Welcome to Gaia! ::

The Beginning

In the beginning there was a single divine being. This being, called Untos, created the Universe and everything in it and then set time into motion. He also created Souls, which he saved for his best creations: humans. And Untos loved the humans, and the humans loved Untos. So much did they love Untos that everything Untos commanded the humans did. They were righteous to each other and lived in peace and harmony. But Untos became tired, as he wanted the humans to create new things which Untos hadn’t created, but the humans could not grasp the concept of creation. Thus, Untos made Itself invisible and unreachable. The humans became confounded and knew not what to do. They did not know how to live their own lives and despaired. And after they despaired they became angry. They began fighting amongst themselves and destroying that which Untos had created. Untos could let it go no further. Untos realized that the only way that the humans could become what It wanted them to become was to destroy Itself. And so Untos shattered Itself, unleashing a power that nearly rent all of creation asunder. So great was this force that stars exploded and the sky itself fell onto the humans. Their cities were destroyed and they were brought to the brink of extinction. This was the first Cataclysm.

In shattering itself, Untos created six new beings which would rule over the humans, each giving the humans something they would need to fulfill Its intentions.

The first being was Esh, god of light, energy, and fire. And Esh gave the humans motivation, determination, ambition, desire, and hope. Esh also gave them a new sun to light their planet, and fire to keep them warm. But all things can be corrupted, and thus Esh also gave the humans lust, wrath, avarice, and the ability to rise at the loss of others. And the sun could burn, and the fire could destroy.

To balance the first being, a second being—Erevus, god of night—was created. And Erevus gave the humans peace, friendship, and love, as well as shade, night, and the moon. But Erevus also gave them fear and death to limit them so that Esh’s vices could not go too far, and the cold which freezes them in the dead of winter.

The third being was Gaia, god of the Earth. Gaia created new plants and animals to rule over and protect. Gaia gave them sheep and cattle and forests so that they could eat and be sheltered. But Gaia also gave them the wild beasts and natural disasters so that they did not abuse their power and destroy forever It’s creations.

The fourth being was Philo, god of Knowledge. Philo showed the humans how to tame the wilderness and to survive in their new world. It gave them the power to create and discover and it gave them imagination and ingenuity. But the ability to create also gave them the power to destroy, and so the humans banded together, cutting down the trees to construct engines of destruction which they set against each other.

But then a fifth being, Psion—the Wise god—rose. Psion gave the people government and order. It regulated the tides and the seasons and the laws of nature, building upon all the previous gods’ work to perfect it. And Psion moderated all the people’s vices and virtues to keep them in order. But Psion did too much work, and everything became predictable boring. People were content, but not happy or sad, and they did not create many things anymore because they were simply not needed. And they did not go forward, because every step forward would disrupt the order.

They did not go forward, that is, until the final being, Chaos, was created. Chaos saw Psion’s work and despised it. And so Chaos confounded the people’s minds and amplified their emotions. And Chaos gave them amusement and trickery and change and decay, and the Universe was balanced at last.

All the beings were in equilibrium, each balancing the others, and the people finally became as Untos had originally planned. But since each being’s power was limited, none of them possessed the power to create Souls, so that only a limited number was in existence. People without souls could live fulfilled lives as those with, but nothing of them persisted, and they were not empowered by a connection to the realm of the gods. Those with souls, however, could draw energy directly from the divine realm, as they possessed fragments of Untos Itself. This energy was called Magic.

Originally, the people with Magic dominated those without, but Psion amplified their virtues so that they could rule with wisdom and beneficence. And so great civilizations rose and flourished. And the humans created cities, and temples, and art, and many wonders. And the people were happy.

Eventually, however, there were just too many soulless for the Empowered to rule over. The gods all agreed that something must be done to shift power from the few to the many. And so Psion withdrew and Chaos corrupted and confounded the Empowered, and stirred the soulless to rebellion. And so the soulless overthrew the Empowered and ruled themselves. And then Chaos withdrew from the minds of the Empowered and let them integrate themselves into society. And again the people were happy. So the gods withdrew completely and let the people control their own fate.

Many years went by and society evolved and stabilized itself. And those who came to rule generally had the strongest determination and ambition. These people came more and more to embody Esh’s virtues and vices, and worshipped Esh for their success. And Esh liked this praise. And slowly Esh began to gain more and more power, and society became more and more split into upper and lower classes as Esh’s greatest followers became the leaders, generals, and captains of industry. And though this upper class sometimes oppressed the poor, people as a whole were still happy, and if they became too discontented a society would rise up and overthrow their tyrants, so the gods stayed distant.

Well, most of the gods stayed distant. It turned out that Esh’s ambition clouded his judgment and so Esh slowly increased Its influence over the world. And while order was still maintained, the people were unhappy, and so the other gods saw that Esh was going too far. Thus, all six of the other gods united against Esh, but Esh had grown so powerful that he alone rivaled their combined strength.

