It's probably worth at some point writing a brief explanation of the metaphysics of the setting that everybody knows. There should be layers beyond PC knowledge of course, but there should be layers PCs can reach.
- Ooh. Yes, I agree with this and would be interested in seeing the results. What exactly is included in 'metaphysics' here? The in-character reasons for how magic, spirit, alchemy, etc. (basically anything that's not entirely visible in its workings like hitting stuff with sharp objects is) work and interact with each other? Does it include other aspects as well? --Bluebottle
- My basic goal would be to have a short and pithy document that would be part of what everyone reads when they start, so everyone is working on the same page with respect to setting flavour, then probably three longer documents (one magic, one spirit, one alchemy) to read if you're interested. Then there are secret ones with more in-depth information again, so that (a) researcher PCs can get something concrete and well thought out and (b) ref teams can keep vague continuity on how things work. The base layer would contain things like 'no mind reading' and 'spells and miracles are different things' that would be well known to the populace but are sometimes not known by starting players. This all makes it easier for the refs, as they can channel PC questions into areas where sensible answers can be given - "I want a mind reading spell, how much research must I do?" is not a silly question to someone who does not know our metaphysics, for example. Also, "why" is as important as "what" from a roleplaying perspective - see White Wolf tabletop games, for instance. --R
Base Layer Metaphysics
- Arcane and divine magic are not the same thing. The power of the gods is measurably distinct from that of magic, and the two really, really don't mix.
- You can't read minds. Nobody and nothing can hear thoughts. If the Gods can hear your thoughts they aren't letting on.
- As a corrolary to that, praying out loud ensures that the relevant god can hear you.
- The soul travels somewhere else when it dreams; this place is called the Dreaming and is where fairies and nightmares live.
- Demons are nothing to do with religion; they are nasty things that come from outside the world.
- The walking dead are nothing to do with magic; they are the servants of the mad evil god Vivamort.
- Metal is bad for magic.
- Leylines exist, and where they cross weird things happen; people call these crossings 'ritual sites' or 'ley nexi'. There's one in the Wessex Arms.
- Holy ground exists, and is bad for magic. The Wessex Arms is somehow holy without being bad for magic.
- The gods are St. John, Humact, Morvana, The Light, Justice, and Mallan (the Mace Pantheon); Vivamort, Azrael, Bast, Luca, Sordan and Crofter (the Sword Pantheon); Balance (who is of both and neither pantheon). There were once more gods than this, but it is a tenet of Balance that there are not more gods than this now, and most people would consider belief in other divine entities irrational.
- Balance, St. John and Vivamort are the most powerful gods.
- Most people pay homage to most of the gods; Sordan and Vivamort are illegal to worship. It was briefly, a couple of years ago, illegal to worship any of the Sword Pantheon except Azrael; this caused a great deal of resentment especially in the temples of Bast and Crofter.
- There are six elements: earth, fire, light, water, air, darkness. Each has a colour of magic. Grey magic uses all of them.
- Alchemy is as yet poorly understood in terms of how it fits in with the rest.
- The thing about "it is irrational to believe than any other Gods exist" should possibly be "...still exist, although others certainly used to" attached to it, possibly with mention of Seeker & Unity. --Jacob
- Agreed, especially with the Great God Race business being at least within memory in DUTT continuity and presumably adopted as part of CUTT's history. Also, yes, Unity. --Bluebottle
- Also Triplicity, Astalon-Zorbina and Ishmund. --Valtiel
With apologies for the pedantry, Azrael was always legal, for reference, even when the other Sword gods were not. --Pufferfish
- Pedantry over historical references is good, or we have to create a metaphysics that is unfixed in time at both ends. --R
- How much do you want? I could go on all day if shown a document, and for several hours without one... --Pufferfish
- "Demons are nasty things that come from outside the world" - not all demons are nasty, are they? This sometimes actually becomes an issue.--Jacob
- I suspect that to be specialist knowledge. It is more interesting if the default response to demons is panic and distrust. -TheKremlin
- Yes, but an OOC guide like this really oughtn't to contain innaccurate information, I think. --Jacob
- "Weird non-human beings that come from outside the world", perhaps? The defining aspect of demons in TT as far as I can tell is that they're from other planes. The "weird" is optional. :) --Bluebottle
- Demons are definitely 'nasty things' in the same way that Vivamort is a 'mad evil god'. -- Flying_O
- Huh? I would say that Vivamort is a mad, evil God and that not all demons are nasty, so I don't think that's true. --Jacob
- It was more the point that these are both opinions. If we are avoiding things which are simply IC opinions and not OOC facts it applies as much to one as the other. (Personally I think the prevalent IC opinions are worth knowing, though they might arguably belong seperately from OOC facts) -- Flying_O
- The information that not all demons are nasty is (a) debatable (b) pretty specialist. How do you know Vivamort is a mad evil god? You've only his enemies' word on that. There's a gulf between 'outright false' and 'misleading' - the first shouldn't be true of a website document about metaphysics, but the second almost certainly should be at least on some points. This would go in the 'setting info' rather than the 'system info' bit of the site, and probably contain a warning that some of the guide might be over-generalised or over-simplified compared to the specialist knowledge of a mage or priest. --R
The soul travelling elsewhere line is extremely confusing, as we have a concept of 'spirit' in tt which can be detected by miracles and which shouldn't be leaving your body and then re-entering it ever unless you want Azraelites hunting you down. We also don't have a very definied ic concept of soul at all, as distinct from this life-force 'spirit'. --[Zebbie]
- Needs rewording, certainly, will think on this one. Sleeping people definitely ping spirit... *goesawayandthinks* --R
Balance, St John and Vivamort are the most powerful? I can see this in some terms of the latter two being Pantheon heads and Balance being outside it, but if you mean in day to day life, Balance is usually quite a crappy small church and for example Humact is the Religion Of the King And Nobles. --[Zebbie]
- The idea is this is metaphysics not politics, and so the pantheon heads and Balance are the most powerful; perhaps I should include a line about the Sword of Humact given how public that was. --R
Does the holy ground thing need to go in 'really basic concepts' given it is already apparently an Obvious Plot Hole?? Should it in fact not be in under the magic and spirit pages? --[Zebbie]
- I suppose it could go both in magic and spirit, with a "A temple is the best place to hide in if you're being chased by anything that god doesn't like" going in the baseline one. There's a *reason* magic works in the WA, mostly that 'holy to all the gods' = 'none of them can act on it'. --R
It occurs to me that something about the restrictions against Gods acting directly would be good to include. --Jacob