The Scion AMA continues, this time with Sowiljr, better known to some as Geoff Matheson, a Las Vegas chef turned reluctant Allfather! He does not have time for autographs and would like everyone to stop trying to touch him, please, but is otherwise happy to answer a few questions.
Showing posts with label Geoff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Geoff. Show all posts
Monday, April 14, 2014
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Anne's Fiction Corner
I may still be pretty much useless on the computer, but with the help of dictation software and a whole lot of painkillers, I'm unconquerable nonetheless. Today's story is Qualities of Heat, starring Sophia Archimedes with appearances by Geoff Matheson, Mitchell Gozer, Marcus James, Sangria Tecuhtli and everybody's favorite mysterious Aztec Scion. It is a tale of expectations versus reality, reason versus passion, and what happens when violent temper collides with unexpected outcome.
Skeins of Fate won the voting this time (although it was pretty close), so they're up next! We're down to just two to vote on now, so let the rivalry begin!
And off we go!
Skeins of Fate won the voting this time (although it was pretty close), so they're up next! We're down to just two to vote on now, so let the rivalry begin!
- If you vote for Eastern Promises, you're voting for stories from the nineteenth-century band in a world of colonialism and industry - Leona Middleton, Samuel Vanderbilt and Paniwi Bayteru of the Netjer, Faruza Alinejad and Yadi of the Yazata, Mohini Misra and Padma Billingsworth of the Deva, James Howard and Alvin de Lafayette of the Anunna, and many more. They're currently fighting corruption among local authorities, learning what other cultures have to offer them and finding ways to survive no matter what the cost.
- If you vote for Strawberry Fields, you're voting for stories from the wild-eyed Celtic band - Dierdre O'Riordan, Seamus McMann, Jude Shriver and Auggie MacDonough of the Tuatha de Danann and Alaina Bertrand and Ignatius Rex of the Nemetondevos. They're currently gearing up to challenge the combined might of the military and their shadowy puppeteers, while reaching out to their kinsmen around the world.
And off we go!
Thursday, February 6, 2014
King of the North, Queen of the South
Question: I loved your fanmix for Aurora and Wolf! (Even though it made me sad...) Do you have any more for other characters, and if you do could we see them? Pretty please?
Hey, your wish is our command. We actually have several of these, which is either a sign that we're awesome and full of creative love for our characters, or we need to get out more. Or both.
When we talk about romance in our Scion games, things almost always begin and end with the same two people: Sangria and Geoff. Here's a playlist for them, two heroes who were never meant to be together but who even death couldn't rip away from each other.
Hey, your wish is our command. We actually have several of these, which is either a sign that we're awesome and full of creative love for our characters, or we need to get out more. Or both.
When we talk about romance in our Scion games, things almost always begin and end with the same two people: Sangria and Geoff. Here's a playlist for them, two heroes who were never meant to be together but who even death couldn't rip away from each other.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Status Report: Still Flailing at the Unknown
Question: Can we get an update on what is happening in your three games?
We sure can - in fact, let's ring in the new year with one!
Things are rough in the god-level game, where our Legend 11 superstars are having serious trouble juggling their loyalties, their secret missions and their political obligations. They're still on a secret mission from their parents, who charged them with gathering the omphalus stones of each of the Titanrealms in order to use them in a ritual to reinforce Tartarus, which is in danger of breaking open again now that they've managed to get a bunch of Titans back into it but nobody really bothered to go and spackle up the cracks they got out of last time. Going to Titanrealms is dangerous and difficult and takes up a whole lot of time, and in the meantime Sowiljr's position as king of the Aesir is suffering because he's not around to do it. They recently also figured out that removing a realm's omphalus stone makes it more powerful, so they're just beginning to realize they may have royally screwed some of the other pantheons who were fighting those Titans and just got suddenly overwhelmed by extra power. And while they have a few friends among the gods, they know that their parents are still incognito after Ragnarok and they're not allowed to tell anyone they're alive, which means they can't ask for a lot of help with their mission without having to field uncomfortable questions. Already some of the Bogovi are angrily trying to stop them, because what they're doing is pretty much directly opposed to both Harmony and the usual Bogovi mindset of not touching things that aren't yours.
At this exact moment, Sowiljr and Jioni are in Gimli (the renamed Asgard, post-Ragnarok), trying to get it ready for the Kingsmoot, a meeting of all the pantheon heads that Sowiljr has called in an effort to get everyone to make some policies, alliances and plans that help the overall war, not to mention solidify his own tenuous position as king of like two people. Folkwardr has likewise called, or is trying to call, a Magemoot to deal with the problem of the Titanrealm of Fate having been severely screwed up by Theoi shenanigans, making the Fate purviews not work properly, but he's unable to get much going on that since he's currently trapped in the Titanrealm of Illusions with Eztli, who he's desperately trying to get out since he knows she's ill-equipped to do so herself. Eztli, in turn, almost got out once but refused to go when she realized that Tonatiuh, the sun god of her struggling pantheon, was trapped there, too; she refused to leave him, and all three are now fighting to survive and remember who they are before the Titan eats them whole. Sowiljr is miserable over Folkwardr and Eztli being stuck in there, but knows that he both can't really help them and that he doesn't dare not show up to this major political event he's throwing, so he's just doing the best he can and trying not to Loyalty extremity every day. Jioni's just tired. Of everyone.
In Eastern Promises, the current band consists of Alvin, James, Leona, Mrs. Young and Haji, the same misfits from the last adventure, who have just begun a new saga in order to fulfill requirements asked of them by Fate after James used Deus Ex Machina to save their lives in the last story. They've been sent to go to the Garden of the Hesperides and retrieve a box for Ishtar; they have no idea what's in the box, nor are they feeling great about going to the Garden of Hera Kicks Your Ass, but Fate wants what Fate wants. They've just begun to get some clues that not all of the gods may be around, although where they are and what happened to them is anybody's guess, and that they're largely on their own when it comes to dealing with their supernatural problems. Most recently, James attempted to get permission from Queen Victoria to marry Leona, only to be told in the politest terms possible that he wasn't about to get permission to marry anyone who's half brown and he has a duty to the Crown to marry someone more suitable in case his children come up to inherit the throne one day, which he's trying to combat by finding a way to prove that Leona is descended from the pharaohs and therefore appropriate marriage material; and Alvin, in order to save his drowning comrades from an angry Proteus, agreed to spend a night with the god as his eromenos and is exploring a strange but interesting new world of sexuality. Mrs. Young hates everyone and wants to go home. Haji's good, though.
Finally, the Gangs of New York game just brought their story, starring Zoe, Skylar, Russel, Isaac and Anton, to a thrilling conclusion where somehow most people survived. Isaac accidentally got himself dragged into a world where he exists as pure computer code, and there met the mistress of the giant technological web, who turned out to be Arachne; she offered him the chance to stay with her and influence the web (and thus the world) from within, which he accepted, bowing out before the final game session. Back on earth, where all the Scions of the current story are duly appointed superheroes (codenamed Containment Prime) in the employ of the United States government in charge of defending New York City from supernatural threats, Skylar fled a monster attack that destroyed an Army base and was subsequently sentenced to death for abandoning his duty; Zoe and Anton made a desperate helicopter trip from New York to Washington, D.C. in an hour and half in a stolen military jet, being attacked by monsters all the way, to barely make it in time to stop Congress from voting in his execution. Zoe made an incredible patriotic speech about Skylar's value to the country and the need for superheroes, successfully saving him from death and the group from disbandment, and Anton made sure it went viral so that the United States as a whole is now on the superhero bandwagon. Meanwhile, Russel and Skylar, defending New York on their own, teamed up with a surprisingly skilled human cop they ran into to take on the last of the fire demons that have been plaguing the city recently, in a fierce battle that nearly killed all of them but finally managed to take her down and save the day.
At the end of the story, Zoe was recalled to Washington to coordinate political concerns for the new group (and deal with the fact that Isaac has gone AWOL and, since he's a former terrorist, that's super not good), Anton went with her as bodyguard and chauffeur, Russel missed his opportunity to try to tell Zoe he has feelings for her because of Skylar's bionic interference, and all was well in the Big Apple. The next story will rotate characters again, so Zoe, Isaac and Anton will go out and Russel and Skylar will stay in, and we'll pick up with a new crisis and set of heroes next week.
