A millennium ago, the SUN exploded.
The
SUNlight had faltered, the aging and decrepit Chariot, battered and chipped and ripped open by blasphemy and greed and contradiction, going out for the last time. Impossible, paradoxical horrors had swarmed over the planet-flock, no longer kept at bay by the law-gracing solar rays, and feasted and devoured and warped beyond recognition. Even the
SUN itself was infiltrated by their tendrils of what cannot be.
At last, the
SUN gathered up its last energies, and self-detonated in a glorious nova, evaporating the horrors under its shining law-light, and forming a bubble of stability within local spacetime, expanding outwards and ensuring
SUN-law for centuries to come.
The imperishable fragments of the great Solar, undaunted even by the cataclysmic energies that brought about a new genesis of Is-Law, yet flung far away from each other within the bubble of bought time by those incredible forces, slowly germinated new consciousnesses, perhaps imprisoned godlings incidentally sublimating into their prison, or faithful stewards spending all their energies in tribute to the solar supernova, re-assembled by mindless constructs aboard as part of a massive orrery, or perhaps a coward who had fled beforehand, only to be caught in a nothing snarl, and re-appear fused with some vital seed of the future
Sun-In-Making.
Whatever the case may be, lancing beacons of starlight activated, emergency thrusters extruded, burning wheels were lit into existence, screaming wings and grand sails unfurled. An instinctive urge overwhelmed the thinking mind-remnants and half-complete mentalities of the
SUN-fragments, driving them only to return to one, to merge, re-assemble the
Sun-In-Making, spurring their slow decades long journeys across
SUN-Law space as they slowly found and rejoined with each other, coalescing into larger and larger fragments.
Bellowing
SUN-Bull-Trains carried forward on wings of steam, of light, of fire and ice. Enigmatic bells tolling the time until the rebirth of the
Sun-In-Making. Seemingly delicate telescopes that had yet survived a nova scanned the skies for the tell-tale glimmerings of special lenses shining forth beams of
SUNlight.
Steam turbines churn in unknown depths of ever larger and more labyrinth Sun-Remnants, stopping to feed on various materia along their journeys. Growth processes and internal mechanical ecologies working from unknowable blueprints to restore their liege, sometimes at cross-purposes when remnants rejoin in great disordering impacts, causing layers of confusion and mish-mashing as repairing processes begin to go awry.
But with solemn ceremony and inevitability, the final free fragments of the
Sun-In-Making meet at last. Aflame
Flaming mass with its foundries, riding on a pillar of fire. Crystalline
Frosted of frozen perfection, with its grand sails of ice, its many mirrors and telescopes. Shining
Fulgent shining even now with lesser brilliance, its wheels and wings seeming to quicken in eagerness, auto-scribe mechanical quill-arms continuing to write out nonsense chronicles.
Impact.Explosions of fire and of ice and of light, as the three great fragments physically connect at the same time. Grinding and shrieking and violent shuddering. As feed-pipes seek their mates. As emergency structures rapidly dis-assemble, though some seem to be have been overlooked. As automatons with hammers and torches and picks dig tunnels through miles of mis-aligned metal and ice seeking their targets. As the three solar forces finally rejoin and begin to mix at the heart of the Solar Barge, the shuddering as the primal forces of the
SUN shoots out into every corner of its being, and finally floods the outermost lenses, once more shining out
SUNlight to drive back the night.
Finally, the driving urges leave the remnant-beings, though they find their minds and memories changed, cleansed and elevated by the nova of purifying
SUNlight from the
Sun-That-Was. They are buried within and fused deeply into the
Sun-That-Is, having been thoroughly integrated during its blind idiot reconstruction. They cannot leave, and destroying the Day-Vehicle would kill them just as surely. They are trapped, they are enthroned, they are greater, they are lesser.
Slowly they learned to interpret the strange data-streams from various optics of the
Sun-That-Is, from its strange collections of ice-chimes and myriad other instrumentation. They became vaguely aware of each other as they explored their vast collective body-prison-throne. Quill-Arms were suborned to write messages, strangely pliable bats tasked with delivering from consciousness to consciousness. Though never seeing each other face to face, the various beings slowly and vaguely came to know their counterparts. And they became starkly aware of their communal problems.
