Transcendence

Background

What if myth was real? What if it was the description of empires long lost, the attempts of those who did not understand looking upon an interstellar empire, vast and majestic, that the ignorant storywriters could only comprehend in bronze age terms? What if myth was science fiction?

Transcendence is inspired by fictional works such as Ilium and Olympos by Dan Simmons, as well as the game Too Human and so forth. Seeing that I am not actually some multitalented mythological scholar I will probably fuck a lot of things up here so be forgiving.

Cosmology

The Axis Mundi

The "World Pillar" is a powerful system, a mighty megastructure used to allow the gods their interface with the underlying fabric of reality, the machines placed there by the creation of the universe. Without the Axis Mundi, the miracles of the gods would fail, and they would be left merely with technological trappings. This layer is the root of divinity, the "godhead".

It is via the Axis Mundi that feats that the finest mundane craftsmen and scholars cannot comprehend or attempt are born out of. From the biological Dyson Sphere of Yggdrasil to Olympus Station to Fortress Kailash, these seats of power are extremely well defended by mighty fleets and servitors with powers beyond imagining... and the gods themselves.

The Underworld

The machinery which grants the gods their power also stores the minds of those who are born in the universe, keeping them accessible for later use. A very few gods and goddesses have gained the power to alter the simulations which these dead are stored in, creating paradises for the dead, or horrific punishing hells. Normally, this machinery is used merely for reincarnation of the worthy and the purification of the unworthy, but the ability to manipulate the underworld is a potent tool for those few gifted with it.

Deities

The touch of the godhead brings many benefits past the ability to call on it for miracles. Near immortality, superhuman ability in every aspect, wounds that heal quickly, and so forth. Divinities are, even with minimal enhancement save their requisite genetic augmentation and the framework cybernetics which allow them to interface with their Axis Mundi across interstellar distances, are far more powerful than even the most highly augmented supersoldiers wrought by mortal hands.

However, deities are not immune to hubris... and the power of the gods corrupts very well. About 90% of them are all huge jerks.

Paradigm

All deities share a few general abilities through the form of their Axis Mundi, but the differing designs and differing personalities and enhancements of the gods alter the form and type of miracles they can call upon. A god of life may scour a world clean of civilization still, but he or she would do it via nanoplague or genetic material breakdown, rather than calling on the brute force of planetary superstorms or outright destroying cities with nuclear-yield strategic strikes.

Lesser Spirits

The connection to the godhead and the Axis Mundi fades as generations and distance pass, but there are those who can access it for miracles which may be minor but are no less defiant of the order mortals seek to place on the universe. These lesser spirits, no matter what name they go by, can still channel some of miracle. They may not be capable of directly saving or damning worlds, but via their adventures, they can do so.

Scions

The sons and daughters of gods and goddesses, of which there are many, inherit a weakened form of their parent's connection. Their powers are weaker, and their divine blood not as potent, but their ability is still to be reckoned with. Roughly equivalent to moderately powerful lesser spirits, they inherit many advantages from their birth, and are often groomed to be heroes who can save worlds... or damn them.

Worlds

Hellas

Greece-land. Spartans may or may not be 2 meters tall and wear green powered armor.

Definitely has transhuman space amazons with bendybeam spears.

Kosala

Indian-land. Asuras, Devas, and Rudra-class battlecruisers which look like bows and fire bendybeams (there are 33 of them and they also transform into giant robots too)

Midgard

Norse-land. More manliness and cyborg gods wielding gatling guns, less slaves. Norse Myth Land, not Norseman Land, after all.

Space-Babylon

Needs to be renamed to something less obvious.

Other Stuff

Possibly a small Egypt land and some sort of fading Space Babylon later.

Technology

Technology in Transcendence is highly advanced but holds vaguely fantastical attributes. Rather than sleek utilitarianism, some amount of impracticality is accepted for cool things. Weapons are often etched with designs and blessings, power armor is often embossed and engraved with the tales of its previous victories, and so on. Heroism and aesthetics matter just as much as utility value.

For all that, the equipment is relatively practical. There are recognizable guns, which shoot various things like mini-missiles, slugs, lasers, plasma bullets, or so on. Armor is clearly utilitarian outside of its decorative frills and engraving, with sloped ceramic and alloy plates designed to deflect fire away from vitals, and ropy packs of myomer musculature which carry the armor and the wearer. And yes, before you ask, there are tanks and fighter jets. They might look silly but they exist.

Tactics and strategy should be this weird mishmash of modern and primitive as well, due to the two drastically separate influences being "sci-fi" and "myth".

