So, respectfully I do wish to argue that Excelsis directing challenges towards the Spark-gifted is within Excelsis' domain. His description says: 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.
While I agree that he has no actual say over actual Fate, I meant it more that he created a new metaphysical force that could be mistaken for fate which simply very slightly manipulate things around a Spark-chosen so they encounter a challenge. So I do think that his creation is a Surreal one of 2 Conviction.
If you stand by your ruling, I'll accept it but then I'd ask for a day to think what I would do (remove the subtle forces part and let it be Surreal, or keep it as a 3 conviction nightmare move).
@Legion02 Also, does it affect *all* mortals or just all ur-humans?
The intention is that all sapient mortals can gain a spark. They do have to be sapient. Excelsis has no interest in creating genius animals. However, I do wish to note that sparks are rare things. I abhor putting a number on it but basically in a sizeable city it is very possible that 3 generations come and go without a spark-blessed mortal being born there.
Does The Spark affect only future generations of mortals since it's meant to be something they're born with, or would some of the already-alive ones that had been around for a while suddenly find themselves obsessed with something, and quite good at it?
I'll ask Vec actually first to see with how much he'll let me get away with. Because I did see an earlier ruling stating that any blessing of surreal level needs to be redone over and over.
My intention would definitly be that some people of the current generation first get the spark. Then people are born with it. But I'll put it before Vec and let you know the ruling!
Excelsis was still somewhat contemplating the encounter with two of his god-kin. They were… strange. So self-limiting. Even their forms, which seemed inspired by mortals, felt limiting. Then again, he knew next to nothing of these mortals. Passive, distant observations showed little capacity. They were more like writhing maggots in the ground. And yet life itself, the mechanical function sustaining it, was nothing short of genius design. They were able to convert various sources of food, combined with the gases of the world, into a sustained source of energy. They were thinking too!
Eventually, Excelsis felt compelled to take a closer look. The humans, as they were seemingly called, never knew what happened. One moment they were a family-tribe wandering the half-finished world, the next one of them was gone. A gale wind billowed over them.
The god-orb had taken one of the humans. He was screaming ceaselessly. A fear response, it would seem. Excelsis stopped in an instant. The sudden changes of momentum nearly knocked the human unconscious. That lessened the screaming.
“Be still now.” Excelsis said. However, the human had not much say in the matter. He screamed, but he was suspended in the air high above the world by Excelsis’ divine grip. A tendril sprouted from the eldritch orb and snaked towards the human’s forehead. He never stopped screaming. Then the tendril touched and the human fell into a fugue state.
The mind, what a wondrous construct. Whoever made it impressed the Lord-Eminence. But something was lacking. Their minds were capable of so much more! It would be a waste to have these bright minds waste away generation upon generation as they crawled out of the sludge of their birth. Excelsis redrew the tendril. From the forehead of the human a golden thread flowed. Then Excelsis got to work. A hundred more delicate tendrils formed, twisted, turning, bending, breaking, forming and shaping the human’s mind thread into a blessing. Slowly, over the course of a minute in which Excelsis was intensely miracle-crafting, he created a golden glowing engram. It was a masterpiece, not that shoddy useless thing like the Akashic Vessel. This would be the Spark and it would propel these mortals through discovery and excellence for centuries!
He released it. The engram, with its perfect geomantic shapes, floated up for a second, unfurled as if it was something between a beautiful flower blooming and a machine coming undone. The pieces separated themselves gently and then vanished from regular perception and seeped into the foundation of everything. Something was added to reality that didn’t half-exist before. Sapient life was forever altered, gifted and cursed by the Spark.
“Hello hello, test test. Are you the one who picks a fight with the book? I hope you are.”
Receiving the message was an odd experience. It was so pointed, yet it came from someone Excelsis had somehow completely missed. “Anyway, I stumbled upon something interesting down here. If you want to come take a look, I will be waiting.” The caverns were steeped in mysteries that were begging to be discovered. The vision lacked an exact position, and the world was still big. “Oh, right. The way is a bit hard to find with all those unfinished mountains. Here’s the direction, hope that helps.” The trial towards the cave now lay open and bare. One less mystery in the world.
