Life is Feudal Official Forum

[Mr_FauxPas]

So, this topic is about collecting ideas about what things could we cover in mythology. From the new FAQ, question 45, Bobik says that they're going to be probably 3 archetypes:
- western european like
- viking/slav like
- mongol/arab like

So, my idea is to create mythology for all these archetypes. And for that, we'd need:
1. What topics should we cover ? (Creation of world, people; Something about farming, basic inventions, fire, etc.)
2. How should we flavour each archetype's mythology ? Maybe basing on what each archetype could value, or on geographical circumstances.
3. And style, in which each mythology could be written. But for anything fancy, we'd need a good native English-writer.

[Mr_FauxPas]

Okay, so maybe I'll go for solo brainstorm...

Topics that I want to cover: Birth of the world, birth of the people, important symbols, gods, death, afterlife, surroundings, show how the people value their enviroment, themselves, or lessons learned.

Can make symbols appear for each archetype... in different form. Some sort of group unconsciousness, interpreted by people in their own way.


Names for the Archetypes (ofc changeable) ->
Western european... Nirth(ers)
Viking/Slav... Ortak(s)
Mongol/arab... Crostvel(s)

Basic values assigned for all races:

Need for dominance, comfort, power. Survival instinct. Desire to know the purpose of life, the purpose of being.

Values familiar to:

Nirthers:

World seen as something that is beautiful, yet dangerous. No big hardship taken to master the world, so no big soulfulness. Taking easy way outs, not caring for others. Value of culture, and refinement. Balance in aggressiveness towards others. Shallowness in judging other cultures. Seeing human beings as superior to all life. God created people, all other life is created by Gods minions. History will let them grow through contacts with other cultures, tho those might be turbulent.

Being able to live a comfortable life -> superior to others.
Need for dominance expressed in various ways. Not necessarily raw aggression, but mental superiority, or wealth one. Survival throu caring for oneself for here and now.


Ortaks:

World as a mystical place, full of secrets. Fight for survival mainly at cost of other communities (to gain their resources). Respect for force and power. Deepness is shown in actions, not words. Culture mainly for light-hearted fun. Taking short-cuts in life generally seen as weakness - no big technology advancement due to this. Nature is a stranger, that is both fascinating, and dangerous - but when one succumbs to this danger, it's his fault. Humans role is uncertain. God(s) were like children unable to decide what to do with the world. Humans created as guardians for the world, with their own will. History will probably show that this Ortaks have misused their will, and for that there's sometimes part in them filled with regret and compassion.

Superior power -> Respect from others.
Need for dominance is, well, fiery in nature. Can be ruthless in crimes of passion.
Survival mainly through attacking other communities.

Crostvels:

World seen as reflection of mind of the collective - chaos stems from different desires from all living things. They are ruthless to those different from them. Mainly nomadic way of living. Food through cattle, sheep, and other farm animals. Philosophical minds. Technology advancement rapid in some eras, in others slow due to being hostile towards unorthodox thinkers. Being a nomadic archetype, they develop some kind of ADHD-like personalities. Good fighters, not the best tacticians. There is no god, there is just oneness with all beings. Paradoxical nature - they may believe that everyone has right do what they want, on the other they're really aggressive towards those who show some individualistic tendencies. Passionate and nature loving.
Accepting strangers only if they have the same beliefs as theirs - if not, they'll try to dominate another person, and if that fails, they're going to be hostile towards them. Source of conflicts with other nations.
Power is for no one - it is, well, fluid and chaotic in nature, as it is represented by fashion of thought in the era. No king or peasant may feel safe when they're eccentric, unless they live in the shadow of society.

Done with general ideas about people. Now to make some more detailed approach to writing mythology for various archetypes.

[hasaosan]

i think they should make everyone start out as Aithiest (or just put godless)

then the players can MAKE their OWN religions adding goals/requirements that will increase/decrease faith in the religion

you will start with 0 faith (aka its just an idea in your chars head)

then as you do things that are set (by you) your faith will grow/decrease

if your "karma" (faith) gets high enough you gain rewards by making the gods/god you created happy....

then there is bad karma: if you anger the god by doing things set as "no nos" then ur charma decreases and if it goes below 0 then you start getting negatives (butter fingers loss of health ect)

is you go into bad charma you can still drop ur faith BUT you will have to wait for the Karma to return to 0 to LOSE ur negatives

(this is a rough draft of an idea im workin on)

[wongo007]

i think they should make everyone start out as Aithiest (or just put godless)

then the players can MAKE their OWN religions adding goals/requirements that will increase/decrease faith in the religion

you will start with 0 faith (aka its just an idea in your chars head)

then as you do things that are set (by you) your faith will grow/decrease

if your "karma" (faith) gets high enough you gain rewards by making the gods/god you created happy....

then there is bad karma: if you anger the god by doing things set as "no nos" then ur charma decreases and if it goes below 0 then you start getting negatives (butter fingers loss of health ect)

is you go into bad charma you can still drop ur faith BUT you will have to wait for the Karma to return to 0 to LOSE ur negatives