Thus began the war of the gods, the Second Cataclysm. Man’s cities were again leveled as the masses fought the mighty upper class while destructive energies from the fighting of the gods rained from the skies. Seeing the peril of the people, Philo Itself went to Earth and tried to stop the fighting and restore order. And as the people and gods destroyed each other, the universe was brought to the brink of destruction.

Eventually, the fighting ended, but at a horrible price. Creation lay in shambles, and all the gods were too weak to repair it. Psion and Chaos were so horribly wounded that they had to fuse themselves together into a new being, Psioch, in order to keep themselves from dissipating into nothingness. Gaia had to spend most of Its power repairing the fabric of the Universe and Esh and Erevus were too weak to aid. Philo remained on Earth, as It had to clear the minds of the humans and set them back to repair the world. And the people saw their world in ruins and despaired. Psioch, with Its new perspective, gave the people music to lighten their hearts, but most of the people still forsook the gods. It would take thousands of years for the humans to repair their planet, and these were called the Barren Ages.

The Barren Ages have long past, and though there are still remnants of the Second Cataclysm, everything is once again in equilibrium, and the people are once again mostly happy. Some people still worship the heavenly gods, but largely the humans worship no gods, believing them to be dead. Thus this age is called the Age of Mortals.

The Gods

The four heavenly gods, Esh, Erevus, Psioch, and Gaia, remain mostly, but not entirely, distant from the Earth.

Esh still has the most worshippers, but these come from all parts of society now, and largely do not rule over everyone else. And Esh will not repeat Its mistakes, as gods, unlike men, do not repeat their mistakes. Esh worship is most common in the temperate parts of the globe, such as the Great Plains. There are several nations whose governments are Eshian Theocracies, including the Great Plains nation of Absiv, one of the world’s more powerful nations. While Absiv’s government is comprised entirely of Esh worshippers, its people mostly do not believe and the gods and the government leaves them alone as long as they observe Esh’s most important festivals and don’t worship other gods. Still, Gaian and Erevian cults do arise, and the government never ceases to try to stamp them out. Esh’s symbol is a flame.

Erevus has the second most worshippers, but these are mostly common folk who find peace and spiritual fulfillment in worship, seeking to become virtuous and bring together their society. They find great love and friendship in their communities. That is not to say that other people don’t have this community bond; it just isn’t as strong. Erevus’s worshippers are generally moderate people and are not very ambitious, seeking not to change their lives but to find happiness in them. Thus, there are no Erevian Theocracies. Erevus worship is slightly more prevalent in the Northlands, the mountains, the temperate coasts, and the countryside, and much less prevalent in the Great Plains, though it still can be found there. Erevus’s symbol is a moon.

Gaia’s worshippers make up many of the environmentalists, biologists, and ecologists of more technologically advanced nations. They also make up most of the Green Party in the The Republic of Salivar, one of the largest nations on the Earth. The Green Party is actually quite peculiar: while it is the only party in Salivar which is tied even loosely to a religious group, its agenda has nothing to do with worship of Gaia and is only concerned with preserving the environment. In less advanced nations they tend to be farmers and simple country folk who have a deep connection with the land. There is actually one Gaian nation, Yelen, which controls most of the world’s largest temperate forest, the Yelenian Forest. All the citizens of this nation are Gaia worshippers and its government is largely made up of the Gaian Empowered, called Druids. These Druids use magic to replace the technologies used in most of the world. Still, it is a very simple nation; most people live in small villages with a single Druid as the head of the village. This Druid, called the Elder (regardless of his age), is chosen by the Council, which is the central governing body of Druids made up of exactly 42 members. The villages farm and forage to sustain themselves and use only technologies they can produce from the forest, though the Yelenians have a very rich culture with many ancient and beautiful traditions. Gaia’s symbol is a tree.

Psioch, being the most confusing god, has the least worshippers by far. As soulless people cannot see how Psioch even exerts Its influence on the world, and they forgot that Psioch gave them music, they do not worship Psioch. Thus, Psioch’s worshippers are solely composed of Empowered, called Magos. The Magos are a very secretive society with members all over the Earth. They meet and worship in secret. You can actually find a few Magos in positions of leadership in several nations, though most of the inhabitants of these nations do not know this. Since the reincarnation of Souls is random and since this society is so secretive, you would think they’d die out, but the Magos have ways of maintaining their numbers. Many Magos are artists, especially musicians. In the more technological nations of the world these are celebrities in bands who play concerts and act as other musicians do. In the less advanced parts of the world these musicians tend to be travelling bards. The largest concentration of Magos, and where their headquarters resides, is in the Rift Desert, which was actually a tropical rainforest before the Second Cataclysm. The culture of the desert nations has a very rich artistic and musical tradition and produces many artisans and scholars. Psioch’s symbol is a yin-yan.

