For several years, the Campaign and Adventure Workshop has been the home to a series of forum games titled Lords of Creation. LoC's purpose is to build up a campaign setting from scratch in the form of a dynamic game where players are Gods who, through their actions, create and then become the panthon of a unique setting filled with significant amounts of homebrewed creations, from artifacts to unique and reimagined races and cultures to tweaks to the underlying rules of DnD itself! The best part about it is that the setting emerges organically from the actions, arguments and agreements of the players themselves, creating a dynamic world that is far richer result than one created by a single person working alone.
We've decided to move to this forum because we think you might be more our sort of people! And so here we are. As a sample, here are some of the things that we tend to come up with.
Name: Despair Alignment: Evil Appearance: A dense fog the color of a bruise, out of which two points of light shine like the eyes of a warrior lost in the battlelust. Occasionally the fog seems to take on a vaguely humanoid shape, with four arms, each holding a woe to mortals. Holy Symbol: A Hanged Mortal Despair is the god of prophecy and discord. Although he is known for giving the many gifts to the mortal races, these were seeds of division that lead to greed, violence, and avarice. He is a constant presence, the quiet whisper that urges good people to horrible acts. Those foolhardy enough to wish to know the future seek his blessing, but few ever come to a good end. This dark god has no true followers, only tools that are willing to be used. His teachings are thus:
*Cover wickedness with goodness, so that it might be more readily accepted and in turn cause greater harm.
*Never hold true to any bond of loyalty or comradery but turn on those who trust you in the moment of their need.
*Sow discord and break the societies of the world asunder.
Name: Khavus Rein Alignment: Unaligned Appearance: Khavus has ivory skin with ebony wings. Her left arm is ice, her right fire. Holy Symbol: A spiral of red and blue The goddess of fire and ice as well as rebirth, Khavus Rein is the remains of two ancient gods, Khadesh and Pravus. Pravus, the frozen god of the north, attacked Khadesh. The struggle of the two gods caused tremors throughout the world, but neither could vanquish the other. Finally, in desperation, Pravus forced the very essence of his coldness into Khadesh’s burning heart. Both gods were defeated, but this goddess arose. Those who value redemption and second-chances worship her. Her commands are simple:
* Do not hold your enemies eternal in your heart but rather hope for their redemption
Casaka is the name of one of the more powerful nations in the universe of LightVoid as well as the name of its capital, which also goes by the moniker 'The City of Glass'
History
Founding
On the desert world of Yrie, the God Grawlf read from theCodex of Thinking Things, filled with the combined musings of the Gods on the nature of intelligence and how to create a being that was neither God nor brute animal. When he had finished reading, he summoned forth the Sun Worms, who tunneled through the desert and turned the patch he floated over molten. Here he began to work, fashioning a tall glass being named Karhedron. From his template came the other Glass Titans. After realizing that most of Yrie was unable to sustain their forms, the Glass Titans resolved to form a military state called Casaka to extend their lands to encompass all of the desert and Karhedron was chosen to be its leader. After Karhedron ripped a tusk from the Tarrasque, driving the beast deep underground and away from the first huts of the Titans, the Casakan peoples, now grown to include other forms of titans such as Meteoric Titans and Salt Titans, were given the chance to grow without any enemies to hinder them. Soon from out of the desert appeared the City of Glass itself, spires of twisted glass reaching up into the skies and shining like a beacon across the southern continent of Yrie. The City also began to encounter its neighbors and trade sprung to life.
Seeds of Conflict
As Casaka grew in power, it began to attract the attention of other gods. After Karhedron and several warriors rescued the Dhorem from the [[Blood Trolls], the patron gods of both races visited Casaka, both damaging the city and demanding that the Titans mind their own business. Upset and frustrated, the Casakans began to expand their military and fortify their borders, turning away all Trolls specifically. Still troubled, Karhedron asked the Spirits of Nature if their brethren knew of other places, other worlds, that had deserts like their own and was informed that the Isles of Wonder had many desert worldlets. Karhedron tasked a secret group of Titans to begin devising a way for his people to leave Yrie and set up colonies on other worlds with deserts. Over time, a firm alliance with the Dhoremi was achieved, leading to increased animosity directed towards the City from Ymalos. As the years progress, the secret project, a starship, is completed by Samtaana while, despite their best efforts, the Dhorem are slowly but systematically hunted to near extinction until as a last ditch effort to save the remnants of the population, the Casakans move the remaining Dhoremi into Casaka itself as Karhedron approaches the Blood Trolls one final time to sue for peace.
