Year 0 of the Astral AgeIn the prosperous city of Vendra there is a grand celebration.
Their mighty phalanxes were victorious over the hated enemy, the now sacked city of Pundlo, and have returned to Vendra carrying piles of precious fabrics and looted jewellery and herds of livestock and captives.
Celebratory wines and meads flow freely from crocks and amphoras. Dancing figures and singing and revelry echoes through the night.
And of course, in the the newly paved open air pillared circle at the top of an unassuming hill near the outskirts of Vendra, Mantios smiled happily as captured soldiers and cattle and rugs and fine jewels were presented to him.
Mantios had promised Vendra victory over her enemies, and had demanded tribute to the lords of the starry sky. Of course, Mantios had made those lords up a few years ago, in shining Zanas, many miles to the south, but these savage warlike hillfolk didn't need to know.
With great ceremony, Mantios began to burn silks worth more than fine horses, and sacrificial blood splattered on marble, all to honour the lords of the starry sky, as battlewounded warriors paid respects around the open aired pillared circle.
And the lords of the starry skies heard the chants, felt the splash of hot blood, smelt the rich smoke, saw the world, so far far far away.
For the people of the world knew them, if only dimly and vaguely, and so in turn they knew the world also, though again dim and vague.
Mantios's neck hairs pricked up, and he felt an uncanny sense of being... watched, by the stars. But he brushed it aside to focus on finishing up the ceremony. Eventually the audience dispersed back to the wider festivities, and all that remaining was the lightly smoking ashes of expensive treasures.
***
Arkhun laughs boisterously amongst their brother-soldiers, drinking the most, eating the most, and talking the most. Most look at Arkhum adoringly, some enviously, resentment hidden behind smiling faces.
***
Badul is nestled deep in the hills, far from 'civilization'. Here the people hunt, and gather, and farm only little. They are strong and fit, but insular and distrustful. They remember old stories, and dream of times before the low-folk built their stone walls. Simpler times. Bloodier times.
***
Pundlo may have been broken, but many soldiers and citizens have fled into the wilderness, fires of determination and revenge burning in their breasts.
There is a city named Vendra, which is prosperous...
There is a city named Pundlo, which has been sacked...
There is a city named Zanas, where the houses are white...
There are seven hamlets in the nearby hills and forests...
Badul
Hunfwp
Gorngt
Fssshn
Glzzzl
Opleg
Uslxlx
Many people seem to farm wheat and rye and beet and cabbage and keep pig and chicken and cattle...
There are hills and forests and rivers and lakes...
There is a significant person named Mantios. He has been having such terrible terrible dreams. Wonderful dreams. Dreams which show him things. He has skin depth of all the Watchers.
There is a significant person named Archeus who rules the city of Vendra by right of blood...
There is a significant person names Gergul who once ruled the city of Pundlo by right of election. Now he is a prisoner...
There is a mighty Vendrian warrior, Arkhun, who has the strength of ten lesser men...
Welcome to Watchers of the Starry Sky. You are a Watcher. An incredibly vast and powerful being, but that is also incredibly distant from the world of your desire and attention, and thus you must act with prudence.
Awareness of the WorldOver time, the Watchers will watch, and learn of the world of their desire. In the beginning, there might be only a few towns and tribes and persons of note for them to interact with, growing in numbers as you know the world, and it knows you. Generally, you can only interact with what you are aware of. Usually, what you are aware will be more than the largest scale things you can do, capping out at the entire world. The Watchers are all aware of the same things.
As a Watcher, you desire to close the distance between you and the world, at last touching it fully, making and claiming it in your own strange ways, and preventing other, slower, Watchers from doing the same.
The distance between a Watcher and the world is decreased by the Watcher's Prominence. At a 100 (or full) Prominence you touch the world, and it touches you.
Turns encompass a century on the world.
Every Watcher begins at 0 Prominence.
Every turn you post something in character at least once, you immediately gain 1 Prominence.
The people of the world have Breadth, Depth and Opinion of you.
Breadth is how many people know of you.
Depth is how well people who know of you, know you, including your appearance and history and signs and motives and name.
