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The divines of GoC4 are not stagnant, but a constant reflection of their actions and of the beliefs of their followers. As a result, you might occasionally be given the opportunity to change your character to better suit your needs as the game progresses. Or on the other hand, you might find followers and vassals looking elsewhere for leadership if they find your rule in conflict their own beliefs and personality.



Glory and Other Currencies

The primary currency of GoC4 is Glory*, which is the rough summation of how influential you are in the world. This includes standard god-like things such as how many devoted worshipers you have, but also other factors like how many realms you control, or how influential your creations are on the current fate of the world. Players receive their glory income at the start of each turn. Glory can then be spent on all kinds of actions.
 *I’ll likely abbreviate this as both “G” or “g”, this is just a heads up that they both refer to Glory.

While Glory is the primary currency of the gods, there are several other resources and currencies that might play a minor role. Typically these will be related to particular factions or regions and serve a role in the world at large. Other currencies will be mystical or divine in nature, tradeable to mysterious forces for unique and powerful prizes.

For this game, I don't have terribly set prices. In other words, most things are a "get what you pay for" deal. The average price for most small items (plants, animals, small acts of god(s), curses or artifacts) would fall between 5 and 10 Glory. For larger creations (Mortal or monstrous races, artifacts, miracles, regions, ect.) you're going to be looking at 10-20 Glory. I recommend price checking regularly, but in general my philosophy to this kind of thing is to try to reflect your intent as best as possible, with the amount of Glory provided.

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Regions and Region Slots

The world of GoC4 is made up of distinct sections called Regions. Regions can be of varying size and type.  Regions originally belong to their creator. Region ownership has many benefits for a player, granting them free reign to act within the region without undue influence from other players, as well as the lion-share of glory from the region. Other players can establish footholds in regions they don’t own through various means, allowing them greater influence in the region and eventually, if their influence grows great enough, make a claim on the region.

Each region has several “slots” which contain the features of the region.

-Biome slots refer to the kind of ecosystem that exists within that region, or section of a region. These are almost always mundane, but more fantastical options are possible at increased cost.

-Feature slots are notable assets within your region that indicate special points of interest in the region. These can be natural features like a mountain ridge, or large river. They may also be large settlements, such as cities, sweeping farmlands, or other mortal made places of interest.

-Finally, subslots are nested within feature slots. These are the lowest level points of interest within a region. Subslots are used to explain what functions are occurring within a feature. For example, a mountain feature might have a mine subslot, as well as a trading post to export ores and finally a hamlet to house mortals.

Empty slots of all kinds tend to fill themselves given enough time. Pioneer species eventually colonize a biome, mortals eventually move in and create settlements, and naturally build buildings. The smaller the slot, the more likely it is to naturally fill up or change as time goes on. Leaving slots empty may allow you free benefits, but also leaves the slot exposed to nefarious actors and cruel twists of fate.

Creating New Regions

Creating a new region is no small feat, and is most often the result of careful planning and savings, or co-operation between multiple gods. While expensive, new regions are a good investment towards increasing your per-turn income. Though there are many other ways to gather glory, few as are as dependable and consistent as ownership of regions, and the places within them. In addition, creating a new region is a serious expenditure of Glory and will often result in small extra events for the creator.

Each new region created increases the cost of creating a new region. As does owning a region. Region creation therefore becomes progressively more costly as the world grows and your budgets increase. New regions by default have one biome slot and two feature slots. More slots can be added after creation for twice the cost listed.

Region Price Guide
Base Price: 10G + 1G per Existing Region + 1G per Owned Region
Additional Biome Slot: 10G
Additional Feature Slot: 5G
Additional Subslot: 2G

Exploring Dark Regions

While much of the world is shapeless and unformed, some regions predate your reign. These are called dark regions, named so because the gods can neither see within or act directly upon them until they have been explored. Exploring a dark region grants a smallsum of glory, or minor event. However, this is rarely a simple task. Monsters, mortals and minor gods may have prior claim over a region, and any treasures within. Without your divine powers, you'll have to rely on your mortals and minions to explore these pagan wilds.

After a dark region is explored, it becomes conquerable. This is a special state where any god can put forth a valid claim on the region, and attempt to take it under their own control. Gods who explored the region have particularly strong claims.

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Mortals and Cultures

Regions can be populated by a wide variety of plant and animal species, but of all the creatures in a region, often it is mortals who are of the most interest to the divines. Mortals can be almost any sapient and self-aware species that is not sustained by divine or excessively magical means. However, the true hallmark of a mortal comes in their soul, which is small and bright. It is these tiny beacons that make mortals especially easy for the gods to focus on, as well as allows them to efficiently produce Glory for their deity through worship. Monstrous races similarly have powerful souls, making them more difficult, but workable subjects.

Attunement
Attuned is a catch-all term for mortals that are particularly connected to the heavens. While some mortals have naturally high attunement (often unknown to the individual until a deity reaches out in search of a servant or champion), individuals of power also naturally attune to the gods. This is the result of the same processes in the human soul that lead to the production of glory. As leaders and individuals of note are often the target of many more thoughts and emotions than regular citizens, they receive micro-doses of Glory, which ultimately better aligns their souls into attunement with the heavens.

This makes these mortals much easier for the divines to observe from afar, as well as allowing for more direct communication. Attuned mortals could therefore be thought of as a special subset of mortals who are naturally sensitive the divine. This does not necessarily make them obedient, in many cases the opposite. As their proximity to the divine has categorically demonstrated their importance to the universe, this rarely shrinks the ego. Regardless, mortals are fickle beings and often need to be bartered with or otherwise persuaded to devote their existence to an unknowable higher power. In many cases, attunement can become hereditary.

As a note on the un-attuned, from the realms of the gods, they appear much as the realms of the divine appear to them, as very dim stars in the distance. While focusing on a single one of these may be possible, it is rarely relevant and difficult to maintain. The winds of fate rarely allow a mortal of note slip past without some amount of attunement.

