[MUD-Dev] Gods, worshipers and the balance

[Vadim Tkachenko]

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Richard Woolcock wrote:
> 
> Vadim Tkachenko wrote:
> >
[snip]
> > - I should (well, at least I want) to preserve the balance.
> > - Energy levels of both God and worshiper _should_ increase, in game.
> > - to preserve the balance, I introduce anti-god - some entity which
> > exists on the material plane and is the exact opposite to the given God.
> 
> So as the God's power increases, so does that of the anti-God?

Exactly.

> > Now, the question is - 'what do you mean, opposite?' Well, that's a
> > tough question, so far I was able to formulate that as 'opposite
> > alignment' (which explains, BTW, why I pay so much attention to it) -
> > actually, this message is a request for new ideas.
> >
> > Then,
> >
> > - no obvious link between the god and anti-god exists.
> >
> > For example, given that the God is good, the anti-god is evil, it's a
> > monster, and lives somewhere - this creates a funny possibility that the
> > good worshipers of that good God will announce a quest to eliminate that
> > evil abomination, and ...
> 
> All the followers get annihilated?

That would be too simple, and, besides, that was an open question :-)

>  Or, if they DO kill the anti-god, 

Just keep in mind that in the unlikely case some God's followers stumble
upon his anti-entity, and try to kill it using that God's power
(remember, there's no obvious link between the God and anti-God, and
their M.O. is not nessessarily the same), they will feel harder to act
as the creature will become weaker...

> will they then work out that:
> 
> 1) The anti-God is equally powerful to God,

Correction: not _equally_, but it IS God's incarnation, in a way

> yet:
> 2) We just killed the anti-God,

The question is still open, what to do with a God whose anti-creature
has just died - since it's a God, and I guess some significant OOC
amount of efforts had been put in it, it's likely to sneak somewhere
else, don't respond to prayers and be effectively absent until the next
creature will come to life.

> therefore:
> 3) We can also kill God, who is therefore NOT all-powerful like He said He
>    was, and must therefore have been lying to us all along.

And, who cares? :-)
Let's consider it as ancient Greeks did: the gods are real.

> However, suppose the anti-God had sunk deep down into the earth,

I would strongly object, because anti-God (in my concept, at least),
represents no intelligence at all (except the raw intelligence of the
representing creature) and therefore is NOT an independent being.

> Just like
> God, the anti-God needs sacrifices to gain power,

Can't, because it's not a God, but just it's shadow.

> KaVir.

--
Still alive and smile stays on,
Vadim Tkachenko <VadimT at 4CS.Com>
--
UNIX _is_ user friendly, he's just very picky about who his friends are
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