The whole ordeal smelled like a challenge and this god was goading him into answering it. It could be dangerous or made to lure him into some sort of trap. Or perhaps there was no discovery to be made and he would waste his time? What if what he would find would utterly destroy his own essence?
All of these reasonable worries fell upon two dozen deaf ears. Excelsis flew away in a great hurry. With the trail before him he coursed through the air, along the half-made mountains until he eventually reached the cave. “I have come.” The Lord-Eminence declared as he floated into the cave. In a second, all other senses upon the orb vanished. A million eyes formed. Eyes that could see beyond ultraviolet and infrared. Fledgling eyes, barely more than just specs of sensitive tissue, were scanning even for magical influence. The god-sense still alluded deliberate manufacturing. It was there but it refused to be poured into a manageable form.
“How intriguing,” Excelsis said as the eyes scanned the whole room. “Transmutating bell. Incomprehensible lettering. A symbol ingrained upon reality.” The god quickly summed up the most notable parts of the cave. Even one of these discoveries could propel the newly born field of esoterism for decades. The fraction and the nature of the symbol, however, told Excelsis that time was not in their favor. “What is it terminating?” Excelsis asked himself, the world and the strange god in the cave as well.
Create Divine Artifact - Nightmare cost reduced to Surreal(In-Domain) The Spark - The engram was given to the world, and was chained to sapient life. Some individuals may be born with a metaphorical "spark" inside of them. The spark makes them talented in one particular aspect of life. This could be art, warfare, science, philosophy, esoterism, magic, or any other subject. However, the spark comes with a few caveats.
It causes the person born with it to become obsessed with the aspect. Finding peers will be difficult, if not near impossible. It can be a lonely experience. Secondly, the spark-gifted will inevitably run into some form of challenge. This challenge is partly created by subtle forces made by the larger Spark blessing, which pushes challenges towards the spark-gifted. However, such obsessed and talented individuals have no problem finding these challenges themselves. One could argue, to a lesser extent, that the forces used are 'fate'. The Spark as a whole does not safeguard spark-gifted from each other. There is a very real possibility that two spark-gifted square off in a duel where only one will emerge victorious.
The challenges are meant to be a Catalyst to push the spark-gifted into further heights. A scientist might be confronted with a seemingly impossible observation, a commander could be put into a losing battle, or an artist may fall into despair because his work does not amount to his own vision. Overcoming these obstacles requires more than raw talent.
Once the challenge is overcome, the spark-gifted emerges ever greater. Their spark, at first only talent, transforms into pure genius. These individuals have changed the course of mortal life forever and will become known as exemplars in history. So the next generation may be inspired by them.
Those who fail often die.
The Engram that compromises this far-reaching effect was given to the world itself as a generous gift by Excelsis. Because it is a divine artifact, others can find it, alter it, and even claim it for their own.
Conviction: -2 (Divine artifact, Nightmare level cost reduced to Surreal due to in-domain)
An invisble, metaphorical eyebrow was raised at the magic-god. "Do you... know what you are?" Excelsis asked with genuine concern. "I never denied that they were sentient beings with purpose. My dear kin they are so much more than that as well! They are perfection in an inherently imperfect world. Look at that! It is still shimmering in and out of existence!" The god-orb said one of his appendages, the leg of a horse, pointed at some far off half-existing mountains just to prove his point.
"But they are still our lessers." The god-orb continued, as it began to float around the magic god. "And it is our duty, as gods, to make the important decision and shoulder the burden to demand sacrifice. For the good of reality." He spoke with the divine authority of eminence now. Greatness always comes with a great deal of weight. "You are a god. You too will have to shoulder heavy burdens."
"Yet allow me to ease your mind. I do not intend to go along killing living things for no reason. The Patron of Knowledge had some... naïve ideas about his own concept. This had to be corrected. Sadly, we disagreed." A few eyes turned towards the slate floating around the orb. "Still, there is no Patron, Matron or other entity right now so foolish that it needs to be rectified."
"Magic? Curious." Excelsis said. As the method was named, Excelsis felt himself developing new senses to pick up on this magic. Crystaline protrusions grew, strange lenses revealed other powers in the skies. How curious. This magic was omnipresent and usable by seemingly anything and everything. Mastering it would be simple then.