Culture
A culture is a shared identity between large groups of individuals. Cultures in this context include the particular customs, beliefs, lifestyle and similar common features of a group of mortals overseen by one or more player. Cultures in this way reflect the general information of how a group tends to act, whether that is in their particular way of life, or architecture, or common social customs. Moreover, technological advances are shared via culture, their implementation and use slowly disseminating from one member of the culture to others until it is a common aspect of life for that culture.


Cultures are far from static modifiers and represent the state of a group of people in both how they have developed as a people, but also how they are actively progressing, or regressing, and changing as a result of the evolving nature of the world. Typically cultures will have a cultural head or small group of individuals who are considered the leaders of a culture.

Cultures will develop naturally from any collection of mortals, given enough time. In addition, cultures may divulge and speciate due to many factors, such as: political climate, outside influence, cultural hybridization, geographical foundries / distance, shifting environmental factors, and general strife. As a result, understanding the culture of an individual as well as the trajectory of that culture, is very useful information in deciding on courses of action.

Cults
Cults are very similar to cultures, in that they're a set of people who all have similar beliefs and practices. Cults regularly spring up and disband as the balance of power in the world changes, occasionally because of the direct actions of a cult. Cults do not follow the normal practices and methods of organized religions, often using occultism, mysticism, and heretical rights to express their devotion. Cults tend to center around a purpose or a particular deity (especially if that deity's worship is banned in the area). Cults can be powerful tools in the subversion of an enemy power, or can bring about the creation of monsters and artifacts if they become powerful enough. Independent actors for the most part, it will be much more common for your cults to petition you, than for you to have any directions to give them.

Directing Mortals
Each turn the owner of a culture may direct the development of their culture in some way. This might be to encourage them to research a particular technology, or to develop practices of work or worship. Directives given in this way can be slow, depending on the size of the culture, but allow players to mold and guide the cultures under their rule in a wide variety of ways.

Similarly, mortal leaders of features may be given directions on how to develop, maintain, or expand their domain.

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Religions
In addition to cultures, mortals often have a religion and pledge their faith (and often more) to a god or a pantheon. Religions in this game are generative and dynamic, representing the shifting faiths, opinions, and beliefs of the NPC masses of the world. You might find that your have various religions with you as their head, which all believe very different things about the world as well as your character. Managing these expectations, working within them, and slowly altering them to fit your needs is part of the fun of this world.

Religion Type
Religion type is an overarching category that indicates the nature of the religion. At the start of the game, most faiths will either be tribal or wild faiths, but as the game progresses, domestic, warlike, and other types of faith will certainly arise. The type of faith describes who the worshipers of the faith are and general expectations of those followers.

Religion Aggression
The aggression of a religion indicates how hostile it is to other faiths, with very hostile religions launching crusades and holy wars often, whereas peaceful and accepting faiths will be pleased by long periods of peace and prosperity.

Religion Traits
Most religions will have a series of traits that explain beliefs, practices, and other information regarding that faith. These modifiers further elaborate on the nature of the faith, beyond just the religion type, and often reflect the specific needs and religious practices specific to that faith.

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Objects of Power
In addition to the creation of mortals and other lesser life, the power of the gods can be used to create beings and objects of power. The application of power in this way is so widely varied and free-form that this will serve more as guide than an exhaustive list of potential options.

Artifacts
An artifact is any small object of divine make that has been inbued with an innate power of some kind. Artifacts can provide all manner of boons and maluses to the holder of the object as described during their creation. While incredibly flexible applications of influence for a player, they lack wide-ranging effect. Artifacts typically affect a small area, an individual, or a particular target of some kind. As such, they're best thought of as tools that can be used to push agendas through other agents, rather than intrinsically. Artifacts originally belong to their creator, but theft, adaptation, and or corruption may open the door for additional claims.

Relics
Relics are a special class of artifact that are not created by the gods, but instead manifest naturally in the world. These are special objects that appear often as a side effect of larger events. These are objects of influence without direct claims from the players, with the rightful ownership claim either being non-existent or belonging to an NPC.

Holy Sites
Holy sites are special buildings or features that have a religious significance to one or more gods. These cannot be created directly but will regularly appear in areas with large amounts of divine activity or with religious significance to mortal followers. Holy sites are very useful buildings, often providing some kind of advantage to their owner, or a boon to the feature or region they can be found within. However, their relevance to their owner also makes them a particularly attractive target to bad actors, and losing a holy site can have wide-reaching consequences for the followers of the owner.

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Claims, Claimants, and Ownership
As previously discussed, the world is composed of regions and nested within those regions are various other features, buildings, and biomes. Ownership of each of these grants some small amount of Glory passively. While each location produces a miniscule amount of Glory by itself, as one collects more and more, or increases the quality and content of those they already own, players will see their income begin to rise. Further, ownership of a culture will grant you glory based on the size, influence, and achievements of that culture.

In addition to the income gains from locations and cultures, ownership also determines what actions a player can take towards a particular thing in the world. There are several main states of ownership:

- Complete/Tacit Ownership: This is the state of ownership that creators of locations enjoy immediately upon the creation of a location, object, or species. You are unhindered in your divine powers, and may influence these things wholesale without limitations or additional fees.

- Split Ownership: Split ownership is a stable state of ownership in which two or more players have reached an agreement on how to share a single slot. This ultimately reduces the income of the slot by 25% as well as reduced stability. Each owner has a strong claim to the property.

- Sub-Ownership: A specific type of split ownership where one player entirely owns a sub-element of another player and pays a tithe to the owner of the larger property. 25% of the income is paid to the holder of the above slot. However, actions taken by the higher owner towards the lower slot, without the permission of the lower owner, cost an additional 50%. Each owner gains a weak claim on the property of the other.

