Here is the Divine Pact we are entering forth into.
Ample time was given to discuss various changes to the pact. The final version is presented here. This will also be pasted into the opening post of the game, to ensure everyone has access to it.
1. A Deity may not "give" gifts, free of charge, to mortals. Mortals must earn gifts by completing challenges (fair challenges, which have a realistic chance of failure, and challenges that match the power of the gift) set forth by the deity offering the gift. The Punishment for giving gifts without challenges to mortals is that the receiving mortal(s) is allowed to make a demand of the god, free of charge, that the god must enact or resolve for them within the next 20 years, as long as their demand does not break any of the rules in the Divine Pact.
2. A god may not strike down a mortal, lest the god in question must grant a blessing to a member of the mortal's immediate circle of kinship; be it a friend, parent, child, or sibling, of whom they must have been in alignment with the mortal the deity struck down.
3. A god may not break a promise to mortals less they suffer the lash of being unable to speak to mortals for 20 years.
4. It hereby agreed that no material may be made by the gods that is superior to sacred crystal [Sapphire Crystal], lest cracks form in reality and hell-demons and various abyssal monstrosities crawl forth from them.
5. All Pacts must have an abusable Exception or Loophole either explicitly built in or allowed by those clever enough to exploit it. Taking advantage of this loophole will not cost points.
6. No God shall be able to control mortals into accepting deals. Using mind control for other purposes is however fair game. The punishment for manipulating a mortal's free will into accepting deals is having to do 3 favors for the mortal you were trying to control. All favors are to be carried out as soon as possible once asked, unless it breaks one of the rules of the divine pact, in which case you are off the hook.
7. Time will be linear only. Any God who deviates from the standard timeline to act in the future or past will be forced into mortal form, losing their godhood without ever being able to regain it.
8. A god may not kill another god, as this will unravel the universe. The punishment for this is the literal unravelling of the universe. Just don't do it.
Adhere to these 7 sacred commandments, that the power of the gods does not destroy and unravel the universe.
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We are now moving on to the second portion of setting the stage, which is geography building. I mentioned in the original post that I was in favor of two landmasses, one being mundane with only humans and earth-like fauna and flora on it, while the other would contain everything else. I'm a fan of this because it gives a mundane backdrop to compare against. Of course, this is all up for discussion, and there can definitely be more than two land masses. My main idea is that I'd love to see a control group / backdrop, being the mundane lands of humanity, in comparison / contrast to all the rest of the things we build.
For this stage, you can propose various sets of geography for our world, and ideas that you would like to see in play in terms of geography. Remember that the world is small (in order to maintain ease of scope).