Gods, Sacrifice, and Economy

[thusianetwork]

Gods, Sacrifice, and Economy

Thusia is a game full of gods who are not only integral to the setting and plot, but necessary to the gameplay and economy. Gods will be a regular part of your character's life, not just in interacting with them, but in making sacrifices to them to receive their power, favor, or goods. We'll go down everything the gods offer, and how they connect to your character's life, one at a time.

❧ What Are the Gods?

Gods of Thusia are Grecian inspired, in the sense that they largely adhere to their own moral code, and tend to have influence in several areas that sometimes overlap with each other. They are 'human' in the sense that they are very flawed, and can often be rather shallow. They have a great deal of power they wield and can use it for you or against you. Generally speaking, you must offer a sacrifice for their help, or actively spite them to inspire them to smite you, but most do have a degree of whimsy so nothing is ever entirely off the table.

It is important to note, however, that the gods are not omni anything. They can't see all, they don't know all, they are not all powerful. A god has no more ability to tell if you are lying than anyone does unless they happen to have domain over lies. This does mean that in many cases you can win a god over with insincerity. 'Sucking up' is often just as much a viable way to get into their favor as 'righteous zeal'.

❧ Why Are There Different Types of Gods?

In Thusia's past, a war took place between man and nature, with nature as the final winner. The gods, due to either their domains, personalities, beliefs, or a combination of all three, took one of three sides in the war and classified themselves as either a Civilized god, a Nature god, or a Neutral god.

The Civilized Gods are the gods that residents of Thusia see and interact with most often. They generally maintain unique shrines that can be used to directly and immediately contact the god owning the shrine, for the convenience of making themselves available at any time. They are the gods responsible for bringing in new souls to Thusia and nurturing them to the best of their abilities by providing whatever conveniences they can afford. They are the gods that sided with Thusia's native residents before their extinction.

The Nature Gods are gods who prescribe to a different school of thought, one where gods are meant to be worshipped and prayed to, not bartered with for little trinkets. They don't often keep shrines and generally don't keep themselves accessible, only appearing upon their whims. They're intent on pushing the residents of Thusia to live a life in which gods and nature are both respected and feared, as they believe they should be. They are the gods that sided with nature, and ultimately won the war.

The Neutral Gods are gods that sided with neither humans nor nature during the war. They don't hold any strong beliefs in how they should be regarded by Thusia's residents, only the maintenance of the balance of the world. They don't show any particular favor toward humans and are very rare to come by directly, instead leading their existences quietly in the background.

You can find out more about all of the gods on The Gods page, as well as links to their shrines if available.

❧ What Are Shrines?

A god's shrine is a special place where they can virtually always be reached, provided you aren't in their disfavor. In game, most of these shrines will generally always be gathered in one room for easy access by residents of Thusia. However, for OOC convenience, most gods have a 'shrine' post. You can find links to individual shrine pages on the Gods page linked above.

You may use these posts to bargain or make offerings to the gods. You can handle these threads OOCly or ICly at your discretion, and you may discuss with the players to figure out how to handwave particularly repetitive offerings. Note that offerings don't have to be handled in a god's shrine post. You can certainly do it within the community as well. The purpose of shrine pages are simply to make sure that the gods are as accessible OOCly as they would be ICly.

If you have any questions about the shrines or use of shrine pages, please direct them to the FAQ.

❧ What Can The Civilized Gods Offer?

❧ Each god tends to have a variety of offerings, from small consumables like candles or cakes, to larger items like furniture, or bolts of cloth.

❧ They can also offer special or magical items that have specific effects, such as healing herbs, drugs, or magical weapons.

❧ Some gods can offer specific stat bonuses (limited), such as making you stronger, or faster.

❧ Gods can offer physical changes, from healing wounds to sprouting wings, so long as it falls inside their domain.

❧ Gods can offer services, ranging from sex to personal protection to providing of information and purifying beasts and fruits so they can be safely eaten.

❧ If a large sacrifice is made, gods can change the environment in some way, such as adding things to the HQ.

❧ God can also grant permanent magic abilities or status changes to anyone who becomes their priest or priestess. They can even grant the character access to magic they might have lost in living their own world.

In most cases civilized gods should be fairly open about telling you what they can get you and what they can't. If a god has something to offer they don't mention, that is probably more the exception than the rule. So most of the time figuring out who you need to sacrifice to for cigarettes is only a matter of asking.

You can find the list of what civilized gods offer at their individual shrines, or check out the Civilized God Directory for a quick overview.

❧ What Can't The Civilized Gods Offer?

This one is a little easier. Gods cannot bring in anything from another world. You can't sacrifice for materia, elixirs, your old photo album, or your friend. Anything that your character really needs should be brought in as one of their two items, because those are the only otherwordly items getting into the game.

And it should be obvious by now, but gods can't offer what they can't offer. That is to say, each god has a few fairly narrowly defined domains they can work their magic in, and outside of that have to find another god, or make do without. Some gods can offer healing herbs, but can't do instantaneous heals. Some gods can revive, while others can only bring rebirth, and others can only do zombie revival.

❧ What Do They Take As Offerings?

In order to get a god to do you a favor, you have to pay up first. All gods, civilized, nature, and neutral, accept a variety of offerings and sacrifices. Different beasts or different parts of beasts or nature are probably the most obvious. But interactions between other characters that have meaning and are done in the gods name will work as well, such as having sex, or offering comfort. Finally, more personal offerings, such as something created specifically for the god, might find favor with them.

Many gods will generally be pretty open to telling you what kind of sacrifices they want, and obviously the more you want from them, they more they require from you.

You can find the list of what civilized gods will accept at their individual shrines, or check out the Civilized God Directory for a quick overview.

❧ How Do I Make an Offering?

For civilized gods, you can just catch a god in game, or go to the Shrine Room and start browsing around.

The above page is reserved for OOC or IC threads with gods to work out deals! This is because civilized gods should theoretically always be accessible.

Nature and neutral gods are a little more difficult to make offerings directly too. The best your character can generally do ICly is construct their own shrine to the god, pray and provide offerings, and hope that the god will respond (sometimes they ICly won't!). OOCly, you'll need to tap the god's player and give them a heads up that their god is getting an offering.

❧ What happens if I Piss a God Off?

This is a thing that can happen! This is also a thing that can unhappen. All of the gods are fickle, no matter what their alliance. Generally, if you are really out of a god’s favor--because you killed something sacred to them or were disrespectful to them or because your socks are purple and green and don’t match--they will let you know, and you may have to pay a higher price for items, be punished in some way, or perhaps they won’t accept your sacrifice at all. On the flip side, being out of one god’s favor can put you more in favor with one of the other gods, assuming they don’t get along.

❧ Can I Play A God?

God apps are always open. You can find out more about apping a god here.

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