- Contested Ownership: Contested ownership is an unstable state of ownership where two or more deities have a legitimate claim upon a part of the world. The owner (who had a prior claim) and the claimant (the one making a claim on something), may either negotiate a split ownership contract, or if unable or unwilling to do so, begin an ownership dispute for the thing in question. Direct actions upon an area with contested ownership do not cost an additional fee for claimants, but do provide 50% reduced glory income until the conflict concludes. Non-claimants pay a 25% additional cost to directly act in contested areas (25% less than the normal fees for having no legal claim).

- Ownership Dispute: This special stage refers to a domain or part of a domain that has an active claim dispute. A time period, normally five turns, is established, during which all claimants can act as if they have complete ownership of the object for the duration. After the period ends, the ownership is reevaluated, and the god with the stronger claim at that points gains ownership, while the weaker claimant retains a lesser claim of 'rightful ownership', they cannot press this claim again for same duration as the dispute. During that period, it is as if they have no claim.

If you have no claim whatsoever, regardless of the ownership state of an area, direct divine actions targeting that area cost 50% more than the base price. These additional costs represent overcoming the entrenched power a being has sunk into an area. Using your own divine energies to alter a region or other thing requires you wrestle against the existing divine energies of another, and thus require more effort and are rarely the most cost effective solution.

The Art of Indirect Influence
While the associated costs of acting upon that which you do not own may seem draconian or at least budgetarily painful, these fees only apply to direct divine actions. Such a brutish path is rarely the best option, useable mostly when the difference in power is great enough to justify the additional cost. Or if you wish to directly assault the realm of another.

As a result, the majority of actions taken against the property of other players will be well within the realm of subterfuge. There are untold ways one could go about this, and I encourage you to think outside the box and ask questions if you're unsure on this front, but here are some basic guidelines.

There are two primary goals for undermining another god's authority in their own domain:
- Establish a foothold in a region to serve as a basis for a claim. This can be done subversively through the establishment of cults to you, one of your aspects, or a being within your service.
- Stealing Glory. Subvertly pushing an agenda within the realm of another is quite embarrassing for the ruling deity, as a result, you can siphon off portions of the glory they would receive from that place/people.

Normally, these are side-effects of pursuing a larger agenda, but are ultimately the mechanical way in which one subverts the influence of a rightful owner. Of course, this is just an overview and there are many other ways you could achieve the above that aren't listed here.

The Art of Direct Influence
While there are many benefits in operating under the radar within the realm of another, there are more trackable and overt options available to players which are more suited to direct action. While using your divine powers directly incurs additional costs, the actions of mortals and minions under your control do not incur such costs.

Returning to our two primary goals, establishing a foothold and stealing glory, there are a few main ways to achieve these goals overtly. One might release monsters or invasive species into the realm of another, wreaking havoc on the area. You might launch an invasion of mortal forces or launch a crusade against another player, attempting to take the region by force. Or alternatively your culture or mortals might naturally migrate into new regions, given enough time and spread, this in itself might be enough to justify a claim.

The goal remains the same, increasing the amount of influence you have within a region, while simultaneously diminishing the control and authority of the current ruler. However, they may also provide your opponent a casus belli, or a justification for declaring war.

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Casus Belli and God Wars
While rare, all-out wars between gods are possible under the right conditions. These represent no-holds-barred conflicts between gods, capable of wreaking havoc across the lands in incredible displays of power. This is often a last resort between two gods who have engaged in territorial conflict, or are opposed their happenstance or the result of conflicting goals and agendas.

A God War requires a casus belli, or a justification for war. Casus belli can be petitioned for at any time, but require the petitioner to demonstrate the damage or impending damage to their domain. During which petition, the petitioner will write up a short petition expressing the grievances, damages, and potential threats caused by another player and submit it to the GM. This is a low barrier to entry, and normally will be granted if the danger or damage surpasses the regular levels of infighting between players.

God Wars
God wars are major events that allow all participating gods to act freely within the disputed territory. When a God War is declared, specific parameters are set that describe the battlefield. This is often a region, or a set of regions belonging to the defending god, but may include areas belonging to the aggressor, especially those from which the aggressor is attacking from. In addition, the player declaring the God War may make demands, such as reparations for damages, or abandonment of claims or actions in the region for a set amount of time.

Next, both players in question must agree to participate in the God War, or acquiesce to the demands presented with the declaration of war. This may result in additional negotiations and bartering in the hope of avoiding a god war. Assuming no agreement can be made, war is declared. At this point, additional players may join either of the sides, or choose to remain neutral. When joining a side, a small agreement should be made outlining the contribution of allies, and their rights to the spoils of war.

At this point, the God War begins. All additional costs for actions within the realms of participating gods are lifted, and gods may act in them as if they were their own. This applies not only to the disputed region designated in the declaration of war, but also all regions belonging to the participating gods and their allies. Needless to say, this is a very dangerous endeavor and removes the normal cost limitations that deter other players from outright attacking your domain.

God Wars persist for five turns, during which time additional Glory will be rewarded for successfully defeating opponents, destroying the property of others, and other similar feats of victory against the opposing side. If no side surrenders, or the expressed goals of the war declaration are not met, the war ends and the gods take ownership of whatever they have control over at the end of the war. If the war goals of the declarer are met prior to this point, they can sue for peace against their opponent, allowing them the option to end the war early. Similarly, the primary combatants (not allies) may broker a truce and end the war early. God Wars ended in this way return all non-contested areas to their rightful owner.

After a God War ends, and it is not draw or true, a victor and a loser are announced. The victor will gain a large amount of glory from the defeated party and their allies, often requiring the defeated party to pay war reparations for several turns. 

God Wars are major events and are endeavors that should not be taken lightly, it is one of the few things that can completely eliminate a player or reduce their holdings to the point of negligence.

