@Cyclone I suspect your god and mine would make excellent foils for each other, haha.

The Zeroth post has been updated with new information about another core mechanic of this roleplay, Ripples! Peruse it at your leisure.

@CmmelodyA Ripple happens regardless of who triggers it, be it an evil or good god. On the contrary, an evil god running around causing negative ripples for mortal followers of other gods paints a target on their back for said gods to chase him around. Don't rest on your laurels mel :)

Excelsis, the Lord-Eminence [+]

Excelsis

God Concept: Discovery and Eminence - Excelsis is a vainglorious but curious god. He sees sparks of greatness in mortalkind and wishes nothing more than to see those sparks burn bright above the metaphorical muck. Doing so requires catalysts in the form of trials and tribulations. Excelsis is not shy about throwing these challenges at the sparks if he has to. At the same time, he will bless those with a spark to overcome said challenges as well.

Discovery, as he sees it, is the greatest of the paths of glory because he himself is on it. Discovery is venturing forth and pulling the unknown into the known. Of course, for a god like Exclesis, the scale and the stakes of such a discovery must be high. He cares little for petty secrets held by mortals.

Appearance: Excelsis looks like a big, strong, elder man, half-dressed in a toga with sandals. He has a belt from which hang a multitude of scrolls containing divine discoveries that he has deemed worthy to pen down. His eyes, golden and always glowing, are framed by the golden laurel of victory upon his brow. He holds a staff-like contraption topped by what looks like an orrery and surrounded by an endless number of lenses of a multitude of colors.

Motivation: The true desire Excelsis has is that he wants to understand the full, fundamental cosmic mechanism of reality. For he would make a poor god of gods with such knowledge. He wants to discover and understand every part of it, but he knows he cannot do it alone. The senses of even a god are limited. So he inspires greatness in others. Those others of eminence, he believes, will reveal an infinitesimal fraction of the inner workings of the universe to him.

Excelsis is a god who will challenge and bless you in the same breath. He will fight you and aid you, just to see you burn as bright as you can. But be careful. He is not a god who cherishes you. He cares not for the happily ever after. In his flames you will burn hard and fast and bright but he will not care for you once you’re turned to ash.

Roleplay Example:

example [+]

The night was warm and pleasant. A soft sea wind blew through the open windows, letting the light curtains dance as shadows. Everything was quiet. There was not even a dog barking outside in the city. Yet the king couldn’t sleep. He was sitting upright. His young, beautiful wife lay asleep beside him. Excelsis could sense that she was pregnant already. It would be a son. He would be strong. A worthy heir. The king didn’t know it yet. His mind was occupied with something else. The god didn’t need to peer into his head to know what it was. All men who thought of maps and pawns had the same restless look in their eyes at night.

“Step forward.”

Excelsis’ voice was barely a whisper but it was enough to convince the king. He stepped out of bed and stepped forward. The next thing he knew he was standing in his war hall. A crudely drawn map of his kingdom’s borders lay before him on a table, filled with pawns. Torches lit the room in a golden hue. The god of eminence stepped from the shadows into the torchlight. He had taken the shape of a human. A forlorn friend who was serving as a warrior now. The real man was asleep in a tent somewhere far. He would die in a week by a spear and he would live in memory for a century. “We must strike soon.” The god said.

“Where?” The king asked, both suspicious at the sudden appearance of an almost forgotten friend and seduced by the promise of glory.

“Here.” Excelsis’ moved a single pawn from one side of the map to the other.

The god saw something flash within the mind of the king. It was the moment when a spark turned into a flame. He smiled for only a moment. For the king something great had happened. Everything fell into place, every doubt and question about the audacious plan faded like morning mist before the sun. The war he wanted, he needed, could be won.

~73 days later~

An old king knelt before a boy king. A throne room was filled with the roars of victory. As a regal falcon the god looked from a nearby tree. Again, he did not need to peer into the mind of the young king. He saw the gleam in his eyes. One throne, one crown, would not be enough.

Availability: Monday and Tuesday I won’t be available for much. Beyond that, I should be able to get a post in once or twice a week.

Experience: It’s been about a year since I last played play-by-post. Before then I’ve got about 8 years of experience. I’ve also joined, I believe, 4 iterations of Divinus, the God RP, before.

Saries [+]

Saries

Sovereign of Beasts and Beauty

God Concept:

The Primordial Beast Saries says no words, sings no songs, and writes no poems. It might never say so, but It holds domain over the concepts of Beasts and Beauty.

There is an unending beauty in nature, and it is Saries’ duty to both witness it all and to safeguard it and Its innumerable descendants from the filth brought forth by the other God-Beasts. As the protector of all that is natural and all that follows its instincts, it is not uncommon to see shrines to Saries in wild lands, erected by mortals who seek Saries’ protection and blessing.

Appearance:

No matter the form It chooses to take at any given time, Saries always glows akin to a bright night sky, Its form dotted with minuscule glittering lights and colours in what seems to be a mimicry of the beauty of space.

That said, It usually takes a glorious Great Canine form. With a long snout, sharp canines the length of knives, shiny fur, intelligent piercing eyes, and large expressive ears and tail.

Motivation:

That which is sacred is beautiful.

Nature is sacred. Instincts are sacred. These two facts are essential truths of the World, and it is Saries’ instinct to protect and guard that which It finds beautiful.