Weapons

Guns. The occasional laser spear. Power swords. Melee weapons exist and are often used in combat. Soldiers generally either have bayonets on their rifles or carry a secondary melee weapon such as a force blade or vibroknife for close combat.

Most slug firearms use electromagnetic, or in advanced (read: divine) cases, gravitic force to accelerate armor penetrating projectiles to extreme velocity. These slugs are generally forged out of various materials, from the cheapest militia levies using steel shot, to the highly explosive compressed phlogiston slugs that elite Spartans favor, to the nanotoxin-tipped bolts Kosalan snipers use to eliminate foes, emulating Rudra and his arrows of disease. Smart ammunition systems generally shape and build these slugs on the fly, and therefore slug firearms generally possess multiple firing modes, allowing them to fire small, single bullets or much larger, lower-velocity shells that act as grenades or missiles.

Laser or particle beam firearms also exist alongside slug weapons. Primitive versions only fire straight beams, but more advanced ones can fire beams that can curve around obstacles and hit targets behind cover. Such vectored beam weapons are often found built into melee weapons such as spears and greatswords, as they can much more easily be aimed by sight and thought rather than hand movements.

Finally, plasma weapons fire bolts of high-temperature plasma at extremely high velocity, causing immense damage. Although powerful and capable of doing massive damage, plasma weapons are expensive and relatively rare as common-issue weapons. The chosen of the Kosalan goddess Shiva use these weapons heavily. Artifact-forged plasma weapons can overcharge the plasma bolt, allowing an infantry rifle to empty its entire battery charge in one catastrophic blast.

Edged melee weapons generally use disruption fields to neutralize integrated armor forcefields and weaken engineered materials, and have hyperdense or vibrating edges to cleave through them. Blunt melee weapons generally work off of the "impact hammer" principle, using their mass and disruption fields to temporarily disrupt a shield and then firing a heavy projectile or plasma jet point-blank. These weapons are unwieldy and difficult to use, but extremely devastating in skilled hands. Disruption fields cancel each other out, so you can parry a melee weapon with another.

There are also energy melee weapons like force blades and laser swords, because what's space opera without laser swords?

Armor

Most armor in Transcendence is semi-powered and interfaces with the wearer, enhancing strength, speed, and endurance while providing onboard medical attention and datalinking ability. Armor has roughly won the battle in protection against ranged weapons, but is significantly more vulnerable to melee attacks. While ranged fire can suppress an enemy and inflict some degree of casualties, without a multitude of heavy weapons, significant casualties cannot be inflicted outside of melee combat due to armor toughness.

Heavy armor often masses as much as the man inside or more, most of its prodigious weight accounted for in its heavy ceramic and alloy plating that covers the majority of the body. Although massive, the power-assist on heavy armor allows heavy infantry to move nearly as quickly as light or medium-armored soldiers, although their combat endurance is decreased due to limited battery life. Although self-recharging like most powered systems in Transcendence, the limited trickle of the armor's internal generator is rarely enough to keep up with the power demands of the shield systems or power-assist. Of course, those blessed by a connection to the godhead can power it with the limitless energy of that dimension...

Some soldiers eschew heavy armor, preferring to use light, unrestraining ballistic weave and force fields, peppering enemies with long-range fire and using superior mobility to disengage. These lightly armored skirmisher armies are stealthier and highly maneuverable, but fall quickly to heavy infantry. These armors are woven ballistic weave over skintight muscle and thin skeletal members, looking like quilted layers of fabric over skintight bodysuits but in reality just as advanced as any heavy armor suit.

Those who desire somewhat more protection than light armor without the bulk of heavy armor attach ablative plates to critical areas and reinforce the shielding. This type of armor, not fully powered plate but not merely ballistic muscle suit is considered medium armor. Medium armor is the most common type of body armor in use, a happy compromise between protection, weight, battlefield endurance, and logistical requirements.

There are those who are crazy enough to eschew armor almost entirely as well, relying only on worn forcefield harnesses or even subdermal field generators, as well as their own personal augmentations, as they attack in a battle-fury, such as the berserkers of Midgard.

Transhumanism

Although cybernetics are the method which gods are made, mortals imitate the gods as well. Prometheus might have been tortured for letting the secret of melding man with machine out, but once it was revealed to the human race, these imitations of the gifts of the gods spread widely through the various empires. Many soldiers, scholars, and others invest heavily in such blessings like reflex boosts, hardened skeletons, exocortices, and enhanced musculature, and the most arrogant often invest in eidetic memory records so their heroism can be more easily woven into tales after their death or retirement.