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Magic
The world of GoC is filled with mana of all kinds. It can be found in living things, in fire, in the earth, in the sky and elsewhere one might seek it. Mana in its natural ambient form is raw energetic potential, without direction, form, or quality.

Objects and phenomena can serve as vessels (natural containers of mana) as well as conduits (natural channels of mana). When mana condenses within a vessel, or passes through a conduit, it gains form and quality becoming one of the ten forms of mana.

Mana and magic are related, but very separate.


In its natural state, mana exists in ambient amounts of all ten forms. This ambient mana courses through the world without any structure or direction. That is what magic is, methods for directing mana to create phenomenon.

The first step is to create a Magic Foundation. This is the underlying premise which a god has engrained between the fabric of reality, and the world itself that allows mana to be channeled a certain way. The base cost for such a feat is 10 Glory.

Once a Magic Foundation is created, one might then consider what is built upon the foundation. Often called a tree of magic, all of this refers to the type of phenomenon created through the use of this particular magic foundation. A foundation related to channeling red mana into fire magic would be referred to as the tree of pyromancy, and might perhaps contain different branches for explosion and combustion spells. Creating new branches of an existing tree of magic is also quite difficult, with also a 10 Glory cost.

The divines find working with mana directly difficult, as it is so far removed from their own divinity. Only when vast amounts condense into motes do the gods generally find any use for it.

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Research
Researching new technologies in the main method of advancing your civilization. It is wise to research often as it is the main method at the player's disposal for steering their civilizations.

Researching new technology is very simple. Anything you could want your civilization to do, to build, to understand, or to think can be researched. In that way, ideas like 'democracy' and 'mathematics' are equally viable research topics as more concrete technology such as 'plate armor' or 'chariots'. Methodologies such as "horseback riding" or "iron smelting" are also topics that can be researched. Finally, new buildings and units are also produced through the research process.

Here is a template for pursuing a research topic:

Name:
Glory investment:
Description what the technology is: (A general description of what the technology looks like. If it is a physical object, a description of what that looks like. If it is an idea or methodology of some kind, then just a blurb on what the idea is.)
Description of what the technology does: (A general description of the intended goal of a technology and how that goal is achieved. In other words, what does it do and how does it do that).
Underlying technology: (If you are progressing from one relevant technology to another, such as upgrading a building, or advancing a trade. Basically, if you can draw on one of your other technologies to help figure out this perspective one, list it here)

Wandering Gods is a team based godgame which takes place upon the back of a giant creature, wandering across the ley-lines of this world. Each turn, the godbeast travels further down the ley-lines, changing the area around the dominion of the wandering gods. As the gods wander the earth, they will pass through the domains of sessile gods, encounter mortal cities and outposts, and discover ancient dungeons. Much of the game will consist of civilization building and management, while the other sections of the game relate to the exploration of sites scattered throughout the world.

Mana
Mana is the universal currency of the divine of this world and comes in ten forms. These ten forms contribute, in different amounts, to every object, person, and place in this world. The true power of the gods stems from their mastery over mana, which grants them the ability to create most anything, so long as they have sufficient mana in the proper quantities.


Research
This is a research oriented game. At the start of the game you will gain several starter technologies based on your character sheet and the decisions your team makes. From that point on, you are welcome to use mana to research new technologies, units, and other objects using mana. For researches beyond this, you can convert mana into Research Dice in order to research new technology. New potential researches have difficulty values which indicate how hard it is to master the technology. Research dice decrease this value, bringing you closer to unlocking the technology. You may unlock a tech early before you reduce the difficulty value to zero, but doing so will introduce bugs and drawbacks into your design. Similarly, you may research beyond the necessary threshhold before officially unlocking the technology, in order to gain additional bonuses such as increased efficiency, lower cost, or extra advantages.

The World
While much of the game will take place in the city view, the world map is a critical component in understanding what resources are currently available, and will become available shortly. Each tile is a region and may explored and exploited for resources. Each excursion into the world has a chance to trigger random events, from discovery of extra resources, to combat encounters, to the discovery of side quests from local denizens. Excursions are often dangerous if ill prepared, but are often the easiest way to gain resources quickly. Of course, what resources are available to you is dependent on what is around your civilization at the time.

While most tiles are general tiles, some tiles have special Points of Interest (POIs). POIs are often resource dense and may contain special loot unavailable in generic regions, such as magical equipment, troves of mana, or additional technologies. Of course, these locations are often guarded by enemies, or require special skills to capitalize on.

Each turn, your godbeast will travel down the ley-line, revealing more of the world, and obscuring parts of the world as they fade into the distance behind you. Some points of interest will appear on the ley-lines and interact directly with your godbeast. These can be beneficial, such as a feeding or resting site for your godbeast, or they can be harmful, such as passing directly through a poisonous forest. Some areas will be charged with mana, empowering gods who specialize in mana of the same color.


The City of the Gods
At the start of the game, players will be split into three teams, each team corresponding to the most popular mana selected during character creation. Teams are cohesive governing bodies who share an inventory and income by default. Each team is responsible for their own decision making processes, whether that is simple majority voting when it comes to decision making, or a different system, that is up to each team.

Your team will receive one mana corresponding to your team color each turn. This is your team's baseline income.

As of now, the City of the Gods doesn't exist. Depending on the choices made by the three teams, the starting layout of the city of the gods will change. However, in general, it is very similar to the world map in that it will be a gridbased map. Here you will build your fledgling civilization, using your starting technologies and, over time, additional researched buildings in order to populate your city.

Your city is atop a mighty, but ultimately mortal beast. Tending to it's needs will be just as important as tending to the needs of your citizens. The more your beast is fed, the larger it grows, and more space will become available to the inhabitants. However, a godbeast that is sickly, injured, or angered may spell disaster for your civilization.