The
Sun-That-Is though reborn young and fresh and new and shiny, was not reconstructed perfectly. Its energy generation is unstable and slowly declining over time. Glitches and malfunctions occur infrequently, but often with serious problems. An disconnected reactor overflowing with generated energy exploding. Longer and shorter bell-hours twisting the flow of time, causing desynchronizations and various minor messes. Lenses angled the wrong way burning
SUNlight tunnels into the superstructure of the
Sun-That-Is. Outbreaks of hibernating Night-Horror infection being awakened by the disturbance of the final unification.
Searching through fragmentary records, and united by their collective desire for survival, the remnant consciousness have dubbed themselves the Champions of the
Sun-That-Is, seeking to maintain and power their new home. By fortune or by design, the final unification of the
Sun-That-Is occurred overlooking a vast, lifeless planet, burned clean by the nova of the
Sun-That-Was, and blurry memories and sentence-pieces promise that delicate mortal agents placed there, being unable to survive in the harsh conditions of the Chariot-Sun and being unreliable besides, are somehow a good source of fuel.
ActsDivine actsActs are needed for most actions that don't boil down to talking with messengers or other Champions on the
SUN. They don't generally carry over to the next turn unless otherwise specified, and it generally takes more to destroy something than it does to create it. Some actions can be gradually completed over several turns, and some must be completed on the turn they're started; check the costs for details. Certain large actions like large-scale worldscaping or life creation will get harder over time. Many actions are cheaper or more effective if performed within one's THRONE's dominion.
Faulty acts can be used for essentially anything a normal act would be used for, but the results may fall somewhat short of the intent or even backfire. This chance is reduced when faulty acts are diluted with normal acts.
Sources:
- Stipend for having placed a THRONE: 1 act
- Paths: 0-2 acts
- 0-1 criteria satisfied*: 0 acts
- 2 criteria satisfied: 1 faulty act
- 3 criteria satisfied: 1 act
- 4+ criteria satisfied: 2 acts
- Essence act: 1 collective act per flavor of essence
* Only one Path can contribute acts at any given time.
Council proposals and counterproposalsCouncil proposals/counterproposals are used when making proposals or counterproposals on Council turns. Each Champion gets 2 of each on each Council turn, and as with divine acts, they don't carry over. Talking or voting on Council resolutions doesn't consume any Council acts. Leaving a Council meeting costs a proposal, not that that generally matters if the intent is to avoid having to deal with it in the first place. Because leaving a meeting is an option at all, those who stay in a meeting but aren't explicitly in favor of a given resolution are assumed to be against it to hurry things along and simplify vote tallying.
Council resolutions can change most any rule (including Council rules or the
SUN's LAWs), but for now, here is what a proposal needs to pass:
- Someone present to spend a Council act on proposing the resolution.
- An active Council turn, i.e. at least half of the Champions are currently in attendance via representative.
- Support from a majority of present Champions, i.e. more than half of the present Champions support the resolution.
As with divine acts, each flavor of essence with at least two present members receives one collective Council act. It can be spent to propose a resolution backed by a majority of the flavor's members or to have all of the flavor's members exit the current Council meeting. Two essence actions can be spent to end a Council meeting early. Three essence actions are theoretically indistinguishable from a normal majority and don't do anything particularly special.
TurnsBy default, there will be up to one Council turn for every five normal turns. Divine acts are unusable (and not awarded anyway) during a Council turn. If fewer than half of all active Champions are present on a Council turn, it'll be outright skipped in favor of another five normal turns. The first turn will be a mandatory Council turn and a Session 0 of sorts.
Costs (very much under construction)CreationAssorted wild animals: 1 act
Near-domestic animals: 2 acts
Up to 3 petty messengers (1 acts): If a Champion only needs to send a yes/no answer, a petty messenger will suffice.
Lesser messenger (2 acts): Sometimes a Champion just needs to send a quick message to some mortals without too much fanfare or too many fear-nots.
Messenger (5 acts): Other times, a Champion needs to send something more than just a message whether it's a blessing or a curse to hard-hearted mortals with armies.
Greater Messenger (10 acts): Still other times, a Champion needs to make a point completely clear. In these times, Greater Messengers will see the message through.
Note: Creating messengers over several turns instead of in one turn may be a bad idea...
Modifiers:- Transient (-half, min. 1): Vanishes after delivering a message/miracle. Applies after additive modifiers and rounds up.
- No exemptions (-1 act, min. 1): Messenger is bound by the LAW as all mortals are and cannot return to the SUN once dispatched.
Collaboration effect: Increase messenger tier for each additional contributing flavor.
