Ce n'est past un nom
I really shouldn't be doing this...
by , February 15th, 2012 at 11:42 PM (6125 Views)
...but I'm doing it anyways. I don't plan to start this right now: I have other work, after all. But, here's a draft of the OP for a potential RP.
Novum Dei Americana
A roleplay
To man, the gods seem a force of nature, eternal and impossible to overcome. They are far above their ken, the kind of beings that man should bow to and not question. History has borne this view out. The Great Flood, the Kamikaze, the sinking of Atlantis... all of these and more are beyond man’s control, and only played to the idea that man could do nothing.
All this argument begged one important question: if the gods are so powerful, what happened to them? Why can and did beings with that level of power die out? Those who support the traditional view of divine invincibility postulate that the gods simply transform, pointing to the Greek gods’ evolution as their primary example. However, that leaves the sticky hole of what happened to all the divine powers that used to exist. Where are the miraculous births? Where are the sudden earthquakes?
In fact, the reality and right of the situation rests with another school of thought, with a simple premise. Gods are not powerful in and of themselves: they are simply given power by belief, and as it fades... so do they. This provides simple answers. The gods have vanished because nobody believes in them anymore. Who prays to Zeus? Who sacrifices to Quetzalcoatl? It follows quite nicely that their powers disappear.
No explanation ever gives a complete answer though, and for this one, a large one remains: where did they go? The names of Poseidon, of Charon, of Shiva, have not disappeared from history and culture. And if gods survive off of worship and veneration, even this small amount of recognition should let them live.
Well, this was an interesting problem, now wasn’t it?
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The concept for this RP comes from Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, quite a good novel that I recommend highly. However, you need not be familiar with the source to participate in the RP.
In essence, the premise runs as follows. Gods are granted form and power by worship, and as such, the old gods have begun to die out. However, as they died out, new gods rose to take their place, personifications of the things man worshipped. Back when humanity feared lightning, they gave it a face and a name of Zeus. Now, man worships and invests with its power different things. Justice, the Media, Money... these new concepts have taken form as gods - American gods.
But, the old gods remain, weakened in power and form. You, the player, is one of these fallen divinities, stripped of your memories of your grand self, yet still possessing great hidden power.
Characters
As stated, characters in this RP are the divine cores of former gods, ignorant of their statue and living a normal life. But, some traumatic event dislodged you from your former life, sending you off on a new life and journey of discovery that will bring you in touch with your true connection...
Character creation for this RP is largely freeform: there is no template for perks, no stats, nothing of the sort. Your duty is to come up with a person, a person that is believable. Embellish whatever details you want: high school student, ex-con, veteran on his 4th deployment... pick your poison. Do note, however, that the god you are the core of, your divine spark, is not yours to pick. That will be chosen by the GM.
(note: this is not a Nasuverse crossover, but expect some mechanics and concepts to appear)
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Obviously, this is not a complete OP. Comments are welcome.
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