Original Outline
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Male Elven Mage

It’s strange – You’d think being a Goddess would be easy.  But it isn’t.  It’s not just the fact that you are only A goddess, there being a pantheon – it’s the believers…  Mainly it’s the non-Elvan believers.  They limit you.  They insist on anthropomorphising you – giving you their weaknesses and personalities.  At least the Elves know how the universe runs – it was so much better when they were the only sentient race on the planet.  Plus there’s these churches, priests, miracles and spells – so much micromanaging it’s not funny – heal this man and I’ll pray to you – it’s almost blackmail.

 As a pure force of Good you had unlimited power, but the faith of your followers limits the amount you have access too, and the personality you have been forced into limits the types of uses you can put the power too.

 Now there is this ‘prophecy’ you have to deal  with.  It has the stink of Balance to it – Balance is always up to something, and usually it’s another of it’s ineffable plans.  Technically it’s your boss and has more power than you do.  Though you have never met a physical manifestation of Balance, you doubt it would be a memorable or fun event anyway.  You have met a manifestation of Evil every now and then – technically you hate it and oppose it at every turn, but sometimes it’s easier to come to an agreement beforehand – saves a lot of needless waste of  Mana (which is for want of a better term, Miracle fuel).

 This current new fad/religion – The church of Purity -  a Human religion that is quite large.  It makes you out to be an arrogant snobbish virgin female who (take it from your own opinion) is absolutely no fun to be.  If it weren’t for the fact that you had other personalities to retreat too on other continents, you’d be stuck with being her forever.  And she’s not an overly ‘bright’ manifestation – often using brute force instead of mediation.  And how is that supposed to win followers to the church anyway?  Brute force will only make them reviled.  It’s like Humans don’t understand psychology at all…

 Your current project is this Apocalypse thing the Church of Purity has set up.  Their preparing massive armies and vast magics for an almighty fight with Evil.  They’re also training potential Avatars so that you can physically be represented in the midst of the battle lines.  As if you couldn’t manifest yourself.  The outcome of this battle will destroy the various churches and cults of Evil – the net affect will be to turn more people to Good (either the Church of Purity or preferably a less stuffy religion) – and this means more power to you.  So much in fact, that you should be able to break out of the constraints of the ‘Virgin Goddess’ and deliver a sermon that they will never forget.  You’ll turn them all to the Elven religion and finally be free of  these personality quirks and power limitations.

 It seems that Balance is also behind this, as it has provided this prophecy.  Naturally it’s made sure there are some strings attached too.  The final test (according to the prophecy) for your potential Avatar will be to pass through this ‘Dungeon of Sephiroth’ which you have never heard of before and seems to be so heavily wrapped in magic (it’s at the nexus of many constant ley lines) that you’ve never been able to penetrate it.  The wording of the prophecy can be read to mean the Avatar is accompanied by the ‘forces of goodness’ but you know it means you must accompany her as a physical manifestation.  You, this potential Avatar, and a pe-ordained group of other individuals must go in to this place and destroy it’s heart.

 So you’ve manifested as a Mage – male to confuse your followers (they haven’t got a clue so it shouldn’t be too hard to fool them) and Elvan as you like their religion (plus Elvan Mages are viewed as the most powerful and you should be able to use most of your powers).  Your Avatar to be is the ‘Female Human Cleric’ as you have been giving his career a considerable amount of attention.  She’s actually a Paladin of renown but is going undercover so as not to disturb the locals (or the rest of the party).

 You just need to make up a suitable background to fool the other members of the party…

 Your interpretation of the prophecy suggests that a week and a day after the invention of guns, this group of people meet at the Inn of the Sleeping Lion which happens to be in a nearby village in the locale of the Dungeon of Sephiroth.  And so you are here.

Godhood 101 – Rules to rule by

Everything costs Mana

Being physically manifested costs 1 Mana every turn.  Luckily you are on a ley line which negates this cost. 

Ley lines are where ‘Magic’ is stronger – actually all magic comes from ‘Balance’ as do all Gods (which has caused the occasional jihad against magic items which some zealots view as trapping the gods).  There are 3 types of  ley lines – constant lines maintain the same energy along the entire circumference (they reach around the world), variable lines rise and fall along their length, and dynamic lines which form wave fronts in a sine-wave pattern down their length.  This particular dungeon is a nexus of all the constant ley lines, so magic should be easy to come by.

Spells cost Mana, depending on complexity and power involved.

Also, as a god, you have other duties –

Keeping in touch with your churches and followers does not cost Mana, but you will be distracted  while doing so.  Each turn you must specifically write that you either meditate, sleep or stare off into space for a period of time to keep in contact with your followers while you are manifest.  Keeping up to date is very important, as you can allocate your Mana pool for the turn to fuel various miracles, thwarting evil and perhaps attracting more followers or more belief.

Death is a damned inconvenience, as you then have to make a new body or resurrect and repair the old body.  Naturally it’s easier to raise a body that’s not too exceptional in it’s abilities, it’s also more convincing to the other adventurers that you are an average Elf – so you’re body has no special powers – it’s not fast or strong or anything like that… it requires food and sleep and all those mortal things.

The only powers you don’t have access too are things that haven’t been thought of by your followers… reading minds (they don’t know what the brain is) or controlling time or any other power that relies on the knowledge of physics to a high degree (no nuclear explosions for instance).  Plus of course there’s the cost of power, the fatiguing of your body and complexity of the various elements to contend with.  Otherwise you can make up any spell you like.

There are things that make casting spells easier and less costly – these include using poetry, gestures, incantations and all the various things that have been come to be expected of mages, and therefore belief has built into the use of magic.

Spells you are good at :-

  Good, Life, Ethics, Growth, Love, Water, Morality

Spells you are okay at :-

  Order, Chaos, Peace, War, Physics, Probability, Instinct, Intelligence, Duty, Impulse, Earth, Air, Will, Emotion

Spells you find difficult :-

  Balance, Justice, Magic, Nature, Fate, Spirit, Imagination

Spells you find impossible :-

  Evil, Death, Politics, Decay, Hate, Fire, Lust

The Pantheon and Magical Relationships

            The Forces - Balance - Good, Evil, Order, Chaos.

The Avatars - Justice - Life, Death, Peace, War.

The Academics - Magic - Ethics, Politics, Physics, Probability.

The Physicals - Nature - Growth, Decay, Instinct, Intelligence.

The Great Powers - Fate - Love, Hate, Duty, Impulse.

The Elements - Spirit - Water, Fire, Earth, Air.

The Personifications - Imagination - Morality, Lust, Will, Emotion.