Opinion is how well or poorly you are viewed by the people of the world, possibly effecting the state of your Breadth and Depth.
Breadth tiers into None(0), Backwaters(1), Local(2), Regional(3), Continental(4), Global(5)
Depth tiers into Skin(1), Flesh(2), Organs(3), Bones(4), Heart(5), Soul(6)
Opinion can vary widely and is not easily tiered.
You gain extra Prominence every turn based on the tiers of your Breadth and Depth if Breadth is above None, multiplying Breadth by Depth. For example, with Local-Organs you gain 6 Prominence per turn. With Global-Soul you gain 30 Prominence per turn.
How to gain Breadth and Depth and Opinion? By decreasing your Prominence, moving further away from the World, your goal, but using this sacrifice to make alterations subtle and not so subtle on the world, potentially making more people aware of your existence, and thus paying off the cost of your investment.
As this is a contest with only one winner, the Watchers will often be in opposition over particularly notable persons or other such things. In the event of such a contest, victory is determined by a dice roll. The Prominence of every Watcher, after expenditures, is totaled up, and a die with that many faces is rolled. How much prominence your Watcher has is how many faces of the die results in you winning the contest. If all contesting Watchers have 0 Prominence, a die with the faces of the amount of contesting watchers is rolled, otherwise Watchers with 0 Prominence automatically loses the contest.
Examples:
Watcher A attempts to cause a famine in a village, and has 1 final prominence, Watcher B attempts cause a bountiful harvest in the same village 0 final prominence. Watcher A wins the contest and the village starves
Watcher A attempts to guide the pronunciations of the Oracle and has 2 final prominence, Watcher B also attempts to guide the declarations of the Oracle, but differently, and has 4 final prominence. A 6 sided die is rolled, and lands on a 4. If it has landed on a 1 or 2, Watcher A would have won. But since it landed in the 3-6 range, Watcher B wins, and the oracle utters its terrible truths.
Watcher A, B and C attempt to give different nightmares to a kingdom, and each end with 0 Prominence. A 3 sided dice is rolled, and lands on a 3, meaning Watcher C wins the contest, and the nightmares are C flavoured
1-3 Prominence, empower someone into a mighty champion for a century, capable of singlehandedly securing victory in squad/regiment/siege battles!
1 Prominence, sustain an individual's life a century beyond its natural limit, multiple investments stack!
1 Prominence, cause horrible mutations to a village of people
1 Prominence, give a village bountiful harvests
1 Prominence, cause a terrible famine over a village
1 Prominence, give an unclear revelation to people who know of you, you can specify a specific grouping, or send it to everyone
2 Prominence, dictate the general course of action of a influential or powerful individual for the next century
2 Prominence, curse/bless a notably influential/powerful individual
2 Prominence, remould the landscape into ominous monuments/temples/cyclopean ruins.
3 Prominence, cause a terrible disease over several towns and villages
3 Prominence, food and plenty for several towns and villages
3 Prominence, craft a sophisticated device, with arcane functions, usually of Deepening effect, or great potency at a group level, and send it to the World
4 Prominence, concisely explain something with incredibly, terrible, clarity to a hundred people
4 Prominence, send one of your spawn to herald your coming
5 Prominence, terrible nightmares which follow a set theme over a few kingdoms
9 Prominence, alter the global temperature slightly
Direct targeted murder of notable individuals isn't possible, but encourage others to murder them or send plagues, or curse them with blindness...
Vulgar, direct and obvious alterations to the laws of physics aren't possible, but you might find them to be quite malleable otherwise...
Appearance: What looms in the Night Sky? The Flesh Star with its fringe of pipers and drummers? The broken hourglass ever seeking more time? The pulsing frozen eye, whose gaze tears away at heat?
True Name: Forbidden Syllables...
Sign: That might draw you closer...
One Personality Trait: Easy to Anger? Patient? Likes to go fast?
One Historical Fact: Your favourite pet, now tragically lost? A lover, spurned? A kingdom, abandoned? A people, slaughtered? A planet, devoured?
Hidden Secret: That you hesitate to share...
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Topic: Watchers in the Starry Sky (8/8): Second Astral Century (Read 1550 times)