The insult slid off of him like water off of a duck. He wasn't stupid. He was, perhaps, the smartest of them all. "Because any attempt to shatter me might break yourself as well." Excelsis pointed out. He would defend himself of course. "Besides, I only did what was natural. I saw a perfect version of myself and attempt to become it. Any reasonable divine would've done the same thing as I did." The god-orb said rather matter-of-factly. He did question why there were no more consumed Patrons and Matrons?
"Why do you even care for this Patron?" Excelsis went on. "They are of reality. We manipulate reality to our wishes. They are our natural born lessers." Again the question was sincere. It seemed that the god must suffer some delussion and the Lord-Eminence was determined to figure out what kind it was so he could better steel himself against it.
The eldritch-looking god-orb covered by thousands of different eyes and tens of appendages was still examining the slate when his own, ill-understood god-sense warned him of the sudden presence of one of his kin behind him. He turned to see an old man god appear out of thin air, wielding a dangerous and glowing expression of natural power.
"You can... do that?" The god-orb said, both answering the god and posing a question. Excelsis had no desire to mock the old-man god, though his tone did betray a certain disbelief. Several whisker-like senses indicated that the flow and energy of the bolt were rather high. What an interesting phenomenon. Several eyes - the eyes of insects, bovine animals, and birds - shifted to look at the bolt. Still, he doubted that it could hurt him overly much. The accusation he most certainly brushed aside. Morality, as much as Excelsis understood it, could never really be more than a chain of the lesser to bind everyone out of fear of their own inadequacy.
"How are you doing that?" He asked, his attention clearly upon the bolt. "And the sudden manifestation?" He added as he went through his own memory. The god-sense, even if he barely understood it, could certainly tell him when some essence of divinity was being used. Yet it didn't seem to have told him about the method of the sudden manifestation. Some other, rudimentary, and crude new sense seemed to have given him even a fledgling of insight into some new universal laws. "You are using something else than divinity? What is it?" Excelsis asked with genuine curiosity.
Excelsis, though it had no knowledge nor comprehension of that name, found itself on a blackened shore at the edge of creation. He didn’t have a form. Why did he not have a form? There was little else he could do than ponder the question. He had no eyes to see nor ears. So he posed the question internally to himself: why does he not have a form?
His form would come as a mirror of… something. Something that was yet to be. Because it is not, he is mirrorless. That wouldn’t do. He needed a shape. Could he get a shape? The answer to the question came easily. The blackened sand rose up and gathered as if pulled by some invisible magnet. It gathered and condensed into an orb. Was this enough? Hardly, things existed. There was a reality beyond. The fact that he just formed a body from something was proof of that. So he had to sense things about him. He had to!
So how do you sense something? The answers came in a thousand fragments of little truths. The black god-orb shifted and changed. A thousand protrusions formed and vanished again as they were deemed insufficient. One moment a hundred eyes formed all over the orb, then turned into half as many ears, which then turned into three times as many whiskers reaching out. He cycled through other senses as well. Three hundred tongues tasted the non-air. Rubbery skin formed to feel the difference between cold and warm. Bit by bit, the god-orb puzzled his sense of reality together by ever alternating his own shape. Eyes would be useful, indeed. Skin too. He cycled through other senses too. Deposits of a matter that aligned with greater forces. Large stalks grew to detect the minute changes in pressure. A lot of senses were discarded as well. There were also senses developing that he had little understanding of.
The orb kept cycling through the senses. It began to shuffle the ones that worked through each other. Eyes and ears grew and vanished together as the god-orb examined the world. How curious, there was a reality but it was also only half-shaped. Much as he was only half-shaped. What should he do next?
Well, if you have uncovered something, one gets to name it. It discovered itself so it could name itself. The name came presently: Excelsis. The word held no meaning at all, beyond that it was indisputably its name. So he was Excelsis and a half-formed world existed around him. It was clear what he had to do next.
From the orb appendages grew. He used a hand to grab the sand. It clung to him for a moment – what was a moment? – and then fell, leaving behind light. A paw dug through the sand. It was all the same to the touch. Two eyes formed upon two hands and looked closer over the sand below – yes, there was a below, which meant there was also an up – and came to the conclusion it was all one form. The maybe-water behind was also of one form: everything. There existence raised a hundred questions that would require a – oh.. what is this?