10 pops: 5 acts
20 pops: 7 acts
40 pops: 9 acts
80 pops: 11 acts
Note: (Viable) mortals cannot be created in installments or parts.
Modifiers:- (None): Standard mortals, e.g. dwarves, elves, gnolls, gnomes, goblins, halflings, half-orcs, humans, kobolds, orcs
- Powerful (+1 act): Sometimes, being a standing ape who can talk to other standing apes isn't enough. Whether it's the strength of a bear, the speed of a gazelle, or the wrath of a carp, these mortals are noticeably special.
- Feeble (-1 act): On the other hand, maybe numbers are more useful than abilities only a few need to use at any given time.
Collaboration effect: Double number of pops for each additional contributing flavor.
Assorted wild plants: 1 act
Near-domestic plants: 2 acts
Site (1 act): 1 square's worth of vegetation.
Trinkets (2 act): Slight effects including slight elemental resistance, luck, sharpness, hardness, or decorative value
Lesser magic items (4 acts): Minor effects including elemental effects, rudimentary magical organs/prosthetics, poison, more luck, speed/strength
Greater magic items (8 acts): Major effects including meteor summoning, menacing vines, short-range teleportation
Very powerful magic items (16 acts): Grand effects including elemental mastery, poison clouds, automatic recall, powerful magical organs/prosthetics, weather control, scrying
Note: Unlike most other creations, there is generally a lower risk of setbacks/curses/failure for artifacts forged over several turns rather than all at once. The optimal forging speed is currently set at 2 actions per turn.
Site (2 acts): A square: A city site and its surrounding countryside, a small forest, a lake, a mountain, a bay, a stream
Area (4 acts): 7 squares: A small country, a mountain range, a sea, a forest, a river
Region (8 acts): 18 squares: A large region
Continent (16 acts): 57 squares: A continent or an ocean
Note: It's fine to include descriptions of plants and wildlife in terraform actions. Plant/animal creation actions should generally only be needed for species introduced later.
Modifiers:- Within THRONE range: -1 act
- Resource-rich (+2 acts): Bountiful metal, specialty wood, fertile fields, or other desirable properties.
- Resource-poor (-2 acts, minimum 1):
- Resource-random (0 acts): Resource richness is randomly selected.
Collaboration effect: -1 act (minimum 1) for each additional contributing flavor.
Undirected exploration (1 act): Wander the SUN's halls aimlessly, but not too aimlessly. It's too easy to get lost. Rewards include but are not limited to Instrument locations, CANDLES, quests, acts, curses, blessings, curses disguised as blessings, intelligence on secret actions, maps, information, or nothing interesting.
Directed exploration (1 act): Seek out a partially known location in the SUN's halls. Getting there won't be easy.
Note: Exploration actions can only be performed once a turn.
Collaboration effect: Increased chance of something interesting for each additional collaborator. Further bonus for collaborators of different essences.
Any LAW: 1 Council act
Petty law (2 acts): E.g. subtle alterations to mood, weather, productivity, fertility, climate
Lesser law (4 acts): E.g. noticeable alterations to the above
Greater law (8 acts): E.g. suspend gravity, make fires burn cold, make rivers run uphill, let things walk on clouds, have swords replace feelings or vice versa, spawn spirits to inhabit rocks, plants, and rivers
Note: There is a high risk of setbacks/failure for laws imposed in installments rather than all at once. Laws can generally only affect the area covered by a friendly Champion's THRONE's influence.
Modifiers:- Smaller range (-1 act, min. 1): I.e. covers less area than your THRONE's full sphere of influence.
- Transient (-half, min. 1): Lasts only until the start of the next normal turn. Applied before additive modifiers.
- Portable (+1 act): Can be delivered to a location not in range by a regular messenger. Petty laws require lesser messengers or better, lesser laws require regular messengers or better, and greater laws require greater messengers.
- Very portable (+3 acts): Can be delivered to a location not in range by any non-petty messenger.
- Extremely portable (+5 acts): Can be delivered to a location not in range by even a petty messenger.
Collaboration effect: Increased range with any collaborator. Increased intensity with collaborators of different essences.
Magic: 9 acts
Note: Loopholes may be researched over several turns, i.e. the act cost does not need to be paid in full.
Modifiers:- Vulgar yet permitted (+4 acts): Despite flashy, overt effects like fireballs or walking houses, the case for this loophole being legal is ironclad at least until the next time the Champions convene to squabble about it.
