[MUD-Dev] Gods, worshipers and the balance

[Maddy]

On Fri, 12 Dec 1997, Vadim Tkachenko wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> Today's flamebite follows:

*flick* *wumph* "Houston: we have ignition" *8)

> - Universe should preserve the balance (hopefully).
> - Every time cleric prays to his/her God, they gain some energy which
> then can spend somehow.
> - From the balance standpoint, their God's energy level should decrease
> - which is meaningless from the religious point of view - all the
> history shows that the greater the number of some God's worshipers, the
> stronger that God
> - which means that energy levels of both God and worshiper increase as
> they interact
> - which throws the balance completely out of balance.
>
> Okay, now my solution for that (I *DO* realize, not the only one :-):
> 
> - 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.
> 
> 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 ... 

Hmmm why would the evil (anti-)god be a monster?  Surely the god of war (for
example) would be considered to be evil as opposed to the goddess of love
(his opposite number as it were) and as such would be a perfectly valid
deity gaining all the perks of the job (such as being immortal etc..).

I can't remember the exact name of the book, but there was a trilogy (it
might have been the Forgotten Realms: Aztec trilogy) in which there were 20
gods each of which had an influence in 3 areas.  Now if you picture a
typical 20 sided dice, each god would represent a face/number on that dice
and their influences, the 3 edges that make up that face.

Now if you make the anti-god just an evil god, complete with worshipers etc
- you could somehow link in the battle between the 2 gods as the way to
control the balance.

> ... you continue.

Well the idea I've been toying with for this kind of thing is kinda
similiar except I don't care about balance.  I don't think it could ever work for
something like this, as time goes on, more and more people are being born
into the world and the energy would soon be spread very thinly.

Here are my vague ramblings - I've not implemented anything for this yet and
knowing me I'll probably re-think my ideas before long away.

Everything has maximum limit of "energy".  This limit can increase/decrease. 
When energy is used - it is replenished at a fixed rate up to the maximum.

Gods as well as their normal energy reserve, also 2 other reservers.

A temporary reserve which is based upon the size & energy levels of their
followers, but like their main reserve gets replenished.  And a "use once"
reserve which is formed from their dead worshipers.

Worshipers can pray to their god for miracles, which the god uses his
reserves of energy to perform.  (Miracles include the casting of spells,
creation of mighty artifacts (very expensive), etc...)  Since the first two
reserves aren't huge, he can elect to use the "dead-pool" - especially
useful if he wants to cast a mighty spell (creating a 10mile wide fireball
for example).

You can also sacrifice people, which divides up their energy between the
worshippers involved and the god.  This is a one use spell (worshippers
have to pray to get it from their god again (which costs him energy)) and
something only the evil cults would probably practise.

Maddy