In the most ancient of days, before the gods drew breath and the lowest of beasts strode upon the earth, there were only the Titans. Monolithic entities of incomparable power from places incomprehensible to any lesser mind, they gazed upon the starless void and found the empty scape wanting. Dissatisfied, they convened among themselves for a span both instant and eternal, then as one voice, spoke the creation into being. The infinite became finite, their powers tremendously lessened to permit their presence in this pocket of space, but with this sacrifice, the void within the space ceased to be, and the Titans were free to bring the world into being.
Only a dim white star wrought of the first spark, and three humble satellites of middling size held form. The first of these was shaped of barren sand, the second of bare earth, and the third of blank ice, but each was surrounded by an atmosphere most suitable to a wide array of life, and each was set into an orbit around their weak, featureless sun that might prove most accommodating to an annual cycle. To be certain, none was of much initial interest, but every Titan knew of the limitless potential within the spheres, and soon set to their passionate work.
Thus the Age of Creation began.———
If that introductory post aroused your curiosity and you’d like to know more, read further and I’ll explain. The idea for this game was
stolen from inspired by Iiteum’s original Titans of Creation threads, where each player took on the role of an immensely powerful Titan responsible for spending their stockpile of 1,000 finite points to make the world, the mortal life within, and the mystical forces both magic and divine without. I’ll be running with the same concept here, because I think it’s an interesting way to go about making a setting and I’m curious to see what the forum behind Dwarf Fortress can do. The rules, point prices, and Titan sheets are below, and I’ll post an IC thread once we’ve filled the ten Titan slots or three days have passed, whichever comes first.
- Private actions aren’t allowed, because you are Titans and subtlety is beneath you.
- Direct conflict isn’t permitted, because you are Titans and it would tear reality asunder.
- Posting without descriptions isn’t allowed, because you are Titans, not (soulless) robots.
- Cooperating on creations by splitting the point cost is permitted, because even if you are Titans, there’s no reason you can’t be civil.
- Trading points is permitted, because even if you are Titans, there’s no reason you can’t into mutual exchange for fun and profit.
- Lastly, breaking Forum rules isn’t permitted, because not even Titans can resist the might of the Toady One
- Creating or altering a law of physics costs 250 points, or 20 if limited to a specific area. For example, this could be used to weaken/strengthen gravity, halt or cease aging, write a runic alphabet, or implement symbology on a metaphysical scale.
- Bending the shape of the cosmos costs 250 points. By default, the cosmos is in the shape of a bubble, but with this, it could be altered into a tube, pyramid, or more exotic shape, or the pieces of reality existing could be rearranged. This should not be done lightly, and can be reversed with a refund to the Titan responsible by a vote of no less than four others.
- Altering the cosmos costs 100 points. By default, there is one dim white star, and three habitable spheres orbiting it, but with this, another cosmic object could be made, or one already present changed. For example, the sun could be made a different color, or a sphere surrounded by moons.
- Adding another dimension to the cosmos costs 100 points. These aren’t beholden to the laws of physics and may serve whatever purpose its creator pleases, as a place of paradise/damnation for mortal souls, a seat of rulership for the lesser gods, or even a heavenly forge. The imagination is the only limit to their nature, but it’s advised that they be made possible for mortals to enter, even if by death.
- Creating a major geographical feature costs 50 points. For example, an enormous mountain range, saltwater ocean, or brackish swampland. Each sphere can hold fifteen, and is otherwise assumed to be endless desert, plains, or taiga, respectively, or if it is another created by a Titan, whatever environment was originally described in its creation.
- Creating a broad family of life costs 50 points. For example, coniferous trees, mammothine mushrooms, or giant vortices of light-reflecting obsidian. These need not abide by earthly norms and creativity is encouraged, but if a niche is left unmentioned, assume earthly plants and animals eventually evolve to fill it.
- Creating a specific life-form costs 10 points. For example, hollow trees, man-eating mushrooms, or malevolent giant vortices of light-reflecting obsidian.
- Creating a supernatural landmark costs 25 points, or 50 if large enough to occupy the space of a major geographical feature, these can overlap. For example, a seemingly infinitely tall tower, a wide-spanning deposit of precious stones, or a fountain of eternal youth.
- Creating a supernatural artifact costs 25 points, or 50 if strong enough to threaten the lesser gods. For example, a spyglass that can peer into the past or future, a weapon that grants its wielded perfect fighting skills, or a nondescript bag that can produce an endless supply of any narcotic.
- Creating a sapient race costs 50 points, and 50 more for each following a Titan’s first because the world can only hold so many. These can be evolved from already existing life or created wholesale, but for the sake of my sanity so long as the Titans are active, they’ll never advance beyond the Stone Age.
