Compass of Terrestrial Directions: Below

Actually... I think the God of the Endless War might be a Forbidden God - conceived below, over a purview half-including Creatures of Darkness - he's a defacto Creature of Darkness.  He plays mercenary for whoever offers him the most prayers, which is almost always the Darkbrood (who fight each other almost as much as the fight the Mountain Folk) - the MF will offer him material sacrifices though to placate him from aiding their enemies.

So what are some other people's concepts on Forbidden Gods?  Canonically we only know of Han Tha, Ithmit-Laia, & the Leech-Gods (there are also the Soul Stealers, but they aren't subterranean at all).

bumping for other peoples Forbidden Gods ideas

glamourweaver:

- (original) Goddess of Inbreeding & Recessive Mutation - her position has been refilled in the Bureau of Nature by a god who oversees that incest is rightfully punished by recessive mutation & who oversees inbreeding as a last-ditch survival mechanism - originally though, under the Primordials, the laws of nature this goddess oversaw were different, and several Darkbrood races still worship her as a fertility goddess in return for which she extends these old laws over them, allowing the Omphidian Dynasties (for example) to form powerful family lineages based around refinement of their distinct chthonic fumes their bodies act as crucibles to form - each new Omphidian inducted into their respective dynasty via an exchange of genetic material in writhing serpentine orgies.

While I love the idea of a Primodial god of Debase Inbred monsters the title seems abit too scientifically proper for Exalted(not that it can't have scientificish naming just it has its own left turn on science) I am also not entirely sold on the idea of Divine Polticing changing how well Incest works for species survival..

This might not work or add up, I'm just looking for an explanation, and I have this to toss into the brainstorm:

Secrets are supposed to be burried, so maybe the reason why virtually noone is paying atention to the undersurface places and events is not that there are no gods concerned with these domains working in heaven. Rather, the god of Underlands was originally a god in the Division of Secrets, and when the forbidden gods were cast down to be buried under Creation it was assigned to be his duty to know their names and misdeeds and the places they came to inhabit - all of this sealed by the Maiden of Secrets of course. Eventually, though this god became increasingly more ambitious and powerful, and as he climbed higher in the Hierarchy more and more gods of undersurface-related domains came to report to him - and all those reports came to be under the seal of secrecy.

Lian:

While I love the idea of a Primodial god of Debase Inbred monsters the title seems abit too scientifically proper for Exalted(not that it can't have scientificish naming just it has its own left turn on science) I am also not entirely sold on the idea of Divine Polticing changing how well Incest works for species survival..

glamourweaver:

bumping for other peoples Forbidden Gods ideas

I wish I had ideas for Forbidden gods as cool as you have.

You should be working on this chapter of that fan supplement thing instead of me. (Especially since now I'm getting writer's block)

glamourweaver:

- Elemental Dragon of Fungus - not a god, but a greater elemental dragon, maddened & bound beneath Creation for its efforts to usurp the Wood Dragon, infecting & corrupting its way as a parasitic growth into Gaia's soul hierarchy.  It is now the central hive mind of great "bloom" of Darkbrood minions of which the Hruggha are but its most minor foot soldiers.

Soo...the Grey and Matango of Swamp Thing fame? It's not a bad idea but I prefer the idea of it being a greater elemental dragon of Wood that was corrupted by the Wyld (or a behemoth created by the Raksha on purpose) and turned into a weapon against the roots of Creation (by spreading through the subsoil).

mercucio:

Soo...the Grey and Matango of Swamp Thing fame? It's not a bad idea but I prefer the idea of it being a greater elemental dragon of Wood that was corrupted by the Wyld (or a behemoth created by the Raksha on purpose) and turned into a weapon against the roots of Creation (by spreading through the subsoil).

glamourweaver:

(perhaps the infecting spores rose out of the Well of Udr).

Ooh! I like this idea. Could have been quietly growing and amassing power and servants since the Great Contagion. Hmm...there was this great adventure in Dungeon about a corrupted druid who'd been turned into a hideous fungal monstrosity and spread his spores like a disease by tainting a river. It was creepy and disturbing as all hell. I'll see about digging it up.


EDIT: Found it. Lord of the Scarlet Tide from Dungeon #85.

mercucio:

Could have been quietly growing and amassing power and servants since the Great Contagion.

glamourweaver:

Actually... I think the God of the Endless War might be a Forbidden God - conceived below, over a purview half-including Creatures of Darkness - he's a defacto Creature of Darkness.  He plays mercenary for whoever offers him the most prayers, which is almost always the Darkbrood (who fight each other almost as much as the fight the Mountain Folk) - the MF will offer him material sacrifices though to placate him from aiding their enemies.

His dominion only includes battles beneath the surface though, so he has no desire to see the Darkbrood actually win & take the surface world.  He wants his war to be truly Endless.

This is pure brilliance, and is henceforth taken for all of my games.

In fact, I think this could go a long way towards explaining why Heaven is ignoring the Endless War so thoroughly. The God of the Endless War would have a metric crapton of ambrosia from millions upon millions of Darkbrood actively sacrificing him. If he's the one that Heaven is trusting to oversee the darkness, he can easily bribe everyone who might care, and work to keep the war from spilling over so that there's no reason for them to ever look into it No Exalts come from the darkness, so not much chance of anything mucking up his good deal. Maybe there was a censor for the Below once, and the God of the Endless War convinced Heaven he wasn't really needed...

glamourweaver:

I was imagining earlier actually (like dawn of the first age while the Terrestrial Bureaucracy was still in chaos & the Elemental Dragons were cramping down order while the Exalted wrestled for dominance over Creation amongst themselves) - no reason the Contagion was the first thing to every come out of the Well.

