From: beregar
Date: 2002-02-22 20:20:51
To get answers to many present questions, people should read again following sections (with a thought!) from the worldbook:
- World
- Pantheon
- Magic system
- Truenames
- Old race descs
Then if questions arise, they should be answered here. I'm sure there are some inconcistencies and misunderstandings which should be cleared up.
- Beregar
From: beregar
Date: 2002-02-23 16:52:46
In-Reply-To: 944
Okay, there has been already a few comments to which I'm going to explain here.
What happens if Namhas dies (impossible!)?
Everything will collapse in the void and only the elder gods can exist there. This means that magic, from which everything is formed: plants, animals, gods, everything in the reality, will break apart and thus everything within creation ceases to exist, including gods, lesser gods, ancients, sages, mortals, demons etc etc, but not the greater gods. While greater gods were also created by Namhas, the void is still there if Namhas falls and since the elder gods can exist there, they are not destroyed. (should I repeat it still a few times?)
Why can't anything withing the creation harm elder gods (Aluna, Dazzt, Harum, Mandor, Namhas, Sinister, Yorkaturr)?
Simply, Namhas created other gods in the primodial world of void. Elder gods exist in the void and interact with the material world through the void. Forms which for god level gods, lesser gods and the like are true forms, are only prime avatars for the greater gods. So this is where Hook's sage desc fails: if the elder gods created a being that could also harm them, it would mean that the being should exist in the void too, which again would make it an elder god. It is possible to destroy prime avatar or lesser avatars of the elder gods and thus (perhaps) temporarily weaken their influence in the world, but only an elder god can kill true form of other elder god.
What is magic?
Shortly, magic is a tool which elder gods used to create the world. It concists of prime particles which form patterns that again form everything in the reality, magic *IS* reality. Magic is not a force that keeps things together, Namhas is the force. Magic is not a form of energy but something that forms energy. Also, use of magic requires energy since altering reality is not an easy task. While there are schools of magic, religious magic and divine magic, still they all affect to prime particles and manipulate world through alteration of patterns, also, the stronger or more precise the symbolic form, the smaller pieces it can affect: most magic never affects to individual prime patterns but instead it affects to group of patterns. So generally all events in the reality are magic.
What is the distinction between the ancients, demons, sages, demigods, lesser gods, gods and elder gods and what is their relation to eachother power-wise?
Elder gods are the strongest beings in existence. They can not be destroyed by anything in the world, only their prime avatars can be destroyed. As long as they do not tap power from the void, they too use divine points to perform miracles.
Ancients are beings that elder gods created as a servant spirits: these beings oversaw smaller parts of the creation for their masters and because these is related to domains of the gods, also they have seed of godhood inside them so ancients are generally in level of a demigod. Aeons ago, some ancients chose to nurture this seed, drawing strength from spirits of dead animals and plants. Eventually these ancients gathered enough power to become lesser gods, these gods were known as the new gods.
When god wars raged, the former ancients, current new gods battled with each other and to lesser extend with greater ones (since they didn't understand that at best they could kill only the prime avatar of an elder god). Many were devoured by their own brethren and those who survived, either by hiding or through use of power, either remained as lesser gods or became god level gods. Before cataclysm many mortals gained enough power to become as demigods and some even enough power to become lesser gods. All these gods are younger than any ancient or a god who was a former ancient. Common for all gods, whether former ancients or former mortals, is that they rely on divine points when they perform miracles.
There is also other group of ancients, those who became flesh. These ancients took a mortal form, they remained equal to demigods in power and many were destroyed in the war of gods. Eldest of the ancients are those who have survived both through god wars and cataclysm and these are known as the sages. Separation between the ancients and the gods is clear: the power which ancients wield does not come through use of raw power (divine points), instead of that, they know how to manipulate magical symbols for greater effects. That is to say: they don't have as much raw power in their disposal but they are a lot better in refined use of magic than most demigods and even lesser gods.
Then there are demons, shadow creatures and other beings like this: I have to admit that I don't know exactly what is they role, but if they are creations of the gods, it means that they must be ancients too. It is very likely that most ancients are not actually called as ancients but instead of that they are known as the demons, dragons, shadows and the like. IMHO not all of these are ancients, however, age and power is something which defines an ancient.
Power level from weakest to strongest:
ancients/demigods->arch demons->sages/lesser gods->gods->greater gods
If greater gods are so powerful and magnificient, then why didn't they prevent the god wars and the cataclysm?
The answer to this is very simple: Evil gods gain power from such struggles: Mandor from struggles to power, Yorka from death and the dead, and Harum from wars. Of course good gods would oppose this, but in case of god wars, even they wouldn't protect those who would raise against them. Actually Aluna casted two lesser gods into the desert of Ghalimcar and bound them there, an action which a good elder god can easily take as it won't give power to evil ones.
Comments or questions?
- Beregar