The last god, Philo, is called the Earthly god, because Philo never returned to heaven after the Second Cataclysm. Philo resides on Earth in the form of a mysterious wandering sage, who some travelers meet on country roads or city streets. Thus Philo is also called the Traveler. Philo has almost no worshippers, but Philo watches over all of the people who worship no god. So while Philo has the least worshippers of any god, Philo is actually the most influential. This is why the godless nations tend to be the most technologically advanced, though only the Empowered of Philo know this fact. The very few Empowered who worship Philo are scientists and scholars. They do not meet often and they do not “worship” in the traditional sense; rather, they worship Philo through study. It is said that Philo collects abandoned books, repairs them, and stores them in a huge library. There are no accounts of this library having been found, though there have been strange instances where a traveler who leaves his path returns much wiser. Philo’s symbol is a book.

Note: Not all Empowered are affiliated with a god. Some believe that all five gods are just incarnations of Untos and worship Untos directly. Their symbol is a star. Some believe their own gods, whether these are ancestral gods, or nature spirits, or traditional gods of their society, or gods they just made up. Some believe that they are gods. Some don’t believe in any god and think their gifts are just natural.

Character Creation Survey:

This is a test (which is multiple choice after the first question) to determine the background, attributes, and magical ability. In the case of background, there is only 1 question for nation and 1 for home. There are 8 questions for magic power, one of which determines the winner of ties. There are also several questions which enhance stats (up to +3 for a single stat with +1 for another, or a wider variety). There is also a single question which gives a stat penalty (-1), just so the characters will be more well rounded (though if they have 1 question giving a bonus and 1 giving a penalty to the same stat, they will cancel out.

In the FUDGE system, there are no numbers for stats. Each stat starts out as Fair. +1 makes it Good, +2 makes it Great, and +3 makes it Superb. Superb represents less than 1% of the population, so going above Superb is impossible without my consent. -1 makes the stat Mediocre, -2 makes it Bad, and -3 makes it Terrible. Terrible is to bad what Superb is to good. It is actually impossible to go below Terrible.

Here is the DM version of the character quiz. The player version doesn't have the abbreviations next to each question which tell you what the question does. I tried to make it very abstract but still reflective of what players want to play. If you would like to help me with this quiz, please take the quiz and use the abbreviations to determine if you got the background you wanted, empowerment you wanted, and stats you wanted.

Who are you?
Name/Gender/Appearance

Where are you from?
• A place of simplicity: FN
• A place filled with wonders: MN
• A place which has everything I need: AN
• A place which is the pinnacle of man’s achievement: TN

Where is your home?
• In a place with many people: City
• In a place which is comfortable: Town
• In a place which is peaceful : Countryside

What is your goal in life?
• To be successful: EEs
• To find peace and happiness: EEv
• To heal the world: D
• To influence the future: M
• To pursue knowledge: EP
• To find myself: RE
• I don’t know: S

What is Strength?
• Physical might: +S, +T
• Knowledge: +K, +A
• Adaptation: +P, +Q
• Friendship: +C, +W
• Skill: +D, 1 extra starting skill

What is Knowledge?
• Knowledge is Power: EEs, +S
• Knowledge is for the good of the community: EEv, +C
• Knowledge is my help: D, +D
• Knowledge is vision: M, +P
• Knowledge is the most important thing: EP, +K
• Knowledge is useless without action: RE, +Q
• Knowledge is useless without good judgment: S, +A

What is God? (decides ties)
• God is omnipotent: EEs
• God is what brings people together: EEv
• God is within everything: D
• God is the invisible hand which keeps everything in motion: M
• God is omniscient: EP
• God is whatever I think God is: RE
• God is what some people use to explain the unfamiliar: S

What is Death?
• Death is the clock that I must work against: EEs
• Death is not something to be feared: EEv
• Death is necessary for life: D
• Death is the end and beginning of a cycle: M
• Death is what urges me to share my knowledge: EP
• Death is when new achievements end and old achievements are remembered: RE
• Death is inevitable, but people live on in memories: S

What do you command?
• Energy: EEs
• Shadow: EEv
• Nature: D
• Order and Chaos: M
• Knowledge: EP
• My Fate: RE
• Myself: S

What do you want to be?
• A great warrior: +S
• A steadfast protector: +T
• A skillful adept: +D
• A great athlete: +Q
• A self-master: +W
• A great artist: +P
• A fair judge: +A
• An influential politician: +C
• A wise sage: +K

What is your greatest virtue?
• Ambition: EEs
• Fellowship: EEv
• Empathy: D
• Imagination: M
• Knowledge: EP
• Individuality: RE
• Determination: S