So, you know, they're keeping busy.
It just occurred to me that this post is queued, so there might have been a game or two between when I wrote it and when it goes live, but that just adds to the mystery, I think.
We sure can - in fact, let's ring in the new year with one!
Things are rough in the god-level game, where our Legend 11 superstars are having serious trouble juggling their loyalties, their secret missions and their political obligations. They're still on a secret mission from their parents, who charged them with gathering the omphalus stones of each of the Titanrealms in order to use them in a ritual to reinforce Tartarus, which is in danger of breaking open again now that they've managed to get a bunch of Titans back into it but nobody really bothered to go and spackle up the cracks they got out of last time. Going to Titanrealms is dangerous and difficult and takes up a whole lot of time, and in the meantime Sowiljr's position as king of the Aesir is suffering because he's not around to do it. They recently also figured out that removing a realm's omphalus stone makes it more powerful, so they're just beginning to realize they may have royally screwed some of the other pantheons who were fighting those Titans and just got suddenly overwhelmed by extra power. And while they have a few friends among the gods, they know that their parents are still incognito after Ragnarok and they're not allowed to tell anyone they're alive, which means they can't ask for a lot of help with their mission without having to field uncomfortable questions. Already some of the Bogovi are angrily trying to stop them, because what they're doing is pretty much directly opposed to both Harmony and the usual Bogovi mindset of not touching things that aren't yours.
At this exact moment, Sowiljr and Jioni are in Gimli (the renamed Asgard, post-Ragnarok), trying to get it ready for the Kingsmoot, a meeting of all the pantheon heads that Sowiljr has called in an effort to get everyone to make some policies, alliances and plans that help the overall war, not to mention solidify his own tenuous position as king of like two people. Folkwardr has likewise called, or is trying to call, a Magemoot to deal with the problem of the Titanrealm of Fate having been severely screwed up by Theoi shenanigans, making the Fate purviews not work properly, but he's unable to get much going on that since he's currently trapped in the Titanrealm of Illusions with Eztli, who he's desperately trying to get out since he knows she's ill-equipped to do so herself. Eztli, in turn, almost got out once but refused to go when she realized that Tonatiuh, the sun god of her struggling pantheon, was trapped there, too; she refused to leave him, and all three are now fighting to survive and remember who they are before the Titan eats them whole. Sowiljr is miserable over Folkwardr and Eztli being stuck in there, but knows that he both can't really help them and that he doesn't dare not show up to this major political event he's throwing, so he's just doing the best he can and trying not to Loyalty extremity every day. Jioni's just tired. Of everyone.
In Eastern Promises, the current band consists of Alvin, James, Leona, Mrs. Young and Haji, the same misfits from the last adventure, who have just begun a new saga in order to fulfill requirements asked of them by Fate after James used Deus Ex Machina to save their lives in the last story. They've been sent to go to the Garden of the Hesperides and retrieve a box for Ishtar; they have no idea what's in the box, nor are they feeling great about going to the Garden of Hera Kicks Your Ass, but Fate wants what Fate wants. They've just begun to get some clues that not all of the gods may be around, although where they are and what happened to them is anybody's guess, and that they're largely on their own when it comes to dealing with their supernatural problems. Most recently, James attempted to get permission from Queen Victoria to marry Leona, only to be told in the politest terms possible that he wasn't about to get permission to marry anyone who's half brown and he has a duty to the Crown to marry someone more suitable in case his children come up to inherit the throne one day, which he's trying to combat by finding a way to prove that Leona is descended from the pharaohs and therefore appropriate marriage material; and Alvin, in order to save his drowning comrades from an angry Proteus, agreed to spend a night with the god as his eromenos and is exploring a strange but interesting new world of sexuality. Mrs. Young hates everyone and wants to go home. Haji's good, though.
Finally, the Gangs of New York game just brought their story, starring Zoe, Skylar, Russel, Isaac and Anton, to a thrilling conclusion where somehow most people survived. Isaac accidentally got himself dragged into a world where he exists as pure computer code, and there met the mistress of the giant technological web, who turned out to be Arachne; she offered him the chance to stay with her and influence the web (and thus the world) from within, which he accepted, bowing out before the final game session. Back on earth, where all the Scions of the current story are duly appointed superheroes (codenamed Containment Prime) in the employ of the United States government in charge of defending New York City from supernatural threats, Skylar fled a monster attack that destroyed an Army base and was subsequently sentenced to death for abandoning his duty; Zoe and Anton made a desperate helicopter trip from New York to Washington, D.C. in an hour and half in a stolen military jet, being attacked by monsters all the way, to barely make it in time to stop Congress from voting in his execution. Zoe made an incredible patriotic speech about Skylar's value to the country and the need for superheroes, successfully saving him from death and the group from disbandment, and Anton made sure it went viral so that the United States as a whole is now on the superhero bandwagon. Meanwhile, Russel and Skylar, defending New York on their own, teamed up with a surprisingly skilled human cop they ran into to take on the last of the fire demons that have been plaguing the city recently, in a fierce battle that nearly killed all of them but finally managed to take her down and save the day.
At the end of the story, Zoe was recalled to Washington to coordinate political concerns for the new group (and deal with the fact that Isaac has gone AWOL and, since he's a former terrorist, that's super not good), Anton went with her as bodyguard and chauffeur, Russel missed his opportunity to try to tell Zoe he has feelings for her because of Skylar's bionic interference, and all was well in the Big Apple. The next story will rotate characters again, so Zoe, Isaac and Anton will go out and Russel and Skylar will stay in, and we'll pick up with a new crisis and set of heroes next week.
So, you know, they're keeping busy.
It just occurred to me that this post is queued, so there might have been a game or two between when I wrote it and when it goes live, but that just adds to the mystery, I think.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Beloved Bear
Question: I saw that Geoff has a different name (Tlazohtlaloni) on the Teotl family tree. What does the name mean and how did he earn it?
Tlazohtlaloni means literally "beloved one", with the masculine ending so you know it's a dude who is being beloved here. It was given to him by the Teotl to describe his place in the pantheon as Eztli's consort; as far as they're concerned, his job is literally just to be her beloved. That's what he's allowed into Acopa for.
Geoff's in a strange situation on Acopa thanks to that really awful thing his pantheon did; they have to tolerate him because he's legally married to Eztli and she's important to them, but he doesn't really have a place among them and is always treated as something of a potentially disruptive outsider. From an Aztec point of view, he also fills all the traditionally "feminine" roles in his marriage to Eztli, including taking care of the children, making food, taking care of her day-to-day needs and being protected by her, while Eztli does most of the traditionally "masculine" things like going to war and ensuring the family's safety, all of which means that even when he's not doing anything, he doesn't look quite right to them.
He's working on trying to gain more acceptance in his adopted pantheon, ingratiating himself with the Tezcatlipocas and even trying to find a way to make contact with a nahualli of his own, but it's slow going since the Aztec gods are unwilling to change and unlikely to forget the tragic events of the recent past. So, until then, he's Eztli's "beloved one" to them, and will be until they decide he's distinguished himself in some other way.
(It's a pretty good name for a god of marriage, though, and they've been starting to let him kind of take that role on, so progress is being made!)
Tlazohtlaloni means literally "beloved one", with the masculine ending so you know it's a dude who is being beloved here. It was given to him by the Teotl to describe his place in the pantheon as Eztli's consort; as far as they're concerned, his job is literally just to be her beloved. That's what he's allowed into Acopa for.
Geoff's in a strange situation on Acopa thanks to that really awful thing his pantheon did; they have to tolerate him because he's legally married to Eztli and she's important to them, but he doesn't really have a place among them and is always treated as something of a potentially disruptive outsider. From an Aztec point of view, he also fills all the traditionally "feminine" roles in his marriage to Eztli, including taking care of the children, making food, taking care of her day-to-day needs and being protected by her, while Eztli does most of the traditionally "masculine" things like going to war and ensuring the family's safety, all of which means that even when he's not doing anything, he doesn't look quite right to them.
