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We're back!  "Lords of Creation” is one of the most addictive forum games you’ll ever encounter. You might recall one of the earlier versions. If you saw it and wanted to join, or if you're brand new, now is your chance!

Lords of Creation is a play-by-post cooperative world-building game in which the players take on the role of gods, with the full powers and influence thereof. The goal of this is to produce a campaign world complete with history, pantheon, geography, races, creatures, and anything you could possibly imagine. One of the best elements is that the world is entirely organic; ancient wars, cultural growth, and divine conflicts are actually the result of warring interests, rather than being pulled whole cloth from a single person’s imagination. This provides diversity that you just can’t find anywhere else. And of course, we have a LOT of fun along the way.

Lords of Creation: Chaos Within

Gods use Action Points (AP) to influence the world. Every week of real time, each player gains a number of AP proportionate to his god's power and level of influence; gods with many great works and armies of worshippers will gain AP faster, as will those who conduct great roleplaying and help influence the world. Your weekly AP starts at 4, and-if you've been playing well-can be as high as 9. AP is assigned by the game's admins.  You have until the end of sunday each week to use your AP from the prior week, otherwise it is lost.

You can spend AP to conduct various actions. Some example divine actions, and their corresponding AP costs, are as follows:


Command - Command is used to issue divine orders. This can be as simple as ordering a hill to form to the creation of a volcanic mountain range. Or it could be used to order your worshippers to war against another faction or to teach people how to perform special actions. The exact potencty of ther action is determined by the amount of AP that is spend. Examples are shown below. 
Command Land (1 AP): Glykllivar smote her spear into the ocean floor, causing a volcano to erupt from the spot. The lava flowed and the hardened, creating an island.
Command Populace (1 AP): The Sage appeared to the elven shamans in their dreams, teaching them the making of certain artifacts. When they awoke, they began scribing their magic on parchment, to make spellbooks and scrolls; the first Wizards had appeared.
Command Land (2 AP): Kur-ah strode along the center of the world, magma dripping from his body. Where it hardened, mountains formed, creating a new chain of hills and cliffs going across the continent.
Command Populace (2 AP): Morintu sent his exarch to preach to the primitive humans. Soon, these people were worshippers of Morintu, and sent armies to the nearby elven lands to conquer them in his name.
Command Land (3 AP): Kyrinian stole a handful of fire from Kur-ah's volcano, throwing it into the sky to create the sun.

Populate/Depopulate - Populate is used to create life of all kinds in the world. 
Populate Birds (1AP): Mariana lifted a handful of sand and threw it into the air. From the cascade, birds of many hues and types flew forth into thhe world.
Populate Pegasus (2 AP): From her divine realm, Artheyan looked down upon the wild horses that dwelt in her green fields. She raised her hand skyward, and several of the horses darted upward, using their new, feathery wings to fly.
Populate Populace (3 AP): When Britmara bathed herself in the cool lake, her power and wisdom took form amid the water. When she left the pool, so too did a newborn race; the werewolves.

Depopulate is an action that is rarely appropriate, and represents the complete genocide of a species, and is often not possible until all nourishes and other benefits have been stripped from that group.  Please confer with the admins if you wish to use this action. 


Nourish/Harm - Used to help/hurt things.  
Nourish Land (1 AP): Wherever Artheyan's tears of grief fell upon the land, grasses and shrubs sprang up, bringing new life to this formerly barren land.
Nourish Populace (1 AP): The prayers of the villagers were answered that year; their newly planted fields flourished beyond measure. Their population and wealth began to increase, allowing them to expand northward and colonize new lands.
Harm Land (1 AP):  Pollux cried out, and the forest withered and burned under his fiery gaze
Harm Populace (1 AP):  The rampaging armies of lizardmen torched the fields of the halflings, and famine fell upon them.

Create/Destroy
Create Artifact (1AP): Tzu handed the warrior a silver spear, a relic that would be passed down for generations.
Create Plane (2 AP): Ooulzoth took one of his aberrant beasts and made it grow to a colossal size. The creature was now big enough to house entire armies within its body, and Ooulzoth built his palace within its stomach.
Create Domain (3 AP): Lexius drew a complex diagram across the map, using preexisting landmarks like islands and rivers as part of his immense sigil. As he completed the diagram, power pulsed through the bones of the world, and arcane magic was unleashed freely for anyone to use.
Create Exarch (3 AP): Morintu took the mortal Icoscol into the sky, and allowed him to overlook the mortal world from above. "This can all be yours, someday."
Create Artifact (3 AP): Kakavindus sat down in his dark palace, and began creating an ebony mask. He poured all of his cunning, malice, and lust for power into the artifact, imbuing it with terrible powers. This artifact could be used by gods and mortals alike to achieve awful things.
Create Plane (4 AP): Elyndra left this world into the void beyond, tapping into the basest part of her essence to create a realm for those who shared her ways, the Feywild
Create Avatar (4 AP): There was a flash of eldritch lightning, and a silvery, iridescent figure walked the mortal world.

Destroy costs are typically the same as create costs, but may require additional actions in preparation.  For instance, destroying an untended artifact is simple, but destroying an artifact which is currently in the posession of another God may require additional actions, either RP or via AP (such as defeating or tricking that God).  Destroying planes and avatars will always require additional thought and preparation.  Feel free to confer with the admins regarding your plans and they will give you advice on how to proceed.

