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Author Topic: A new world: Opening Moves  (Read 2728 times)

helmacon

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A new world: Opening Moves
« on: July 10, 2021, 09:29:50 pm »

A New World

Three mages gather in the center of an empire.

This world is conquered. All lesser species put to the soil. All threats defeated. All humanity united.
All secrets revealed.


The only thing left to do is to claim your rewards for your labor. Ascend, and become the gods of a new world.
The nascent realm is still formless, a portal open in the center chamber to its void.

It will be seeded.
A libation of water, flecked with algae and minnows. This will create oceans.
A handful of soil, rich and and filled with seeds. This will make great forests and plains.
Air, directed by a simple spell. Pure and clean and cold. This will make heavens.

You step forward, one by one, and each add your own contributions to the portal. What sort of world do you seek to make? Seek to rule?



Beneath the ritual room, beneath the heart of the empire, one last corruption makes its play.
It would not call itself a corruption.
The kobolds, long ignored, not a threat like the other races, are still extant. Their time is closing. Already their innocence fails to shield them. They are fighting a last war, a last purge they cannot hope to win. They are the last imperfection to be burned out.

But they are not without their own magics. They have been underestimated, and their shadows have learned of the new world to come. A single agent, a single hope. The spell will be subverted, the legacy will survive.

You will steal this new world from the mages. What seed will you carry with you into it?
 

4 slots open.
Reply with your position (Mage or Kobold) and your contribution to claim a place.

Spoiler:  Players (click to show/hide)




Rules

There are two kinds of actions. Godly Actions, and Worldly Actions. The incorporeal gods may only perform Godly Actions, until they can find a way otherwise.
The Kobold can perform Godly Actions and Worldly Actions.

Each action will cost action points (ap).
Each mage god has half of their divinity, and will receive 5 points each turn.
The kobold has half of each mages divinity and will receive 12 points each turn, so long as they wear the amulet. (above the divinity intended for one person you receive diminishing returns, which is why you get 12 instead of 15)

You do not have to work together, but you may find it difficult to achieve your goals and win the game if you don't.

If you want to perform an action that does not seem to fall under the archetypes listed below, ask me and ill tell you if you can/how much it will cost.

The effectiveness of each action taken will be rolled on a D6. There is no failure roll, unless it is in conflict with established order, simply degrees of success/control/effectiveness.
The effects of each action may change in later stages of the game as the world becomes more formed. (eg. What produces a mountain range at the start may only produce a single mountain by the end)

Spoiler: Godly Actions (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Worldly Actions (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: July 12, 2021, 10:01:10 pm by helmacon »
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Glass

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Re: A new world
« Reply #1 on: July 10, 2021, 09:52:15 pm »

The Kobold: [Is a name needed? If so, Vylt.]
Seed contribution: A chunk of iron ore. Metal and stone hold power, do they not? The earth is a place to hide, a place to find, a place to forge.
« Last Edit: July 10, 2021, 09:55:43 pm by Glass »
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Glass is, as usual, correct.
Yep, as ever, I bestow upon Glass the expected +1
I'm gonna say we go with whatever Glass's idea is.

helmacon

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Re: A new world
« Reply #2 on: July 10, 2021, 10:01:20 pm »

The Kobold: [Is a name needed? If so, Vylt.]
Seed contribution: A chunk of iron ore. Metal and stone hold power, do they not? The earth is a place to hide, a place to find, a place to forge.

Noted and saved. Good luck to you, brave critter.
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Naturegirl1999

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Re: A new world
« Reply #3 on: July 10, 2021, 10:04:48 pm »

Mage
Seed Contribution: Plants
A form of life must inhabit the soil and oceans, a form of life that can live via the starlight and create nutrients that other creatures might consume
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helmacon

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Re: A new world
« Reply #4 on: July 10, 2021, 10:14:05 pm »

Mage
Seed Contribution: Plants
A form of life must inhabit the soil and oceans, a form of life that can live via the starlight and create nutrients that other creatures might consume

Noted and saved. Should be said that seeds were included in the original three offerings, so extra seeds will have an... extra effect. I think this is very cool, but feel free to change it if thats not what you were going for.

Well met, Mage. Good luck.
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Unraveller

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Re: A new world
« Reply #5 on: July 10, 2021, 10:23:38 pm »

A Mage am I, and to this nascent realm I sprinkle the gift of Stardust the stuff of the Cosmos, the stuff of earliest creation. May it bloom infinite fractals of nebulae.
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Knightwing64

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Re: A new world
« Reply #6 on: July 10, 2021, 10:26:29 pm »

Mage
Seed Contribution: A squirming cocoon
What is life without life? Without change or chaos? This will bring about life, Change and evolution.
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helmacon

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Re: A new world
« Reply #7 on: July 10, 2021, 10:36:39 pm »

A Mage am I, and to this nascent realm I sprinkle the gift of Stardust the stuff of the Cosmos, the stuff of earliest creation. May it bloom infinite fractals of nebulae.