Similarly, direct combat aboard the godbeast will not only upset the godbeast, but the citizens as well. While ambushes, combat, and all out war is perfectly fine outside of the City of the Gods, open bloodshed within the city itself will have very negative consequences.

During turn 0, each team will select 5 connected tiles. These will be your starting tiles, you gain them immediately and for free. To claim additional tiles, units can be ordered to claim them as an action. You can only claim tiles adjacent to a tile you already posses, or is connected to a tile you possess by a road.




Mortals and Units
Inhabiting the City of the Gods are your mortal charges. Mortals require food, water, shelter, and other goods in order to be happy and productive members of society. Each turn mortals will automatically interact with buildings in order operate them and produce the building's output. Each building requires a certain number of mortals to operate, subtracted from your total mortals. If you do not have enough mortals to fulfill the worker requirements of a building, it will produce no resources. Additional mortals beyond the worker requirement will be unemployed, and generally not contribute much until they find employment.

Units are specially trained mortals, who have specific roles assigned to them. These may be military soldiers, tasked with fighting off monsters, or exploring regions. They may also be specialists who have extra effects on certain buildings, or even required for proper operation of advanced buildings. Whatever the case, specialized units cannot be returned to peasants and cannot be used as general workers once transformed. There is no special requirements for specializing your mortals, but specalization does take a turn. So if there's a specialization command in your action for this turn, that action will be processed on that turn, and the specialized units available the following turn.

Heroes and Artifacts
Heros are especially powerful units infused with mana. Blessing a unit with mana grants them the ability to use mana-dice in combat and in skill checks. A hero's mana will drain as they use their mana dice, and can be slowly regenerated by resting in the City of the Gods, or immediately refreshed with mana of the corresponding color. When resting, one mana dice can be regenerated per turn.

Artifacts and equipment are items that can be equipped by heroes and squads to bolster and augment their abilities. Normal equipment is fairly straightforward, offering minor bonuses to damage or damage reduction. Artifacts are more powerful magical items, which are typically found throughout the world, or created with several mana. Similar to normal equipment, they normally provide flat and dependable bonuses, though it is not unheard of for them to provide niche utility effects instead.

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Character Sheet
God Name:
God Mana Type: (Choose one)
Prefered Team Mana Types: (Choose 3, the three with the most votes will each form the basis of the teams)
God Physical Description:
God Personality Description:

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This is a Lazy Fair game. That means that I update the maps, and write up the results of actions and all that jazz, but teams manage their own decision making processes and inventory. I highly suggest appointing a team bookkeeper to keep track of your various assets.

Lastly, please join the discord. Team discussion and such will occur there: https://discord.gg/3Ajv6qbX

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Mechanical Guides
This section is a collection of short guides on various topics. Generally if you're thinking "How would I do X?" or "What should I do on my turn?", then you've come to the right place.

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In the time before the gods, this land was wild and primordial. Unbound by the wills of the wills of the gods, the spirits raged across land and seas. The rivers shifted with the wind, and mountains crested like waves. Beings of power rose and fell, carving out castles of fire, of ice, of wood, or bone. Even mortals rose from the chaos, living short and brutal lives.

Yet, such a state of chaos, with its enormous potential, would eventually give rise to order out of sheer chance. And so it was. Over the eons, eight regions became less and less chaotic, each growing as it cemented itself further into the fabric of this world. And like a plant drinking water through its roots, so too did these drink deeply the magics of this land.

In time, these forces coalesced, turning in on themselves and permutating into what would become the gods. From each of the regions, a god was birthed.

First rose the mountains, an enormous mountain chain that rose high into the sky. The northern end gave rise to Ravana, with the south, Acter. In the north, the winds were harsh, and the path treacherous. Winding shelves of rock made for narrow passage throughout the peak, though possible, these paths are perilous. The steep rough terrain is not a pleasant place to make one's home, yet many species of bird and rodent have come to dwell here. Larger animals live here as well, goats, rock snakes, and large agile cats call these lands home. Shale feather eagles can often be seen circling above. The south is wetter and greener, receiving more rains than the north. Grassy highlands dot the mountain, and groves of pine cling to existence where bird or wind deposit their seeds. Game is more common here, but so too are predators. Many look to this location for its strategic importance, overlooking both forest and field alike.

As one continues south, the mountains continue deep into the heartland. To their west, lay the swamps which gave rise to Yume No Kaze in the north and Jud in the south.   A region of soggy pools and wild willow trees. Here the circle of life bleeds grey between the light of life, and the darkness of death. Rot hangs heavy in the air, and insects buzz through the smell of decay. Amphibians of many sizes are common, though among them the Marsh Gulper species reign supreme. A gargantuan ambush predator, known to swallow oxen and men alike if given the chance. Fish, snakes and birds are also common. Mushrooms, lichens, and baser organisms thrive here. In a way, it is a very full region, full of life, full of death.

To their east rose from The Dust Wilds, a dry barren land of dry dirt and cracked stone. North belonging to Than and the south to Cwrec. Here Strong winds from the west kick up dust and gravel, with lethal velocity during the winter storms. This creates a near constant sound, of small rocks battering against stone expanse and rock cliff, wearing them down into more small stones to one day join their erosive cause. The days are hot and the expanses of stone grow hot enough to crack and pop under the sun. The nights are cool, and the wind shifts and dulls it's sharp advance. From the crags and crevices, what tenacious life that eeks out existence here, wanders beneath the cloudless sky. Lizards and snakes are common here. Bats, birds, and a species of flying Guinea pigs have roosts among the cracked stone. They feed on hard nuts, born from dry gnarled shrubs, on what grass can find. On the north, a band of land wraps around the mountain edge, winding under cliff and along slope, no more than half a mile wide, reaching far across the northern coast, beyond the mountain, and into the swamps

South of the mountains, the slopes give way to the South Forest in the west, in the region that births the god Muffins. The wet winds are blown northward by the winds from the south. While wet, this region is not as much so as the swamps to the north. The humid temporate climate gave rise to a forest of great thick trees. Among the leaf litter and shade, numerous creatures from deer to bears thrive. Birds and rodents of many kinds live among the canopy. Monkey birds can often be spotted lazily eating fruit among the leaves. Wolves, large cats, and bears form the top of the food chain here.