Abjure Region (2 AP) - Prevents other gods from affecting an area of your choice for the remainder of the week, unless they physically come to the area.  You must remain at the area in question.  If you leave, the effect immediately ends.

Claim Domain - Allows Gods to increase their portfolio of domains (see below for examples)

Ascend God (2 AP) -  A 2 AP action which brings a new player into the game (See below) 


Whenever you spend AP, you must be very specific about what you are doing. Artifacts must have their powers listed, races must have an origin point, etc. Also, you can't hoard AP; every week, you lose any leftover APs you have and start anew.  You can begin an action with your AP in one week which is completed in the following week. Also, keep in mind thatyou can share AP with another god for a big, joint project; creating a plane is much easier when each god only spends 2 AP, as long as the two are willing to share their creation.

Sometimes, gods will fight. This is okay and not discouraged, but it should be something that is discussed with the god you plan to attack, and if possible deciding the outcome ahead of time in the OOC or by other means. Attacking another god costs 1 AP. Note that you may NOT kill another player's god unless that player gives you his or her permission OOC beforehand. If you defeat a god whose player isn't willing to give him up, than that god is subdued without being killed. In the case where both gods have committed to fighting but neither side is willing to lose, consult the admins and the victor will be determined by the power of the gods involved, any combat related artifacts they might possess, and other circumstances involved (such as a 'home base' advantage.)

New Gods

Starting Gods begin with 7 AP their first week, which drops to the usual 4 AP/week at the first reset.  New Gods are also given 3 AP before their creation to choose their starting domains (the  spheres of influence your God is patron of) with.  You may choose one greater domain, one moderate and one lesser domain, or three lesser domains.

Example Greater domains:  Life, Knowledge, Time
Example Moderate domains: Nature, Language, Seasons
Example Lesser domains: Dryads, Education, Springtime

A larger (but by no means exaustive) list of domains may be found here: Domains

To express interest in the game, please fill out and post the following in the OOC thread.  An admin will contact you and let you know if everything checks out, at which point you will be ready to play once you have been ascended (or, in some cases, allowed to self-ascend).


Name:
Greater Domains:
Moderate Domains:
Lesser Domains:
Physical Appearance:
Divine Symbol:


NEW GAME REQUIREMENT

We'd like to know from EVERY player how you would like to enter the game.  You have two options:  Ascension by another player, or self-ascension.

Ascension by another player can look like a lot of things.  Examples:

Glole laid aside his hammer and looked on his sculpture.  He breathed upon it with the breath of Life and the marble lips parted as Simala breathed her first breath.

Rillek stumbled and his cup of god-stuff sloshed, sending droplets of sheer potentiality downwards, where they hit a rock.  And the Rock began to think, and Hrmn was born.

Patri knew she had to hide the stolen timey-wimey thing, but nothing was dark enough.  She willed a deeper and deeper darkness into a shadow, and deep in that darkness, something awoke.

Tra attacked Tri and ripped out a chunk of Godflesh, throwing it aside as Tra renewed its assault.  The flesh flew, and as it flew, it changed...

Basically, ascension can be a concious act, an unconcious act, an intentional act or an unintentional act.  The parent or child God can know who their parent/child is, or not.  We've generally found that the best stories come from Gods who have relationships, even unknown ones, with other Gods, and reccomend it.

If, however, you have a compelling reason/desire to be self-ascended, that is fine as well, but we'd like to to come up with an interesting reason why your God has come to be at a particular moment (aka, the god of Darkness doesn't exist simply because there is now a light source and a solid object).

To self ascend, if you see a point in-game that would be an interesting place for you to enter into the world, post it here and tell us what you are thinking, and we'll most likely say 'GO!

If each God could post and say how they would like to be ascended, that would be great.  Once you've done that, you're all set to go!

Admins and Players

Why Hallooooo thaer! I'm hoping for many people to show up and join! Maybe after we can get some interest drumming we can get the IC up and get rolling along! I can't wait to see the many different concepts that come!

Looks good!  I like the idea of a benevolent cold goddess... rather different than the typical grumpy 'freeze-the-world-and-kill-all-that-is-warmblooded' sorts!

Only problem is... you have too many domains.   By my count, you have 7 AP points dedicated to domains (1 greater = 3 and 2 moderate = 4) when the starting limit is 3.  I'd say take cold and then grab the other two (which can probably just be lesser domains) soon after you start.


I'll get my god up shortly... juggling a few non-compatible ideas around in my head at the moment. 

Yeah, the lesser domains are... finiky, and really up to your own preference, as these things tend to be a rabbit hole of narrower and narrower scope.

Life ---> Animals --> Cold Animals --> Arctic Foxes --> Arctic Foxes of the hollow of Whitetop --> The Family of Bushytail of the Noble race of Arctic Foxes who live in the hollow of Whitetop  --> The personal deity of Timmy Bushytail, teenager Arctic Fox of Whitetop Glen Highschool.

These foxes got more intelligent as I went, it seems

But yeah.  I mean, you're welcome to make them moderate if you'd like, but I figured you'd want to save the AP for more interesting things!