This child.. This child has potential. This child could be the warrior that will hold the world upon his shoulders. He is young, yes, but the balance need not be maintained now. Rather, mine and thus his future powers can.. build up, be saved for use when they are needed.
But firstly, I must gain a way of absorbing power. How much would it cost, to appear to someone in their dreams? I wish to tell the old woman that many gods other than myself have awoken, and I sense that, although most of them house little malicious intent, they may threaten the world in the future. For the task of protecting the world, I require power, worshippers. She has a connection to my power and she will likely become my priest.
Of course, I will not make her a Pawn.. not yet.
Unfortunately, without altering them in such a way as to give them hallucinations, there is no way to appear before someone in a dream without making them a Pawn. Simply by appearing before someone you signify them as being important to the skeins of Fate, so any direct contact must necessarily make of them a Pawn.
And so it begins.
Blessed are the Old, for their wisdom is impeccable. May they be honoured in their old age...
Grant a Boon to Gysha. She now has a compulsion to spend long periods of time by the sea, just watching it. For every hour she does this, a form of sealife will emerge and offer themselves to her. As each organism dies, it will utter 'Thank Nera', despite the logical impossibility of this. The sealife will get incrementally larger/complex for every year she continues this habit.
You grant your boon to Gysha. It takes a peculiar form - an enchantment of the mind to draw sealife to beach itself in her presence, skewed in such a way that the compulsion grows stronger with each passing year. Eventually tuna and whales will beach themselves for her, but for now crabs and solitary fish such as cod do the same. A final compulsion forces them to whisper 'Thank Nera', although how clear this is really depends upon the creature's ability to make sound. It is more or less clear, and the meaning is enhanced in Gysha's mind anyway.
[Boon: Compulsion + Strengthening + Whisper = 3+1+1 = 5 Power spent.]
Although Gysha is not herself a Pawn, it does not take long for her to notice this apparent blessing, or to make out the benediction to Nera with each catch. She swiftly enough makes a habit of this, sitting alone by the sea and making up stories to herself of the Whale Goddess Nera. She tells these stories with wild abandon to the rest of the village, and while this is met with initial scepticism the apparent miracle of the beaching sealife turns many heads. By year's end a number of fishing villagers offer thanks to Nera whenever they make a catch, if only in the hope that they might gain such a boon.
Your Power/Turn has increased to 5!Jud watched the Mountain Tribe, and knew them as his people. Now they would have to learn the glory of Jud. The first would be Velda, who understood the majesty of Earth. She shall become my pawn [-5 Power].
As my pawn I grant unto her a boon, she can swim through earth as easily as a fish swims through water (including the ability to breath earth I guess), and sense through the earth around her via a mystical ability called Earthsense. As a drawback, she sinks like a rock if she tries to swim in water (be sure to mention that to her. Also, earthbreathing does not prevent waterdrowning). These abilities are hereditary. [-5 Power] May she and her children never be lost when within the earth's loving embrace or endangered when they can flee into the safety of the earth.
((Clarification request: You say magic is limited by the power invested, but then give a specific pricetag to teach someone magic. Does this mean you create the magic system separately and then teach it to people? If so, the the teaching cost it prohibitively expensive...))
You touch Velda with your divine inspiration and appear before her as her own face in stone upon the wall of a cave. [-5 Power] You introduce yourself and your divine majesty -
"What? What the hell is going on? What kind of dream is this, creepy face?"
You try to reassure her, and eventually you just get on with what you have to say, her interruptions be damned. You explain to her that you have given her the power to swim through earth, to breathe in it and to sense what happens around her through the earth.
"Oh yeah? What's the catch, creepy face?"
You remind her of your name.
"Creepy face called Jud."
You note that she cannot swim now, that being in water she will sink like a rock and not have the power to breathe there either. Such is the price of your power, but you assure her that it will pass on in time to her children. She seems sceptical, but you assure her that she can try it out for herself once she wakes up. She does.