The Undead Invasion and Escape from Yrie.
However, the Blood Trolls were nowhere to be found, their villages empty, their fires doused and signs of struggle evident. He returned, disconcerted, to find Yrie beset by an undead army of Trolls and other spirits moving towards the borders of the desert. An unnatural chill fell over Yrie as a cloud moved before the sun and the deserts of Yrie were covered with snow. Freezing, the titans could not hope to hold the horde of undead for long until they summoned forth the sun worms to form pools of molten glass around the city, heating the area and allowing the titans to set up a new perimeter of defense. At this point all work turned to the completion of the Ark and the sending off of the first colony. As the cold and undead moved closer to the city and few of their allies stirred to aid them, the Casakan people were determined to see at least some portion of their civilization survive them. However, an unexpected push of undead separated those working on the Ark from those in Casaka. Moments before their position was overrun by undead, the Ark labored into the heavens and away from the planet as the Titans from Casaka cheered. On board, leading the expedition, was Kythandrin, Karhedron's son.
Eventually, the Titans were confined in their city by a besieging army of undead. In desparation, the Worm-handlers of Casaka summoned up the sun worms once more, causing them to create a moat of molten glass that surrounded the city and, aside from a few flying assaults, brought the attack to a halt. Beneath the city, the workers that had been tasked long ago by Karhedron to find a way for his people to leave Yrie labored at a feverish pace to hammer together an escape mechanism before the inhabitants of the city succumbed to hunger.
It is at this point that the Gods step in. Grawlf and the Harbringer force the Undead out of the desert for a time, giving the people of Casaka a reprieve to sortie out and gather more food and supplies. However, it is at this time that the Tarrasque returns and Karhedron engages it in single combat to prevent it from disrupting the sun worms. The Tarrasque is driven away once more, but Karhedron is left broken and dying as the protective spell on the desert fails and the undead swarm back over the dunes.
As Karhedron crawls towards the City, the Doom of Yrie occurs, and Karhedron watches as Casaka drains the moat and with a pillar of blinding white light, blasts free of the planet, the secret designs of Titans finished at last. Kardedron dies, but is reborn as an Exarch of Grawlf for his long service and stewardship of Casaka. He leaps up and rejoins the city as it pushes towards the Isles of Wonder and as Yrie shakes itself into pieces behind them.
A New Home
For a long while the City of Glass floated in the void, traveling towards the Isles of Wonder. Eventually the city arrived and landed on an uninhabited planetoid, using the Lens of Casaka to turn much of the surface into a sandy desert. The four Sun Worms that had powered the city were freed, and soon life began to have a sense of normalcy about it, even with the great gas giant dominating the sky. They called their home Maru and began to reconnect with their old trading partners as well as the dominant nation on the Isles: The Quori. As the Vok'Dar Apocolypse occurs on Lor'quhan and Vedra, the Glass Titans begin to go to war with the Quori at the urging of Ravnos(the exarch posing as Grawlf) as Karhedron blasts off in a new ship to attempt to find his son.
Culture
When speaking of the culture of Casaka, there are two major things to discuss. The organization of its people and what its people found important. The long (nearly immortal) lives of the Glass Titans themselves significantly influenced both aspects of Caskan culture.
In the begining, Casaka was ruled by popular acclaim by Karhedron, the first of the Glass Titans and the one selected to lead by Grawlf. However, as the number of Titans grew and the City grew larger and larger, Karhedron soon realized that it would be impossible for him to lead all by himself. Casaka then transitioned into a civilian-led government, with elections held every fifty years to nominate four leaders, who sat with Karhedron in the Casakan Conclave, which met for one month every year to discuss policy for the year to come.
At the present moment, a power struggle is underway as the Cult of the Eye, led in secret by the rebel Exarch Ravnos has replaced many of the members of govenrment with their own members and Karhedron is nowhere to be found.