Genetic engineering is far more common, and the average citizen of any polity is far healthier and fitter than a 20th century human. The gods are far too busy to control their population to this degree, and with thousands of conflicts from petty to extreme, there is little if any impetus to enforce significant restriction on the arts of altering the clay of flesh. Flesh-sculptors are one part doctor, one part artist, and the best are sought after by the rich, the famous, and the vain. Excessive alteration to one's self beyond human body plans is frowned upon though, as the tale of Arachne, who modified herself into something spiderlike and inhuman to be better at weaving code than the goddess Athena--and was punished by having her genetics locked in that form for her hubris, shows.

Enlightenment

A very, very few people entirely unrelated to the gods manage to tap into some of the power of their faction's Axis Mundi by training, discipline, and sheer force of will. They may be called gurus, or magicians, or oracles, but these enlightened are capable of minor miracles. Their lives are more blessed than the mean, and they gain the same effects tapping the godhead gives to the gods, to a lesser degree. If they did not have the framework gifts, the godhead builds them into the Enlightened, nodules of exotic elements coalescing in bone and brain.

No god, not even those of knowledge, can explain why this phenomenon happens. Is it them choosing to harness the power-or is the power choosing them?

Character Generation

Uses the Shrikeian System. These pages may be split off later.

Stats

Stats go from 1 to 10. I was going to make a "goes to 11" joke but probably not.

Magery: Although heroes generally cannot access world-shattering magics like the gods, many can access these gifts. From enhancement of physical attributes, to controlling flora and fauna, to summoning fireballs or deadly laser beams, magery is a powerful support ability which enhances your character's abilities. Magery is the best stat because it can heavily enhance your ability to perform just about any sort of mundane action.

Finesse: All the physical potential in the world doesn't mean much if you can't effectively apply it to situations. Whereas someone with high physical is a good brawler, the finesse attribute controls the hero's ability to effectively use their physical gifts, or lack thereof. A frail ancient wuxia master with a powersword is still a force to be reckoned with due to his very high Finesse attribute, even if his physical is low. Finesse also covers certain actions which require physical speed but precision and training as well, such as piloting. Finesse is the best stat and you should max it out because it heavily governs how well you can hit targets and how much pain you inflict in ranged combat.

Physical: Physical determines the character's physical and athletic prowess. A high physical character can fell a tree in a single blow, bull through stone walls, outrun cheetahs, and other powerful feats of aspect. Physical is the best stat because having it at a high level prevents you from dying and it lets you move fast and hit hard.

Education: A highly educated hero knows things. Considering that you're going to be adventuring in exotic locales with man-eating squirrels and carnivorous vines and the occasional ancient laser death automaton, being a student of history and the sciences may be useful in varying situations. Education is the best stat because it is critical for maintaining your bendybeam-shooting laser spear, remembering what the antidote was to world-serpent venom, or figuring out a proper prayer to the gods to rescue you from your inevitable fate.

Wits: The ability to think on your feet is also critical for a hero. Wits is useful for improvisational plans and also reaction. Wits is the best stat because it makes your hero less vulnerable to things such as illusion-weaving, allows your hero to react and act far faster mentally, and also is necessary to ensure quickly improvised plans go off without a hitch, which is important as no battleplan survives contact with the enemy.

Charisma: Heroes are heroic because people look up to them. The higher your Charisma, the more people will be willing to hear your epic tale without going "man, that guy/girl was a jerk" at the end. Charisma also affects your effectiveness in leadership, your ability to persuade others to do what you want, and the favor of the gods. Charisma is the best stat because it heavily enhances your leadership and increases your ability to find fame, and a hero must be able to lead by example as well as inspire via his tales.

Specialties

You may also buy Specialties, which are substats giving you additional strengths in one field. Each specialty is bought as per regular stats cost and adds during the appropriate situation. In especially appropriate situations, Specialties may add even more points to the stat. There are also a number of particularly important or common stats that are (almost) always bought as specialties. They are detailed below.

Respect

The respect of those who have heard your tales and your reputation is a critical element of a hero's story. Respect is roughly equivalent to MRW's conspiracy stat, although it's significantly more obvious in nature than Conspiracy is. You're loudly proclaiming how awesome you are, and people are agreeing, rather than using military rank or unofficial connections.

Legend

The legend of a hero spreads far and wide. Legend is bought as any other stat but costs double to purchase every point. What Legend does is give a pool of points which can be spent for various effects, such as rerolls, automatic critical successes, staving off death, and so on. Legend is intertwined with fate, and those who are blessed with legend are also beneficiaries of fate, whose fickle hand more often than not favors them. But the grace of fate is not limitless.