[Boon: Earthswimming + Earth Breathing + Earthsense + Hereditary! - Heavy = 2 + 1 + 1 + 3 - 2]
In large part because of the desire to make her gifts hereditary, they are relatively mundane in their grasp. She can merge with soil, even densely packed soil and clay, but she cannot pass into rock - although she can sense through it. Her earthsense takes the form of a feeling of tremors and vibrations, up to about three hundred feet in every direction. She can sense what stands upon the earth and what else might burrow through it. Finally, the drawback is a little stronger than you intended. She will sink in water, but she also sinks slightly into less than solid ground. She is now as heavy as if she were made of rock.
Velda is a pragmatist. Upon discovering these powers she uses them for hunting - travelling beneath the soil until she senses prey, then leaping up from under it and strangling it while keeping most of herself hidden. She discovers that she cannot pull living things down with her, only her own clothing and bone knife, so sometimes she uses this to attack as well.
"Right then. Jud?" she asks thin air. On reflection she finds a bit of rock and then repeats her question. "What now, then? I assume this isn't charity."
You answer her the next time she dreams, explaining to her the concept of mud baths (complete with pictures and visualisations), then the details. You show her the concept of step terraces filled with growing plants, and the knowledge of how to build them and grow crops. Finally, you encourage her to move into the nearby caves for shelter, as for now her people have slept beneath the stars.
[1, 6+1, 6+1, 1+1] She does not seem impressed with the concept of mud baths and disregards it outright, and while she acknowledges the sense of sheltering in the caves, it would take her too far away from good hunting and foraging grounds. Yet her practical mind cannot ignore the sense of your proposed agriculture, nor of the use of terraces, and she takes the knowledge in like a sponge. Finally she looks back up at you.
"And what do you want?"
Only to better her people and for her and hers to honour your name, you explain. When she wakes she sits on her own for several hours, thinking, then returns to her people.
"Right, listen up!" she proclaims. "Some creepy fucking spirit thing keeps harassing me in my dreams. It wants to help us out, and I think it's broadly right, so get your things. We've got a lot of work to do."
"Velda!" called Intor, the tribe's chief. "You've finally gone mad, haven't you? Cease your prattling and return to the hunt. Your kills have been many and fruitful of late, but do not think you have the right to speak as if you were chief!"
"I have Jud on my side, Intor," spat Velda. "What do you have?"
Intor drew a flint axe and raised it over his head. "Back off, Velda! I won't brook a challenge!"
Velda spat on the ground. "Then end this one."
Intor let out a bellow of rage and rushed Velda with the axe, swinging it down upon her fragile skull - or at least he should have. She
sank into the ground as he approached and Intor, quite reasonably, started screaming in terror. His screams were cut short when she emerged behind him, stabbing her bone knife into his throat repeatedly. He fell to the ground, blood seeping into the wet grass. Velda raised her bloody knife to the crowd.
"This is my tribe now, and we are doing things my way! Now rest up, we have much to do in the morning."
[Terror-induced prayer has come to pass! You now have 12 Power/Turn.]
[Fair point with the magic. I've reduced the cost of teaching Sphere-associated Aspects to 5 Power. There are two elements to magic as well. First, you need to teach mortals magic (which costs you Power directly), after which they can spread the knowledge amongst themselves. Then you need to set up conditions under which they can draw Power from you directly to cast spells based on the Aspects they know. This only costs Power when the conditions are met.]
I provided Urtul with a boon, and made him my pawn. I hope I have enough power for that, I didn't see a number for providing boons. So If I need to revise or anything, let me know.
The berries I gifted Urtul cause people to change into white humanoids the color of milk. This, in addition to the ascetic change, makes them more susceptible to mutations (good or bad). It is considered an act of faith and worship to undergo this change because it makes them more susceptible to Managone's wandering attention and thoughtless acts. He doesn't often consider peoples feelings as he changes them, he mostly just thinks "It would be cool if..." or "It would be interesting if I changed that..." He is more interested in creating interesting things than how those things feel about being changed. He may find turning people into winged angels interesting one day, but be interested in disgusting things next week. He changes often and unpredictably, as is his nature. As a result there is a chance that some of the Edge tribe may not eat the berries. GM call on how that plays out. In the future, I'd like to set up ways that my people can farther mutate themselves as an act of great faith in addition to be mutated by me.