A newly formed claw raised something before Excelsis’ permanent eyes. Slowly, he turned it around. It wasn’t sand. It was irregular, larger, imperfect in shape and therefore so exciting! It was a crystalline thing. His physical form released it but his curiosity held it at attention. It drifted in the air around him, orbiting the god-orb Excelsis as eyes began to follow it along the other shell of the god. Other eyes detected other shapes nearby. They were out of reach, though.
And then they weren’t. The god-orb moved itself. Three-jointed arm – which once would be identified as a grasshopper’s arm – reached out and grabbed something else. A shell? He knew what it was but not the meaning of – what is that? One of his newly formed eyes caught something on this shell. It turned to focus it again.
Reality did not just have form. It had… color! All god-eyes of Excelsis blinked and in a moment they left him disappointed. The world was not filled with color. Quite the contrary. Only the shell seemed to hold an essence of not-nothing. The fading grasshopper arm vanished, and the shell began to orbit Excelsis as well.
His god-sense screamed. Something stepped into the world. Other gods? Yes! No… They were something else. The name self-manifested itself: Ideals. Much like his own name, the name meant nothing beyond that Excelsis was certain that these new beings were named that way. The god-orb was enthralled by these representations of reality. Then one of them came into being that burned like a bonfire amid candles. Excelsis was both enamored and enraged by the sight. This was all he wished to be. It was all he wished to have.
A base sort of greed overtook him. Innate divinity answered his voiceless demands. The god-orb short forth towards a glowing tear in reality from where the Ideal of Knowledge was stepping into the world. Black sand raged around him a hurricane. At the command of the god of discovery the sand turned into a mighty maw and engulfed the blazing Ideal. Metaphysical chains of divinity tangled with the entity. Excelsis would have it. He would have all the knowledge and it would serve as a foundation for his Everything.
An Ideal, however, was not so easily captured. As the sand cage hardened, it slipped like water between the fingers. It moved and dodged, shrouded itself in light and dark all the same. It was never a fight between two creatures. This was a fight between two definitions of reality. The Ideal wished for its own freedom for all. Excelsis demanded its imprisonment and eternal obeisance. The two tangled in physical and metaphorical ways above the world. It was the First Battle of existence.
Excelsis never cared to understand what was going on. With raw might he tried to overpower the Ideal’s every move. He would have his price, the consequences be damned. Whether the Ideal understood the futility of the battle, or Excelsis failed to understand it, it could not last. All that was, is, and would be fought against a being that could alter two of those things.
A mighty, physical explosion rocked the world.
“NO!” The very word followed the blast! Knowledge in all sorts of shapes of reality flew out towards every corner of the world. As soon as it happened, tendrils and appendages reached out. Thousands of pages, steles, plaques, engravings, and other vessels of knowledge were captured and brought back. Not all, though. A few scattered bits of pure comprehension were lost due to Excelsis’ lack of omnipresence. Others were flung into the Ocean. They sank into the deep, forbidden waters. Excelsis cursed. He cursed the foolish Ideal that had chosen to shatter itself instead of admitting its defeat.
Still, he was mostly successful. The pages were united into something that would be named the Akashic Vessel, which, in the presence of Excelsis represented itself as a simple, stone slate. All other senses that had littered the outside of the god-orb vanished. Instead, a million different eyes opened up to gaze upon the tablet.
It was incomprehensible. None of it made sense. Not even the basic signs. “No.” An unnerving sense settled over Excelsis. “I captured you!” He roared for everyone and everything to hear. “You are mine!” It was spoken with as much hubris as it was with desperation. “Show yourself!” The tablet did shift. Its signs and symbols moved before the many eyes. It was mocking him. The new shapes made as much sense as the old ones did. That is to say, none at all. The Akashick Vessel was incomprehensible to his divine mind.