Noted and saved. Welcome to you, wizard.

Mage
Seed Contribution: A squirming cocoon
What is life without life? Without change or chaos? This will bring about life, Change and evolution.


Noted and saved. Prepare your self. The journey begins.



All participants are assembled. Stand by for the Beginning of the Beginning.
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helmacon

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Re: A new world
« Reply #8 on: July 10, 2021, 11:31:38 pm »

The Death

The ritual unfolds, the complexities of high magic reduced to elegant simplicity here. A final mastery.

You are assigned a color each.

NatureGirl dons the Red robes, the color of ascension, the power of man, and drops a handful of freshly sprouted seeds into the rift. Small plants, to grow a world.

Unravaller is clothed in Yellow, the color once held by the other king, taken of death. From a small crystal vial they pour a cloud of stardust through the opening. Strange spores of potential, an ambition beyond a single realm.

Knightwing64 wears a single cloth of Blue. The color trophy stolen of divinity. The great conquest. Gently, they pass a small cocoon into the void. It will change this new world as it would itself. A portent.


A pause is given, for the new world to breath. A meditation of standing silence. At last, the sign returns. A growing light from within the portal. The realm is ready.

They gather at the three corners, and step forward as one. There is no sound. They are gone. The ritual is finished. The world is born.



Or rather, the ritual *should* be finished. The attending acolytes begin to murmur in confusion, the meaningful silence breaking to whispers and coughs. The portal is not closing as it should. The spell is not performing as thought. Someone darts out of the room, and the sound of the door closing breaks the last illusion of control. A growing panic begins to set in.

Underneath the floor of the ritual room there is another room, this one much newer. A small contingent of kobolds have dug a chamber here, their last champions ready themselves. The last druids strain with the final strengths of nature, they are holding the spell open.

The sappers signal their readiness, and the assault begins.

It is sudden and brutal. An explosion shatters the floor at the far end of the ritual room, the dust and rubble obscuring the air. Acolytes stumble and fall, someone screams out. Their reaction is delayed, confused. An attack is outside of their conception here, unthinkable. Before the dust clears a dozen kobolds are through the gap, spears of carved and sharpened bone flashing in the mage light. The closest acolytes fall quickly, clutching at their throats, blood seeping out across runed tiles.

"An attack!" one cries out, and suddenly it is a battle. Only two acolytes remain, but they are wield high magic. Lightning; white fire cut down the kobolds, but they are not here to win. At their center a single kobold is ready. Vylt. Clothed for ritual subversion. A hooded black cape, burning White within. They carry a stone of iron to a chain around their neck.

The kobold survivors charge forward. They are hopelessly outmatched but these are the champions of champions, forged in the end of a world. They weave like dancers through the room past fire and blood and death. One throws themselves in front of Vylt, shielding their life from an arc of razored ice. Their skill will only buy them moments, but moments are all that are needed. The acolytes have still not realized the reality of it. Even as they slaughter the kobolds they watch as the black robed Vylt leaps, not at them, but into the portal, into the grand work.

For only a second their eyes widen in horror and understanding at the terrible ramifications of the act. Only a second, before the bodies of the druids in the chamber below give out. The portal snaps shut, and an explosion of restrained energy tears through the streets of the capital. The attack will mar the histories for of their world for all their eternal rule.
It cannot be undone.



Stay tuned for one more post, containing the opening of the new world, and the rules on how to play. Welcome to your new world. :)
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Unraveller

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Re: A new world
« Reply #9 on: July 10, 2021, 11:38:26 pm »

(( Don't mean to break your flow, but I really love the flavour your writing has here. I can't eait. C:  ))
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helmacon

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Re: A new world
« Reply #10 on: July 11, 2021, 01:04:19 am »

The Birth

All falls silent for Vylt as they pass through the portal. The struggles of a world that, for them, no longer exists. Strange bands of power wrap themselves around their legs, the other side of the spell of the druids. Some of the natal divinity has already been absorbed by the mages here but more remains. Vylt was not part of the creation of this world, the divinity cannot be made within him. This is accounted for. Instead it condenses into an amulet, a jewel of nobility. The iron ore has dissolved into the world morass, and delicately, the magic places itself upon the chain instead. So long as Vylt wields this amulet they can command this world as one of its gods, and what a world it is.

It stretches down before them, great pale mountains of clouds, but seeded with the color of the stars. A brilliant configuration of the heavens, sunlight of a thousand different colors for any view. Below this, great oceans teem with fish. The water seems to boil with their movement. The continents (of which there are two) are overgrown, by way of NatureGirls's seeds. The trees reach up like leviathans, layers of life from sunlit canopies down to black shadows populated with tangles of parasitic vines in the depths. Mountain peaks form valleys amongst the towers of trees where the rock is too cold and the soil too shallow for them to root.

The oceans and the forests and even the skies teem with life. Without Knightwing64's cocoon creatures would be few, only those raised by the gods themselves. Here though, every crack and shadow bears a dozen strange eyes. Shadows and beasts crawl in unseen places. The world is vast and savage and fertile. The world is alive.

