Better Late Than Never: Maya

All right, folks, by popular demand, here's what we've got left over from our work on Maya, the Titanrealm of Illusion. As all of you know, we're no longer working on Scion so this project was never completed, but several people have asked to see what we've got, so here's a list of the Avatars and the rough maps we had already completed by the end of our run.

The Titanrealm of Illusion is Maya, which represents not only illusions in the classical magical sense but also other forms of deception or unreality, including lies, hallucination, dreams and optical befuddlement. Maya is dually run by Mayasura, lord of illusions and opponent of the Deva, and Angra Mainyu, lord of lies and opponent of the Yazata. Together they have succeeded at keeping the two pantheons pitted against one another for time immemorial, deluding each into believing that the other pantheon of gods are the true enemy. There is some confusion between the father of all evil in Persian mythology and the master of deception in Hindu; some have even theorized that maybe they're the same person, although of course it would be almost impossible to prove that one way or the other.

Angra Mainyu, Avatar of Maya
Associations: Manipulation, Chaos, Illusion

Also known as Ahriman to his later worshipers, Angra Mainyu is the source of all discord, evil and especially falsehood in the universe. Created by the doubt of the great Titan Zrvan at the beginning of time as the opposite counterpart to the great god Ahura Mazda, he corrupts and influences for the worse all the creations of his benevolent brother. It is through lies, the most natural and undetectable form of illusion, that he constantly works for the downfall of the world; all lies come from him or his minions, who tempt humanity into telling them every day of their lives, and he waits for the day that the accumulated weight of his untruths will finally bring the world crashing down, destroying righteousness and beginning the Frashokereti, when he will fight to assert dominance over the universe and obliterate truth from it once and for all.

Hypnos, Avatar of Maya
Associations: Health, Illusion

Hypnos is the Greek lord of sleep and dreams, the bringer of the silent night who captures and holds humanity as easily as does his brother, deadly Thanatos. From him come all fantasies of the mind and the middle of the dark night, carried around the worlds by his children, the Oneroi, and their hosts of minor daimones of terror, sleep, dreams and visions. His symbol is the poppy flower, which brings sleep and strange visions to those who suffer from its effects (or those of its modern derivatives, like opium or morphine). He has not left the center of his domain in time immemorial; Hypnos is always sleeping and dreaming himself, and those dreams swallow and rewrite the smaller dreams of any others that come in contact with them. Eventually, if he cannot be stopped, all living things will fall unconscious under his spell, and all of reality will be replaced by Hypnos' dream, subject to the whims of his ancient mind.

Mayasura, Avatar of Maya
Associations: Charisma, Artistry, Illusion

Mayasura is a complex individual; he has at various times throughout history supported and even paid homage to some of the Deva but then turned upon them as an enemy, given them wondrous works of art but then also filled them with traps and pitfalls. He is the undisputed master of optical illusions, bending the maya that makes up the world of mortals and gods so that it deceives even as it seems innocent. A master architect, he can and has created incredible palaces, cities and works of art, and designed them so cunningly that visitors to them can easily fall into dead-ends from which there is no escape or find themselves lost forever in seemingly endless halls and pools. Through the rakshasa and daitya, the latter some of his most ardent followers and the former his children and creations, he releases other workers of illusions into the world to trouble humanity with their powers of deception, exacting vengeance against followers of the Deva who have over the centuries destroyed his works and thwarted his power.

Utgard-Loki, Avatar of Maya
Associations: Manipulation, Frost, Illusion

Although Utgard-Loki is one of the great frost jotun of Norse myth, he is a far cry from the typically brawny but brainless warriors that make up much of his species. Old, crafty and full of the desire to entertain himself at others' expense, Utgard-Loki is a trickster with no equal, spending his time creating illusions to flummox and trap others, luring travelers into his hall to play with like a cat plays with a mouse, or creating incredible and complex illusions just to see if anyone can tell the difference between them and reality. He has no greater agenda except to amuse himself, but in pursuit of that goal, he spares no expense. Just as when he famously tricked Thor and Loki into performing impossible tasks in his hall until he had grown bored with them, he intends to continue to do anything and everything that suits his fancy now that he is free from Tartarus - even if it results in calamity, destruction or death for someone else. These things are, as far as he's concerned, acceptable casualties in the name of fun.

