The First Dynasty of Excalabur
October 22, 2005 - December 3, 2005
Contents
Ascension Address
Gods, goddesses, deities and divinities,
I have summoned you to this plane to give notice that the old order of the gods is changing. The perilous balance between chaos and order has become upset, and a new equilibrium is being formed as we speak. The physical existence that I have wrought will no longer stand as a bulwark against disorder, and a new storm is brewing.
I will be able to stave off the forces of dissolution but will have no longer the attention to maintain law and order amidst the realms of mortals and deities. Though I have created you, I cannot vouchsave your existence any longer. I know that you gods have held your struggles for power and position in past days, and it is my hope that you will be able to suspend such claims as you have on one another until I can derive a solution for these new problems.
It is now a time of which stories will be told from men to men throughout the generations to come, if any such men are preserved to tell the tale. The old order rests uneasily on precarious foundations, and the terrible forces outside of our existence are potent with renewed vigor. Go, then! The time is upon us to record the account of things to come and shape the mythos of future aeons.
The dynasty began with the "Adversary" rule from the previous dynasty carrying forward.
Players
The following players were active in this dynasty:
Angry Grasshopper, Cayvie, ChronosPhaenon, Excalabur, gazebo_dude, Gwydion, Hix, Kevan, Rodney, smith, The Lone Amigo, TrumanCapote
Posts of Interest
- In the beginning... players were Deities; each had a named Pantheon and a Quintessence resource
- Uneasy lies the head allowed Deities to spend Quintessence to create Temples - whoever had the most Temples was known as the Godhead
- Of cities and gods allowed Quintessence to be spent on founding Cities, which would contain the Temples
- The Other renamed the Adversary to the Other
- Conversion gave control of a City to the Deity with the most Temples there
- Worshippers added Worshipper counts of Deities to Cities
- Strange Powers allowed Deities to create Powers from combinations of smaller components
- Catena of the Ages had the game pass through various Ages, each having its own small rule changes
- More Powers, again added more Power components, and the option to modify existing Powers
- City Power made City creation into a Power component
- Defer to the Other? allowed just that, when voting
- Avatars allowed Deities to walk on earth among the Cities
- Thy cup floweth over limited excessive duplication of the same Power component, and an excess of Powers
- Words are the Key defined some Power components as mutually exclusive
- Epic Stories Again allowed players to tell Epic stories, producing Quintessence. Deities could also define their Domains of influence, and claim Quintessence when others told stories with narrative connections.
- Epic: The Locust Chaser: "In a nearby village here was a fool who could do nothing well..."
- Epic: The Defender of Kings: "Aho Houegbadja was the third King of Dahomey, which would eventually become Benin..."
- Epic: Death of a Serpent: "It had terrorised cities..."
- New Ages added two Epic-related Ages
- Epic: The Slaughter: "It was a tragedy..."
- Epic: Illness and Famine: "Lands which were once plentiful and lush farmland were now deserted wasteland..."
- Departure from Troy: "After Odysseus and his men depart from Troy, they are greeted by friendly and calm waters..."
- Epic: The Lotus-Eaters and the Arrive at Polyphemus’s Island: "When Odysseus and his men landed on the island of the Lotus-Eaters, Odysseus sent out a scouting party of three or so men..."
- Epic: In Which Something Dies: "Something died."
Ruleset and documents
- Ruleset 30
- Cities of the world, in which temples were built.
- Deity Wiki - a list of the deities, and their powers.
Ascension
Excalabur achieved victory having the highest Quintessence of all Deities, and their Pantheon the Dominant Pantheon of the most Cities.
Context
This dynasty began as the Second Dynasty of Angry Grasshopper with Excalabur as its "Adversary" - both of whom had the same powers, including being able to veto proposals. It came out of a CfJ at the end of the previous dynasty (presumably in a situation where both players felt they had a fair claim on the victory and didn't want to surrender it entirely), with the clause that "The Dynasty is still considered to belong to the Hegemonist alone, but if the Adversary is able to achieve victory in that Dynasty, then its title is changed in the Dynastic records to bear the name of the Adversary instead."
Excalabur won the dynasty, leading this dynasty to be historically considered the First Dynasty of Excalabur.