The heady days of the creation of the world are
over; instead of new races and continents, the gods create individual
creatures, new species of existing organisms, alter the world a little and
create artifacts for their species to use. As the centuries pass, the new races
are becoming stronger and the vigor of the gods grows less as they impart their
power into their creations. They often let time pass at a rapid pace -- the
gods sleep, the people say -- waking up at regular intervals as measured by the
stars or when requested by preferred members of their races. Most of the time
you are content to work on your personal or shared projects, oversee the way
your race is growing and generally kick back in the knowledge of a job well
done.
At the beginning of the world, the gods have all the divine energy (magic, karma, life-force, essence, mojo) that exists in that world. By creating, they expend energy and put it into their creations. If they destroy anything, then the divine energy in the destroyed thing, together with the energy used to destroy, is lost completely and the glory of the world dims.ð Apart from the ban by the creator, this is why destruction is a bad thing.
How
do you get energy back? The short answer is that you donÌt. Unlike regular
folk, who get stronger and more powerful in terms of divine energy over time,
gods continuously decrease in strength as they create and as they respond to
their people. This is natural, good and right. The purpose of a god is to
channel their energy into the right vessels. In the end a god who has run out
of energy returns to the creator in the same way that mortals do and will then
hang out there or get a new world to work on, visit, or live on, as seems good.
In
this world, for example, the Prince started with a massive amount of energy,
imbued the world with a lot of it and then wasted most of it in the Word of
Destruction. The world was in danger of becoming too lacking in divine nature
and so you were sent there to add more energy and make everything new and
better. At the moment, you have all lost the vast majority of your powers and
would probably be squashed flat if the Prince ever escaped from his tomb.
Rarely, a particularly strong mortal approaches you in terms of power and it
isnÌt uncommon for you to find someone with one facet of their character as
strong as you. The mortals are still of legendary strength (think of the
average guy in the street being Elrond, Galadriel, Aragorn or a mortal form of
Gandalf) so saying that a dozen or so of them are a match for one of you is
still making you pretty impressive. Each generation is slightly weaker than the
previous, but you are weakening faster. Maybe in 10,000 years or so your work
will be done.
Genesis now lives in the base of the volcano he
created, where he has built a workroom covered in plans, maps, descriptions,
with copious notes engraved on gold foil pages and bound in mithril woven with
extruded ruby thread set in bookcases guarded by fantastical golems of all
types. The air is too hot for any but Nirvana and Stonefyr to be comfortable
in, and his forge is enchanted with live magic of a kind the others do not
understand. His dwarves emulate their lord, digging deep into the mountains to
bring tribute to him and to copy his forging skills. Rarely, Genesis teaches
them a new technique in return for a gem of particular beauty or a finely
worked article. Only rarely does Genesis directly intervene on the behalf of
his dwarves; they know that their purpose is to struggle for themselves.
Nirvana lives in the center of whirling cone of
water, drifting under the sea in a maelstrom, or above it in a waterspout.
Ceaselessly in motion, she moves to any area in her watery realm that seems
sick. When necessary, bolts of lightning strike out from her inner throne room,
destroying what they touch or cutting through rock to make new passages and
pathways for currents. Supplicants trying to meet her are swept into the outer
walls where they are judged and expelled or, rarely, allowed to swim into a
clear blue lagoon with jeweled fish and coral surrounded by a dark green wall
of whirled and foamy water. On her throne of pearl, abalone shell and skeletons
of sea-monsters that fade into a deep abyss at her feet she rests on her sword
and considers the beauty of her domain.
No one knows where Twist calls home. He has been
known to step out of a shadow in the uppermost tower of a guarded and protected
magician's lair or simply to persuade a small army to carry him where he wants
to go. One rumor says that his favored abode is an eerie high in the upper
mountains, to where he flies in the form of a sea eagle. Another says that he
runs by day through bright open plains in the form of a horse-sized cheetah,
and that to be scratched by that animal will inspire you to great deeds and
great mysteries. Others say that even seeing the cheetah leads to deceit and
madness. Still others say that both are true. It has also been rumored that
Twist has fallen in love with Nirvana, for why else would the elves love the
sea as much as they do?