Xochipilli, Avatar of Maya
Associations: Fertility, Illusion

Xochipilli is the Aztec god of divine hallucination, lord of all mushrooms, flowers and fungus that cause mortal minds to go haywire and bringer of the strangest and most bizarre perversions of reality, the intensity of which have been known to drive his victims mad or convince them that things unbelievably far outside the realm of possibility are utter truth. All dangerous drugs, spores and substances that come from the earth and wreak havoc on the mind are his domain, and he is capable of sending sweet and pleasant hallucinations of good things or creating the horrific ultimate in a bad drug trip. Capricious and unconcerned about the problems that his dubious gifts cause those around him, Xochipilli is convinced that only through such freedom from the restraints of boring "reality" can anyone become truly enlightened and freed, and to that end he seeks to spread his brand of chaotic influence to any and all living things. That most of them would self-destruct in short order is not a problem for him; as far as he's concerned, that would be just another part of the natural cycle of life.

As for the realm of Maya itself, we never quite reached what we would consider a finished set of maps, but we can give you what we've got in all its crazy glory! Here's the combined map of the realm, forty-five layers of transparent illusion deep:

Tripura is the realm of Mayasura, Xochitlan the domain of Xochipilli, Viasha the realm of Angra Mainyu, Somnia the dreary home of Hypnos and Utgardr the kingdom of Utgard-Loki. The map gives you a little taste of what's going on here: illusionary landscapes overlaying the real truth of each place. Of course, which layers are "true" and which ones aren't is almost impossible to figure out.

Obviously, we had a lot of work to do signposting and writing up how STs could distinguish between illusions of various levels and the potential of reality in Maya (if there even is such a thing), but alas, this project is over for us now. If any of this is useful for you all out there, however, we wish you luck with it!

Like Every Goddamn Question, Our Inbox Is So Full You Guys

It's time for another big fat post full of quickly-answered questions! Just know we love each and every one of you, question-askers, honest, and you can always ask for clarification in the comments if you didn't get what you were looking for.

Question: is there any mythological basis for Thor's greatest fear being a warm bed? (Just something I read in a novel).

Not that we know of, but we would hazard a guess that your book might be referring to the idea that Norse warriors aspired to die gloriously in battle, and would therefore be very unhappy with the idea of dying in bed.

Question: Sorry if this has already been covered, but doesn't Aengus have Artistry associated with him?

Nope, sure doesn't. While Aengus is theorized to be possibly associated with music and the arts, we don't have any real evidence of this and no stories of him being particularly artistic, so we did not give him the Avatar of Artistry. However, if your game likes a more artsy interpretation of Aengus, you can always assume he has some Artistry boons at his disposal.

Question: Months ago I asked why Cernunnos was so powerful because he had nine purviews. Rather than allude to his purviews this time, I'm just asking, why is he so powerful in general? Like, I know that he's the Horned God of Wicca, and I know he's a heavily occultic fertility deity, but based on his description in the Nemetondevos description, he seems like he should have intelligence and/or maybe wits as Associated as his attributes.

Cernunnos is undeniably the most recognizable (and therefore Legendary) of the Gaulish gods whose legends survive into the modern day, but unfortunately we don't really know all that much about him, nor do we have anything but piecemeal information about his associations and exploits. Cernunnos on our site is presented as an Odin-like patriarch because that's how he's written in the Scion Storyteller Screen, but honestly most of that is conjecture. You might want to check out this post about the problems of reconstructing Gaulish mythology.

Question: I want a sentient, witty, wise-cracking animal sidekick. Which would be better: creating a Follower or using Create Nemean/Typhonian? Thanks guys, love you guys and all your work!

Nemean and Typhonian creatures are generally not very bright or socially graceful, so you would probably want something smarter than that if you wanted a wise-cracking sidekick who you could actually have conversations with and hurl witty insults at enemies alongside. Birthright Creatures give you more opportunity to tailor your animal's stats to what you want it to do, and you can also use Epic Enhancement on them if you want to bolster any of their stats, so that's probably more what you're looking for.

Question: Was Anshar really evil? He kinda looks like a really senile sky god to me.

Anshar's clearly a Titan, so that really depends on whether or not you think all Titans are evil (we don't think so, although they are all pretty dangerous even if they aren't actively malicious). Like other ancient sky-father Titans, you could certainly play him as simply distant from and uninvolved in his pantheon.

