Gonna stay away from the pmorph thing. Tempted just to not get it, in fact...but I like it too much not to.
Jemal, Planar Perinarch is looking really good! I don't know offhand how many planes are highly or divinely morphic, but the flavor alone can't be beat.
I do not think I will START with it though. I will start with Time Stop. It solves issues I'm having regarding buffing without access to Quicken Spell and I think it makes more sense for Perinarch to kick in after she's been to the outer planes at least once. I can take it with my next level.
As far as the gods/cosmology goes, I didn't mean for my whole "eastern" thing to dominate the cosmos. In fact, I'd intended for her beliefs and philosophy to be rather exotic and bizarre outside of the Empire (and honestly, a bit exotic and bizarre even
within the Empire).
In the interests of contributing though, here's some background info I'm playing with. Still open to comments and suggestions and wholesale vetoing by the GM, of course.
And just to re-reiterate...this is not stuff I want everyone's character to embrace, or necessarily even be familiar with. It's very particular to the Eternal Empire. Neither do I ask or expect for Jemal to make any of it actually representative of the cosmos. In fact, it'd be fun to take Mei into the planes and find out that
she had it wrong all along.
It -does- provide a path by which mortals can become divinities though, so it's useful for understanding Mei's ambitions, and possibly for understanding how other mortals might have performed similarly in the past.
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Two things are central to the cosmos, and our place in it. The first is the literal center of the cosmos; the axle about which the worlds turn...the Grand Celestial Mountain. At the apex of the Mountain is the Holy Imperial City. At the center of the city is the Palace of the Emperor; an enormous structure in which the gods of the universe hold court. And of course, at the center of the palace, surrounded by the tiered seats for every deity in existence, is the empty Jade Throne. Seat of the Celestial Emperor himself, the source from which all divine power and wisdom flows.
In the court of the Palace, the gods constantly engage in political byplay, jockeying for laws of nature that will give them advantages. The net result of all these these mutually-opposing forces comes to zero, maintaining a status quo that is orderly despite all appearance of chaos. The only laws that are immutable and not subject to divine negotiation are graven on a huge jade tablet suspended over the Throne.
1) Mortal Free Will May Not Be Abridged by Divine Action.
2) The Great Chain of Being May Not be Broken.
3) Life Must Go On.
There is considerable room for interpretation among these laws, but attempts to stretch them are muted given the consequences of stepping too far. The current interpretations are as follows:
Mortals cannot be denied the ability to make moral choices due to direct divine influence. Persuasion and coercion by force or magic is acceptable, since choices still exist under those conditions. However, using divine power to simply predestine a mortal's response is not cool, and will be punished. Killing a mortal is not considered abridging, since a mortal soul persists after death and can still make choices following that.
The First Law ties into the second, because the Great Chain of Being relies on moral choices to determine each individual's place. The specific morality to which one is bound varies by one's place, but in all cases living according to that morality advances one, while falling short causes regression. The Second Law further stipulates that the specific moralities that make the Chain up, and the various incarnate states that form the links, are not subject to divine reinterpretation. No god can remake the 'rules' by which souls advance in the cosmos.
The Third Law stems from the loophole in the First, in which killing does not count as abridging free will. It merely exists to make sure the gods do not simply wipe out life, thus freeing themselves of the many burdens life places upon them.
The second thing that determines our place in the universe is the Great Chain of Being, referenced in the Second Law of Heaven. Simply put, it is a metaphysical 'path,' that leads from lesser to greater existences based on one's moral compass and state of enlightenment. Despite the moral component, progress along the Chain of Being is not exactly a case of good versus evil, but rather increasing levels of insight, awareness and metaphysical 'connection' to the universe. It is possible to be at a high level along the Chain, but still be a terrible person. However, most people, when gifted with more awareness and insight also gain empathy and understanding, leading them towards 'good' decisions.
Mortal understanding of the Chain of Being, and how it measures one's status, is imperfect at best. The general mortal consensus about the various links in the Chain are as follows:
Dirt and quarry stone ->
Natural Stone ->
Crystals and Gemstones ->
Lichens, algae and grass ->
Shrubs and low trees ->
Anything flowering ->
Tall trees ->
Mean animals; insects and rats and carrion eaters ->
Noble beasts; horses, dogs, apex predators and other beasts with greater than human aspects ->
Magical beasts; creatures with subhuman intellect, but magical powers ->
Mean person; a humanoid with limited means and/or intellect ->
Noble person; a person with significant resources and personal competence ->
Exalted person; a person who's prowess is superhuman, or the ruler of a nation's worth of people ->
Immortal; A person who has, by mastering his or her virtues and achieving a plataeu of enlightenment, conquered time's mastery of the body. Despite this, the Immortal still has a physical existence ->
Demigod; an immortal who has achieved mastery over a cosmological principle and can exert divine authority over that principle.
Lesser god; similar to a demigod, but no longer bound to a physical existence save on the Holy Mountain.
Greater god; as a lesser god, but with more cosmic principles, or less specific, more encompassing principles they have power over.
Two special positions exist that are 'outside' the Chain of Being. The first is that of Spirit, which applies either to mortals who have died, and who's souls remain in the physical world...or to an immaterial entity possessing divine or semi-divine powers but which exists only in the material world. Many such spirits serve gods in the world...but others work against them, luring mortals away from worship, or making mayhem. And a great many spirits seem to have little interest in questions of gods or men, and simply act according to their natures regardless of who is there, or not there, to see.
A human spirit becomes a 'soul' when it leaves the world and travels into the lands beyond. For a time it travels, living a second life, until it is drawn back into the world to be reborn into whatever form its position in the Great Chain of Being warrants. Spells that raise the dead can cut the soul's second life short...which can also have implications for its proper reincarnation on the Great Chain. For this reason, raising from the dead is considered to be contrary to the natural order, detrimental for the long-term well being of the soul in questions, and undertaken only in situations where the need is very pressing...or by those who have no interest in the order of nature, or the long-term well being of the soul.
The other special case is that of the Emperor himself. Technically he could be considered a kind of 'overgod,' but since he spends extended periods in contemplative trances, he does not have much direct impact on the cosmos save in brief, sometimes cataclysmic moments. Alone of the entities in the universe, he is capable of upending the cosmic order and replacing it with another. It is even thought by some that this has already happened at least once, though when and how and why is purely a matter for speculation.