- Creating a lesser god (or goddess) to oversee the world once the Titan is gone costs 50 points, and 50 more for each following a Titan’s first, because the world can only hold so many. If a Titan wishes, once they’ve spent their points they may descend to become a lesser god at no additional cost, but this is a significant change and whether creating or descending, the Titan responsible still needs to fill the lesser god sheet.
Name: What syllables will the mortals utter in the myths to come?
Appearance: What visage will the mortals struggle to describe in their simple tongues?
Description: What sort of entity is the Titan, and what is their intention in the Age of Creation?
Name: What syllables will the mortals utter in praise or contempt?
Appearance: What visage will the mortals gaze upon in reverent awe or heart-stopping terror?
Description: What sort of personality does the lesser god have, and what is the role they’ll play in the world?
Spheres: Unlike the Titans, the lesser gods hold sway over only one, or as many as five facets of reality. What are they?
Default Depictions: How do mortals tend to portray the lesser god or evoke its image? Is it through skillfully chiseled statues, certain symbols, or something else entirely? Often, more than one depiction is acceptable.
Preferred Worship: How do mortals tend to venerate the lesser god or honor its image? Is it through prayer, sacrifice, or a specific task? Often, more than one form of worship is acceptable.
Expected Boons: How does the lesser god tend to reward its mortal followers? Is it the spiritual reassurance of an assured afterlife, or a more tangible effect in the present? Is it reserved for only the most diligent followers, or freely given to all? Often, more than one boon is given.
Name: Tiamat
Appearance: Endless Mud with a female form sticking out. All who fall in to the Mud are changed, forming contract as a part of her will.
Description: Mother of All Life, to bring forth gods, and watch them grow. The Primordial Sea.
Name: Zero, one, one, two, three, five, eight, (Fibonacci sequence)
Appearance: A spiraling entity of pure mathematical perfection, beyond most mortals comprehension.
Description: A being spawned of mathematics, magic, and technology, they are mostly neutral, but predominantly try to do good for mortals, no matter the cost to themselves, or who it puts them up against.
Name: Maut
Appearance: A necrotic entity covered in fungi
Description: A titan to rule over death and the circle of life. As opposed to a malevolent being that reaps souls and seeks to eliminate life, Maut sees themselves as more of a caretaker, ensuring balance is maintained in the world. While it may seem cruel to take the life from the old and fatally wounded, they sees it as an act of mercy, and hope to create new life from the old.
Name: Splunder
Appearance: A vast chaotic mountain of clutter that leaves a trail of unwanted belongings in its wake.
Description: The force of disordered and unruly possession of things. Chaos, artifice, memories forgotten and plans undone. It exists to cultivate treasure troves, forgotten relics, cluttered desks and a proliferation of unwanted consumer goods.
Name: Dr. Bob
Appearance: A tall humanoid with the head of a deer that wears a dress shirt with a tie, black pants, and a lab coat over all that.
Description: A man of science that hopes to bring scientific and engineering based enlightenment to all mortals.
Name: Ragwroth
Appearance: A many tendriled Polyhedron forged of Cracked Bone and Bound with bleeding eyes
Description: A Being of Guided Destruction, of shattered worlds and newly forged lives, the end of old ages- and the beginning of new.
Name: Jajameel
Appearance: A Wolf with a Human Head
Description: A being to create Packs of All Things. He Stands for cooperation and hatred.
Name: Shasta
Appearance: A dim, white light, incomprehensible to mortals. Those who see it simply believe it to be a strange white bird.
Description: A titan to create the highest mountains and deepest oceans. Shasta cares not for living things, but accepts that they will want to exist in the beautiful world he hopes to create.
Name: Xanzerwild
Appearance: An endless row of human limbs supporting a snakelike body which descends from the wrist of an open palm. Upon that palm is a watchful and hungry eye which darts about, peering through all it can see. It's eye is orange, and it's skin is smooth and velvet black.
Description: Xanzerwild is the natural conclusion of all living things. One might believe death is what waits for us all, but death is merely a means to an end. The true conclusion of life, is change. The insect eats the plant, the plant poisons the insect, and the two continue in an arms race until the world swallows itself whole. That is Xanzerwild, the extreme conclusion of competition and evolution, twisted out of proportion until the world flourishes in a bloody free-for-all for survival of the fittest.
Name: The Monad, The Maker, The Mono-Law
Appearance: The Monad’s true form can’t be described in terms that a mortal could comprehend, but the closest approximation is a single, blindingly bright levitating cube orbited by another cube half its size but otherwise identical, which is in turn orbited by another cube half its size, ad infinitum in an endless, impossible fractal.
Description: The Monad isn’t the only manifestation of order among the Titans, but it is the most obvious and its intention is to introduce stability and abidance of the axioms of law to the creation.
