Question: Well, now that the Inca gods are up (all hail the Apu!), I Gotta ask one simple question. What scent and sound does Scent the Divine register for them?
Oops, sorry. We talked about this in the comments of the post announcing the Apu, but it probably should be up here where everybody can see it. I tend to forget to include
Scent the Divine/
Scent the Titanic/
Code of Heaven/
Vestiges of a Distant Past information for new pantheons in their supplements - or not really
forget as much as say, "Oh, well, that'll just get added to the table for that power on the site, not here," and then later John will say, "They're not in play yet, don't add them to the table," and then here we all are.
So! Here, the specifics not just on the Apu but on the Alihah, Anunna, Bogovi and Elohim as well, for anyone who missed them!
| Pantheon | Scent the Divine |
| The Alihah | Sweet dates and the distant cry of an owl |
| The Anunna | Cedar wood and the sudden crack of thunder |
| The Apu | Rich cocoa beans and the distant rumble of an earthquake |
| The Atua | Sea salt and the calling of ocean birds |
| The Bogovi | Rain and the sound of a turning wheel |
| The Elohim | Cooling ash and the sound of clashing weapons |
| The Inue | Blubber oil and the gnash of glaciers |
| The K'uh | Warm honey and the cries of jungle animals |
| Titan | Scent the Titanic |
| Emamu (Anunna) | The breath of a predator on your neck |
| Pakiy (Apu) | The sensation of being torn apart by many hands |
| Paroro-Whenua (Atua) | The brief certainty that the sky is crashing down on you |
| Sedeq (Elohim) | The impression of unyielding barriers surrounding you |
| Stvaranje (Bogovi) | A sudden flash of morbid inspiration |
| Ukiuq (Inue) | The sudden sensation of intense, frostbitten cold |
| Whedh (Alihah) | A sudden sensation of the world rushing toward you |
| Xibalba (K'uh) | The sudden stopping of heartbeat and breath |
| Pantheon | Code of Heaven Crimes |
| The Alihah | Betrayal, breach of hospitality, violation of religious customs |
| The Anunna | Abuse of authority, disrespect toward the gods, rebellion |
| The Apu | Destruction of sacred places or objects, laziness, theft |
| The Atua | Cannibalism, familicide, violation of a taboo |
| The Bogovi | Interference with mortals, murder, wanton destruction |
| The Elohim | Conspiracy, disrespect toward the gods, trespassing |
| The Inue | Disrespect toward the gods, environmental damage, incest |
| The K'uh | Disrespect toward the gods, murder, theft |
| Pantheon | Vestiges of a Distant Past Abilities |
| The Alihah | Art, Control, Fortitude, Stealth, Survival |
| The Anunna | Academics, Art, Craft, Politics, Presence |
| The Apu | Athletics, Awareness, Fortitude, Occult, Survival |
| The Atua | Athletics, Command, Control, Presence, Survival |
| The Bogovi | Awareness, Empathy, Integrity, Occult, Survival |
| The Elohim | Brawl, Command, Fortitude, Melee, Presence |
| The Inue | Animal Ken, Control, Fortitude, Integrity, Survival |
| The K'uh | Athletics, Craft, Empathy, Politics, Thrown |
There we go. All caught up!
Interference with mortals? What kind of missions do the Borgovi gods give their hero scions, and what kind of punishments do they give hero scions who do interfere with mortals?
ReplyDeleteThe Bogovi are in a sticky and weird situation for Scion; Slavic mythology is very clear on the idea that gods are not supposed to interfere with mortals and that there are serious consequences when they do, but the Titan war necessitates them breaking one of their most sacred rules in order to contribute troops to the cause. There has only been one Scion in Slavic myth proper - Mokosits, the first son of Mokosh, who only survived the extreme upset of the gods at his existence by being banished to guard the gates of the Underworld and having his mother banned from ever receiving blood sacrifices again for the crime of having created him - but Svarozhich has been forced to temporarily lift the ban on creating Scions in order to help the war effort. So the Bogovi are allowed to have Scions, but they're among the rarest demigods out there and I imagine the question of what they're going to do with them after the war is over and when Svarozhich might drop that ban back in place are heavy issues on everyones' minds.
DeleteIt's hard to tell whether Hero-level Scions would get in trouble for meddling with humanity - I mean, they're kind of humanity themselves, right? It might be a call for each individual god whether they think their Scions can fudge some of the rules or whether they're sure that having any ichor in their veins at all makes them subject to the same laws as their mighty divine patrons. In either case, the closer they get to godhood, the more likely it is that their actions that significantly impact humanity are going to be noticed and punished - even if they're not necessarily injurious to humans, because the Slavs are not about whether or not you meant well, they're about following the laws of the universe.
To use some examples from our games, setting yourself up as king of a mortal nation, creating magical ever-changing relics you just leave around with humans, teaching them skills known previously only to the divine or interfering in the outcome of a mortal war would all be considered unforgivable for the Bogovi. They need Scions to win this war, but more than any other pantheon they're likely to believe that Scions' jobs are to deal with Titanspawn and other supernatural problems and menaces, and that meddling in the affairs of humans extracurricularly is not part of their benefits package.
Bogovi Heroes probably spend a lot of time killing monsters that shouldn't be in the world, helping in a purely mortal capacity to help alleviate damage they might have done, and going on missions into the Thrice-Tenth Kingdom, where they don't have to worry about upsetting the rules regarding humanity. I imagine their punishments would probably tend to fit the crime - death would be a last resort, since the last thing they want is to have to start all this mess over again, but it's a serious issue in their divine culture, so a slap on the wrist it probably ain't. I imagine projects to fix whatever damage they did or loss of privileges and prestige would be popular punishments.
Thank you, Anne. That actually paints a fairly tragic picture. While some characters might be able to walk away from the mortal world and never look back, I imagine that most would go through serious soul searching before they were able to let go of their mortal connections.
DeleteIn fact, I wonder if that means the Bogovi will end up with a lot of scions abandoning their pantheon at the end of the Titan War.
I imagine it's likely - Scions who want to have Scions of their own or be closer to humanity than being distantly worshiped probably won't like the Bogovi setup much (but then again, those with enough Harmony or Piety might agree that it's better for the World not to have gods parading around changing it all the time; it's a tossup). The end of the war would be a very tragic and worrisome time for the Bogovi no matter what happened, I think, even though they'd be glad to have won.
DeleteOut of curiosity, are the Vestiges Abilities for the White Wolf pantheons your personal choices for the pantheons, or are they the choices printed in the Storyteller Screen?
ReplyDeleteThey're our personal choices. We actually totally retooled the original Vestiges spell; the version in the Storyteller screen involves taking the heads of enemies and gaining XP to spend on Abilities. We may not be overly concerned about XP in some of its most traditional senses, but letting PCs gain more XP directly by just killing more people didn't seem like a very balanced game model to us, so we restructured the spell to grant rerolls instead.
Delete