(this is a rough draft of an idea im workin on)

good this is very cool reminds me of fallout karma system

[Mr_FauxPas]

Well... IMO players should be able to choose which deity do they follow (or not follow at all), also when they start a game. This idea with god-creation during game sounds nice. But characters aren't a tabula rasa that's created right here and now - they have some kind of history. But nevertheless, it's up to player to choose if he wishes history to affect him or not. Starting up as atheist is an option. (But then again I'd like to call it agnostic - belief in something larger than life, but we do not know it, and may never do so)

If developers choose to make everyone to start without faith in anything specific, I think it would be still nice to have some gods in mythology. This mythology may not affect players directly, but could affect history and show how the people of each nation behaved. Yea, I know this may seem as imposing limits, but then we have the union of nations done by Asterius, which should unimpose the idea that characters from each archetype should act as their ancestors did.

IMO if we're to discuss this further, a mod could divide this topic. Maybe to suggestion forum, as we're not really contributing lore, but ideas for game mechanics ?

[Mr_FauxPas]

Done with the general outlines for archetypes. If someone has any ideas, please add something, as soon I'll start working on how each archetypes mythology will look like.

[Mr_FauxPas]

Crostvels

Creation of the world:

Before our universe was born, there was one that had split itself into two parts - Chaos, and Order. In Chaos, there was no light, and no darkness; no heat,and no cold; no water, and no fire; no earth, and no air. There was nothing, but pure and raw energy that couldn't be confined by any means. On the other hand, there was a little world of Order. There, energy was submissive to any will or thought, and it was chosen for the Powers as a home. Yet everything has to come to it's end, and so the universe had to die. The death was not from the age itself, but from a wound cast by Gods. One of them struck the Chaos with his godly spear, only to unleash a force that was so wild and powerful that the Gods themselves had to perish, forever. Lightening of pure energy rode across the sky, faster than the wind, unstoppable by no mountain, destroying the little land of Order in which Gods have lived. These Gods were not know to us [or maybe not - if someone would like to do some God history P] . Yet their remains have mixed with the remains of Chaos and Order, and that is how a new universe has been born.

For ages new energies were trying to become one - and so the Water and Air elements were born. Both of them carried some elements of forever to be lost Chaos and Order world, but they could never work deeply together. Other energies were too pure to be mixed up with others, and so Fire and Earth were born - respectively pure Chaos and Order. Fire liked Air, as it gave him space to live, and respected Water, as both were forces to be reckoned with. Yet it detested Earth, as it tried to confine him and limit him, threatening him with his death. Earth itself was a peaceful element. It was loving to Water, as it's soothing touch was calming to it, and could give Earth the power it needed. And Air was inspiring to the Orderly, yet not so wild and destructive as Fire itself, which Earth hated. Air and Water couldn't get along. While Air was preoccupied with it's light hearted freedom, Water was confined and could only move by others, or by change.

Eventually through centuries the elements lived with their lives, not sure what their purpose was, slowly forgetting their origins. This is when all elements, even Fire and Earth, Water and Air started to *know* each other. And through this knowing, more lesser elements were born [could write about these; Moon, stars, planets, also as elements ?]. But more millenniums had to pass for the least, but most important element to be born - for element called Life.

Life was a mystery to all other elements, and it was more than just Order and Chaos mixed with each other. It was not know to other elements at that time, but the Life element carried the energy of Gods who understood Chaos. Life was uninterested in sharing an existence like other elements. It longed for sense of purpose, and somehow knew that there was more than there was at that time. And so it wandered, drawing all the resources it needed.

The other Elements had no individuality. But those so saw Life element, knew that there was more to their existence than they could ever know. And so, they all decided to create and sustain a new world, each element having an equally important role. And with new creations that finally had purpose to their existence.

Thanks to cooperation of all the elements, our world has been born. Earth has given foundations, Air gave sky. When sky was created, Fire could create its home called Sun. And with Earth's foundations, Water had a place to live. When all has settled, Life came, and sacrificed itself to give birth to plants with Earth, fish with Water, birds with Air, and animals from Fire. Among the animals we, Crostvels, were created. [could do something more detailed]

[Kazzan]

History (according to priests)

In the dawn of time there was only water and wind upon the surface of the world. The gods let a volcanic eruption rise the land that lay beneath to the surface. They created plants, animals and man to inhabit this new world. As generations of men passed the race of men grew ever wiser. They learned to communicate through spoken words, they learned to hunt and they prayed to the gods. Yet as the years passed many of the men of Morlond forsook the gods, some creating their own sects or tying to reach godhood themselves. This angered the gods and so they set upon Morlond and caused droughts and famine. At first it seemed like it would pass, and the men of Morlond continued their daily business, but soon the truth dawned upon them.
Some of the people fled Morlond, which had turned into a dry wasteland, across the sea to the continent of Agon. There they would build a new civilization.

(Side note: Doesn't mean that the gods actually did that. Took inspiration from what happened to the land that is now Sahara, and mesopotamia.)