Characters:
Kostis - God of Death and PlaguesNeilos - God of The Sun and Plants
Steidis - God of Fire and Smiths
Portents
The other gods reacted to Vunos' appearance in a variety of ways (Kostis suggested a grand feast, while Neilos retreated to a corner and brooded harder), but fell silent when he spoke again. First, he said that it was good to be reunited after so long, then he asked how long it had been since they had all ascended to godhood. Nephele spoke up first, stating that it had been just over 300 years, which prompted Vunos to remark that his belief seemed to have been correct. He then asked what they knew of the cyclical rise and fall of the gods, but Kostis, who knew by far the most, played dumb and said that he would love to know what Vunos knew about it.
Vunos started from the basics (as best he knew): gods reincarnate as mortals, they complete some trials, and then ascend to godhood. The world goes through a Golden Age, until, inevitably, the gods turn to infighting and kill each other, which plunges the world back into "Calamity", as he called it. This all tracked with what Kostis and Steidis knew, and Kostis had a lingering suspicion that Vunos had been the unknown entity that had killed several gods in the prior cycle. Vunos had never been the last god, and so did not know what happened to them, but was confident that they died too.
However, he had been through 3 prior cycles, and going by his experience, the longer the Golden Age, the longer the Calamity, and the Calamity was always longer than the Golden Age that preceeded it. Therefore, to minimize the suffering of mortals and the world in general, it would be best if the gods voluntarily ended their reign prematurely by committing suicide. While the other gods pondered this question, Neilos finally spoke up: if he had died, then why hadn't Vunos reincarnated with the rest of them?
Vunos informed them that, during the millenia-long period of infighting in his first cycle, he had created an artifact which carried his memories onward a fixed distance in time. In the second and third cycles, he had arrived as a candidate (immediately overwriting the mortal's mind), but due to his efforts in the third cycle, he had been able to finish the period of infighting much more quickly. This had made the Calamity shorter, and so he had reincarnated already into the Golden Age.
Neilos then asked a more personal question: according to the myths, he was supposed to be friendly, but now disdained social contact; Vunos was unsure, claiming that the gods he had met were slightly different with every cycle, but he hadn't looked into it beyond that. Kostis aired his suspicions about the one person who could carry his memories to the next cycle asking them all to kill themselves, and Vunos didn't have any answer he could offer. Steidis asked if they could all create such an artifact, but Vunos refused, claiming that, knowing what he did, he could not trust any of the others with knowledge of the whereabouts of his artifact.
When others found Vunos' answers unsatisfactory, he stated his true goal: he wanted to end the cycle, but had never succeeded, and no longer believed it could be done. In the first cycle, he had been murdered by his own wife shortly after completing the artifact. In the second, he had worked with a Kostis to cut the cycle short, but had been betrayed at the end. In the third, he had managed to get most of the gods onboard, but there had been a war with those who refused. His side had won, and he worked with Doros to erase knowledge of the gods, including the written language. This effort had clearly failed, though it had resulted in the shortest Calamity yet.
Steidis put forth his own idea: he could simply create an artifact that would detonate all the volcanos in the world, killing everyone. Vunos wasn't willing to accept such an idea, as his goal was to reduce the suffering of the mortals; just killing them wasn't an improvement. Kostis wondered why he hadn't seen a Vunos five or more cycles prior in the Dull Gold Palace, but kept it to himself, not sure what to make of it. More concerning, Vunos had claimed to have worked with Doros, but the alliances he had discovered in his research would have put them on opposing sides, which confirmed that Vunos was lying at least partially.
Kostis asked if there was possibly some way to extend the Golden Age forever, but Vunos didn't think it was possible, insisting that the gods would fall to infighting eventually. Several gods wondered of other options than mass suicide: what if they just left their realm and became mortals? What if Vunos was an imposter from another pantheon, who was trying to convince them to remove themselves as a threat? Nephele was unsure of what to do, as she generally wanted the Golden Age to last as long as possible, as she had lived through the tail-end of the Calamity, but she very much cared about minimizing mortal suffering.
With the gods clearly divided (at best), Vunos suggested they take some time to think on his proposal, and they all left. Shortly, Vunos approached Kostis and asked if he could have his district of Chryssos back (Kostis' "giant district" was actually supposed to be split between the two of them). Vunos wasn't particularly concerned, but as he wasn't really doing anything with most of it, Kostis allowed this.
