Ressurecting gods - prophecies

[Piratecat]

Finally, there's something great to be said for a campaign that sees the PC's going around resurrecting old gods. If I had a nickel for every time somebody's played an adventure trying to stop NPC's from resurrecting dead gods...

Well, let's face it; the bad guys are going to need something to do!

I can definitely see an adventuring group of 'bad guys' who are convinced they're good guys, trying to do everything in their power to stop the PCs. They could even have a paladin, and still be opposed to a group of good PCs.

 

[Chimera]

Oh, and there are hints that Nature is still alive, in some fashion, though fading fast.

Perhaps Nature is an old woman, who is dying. The solution is that a young woman must be found who is strong and courageous enough to take up the mantle, yet humble and self-effacing enough not to desire it. At the key moment, the Old Woman dies and the 'Spirit of Nature' enters the young woman, who now possesses all of the memories and powers of the old, now dead god, but with the power of youth reborn. The personality of the new god is something of a combination of the both of them, though tilted toward the young woman.

Then she moves in the world like Mother Nature herself, healing the land and the people. This would bring fame and followers in short order.

The initial reaction by the Sun god church might not be very favorable, especially by the calcified Old Guard who have been taught to hate the idea of these other, cast down gods.

But what you end up with is the 'Reconciliation of Father Sun and Mother Earth' story to be played out in your campaign.

 

[jerichothebard]

I like that last one, with the changing of the guard. But I think it works as well for the goddess of the hearth, as well, largely because I just came up with this idea about druids and their connection to the divine circuit.

What if he druids ARE the nature god... split asunder and scattered to the winds? They each absorbed a portion of his divine spark, and that is how they gained their power, outside of the normal theological solution.

Tho, then, how do they convince the druids to give up their power? Obviously there are some who won't want to... though maybe we just need a large percentage. hmmm...


And Piratecat, I really like the idea of a group of adventurers on their trail, who are trying to stop them, but are not evil... whole realms of rat bastard possiblities there.


And I would imagine that there are undead who have a vested interest in stopping them from resurrecting the death god, or assassinating the infant who will ascend to the death god's throne, for fear of him simply deciding to erase them from the world... (For which they have good reason - though the original Death / Law god was Lawful Neutral, his priests channeled positive energy because undead were an abomination and insult to his power.)

 

[jerichothebard]

Another thought - PirateCat, were there rules you used for the plague that struck when Imbrindarla was down, before Teliaz ascended? I remember reading about that in Sialia's Dylrath tales; did you have any guidelines? Was it a transmittable disease, or did it just hit anyone at random? Were there sectors of the population that were harder hit? Were clerics able to cure it with remove disease?

I'm thinking that things are getting worse in my world - various indications of that have been laid already - and that would be a good one to have as a background note, later down the line. It could coincide with the ascension of the new death god, before he learns to control the flows...

Thanks so much, everyone!

jtb

 

[Piratecat]

I'm on my way out of work - I'll answer this later!

 

[carmachu]

Wow, thanks for the quick replies!

One thing that I should have mentioned - the party is 1/2 priests (a monk, a paladin and a cleric) of the Sun God, but events have transpired to convince them that the Church at large was wrong in its wars against the other churches and the mages.

Also, the mages aren't dead (well, a portion of the original Mages are not, anyway), they locked themselves out of time for a while, in order to avoid a direct conflict with the Church. They threw a war (in the way you throw a fight, not a party) and went into hiding. The MacGuffin to save the world (for the culmination of the first plot arc) is locked in with them, so it is ineveitable that they will be released.

Well, if they went into hiding, then perhaps so did the god of arcane magic, with the help of the god of trickery and passion.......

And there in lies a hook: find teh arcanists, and their god and start from there. perhaps with the aid of the god of trickery.

So far, both the god of trickery and the goddess of magic/time have appeared in visions to various party members, though it was made clear that they currently have very little power. I figure it would be pretty hard to kill the God of Narrow Escapes and the Goddess of Foresight and Divination...!

Nice idea.......although ;ittle power of teh arcanists with all the mages hidden away...?

 

[moritheil]

If hundreds of thousands of arcanists are about to be returned to life, watch out for the marut strike squads!

 

[jerichothebard]

Well, if they went into hiding, then perhaps so did the god of arcane magic...

Oh, yeah, big time. She's there with them, in a mortal form. Her mastery of time and space was what allowed the spell to be cast in the first place. See the attachement for a little more detail. She is Aurora, though that's left to the Player's interpretation...

So, she'll be the first.

Lessee - She's being released from the time capsule, death is being reborn, and there are some indications that trickery/passion is stirring - working in concert with one of the players, he recruited one of the PCs to collect his relics - Being the god of trickery, "his" is such a nebulous term... I am thinking that the collection of items of power, be they his relics or some other power's, will lead to his rebirth, in some form or another.

Nature is fading; I like the idea that maybe they have to sell the druids on giving up their power to return the god to life - that the Druids ARE the god, but that split, he cannot hold on any longer.

That leaves hearth, and war.

Hearth:
I like the idea expressed earlier about having to find a young woman to take over that position - anyone have any more thoughts on that?

War:
This could be the capstone. The god of war in my campaign is known as the three-fold god, as he has three aspects: Conquest, Defense, and Crusade. There is a war in the southlands, with the orcs, who have apparently been organizing and preventing a greater threat. This has largely been background filler, but what if the one who was organizing them - and is apparently strong enough to hold the throne - were an ascendant aspect of Conquest? Thoughts? How do we invoke the other two?

 

[carmachu]

War is a bit easier, and probably should be last. I mean, once the other gods forces and the PC's clash near the end, it should make one big battle....and thus emerges the God of War....

 

[jerichothebard]

Also, think about what sorts of help/boons the gods can provide to the party as thanks (because believe me, the first thing your PC's will ask each god is, "So what do I get for saving you?") I'm still struggling with this somewhat, but I think these boons will come in the form of major mechanic changes--ie, the goddess of fertility will automatically Raise Dead any party member who dies while trying to save the other gods.

Good advice. In some cases, there will be character rewards, which will probably be enough. The players I have are REALLY dedicated to their development. More stuff happens online, out of session, than in session, wiht various subplots and background development. Seriously. One character has a 40+ page background document.

In other cases.... hmm. The character (and her player) pursuing the trickery/passion angle is a greedy SOB, though very dedicated to the development of character. She is going to want an accounting of personal wealth and gain for her work.


Again, thoughts?