Question: Are Dwarves and Svartalfar the same creature? Norse mythology is confusing.

No, but they do both live in Svartalfheim and some named svartalfar are occasionally also referred to or alluded to as dwarves, so the confusion is understandable. The Norse word for dwarves is dvergr, and is used to refer to creepy little short creatures that are crafty, morally questionable, and really awesome at making magical items like Mjolnir and Brisingamen. Svartalfar means "black elves" and is confusing because it's equated to both dverger and dokkalfar ("dark elves") in various places, which are fairly clearly attested as two different races, with the dark elves described as dwelling underground and being black of skin, and different in appearance from their light elf cousins.

Basically, some scholars think the svartalfar must be the same as the dvergr since they seem to live in the same or similar places and share some traits, but others point out that there are different terms and associations at work and that there's no reason to make that leap. So really, Storyteller's call on that one. We play them as different.

Question: Would it be possible for Artistry Gods to design relics that could enable Gods and Scions to better navigate the Titan Realms? Like relic goggles to give people temporary Epic Perception rankings to see around Keku? Or some kind of Fire-resistant suits to allow survival in Muspelheim?

Yep, sure is! Hephaestus actually made some flame-retardant armor for one of our groups to go to Muspelheim at one point. Artistry can make all kinds of neat stuff, although it's probably difficult and time-consuming to do so.

Question: When you have the Animal purview, you choose an animal to specialize in. We, in my game have been in minor fights about how specific you have to be. For example, the guy with Animal (Jackal) complaining over how he has less utility as the guy with Animal (Dog). Should one be penalized for being more general, or should I allow the more specialized guy to go outside the limits of his animal from time to time?

You might find this post helpful when trying to determine how specific an animal should be! Animals that are less commonly available do often have less utility than your Animal (Housefly) or Animal (Cow) people who can be fairly assured of their animals being around a lot, but Scions can always go seek out their animals at zoos, parks or in natural areas where they might occur, and of course at later levels they can summon or even create them at will. We do occasionally allow Scions with animals that are kind of close to try to use their boons on something that isn't technically their creature, but always at a disadvantage; for example, if your guy with Animal (Jackal) wanted to use his boons on a coyote, we would have him only understand some of what it was saying since the message would be garbled, or increase the difficulty of using other powers on it significantly to illustrate that he was trying to affect something that he isn't really aligned with.

Question: I know shape-shifting Appearance knacks makes this somewhat of a mote point, but for those Scion who don't invest in them, I was wondering what rolls would you make for disguise. And when say disguise, I'm taking about everything from putting on a wig and Groucho Marx glasses to applying Hollywood SFX prosthetics to change your race or sex.

It would depend on exactly what you were doing, but most of the time we would have you roll something along the lines of Appearance + Stealth or Manipulation + Stealth to actually sell the disguise itself, and probably a side order of Manipulation + Empathy and/or Wits + Empathy to not look suspicious while doing it. Tailor to individual Storyteller tastes.

Question: Can a scion with Animal Communication use social knacks on animals he can communicate with, or does he have to use Animal Obediance?

He has to use Animal Obedience, or else just be able to convince it to do what he wants through good old-fashioned charm. His refined powers of pulling a fast one on humanoids are lost on their animal brains.

Question: Have you ever considered a more free-form system for boons (e.g. Mage spheres or Dark Ages fae magic)? If you have, what worked? If you haven't, what would you imagine succeeding?

Nope, sorry. Spheres work pretty well in Mage, but we have no desire whatsoever to import them into Scion. You might want to check out the official forums, though, since we know there are a few games out there that do that sort of thing.

Question: What does the Darkness Virtue which Reverses Virtue due to the Inue? Nothing? Fire becoming Water? etc.

It reverses exactly; someone affected by Heart of Darkness with the Fire Virtue would abruptly have Anti-Fire. They would hate Fire in all its forms, attempt to stamp it out and campaign against its use and existence, and generally do everything that they could to destroy it with exactly as much fervor as they would normally want to protect and encourage it.

Question: What do you think the Godrealm and Underworld of the Orisha are?

You're looking for this post!

Question: How are Fatebonds handled with the Doppleganger boon from the Illusion tree? For example, say someone created a doppleganger of a fellow Scion and had the doppleganger interact with mortals--utilizing the boons it would have such as subtle knife and stolen face--would it be possible to incur a Fatebond in that way to the person being 'doppleganged'?