I agree, however, I liked the idea of its emergence being an unintended consequence of unleashing the Great Contagion--since it is alive it no more wants Creation to fall into the Void the Sextes Jylis does. Thus it has two goals: spread its infestation and thwart the goals of the Deathlords. It's desire to thwart the Deathlords can be used to show it uses its first goal as a carrot and a stick to manipulate others to accomplish its goals.

glamourweaver:

With regards to the Loom, I was considering how causality doesn't snare beyond recognition with so much essence expenditure & no Sidereal repair.  It occurred to me that as the Loom & Mountain Folk Charms were both designed by Autochthon, so perhaps Jadeborn charms don't snare & perhaps even resonate WITH causality.  So all Mountain Folk territory is without need of repair.  In contrast, Darkbrood territories are riddled with Escher-like errors in reality that many of the Darkbrood races might actually worship.

Pursuant to this idea, I give you the first of these reality errors. It's a little comprehensible, but I like it anyway. ;)

The Scream

At first it is a whisper, rustling in the darkness, at the edge of your hearing. You think that if you strain, you can make out words. Then the sound grows, whimpers and grinding rocks, laughter and tears. If you are wise, and lucky, you will flee. If you are too slow, the noise grows. Sound explodes around you, pain overwhelming you as your eardrums burst and your eyes start to bleed. The last thing you experience as you collapse are the walls shuddering, the grostesque purplish creatures walking towards you, and the horrible, endless sound of the Scream.

Thousands of years ago, there was a cavern. It was created by the Primordial Lykennan, who loved its perfect symmetries, and designed it to echo every sound made into a perfect melody, regardless of its dissonance. Lykennan died, but his cavern endured. For millenia, it sat in the darkness, and those fortunate enough to find it found it beautiful. The Mountain Folk knew of the cavern, and considered it a sacred site, and the Pattern Spiders occasionally took into account its beautiful sounds .

All of that changed one day, when a Mountain Folk supply convoy was ambushed by a race of Darkbrood known as the ukari. These creatures forced the convoy into the cavern, captured many of its weapons, and accidentally triggered one of them. The resulting shockwave killed most of the ukari, and shattered the cavern. In that moment, a song had begun that was meant to be heard. The caverns shook, and the shaking became a part of the song, as did the death-cries of the ukari and Mountain Folk caught in the blast. The walls fell, the cavern was shattered... but the echo was meant to persist, and it remained. It began to flow, like water, through the tunnels. Every sound that it passed, it incorporated into itself, just as the caverns had been meant to, and it never stopped moving.

The Mountain Folk, and several breeds of Darkbrood, call the phenomenon 'The Scream', and it is a commonly understood fact that it is death to enter it. The once-beautiful medley that the echoes produced has long since grown past the point of comprehension, tainted by the screams of the dying souls who have been caught in its passing. Now, the Scream is nothing but horror and pain, rolling down the byways of the Eastern Dark. Some Darkbrood leave sacrifices to it, victims staked out in its path to hear its all-consuming song and then to join it. One band believes that joining the Scream is a form of afterlife, and their elders seek it out before they die.

Furthermore, the remnants of the ukari yet live. Broken into deafness by the power of the initial blast, they can feel the Scream in their bones, are are afraid to leave it. They follow deep within it, picking clean the beasts and monsters that are caught, scavengers that are not above tearing down someone who seems to be surviving the power of their home.

But that is not the worst of the Scream. It is difficult to track its edges, as it shifts and flows in different directions, and no one can survive a trip through it, but Mountain Folk scholars believe that it was less than half a mile across when it began. Now, it is over two miles across. With every death, every rock's fall or water's drip that takes place within it, the Scream grows. Any sound made within the Scream becomes a part of it, and the Mountain Folk worry that one day it will grow too large for its current pathways, and find new ones. If it moves towards one of their towns, they do not know how it will be stopped.

Mechanically, the Scream is treated as an environmental hazard with three regions. In the outer edge, which covers roughly a hundred yards, the effect is painful but not lethal, and has the following Traits: Damage 1B/minute, Trauma 3L. Deaf characters are immune to this damage entirely. Characters who can hear find the sound intensely distracting, taking a -1 internal penalty to all active actions. If the characters rely entirely on their sense of sound, this penalty is doubled. Within the middle region, which stretches nearly a mile inwards from every edge, the Scream is far more painful. Its Traits become Damage 1B/action, Trauma 5L, and the penalties for distraction are doubled. Normal deafness changes the Trauma to only 2L, but does not remove all damage - the sound is too ingrained. The ukari are simply resilient enough to ignore this damage, and lurk in the middle region. Few people have ever reached the heart of the Scream, which is a quarter of a mile across. Here, punishing waves of sound strike down most intruders in seconds. The Traits of the Scream's Heart are Damage 3L/action, Trauma 6L, and anyone present takes a -3 internal penalty to all active actions. Deafness is little protection against flesh-rending sound, reducing damage to 2L and Trauma to 4L. Even the ukari do not venture here.

Near the end of the First Age, a Solar occultist discovered the existence of the Scream, and was contemplating attempting to move it to Malfeas to see what would happen if infinitely reflecting sound encountered the Silent Wind. Most likely, it would simply have ceased to exist as soon as it departed from the Loom, but it is probably for the best that he had not yet gotten around to an actual test before the Usurpation occurred.

What, no love for CoTD: Above?

(Well, I guess in the strictest sense that'd be CoCD: Above...)