He's working on trying to gain more acceptance in his adopted pantheon, ingratiating himself with the Tezcatlipocas and even trying to find a way to make contact with a nahualli of his own, but it's slow going since the Aztec gods are unwilling to change and unlikely to forget the tragic events of the recent past. So, until then, he's Eztli's "beloved one" to them, and will be until they decide he's distinguished himself in some other way.
(It's a pretty good name for a god of marriage, though, and they've been starting to let him kind of take that role on, so progress is being made!)
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Two Guys, a Girl and Rampant Bloodletting
Question: Hey, I was reading some of your fiction about Geoff lately (awesome job, by the way!) and it got me thinking about Jay Ortiz. It seems like he hates Geoff, but is that only because of the Norse thing? Is it possible that Sangria might have something to do with it? (wink, wink)
I see what you're doing with that winking there, questioner. It's hard to say, actually - Jay is a pretty mysterious guy.
He has plenty of reasons to dislike Geoff without anyone else needing to get involved; Geoff set in motion the violent takeover of Jay's homeland and people by foreign powers, which is not something anyone forgets easily. Of course, Geoff didn't mean to do that and was very upset about it when he found out about it, but that doesn't make it any better. In fact, it might make it worse - seriously, you got my family and home blown up not because you were trying to but just because you're stupid?
And of course Geoff doesn't really help the situation much, since he dislikes Jay right back (watching two high Charisma characters trying very hard not to like one another is pretty hilarious, by the way. Every few minutes they almost give each other the finger guns and then overcompensate with violent hatred). Geoff's angry with Jay for blaming him for crimes that he personally didn't commit even if his family did, and for his obvious opposition to Geoff wherever he can get away with it. Fiction hasn't caught up to the post-Ragnarok landscape yet, but Jay most recently caught Geoff at a really, really bad moment and implied that he didn't actually care about his family, so even though they're getting along a little better now that they're both gods, there's not a lot of love lost on either side.
But Sangria? Well... to tell you the truth, Jay's not a very tell-you-about-his-inner-struggle kind of a dude, so exactly what he thinks about her is still a mystery, even from the players in the game. She's not a particularly pleasant person to be around, nor is she fun to have a conversation with, so it's unlikely that he secretly fell in love with her and hates Geoff's guts for stealing her away or anything like that (although it is tempting to make an awesome Mexican telenovela out of the situation, isn't it?). But she is one of his people, and furthermore a daughter of one of the Tezcatlipocas, making her the only crown princess of the pantheon at the moment opposite his crown prince. It's entirely possible that he's offended as shit that she ended up married to some Norse dude, and the fact that that happened because said Norse dude knocked her up by accident probably doesn't help matters all that much. And now there are white people all up in his country all the time, imprisoning and using his countrymen, and if there's one thing Jay hates above all others, it's people who restrict the freedom of others. (And, even though he tries his best only to do it when it's for her own good or the good of others, Geoff restricts Sangria's freedom a whole lot, too.)
It's actually possible, although never confirmed, that Jay and Sangria might have been meant to be married at some point; it would be a very smart political alliance that solidified the supremacy of the Tezcatlipocas, and the two of them make a fantastic team, with Jay directing everything through his amazing social powers and Sangria carrying out his orders with wrecking-ball efficiency. Nobody was expecting Geoff to wander in and make a completely different alliance. We don't know that for sure, of course, but it's a solid bet that Huitzilopochtli and/or Tezcatlipoca had some plans for one or both of their kids' eventual matrimony, and the introduction of a surprise Aesir might very well have made them start over at square one. Jay still isn't married, although whether that's because he likes being single or for some other motive nobody has ever asked.
But yeah, Jay's probably not nursing a broken heart behind the scenes or anything. He just doesn't like the guy, and he's got lots of reasons for it.
Ironically, it's actually Geoff that occasionally gets jealous of Jay and Sangria, not the other way around. She tends to just do what Jay says instead of arguing with him the way she does with Geoff, and there have been times that the two of them connected on an Aztec-blood-bonding level Geoff couldn't that irritated him.
Also, Chicahua at one point told him he wanted Jay to be his dad instead of Geoff (although really, the kid does that all the time). Cue the angry, testosterone-laden glaring.
I see what you're doing with that winking there, questioner. It's hard to say, actually - Jay is a pretty mysterious guy.
He has plenty of reasons to dislike Geoff without anyone else needing to get involved; Geoff set in motion the violent takeover of Jay's homeland and people by foreign powers, which is not something anyone forgets easily. Of course, Geoff didn't mean to do that and was very upset about it when he found out about it, but that doesn't make it any better. In fact, it might make it worse - seriously, you got my family and home blown up not because you were trying to but just because you're stupid?
And of course Geoff doesn't really help the situation much, since he dislikes Jay right back (watching two high Charisma characters trying very hard not to like one another is pretty hilarious, by the way. Every few minutes they almost give each other the finger guns and then overcompensate with violent hatred). Geoff's angry with Jay for blaming him for crimes that he personally didn't commit even if his family did, and for his obvious opposition to Geoff wherever he can get away with it. Fiction hasn't caught up to the post-Ragnarok landscape yet, but Jay most recently caught Geoff at a really, really bad moment and implied that he didn't actually care about his family, so even though they're getting along a little better now that they're both gods, there's not a lot of love lost on either side.
But Sangria? Well... to tell you the truth, Jay's not a very tell-you-about-his-inner-struggle kind of a dude, so exactly what he thinks about her is still a mystery, even from the players in the game. She's not a particularly pleasant person to be around, nor is she fun to have a conversation with, so it's unlikely that he secretly fell in love with her and hates Geoff's guts for stealing her away or anything like that (although it is tempting to make an awesome Mexican telenovela out of the situation, isn't it?). But she is one of his people, and furthermore a daughter of one of the Tezcatlipocas, making her the only crown princess of the pantheon at the moment opposite his crown prince. It's entirely possible that he's offended as shit that she ended up married to some Norse dude, and the fact that that happened because said Norse dude knocked her up by accident probably doesn't help matters all that much. And now there are white people all up in his country all the time, imprisoning and using his countrymen, and if there's one thing Jay hates above all others, it's people who restrict the freedom of others. (And, even though he tries his best only to do it when it's for her own good or the good of others, Geoff restricts Sangria's freedom a whole lot, too.)
It's actually possible, although never confirmed, that Jay and Sangria might have been meant to be married at some point; it would be a very smart political alliance that solidified the supremacy of the Tezcatlipocas, and the two of them make a fantastic team, with Jay directing everything through his amazing social powers and Sangria carrying out his orders with wrecking-ball efficiency. Nobody was expecting Geoff to wander in and make a completely different alliance. We don't know that for sure, of course, but it's a solid bet that Huitzilopochtli and/or Tezcatlipoca had some plans for one or both of their kids' eventual matrimony, and the introduction of a surprise Aesir might very well have made them start over at square one. Jay still isn't married, although whether that's because he likes being single or for some other motive nobody has ever asked.
But yeah, Jay's probably not nursing a broken heart behind the scenes or anything. He just doesn't like the guy, and he's got lots of reasons for it.
Ironically, it's actually Geoff that occasionally gets jealous of Jay and Sangria, not the other way around. She tends to just do what Jay says instead of arguing with him the way she does with Geoff, and there have been times that the two of them connected on an Aztec-blood-bonding level Geoff couldn't that irritated him.
Also, Chicahua at one point told him he wanted Jay to be his dad instead of Geoff (although really, the kid does that all the time). Cue the angry, testosterone-laden glaring.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
ART!
It's time for MORE ART! ART!
This one is something completely different, and we love it. From a master graphic artist of the great white north, here's an image of Goze, Sangria and Geoff as the young gods of the Teotl. Goze appears here as Iocolincolatl, the psychpomp god in charge of bringing whatever gods the Aztec people need most to their city; Sangria appears as Eztli, the bloodmother, warrior bat-monster and mother to her people; and Geoff appears as Tlazohtlaloni, god of marriages and life-giving ponds and beloved of Eztli.
In traditional Aztec art style, with bonus totally adorable evil baby. This is my new favorite thing of the moment.
ART!