What is your greatest weakness?
• I am sometimes overambitious: EEs, -A
• I am human; therefore I am weak: EEv, -T
• I am easily distracted by trifling things: D, -W
• I am not an academic person: M, -K
• I am a scholar, not a fighter: EP, -S
• I am a loner, not accustomed much to the company of others: RE, -C
• I am blind to how things really work: S, -P

What symbol most appeals to you?
• A Flame: EEs
• A Moon: EEv
• A Tree: D
• A Yin-Yan: M
• A Book: EP
• A Star: RE
• My signature: S

The Calendar

The seasons and years in CD are similar to our own. More technologically advanced nations have a 12 month, 365 day calendar like ours; however, their year is exactly 365 days, not having that extra almost 1/4 of a day which exists in real life just to spite us and make things confusing. Most nations, however, are not very technologically advanced, relying more on magic. These nations generally share the same calendar, more or less. In this calendar are only 4 months. Each month corresponds to a season and has 90 days.

This 4-month year begins at the end of summer with a 5 day festival that is not part of the calendar, called The New Year's Feast. The first month is autumn, which they call lamna, which literally means "coin." It is named such because it is the harvest season when the farmers sell their crops. Winter they call chalybs, meaning "sword," because of the piercing cold. Spring they call virga, which means "wand," called such because of the sprouting branches of plants in the season. Summer they call vas, meaning "cup," because they believe that Gaia brings rain by pouring a great chalice of water to hydrate their crops. This name is more of a prayer than a description.

The years are numbered based on the amount of time since the Second Cataclysm. The current year is 3982 SC. The only official records of a time before the Second Cataclysm exist in Philo's fabled library, which no one has replicated. All that is known of the time before the Second Cataclysm is through word of mouth passed down for the last 4000 years, so it is diluted and unreliable. When artifacts from before the Second Cataclysm are found and dated, they are dated as negative SC, represented as -x SC.

It is fabled that records from before the Second Cataclysm found in Philo's library are dated as AC, or "After the Cataclysm," referring to the First Cataclysm. It is also fabled that Philo keeps a single book recording all of history which dates back to before the First Cataclysm, which dates every event in recorded history as "Y."

The Journal

1 lamna, 2985:

It is the first of the year, and the air is particularly chill for such a day. I have bought this book this morning as there is a private matter which I wish to share with one other than myself. Though this book may be inanimate, I believe that anything written in a book is shared with Philo and therefore the One.

My name is Ibid, but what I am called is uncertain. I have been called Ibid the Scholar by some; by others, Ibid the Fool. I do admit that I am a fool; to be otherwise is to be a god, and that fact is the fault and blessing of human nature. For what a burden it must be to know and understand all!

The matter I wish to impart is not so much personal as heretical, for to speak of it in this land in which I reside, a land which worships the five gods--Esh, Erevus, Gaia, Psioch, and Philo--would be blasphemy. That matter is that I do not believe there can possibly be five gods.

I believe everything should have a reason and all reasons should be explained, so I shall tell you why I believe there cannot be five gods. From observing my fellow humans, I know that two people can hardly get along, let alone five, and get much done effectively. Yet looking at the world around me, I see it is full and beautiful, a wonder to behold! And all is unified by a common force which permeates the universe, keeping the sun and stars in their orbits and the seasons in their cycle. Such regulation can scarcely exist with five celestial beings, as our mythology depicts the gods as endlessly arguing or playing tricks on each other.

Therefore it is clear: there must only be one single being, fabled to have existed before the First Cataclysm. This being I shall simply call One, for it has the aspects of every god and more, and these aspects contradict each other; the One is vast yet small, powerful yet inactive, complex yet simple. In fact, all that can be said about One is that One exists; thus, One can be called Untos. In fact, I rather like the name Untos and I shall use that name from now on.

I wish to clarify further that I do not disbelieve the Five; rather, each is a different manifestation of Untos. That is why lore states that there were originally Six; as Men came to understand that Order and Chaos were just different parts of the same force, they combined the gods of Order and Chaos into a single entity, Psioch. Perhaps one day they will see that Gaia, Esh, and Erevus--the Earth, Sun, and Moon--are all just part of the universe, ordered by Psioch and recorded by Philo. And when they see this they may all find the same as I: that all the gods are One and The Same.

I do confess I feel much better now that I have shared this burden, as it is a terrible thing to confine anything to the self. Such is part of being a human; while Untos can exist alone, man cannot and survive. In fact, I find myself in need of company now, so I shall go to the market; perhaps my friends will be there.

Signed, as I have said before:

Ibid

I'm not developing this for a Gaia RP; I'm developing this for an RP to play with some friends using the FUDGE system, and I would really appreciate some feedback on the universe, particularly on the character development survey.