Question: Hello, John and Anne! Hope you guys are well. My group uses your resources and revisions on Scion (love 'em!) and I just recently started looking at the blog. You've answered a lot of questions that I've been curious about, and many that haven't even occurred to me. Now, I was wondering if you could answer another question, or if perhaps it's already been addressed. How exactly does a Fatebond work if you've stolen someone's face and then committed the acts that would Fatebond?

Fate is not fooled by your piddly doppelgaenger, nor your attempts to pretend you're someone else. It knows that the person being impersonated is not the one spending Legend, and therefore will not attach any Fatebonds to her; it also knows that you are the one spending Legend, so you're going to get the Fatebonds from doing so no matter what you look like. And before you ask, the same goes for any other way of impersonating someone or meddling with the free will of other people.

As always, jump into the comments if you're so moved.

Powers from the Future!

Question: Frost and Illusion, the two purviews introduced in Ragnarok, are incredibly light in terms of boon numbers. Do you have any ideas for other boons in those purviews?

Throw in Stars, too, which was introduced in the Yazata supplement. The three purviews have seventeen, sixteen and thirteen boons respectively, which puts them significantly below the beefier sets of parties in the game.

We do indeed have ideas for new boons in these purviews. We have ideas for all kinds of boons, but we haven't been working on them as a project since they seem to be unpopular in the voting. However, we can give you some idea teasers here, and you guys can either let them inspire you to lobby for more boons or use them as starting points to write your own.

Frost: For this purview, we're considering more powers involving temperature and environmental effects, imprisoning others in ice, or imparting spiritual chill rather than physical.

Illusion: For this purview, we're considering powers involving dreams and the creation or control thereof, effects that give longer lasting duration or permanence to illusions, glamours and mirages, or things that the illusionist can make use of as if they were real.

Stars: For this purview, we're considering powers that allow Scions to see through the stars, embody stars and constellations themselves, guide others, or create portents or signs in the heavens that can be seen by all.

So hopefully that will give you some idea of what we're thinking of, and some hope for the future of purviews. We're aware of which purviews need the most love, and we hope to give them that love someday soon.

On the Wings of a Dream

Question: The power to move through flames is in the Fire purview and the power to move through shadows is in Darkness, so how come the power to move through dreams isn't in Illusion, the puview that controls dreams?

Because, where Fire and Darkness are purviews concerned with the manipulation of an existing element, Illusion is a purview concerned with the creation of things that are entirely unreal.

Fire's a simple purview, at its base. You're a fire-god; you control fire. It does what you say, you can benefit from it in ways other gods can't, and you can become one with it at your discretion. It makes sense for a god of fire, who can become part of the leaping flames and command their every movement, to be able to travel through them. Similarly, a goddess of darkness controls the shadows of the universe, makes them obey her commands and can become part of their ever-shifting obscurity, so it also makes sense for her to be able to travel through them. Both are using the existing force of the world over which they are master to move themselves around (and, on a conceptual level, drawing on the fact that both elements are things that are fluid and interconnected by nature - one shadow is the same as all other shadows, one flame is indistinguishable from the fire that surrounds it, so therefore you can come out of any one regardless of where you went in).

But Illusion, by its very nature, isn't like that. There's no thing that Illusion controls or commands; it is literally the purview of nothing, the set of powers dedicated to pretending things are there that really aren't. Most of the time, the illusionist doesn't even see the illusions she projects onto others, because she's wielding a power to convince people that something is there when she knows very well that it isn't. A fire god can step into the flames, but an illusion god has literally nothing to do the same with. It would make no sense to travel through dreams or illusions as an illusionist, because illusions are not real, are not there, and are products of the inward-drawn mind alone. There's nothing to travel in, especially for the god who knows that better than everyone else.

However, the idea of visions, effects and even travel in dreams is one that occurs in folklore and is both powerful and cool, so we didn't want to leave it out of Scion - on the contrary, let's get that bad boy into play so people can do awesome stuff with it! Since the purpose of the power is to travel, and since the Psychopomp purview is both about traveling for purposes of guiding souls and carrying messages and is also the set of powers that specializes in journeying around with no regard for the normal means of doing so (teleportation!), Oneiric Visit makes perfect sense there. A Psychopomp's job is to zoom around the universe, through doors that are invisible, across vistas unseen, collecting not just notes but the very souls of the dead; why should they not also travel through dreams, using the minds of their future charges as their conveyance? For them, wacky methods of getting around are just business as usual.