This one is something completely different, and we love it. From a master graphic artist of the great white north, here's an image of Goze, Sangria and Geoff as the young gods of the Teotl. Goze appears here as Iocolincolatl, the psychpomp god in charge of bringing whatever gods the Aztec people need most to their city; Sangria appears as Eztli, the bloodmother, warrior bat-monster and mother to her people; and Geoff appears as Tlazohtlaloni, god of marriages and life-giving ponds and beloved of Eztli.
In traditional Aztec art style, with bonus totally adorable evil baby. This is my new favorite thing of the moment.
ART!
Monday, September 30, 2013
He's On a Boat
What's this? It's more art, and badass art at that! We unveiled it to the players at the god-level game last night, and Geoff's player had a small but delighted meltdown over how much awesomeness it contains. It's a picture of Geoff desperately (yet manfully, as always) piloting the solar barque away from Apep, the terrible darkness serpent Titan of Egypt, at the request of Ptah, who called on him to step in for Ra when that god was laid low by treachery.
We don't blame him, we're pretty much in love, too, from Geoff's solar-powered faced to his bitchin' Norse armor to the awesome Egyptian barque to the horrifying scale of Apep (the size of his teeth!). Thank you to the awesome artist - if you're reading this, you inspired a lot of squealing and happiness!
We don't blame him, we're pretty much in love, too, from Geoff's solar-powered faced to his bitchin' Norse armor to the awesome Egyptian barque to the horrifying scale of Apep (the size of his teeth!). Thank you to the awesome artist - if you're reading this, you inspired a lot of squealing and happiness!
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Godly Killing Machines
Question: Bears. Bears are awesome, and they're all over the place in shamanistic belief systems, but which gods might have Animal (Bear) or be otherwise bear-related? (If you want a free headline suggestion, I volunteer "Godly Killing Machines".)
Your title request is my command. Bears!
Bears do get a lot more of the limelight in North America than anywhere else, which is not surprising since that's the home of the massive grizzly, polar and brown bears that threaten and terrify humanity just by existing. There are bears in other parts of the world, and even some deities associated with them, but North America will always be your go-to place for everything mythically ursine.
The most famous is probably Nanook or Torngarsuk, the polar bear god of the Inuit, who controls the fortunes of hunters and visits his wrath on those who disrespect the mighty bear by dooming them to poor hunts or killing them in the wilderness. Nanook has appeared in several of our games, first as a protective god of the north who had a protecting-icecaps powwow with Folkwardr, and most recently as a messenger to young Haji when he achieved demigodhood somewhere in the wilds of northern Canada. Muwin, the kindly but slow-witted bear-god of the Micmac, is famous for providing humanity with herbal medicines by ensuring that the land is fertile enough to grow them and that the local healers can recognize them on sight; similarly, the Hopi bear god Hon is also believed to heal the sick, although his powers to do so come from his incredible bodily strength and endurance, which he can impart to the suffering when called. On the much scarier side, the Iroquois Nyagwahe is a terrible human-eating bear monster, more likely a Titanic creature hunted by the gods than a god itself. There are many, many more bear spirits and characters in various North American mythologies, although in many of them the bear is a dangerous monster instead of a benevolent deity, depending on the relationship of a given culture with the local wildlife.
Outside of the Americas, Artemis, surprisingly enough, is one of Europe's best contenders for title of bear goddess; while bears normally aren't involved in her iconography much, her shrine at the Acropolis (which we have seen, y'all!) was dedicated to Artemis Brauronia, lady of the bear, and featured statues of young hunters with bear cubs and held festivals in which young women were temporarily "transformed" into bears in order to enjoy their last festival of dancing and sporting before they were married. It's one of those weird little Greek cults that wasn't widespread across the whole religion, much like the wolf-cult of Zeus Lycaeus, but there's definitely room to experiment with her as a patron of bears. Another very similar figure is the Gaulish goddess Artio, who appears as a bear and is associated with bears and the hunting of them; she's part of a small suite of Gaulish hunt goddesses that may or may not be the same person along with Andarta, and we've been inclined to consider them different names for the same goddess. Geoff has met and attempted to bond with Andarta over bears, but unfortunately her inevitable desire to jump his bones has led to Sangria putting her down multiple times.
If you happen to be bear-inclined, Scion has room for plenty more bear gods to come to this global party. Geoff will cater.
Your title request is my command. Bears!
Bears do get a lot more of the limelight in North America than anywhere else, which is not surprising since that's the home of the massive grizzly, polar and brown bears that threaten and terrify humanity just by existing. There are bears in other parts of the world, and even some deities associated with them, but North America will always be your go-to place for everything mythically ursine.
The most famous is probably Nanook or Torngarsuk, the polar bear god of the Inuit, who controls the fortunes of hunters and visits his wrath on those who disrespect the mighty bear by dooming them to poor hunts or killing them in the wilderness. Nanook has appeared in several of our games, first as a protective god of the north who had a protecting-icecaps powwow with Folkwardr, and most recently as a messenger to young Haji when he achieved demigodhood somewhere in the wilds of northern Canada. Muwin, the kindly but slow-witted bear-god of the Micmac, is famous for providing humanity with herbal medicines by ensuring that the land is fertile enough to grow them and that the local healers can recognize them on sight; similarly, the Hopi bear god Hon is also believed to heal the sick, although his powers to do so come from his incredible bodily strength and endurance, which he can impart to the suffering when called. On the much scarier side, the Iroquois Nyagwahe is a terrible human-eating bear monster, more likely a Titanic creature hunted by the gods than a god itself. There are many, many more bear spirits and characters in various North American mythologies, although in many of them the bear is a dangerous monster instead of a benevolent deity, depending on the relationship of a given culture with the local wildlife.
Outside of the Americas, Artemis, surprisingly enough, is one of Europe's best contenders for title of bear goddess; while bears normally aren't involved in her iconography much, her shrine at the Acropolis (which we have seen, y'all!) was dedicated to Artemis Brauronia, lady of the bear, and featured statues of young hunters with bear cubs and held festivals in which young women were temporarily "transformed" into bears in order to enjoy their last festival of dancing and sporting before they were married. It's one of those weird little Greek cults that wasn't widespread across the whole religion, much like the wolf-cult of Zeus Lycaeus, but there's definitely room to experiment with her as a patron of bears. Another very similar figure is the Gaulish goddess Artio, who appears as a bear and is associated with bears and the hunting of them; she's part of a small suite of Gaulish hunt goddesses that may or may not be the same person along with Andarta, and we've been inclined to consider them different names for the same goddess. Geoff has met and attempted to bond with Andarta over bears, but unfortunately her inevitable desire to jump his bones has led to Sangria putting her down multiple times.
If you happen to be bear-inclined, Scion has room for plenty more bear gods to come to this global party. Geoff will cater.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Anne's Fiction Corner
It's that time again, and I hope you guys are all ready for this story, because our players definitely weren't. Today's story is The Fall of Tenochtitlan, starring Geoff Matheson with appearances by Sangria Tecuhtli, Mitchell Gozer and Marcus James, not to mention an insanely star-studded supporting cast. It is a tale of divided loyalties, devastating betrayal and events that change the world forever.
I just realized that for some reason I accidentally labeled the progress bar as Sangria Fiction this past round, even though it's technically Geoff fiction. But that's okay; Geoff may be the narrator and it may be his story, but you'd better believe it's Sangria's story, too.
Before I put up a new voting poll, I want to turn to you, the readers and players, for a little advice about how to plan for new fiction as we move on! John and I have been wondering if the current method of voting is really the best one, since it tends to skew toward always the same characters. I love all the characters, so I'm generally happy no matter what, but there are a few different things we were thinking of trying.
Or something else that you guys think of that I haven't. Or maybe nothing needs to change! I don't know, I'm very unfocused right after I finish something.
Winona won with some kind of crazy old woman wizardry, so she'll be getting the next story. Tell me what you guys think, and we'll put up a new voting poll soon!
I just realized that for some reason I accidentally labeled the progress bar as Sangria Fiction this past round, even though it's technically Geoff fiction. But that's okay; Geoff may be the narrator and it may be his story, but you'd better believe it's Sangria's story, too.
Before I put up a new voting poll, I want to turn to you, the readers and players, for a little advice about how to plan for new fiction as we move on! John and I have been wondering if the current method of voting is really the best one, since it tends to skew toward always the same characters. I love all the characters, so I'm generally happy no matter what, but there are a few different things we were thinking of trying.