Finally in the southeast, the Wide Plains which gave rise to Garmathis. Sprawling open grasslands spread far beyond the horizon. A sea of grass, speckled with islands of woodland groves. Large herbivorous creatures thrive on the open plains. Bisonphants, and wild stallions can be spotted grazing, while coyotes and lions linger in the shadows. Smaller life thrives here as well, hidden among the tall grasses, or in burrows in the soil.

From each of the regions, both mountains, both swamps, both badlands, the forest, and the plains, a light rose into the sky, and with it, a newborn god. They halt their ascent, and look down upon their world with fresh eyes. They see the world laid out before them, eight regions, eight gods. Each sees their brothers and sisters, and the lands before them. This is their world.

---

Deep beneath the stone skies, a soft stillness began to creep throughout the caverns and crevasses. For several moments, even the hymns of the vigorous stones ceased their low rumble, and true silence filled the earth. A deep breath before some unknowable future begins, the last age quietly, unperceptively, fading away to a future yet to be discovered. This fact was not lost on many of the wiser creatures that inhabit this land, though, many a man and beast alike could feel the tension of this unexpected quiet. One can't help but feel like prey in those moments, staring down a tunnel and wondering if this is not but the gullet of the earth, slowly swallowing all that remains of a world thought dead. Yet, that fear adds to the quiet, and all which fear what lurks out in the dark, or around the corner, they hold their breath and listen. It is at that moment, that despite not understanding it, many heard the beginning of a new age.

Among those, the Six Sunken Kings, the chieftains of the fleshmancers. Quietly, and with intent, they awaited the opportunity of a new era. Some had hopes of conquest, others of enlightenment, others simply sought survival. The Six Sunken Kings had gathered together for the annual Summit of the Sunken Kings. The auspicious timing of the turn of the age was not lost upon those gathered here. From left to right they sat in a circle: Jaheq, Kalamos, Lingka, Ta Zie, Chirrupchirp, and Baltais Karalis. As with every turning of the seasons, the birth of a new year, they had gathered to hear the report of their loose federation.

The report was aloud read by a capable steward of clan Brakbar:
With the extinction of Clan Aresgeta, despite tradition, this Summit is held outside the domain of any of the Kings. However, it is tradition that one king hosts the summit upon the New Turn of this world. Though we must return to the issue, we must select the next King to host the summit upon next year's turn.

Now to begin the report proper.

General stores are low, with little food stockpiled outside the domain of Clan Aresgeta, who were primarily focused on agriculture. Much of their clan was killed in an earthquake no more than one month prior. With Aresgeta exporting some quantities of food to other nations, most if not all nations will need to increase food production in order to account for this loss.

This also leaves the question of remaining survivors. While some small parts of their territory were not destroyed, many survivors are left without house or home. Several refugee groups have sought safe haven with the Court of the Six Sunken Kings.

Next, to the east, closest to the lands of Jaheq, Kalamos, and Lingka, large groups of the fishlike humanoids, Kroatoa, have been spotted. While they are a disorganized group, their numbers pose a risk to innocent civilians if they attempted to overwhelm the forces of Jaheq, Kalamos, and Lingka. Though it would be a hard fought battle, it is unlikely none would make it through our position. Whats more, Kroatoa are rarely seen in this region, while their appearance is unusual, the size of their forces is not unheard of in lands to the south, near elven domains. At this time, only a few small skirmishes have broken out with hunting parties, so no large battles have yet to occur.

In other news, a migration of giant cave sloths will pass through the kingdoms of Ta Zie and Baltais Karalis. While they are peaceful beings, their large claws and tendency to move in large groups, makes them rather difficult prey. As are the predators which follow their herd, seeking to pick off those who are weak, or straggle too far behind the pack. This is not an unusual occurrence, and occurs every several years.

In the mushroom forests closest to  Lingka, Ta Zie, Chirrupchirp, there is word that a deposit of aldranite has been discovered. While it's exact location is unclear, villagers in the area have found small chunks of the rare mineral in the region. While rare, aldranite is a very useful metal, which has a low melting point, but good strength. It is not only useful in the creation of simple metal objects, but is a valuable trade good among civilizations that do not have advanced metalurgy.

Finally we return to the matter of the next host. While hosting the Summit does place a burden on the nation in which it takes place, the accompanying festival, and prevalence traders, goods, and entertainment, brings additional prosperity to clans which have interesting festivals.

This concludes the reports.

Now that the national report has been read, the chieftains of the clans were free to discuss, act, or do as they liked. While some may stay and discuss, others may act as swiftly as they please. Though, some may find they can ask questions of their stewards, if they need an update on information about their nation, the world, or have other questions.

Alchemical Intelligence





Please fill out the following form:

Player name:
AI Name:
AI Personality: (Generally how you act)
Goals: (General goals so I know what kind of gameplay you enjoy)
Starting inventory: You each have 1000 points to select options from the following options.
Player Color: (Used to designate which rooms belong to who)


Rooms
Rooms are distinct sections of your ship. They be customized with modules, and or perform various functions. The syntax on this list is (X) for the number of supported modules, followed by the point purchase cost. Most of the rooms (and associated modules) can be crafted or bought.

Structural Rooms:

Connection Elements
These modules are used to move resources around your ship. They are one way connections, but do not take up module slots. Often used to allow movement of resources, without allowing passenger passage.

Element Components
These components facilitate the automation of many menial tasks and can used to great effect in industrial applications.

