... 1. Can a player eventually escape an afterlife and return to the material plane? Once the escape, can they affect other living things and doing magical stuff including possessing people and reanimating corpses (and even possessing said corpse including your own)?
2. Will there be rituals that will summon other beings from another plane(basically teleporting them into the plane of the summoner)? for example a ritual to call the spirits of the dead from the afterlife to do what the summoner wants (e.g. talking to their loved ones and asking them questions or using them on enemies and even stuff them into corpses including their own) or a ritual that calls the !FUN! from any plane that has them. Could it be extended to any creatures on the same plane?
Yet again, this sort of thing is going to be very dependent on the procedural myths. Just to take the very first question, some possible takes based on existing world myths (which represent a very small fraction of the sorts of thing the procedural generation will hopefully eventually be capable of) include:
* There is no afterlife. Death is the end.
* There is no separate afterlife, because reincarnation is mandatory.
* There is no discrete afterlife, because your spirit melds with the godhood / AI / universal transcendence in an irrevocable fashion.
* There are one or more afterlife realms, but for fundamental reasons it is not possible to return.
* There are one or more afterlife realms, but for fundamental reasons return as a corporeal being is not possible.
* There are one or more afterlife realms, but return is not possible without outside help or intervention (rescues, summoning, etc.)
* There are one or more afterlife realms, and return is possible but only via an epic quest.
* There seem to be one or more afterlife realms, but they aren't any more real than the current one, due to it all being the dream of a god / computer simulation / bad joke.
Plus some that haven't cropped up much in Earth's myths, but are a logical extrapolation of the series:
* There are one or more afterlife realms, and return is fairly easy but no one wants to because the afterlife realms are so much better.
* There are one or more afterlife realms, and returns happen quite commonly. The previously-dead dominate family gatherings, etc.
* There are a large or infinite number of afterlife realms, and you just keep moving on to a different one every time you "die".
Then you've got some simple possible changes to ring from there, like:
* Small numbers vs. large numbers of options or locations, possibly quite specific
* Moral conduct in life affects what option or location you end up with afterward.
* Adherence to a god or belief system in life affects what option or location you end up with afterward.
* Personal preference affects what what option or location you end up with afterward.
* There are limited numbers of spots in some or all of the options or locations. Entry might be by chance, merit (to whom?), death order, etc.
* Associations in life (family, friends, marriages, pets, ...) may or may not continue or affect afterward.
* Things the still-living do may or may not have relevant effects on those past onward.
* Even within a realm, there are significant differences in experiences for one reason or another (more-or-less fixed qualities, life choices, skills, random chance, death circumstances, etc.)
* Afterlife realms aren't as eternal as they would like you to think, and depend on worldly things like living worshipers / donations / sacrifices to run it all.
To go with a random idea I just had, what if the afterlife is somewhat like applying for college... different ones have different requirements advantages, and acceptance rates; and you can only list so many. Do you list a "safe" one fairly high up to minimize risk? ("I'm pretty sure my dog loves me enough to get into Canine Parkland as a 'helper', but I'd rather go to Endless Plains; but they only take 30,000 people per year, are my marathon times low enough?") What if deceptive advertising, or at least tricky legalism, affects things? ("Prophet's Paradise promises a giant marble palace with 72 pale, large-eyed virgins; but doesn't specify *species*, and on a careful read the references to transparent bodies and missing bodily functions are a bit disturbing, really; plus the difficult entrance requirements. I'm listing Bro Beyond as my first choice; they're offering a 400 sq. ft. apartment with utilities covered, at least one sorority apartment in the same building, and a fruit basket on arrival. With two family members already there, I'm just about guaranteed a spot.")
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Topic: Future of the Fortress (Read 1444123 times)