- Vote for individual characters, just like we do now. Everybody votes for whomever they're most interested in, and life continues as normal.
- Vote for individual games - that is, Better Next Time, Eastern Promises, Gangs of New York, Strawberry Fields, whatever. Everyone votes for the storyline they want to see more of, and then I'll write the next story in that line, which might be from any of the characters involved.
- Vote for individual characters, but rotate the voting per game. This time we vote only on Eastern Promises characters, next time we vote only on Gangs of New York characters, and so on.
Or something else that you guys think of that I haven't. Or maybe nothing needs to change! I don't know, I'm very unfocused right after I finish something.
Winona won with some kind of crazy old woman wizardry, so she'll be getting the next story. Tell me what you guys think, and we'll put up a new voting poll soon!
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Anne's Fiction Corner
What, a new story done in under a month? It's true! Today's story is Children of the Sun, starring Sangria Tecuhtli with appearances by Marcus James, Mitchell Gozer and a seriously distressed Geoff Matheson. It is a tale of vengeance, family ties and uncontrolled power that finally finds an outlet. It's also the worst. Seriously, just the worst.
Geoff won the vote with a slim margin of only one, so he'll get the next story! The new voting poll will go up momentarily, and with the really close voting lately, I'm totally excited to see who will come up next!
Incidentally, I know Vivian was a super popular option on the last poll, so many people may be wondering why she isn't on this one. It's not because we don't love her - we just realized that her story can't happen until Goze's has gone through. So if you're looking for some Vivian love, vote for Goze and she'll be back in the next round!
Geoff won the vote with a slim margin of only one, so he'll get the next story! The new voting poll will go up momentarily, and with the really close voting lately, I'm totally excited to see who will come up next!
- If you vote for Aurora Dahl, you'll be getting a story about the fallout of a divine war and the passing of ancient responsibilities on to reluctant young Scions.
- If you vote for Darcy Jolie-Pitt, you'll be getting a story about two sisters trapped in a foreign underworld, trying to find their way back to the light.
- If you vote for Faruza Alinejad, you'll be getting a story about unlikely friendships and the sacrifices bandmates sometimes make for one another, physical or spiritual.
- If you vote for Leona Middleton, you'll be getting a story about a headstrong girl bucking the demands of her society and setting her sights on a truly impossible dream.
- If you vote for Mitchell Gozer, you'll be getting a story about the long, hard road of repentance and the violent nature of divine divorce courts.
- If you vote for Mohini Misra, you'll be getting a story about her band undermining a corrupt raja and making difficult decisions about whether or not love can overcome evil.
- If you vote for Seamus McMann, you'll be getting a story about the clash between divine and mortal authorities and one band of Scions' determination to rescue one of their own at any cost.
- If you vote for Sophia Archimedes, you'll be getting a story about her stormy non-relationship with a certain notorious Scion.
- If you vote for Will Nordstrom, you'll be getting a story about his childhood and growth into one of the last Vanir Scions in the world.
- If you vote for Winona Nelson, you'll be getting a story about the struggle of poverty, the entropy of the universe and all the ways a normal woman can end up at the very bottom.
- If you vote for Woody Anderson, you'll be getting a story about a very old Norse Scion adapting to the ways of a new culture and finding a way to honor new family members.
- If you vote for Yadi, you'll be getting a story about her origins as a street rat in the back alleys of Tehran and her hopes for a better life as a child of the righteous gods.
Incidentally, I know Vivian was a super popular option on the last poll, so many people may be wondering why she isn't on this one. It's not because we don't love her - we just realized that her story can't happen until Goze's has gone through. So if you're looking for some Vivian love, vote for Goze and she'll be back in the next round!
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Social Climbing
Question: You had Eshu vs Loki the other day, how about Isis vs Tezcat? How would you handle conflicts between those kind of social powerhouses who always get what they want? How could PCs handle them when they reach godhood? I know Geoff's already told Isis where to get off, but surely she hasn't just left it at that?
Social powers have so many options and layers that this question is basically unanswerable (which is also why it's sat in the queue for so long - sorry, asker!). If you think about all the different things social characters can do to perpetrate shenanigans, encourage behavior and influence one another even as Heroes and Demigods, you already have an idea of how insane the scale must become when they get to the level of actual deities.
As we've talked about before, it's mostly fruitless to talk about "which god would win", because that's not only something that is nearly impossible to forecast thanks to all the variables and kinds of powers in play, it's also unlikely to come up because there are entire pantheons and relatives associated with them that know better than to let things get to that level. Actual outright conflict between gods is probably pretty rare, because it makes life miserable for everyone, not just the main members of the feud. As we said before, when Eshu and Loki get into a tiff, the world loses.
But social conflicts don't necessarily have to erupt into armed beatings - in fact, most of the time they probably don't, except in the rare cases of socially manipulative people who are not smart enough to realize what a bad idea that is. Instead, they look a lot more like terrible, terrible cold wars, where both sides play a game of vicious wizard's chess with all the people they know and can get their hands on as pieces. Social characters with Charisma will play Who's Your Daddy with everyone they know, always winning friends and allies away from others with sheer force of their awesomeness; whomever's actually in the room is probably winning, because Charisma requires that kind of up close and personal attention most of the time, but your friends can prevail on their friends and soon it's a chain of a bunch of people doing crazy things out of love for you just to stick it to the other guy. Characters with Manipulation, on the other hand, can weave their influence even more subtly, spreading evil rumors about you, convincing others that you want things you don't want, turning your friends and even relatives against you and laying curses and traps just waiting to trip you up.
One of the things about being Isis or Tezcatlipoca is that, yeah, you always get what you want - inside your own little pool, that is. Unless you're going up against someone with a truly heinous resistance score, your home pantheon-mates are probably mostly susceptible to your charms - you're the resident manipulator or major presence, after all. But when you branch out into the larger world of Scion and come up against other puppetmasters and leaders, it becomes an increasingly complex and insane web of possibilities, and there's no way to predict what would happen. Every new person, situation, alliance or enmity introduces new variables that could completely change what happens, and a feud between the same two gods could go off infinite different ways, like a multitude of parallel universes.
So the answer is really whatever your Storyteller can come up with. If Isis and Tezcatlipoca want to get into it, they're going to be in an insane, subtle, ongoing prank and influence war that might stretch anywhere from corrupting one anothers' cults to misdirecting one anothers' Scions to interfering in one anothers' family lives and everything else they think they can get away with. PCs trying to deal with it are going to find themselves embroiled, possibly even before they know it, and more often than not targeted. Hopefully they can play the game right back (or if not, survive its consequences).
As for Isis in our games... well, she and Geoff are not getting along. There's been kidnapping, violence, influencing other gods to attack one another, pantheon schisms and probably a whole lot more behind the scenes that the PCs aren't even aware she's up to. Recently, Jioni tried to pray at a temple to Isis to regain some Legend and everyone got attacked by members of the Centzonmimixcoa that Isis shanghai'd into striking against them, which led to a lot of heartbreak and screaming Aztec fury. That problem's probably not going to get fixed any time soon, but feuds between gods that last forever are one of the staples of mythology, so it only stands to reason that Scions pick some up as they go.
Social powers have so many options and layers that this question is basically unanswerable (which is also why it's sat in the queue for so long - sorry, asker!). If you think about all the different things social characters can do to perpetrate shenanigans, encourage behavior and influence one another even as Heroes and Demigods, you already have an idea of how insane the scale must become when they get to the level of actual deities.
As we've talked about before, it's mostly fruitless to talk about "which god would win", because that's not only something that is nearly impossible to forecast thanks to all the variables and kinds of powers in play, it's also unlikely to come up because there are entire pantheons and relatives associated with them that know better than to let things get to that level. Actual outright conflict between gods is probably pretty rare, because it makes life miserable for everyone, not just the main members of the feud. As we said before, when Eshu and Loki get into a tiff, the world loses.