- Vulgar (default): The magic this loophole facilitates hinges on the flimsiest of technicalities. Best not to practice it while the SUN or the Champions are watching.
- Coincidental (-4 acts): The effects of this loophole are subtle and negligible for the average observer.
- Coincidental yet forbidden (-6 acts, min. 1 act): Even though this magic doesn't do anything the average bystander can actually notice as out of place, it's still forbidden according to the LAW. The worst of both worlds, it's unlikely it'll get much if any traction.
- Limited scope (-2 acts, min. 1 act): This loophole is only intended for magic affecting a specific action or set of actions, e.g. household chores, walking, birdwatching.
Collaboration effect: -1 act (min. 1 act) for each collaborator. -1 act (min. 1 act) for each additional flavor of essence.
AlterationTemporary rule: Altering creations requires 2 acts in addition to the difference in costs (min. 1), and there is a price floor of 3 acts total.
The SUNLantern. Lawgiver. Locomotion. The
SUN is many things, but the
SUN is also the abode of the gods themselves. Its sprawling halls contain its Instruments, numerous wonders ranging from blinding lattices of mirrors and lenses to ticking arrays of countless gears. Such is the scale of the
SUN's labyrinthine corridors that it's thought that there are still other Champions left undiscovered and isolated amidst its endless rooms. Precious little is known about most of the rooms' purpose or function, and only two have been mapped out and characterized so far:
- THE BAT-RIDDEN BELFRY: Its jolly ringing marked the passage of hours. Indeed, the very sound of its bells seemed to fill things with a certain clarity, which is comforting, and pushes back the dark, a little.
- THE ULTIMATE LENSES: The SUN's outermost lenses and last safe stop for outbound light. Despite their apparent fragility, they've survived the trek with only minor scratches, and even for the SUN's Greatest Messengers, standing in front of them while the SUN is active is extremely inadvisable.
THE LAWThe laws spontaneously appearing deeply etched into the walls, ceilings and floors of the
SUN, as if summoned by legal ghosts of a misty past, are many and onerous, a sure sign that your predecessors had too much Council time on their appendages. Here are a few of the less unimportant ones:
SUN ABOVE, GODS BETWEEN, EARTH BELOW.- Interpretation: So long as the SUN shines true, no living mortals are permitted to visit the SUN just as no Champion is permitted to visit the ball of earth.
GOD SHALL NEVER KILL GOD.TIME IS.- Interpretation: So long as the SUN shines true, causality exists, and things can happen only after other things.
HORRORS ARE NOT.- Interpretation: So long as the SUN shines true, nothing forbidden by THE LAW shall ever exist within its light.
THY WORD IS THY BOND.- Interpretation: So long as the SUN shines true, agreements and promises witnessed by the SUN must be kept.
(Loophole-ridden physical laws about thermodynamics, something called gravity, and lots of other stuff)
- Interpretation: So long as the SUN shines true, things seem to make sense and happen reproducibly except for that thing the wizard did that caused the farmers to turn into frogs. Luckily, the SUN took care of the upstart, and neither the wizard nor the farmers were ever seen or heard from again.
SOULS RETURN.- Interpretation: So long as the SUN shines true, any souls originating from the SUN shall return to it, gravitating towards the Afterlife Vault of the most compatible Champion.
The ChampionEssenceGodly essences come in three flavors:
Flaming,
Frosted, and
Fulgent. Each flavor receives an extra collective act each turn should it manage to come to some sort of consensus (>50%) on what to do with it. Unused essence acts don't carry over to the next turn. Essence flavors with fewer than two members don't get this act.
Actions performed by gods of different essences working in concert are often cheaper or more effective than those performed solo. Differences will be listed in the relevant act's cost table.
Their THRONESDirect interaction with Champions is incredibly dangerous to mortal health whether it comes in the form of speaking with, gazing at, or otherwise communing too closely with them. This is regrettably true even for the most fireproof and electrically insulated mortals. Fortunately, Champions can send down their THRONES to maintain a presence on the material plane and, as a bonus, spread the cleansing radiance of the
SUN. THRONES can take on the appearance of buildings, natural wonders, monuments, literal thrones, or any number of other majestic things, and within their influence, everything conforms better to their owners' vision. The first time a Champion's THRONE is placed on the world is free and costs no actions and comes with the option of extending range/reducing intensity or increasing intensity/reducing range by one step. Subsequent moves require 2 Acts and can be repelled by the influence of THRONES of uncooperative Champions. There is no penalty for overlapping spheres of influence between friendly Champions. If anything, there may be a minor bonus in that the intersection is better covered at the expense of some area that is less covered.
