[quote=@Double Capybara] Ok, so you can make a sphere without regards to whether it's celestial or chthonic? In the last post, you mentioned wanting a strong thematic difference, so I kinda assumed picking Celestial or Chthonic was not trivial. [/quote] Every Sphere would have to be either Chthonian or Celestial, but just by virtue of being one or the other wouldn't mean that its magic must adhere to some general set of rules. The only difference that the choice between Celestial/Chthonic would make is the potential connection. As a practical example, you say that as far as souls go, a Celestial Sphere would be like a Valhalla/Heaven and the Chthonian ones more like Hades or Hell. The point I was trying to raise is that it's detrimental to mandate this sort of thing. If somebody wants to have an evil vulture god that swoops down to steal souls and bring them to some torture pit on the moon, I say go for it. [quote] Definitely, I think an example model will do wonders. [/quote] I'll consult with BBeast and Mutton and make the example model once we've ironed out all the intricacies, then. [quote] I think the main source of confusion on my part is the difference between the proposal and the linked Celestial Spheres. In aristotelian, it kinda goes like this [The sky (sphere of air] [Galbar] [The earth (sphere of earth)] From what I understood of the proposal, it is not a layered cake deal, it is more like (Sphere of air) ↓ ↓ [Galbar - including the sky, which is the influence of the sphere of air, and the earth, which is the influence of the sphere of earth] ↑ ↑ (Sphere of earth) Which I would say is a more Dungeons and Dragons Planes thing? But then wouldn't that not be physical but instead purely magical? [/quote] I don't understand the symbology behind the distinction you're trying to make. [@Crispy Octopus] Let me start by ensuring we're on the same page about the Lower/Upper model. Under the Upper/Lower model there can still be a layered hierarchy in that some Spheres are more distant than others. For instance, Mars is more distant than the Moon. However, a god of sufficient power (or portal/gateway/Bifrost) could theoretically go from Galbar to Mars without stopping at the moon, because there's enough empty space to go around the moon if needed. The same principle would potentially apply for Chthonian Spheres; the mountain god's cave realm might only exist beneath the mountains and continents, so one could potentially link an even deeper Sphere to Galbar without going through his caves. However, it'd be impossible to link from Mars straight to the cave dude's system without going through Galbar, because that's going straight from an Upper Sphere to a Lower one. This may seem rather arbitrary if you think of portals as more like magical wormholes rather than rainbow bridges or bottomless pits that link two places, but this rule creates some meaningful distinction between the Upper/Lower Spheres and so I'm reluctant to dismiss it. [quote]Normally, like BB said, this would eliminate the point of a strict hierarchy, however my alternative is to make it possible for gods and any sufficiently power entities to traverse from one sphere to another that borders it without using might.[/quote] I've been running off the assumption this would eventually become possible as gods obtain abilities, artifacts, and/or portfolios that make such travel feasible. [quote]Why don't we have it that Spheres are not static?[/quote] Well, I don't have terribly strong feelings, but I'm somewhat against the shuffling of Spheres being a regular phenomenon because: a) The current lore is that the Spheres already exist (they were designed and carved out by the Architect) and are just empty, awaiting their new tenants. This implies somewhat that they have fixed locations. b) The reshuffling of Celestial Spheres might not be that impactful because it'd just represent some planets/moons/celestial bodies moving closer or farther from Galbar, but the reshuffling of Chthonian realms would probably involve some sort of cataclysmic upheaval on Galbar's surface, because despite being somewhat magical, all of these Spheres still have physical locations that they occupy according to the current system. c) It'll be annoying to keep track of an ever-changing hierarchy. What if someone wants to move their Sphere to be the closest Lower one to Galbar, but the current owner of the closest Sphere is opposed to that for some reason? IMO it's best to just sort these things out OOC before the RP starts.