All Is Wrong With The World

Because God is in his Heaven. And he ain't leaving. Matter of fact, he's been stuck up there for a good millennia or so now. Hasn't so much as lifted a finger in centuries. Not the poor guy's fault, really. Not with you humans running around proclaiming the good word.

Yeah, that's right. You. You humans. What, with your "the Lord works in mysterious ways" and your "God helps those who help themselves", and your independence and yadda yadda. I mean honestly, he goes on a vacation for a century or two and all of a sudden you think he's entrusted you with the whole shebang. Now you've stranded him up there, and what's worse, you're starting to think you don't need us gods to make things run anymore.

Well you're wrong.

Have you bothered to look around lately? War, disease, corruption, famine, death. With no rhyme or reason, no guidance or purpose. Just senseless action with no direction or thought. Yeah, you don't need us. Just like junior doesn't need his dad to tell him "no" when he finds the .45 under the bed.

Well, the godless age has gone on long enough. You all refuse to ask for help, so we're giving it to you. By force. Oh, it ain't gonna be pretty. But when we're done here, you're gonna thank us. However many of you are left...

Welcome, welcome. To the next war for Heaven.

As you may have guessed, the premise of this RP is that the gods of old have returned to retake the planet, and save humanity from itself. But gods aren't exactly infamous for working together within their own pantheons. So a decision must be made as to who will govern this new age of gods and men.

And so it was decided that there would be a war. All the deities not stuck in their respective Heavens (like the Abrahamic God) have returned to Earth to duke it out for the throne, and the position of head of the new world order. Joining them are a select few humans, their "Chosen". These people, selected at random by forces other than those of the gods themselves, are their prophets, their messengers, their advisors, and, as many of them hate to admit it, their handlers. Together, these gods and their Chosen will wage a grand battle to decide the new boss.

Okay, that established, time for some infodumping on how gods in this RP work. Here, God Needs Prayer Badly, and the number of humans who believe in a god, as well as how the view that god, directly correlate to that god's capabilities and strength. This is why the Abrahamic God, the winner of the last such battle, is no longer with us. His followers believe him to be all-powerful, yet they refuse to allow him to interfere, because their own conception of an all powerful being scares them. So once he dropped out for a while, humanity was quick to assume (or hope) he'd left, which kept him from ever returning to Earth, and consequently, ever restoring the balance.

As your god wins battles against other gods, their prestige grows, and more people will begin to respect and revere them as deities, raising their power. There are other ways to achieve this sort of respect, such as performing miracles or bringing down some good ol' wrath, but defeating or even killing other gods is the quickest way to go about things.

However, this does not mean you can simply do as you please 24/7. There's a lot of freedom involved with being a god, but there is one rule participants in this battle must abide by. Protect your Chosen. Above their roles as advisors and whatnot, the Chosen are also proof that the god in question is capable of running the planet should they win. After all, if you can't keep one human alive, how are you going to manage several billion?

Obviously some gods will already be receiving more prayer than dead ones, like Zeus and Odin, which means they'll be more powerful out of the gate. To balance this, old gods, like the aforementioned Greek and Norse pantheons, will gain more reputation faster due to brand recognition. Think of it this way, if you ask A. Randomdude on the street if he's heard of Kali or Shiva, then ask him if he's heard of Zeus, chances are nine out of ten times he'll respond to the latter rather than the former. In this way, old gods start weaker than those currently worshipped, but "level up" far more quickly.

Finally, power levels. Please keep your gods at around the level of your average superhero to start with. As time goes on, they'll begin to fit their role as true gods more and more. Also, before arguments start to break out, yes, a god's base power level should be accounted for, prayer aside. This means that, depending on the mythology, a major deity of a dead religion may still be able to beat a minor or medium deity of an active faith. It's very situational, so play it by ear.

Also, while it would make sense from an in-universe perspective to have multiples, please do not have more than one type of god running around at a time. Having two sun gods or two war gods just gets confusing and awkward for everyone. For deities with minor attributes (like a a god of the underworld who is also a minor cat deity), sharing these attributes with major deities is okay. Similarly, it'd be preferable if there aren't two or more gods from the same pantheon unless they're of similar power levels (i.e no Zeus and Hermes). That way, no one's god gets shafted by another player taking control of their respective big daddy. This is purely a meta concern, but if both players can come to an agreement, it is perfectly acceptable.

Okay, without much more ado, here are your character sheets:

Gods

Name: Aliases (titles, other names etc.): Myth or Religion of Origin: Type (please sort their attributes into Major and Minor if applicable): Gender: Appearance: Personality: Abilities: Misc:

Chosen

Name: Age: Gender: Appearance: Personality: Skills: Equipment/Weapons: Bio: Misc:

Trying really hard not to make a Nietzsche joke here. Reeeeeeaaaaaallllllly hard.

But it looks interesting and I think I'm in. I take it the Celtic Pantheon is on the Table?

It's late here but I think I'll give this a fresh look in the morning.

edited 14th Jun '12 12:31:02 AM by Fauxlosophe

Is the Roman Pantheon on the table?

Yes and yes.

This still a thing?

edited 21st Jul '12 11:42:29 AM by Politruk

If it is I'm interested although I think you're being a little unfair to the Hindu deities who have a firm power base of nearly a billion people.