Vision dwells in a construction of multi-colored
mist, glittering with short-lived sparks that reflect the loves, fears, hopes
and desires of mankind. The pattern of rooms is ever changing, reflecting the
mind of its master who can see everything in his house no matter where he
stands, no matter who is in it. Only Twist has ever been known to hide in it
for a even a minute, and only Stonefyr's thoughts and desires are completely
hidden when he is there. For everyone else it is unsettling and confusing, and
for the few mortal who have ever been there, it grants visions that doom the
dreamers to the vision's fate, whether for good or ill. In the innermost room
of the mind-maze house, Vision is entertained by his people dancing in his
honor, singing to him or creating visionary works of power. For whenever a
human transcends his mortality and achieves a dream, part of him dwells in the
house of Vision.
Stonefyr is unique in that he dwells amongst his
people; in the center of his realm is a fortified city where only the strongest
orcs are permitted to live. Built of rock and designed with many intricate
mechanism for protection and daily life, the city is powered by a flow of lava
that wells up eternally from its center, heating water into steam that drives
and powers much of the city. In particular, the Forge of Stonefyr lies
partially submerged in this flow below the open sky. Stonefyr stands in this pool
of elemental heat and works metal and stone for decades at a time. His stone
phoenix companion drop him the tools he needs and carries them away before they
melt in the heat. Only the strongest and most well protected orcs can approach
within hailing range of their master, and many perish in the attempt. If they
survive, they do whatever their master says with total obedience. If they fall,
they fall in flames.
Although Stonefyr's people (the Orcs) are not overall possessed of great intelligence, they do possess a certain animal cunning and cleverness along with a single-minded devotion to duty.ð Realizing that his people would often be at the mercy of the other new races coming into the world, Stonefyr has set them a task: the Orcs are to strengthen the defenses of their homeland through application of the arts of stone and metal work that have been taught to them.ð It has been impressed upon them that, in order to be secure in the world, they must band together and live apart from the other races.ð Although Stonefyr did not actually tell them to fear or hate the other races, it is only a small step of Orc logic that has led many to be quite fearful of the "Others."ð The Orcs continue to fortify their lands with rough-cut but functional stonework and crude but sometimes surprisingly ingenious ironwork.ð They have some of the abilities of the dwarves to work stone and metal but lack the patience and dexterity to produce works of equal grace and beauty. Recently they have evolved Ò without StonefyrÌs aid Ò a particularly nasty ballista called a ÎDragon-KillerÌ that fires a steel-headed tree trunk with an inner core of liquid rock, magically held inside. When it hits a solid target it either pierces it, releasing the lava inside the target, or at worst, breaks open, spilling lava all over the target.