Shifting Alliances
Neilos regarded Vunos' claims as worthless. Though he may have been his father, he was working with limited information, and as far as Neilos was concerned, there was no reason he (and Meda) could not simply live forever. Not trusting anyone, he use his powers to dig an escape tunnel connecting his and Meda's districts. Fortunately for him, though he detested even the idea of talking things over with the other gods, his wife, Meda, was willling to fill in for him and kept him apprised of her discussions with the others.
Doros was vehemently opposed to Vunos, while Steidis seemed onboard. Evenia and Pirus were undecided, with the former considering the argument and the latter likely more concerned about the upcoming inevitable war than anything else. Steidis, meanwhile, secretly started work on an artifact that would cause all volcanos in the region to erupt, killing everyone. In contrast, his public position was that they should just try for peace and hope everything would work out. Kostis still thought something was fishy with Vunos.
Several months later, Doros approached Steidis with an offer of an alliance to try to preserve the peace and their reign for as long as possible, which Steidis accepted. Doros then asked Steidis to bring Nephele into their alliance, but he refused, citing a "great project" he was working on and couldn't walk away from, but, when Doros asked what it was, he just said it would be a carving of all of them on a mountainside, which would convince the others of their friendship. In the meantime, Vunos tried to convince Kostis of the necessity of his plan, but Kostis asked for more time to think about it.
Weeks later, Nephele came to Steidis, asking what his thoughts were on the debate, and it soon became clear that she had sided with Vunos and his plan of suicide to minimize the suffering of mortals. Steidis agreed to join their side (betraying Doros in the process), then informed Nephele of the doomsday artifact. She was horrifed, but Steidis was able to make a convincing philosophical argument that existence would create a baseline level of suffering, which mean that the best way to prevent suffering was to end all life. Convinced of this grim necessity, Nephele left.
A while later, Doros attempted to recruit Neilos, arguing that they both wanted to live for as long as possible, and he agreed easily. Kostis, meanwhile, had figured out how to permanently kill a god, as had happened to the gods who had left the pantheon. Ultimately, their powers came from the worship of mortals, so they would need to stop the mortals from believing in them. Vunos had probably tried this when he erased the written language and knowledge of the gods with Doros in the past cycle, but clearly that hadn't worked.
Nephele came around and pressured Steidis into stopping his work on the doomsday artifact to go and recruit Meda, who he was on good terms with, and he relented. After tracking her down deep in the winding maze of her district, he threatened her with being the first to die if she didn't join them, and Meda conceded, though from then on their relationship was more strained. Pleased that he had ended the distraction, Steidis then went back to work on his artifact.
Keti flew down into Kostis' subterranean domain and asked him to join up with her and Doros, because killing themselves "was stupid". Kostis shot back with a different offer: he would give up his holdings in Metros in exchange for allying with Doros, but the alliance would supporting his new mission to end belief in the gods that wanted to kill themselves. Doros noted that, if Vunos was correct, that would just be delaying the inevitable, but agreed to go along with it.
After more than a year in his forge, Steidis finally finished the doomsday artifact. It was to be triggered only by someone creating a flame inside of its shell, which only he could do. Kostis decided to tell the others that Vunos was lying, as he wasn't present in the Dull Gold Palace beyond 4 cycles, and started by talking to Steidis, secure in the knowledge that he was gullible and would believe anything. Naturally, he immediately switched sides (infuriating everyone on Vunos' side), and told his new alliance of his doomsday artifact. This was followed by Meda joining them as well, now that the person who had threatened her was gone.
This left the alliances looking like this:
Suicide Alliance
- Vunos
- Pirus
- Nephele
- Evenia
Survival Alliance
- Doros
- Neilos
- Steidis
- Meda
- Keti
- Chelak
Peace
Seeing as the side of survival had a substantial advantage, they were able to dictate what would happen. Though they discussed it, the idea of a pre-emptive attack was set aside, and so the gods embarked on their own projects once more. Over the next century or so, Neilos spread his cult to the lands to the north, bringing the city of Pardola under his sway and into the collective domain of the gods.
Kostis recruited Steidis and Doros to create an artifact similar to the one Vunos claimed to possess. It ended up being a coffin which, once sealed, could carry forward a god to the next cycle. Initially, Doros insisted that he should be the one to go forward, but in the end Kostis talked the others into letting him do it instead. It would require someone else to seal him inside, which meant that, if the Godwar did end up happening, Kostis would need to interr himself before the fighting was resolved.
Seeing Neilos' new powerbase in Pardola, Chelak accosted him and ordered him to remove his influence from Eniad in exchange for his life. Naturally, Neilos refused, reminding Chelak about the fate of his former comrades during their days as candidates. Chelak stormed off, and Neilos made nothing of it as Chelak never made good on his threats for several years. One day, however, Neilos discovered that all of his followers in Eniad were gone, having been killed by Chelak.