From the surface the heavens call back to the land. The stardust of Unravaller has done far more than just color the clouds. Hundreds of stars twinkle in the distance, and half formed planets and signs mark the night sky. Two great moons, one large one small, are the dominate features. With such heavens, natural magic here will sprawl far beyond the control of its gods. Dozens of minor deities and agents are sure to form of their own accord, sure to cause problems (and opportunities) for the new gods.



On the shores of this grand world three divine ghosts stand. On a thin strip of open sand a great forest towers behind them, and in front the ocean is dark with the shadows of massive aquatic plants. Though they have absorbed much divinity, and much power, but they only have half of what was expected. They are, infuriatingly, incorporeal. They cast their senses out through their realm and learn to great horror what has happened. A kobold usurper stands on a beach far away with the stolen divinity locked in an amulet. A simple fix then. Destroy the amulet, and the divinity will return to them. Pity were that simple.

On a beach far away a kobold stands in black robes. They are fully corporeal, and bask in the virgin sunlight. They wiggle their toes in the warm sand. Here is sanctuary. Here is peace. Here is a future for kobolds.
Their amulet will grant them the power of a god and a half, and they will need it. The future is not certain, and enemies as powerful as enemies can be will hunt the kobold. Protect your amulet, and find a way to defeat the other gods for a final time. Find a final peace for the kobolds, your promise for all those left doomed in the old world.




Rules

There are two kinds of actions. Godly Actions, and Worldly Actions. The incorporeal gods may only perform Godly Actions, until they can find a way otherwise.
The Kobold can perform Godly Actions and Worldly Actions.

Each action will cost action points (ap).
Each mage god has half of their divinity, and will receive 5 points each turn.
The kobold has half of each mages divinity and will receive 12 points each turn, so long as they wear the amulet. (above the divinity intended for one person you receive diminishing returns, which is why you get 12 instead of 15)

You do not have to work together, but you may find it difficult to achieve your goals and win the game if you don't.

If you want to perform an action that does not seem to fall under the archetypes listed below, ask me and ill tell you if you can/how much it will cost.

The effectiveness of each action taken will be rolled on a D6. There is no failure roll, unless it is in conflict with established order, simply degrees of success/control/effectiveness.
The effects of each action may change in later stages of the game as the world becomes more formed. (eg. What produces a mountain range at the start may only produce a single mountain by the end)

Spoiler: Godly Actions (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Worldly Actions (click to show/hide)


The above will be moved to OP for convenience.


((now that the initiations are over, feel free to tell me if you want a different color. Please also pronouns for your dudes, so I know what to call y'all. Names if ya feel like it too))

((also feel free to ask me questions!))
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helmacon

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Re: A new world (now active!)
« Reply #11 on: July 11, 2021, 01:35:22 am »

((y'all can post actions now))
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Naturegirl1999

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Re: A new world (now active!)
« Reply #12 on: July 11, 2021, 02:34:01 am »

Create Life -3 AP: Create a species of beetle that collects metals for its exoskeleton and nest
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Unraveller

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Re: A new world (now active!)
« Reply #13 on: July 11, 2021, 07:25:57 am »

Henceforth let this one bathed in starlight be known as Pharros. May they be referred to as they or them.

O' companion awash in crimson always thy command of life and magicks vivarium a treat to witness.

Hollow, the voice seems echoing ever from on high as its spirit, strong though it may be, wisps harmlessly through this child world's fresh air. The voice comes again, more direct, more purposeful. "Art thou aloof to this plight? Content with our false-divinity? Or are thine machinations too great for mine occluded eyes?" The formless yellow twists, undulates, contracts, despite the regal bearing, disdain permates this spirit. "We have been thieved and tricked by the lowliest of sorts. . .

Create World Action 3AP

The voice trails off, magic weaves about the yellow one, striking hard into the earth below with a tremendous roar. Firmament cracks and splits, the ground shudders as an elephant's share of marble is thrust from the schism. "May this tooth mark our arrival. And seal our ascension!" With that, at a 60 degree angle, the marble is cloven, shaved and sheered where a perfectly flat surface remains, polished to a mirror shine. The skies above open up where twin moons gaze down, their cosmic beams of pale light enrapture the mirror. A chant of the olde tongue reflects images of this quiet world, they search for something.

Scrying 1AP

"Great Seerstone of mine own design, find our interloper, our heathenous bandit, and never again let thy eyes off its detestable form!"

--

The one in yellow seeks to create a permenate fixture, aught of use for mages three; a mirror-like Seerstone of marble that unerringly reflects the image of the kobold known as Vylt.
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Naturegirl1999

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Re: A new world (now active!)
« Reply #14 on: July 11, 2021, 07:52:27 am »

Pharros, the idea behind the metal hunting beetle is that part of the amulet is likely made of or bound by metal, so if said metal is broken apart by the beetles it would release the power stuck inside. Of course they’ll find other metals too, and it’s unlikely they’ll find the amulet right away
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