As a tireless worker in stone, Stonefyr has created a number of staggering natural landmarks, the chief among these being volcanoes at three of the four corners of the world (known to the Orcs as the "Great Forges" and of great religious significance to them).ð The fourth volcano in the south was built by Genesis and is regarded by the Orcs with veneration, but also with some fear. It has special significance to the dwarves with whom the orcs have a longstanding rivalry and the southern volcano (ÏThe Pit of FireÓ) is seen as a hurting place to which some Orcs believe bad Orcs go when they die. Stonefyr has also developed the art of metalsmithing, limited aspects of which he has taught to his people.ð In actuality, Stonefyr has become obsessed with the desire to craft the perfect metal; combining lightweight, strength, physical beauty, and resilience.ð Toward that end he works endless hours at his forge in the midst of the Orc homeland and sends his stone phoenix out in search of new ores.ð What he knows of the world is gleaned from physical information returned by the phoenix and stretches of time spent in communion with the ancient rock.ð He occasionally sends instruction to his people by way of the phoenix but mostly spends his time in work or contemplation.ð Those Orcs strong enough to brave the great fires may draw his attention to the outside world; otherwise it is likely that only a calamity great enough to be felt and communicated to him by the living rock will stir him from his labors. The Orc names for the Great Forges are:
Urguk - the Fire of the North
Shedrak - the Eastern Furnace
Toggrath - the Pit of Fire (Southern)
Dakk - the Western Beacon
In the Orc religion, prayers for pain relief and sustenance during difficult times are directed toward the Western Beacon while Shedrak, the Eastern Furnace, is considered the bringer of new life and material prosperity.ð While the Orcs at this time have not fully evolved the concept of an afterlife, they do have a rough notion of a "happy warm place" symbolized by Urguk as well as a "hurting place" which is a mythical representation of the Pit of Fire.ð Note: the Southern volcano is very rarely referred to by the Orcs by its given name of Toggrath as to say the name aloud is considered to be extremely unlucky.ð As a rule, only the priests may utter the name aloud -- usually as an invocation against evildoers.ð Oddly, although the forge of Stonefyr is probably the "Holy of Holies" to the Orcs, no one can be certain as they never speak it's name -- more to the point it has no name and is not even referred to as "that place where god lives."ð Most references by the Orcs to the home of Stonefyr consist of timid pointing -- occasionally a priest will speak of "going there." There are probably a number of reasons for this:
a. Typical reverence shown by the Orcs to their god who lives among them and who they both revere and fear.
b. The Orc language is not particularly rich; since Stonefyr has never named his home and the Orcs have learned no "Other" word for the place, the act of adding a new word to their language is terribly hard for them -- much harder than something simple like moving a mountain.
c. Although the Pit of Fire is the Orc mythical representation of eternal torment (the Orcs of course do not understand "eternal" but rather "it hurts"), Stonefyr's forge is a very real source of pain and death for many Orcs who venture there.
Prayer River. There have been several wars recently over the ownership
of a curious phenomenon. In an earthquake an aeon or so ago, a river ended up
flowing in a curious shape that matches one of the symbols used in the Song of
Creation; this mystical symbol now forms a natural prayer wheel.ð The effects of this wheel would be to
increase the soul strength of the inlaying villagers to make them more capable
of destroying undead.ð Being born in the
central village and especially on special days is very auspicious.
Rune of Draining. An Iron rune used to siphon off / drain the mystical
energy from an undead.ð The Prince is
making undead by infusing them with his energy. This device siphons that power
out of the undead and returns it to the universe. The device works well, so
long as the user has a stronger mind (Air score) than the undead or the
undeadÌs controller. If not, it can backfire rather nastily (ask the few
survivors of the disaster of Vampire Forest for details).
Big, Nasty Vultures. Someone has bred a race of very large, highly
aggressive vultures. On the positive side, they are very good at disposing of
corpses before they become undead. On the negative side, sometimes there arenÌt
enough corpses to satisfy them. A tribe of humans has started leaving bodies on
high stone alters in mountains instead of burying them and may have
domesticated a few of these vultures.
Clever Toothy Fish. There are persistent rumors among the merfolk that
some intelligent fish-like creatures with a seriously dangerous bite attack are
infesting some areas of the seabed. So far, there has been no strong evidence
to suggest that itÌs more than a few rogue sharks.
Dragons. A few of the Great WyrmÌs children escaped her and
bred, so there are now quite a few dragons in the world. They contain a fair
amount of her destructive magic and so they are both very dangerous and highly
useful (when dead) for making magical items. Most of them live near orc or
human-occupied areas, although they pop up all over. Magic items created from
their bodies include: claw throwing weapons, cloaks, a variety of musical
instruments, and dragon-bone lances. Many of these items are dragon-banes and
sell well to the Orcs, who hate dragons with a passion.