Functional Rooms
Functional rooms often contain specific integrated technology, which perform specific tasks at the cost of module slots.

Engines
Engines power your ship. More engines give your ship increased speed and maneuverability in combat, as well as decrease travel time. Most engines are either magical or biological in nature.

Storage Rooms
Storage rooms have much greater unit capacity than regular rooms, allowing you to store large amounts of gases, liquids, and cargo.

Power Production Rooms
These rooms provide power to your modules, as well as any other rooms or devices that consume power. Power takes many forms, mainly electrical or magical, but they’re interchangeable here.

Food Production Rooms
Your mortals (and cats) need to eat. These rooms provide various foods.


Mortal Oriented Rooms

Weapons
Weapons are used in combat encounters to defeat enemies.


Industrial Rooms
These are rooms which use alchemy among other processes to produce manufactured goods, or collect resources.


Modules
Modules are best thought of as room upgrades and or as auxiliary resource generators. There aren’t a ton of starter modules, but you can acquire lots of modules through trade, exploration, and research.

Research module
Allows you research discovered module blueprints. Many functions of this game use modules, and so you will discover blueprints regularly. You may also use this module to try and discover new modules. 200

Observation modules
These modules allow you to detect activities within rooms and are critical to proper maintenance of your mortals.

Utility Modules
These are modules that provide small functions within rooms.

Scientific Modules
These modules can be used in a laboratory to investigate objects and take scientific actions.

Structural modules
These are pretty straight forward upgrades to rooms.

Divine Engines

Discord Invite: https://discord.gg/MqtW4eRv

Divine Engines is a kingdom creation and management game taking place in a shattered world. Chunks of land float across an endless sea of sky, and among them sail the Divine Engines. These powerful machines were gifted to mortal-kind, and house the power of creation.

Each turn players will be able to use their Divine Engines in two main ways.

The first is exploration. These powerful machines are indeed engines, keeping your kingdom afloat and allowing you to explore and traverse the swirling cloudscape in search of new islands, other players, and engage in airborne battles.

The second use of the Divine Engine is it's use as a Creation Forge. This powerful machine can take raw essences, alchemical components, and all manner of ingredients and transmute them into creations for your kingdom. The mechanics of how this works is unknowable to mortal minds, but operation is actually quite simple.








Warning: This game will require players to keep track of many of their resources, and it is suggested to keep an updated log on your posts. (This will make more sense once you get your starting inventory)

Refugium of the Gods is a small scale godgame which takes place in a world which has fallen to darkness. Only the reclusive Sonorous King, an ancient being created by the gods, survived what unknown events felled the first gods and filled the world with chaos. With what little power the Sonorous King could gather in the eons since the death of his masters, he has but only enough power to rekindle a small spark of divinity. Here in the Refugium, the Council of Gods will be born anew.

Refugium is a smallscale godgame centered around exploration and reconstruction. Players will begin the game in the Refugium proper, once a powerful device of the ancient gods, the Sonorous King has cannibalized the mechanism in order to bring new gods into the world. Now it nurtures and sustains them. Without it's divine power, the gods quickly dissipate back into the aether. While their world is small, it is not without it's merits. Eight districts of the ruined city of the Refugium remain standing, ready to be claimed by the gods. Within them lay ancient treasures, knowledge, and supplies, if only they could be recovered. Beyond them lay a world unknown, untouchable to the newborn gods, but perhaps, not to the curiosity of man.

The Districts and the World Beyond
The Refugium is one of the last stable locations in the world. It is  composed of eight numbered districts, each between 25 and twenty square miles. What lays beyond is an ever shifting landscape of strange lands and unknown dangers. Each of the districts is sustained by an Anchor, an makeshift device which prevents the district from falling prey to the same fate as the rest of the world. Mortals may be given a blessing which allows them to safely enter and return from the world beyond, though it does not protect them from any dangers they encounter. In essence, exploration is mostly random with a bit of GM influence to make sure it's not so random that it's not fun.

Each player begins the game with 2 Remembrances, these tokens which can be expended to remember the way to a particular location. They can be overwritten, so each god can remember two locations they've discovered on exploration for later visiting. 


Heavenly Positions

All gods are Council Members by default. Council members have no particular duties. They get 3 Acts per turn for the first 3 turns.

Steward: The Steward position is currently held by the Sonorous King, and is mainly related to serving as an advisor and mediator between gods. If the gods decide to implement parliamentary procedures, facilitating these is the duty of the Steward as well. Tiebreaker in relevant situations.

Master of Numbers: The Master of Numbers is responsible for maintaining the ledgers of the gods. They update and track the number of acts that players have at the start of each turn. The Master of Numbers receives an additional 2 Acts per turn.

Chronicler: The Chronicler is responsible for composing a running catalog of the creatures, civilizations and locations which belong to the gods. In essence, they manage the player inventories. The Chronicler receives an additional 2 Acts per turn.

Cartographer: The Cartographer is responsible for composing a running catalog of locations and their contents, updating them per turn. The Cartographer receives an additional 2 Acts per turn.

These roles will often require a reading of the full turn to get the information needed to fill their duties, though I'll do my best to make the information used in these clear throughout the turn, a close read is likely for the best.


Character Sheet
Name:
Spheres: (2 max)
Physical Description:
Mental Description/ Goals/ Motives:
Desired Heavenly Positions: (Optional: Why you'd be good at the job)


Act Cost Breakdown

Disasters and Acts of God
Blessings, disasters and curses all use the same system. 1 Act+(Number of total adjacent regions effected)+(severity value* act cost).

Number of Regions Effected:
Severity:
*I set it up this way so there was a zero act cost option, but for book keeping, we could still refer to the severity value to get an approximation of power.

Creation of Life

Sublocation Creation

Artifacts
These also follow a formula: 1 Act+(Size of Effect)+(severity value).