Illusion is one of the slimmer purviews at the moment, so I definitely feel you on wanting it to do more and branch out wider, particularly in the less-represented field of dreams. This boon isn't the place to do it, but I will tell you that we're on the same page with you, and that more powers having to do with dreams are on some mysterious lists on our desks right now.

Liar Liar

What do the Yazata think of Shapeshifting and Illusions? Do they count as 'Lies' in the metaphysical sense, or does Asha only care about straight up verbal lying?

Its up to each ST to really decide, but the guidelines should be, the "the heart/soul of the law, not the rule". I could go on a giant list of things that would be considered lies vs things that wouldnt be, but that list would be giant. Just use common sense and good judgement. If the illusion or shapeshift is attempting to mislead or decieve then it probably counts as a "lie." If its for other reasons, then it isnt.

If you change into a cow, and everyone knows "o, thats billy, hes in his cow form" then you have no problem. If you sneak into a herd of cows to purposefully(or accidentally really) mislead someone into thinking you're a generic cow(or a cow other then billy) then its a "lie".

Illusion has it a bit harder. The whole idea there is to trick and decieve, and there are few illusion boons that dont necessarily do that(and there will be more in the future). So not decieveing is more difficult.


However there is another metaphysical answer, and it leans towards the relationship between the devas and the yazatas. To the devas, all of existence on earth is an illusion. So are illusions actually real? For the time that they are in existence, are they just as real as the rest of the planet? Is a real sound any different from a fake sound? Or an imagined sound? These arent questions I can really answer for you, because I think it depends on the game that is being run and the particular aspects of the "world" within the game.

Id generally lean towards(unless you have a metaplot reason against it), all illusions are lies.

Spot the Difference

Question: Zeus has, in a number of myths displayed an impressive command of shapeshifting, even going so far as to impregnate Danae in the form of a shower of gold. Do you think it would be too much of a stretch to give him Illusion as associated? And if not, what are the criteria you look for while giving out this particular association? Most other purviews are fairly self-explanatory, but Illusion has always been a purview I have not been able to properly ascertain the applicability of.

You're not alone. Illusion is probably the most difficult purview to assign to a god of all of them, which shouldn't be too surprising. It is, after all, a set of powers dedicated to looking like you're doing other things, which makes it difficult to notice it happening without a really great degree in Shenanigans Studies.

To get the easier question out of the way, no, we wouldn't consider Illusion for Zeus. He does do quite a bit of shapechanging, but that's the only thing he ever does that could be interpreted as an Illusion power, and it's something even a Legend 5 Scion could probably do with Dreamcraft and a decent roll. Combined with the total lack of illusionist, trickster or dream imagery associated with Zeus, it's just not enough to justify saying that he has the Avatar of the purview.

As for deciding when a god should have Illusion, however, there's no really clear answer and it's sometimes just exceptionally difficult to figure out. Some gods do have Illusion, but others are good at mundane disguises, using Magic spells creatively, messing around with their Appearance or just really great liars. There are a few good hallmarks we look for, but in the end sometimes we just have to make a judgment call and keep refining it if we come up with new stories or information.

Some gods are very easy to identify as masters of illusion; Manannan mac Lir is a good example of this, since he not only shapechanges but also does things like laying permanent veils of invisibility over people to separate them and conjuring up false images of a phantom fleet to confound his enemies. For those gods who aren't actively conjuring up visions, those who perform a lot of different transformations are often candidates, particularly if they transform into various different kinds of things instead of only animals or only different images of people (Loki's a good example of this kind of illusion usage). Gods who manipulate dreams or visions in others, like Morpheus, for example, are also possible candidates for Illusion since they specialize in creating and manipulating unreality. Gods who obscure reality in some way and are called upon to do so on behalf of others are also possible illusionists, which is the case for Marishiten, who was called upon to obscure the movements of armies and confuse their enemies.

