beat on the plants with a stick she found. The plant crumbled in the bowl as she poured it onto her hand. With the plant in hand, she threw it onto Ethereal. His body began to sink into the ground. He woke up, midway through the quicksand and began to scream in pain. The fairy began to tell of her knowledge, how she knew he was searching for the False Men to kill him. She also explained how death is painful, to the soul of the person and his or her family. Ethereal cried a bit, he didn't realize his family would care. At the end of the speech, the fairy let Ethereal go. He thanked the fairy and went back home. Hoping to walk into open arms...however, he didn't. He stood in front of a pile of wood. His house and transfigured itself into a pile of sticks and stones. Where was his family? He didn't know. He spent the rest of the night, on the ground, crying himself to sleep.

That morning, he woke up. Crying, of course. That's when it happened. Light had struck the pile of wood. Ethereal was blinded by this light. When it had subsided, he was there. His god, Celestia.


Suggestions for the New God:
Celestia is Wise. She likes learning new things/reading books. She dislikes being rushed.

[blazing glory]

EDIT Nevermind,any RTD that require's verbose character sheet's gets me put on the wait list,I don't exactly have much of a chance against the competition.

[Nunzillor]

Good luck with this one!  I won't join, but I will be reading.

[Pancaek]

EDIT Nevermind,any RTD that require's verbose character sheet's gets me put on the wait list,I don't exactly have much of a chance against the competition.

He does state that verbosity comes second to interesting ideas.

[Wwolin]

Spoiler: Wilhelm (click to show/hide)

Name: Scheming/Gleaming/Dreaming Wilhelm (Prefix depends on current personality)

Gender: Male

Age: 28

Pre-enlightenment profession: Trader, Crusader & Masquerader (good at bartering, skilled with maces, good at imitating voices, multiple personalities that change whenever he sleeps, has a bad memory

Story of enlightenment:
Wilhelm was born to a travelling caravan out in the eastern reaches of Allochthon, and had his hopes set on becoming a master trader ever since his father gave him his first gold piece. Over the years, he scraped together whatever money he could find, and when he finally came of age, he bought his own oxcart and left to travel the country, pedaling his wares to whoever would buy them.

Wilhelm was born to a small family in a small town in western Allochthon, and had his hopes set on becoming a knight ever since he saw his father vanquish an undead that was attacking the town. Over the years, he studied whatever techniques he could find, and when he finally came of age, he bought his own mace and armor and left to travel the country, offering his weapon arm to whoever needed it.

Wilhelm was born to one of the great houses in Foghaunt, and had his hopes set on never having to work a day in his life ever since his father took him to his first real party. Over the years, he sought out entertainment wherever it could be found, and when he finally came of age, he did the exact same thing, attending parties and performing for whoever would invite him.

In truth, Willhelm has no idea which of these stories, if any, are true. Some days, he finds that he can swing a mace around with ease and looks back fondly upon the days of training with his father. Other times, he haggles goods in the market down to more agreeable prices, wondering what on earth he ever did with his old cart. Occasionally, he even finds himself to be the center of attention at parties that he never recalled being invited to. Every once in a blue moon, however, Wilhelm's lives slow down just enough for him to realize that the one thing that's tying them all together is a constant whispering inside of his head. Honestly, it's a bit more of a quiet whine than a whisper, but whenever he listens close enough, Wilhelm can hear it saying things like "Come on, go to sleep so that you can be the knight now", or "You've been adventuring for like twelve whole hours, let's go to a party or sell stuff or something".

Suggestions for the New God: That Darn Whiner is well, whiny, likes all things shiny, and dislikes boredom

[blazing glory]

EDIT Nevermind,any RTD that require's verbose character sheet's gets me put on the wait list,I don't exactly have much of a chance against the competition.

He does state that verbosity comes second to interesting ideas.

And I have no idea what would make a idea an interesting idea,plus verbosity is still a factor.

[TamerVirus]

PTW!

[Varee]

Am interested, will be making sheet after i read the text wall

Spoiler: Valelion (click to show/hide)

Name : Valelion
Gender: Female

Age: 24

Pre-enlightenment profession:
Shadow of the woods (skilled moving around stealthily without creating noise and avoiding detection.)
Marksmanship (skilled with bow and arrows.)
One with the wood (nimble,can move around easily on branches,forest floor)
Hunter of the night (hate sunlight,perform worse in place with bright light)
Illiterate (cant read/write)

Story of enlightenment: Vale is a hunter by trade, she live in the wood on the border and survive by hunting animal. She lost her family 10 years ago, they just disappear one night without any clue on where they went to. She lives in isolation, faraway from civilization alone in the forest. She have a love for the forest that supplies her with everything she need to lives. She stalk the forest at night with her father's bow. Her skill is unmatched, she is used to moving around stealthily at night. She also one with the wood jump from trees to trees without trouble.


      One day though, she stumble upon a white horse with glimmering coat in the moon light. She is dazzled by it and made up her mind that she would score the horse as a prize for tonight. When she aim her arrow at the horse however, a large bear like creature jump at her from behind. It knock the bow out of her hand and transform into a human. It said that " Stop you mortal, that horse is Nocturnal's sacred mount. Don't you dare try kill it!"
Shocked by this turn of event she is unable to react to the situation. Then she asked " how did you do that, sneaking up on me as such a large animal." The man-beast reply i received the blessing of nocturnal . If you wish to serve her then prove yourself worthy." And then he jump away quickly, she turn toward the horse but it was gone too. During the next few weeks she practice and honed her skill trying to match that of her attacker nights ago. One night during a full moon she spy some group of animals grouped around a pool of water under a willow tree. The bear was among them and he seem to be talking to the pool. She tried to sneak up on them to eavesdrop what was being said." ... That girl might have been promising but she lack experiences." As she approach closer, suddenly the bear turned around and stare straight at her. " Not bad for a mere mortal, you might be the one after all. " Then a humanoid form raise out of the pool of water. " You are talented, mortal. What do you want from this." Vale stare at the watery form of a beautiful woman that materialized form the pool. "I want to be better, be truly one with the wild." The form vibrated then a voice of a young lady said" i cant grant you that mortal but i can make you my dyrad. If you can get more follow of the night , then maybe you can grant you the blessing you wanted." "How do i do that?" She asked. "It is a task that will grant you a handsome reward but on how that task will be complete is your to decide. I can only guide you in the right direction. Head to ward the city and bring the end to the destruction of our sacred forest. That is the way to start your task. If you require my present then use this silver bob on a body of water during full moon and i shall see you." And then a flash of light appear and all the animal and the figure disappear leaving behind only a silver bob in the water.


      The next day, Vale pack the few belonging and supply she had and head toward the civilization to be the carrier of the message for Nocturnal. Her quest to become the protector of the forest has began!

Suggestions for the New God: Nocturnal. Secretive. Like the forest. Despair flame(light)


Also i dont know much about the testament so any thing that i need to know/change please tell me