Casaka are master glassworkers, and their city reflects this, with impossible spires reaching towards the heavens and arcing gracefully over the streets. Most of the artistic expression of the Titans takes the form of architecture, and buildings in the City tend to last only as long as the owner is entertained by its shape. In recent years, statuary of fallen heroes has begun to crop up around the city, although most Casakans view this as fooloshness.
The Wiki can be found here. In addition to detailed rules (which will be brought up to date before this game starts), you can find loads of information from old games. From gods, to artifacts, monsters, planes, etc.
Bonus PP (the godly 'currency' of the game) is awarded to players who help keep the wiki up to date!
If you wish to join us, please take a look at The Rules.
Currently the Players (and their gods) of the game are: Anubis- Althas Arythmia- Kyoaag N'gaas
Inactive Players Not having posted in two weeks will place you on this list. If you have found yourself on this list, you will no longer be included in the weekly PP information post. Simply PM an admin when you return, and resume play as normal. You will return to the active list as soon as we see you posting again. Inactive PlayersShow
Dead Gods These are the gods that have died for one reason or another. They are incapable of returning without the original player agreeing, as well as passing it by an admin. Dead GodsShow
Retired Players These are players who have been forced to quit for one reason or another. Their gods may or may not return to active play. Retired PlayersShow
None Yet
INSTRUCTIONS FOR JOINING THE GAME All are welcome at this time. If you are interested, please post in the OOC and PM an Admin (preferably several). Before you can join you'll also need to post the following information.
For veteran players, note that we are making a change to the starting domain rules from what has been done in previous games. Domains are now broken up into active (undeath, magic, travel, love) and passive (earth, time, moon, sun, fire). All gods start with one active domain and may also pick a passive domain if they wish (or select no passive domain at all). At least initially we will be ascending gods in pairs, so keep this in mind while crafting your god. For instance, undeath could be the opposite of life OR death (active) OR time (passive) (in that undeath breaks the natural cycle of time) OR justice could be the opposite of tyranny (active) or darkness (passive).
At its heart, a passive domain is something that tends to flavor actions but doesn't particularly motivate them. A water god might create water-based elves, for example). In some cases, these domains are so limiting that it seems like there is almost nothing that one can do with that domain that is clearly part of that domain (what does a moon-god do after creating a moon that is particularly moon-iful?
In contrast, an active domain is something that, hopefully, motivates actions as well as flavors it. A god of travel might create roads, teach sailing, establish air and water currents, introduce planeswalking, etc. Such a god might flavor creations with travel as well (creating nomadic peoples, for example).
To note, none of the examples of passive domains HAVE to be passive. It is just that some things are going to be a lot harder to actively play. If you have a good reason for why a domain should be active instead of passive, let us know and chances are it will get the go-ahead. The active/passive dichotomy is intended to be a useful concept, not a restricting rule.
Name of God: Starting Domain(s): Physical Appearance: Symbol: Titles: Proposed Ascension Domain Partners:
Keep in mind that the entry of new gods will be based on what the game needs at the time, rather than the order in which people sign up (although, "needed" domains that no one has claimed yet will be offered to those who signed up earlier, and they can then choose to come up with a new god that fits that or to pass the opportunity along to those further down the list).
Also, all players start their FIRST turn with double their usual PP (so 8)
Name of God: Altair Starting Domains: Undeath (active), Light (passive) Physical Appearance: A being of blinding light standing about eight feet in height. Usually he clothes himself in robes and a mask such that other divines can actually stand to look at him.
Symbol: A many-pronged sun Titles: Sightblinder, King of The Bleached Bone Proposed Partners: Life, Time, Darkness, Trechery, Secrets, Order.