But social conflicts don't necessarily have to erupt into armed beatings - in fact, most of the time they probably don't, except in the rare cases of socially manipulative people who are not smart enough to realize what a bad idea that is. Instead, they look a lot more like terrible, terrible cold wars, where both sides play a game of vicious wizard's chess with all the people they know and can get their hands on as pieces. Social characters with Charisma will play Who's Your Daddy with everyone they know, always winning friends and allies away from others with sheer force of their awesomeness; whomever's actually in the room is probably winning, because Charisma requires that kind of up close and personal attention most of the time, but your friends can prevail on their friends and soon it's a chain of a bunch of people doing crazy things out of love for you just to stick it to the other guy. Characters with Manipulation, on the other hand, can weave their influence even more subtly, spreading evil rumors about you, convincing others that you want things you don't want, turning your friends and even relatives against you and laying curses and traps just waiting to trip you up.
One of the things about being Isis or Tezcatlipoca is that, yeah, you always get what you want - inside your own little pool, that is. Unless you're going up against someone with a truly heinous resistance score, your home pantheon-mates are probably mostly susceptible to your charms - you're the resident manipulator or major presence, after all. But when you branch out into the larger world of Scion and come up against other puppetmasters and leaders, it becomes an increasingly complex and insane web of possibilities, and there's no way to predict what would happen. Every new person, situation, alliance or enmity introduces new variables that could completely change what happens, and a feud between the same two gods could go off infinite different ways, like a multitude of parallel universes.
So the answer is really whatever your Storyteller can come up with. If Isis and Tezcatlipoca want to get into it, they're going to be in an insane, subtle, ongoing prank and influence war that might stretch anywhere from corrupting one anothers' cults to misdirecting one anothers' Scions to interfering in one anothers' family lives and everything else they think they can get away with. PCs trying to deal with it are going to find themselves embroiled, possibly even before they know it, and more often than not targeted. Hopefully they can play the game right back (or if not, survive its consequences).
As for Isis in our games... well, she and Geoff are not getting along. There's been kidnapping, violence, influencing other gods to attack one another, pantheon schisms and probably a whole lot more behind the scenes that the PCs aren't even aware she's up to. Recently, Jioni tried to pray at a temple to Isis to regain some Legend and everyone got attacked by members of the Centzonmimixcoa that Isis shanghai'd into striking against them, which led to a lot of heartbreak and screaming Aztec fury. That problem's probably not going to get fixed any time soon, but feuds between gods that last forever are one of the staples of mythology, so it only stands to reason that Scions pick some up as they go.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Following His Fishy
Question: Okay, I'm not sure if I read your god twitter right - what is this about Geoff getting a fish?
In a recent battle to win entrance to a Titanrealm, Sowiljr used his power over water to reach into a whirlpool connected to the Drowned Road and wrench free something from the Titanrealm itself. That something was a tiny magical fish, which he is planning to keep and train to someday be a giant badass magical fish that works for him. Major challenges so far include the fact that Harmony-riddled Vivian won't let him leave the fish anywhere on earth without freaking out, and the uncomfortable spectre of Cuacitlali, who thinks that fish looks like the tastiest of bite-sized snacks.
I hear he will be giving the little creature some official Norse name soon, which will make it all legit.
In a recent battle to win entrance to a Titanrealm, Sowiljr used his power over water to reach into a whirlpool connected to the Drowned Road and wrench free something from the Titanrealm itself. That something was a tiny magical fish, which he is planning to keep and train to someday be a giant badass magical fish that works for him. Major challenges so far include the fact that Harmony-riddled Vivian won't let him leave the fish anywhere on earth without freaking out, and the uncomfortable spectre of Cuacitlali, who thinks that fish looks like the tastiest of bite-sized snacks.
I hear he will be giving the little creature some official Norse name soon, which will make it all legit.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Anne's Fiction Corner
If you've been itching to know how the Better Next Time team's travails in Duat turned out, itch no longer! This new story is out just in time for Valentine's Day, because Geoff is everybody's valentine.
Today's story is Sunrise, Sunset, starring Geoff Matheson with appearances by Sangria Tecuhtli, Marcus James and Mitchell Gozer. It is a tale of conflicting loyalties, the consequences of murder, and young people trying to fill shoes that are entirely too big for them.
Next up, duly voted in, will be Woody Anderson dealing with the aftermath of accidentally falling into the well of Mimir. New voting options will go up in a minute.
Whee! Stories!
Today's story is Sunrise, Sunset, starring Geoff Matheson with appearances by Sangria Tecuhtli, Marcus James and Mitchell Gozer. It is a tale of conflicting loyalties, the consequences of murder, and young people trying to fill shoes that are entirely too big for them.
Next up, duly voted in, will be Woody Anderson dealing with the aftermath of accidentally falling into the well of Mimir. New voting options will go up in a minute.
Whee! Stories!
Friday, February 8, 2013
Hug It Out!
Question: I just read Frozen Hearts, and man, and I just want to say kudos to Geoff's player, for apologizing on behalf of all of Asgard and giving Loki a hug. That was my favorite moment of the whole fiction pieces, right there. It really brings something very heartwarming into the whole thing.
I'm sure he'll be glad to know you enjoyed it. :)
Loki's general treatment across all our PCs has been really interesting, from Geoff deciding to be best friends with him forever to Aurora hating him with all the fiery passion of Muspelheim. But then again, that's just how trickster-gods roll. They can't help but polarize.
I'm pretty sure Geoff is on a mission to be charming at all the problems in the divine world until everything's okay again. Hug it out, everybody!
I'm sure he'll be glad to know you enjoyed it. :)
Loki's general treatment across all our PCs has been really interesting, from Geoff deciding to be best friends with him forever to Aurora hating him with all the fiery passion of Muspelheim. But then again, that's just how trickster-gods roll. They can't help but polarize.
I'm pretty sure Geoff is on a mission to be charming at all the problems in the divine world until everything's okay again. Hug it out, everybody!
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Knocked Up
Question: So what's the deal with Sangria and Geoff? Their relationship is like a divine version of Knocked Up where Geoff marries her because he feels responsible for getting her pregnant. Does Sangria love or care for the poor guy at all? Or is she just an emotionless psychopath that's just using him for breeding stock?
Question: Geoff and Sangria - sometimes I think their relationship is kind of cute, but then other times it seems like it's just awful. Do they regret getting married? What's life like for Geoff being stuck with a crazy woman who would probably gut him if she could get away with it?
We've had a couple of questions about this lately, so I figured now, with all this interest about Geoff's love life, was a good time for a guest blog by the man himself. I sent these questions off to Geoff's player for his perspective, and because he is a champion he actually sat down and wrote something instead of telling me that he's a very important lawyer who doesn't have time for this kind of stuff. Check it out:
What a couple of questions. Welp, I guess I should start at the beginning…
Geoff originally decided to marry Sangria after Pan called down a bacchanalia. If you read Geoff’s origin story (which by the way is an amazing piece of fiction and gets me right in the feels every time) you know that his mother never married and never took another lover after Baldr. Geoff watched his mother grow old alone, but never saw resentment or anger at what had happened. She felt she was blessed to have such a wonderful child. When Geoff was old enough to realize what had happened, he made a vow that he would never abandon his children or the mother of his children. At first it was because he felt it was his duty, and that he would be dishonoring the memory of his mother if he were no better than his divine father. He had to do what was right.
While Sangria was an amazing physical specimen and at this point I think divinely beautiful (besides the bone arm), it still felt like a burden. It was a duty Geoff had taken on; he had to protect his family, and to honor the mother of his unborn child. After the birth of Aren, everything changed. Geoff had a family again. He had only briefly met his father, who as soon as he had appeared was gone again. But now he had a child, but it wasn’t only his child - it was Sangria’s as well. They shared something so powerful and amazing that as he immediately was filled with love for his child, he began to grow to love the woman who had carried and brought this child into the world. She was the vessel that had given him what he had always wanted: a family.
Another way to look at it is like an arranged marriage. When he and Sangria first tied the knot (literally), he only knew about her as the terrorist, the warrior, the cold-blooded killer and mother of monsters. But as the battles passed, as his family grew closer, he learned more about Sangria; about her unwavering and completely selfless loyalty to her family. How she would sacrifice everything she had or was to make sure that no harm befell her children or her husband. He learned that she had never known nor felt love. She had only ever known duty, and that after their marriage day her duty shifted to include him. He came to learn that she would never be the wife who gave him a hero’s welcome home, or weep at seeing him leave. But she would never leave him, never betray him, and always keep him and their children safe. She would honor Geoff. That came to be enough.
