In the medieval world, churches controlled the flow of information, and were the word of God himself. But when printed bibles in common language started to be distributed, this caused a radical shift in understanding, and upset the social order dramatically. Putting the word of God unto the common person’s hands understandably upset people who kept being told to tithe more and more of their meager income to the Church. So how can you bring this kind of upheaval into your game? Well, how would things be upset if there were miracle-workers of common birth, without having to be trained in the traditions of the various Gods’ churches? What if divine messages could be passed as easily as a Whispering Wind spell? How would people react to having their own local prophets, instead of having commandments and blessings passed through an organization, no matter how altruistic? And what would the churches of those traditions do to hang on to power? BAM! You’ve got a reformation on your hands! Suddenly, the power of the common people starts to overturn established tradition and organizations, cats and dogs lying down together, the dead walking, and the end of times is on the way! Itinerant miracle-workers walking the earth, dispensing the wisdom of the Gods, and getting into battles with each other, sounds like a great thing to add to your game. It’s part of what I’m working on for my campaign setting, and trying to figure out how these will work, rules-wise, has been a bit of a challenge. If you’ve got any ideas, let me know! So remember that sometimes, forbidden knowledge isn’t Things Man Was Not Meant To Know, sometimes it’s just inconvenient to those in power. (Originally posted on Game Masters Stash on 21 December 2018) Categories All This secretive and scientific society seeks out a God that they do not believe exists- yet. They labor in scientific work, trying to learn secrets of the universe and disperse them to those of the appropriate ranks within the society. However, they also maintain that anyone who doesn’t have the appropriate rank knowing that knowledge is blasphemy, and that’s unacceptable. The Society of the Cog layout to build grand works to honour their nascent God, and these structures are also often built to conduct scientific experiments. Pictured is their grandest achievement to date, the Grand Hadron Cathedral. Within its enormous underground structure, they claim to be able to discover, or manufacture (no-one is entirely sure which) particles of their God. But the tunnels they have been digging out underneath it for the last century tell outsiders some kind of sinister tale. No-one outside of the Society of the Cog quite understands what it is that they do, and no-one inside will tell. This places them in a strange position with local officials, who are usually suspicious of their work. What matters is that they often contribute the results of their research to aid communities nearby, whether transporting goods faster, chilling preserved goods to make them last longer, or lighting a street without magic (or, at least, magic that can be detected). They ritualize magical and scientific processes in order to remember it and to preserve the knowledge. Mending an object might be a basic orison taught to their basic members, while repairing damage on a larger scale might take several detailed prayers, anointing with the sacred unguents, and turning in a circle thrice widdershins, because that’s just how it’s done, alright? Sometimes these prayers seem like wasteful gobbledygook, but they have been seen to work. (Originally posted on Game Masters Stash on 6 September 2018) Categories All Accretian was once a vast earth elemental, raised up from a mountain and infused with evil. It knew no limits to its power, and vanquished many foes. However, it was then called up to squash the demigoddess Nîa. With an epic spell incantation, she hurled Accretian away into space, where crushing lack of pressure and cold usually destroyed her targets utterly. Accretian was unaffected by these factors, and was trapped in a stable orbit, unable to move itself back down, and desperately missing the comfortable embrace of the earth. Over the course of the next century, Accretian was able to snatch up rocks as meteors, and press them to itself, swelling in size. This did not go unnoticed by the inhabitants of the world, who realized that their new moon was powerful, utterly angry, and capable of hurling small rocks down to the surface. Cults sprung up, venerating the Bad Moon and offering sacrifices to send its anger elsewhere. Some of these have even developed spell casting in Accretian’s name, making them quite dangerous to the followers of Nîa, Accretian’s sworn foe. (Originally posted on Game Masters Stash on 31 August 2018) Categories All |
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