But these are all just indicators; some gods that do those things really aren't suitable candidates for Illusion, while others that don't still end up with the purview (like Brahma, who is lord of creation in a world where all things created are illusions). It's also important to consider what the god is the patron deity of, what his character is as a god and whether or not those things affect his eligibility for the purview. We consider tricksters to be more "likely" candidates for Illusion than some other kinds of gods, since bending reality and creating diversions is part of their character as gods, and similarly we might consider gods who are known as dreamweavers or shapeshifters before others. Conversely, gods who do things that might be illusions but who have characters completely opposite the idea - Zeus, for example, who represents divine order and doesn't have a trickstery bone in his body, falls under this category - are poor candidates for gods who can embody The Trickster in times of need.

But, of course, every trickster does not have Illusion, and every god with Illusion is not a trickster. In the end, it's a judgment call based on stories and epithets and divine personality, like all the other purviews, but since the purview is about uncertainty, confusion and misdirection by nature, it's correspondingly harder to pinpoint than something straightforward like Fire or Guardian.

Basically, Illusion is more of a headache than most purviews. There's no quick and easy absolute, just a set of guidelines and possibilities to come to with an open mind.

Parallel Dreams

Question: Dreamcraft. So a high Epic Wits character with no Epic Intelligence can maintain no distinct illusions? Did you mean to say Epic Wits?

Nope, we said Epic Intelligence and we meant it! Intelligence is the stat used to represent concentration and the ability to think about more than one thing at once, which is why the Multi-Tasking knack is under Epic Intelligence. A Scion who doesn't have the brainpower to concentrate on multiple things at once simply doesn't have the wherewithal to run several realistic illusions at once; he'll need to simplify down to a number he can handle simultaneously without getting confused.

However, using Dreamcraft always allows you to have one illusion up by virtue of your powers of chicanery, even if you have no Epic Intelligence. We can see where the boon as written right now might seem to be suggesting otherwise, so we've edited it to make it more clear. Thanks for bringing it to our attention!

Look Closely, Ladies and Gentlemen!

Question: Which figures are probable candidates for Maya (the Titanrealm, not the culture)? I don't quite see how the concept of Illusion is so relevant too the other cultures (excluding what you said about the Yazata in your previous post). Or would it also include more far-fetched forms of illusions - for example, dreams (Hypnos/Morpheus)?

Well, to tell you the truth we haven't done a full finished roster for the Avatars of Maya that we're prepared to share yet (especially since our players are going there soon and have no idea what's in story). But the idea of illusions is one that certainly isn't confined to India and Persia, so here's a list of some of the possible candidates you might use in your own games:

• Ahriman/Angra Mainyu, Persian Titan of lies, deception and confusion. Lies are after all merely a specialized form of illusion, and they perform the same function - the obfuscation of the truth and the creation of something that is unreal but still believed in.
• Apate, Greek Titan of deception and concealment, who is said to be so wily Hermes himself could not compete with her, and who gave Hera the ability to trick Zeus into killing Semele.
• Mayasura, Hindu Titan of optical illusion, most often seen in his architectural wonders, which were so dizzying to look at that one could not distinguish floor from ceiling, glass from water and so on.
• Morpheus, Greek Titan of dreams. He's most definitely a Titan, the grandson of Erebus himself, and illusions are after all basically just dreams that one sees while awake. His brothers, Icelus and Phantasus, are also Titanic dream-weavers.
• Proteus, Greek Titan of transformation. Although also aligned with the sea and therefore a candidate for a watery Titanrealm, he's the archetypal shape-changer and form-obscurer, so much so that his name was repurposed for the adjective protean.
• Utgarde-Loki, Norse Titan, giant and master of illusiory shenanigans. He was so powerful that he easily punked Loki and Thor and they still made no move against him, and his illusions - the cat that was really the Midgard serpent, the drinking horn that was really the ocean, and the man who was really fire itself - are some of the most famous in Norse mythology.

I wouldn't suggest Hypnos, who doesn't seem to have anything to do with illusions or even dreams and merely governs unconsciousness; sleep doesn't necessarily translate to dreaming, and anyway that's what his sons are there for. You might also explore this with Pasithea, though - she isn't explicitly said to be a goddess of hallucination, but her strong ties to Hypnos and Dionysus, the uncertain etymology of her name and so on have led to her being suggested as such by more than one scholar. There are also tons of other illusionists, tricksters, shape-shifters and deceivers throughout mythology that you could put into this Titanrealm - many of them are favorites for god-parents, but if you're not using them as playable gods, figures like Anansi, Coyote or Xochipilli could easily fit in here, all of them embodying some form of lies, trickery or clouding of the senses.

