Old Gods

[Tim Nutting]

In the times before Deismar how prevalent were the old gods? I get the
impression that the battle at Deismar was not the first time that those
gods had violated what appears to be sacred rules in other Prime aspects
and actually placed their essences on the Prime Material.

Is this true? Did Anduiras and Basaïa and Azrai and the rest really walk
amongst their peoples?

Just like some input for campaign stories about old myths to tell to
players and things that folks like Tarnzim the Grey might know (I'm using
him - thanks Rich!)

Tim Nutting

[c558382@showme.missouri.]

There is no reason to suppose the Old Gods didn't. Many of our own Earth
cultures beleived their gods walked among them. Some examples include:

Genisis 3:8-10 The man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God
walking about in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they
hid from him among the trees. The Lord God called to the man, "Where are
you?" He replied, "I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was
afraid because I was naked, so I hid."

Iliad 1:222-235 [Agamemnon has finished his diatribe against Achilles,
"You are nothing to me"] and anguish gripped Achilles. The heart in his
chest was pounding, torn . . . Should he draw the long sharp sword slung
at his hip, thrust through the ranks and kill Agamemnon now? - or check
his rage and beat his fury down? As his racing spirit veered back and
forth, just as he drew his huge blade from its sheath, down from the
vaulting heavens sped Athena, the white-armed goddess, Hera, sped her
down: Hera loved both men and cared for both alike. Rearing behind him
Pallas seized his fiery hair- only Achilles saw her, none of the other
fighters- struck with wonder he spun around, he knew her at once, Pallas
Athena!

Moses encounters his god at a burning bush, on top of a mountain, &c.
Jupiter seduces how many women and boys? Remember that the hero's of
classical mythology are often semi-divine.

I think that many campaigns put the gods in a position where they do not
walk the earth because refereeing the divine can be very difficult.
Indroducing higher powers into play can only be done if the DM had strong
guidelines to prevent unbalancing his campaign. In general encounters
with divinities should fall into two catagories: 1) players only realize
they encountered a divinity after the encounter has ended (such as the
encounter provided with Milos the carpenter in the Age of Heroes sup) or
2) the divinity only provides information or advice. Any deviation from
this should be heavily scripted, with little possibility of the players
getting control of the situation.

Kenneth Gauck
c558382@showme.missouri.edu