[-5 Power] You appear before Urtul in his sleep and you terrify the crap out of him. Still, your message strikes home with the mortal and when he awakens he returns to his people, spreading the word of your coming. He is not the most diligent of prophets, but he has strong opinions on your appearance and message and does browbeat a number of people into tacit acceptance of your divinity. The changes to his skin and hair lend an extra measure of weight to his argument as well. Only two of the tribe decide to try eating the strange white berries, and they undergo the same strange transformation as Urtul. They find themselves held apart from the rest of the tribe. Apart and above.
[Boon: Change to Urtul + Berries = 1 + 4 = 5 Power] There are 48 berries remaining, and they will never go off. They are currently being worshipped as a sign of your divinity by the small cult amongst the tribe. Each mortal changed by one of the berries will cost 2 less Power to mutate in future. This includes Urtul.
[Income is now 7 Power/Turn, as your cult is small but devoted.]
Velda [Mountain Tribe, Age 23, Female] (Expedient, Cantankerous) {Faith (Jud): 60%} [Chief of Mountain Tribe by force.]
- Pawn of Jud [5 Power/Turn]
Urtul [Edge Tribe, Age 24, Male] (Opinionated, Undemanding, Artful, Thoughtless) {Faith (Managone): 55%} [White Mutant]
- Pawn of Managone [5 Power/Turn]
It costs 2 Power per turn to make a child (<15) a Pawn, 5 Power to make a young adult (<35) a Pawn, and 8 Power to make an adult or elder a Pawn.
Irris [Mountain Tribe, Age 25, Male] (Irresponsible, Hearty, Adventurous) {Faith (Jud): 25%}
Gorrin [Valley Tribe, Age 42, Male] (3,1,3,2) {Faith (Guleran): 36%}
Vetnar [Valley Tribe, Age 61, Male] (Amusing, Lyrical, Calculating, Freewheeling, Inhibited, Unpredicatable) {Faith (Guleran): 5%}
Ippling [Steppe Tribe, Age 1, Male] (Casual, Aggressive, Silly) {Faith (Aperius): 50%}
Esmerelda [Steppe Tribe, Age 43, Female] (Reliable, Unfathomable, Prejudiced) {Faith (Aperius): 15%}
Sanjak [River Tribe, Age 43, Male] (Thievish, Impassive) {Faith (Tar-Azath): 30%}
Anna [River Tribe, Age 1, Female] (Lyrical, Breezy) {Faith (Tar-Azath): 30%}
Gysha [Sea Tribe, Age 64, Female] (Romantic, Uninhibited, Predictable) {Faith (Nera): 65%} [Sea Blessing]
Hugo [Sea Tribe, Age 44, Male] (Droll, Slow, Cute) {Faith (Nera): 50%}
Cataran [Edge Tribe, Age 62, Female] (Impressionable, Brilliant, Open, Ridiculous, Insouciant, Sexy) {Faith (Managone): 40%}
Ishti [Sand Tribe, Age 24, Female] (Moody) {Faith (Destun): 35%}
Sara [Sand Tribe, Age 42, Female] (Negativistic, Insightful) {Faith (Destun): 35%}
Victor [Forest Tribe, Age 41, Male] (Helpful) {Faith (Corvric): 50%}
Alena [Forest Tribe, Age 44, Female] (Intelligent, Solitary, Frivolous, Maternal) {Faith (Corvric): 10%}
Nera (Water) - 5 Power [5 Power/Turn].
Managone (Mutation) - 0 Power [7-5 = 2 Power/Turn].
Jud (Earth) - 0 Power [12-5 = 7 Power/Turn].
Tar-Azath (Artifice) - 10 Power [0 Power/Turn].
Destun (Magic) - 10 Power [0 Power/Turn].
Guleran (Life) - 10 Power [0 Power/Turn].
Aperius (Aether) - 10 Power [0 Power/Turn].
Corvric (Darkness) - 10 Power [0 Power/Turn].
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Topic: Pawns [A God Game] (Read 7550 times)