So, I guess I'll begin with... Something. I'm hoping I didn't develop this too far.
Creation Myth wrote:There wasn't. Then, there was nothing. And nothing was something - thus the universe began. The paradoxical existences, made of nothingness and somethingness, blotted the cosmos, casually expanding, shrinking, dissociating, fusing, being born and ceasing to exist altogether. The endless switching back to and fro nonexistence gradually filled the universe with shades and shadows, dancing and singing between the paradoxes. The colorful and the invisible quickly became something new, each single one of them embodying - No, being a being, an entity, and from the colorful entities arose the concepts and ideas, and from the ones that were transparent and blank, arose pure existence. At last, all of creation shone with radiance of all colors and the absense of color, spreading abstractions and existence through the universe.
And that was the creation of the universe. After that, two races could be discerned from the empty noise behind the universe, and a single race could be discerned from the colorful art that was the universe. In order:
- The Craftsmen: the Creators, Progenitors, Primals, etc. Not much is known about them, except that after the birth of the universe, the created the world and all those who inhabit. After that, it's believed either they faded back to the ether of the universe, they became the world for it was made out of themselves in the first place, or they became the Rulers of the world after there were living beings to not only assign them characteristics and properties through belief, but also for them to become living beings themselves - which they could not be before those were created.
- The Nobles: the Perfection, Flowers, Narcissistic [expletive], etc. If the Craftsmen were the beautiful new colors that arose from nothing, the Nobles are pure existence that instead of originating concepts and abstractions originated more existence. This singular characteristic resulted in quasi-beings that claim to be the most perfect thing to ever exist, everything else being under them. Therefore, everything else should obey and serve their whims, because they are naturally superior. They have their owns laws and rules, forged to prevent infighting between Nobles. Since they are perfect, such events should not occur, and thus breaking any law is unacceptable: they must follow all of them diligently and unquestionably. The Nobles usually spend their time changing from a form to another (they have none, since they are pure existence), gathering more followers or "followers", practicing hedonistic acts with worldwide consequences and hunting with extreme hatred the lowest of all existence aka the third race.
- The Destroyers: the paradoxical beings from the beggining. Their nature and apparent behavior is such that nobody is quite sure what they are: if they are rational or simply sport a facade, if they are all part of a hivemind, if there are a few individually named beings, if there are hundreds of thousands of them classified with commom terms, if their destruction of reality is willing or passive but enjoyable, etc. Some examples include: the Mimic|s, that pretend to be something that exists, though are naturally flawed at a core level (e.g.: a cat that is loyal and nice to its owners, a coffee table that you never stub your toe at, a key you can always insert in the lock in the first try, a happiness that never leaves a man or lets him feel sad, a street where turning left takes you right, etc.); the Storyteller|s, that turn reality into fiction, turning people into heroes, heroes who give birth to legends, legends that are in turn forsaken; and the Dreamer|s, that bring impossible elements to the realm of possibility in an attempt to break reality - their presence make turning left take you right, solids behave as if they were liquids, give blind people sight, gods being passible of death, raise the dead from their graves, etc.
After that expository bit, back to the mythos, more specifically to the reason of why are the Craftsmen called Craftsmen:
Creation Myth wrote:After they realized their own and the others existence, they realized they liked it. They wanted more things to exist, and so they made the world. One made the mountains and the land, the other made the sun and the skies, another made the river and the oceans. Each made their own little thing, all adding together into being the world. When they finished, they took a step back. And the world was boring, they claimed. The mountains stood still, the sun too far from the lands' reach, the oceans too deep and vast. Everything worked like clockwork, an everstill picture of their power. The Craftsmen looked at each other, and decided they could do better. They grouped and discussed a plan, and soon they created the first patch for the world: life.
Chaos then reigned in the world. The mountains threw themselves on the ground, and tried to climb the resultant pile in order to be taller and taller. The ocean stood upright, and walked to the land, ravaging it on the process. The sun came down to see what was up and be part of it, and the sky cried and panicked in the corner. Seeing the result of their actions, the Craftsmen pondered on what they should do. Without a second thought, they rained more life in the world, and instantly storms, tsunamis, droughts and earthquakes rose from un-life.
What comes after is somewhat vague. Some say the second generation of beings put the first in order because they had powers over disasters - for they were made of disasters, and were the disasters themselves - but the Craftsmen messed up again a few minutes later. Some say it just got worse, but in the end the Craftsmen managed to work things more or less ok. All that is known is in the end the world was filled with living and non-living beings made by them, in a series of sometimes comical, sometimes dramatical events. One day the population of the world got fed up and gave an ultimatum to the gods: "you broke it, you fix it!" And then, the gods became Rulers of the world.
... And that's mostly it. Besides that, I think it's worthy saying each unique god did their own thing, created their own palaces, artifacts, races, etc., occasionally working towards a common goal, but I made this as generic as I could. I would prefer to avoid Planet of Hats for
any and all races that pop up. Even between the Nobles and the Destroyers. Yes, even between them.
narrativedilettante wrote:I like this idea. There are zillions of ways it could be set up.
One possibility could be that the GM is the progenitor of the other gods, so that the players can have a sort of general idea of what's expected by the only person higher on the totem pole than they are.
That's a great idea!
Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 8:34 pm