Neilos went to the others, in particular Doros, to work out what would be a fair form of retaliation. Doros, fearful of losing so powerful an "ally" to Vunos' side, asked Neilos to forgive Chelak instead. Steidis cheered on retaliation, while Kostis, like Doros, advised caution. This wasn't good enough for Neilos, who denied Eniad the light of the sun and blighted their crops.
First Strike
One night, when Neilos was alone in his district, he came under attack from Chelak... and Vunos, Pirus, Nephele, and Evenia. Chelak stabbed him with one of the shards of the twisted mirror, but, thanks to his straw hat that produced sunlight, Neilos was able to flee down his escape tunnel before choking it with plants so the others could not follow. He found Meda at the other end, and they ran to tell the rest of their alliance that an attempt had been made on his life, and the Godwar had started.
Doros healed Neilos' wounds, but was furious with Neilos (and Chelak, but he wasn't present) for breaking the alliance and starting the Godwar. They discussed what to do next, and even Doros confessed that they had no choice but to fight now, much to the pleasure of Neilos, Steidis, and Keti. He did volunteer to get sealed in the coffin now, but the others refused, and put Kostis in it instead, shoving the sealed coffin through the gates of the Starlit Desert to await the next cycle
Godwar
Steidis suggested they deploy the doomsday artifact, but Doros, Keti, and Meda were extremely against it; Neilos figured he might reincarnate in Pardola as it wasn't in the original range Steidis had made it for. They could launch an attack against the mortal followers of the other gods, as that would undercut their power base, though nobody was sure if Vunos even had such a following (he did, but nobody had looked into it).
Steidis came up with the idea of Meda disguising herself as Chelak and rallying his followers to attack the followers of Evenia in Mantea (at midday, when Evenia's moon powers wouldn't work). Ideally, this would break up their new alliance and even their numbers. She noted that this was a high-risk strategy, because if she was caught, she was as good as dead, but nobody else had any other ideas, so she shapeshifted to grow several feet higher and into a feral-looking giant of a man, then recruited the followers that had retreated into the wilderness centuries ago and started a riot in the city.
Watching from afar, Neilos, Steidis, Keti, and Doros saw a cloud of dust plume up from the city, and realized that the other side had found Meda. As she didn't return in the next several hours, they reasoned she was now dead, and there were only the three of them remaining. Neilos felt nothing at the death of his wife, and his attention was drawn to cries from his worshippers in Pardola, which was all but annihilated by a tsunami; surely Nephele's work to cut down Neilos' powerbase.
Steidis began crafting a decorative coffin for himself, and when asked what he was doing, explained that he was going to detonate the doomsday artifact. Neilos only asked if the coffin would do anything to save him (it wouldn't), while Doros and Keti shouted for him not to end all life. A quick negotiation for Neilos to be allowed to leave prior to detonation left him and Steidis against Doros and Keti, and the gods fought, the former swiftly wounding the latter badly enough that they would no longer be able to interfere.
Last Strike
Without saying farewell, Neilos teleported away to the north of their realm and walked across the border into the northern lands, where his powers vanished. A man of his word, Steidis waited for an hour or so for his ally to flee, then crept into his coffin, and kindled the flame that would end the world. Every volcano in their domain erupted savagely, killing everything and everyone. From beyond the border, Neilos saw the flames and ash halt against the invisible wall, but nonetheless collapsed to dust as his source of power, the belief of his followers, died as they did. Kostis likewise perished as the Starlit Desert collapsed, and was crushed in his coffin. The other gods did not survive either.
Centuries later, the lands which had been scoured clean began to grow again, and were colonized by peoples from beyond. Those peoples brought their gods with them, and with them, the cycles of destruction and rebirth.
Notes:
The reason Vunos hadn't appeared in the Dull Gold Palace was just that he had erased all memories himself, including those from prior cycles.
The full final Relationship Matrix. Steidis burned a lot of goodwill this session with his betrayal.
Evenia was spotted in Mantea because Vunos was teleporting between the cities and happened to show up at the right time (he rolled a 6).
Steidis' argument to Nephele that existence is suffering convinced her to settle on the concept of "killing a thousand to save a million", which is why she would willingly wipe out Pardola with a tsunami. Then he betrayed his "momwife" to do something else anyway.
In the final battle, Steidis rolled a natural 3 in combat with Keti and Doros.
Steidis has Selfless (12) and he only failed the roll once or twice the entire campaign, then killed literally all life possible.
Not the ending anyone expected, I think that's fair to say. "High Chaos", as Kostis' player referred to it.
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