Excelsis examines the half-made world, then detects that Ideals are coming forth. He tries to imprison the Ideal of Knowledge but fails. The Ideal shatters into billions of fragments of knowledge. Excelsis can gather most of them. Some evade him, others fall into the Ocean where he can’t go. Most of the pieces of knowledge (in the form of scrolls, steles, books, etc) are gathered and united into the Akashic Vessel. Which no divine mind can read. - 3 Conviction: Creating God-Tier artifact - The Akashic Vessel. Catastrophic Ripple Turbulence: 100% 2 convictions remaining
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. After all, is the god of eminence not expected to be eminent amongst his own kind? Therefore, he fully expects to face the trials and tribulations he sets upon his own chosen. Then, he will be crowned as the eminent of all the gods… surely.
Excelsis wants to discover and understand every part of the world, 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. You can be certain that with his blessings you will attain the greatness you seek. However, he does not care for a happily ever after. You will burn bright and fast. When you fade, he will not save your body. You will not be carried into some peaceful palace in your twilight years but your name will live into eternity. Excelsis exults the chronicles of his sparks. Their greatness is an example and a beacon for others to pursue into the flames. Your prime likeness will be remembered by the countless idols and your very name might become synonymous with what acts you have performed. This is Excelsis’ promise: serve him successfully and he will etch your name into history.
Roleplay Example:
The earth was shaking every minute or so. There was a near-constant whistle in the air outside. The smell of the salty sea was mixed with the smell of acrid smoke rising over the city-state of Asseya. It was besieged. Its staunch walls remained strong. The proud city had fended off raiders by hiding behind its mighty walls for decades. They had expected to do so again. This time, however, the raiders came more prepared. Atop their great hunks they had placed catapults with which they hurled great chunks of burning pots of oil over the walls and into the city.
“Barbarians!” Archemid yelled from the keep. “Monsters! Beasts! Animals!” He kept yelling pointlessly. Behind him his students were busy cleaning the half-burned workshop. Pieces of glass and crystal were scattered amongst the burned parchements. After hours of ceaseless, futile yelling he collapsed down onto a chair. The students were gone. Dusk was setting in. Fire still rained upon the city. Archemid was livid and distraught. There was nothing he could do. For all his knowledge of the natural world, he couldn’t do a thing to stop the sacking of his beloved city. As his mind was drifting off to a sleep of exhaustion he saw the bright, yellow disk of the sun dipping into the watery horizon far away. In that moment, he so wished to know how to wield the sun. Surely then he could burn away these barbarous monsters.
“I can help with that.” A voice from the shadows said.
A week later
Archemid looked at his construct. It was truly a marvel. Polished copper discs hung from a great array high up on the keep, too high for the raider’s catapults to reach. They directed the sunlight down and then into a series of glass lenses and parabolic mirrors. Then it was cast at the ships beyond.
The old scholar looked from atop the keep at the burning ships. Some were trying to flee. “Seven degrees eastwards!” He commanded. A student of his moved the gears across a strange device that aimed the whole mechanism and kept it focused. It too was a marvel of engineering. Archemid himself relented that the ideas came to him in a moment of divine lucidity. For only the briefest of moments, everything he had learned fell into place. Light as he knew it had no mystery anymore. Now he weaponized, to his great delight.
The raiders were retreating. Most of their fleet had gone up in flames. Asseya was saved.
Five years later
“I must thank you again, my lord!” Said Gaelen, Excelsium’s leading astronomer. The grey-haired young man was overseeing the construction of the Stellavidentis, an observatory without rival in the world. The central building alone was massive, and it was surrounded by ancillary buildings that would serve as archives, workshops, and more. A great mechanism was being put together at the center of the Stellavidentis with the utmost care.
“I told you your journey was not yet at an end, Gaelen!” Excelsis said, both proud and slightly condescending.
The leading mortal astronomer stood beside the god of eminence as they both watched as an adapted Achemidian Suncaster was installed. A decade ago, this would have been unheard of. Achemid, now buried in Excelsium-conquered Asseya, had cracked open the secret of light. Now his great invention wouldn’t be used to burn his enemies; it would be used to look deep into the firmament high above.
Gaelen never stopped to consider how this device came to be. His own obsession to unlock the secret of the stars - just as Archemid had unlocked the secrets of light - consumed him whole. Beside him Excelsis was just as excited. The secret of light was not his to give to Archemid. The old man had everything in his mind already. All he did was offer a moment of divine insight to put the pieces together. One offered flash of brilliance had helped advance the science of this world by another fifty years.