THRONES in their default configuration gently affect places to a Champion's liking up to one square away and maintain the
SUN's LAW up to three squares away. Champions interested in better range or intensity may spend an act to reconfigure their THRONES to increase one at the expense of the other. Squares that contain particularly pious mortals or that resonate particularly well with one's sphere can count as being within one's dominion even when they're out of range.
The CANDLESFrom time to time, Champions may stumble on CANDLES. CANDLES may be lit to expand or intensify a Champion's THRONE's influence for two turns. Optionally, the CANDLE may be burned at both ends to double the bonus at the expense of making the bonus last for only a turn. In any case, the bonus starts on the next normal turn and ends on the end of the normal turn after that in the unmodified usage.
PathsThe Path of Benevolence, or: The Mortals PathThe positive attention of mortal charges is good for getting stuff done and translates rather directly to great power. Here are the types of mortal attention available:
Belief: Association of a god with a sphere. The god of the bells. The god of the mirrors. Excepting gods with colliding spheres, excessively broad/unenforceable spheres, excessively narrow/unrecognizable spheres, or without any representation on the mortal plane, this one is generally a freebie.
Worship: Active acts of adoration/veneration whether through offerings, festivals, sacrifices, or prayers.
Dedication: Righteous mortals dying and going to a god's afterlife vault and an argument against making worshipers immortal.
Souls: General population of a god's afterlife vault and another argument against making worshipers immortal.
The Path of Aloofness, or: The Meta PathSome Champions don't particularly care about squishy mortals but would normally feel pressured to maintain good relations with them regardless in order to avoid falling behind. These Champions may instead gain acts by following the Path of Aloofness:
Creator: Find a suitable muse and let the words or brush strokes flow. A picture is worth a thousand words, and either or both of these will satisfy this mechanism (unless it sparks unanimous disapproval). Literature, dialogue, and proposals (but not counterproposals) on IC count to the 1000 word quota.
Destroyer: Remove or arrange for the removal of a creation no one needs or remembers making. Make sure you have records if you're outsourcing the job. Alternatively, take up the position of devil's advocate during a Council turn and see an proposal fail after you've argued against it for five free turns of fulfilling this criterion.
Preserver: Stop something from getting destroyed/changed/improved. Alternatively, stop an act (whether divine or Council) from going through somehow. Make sure you have records if you're outsourcing this one.
Reshaper: Reshape the land itself (optionally including its attendant flora or fauna) to better fit some sort of vision. Mortals aren't necessarily involved, so surely this won't step on any toes? Alternatively, propose a counterproposal and see it pass.
Exister: Continue to exist. This one is generally a freebie and is solely in place to keep the Path of Aloofness vaguely playable.
The Path of Malevolence, or: The Nonexistent PathSo long as the
SUN shines true, there is no Path of Malevolence.
The EarthHere is the new world in all its blank glory:
Character sheetName: Who are you?
Sphere: Which strange biomechanical apparatus of the SUN are you merged with and manage?
A time-keeping gallery of bells? A self-writing repository of knowledge currently mostly filled with useless dross?
An orrery of observation telescopes? A factory constructing an endless stream of constructs?
A secondary reactor complex supplying the world-rending energies required to keep the SUN running?
One of the vast engines constantly repositioning the SUN as it drifts of the eddies of space?
A cannon of grand destruction to shoot down Night-Terrors when they inevitably make their appearance?
Flaw: During the imperfect reconstruction of the SUN, you acquired some flaw in your functioning or personality.
Perhaps your rage-spires overheat frequently, or your bell-tolling fails sometimes, or your optics suffer chromatic abberations or optical illusions.
Essence (select one): Flaming|Frosted|Fulgent.
THRONE form: What does your THRONE look like?
Avatar (Optional): When communication via bat-letters proved unworkably cumbersome,
each champion eventually designed their own personal tele-operated representative to communicate with their peers,
and to attend the council meetings and to explore the mysteries of the [color=gold]SUN[/color].
What does yours look like?
Sigil: A glyph of some sort representing your portfolio.
Afterlife vault (optional): What do your worshipers have to look forward to?
Emergency SUN fuel, if not specified your souls are fed directly into the central SUN heart to power it.
Description (optional): Any additional details