Gifts and Curses

Heroes are assisted via magical gifts as well, such as artifacts, blessings, followers, augmentation, and so on. Gifts can be bought with CP. Gifts give varying bonuses and cool fluff effects. Curses are basically character or other disadvantages, or liabilities such as a looming dark fate or something.

Gifts

Divine Fire: The spark of godhood burns slowly in you. Eventually, you may be elevated to demigodhood... or perhaps even godhood. A heroic mortal with this ability has no Magery limit.

Races

Races will generally use one generic template and then have individual modifiers above and beyond that for variants. Most will have minimum stat requirements as well. Some races might be fairly similar. A Valkyrie could be a slightly modified Asura for example, so on and so forth.

Barbarians

Barbarians are unmodified mortals and generally not fit to be player characters. Barbarians start with -1 to all attributes and are limited to a maximum Magery of 1.

Mortal

A heroic mortal may not have the divine gifts or augmentations of the others, but makes up for it via sheer balls. Anyone who advances to becoming a hero with no divine blood is clearly blessed, and starts with +2 Legend and 5 CP of Gifts. However a mortal gains no stat bonuses.

Mortals have a maximum Magery of 2 without some a gift allowing them greater access.

Gotarling

A starfaring people, the Gotarlings of Midgard are excellent shipwrights, traders, and pilots.

Gotarlings gain +1 Education (Starship Maintenance) and +1 Finesse (Piloting).

Alternatively, a Gotarling trader may have +1 Charisma ,+1 Charisma (Dealmaking), and +1 Education (Foreign Cultures) but -1 Physical, representing those who have plied the starlanes for so long that the extended exposure to shipboard environments has atrophied their strength and endurance.

Dorian

Favored of the Hellenic gods, the Dorians pride themselves on their superior academies and the learning of their citizens. Dorians gain +1 Education.

Spartans are infamous amongst the Dorians, men and women who live only to drill and fight, neglecting other components of their education. Spartans have +1 Finesse, +1 Physical, and +1 Charisma (YELLING REALLY LOUDLY), but -1 Charisma. This template is representative of most warrior cultures as well and most societies have a version of it.

Akkadian

The Akkadians have excellent healers and fleshsculptors, and therefore their citizenry are healthy and vibrant, beyond even the norm of other mortals. Furthermore, their culture highly emphasizes enhancing personal attractiveness and an appreciation of the arts. However, due to their decadence, but few of them take up the sword as a result. Akkadians gain +1 Charisma (Overwhelming Beauty) and +1 Education (Arts) and +1 Physical, but -1 Finesse.

Kosalan

The Kosalans live under the watchful eye of the Rigvedic deities, who seek to emphasize their harmony with the universe, emphasizing a flexible and sharp mind. Kosalans gain +1 Wits.

A handful of Untouchables claw themselves up to heroic ability via sheer spunk and talent. These men and women have -1 Education due to their lack of formalized education but +1 to either Physical or Wits, +1 Physical (Enduring Hardship), and a +1 Specialty (Chosen Field) in any area as long as it makes sense.

Elves

The Alfar light-elves, tall and beautiful, are charismatic and graceful demigods who can easily convince even the most stubborn mortal of his argument's correctness.

The Svartalfr dark-elves, short, strong, and tough, are expert craftsmen who run many of the nanofactories of Midgard, producing war materiel and fine artifacts.

Devas

Divine beings which regulate the passing of natural phenomenon, Devas are powerful semi-divine beings with powerful magics, necessary to regulate and alter the passings of natural phenomena. As divine beings made of god-stuff rather than flesh and blood, they are also beautiful and capable in all areas.

Asuras

The Asuras regulate the passing of moral and social phenomenon in the empire of Kosala. To do this, they must be capable of disguising themselves to monitor societies and judge them impartially.

Scion

The half-blooded children of gods and goddesses, Scions gain many of their ancestor's gifts. Scions gain heavy bonuses which are also reasonably flexible, but should not be as good at specialization as the other divine races.

Forgeborn

Found under various names, they range from the warrior Einherjar to combat or social automata to spirit-guides sent to guide the righteous on the proper path. They may be automata, or resurrected dead. No matter what, they were created with a purpose and are designed to fill it. Those few who gain the spark necessary to become rulers of their own fate may too, become heroes.

However, they cannot, under any circumstances, possess Magery higher than 0.

Nation Stuff

May be vaguely Sphere-inspired. Probably should be significantly lighter in design though.