Post by Minyahil on Jul 28, 2009 22:01:34 GMT -5
Eventually this will all be consolidated into a world overview, but I'll paste it here for now. This is all of a very[/u] quick-and-dirty fashion from Staff-Chat, but it might help a little bit with the feel for the world...
~Minyahil
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As we decide more about what this world looks like, we'll post it here. So far, here's the basics:
-- As a first cut, we're thinking early to mid- 19th century technology. We're not going to use Earth as the setting, but probably nothing too far off from that.
-- Angels inhabit the world. We currently have a "pantheon" of ten: Time, Life, Death, Justice, Mercy, Judgment, Compassion, Doubt, Belief, and Purity. If some of these sound anthrocentric, they're supposed to. Angels represent their names with respect to the inhabitants of the world, and together represent a balance of those forces. Hence, it doesn't really matter what the Angel of Time might have to say about black holes-- they're outside of his purview.
-- Angels used to operate through Speakers, mortals who possessed some angelic trait in unusually high degree. Speakers usually gain powers associated with that Angel, and maybe some drawbacks too. If anyone has specific ideas about how Speakers should be special, I'd love to hear them. (Eventually, this'll probably be in each angel's bio)
-- Through some desire to leave the world to its own devices, Angels ceased using Speakers centuries or millennia ago. "Why" probably belongs under plot.
-- Gods made Angels, but don't interfere with humanity directly. For the most part, Angels don't really know how they were created.
--Also in terms of angels, we're thinking of placing them fairly far back in time at least a few thousand years. Otherwise there would be somewhat believable evidence for their existence.
There used to be one continent-spanning country, at least according to legend. Back in the distant past-- the iron age, say-- Angels weren't quite as careful in choosing their speakers, and almost every major leader was somebody's speaker. The predictable result was holy war, which looks glorious in retrospect at the time was just bloody and chaotic. Long story short, the old Empire's capital became a moderately-sized nation, and many of the provinces became small countries. Because of uneven distribution of resources, most of these smaller states have remained somewhat dependent on the old country. The reverse is true, too, but less so. I envision the Big country as similar to the British Empire during this period. Smaller countries have their own distinct cultures, but still have some feel of being former colonies, both in their respect for their suzerain state and their need to crawl out from under its shadow. Recently, some of the colonies have begun to challenge the old supremacy.
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...As I look at this stuff again, I'm actually thinking we might want to move the technology back a little bit. If we're going to make demon-progress a big thing, it doesn't make sense that we'd already be so far along. For instance, I don't want electricity to be widespread, nor any more than the very beginning of fossil fuel usage. CyMohak, as far as your question from above the maps, I think Riel and I are leaning towards a demons playing a major role in why the angels start speaking again. As society advances and daily life becomes increasingly divorced from human nature (in some ways-- the more things change, etc, etc), the demons are sort of the spiritual embodiment of that strain. I'm making a character that should help unfuzz this part a little, so more on that in (I hope) a few days.
~Minyahil
----------------------------------------------------------
As we decide more about what this world looks like, we'll post it here. So far, here's the basics:
-- As a first cut, we're thinking early to mid- 19th century technology. We're not going to use Earth as the setting, but probably nothing too far off from that.
-- Angels inhabit the world. We currently have a "pantheon" of ten: Time, Life, Death, Justice, Mercy, Judgment, Compassion, Doubt, Belief, and Purity. If some of these sound anthrocentric, they're supposed to. Angels represent their names with respect to the inhabitants of the world, and together represent a balance of those forces. Hence, it doesn't really matter what the Angel of Time might have to say about black holes-- they're outside of his purview.
-- Angels used to operate through Speakers, mortals who possessed some angelic trait in unusually high degree. Speakers usually gain powers associated with that Angel, and maybe some drawbacks too. If anyone has specific ideas about how Speakers should be special, I'd love to hear them. (Eventually, this'll probably be in each angel's bio)
-- Through some desire to leave the world to its own devices, Angels ceased using Speakers centuries or millennia ago. "Why" probably belongs under plot.
-- Gods made Angels, but don't interfere with humanity directly. For the most part, Angels don't really know how they were created.
--Also in terms of angels, we're thinking of placing them fairly far back in time at least a few thousand years. Otherwise there would be somewhat believable evidence for their existence.
There used to be one continent-spanning country, at least according to legend. Back in the distant past-- the iron age, say-- Angels weren't quite as careful in choosing their speakers, and almost every major leader was somebody's speaker. The predictable result was holy war, which looks glorious in retrospect at the time was just bloody and chaotic. Long story short, the old Empire's capital became a moderately-sized nation, and many of the provinces became small countries. Because of uneven distribution of resources, most of these smaller states have remained somewhat dependent on the old country. The reverse is true, too, but less so. I envision the Big country as similar to the British Empire during this period. Smaller countries have their own distinct cultures, but still have some feel of being former colonies, both in their respect for their suzerain state and their need to crawl out from under its shadow. Recently, some of the colonies have begun to challenge the old supremacy.
--------------------------------
...As I look at this stuff again, I'm actually thinking we might want to move the technology back a little bit. If we're going to make demon-progress a big thing, it doesn't make sense that we'd already be so far along. For instance, I don't want electricity to be widespread, nor any more than the very beginning of fossil fuel usage. CyMohak, as far as your question from above the maps, I think Riel and I are leaning towards a demons playing a major role in why the angels start speaking again. As society advances and daily life becomes increasingly divorced from human nature (in some ways-- the more things change, etc, etc), the demons are sort of the spiritual embodiment of that strain. I'm making a character that should help unfuzz this part a little, so more on that in (I hope) a few days.