A long way down the road after they both had achieved apotheosis, Geoff began to learn more about his wife. She had acquired a nahualli, a bat named Cuacitlali (Eater of Stars). This creature, this animal, was basically her emotions or her id. All the emotion she had built over the years for Geoff and never understood or been able to express, Quacitlali could. It is one thing to be snuggled by a beautiful woman, and quite another to be snuggled by a human-sized vampire bat.
As it stands in the game currently, Sowiljr loves Eztli. He even affectionately calls her Xochiyotl (it means "gentle flower"). It amuses him, but also shows how in his mind Sangria is his everything. He is rebuilding his pantheon as the new All-Father, and he is going to be a better father to his family and to his people than those before him. His mother raised him better than that.
Hope that helped with the people who have trouble seeing how this relationship works.
TL;DR - It was rough at the beginning, got better once children started showing up, post-apotheosis realized how much she cared about him, and now are very happy together (although she is still dumb as a brick, so that has its own challenges).
Life together, on the other hand, is a loaded question. It is a constant struggle making sure that Eztli doesn’t dash off into the stars to try and destroy everything in her path. Ptah had a good idea when he figured out a way to distract and control Sekhmet all the time. As I said above, she is real dumb, but powerful. Together they are an unstoppable force, which as a player is how I like to think of them. She is the warrior, the unflinching soul who will wade into the middle of Hell itself, while Geoff is the king, the politician or general who has plans and plays the game of thrones (I couldn’t help myself). There is no regret from Geoff for having married Sangria. He would like for her to be able to smile and laugh and be happy (and trust me, he is working on it ;)). So I would have to say that life remains…exciting... yes, that is the word I will choose.
Thanks, everyone, for your interest in our game and in Geoff and Sangria! I never thought that this character would grow so much and gain an actual following! It always makes me smile when I hear that you guys are talking about him or thinking about him. =)
Hugs and Kisses,
Geoff
(Mat)
So there you guys have it, straight from the sun-god's mouth. As for Sangria's perspective, I'm not going to get as detailed as he did, but I will say that if she were going to go out and pick a guy just to use for breeding stock, it would probably not be a Norse dude.
What you guys should be worried about is Eztli versus Folkwardr. Every game that one of them doesn't try to murder the other is like a miraculous victory.
Question: Geoff and Sangria - sometimes I think their relationship is kind of cute, but then other times it seems like it's just awful. Do they regret getting married? What's life like for Geoff being stuck with a crazy woman who would probably gut him if she could get away with it?
We've had a couple of questions about this lately, so I figured now, with all this interest about Geoff's love life, was a good time for a guest blog by the man himself. I sent these questions off to Geoff's player for his perspective, and because he is a champion he actually sat down and wrote something instead of telling me that he's a very important lawyer who doesn't have time for this kind of stuff. Check it out:
What a couple of questions. Welp, I guess I should start at the beginning…
Geoff originally decided to marry Sangria after Pan called down a bacchanalia. If you read Geoff’s origin story (which by the way is an amazing piece of fiction and gets me right in the feels every time) you know that his mother never married and never took another lover after Baldr. Geoff watched his mother grow old alone, but never saw resentment or anger at what had happened. She felt she was blessed to have such a wonderful child. When Geoff was old enough to realize what had happened, he made a vow that he would never abandon his children or the mother of his children. At first it was because he felt it was his duty, and that he would be dishonoring the memory of his mother if he were no better than his divine father. He had to do what was right.
While Sangria was an amazing physical specimen and at this point I think divinely beautiful (besides the bone arm), it still felt like a burden. It was a duty Geoff had taken on; he had to protect his family, and to honor the mother of his unborn child. After the birth of Aren, everything changed. Geoff had a family again. He had only briefly met his father, who as soon as he had appeared was gone again. But now he had a child, but it wasn’t only his child - it was Sangria’s as well. They shared something so powerful and amazing that as he immediately was filled with love for his child, he began to grow to love the woman who had carried and brought this child into the world. She was the vessel that had given him what he had always wanted: a family.
Another way to look at it is like an arranged marriage. When he and Sangria first tied the knot (literally), he only knew about her as the terrorist, the warrior, the cold-blooded killer and mother of monsters. But as the battles passed, as his family grew closer, he learned more about Sangria; about her unwavering and completely selfless loyalty to her family. How she would sacrifice everything she had or was to make sure that no harm befell her children or her husband. He learned that she had never known nor felt love. She had only ever known duty, and that after their marriage day her duty shifted to include him. He came to learn that she would never be the wife who gave him a hero’s welcome home, or weep at seeing him leave. But she would never leave him, never betray him, and always keep him and their children safe. She would honor Geoff. That came to be enough.
A long way down the road after they both had achieved apotheosis, Geoff began to learn more about his wife. She had acquired a nahualli, a bat named Cuacitlali (Eater of Stars). This creature, this animal, was basically her emotions or her id. All the emotion she had built over the years for Geoff and never understood or been able to express, Quacitlali could. It is one thing to be snuggled by a beautiful woman, and quite another to be snuggled by a human-sized vampire bat.
As it stands in the game currently, Sowiljr loves Eztli. He even affectionately calls her Xochiyotl (it means "gentle flower"). It amuses him, but also shows how in his mind Sangria is his everything. He is rebuilding his pantheon as the new All-Father, and he is going to be a better father to his family and to his people than those before him. His mother raised him better than that.
Hope that helped with the people who have trouble seeing how this relationship works.
TL;DR - It was rough at the beginning, got better once children started showing up, post-apotheosis realized how much she cared about him, and now are very happy together (although she is still dumb as a brick, so that has its own challenges).
Life together, on the other hand, is a loaded question. It is a constant struggle making sure that Eztli doesn’t dash off into the stars to try and destroy everything in her path. Ptah had a good idea when he figured out a way to distract and control Sekhmet all the time. As I said above, she is real dumb, but powerful. Together they are an unstoppable force, which as a player is how I like to think of them. She is the warrior, the unflinching soul who will wade into the middle of Hell itself, while Geoff is the king, the politician or general who has plans and plays the game of thrones (I couldn’t help myself). There is no regret from Geoff for having married Sangria. He would like for her to be able to smile and laugh and be happy (and trust me, he is working on it ;)). So I would have to say that life remains…exciting... yes, that is the word I will choose.
Thanks, everyone, for your interest in our game and in Geoff and Sangria! I never thought that this character would grow so much and gain an actual following! It always makes me smile when I hear that you guys are talking about him or thinking about him. =)
Hugs and Kisses,
Geoff
(Mat)
So there you guys have it, straight from the sun-god's mouth. As for Sangria's perspective, I'm not going to get as detailed as he did, but I will say that if she were going to go out and pick a guy just to use for breeding stock, it would probably not be a Norse dude.
What you guys should be worried about is Eztli versus Folkwardr. Every game that one of them doesn't try to murder the other is like a miraculous victory.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Anne's Fiction Corner
Okay, so, I'm sorry, guys. This was supposed to be a story about Geoff, who was voted in next and has a lot of significant stuff to be doing in Egypt right now. And I really did sit down to write a story about Geoff, but while I was working on it realized that it needed to be happening concurrently with this story, and that this one should really come first for reasons of perspective and continuity.
So today we have The Seven-Snake Voyage of Mitchell Gozer, starring Mitchell Gozer with guest appearances by Geoff Matheson, Marcus James and Sangria Tecuhtli. It is a tale of extremely grudging heroism, incredibly uncomfortable selflessness, and enduring bromance.
And speaking of bromance, the next story will definitely be the Geoff tale that goes along with this one. Cross my heart.
So today we have The Seven-Snake Voyage of Mitchell Gozer, starring Mitchell Gozer with guest appearances by Geoff Matheson, Marcus James and Sangria Tecuhtli. It is a tale of extremely grudging heroism, incredibly uncomfortable selflessness, and enduring bromance.
And speaking of bromance, the next story will definitely be the Geoff tale that goes along with this one. Cross my heart.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
We got a Solstice Present!!!
We are very grateful. Two very awesome guys that are taking my ST class(next week is the last week, ill do a wrap up post then and talk more about it) got us an awesome present! We are so excited we just had to share!