The striking wings of a scarlet macaw, the silver pelt of an old wolf, the wriggling of a newborn kitten… These are all deeply beautiful things born from Saries which must be protected and nurtured so that they may grow as they were destined to in nature, free from the perversion of other God-Beasts.

It tirelessly patrols the Wilds of the World, filling them with Its progeny, new and old, and making them a much harsher environment for those that have found themselves disconnected from nature, be it by choice or not.

Everything that Saries does is guided by Its own instincts. Just like Its progeny, Saries eats, drinks, sleeps, mates, and grieves. It travels from place to place and makes friends and enemies, It succeeds and It fails. It is both the exalted Progenitor of all Beasts, and also just another beast searching for its place in the World.

Roleplay Example:

Years of study and training, all for this moment!

Years of stress and self-doubt, of isolation and loneliness, all gone.

Before her stood the Exalted One, as tall as three of her kind, with thick, soft fur made of the stuff of stars and coloured like the purest and brightest of night skies.

Its eyes, piercing and striking like the full moon, trained upon her naked form.

She shivered. It was cold. She instinctively wrapped her arms around herself, something that caused the Exalted One’s eyes to soften. It relaxed Its posture. At first a little, then a lot, until finally It dropped Its head low enough to be on eye level with her.

It did not speak, yet deep down she knew what It meant to say. It was saying her name. Leanne, said the wind caressing Its fur. Leanne, said the grass trampled under Its paws. Leanne, said Its eyes, shortly before It closed them and gently bumped Its head against her chest.

She’d studied and prepared for this moment all of her life. She had known in advance how it would go and what would happen, but actually living the moment was completely different. No amount of mentorship, or testing, or prayer, could have truly prepared her for it.

She let go of her thoughts, one by one, until all that was left was her heart.

She wrapped her arms around the Exalted One’s head and nuzzled her face into the fur behind one of Its ears, and then she cried.

“Thank you, Sarias… Thank you for choosing me…” Leanne sobbed. “I promise. I’ll be yours, now and forever… Your voice, your hands, your friend... We are now one.”

With the words spoken, it was as if the night sky itself came down to meet with Leanne. A whirlwind of star dust came from the heavens and wrapped itself around Leanne’s naked body, eventually coalescing into something resembling the ceremonial garb that her ancestors had once worn - Only, whereas her ancestors’ garbs were all unique and wonderful, hers was almost entirely featureless and drab. It only took a single look from Sarias for Leanne to understand.

She was meant to make it her own, to add and take from it as her heart saw fit. She was meant to make it beautiful. It would be a physical expression of the growth of her heart throughout the years, and Sarias would be watching with bated breath every single time that she made a change to it.

The garb would be their joint life project.

Availability:

I have a busy work schedule, so my availability is normally quite limited even without taking overtime. I can commit to 1x Post per 8-day period, though.

• Your characterization is contradictory: the concept describes Arstus as distant and struggling to remember mortals ("his focus is away from others, he tries to think about others"), but your roleplay example shows him deeply engaged—watching the old man's entire life, knowing personal details about his daughter, appearing personally at his deathbed. A truly distant god wouldn't track individual mortal lives; an engaged god wouldn't be framed as forgetful or remote.
  
  • Is Arstus a compassionate guardian who watches over mortals closely, or a remote cosmic force who observes from afar? The current version tries to be both and ends up being neither convincingly.
• Additionally, "the darkness" Arstus opposes is completely undefined currently (another god? abstract evil? literal absence of light?), "worthiness" has no clear criteria (the old man was worthy because... he was a liberator? held light in his heart? was he one of Arstus' worshippers?), and "those who forsake the light" are never specified (worshipers of other gods? criminals? people who just prefer nighttime?).
  
  • Other players need to know whether their characters/followers might be considered enemies of Arstus, what actions could earn constellation honors or, conversely, Arstus' ire.

@Theyra

This is much more improved from the previous version (love the idea of honoring worthy mortals as constellations, it creates wonderful mythology potential) and I will accept it, but I want you to consider the following whilst we wait for the roleplay to begin.

• Your characterization is contradictory: the concept describes Arstus as distant and struggling to remember mortals ("his focus is away from others, he tries to think about others"), but your roleplay example shows him deeply engaged—watching the old man's entire life, knowing personal details about his daughter, appearing personally at his deathbed. A truly distant god wouldn't track individual mortal lives; an engaged god wouldn't be framed as forgetful or remote.
  
  • Is Arstus a compassionate guardian who watches over mortals closely, or a remote cosmic force who observes from afar? The current version tries to be both and ends up being neither convincingly.
• Additionally, "the darkness" Arstus opposes is completely undefined currently (another god? abstract evil? literal absence of light?), "worthiness" has no clear criteria (the old man was worthy because... he was a liberator? held light in his heart? was he one of Arstus' worshippers?), and "those who forsake the light" are never specified (worshipers of other gods? criminals? people who just prefer nighttime?).
  
  • Other players need to know whether their characters/followers might be considered enemies of Arstus, what actions could earn constellation honors or, conversely, Arstus' ire.

So as I said, I will accept him, but think about my suggestions please. Pop him in the CS tab :)

<Snipped quote by Frettzo>

Ohhhhh another nature god! First one since Khthon (Earth) and Orranoth (Sky) too if I'm not mistaken! Very excited to see all of them interact, they all seem to have very different attitudes, so it ought to be fun ^_^