In the end, it's important to remember that Titanrealms, like the rest of Scion, have to cover the concepts and ideas of all the cultures of the world, not just the ones we're most familiar with. The word "illusion" conjures up images for most of us of projected visual images like the armada of phantom ships Manannan mac Lir caused to appear around Ireland, but that's only one interpretation of the idea, and a strongly northern European one at that. Illusion is at its basis the idea of deception and confusion, of one thing masquerading as or hiding another, so across other cultures it might also include figures attached to things like lying, hallucinations, dreams, disguises or other forms of trickery. Don't feel like you have to interpret the idea narrowly - Titanrealms are anything but narrow!

What Dreams May Come

Question: I see that you have some dream-affecting boons in Illusion and Psychopomp. Where are some other places (if any) that would be appropriate for dream-affecting powers? Perhaps as an Epic Intelligence or Epic Manipulation Knack (or tree of Knacks) or a (and this may be stretching it a bit) Moon Boon?

In addition to Nocturnal Director in Illusion and Oneiric Visit in Psychopomp, Dream Wrack over in Justice also involves a target's dreams.

The second two are sort of specialty applications of their purviews; Oneiric Visit does travel through dreams but can't really affect them too much, making it more of an extension of Psychopomp's travel theme than a true dream-manipulation boon, and Dream Wrack, while definitely causing specific kinds of dreams, doesn't give the Scion much in the way of direct control over them.

For the most part, we tend to think of affecting dreams as something that falls within the Illusion purview's area of expertise most often. Most illusions are, after all, merely waking dreams, and Nocturnal Director is a very specific and concrete way of meddling around with the dreams of the sleeping as well. We've discussed adding new Illusion boons that have to do with dreams to the purview since it's an area that would probably be a neat expansion of Illusion's usually narrow focus, though at the moment we haven't come up with any really good ideas for new powers; it's in the queue with the rest of our collected new-boon detritus until such time as new APP boons wins on the poll or we are suddenly seized by divine inspiration to work on it. Our first preference would probably always be to shore up Illusion's already strong connection to dreams rather than outsourcing to other purviews too much.

However, I don't think that means there's no other room around Scion's landscape for other powersets to take a shot at it. Moon's not too bad a stretch, considering that some moon gods are associated with dreams (probably because they're associated with night and sleeping, but hey, run with it!); a boon that did something with the light of the moon influencing the dreams of sleepers, probably intensifying them to play into the concept of moonlight causing madness, could work. I'd also say that you might be able to come up with something in Darkness that had to do with causing nightmares (probably building up from Afraid of the Dark), since Darkness is usually the go-to purview for terror and the lurking demons of the mind. And while I don't think you'd necessarily need to add a new boon to Prophecy for dream-visions, I would totally allow a good stunt with Voice of Fate to send the prophetic visions into a target's dreams if he happens to be asleep at the time.

There's a lot less room to meddle with dreams in the Attributes; I can't think of many places I'd want to put dream-weaving in a knack, since it seems more like it fits over in the boons. I see where you're coming from with putting it in Intelligence to go with Grant Visions, but that's not really what that tree is about; you could use Grant Visions to project an image into someone's head, but it's not really the same thing as animating a scene the way you'd need to to affect their dreams, and adding that would pretty heavily infringe on what Illusion's already doing with it. However, I could see a specialty knack over in Manipulation, probably in the Instant Hypnosis/Implant False Memory tree, that implanted subconscious ideas and imagery in a target's head so that they dreamed of them the next time they went to sleep, sort of a delayed time-release kind of communication or way of influencing them (bonus! probably nobody but an Illusion god will be able to catch you doing it, too!).

Incidentally, there are in fact entire APPs built around dreams out there, written by fans; quite a few of them, actually, so if you're interested, check out examples A, B, C and D. While there are some interesting ideas in them, on the whole we don't think there's any need for a dedicated APP only about dreams; there are very few gods of dreams across world myth and few of them fulfill their roles in the same way, so while we love Gaiman's Sandman as much as the next kids, we probably won't be introducing an entire purview written only for him into the game.

Has anybody else out there done anything creative with dreams in Scion? We're always collecting ideas for that faraway APP boon workday!