bae@fisher.UUCP (Shiva the Destroyer) (11/28/84)
Ladies and Gentlemen, Here is a little blurb on the Gods in my campaign. It is not intended to provide you with complete information, but merely to give you a feel for religious life in my world. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GODS ---- 1) In my world, gods have limited power, and are not by any means omniscient. 2) A god's power is determined both by his innate abilities, and by the number and kind of his worshippers. A god with a few devout high level worshippers could thus have the same temporal power as a god who had many more less powerful and faithful worshippers. 3) Gods of all Mythoi are permitted, although some Mythoi are more well established on this plane, and hence more powerful. The Greek, the Lovecraftian, the Melnibonean, the Norse, the Newhon, and part of the Egyptian mythos have established themselves relatively firmly. There are occassional stragglers from other mythoi, but they are for the most part weak. 4) Gods in my world rarely, if ever, intervene directly on the Prime Material Plane, preferring instead to send their servants to accomplish things. Following is a brief summary of some of the major churches in this campaign. This in no way is a complete list, it merely details some of the more interesting (i.e. active) groups. God: Set Alignment: LE Mythos: Egyptian Set's church is slowly regaining power, after being humiliated at the hands of the Church of Dionysus 1200 years ago. The church has spent the last 1000 years gathering their strength and rebuilding their organization. The current goal of the church is to achieve revenge upon the Church of Dionysus, and then expand once more into the temporal realm, restoring the church to its past greatness. God: Arioch Alignment: CE Mythos: Melnibonean Arioch's church has been very powerful in the past, at times dominating world affairs almost completely, through the actions of its few, elite, fanaticaly dedicated core of followers. However, of recent the church has been steadily undergoing the erosion of its power base, due both to the decline of its membership, and to the prevailing goody-two-shoes, liberal, communist actions on the part of many a player character. Still, the nucleus of the church retains its old power. This is fortunate, as the Church of Donblas, the ancient enemy of the Church of Arioch, has just recovered the Sceptre of Donblas, and is beginning to regain power on this plane. While the Sceptre was lost, the Church of Arioch was virtually unopposed by any good force, but now.... The current goals of the church are: a) attempt to capture the Sceptre of Donblas b) gain temporal power through recruitment efforts Gods: The Great Old Ones (Hastur/Cthulu/Cthuga/Ithaqua/Nyarlathotep/...) Alignment: CCCCCCCE Mythos: Lovecraftian The 'churches' of the Great Old Ones are not churches as such, but rather cults. You will not find a "Church of Hastur" on Main St. of your average city (although if you know where to look...). The cults worshipping the Great Old Ones are gaining in strength every day, due due to the release of many of the Great Old Ones from their eons-long imprisonment. The Great Old Ones are not near the peak of their power yet, still regaining strength which was lost during their confinement. They are biding their time, marshalling their forces, waiting to strike. And they want you....... The Great Old Ones are thought to have strongholds in several places, among which are the Nameless City, the bottom of Lake Braglor, and the Mountains of Madness. Of course, no party has ever returned from these places with any reliable accounts, so it is hard to say... God: Death Alignment: NE Mythos: Newhon Death is worshipped by only a select few. Nothing is known at this time about the power of the church, its goals, or its practices. God: Hermes Alignment: N Mythos: Greek The church of Hermes is notable mostly because the many Thieves Guilds have taken Hermes as the patron god. The church is thus very wealthy, very influential, and very well-informed about world events. The major goal of the church of Hermes is to maintain the status-quo, to prevent any large-scale conflicts which would harm the economy of the cities, which is currently favourable to thieving. Several very influential world-leaders have taken up the cause of Hermes. God: Bryn Alignment: CE Mythos: Melnibonean Bryn Mawl is the patron god of assassins. Thus, his church is also very wealthy, very influential, and very well-informed about world events. The church has realized that, although it is nominally chaotic, the current political situation is favourable to the Assassins Guild. Therefore, the church, and the Guild, are supportive of the status-quo, for now. God: Donblas Alignment: LG Mythos: Melnibonean The church of Donblas has been ill-used for the past 4700 years. Their main artifact, the Sceptre of Donblas, the focus of their power, was lost from them in an earth-shattering battle with the forces of Arioch. Since it proved impossible to destroy the Sceptre, the Arioch worshippers hid the Sceptre in the Holy City of Quod, where it lay undisturbed throughout the millenia. During this time, the church of Donblas lost the bulk of its temporal power. The many churches of Donblas closed up, due to lack of worshippers. The majority of the few remaining faithful were hunted down and slaughtered by the jubilant forces of evil. However, a small group of very powerful Donblas worshippers undertook the difficult task of preserving the Church and its teachings through this dark age. By carefully hiding their existence from their enemies until it was too late to destroy them, they rebuilt a portion of the Church. However, the new church was different. Whereas before the church had had many worshippers of mediocre ability, the new church had a few, very skilled, very devout followers. This elite Donblas force spent the next several thousand years tracking down the Sceptre, to no avail. Then, after all hope had been abandoned, the Sceptre was stumbled upon by a party of adventurers, who, realizing what it was, immediately told the church its location. Now, the church has regained the main source of its power. The church is reorganizing, opening up new temples, and once again expanding its activities into the temporal realm. The followers of Donblas, the Justice Maker, have been ill-treated for thousands of years, and now that they have regained their power, they intend to wreak a little Justice upon their foes... God: Dionysus Alignment: CG/CN/CE Mythos: Greek The church of Dionysus has been on the rise, ever since some of its members looted the treasure stores of the church of Set 1200 years ago. Over the past 200 years, the church has been expanding rapidly. Their eventual goal is "A temple in every grove, an ampitheatre in every city, and a party every night." The church is very wealthy. At the moment it has no organized heirarchy, and hence very little temporal power. However, if the church continues with its current expansion, it should have little trouble gaining worldly power quite rapidly. That is, if the church of Set does not succeed in destroying it... Gods: The Elder Gods Alignment: N Mythos: Melnibonean Little is known about the Elder Gods, other than that they tend to work through a few select individuals to fight the influence and increasing power of the Great Old Ones. There are no organized churches or cults of the Elder Gods, the Gods or their representitives merely contact those who they feel might be useful to their purposes, and "recruit" them. -- Brian A. Ehrmantraut Ad Maioram Gloriam Hasturi! UUCP: {allegra, astrovax, princeton, twg} !fisher!bae BELL: (609) 452-8991 / (609) 734-7761 USnail: 184 Little Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544