Name of God: Kyoaag N'gaas Starting Domain(s): Time(Active), Fire(Passive) Physical Appearance: A spiral galaxy composed of roiling gray waters carrying embers of orange light. Rising and falling from the astral waves, like glaciers gasping for air and immediately crumbling to the depths, are titanic cubes of rough black glass through which one observes distant and colossal machinery working with distant booming clicks like clockwork. At the center lies an absence in the spiral sea, and in this maelstrom eye sits a planetoid of thick brown ropey flesh bound into an orb, speckled with burning orange eyes peering through myriad pupils. The flesh's rolling landscape is scarred and cavitated with black ossified pits. Symbol: A small 8 armed star Titles: The wandering star, the distant watcher, cold fire. Proposed Ascension Domain Partners: Undeath, life, death, darkness, earth, order, sun, light
Oh drat. Knew I forgot something. Ary, Time is already claimed. Ara is Time/Justice, Thought is Life/Death and Shadow is... undecided. While there is no inherent reason why we can't have two gods who share a domain (ESPECIALLY if you can figure out some way to work the active/passive duality you seem to be setting up [How are you going to do an active Time?]), you and Ara should definitely talk before the game starts about how things will look and what relationship, if any, your gods will have to one another.
Name of God: Desha Starting Domain(s): Darkness & Fear Physical Appearance: Desha manifests himself as an opaque, black mist. If he feels that a more physical presence is necessary he will appear as seven foot tall robed, the robe is navy blue, figure wearing a white, porcelain mask lacking any eye holes. Symbol: A Black Spiral Titles: The Nightmare, The Darkness, He Who Hides in Darkness, Vice Eater Proposed Ascension Domain Partners: Justice, Light, Ice/Cold, Hope, Moon
Oh drat. Knew I forgot something. Ary, Time is already claimed. Ara is Time/Justice, Thought is Life/Death and Shadow is... undecided. While there is no inherent reason why we can't have two gods who share a domain (ESPECIALLY if you can figure out some way to work the active/passive duality you seem to be setting up [How are you going to do an active Time?]), you and Ara should definitely talk before the game starts about how things will look and what relationship, if any, your gods will have to one another.
Blugh, how many domains are claimed that we aren't seeing up there?
Anyways, I'm cool with two time gods. And after talking with Toph, I like the way we mesh. Let's talk shop, Ara.
Also, the duality dynamic I'm setting up here is "fire that consumes everything as fuel by aging it, with some lovecraft dashed over"
Thats it. Time_Lord, there's going to be a trapped Darkness goddess (okay, another one) that is established in the first two posts, but as with Ary, duplications are fine (although I'd prefer it if we didn't get to triplicates... no need to get... carried away.) Also, Darkness is a passive domain, so you'll need a more 'active' one as well.
Edit: Oh, I see. Yes, fear is certainly more active Gonna be curious how you're going to work a scary darkness god into a game called 'sheltering darkness' It shelters... the things that wish to eat you, perhaps
To everyone, I went through and made a few changes to the original post (mostly putting in a few more sblock tags). Two things were clarified, however, and I wanted to thus bring your attention to it.
1) Conceptual and Elemental domains were renamed to Active and Passive to better reflect the feel that is behind the dichotomy. You can look at the full explanation in the OP if you want, but the main this is that a Passive Domain flavors an action (water god might create water elves, for example) while an Active Domain motivates action (a travel god has a lot of other things to do besides just making nomadic elves).
2) I added a note clarifying that gods/domains are ascended as needed and as gameplay dictates, not based on the order that people sign up. This mostly means that in thinking about creating a god, try to think of a domain that the world needs, and then build the god around that (rather than coming up with a cool idea for a god and then searching for domains). Since under this it is possible that domains will be needed that no one has yet claimed, when that happens we will go down the list of people who have signed up and offer the position to those who signed up earlier.
Also to everyone: I "created" graphical versions of the holy symbols for Toph and Ara (and myself). If others would like, I can try to create graphics for your god too provided you don't mind exactly how I create them (if it is simple, I might just create it originally myself, but if it is complex, it might be heavily "inspired" by other things). (I'll be posting my god's write-up soon, so you can see what I mean by a symbol being "heavily inspired" by other things).
To Ary, to note, the "claimed" domains are the ones that Toph listed, so I don't think there are any others that now you don't know about. Those are claimed only because in some ways they've been "ascended" already. In the last two games, the name of the iteration of LoC was based on a gimmick (worlds colliding, or a MacGuffin). This time we are going to a general theme (which we hope each player will help us define). But to start things off, the first few "players" are trying to set an example of what that means, which in turn required a bit of planning and discussing on our part.
Gonna be curious how you're going to work a scary darkness god into a game called 'sheltering darkness' 
