Question: Out of curiosity, why did you keep Marishiten as a PC God? On a related note, what was your inspiration for using her as Thokk in your "Lines of Convergence" story?
Marishiten, unlike most people added for the World at War section of Scion: Companion, seems to be a major enough deity that we decided she merited inclusion when the rest of them got the boot. Not only does she have an illustrious past as the Hindu Marici and consequently a few different forms in different Asian countries, but she was pretty big potatoes for the samurai clans and performs a lot of functions, including organized warfare and illusion, that most of the rest of her pantheon does not. She also has some pretty rad stories to her name, including ruining hunters' lives by running around as a temptingly awesome trophy and then destroying them when they fail to recognize her inherent divinity. In short, she's a pretty cool lady who we thought made a pretty cool addition to the divine landscape; we like Marishiten!
Marishiten took Thokk's place in Lines of Convergence on Amaterasu's orders, in an attempt to hasten the onset of Ragnarok by preventing Baldur from being resurrected. Odin had previously been part of a large assault on Japan in order to steal some precious relics from it and prevent the Amatsukami from activating a major Titan defense system they had built (part of this event was seen at the end of the story Half-Soul, from Saki's point of view) and had thus incurred the enmity of the Amatsukami, and Marishiten's pivotal presence in that particular story is one of many incidents designed by the Japanese gods to wreak their vengeance on the Aesir and their leader. Aurora and her band had no way of knowing this, of course, though after they discovered Thokk they began to harbor suspicions about why they seem to keep tripping over signs of Japanese hostility everywhere they go.
Marishiten was chosen for that particular plot because of her strong ties to the Illusion purview, which made her the best choice to stand in for Loki in a story that hinges on an illusion obscuring Thokk's true identity. Of course, nobody was supposed to see through it, but exactly how that happened - whether Marishiten wasn't trying very hard, Fate was meddling or Aurora is just that badass - remains an unanswered question.
Marishiten: she a bitch.
ReplyDeleteWas Loki in on letting Marishiten take his Fated place as Thokk?
ReplyDeleteAs far as the PCs could tell, no. Loki was in Asgard the entire time, under heavy guard, desperately looking for ways to avoid somehow being tricked into preventing Baldur's return, and he seemed very relieved - almost hysterically so - when it turned out to be someone else instead of him.
DeleteIn all technicality, in the sagas Loki is never explicitly stated to be Thokk; it's merely mentioned that it was believed that Thokk must have been Loki in disguise. In the bits of related story itself, she's merely a giantess with a bad attitude.
So Loki was exonerated that day, and the PCs weren't very surprised, considering that they'd seen him and Baldur hang out a lot and the two of them seemed pretty tight. Aurora was pleased to help him escape his fate, and Geoff was relieved that his ally hadn't turned out to be a bad guy.
Of course, it's Loki, so it's entirely possible that he set up the entire thing - but if he did, certainly nobody in the game has ever discovered proof of such.