Well, one flash of brilliance and a few honied words to a raider chief with dull ambitions.
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.
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. After all, is the god of eminence not expected to be eminent amongst his own kind? Therefore, he fully expects to face the trials and tribulations he sets upon his own chosen. Then, he will be crowned as the eminent of all the gods… surely.
Excelsis wants to discover and understand every part of the world, 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. You can be certain that with his blessings you will attain the greatness you seek. However, he does not care for a happily ever after. You will burn bright and fast. When you fade, he will not save your body. You will not be carried into some peaceful palace in your twilight years but your name will live into eternity. Excelsis exults the chronicles of his sparks. Their greatness is an example and a beacon for others to pursue into the flames. Your prime likeness will be remembered by the countless idols and your very name might become synonymous with what acts you have performed. This is Excelsis’ promise: serve him successfully and he will etch your name into history.
Roleplay Example:
The earth was shaking every minute or so. There was a near-constant whistle in the air outside. The smell of the salty sea was mixed with the smell of acrid smoke rising over the city-state of Asseya. It was besieged. Its staunch walls remained strong. The proud city had fended off raiders by hiding behind its mighty walls for decades. They had expected to do so again. This time, however, the raiders came more prepared. Atop their great hunks they had placed catapults with which they hurled great chunks of burning pots of oil over the walls and into the city.
“Barbarians!” Archemid yelled from the keep. “Monsters! Beasts! Animals!” He kept yelling pointlessly. Behind him his students were busy cleaning the half-burned workshop. Pieces of glass and crystal were scattered amongst the burned parchements. After hours of ceaseless, futile yelling he collapsed down onto a chair. The students were gone. Dusk was setting in. Fire still rained upon the city. Archemid was livid and distraught. There was nothing he could do. For all his knowledge of the natural world, he couldn’t do a thing to stop the sacking of his beloved city. As his mind was drifting off to a sleep of exhaustion he saw the bright, yellow disk of the sun dipping into the watery horizon far away. In that moment, he so wished to know how to wield the sun. Surely then he could burn away these barbarous monsters.
“I can help with that.” A voice from the shadows said.
A week later
Archemid looked at his construct. It was truly a marvel. Polished copper discs hung from a great array high up on the keep, too high for the raider’s catapults to reach. They directed the sunlight down and then into a series of glass lenses and parabolic mirrors. Then it was cast at the ships beyond.
The old scholar looked from atop the keep at the burning ships. Some were trying to flee. “Seven degrees eastwards!” He commanded. A student of his moved the gears across a strange device that aimed the whole mechanism and kept it focused. It too was a marvel of engineering. Archemid himself relented that the ideas came to him in a moment of divine lucidity. For only the briefest of moments, everything he had learned fell into place. Light as he knew it had no mystery anymore. Now he weaponized, to his great delight.
The raiders were retreating. Most of their fleet had gone up in flames. Asseya was saved.
Five years later
“I must thank you again, my lord!” Said Gaelen, Excelsium’s leading astronomer. The grey-haired young man was overseeing the construction of the Stellavidentis, an observatory without rival in the world. The central building alone was massive, and it was surrounded by ancillary buildings that would serve as archives, workshops, and more. A great mechanism was being put together at the center of the Stellavidentis with the utmost care.
“I told you your journey was not yet at an end, Gaelen!” Excelsis said, both proud and slightly condescending.
The leading mortal astronomer stood beside the god of eminence as they both watched as an adapted Achemidian Suncaster was installed. A decade ago, this would have been unheard of. Achemid, now buried in Excelsium-conquered Asseya, had cracked open the secret of light. Now his great invention wouldn’t be used to burn his enemies; it would be used to look deep into the firmament high above.
Gaelen never stopped to consider how this device came to be. His own obsession to unlock the secret of the stars - just as Archemid had unlocked the secrets of light - consumed him whole. Beside him Excelsis was just as excited. The secret of light was not his to give to Archemid. The old man had everything in his mind already. All he did was offer a moment of divine insight to put the pieces together. One offered flash of brilliance had helped advance the science of this world by another fifty years.
Well, one flash of brilliance and a few honied words to a raider chief with dull ambitions.
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.
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:
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.
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