Size of Effect
Severity

Magic and Magic Branches

Exploration

Unstable and Overcharged Actions

Deep in the cosmic hinterlands, a wild and vibrant place of the multiverse far from the central towers of the most ancient gods, but yet, rather a midway point between several clusters of divine dominions. As the world seed blooms into it's dark swirling form, the gods of this place pull themselves from the aether and watch their planet begin to swell and swirl, awaiting the tempered hands of the deific sculptors to mold it.

It is then the roads began to form, the twisting rivers of light that connect the multitudes of the universe together, unseen by mortal eyes, but to the gods, their splendor signaled that they are not as isolated as the empty void suggests. While some find solace in the fact they are not alone in this dark empty realm, still one must wonder at what evils may attempt to traverse those roads, drawing ever so near your realm. As the rivers of light twisted and settled into their path, the newborn gods found their world served as the foundation of a crossroads, a connection between places yet unconnected. Soon denizens of the higher realms will begin to sail this river, passing deep below your world, just close enough to reach out to the lords of this place.

Even now, several deities have metaphorically docked in your metaphysical harbor beneath the physical plane. Whether they sensed the shifting tides of the light river, or happened to have been in the right place at the right time, it is unclear. Still, whatever their reasons, they seek audience with the gods, as is their holy claim of as travelers upon the light river.

The first to arrive is wide fat being of hearty demeanor. Their body is a dense swirling gas purple and white of color, with a twisting maelstrom where one may expect a belly button their plump stomach. Even by divine standards, they are quite large, and exceedingly fat, though neither seem to diminish the light and airy motions, save for a bit of gaseous jiggling. I, Ulutross come before this new realm, naught but a simple practitioner of my craft. While I do admit, I was drawn naught by any but curiosity, it is because that curiosity was piqued that I do indeed stand before you now. As is the case with many a new realm, yours was born alone. And to some among you, this may be a disappointment, for as you know, some worlds are born as twins, one spirit and one physical. Now, while this is a matter of taste, I find options to be the spice of life, choices which direct the flow are indeed ones which must be chewed and digested before deciding upon action. And thus it is an option I offer you. I, as a world farmer, could graft upon your world a spirit realm. While it may blossom and grow to one day mirror your world, it would always remain wild, as it is not born of the same aether as you. This does not mean it's untameable of course, just that you'd experience lesser control over it than the physical realm. The decision is yours of course, and the price is 10 acts.

The swirling god Ulutross bows before backing away, making room for another to approach. They were an olive skinned god, with eyes of ruby gemstones. They wore clothes most plain and you notice their shoes are worn from many journeys along the bank of the lightriver. Ah welcome to the multiverse, newly crowned kings and queens of this fledgling land. I am Alouk, and I offer what little I can as welcome to existence. I carry little on me at the moment, as I was returning home when I discovered the path that led me near your lands. Still, I carry several plants and seeds foraged from across the worlds. Though I do apologize, as most of my popular selection has been sold out already.  The first of what I offer is the brittle birch tree, a tree which grows quickly, but it's wood is so weak that a mere mortal could fell it with their own hands alone, for but a minor act. The next is the jingle berry bush, which is always a good seller. It's a squat bush which grows in shade and whose berries make a delightful sound as the wind shakes them, they even have medicinal properties in pain and fever relief. They cost naught but an act. The third is one I've yet been able to sell, due to it's more specific conditions. It is an Abololabola, which roughly translates to Tree Which Knows, but could also be translated as Tree of Face. This sentient tree will live as long as it is cared for, growing wise and ancient enough to serve as counsel to god and man alike. However, it must be watered with a minor act every turn, or gain a following of worshipers, lest it shall wither. Since I was unable to sell it, I'll offer it at a discount price of one act. The last thing I have for sale, and for good reason it has not sold, is a bag of wild seeds from across the worlds. I know not what is in it, but there are many kinds of seeds, and I ask 3 acts for it. Alouk bows and steps back.

Another approaches, a demigod of the hunt in armor of a blue blue fur and metal bones. I know you are busy, so I shall keep this short. I am Hikui, and I am born of the hunt. Newborn worlds can serve as incubation nests for powerful creatures, and I seek permission to place one such monster upon your world so that I may return in five turns of the universe hence and slay it. I offer two hunting acts as payment, one now, and one when I return to slay the beast once it has matured. Thank you.

As stiffly and as coarsely as they approached, they departed to make room for the last two to approach. Unlike the previous gods, these beings gave off an aura of foul magics and an equally pungent scent of decay. The first, a long spindly black thing whose disproportionally long limbs gave the slightest impression of spider legs spoke first. Newborn worlds are so empty, don't you think? So much potential, but so little of substance. I offer you several species of mortals, which were, oh how should I put this, acquired from distant realms. The second one, a lumpy being which seems to be a potato in roughly the shape of a masculine human, but perhaps more closely resembles a golem. Land. The being then nods in your general direction, but perhaps slightly to the left. Yes, and my partner here offers hand picked lands from a variety of worlds. I've taken the liberty of making a menu... a list, yes a list of what we have available.

(1) A race of furry horned mortals standing but a foot tall. Prone to living in small communities isolated from outsiders. (2 acts)
(2) A race of large blue constructs. Dim of mind, slow to reproduce. They grow quite large over time. (2 acts)
(3) You cant quite make it out, but something is scratched out here. Snake people. (2 acts)
(4) A race of fungus people. Reproduce via spores and budding. Highly adaptable. (2 acts)
(5) Land. (1 act)
(6) Land. (3 acts)
(7) Land. (3 acts)
(8) Land. (2 acts)

Upon giving you the list of their wares the two beings left your presence, as the others had before them, so that you may consider their offers. They linger nearby, awaiting your call.

The eight gods of this new world look out upon their canvas, a world of their design. They look at eachother, and at their guests, and then, they begin.