Babes in Arms
Question: If Hermes was born at Legend 9, how did he succeed at all the crazy things he supposedly did at birth? For example, he doesn't have the stats to beat Apollo's Perception.
Hmm, we may have sounded misleading when talking about this in the past - sorry about that, everyone!
When a child is born to two gods who are not in Avatar form, that child is also a god, no two ways about it. That means it's going to be at least Legend 9 - but, when you're looking at the gods of ancient mythology, we think that probably doesn't mean that it's always Legend 9. Some gods do crazy shit their first day in existence, like Huitzilopochtli murdering literally hundreds of other gods on the field of battle, that are obviously not possible for a mere Legend 9 deity (as our formerly-Legend-9 players can attest, I'm sure); they couldn't have been Legend 9, and they probably didn't do enough in the first five seconds of their lives to go up a few dots in Legend, either, so it stands to reason that some gods are born higher than Legend 9.
Which begs the question of how you decide how high in Legend a divine child starts out, of course. Things can be a little bit freeform when working with ancient myth; you can look at what that god was doing his first day or two of life and what power level that suggests and go from there, and you can also take into account crazy stuff that might have been happening during his gestation. Gods that have strong myths surrounding their conception, gestation or birth are likely to be higher in Legend when they're born, simply because they already have some myths surrounding them even when they're in the womb. Gods like Hachiman, whose mother delayed his birth for three years because she was busy conquering Korea like a boss, or Athena, who sprang adult from the cranium of Zeus thanks to his devouring of her mother, or Lugh, whose conception had been foretold in a prophecy and required all kinds of magical shenanigans to come true, are probably more likely to be born at higher Legends than other gods, who would have to work their way from their less-exciting origins on up the ranks of power.
And yes - that does potentially mean that you could have gods who are born already more powerful than their parents. They're pretty easy to pick out on family trees, usually as minor gods with major children, or as people who have little fame of their own other than being the parents of someone important. A divine child eclipsing his parents' Legend is a concern that probably isn't lost on most gods, and one of the many reasons that they don't tend to have many children who are flat-out gods. God-babies are in many ways dangerous, and the fact that your son might be born savvy, powerful and crazy enough to dethrone you during the first year of his life is not a very comfortable idea for anybody.
This is all very excitingly terrifying for god-level PCs, who are often already procreating by the time they hit Legend 9 and suddenly subject to the same worries and problems. We've never had a truly divine baby born to PCs yet - but Eztli's pregnant right now and neither she nor Sowiljr used their Avatars to make the kid partly mortal, so whenever that blessed event occurs, they're in for a whole new world of craziness. Both players are nervous about what's going to happen, especially since they're often rolling dice to determine random factors about who it's taking after and what kind of power level it might be at, and they're dealing with managing this pregnancy through several Titanrealms to boot. And also Eztli keeps turning into a bat when she has bat things to do, which is causing Sowiljr many sleepless nights imagining a litter of baby bat-monsters all calling him Daddy and begging for a little blood. The situation is tense and everyone's pretty excited about seeing what might happen.
But I'm sure they'll be fine.
At any rate, to go back to Hermes, who started all this pontificating: it's totally possible that Hermes was born higher than Legend 9, and you could rule so if you felt that he was doing things that were entirely beyond the pale for a Legend 9 infant to pull off. But then again, I'd also point out that Hermes didn't actually pull off evading Apollo's perception in that story; Apollo was able to track the stolen cattle back to the cave where Hermes was living with his mother, recognize the baby as the thief and then take him to Zeus for judgment (and Zeus didn't believe Hermes' protestations of innocence, either). He's definitely still a precocious child, but it seems pretty clear that he wasn't rocking the Ultimate Manipulation quite yet in that story.
Hmm, we may have sounded misleading when talking about this in the past - sorry about that, everyone!
When a child is born to two gods who are not in Avatar form, that child is also a god, no two ways about it. That means it's going to be at least Legend 9 - but, when you're looking at the gods of ancient mythology, we think that probably doesn't mean that it's always Legend 9. Some gods do crazy shit their first day in existence, like Huitzilopochtli murdering literally hundreds of other gods on the field of battle, that are obviously not possible for a mere Legend 9 deity (as our formerly-Legend-9 players can attest, I'm sure); they couldn't have been Legend 9, and they probably didn't do enough in the first five seconds of their lives to go up a few dots in Legend, either, so it stands to reason that some gods are born higher than Legend 9.
Which begs the question of how you decide how high in Legend a divine child starts out, of course. Things can be a little bit freeform when working with ancient myth; you can look at what that god was doing his first day or two of life and what power level that suggests and go from there, and you can also take into account crazy stuff that might have been happening during his gestation. Gods that have strong myths surrounding their conception, gestation or birth are likely to be higher in Legend when they're born, simply because they already have some myths surrounding them even when they're in the womb. Gods like Hachiman, whose mother delayed his birth for three years because she was busy conquering Korea like a boss, or Athena, who sprang adult from the cranium of Zeus thanks to his devouring of her mother, or Lugh, whose conception had been foretold in a prophecy and required all kinds of magical shenanigans to come true, are probably more likely to be born at higher Legends than other gods, who would have to work their way from their less-exciting origins on up the ranks of power.
And yes - that does potentially mean that you could have gods who are born already more powerful than their parents. They're pretty easy to pick out on family trees, usually as minor gods with major children, or as people who have little fame of their own other than being the parents of someone important. A divine child eclipsing his parents' Legend is a concern that probably isn't lost on most gods, and one of the many reasons that they don't tend to have many children who are flat-out gods. God-babies are in many ways dangerous, and the fact that your son might be born savvy, powerful and crazy enough to dethrone you during the first year of his life is not a very comfortable idea for anybody.
This is all very excitingly terrifying for god-level PCs, who are often already procreating by the time they hit Legend 9 and suddenly subject to the same worries and problems. We've never had a truly divine baby born to PCs yet - but Eztli's pregnant right now and neither she nor Sowiljr used their Avatars to make the kid partly mortal, so whenever that blessed event occurs, they're in for a whole new world of craziness. Both players are nervous about what's going to happen, especially since they're often rolling dice to determine random factors about who it's taking after and what kind of power level it might be at, and they're dealing with managing this pregnancy through several Titanrealms to boot. And also Eztli keeps turning into a bat when she has bat things to do, which is causing Sowiljr many sleepless nights imagining a litter of baby bat-monsters all calling him Daddy and begging for a little blood. The situation is tense and everyone's pretty excited about seeing what might happen.
But I'm sure they'll be fine.
At any rate, to go back to Hermes, who started all this pontificating: it's totally possible that Hermes was born higher than Legend 9, and you could rule so if you felt that he was doing things that were entirely beyond the pale for a Legend 9 infant to pull off. But then again, I'd also point out that Hermes didn't actually pull off evading Apollo's perception in that story; Apollo was able to track the stolen cattle back to the cave where Hermes was living with his mother, recognize the baby as the thief and then take him to Zeus for judgment (and Zeus didn't believe Hermes' protestations of innocence, either). He's definitely still a precocious child, but it seems pretty clear that he wasn't rocking the Ultimate Manipulation quite yet in that story.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Anne's Fiction Corner
Just in time to not be heartwarming for the holidays, here's New Wounds and Old Feuds, a new story starring Sophia Archimedes, with appearances by Mitchell Gozer, Geoff Matheson and some other people she doesn't like very much. It is a tale of old grudges, new wars and unreasonable vengeance, not to mention the sins of both the parents and the children coming home to roost. Sometimes you have to learn the lessons of the Roman Empire the hard way.
By popular demand, the next story will return to Geoff and his shenanigans in the Egyptian underworld. The poll has been reset to the right with the new set of characters who are ready to have the next story; vote for your favorite and next time the roster will change again.
Out of my own curiousity: if you were one of the four people who voted "Other" on the last poll, who did you have in mind?
By popular demand, the next story will return to Geoff and his shenanigans in the Egyptian underworld. The poll has been reset to the right with the new set of characters who are ready to have the next story; vote for your favorite and next time the roster will change again.
Out of my own curiousity: if you were one of the four people who voted "Other" on the last poll, who did you have in mind?
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