Difference between revisions of "ConataeGaia"

Latest revision as of 01:15, 6 April 2010

Conatae Gaia is an extended plot concept for Exalted, that can either be added to existing campaigns or used as a totally alternate campaign setting. This setting is collaborative, but not unified. That is, anyone can add to this setting, but it is assumed that people using the setting will only select a subset of what is available. As such, there is no "central canon" and the work of different people may disagree completely over "facts", tone, intention and so on.

Central Premise

What does unite the contributions to Conatae Gaia are a set of major initial premises surrounding the actions and motivations of Gaia. All of the contributions to this setting consider the following to be absolute fact:

• The entire PrimordialWar was, in fact, Gaia's final winning move in the GamesOfDivinity.
• Gaia appears largely inactive in both Creation and Yu-Shan because the vast majority of her consciousness and attention since the war has been focused on forming new Creation-like worlds deep in the Wyld.

Contributers to Conatae Gaia will focus on giving flesh to these alternate worlds, how they differ from Creation, and what players do inside them.

People who actually use the setting will be assumed to have selected some small subset of these additional worlds (even just one) to use for their campaign. From their point of view the others may or may not actually exist.

Corollary Considerations

The two guiding principles of Conatae Gaia suggest a story, but do not actually define one. Various questions can be asked, and the varied answers will lead in many different directions. This section will ask a number of these questions, but will intentionally not answer them. Each contributer will address these questions in their own way, in their own worlds. They might build on the answers of others, or completely contradict them.

Gaia's Motivations

Intentionally absent in the two central premises are any indication of why. Why was/is Gaia doing this? What was her goal in wining the Games? Did winning the Games work out the way she wanted it to, or did it backfire? Is she happy she won? What can be accomplished now that her "siblings" are imprisoned that could not be done before?

Why is Gaia building worlds? Is she trying to replicate the achievement of Creation? Improve it? Ignore it? Does she even like Creation? How much of an impact did the unmaking of nine out of every 10 things in Creation by SheWhoLivesInHerName have on Gaia's plans? How about her psyche?

The Nature of the New Worlds

While Gaia played a large role in forming Creation, it's pretty clear she did not act alone. On the other hand, now that she's seen it done once, does she need help any longer? Just how much is she capable of? If she needs help, where does she get it? If she does it herself, is the result more limited in some way? Flawed? More pure?

Is she creating new gods to run these new worlds? If so, what are they like? Can they create their own exalted? Do they know about the gods of Creation?

Do these worlds obey the same "physical laws" as Creation? Do they follow the same Virtues? The same abilities? Are they based on the same elements? The same kind of magic?

Are the inhabitants any of the existing races? Something else? Which dominate?

Is Creation really the first such world?

Gaia's Souls

The page on Gaia lists a number of suggestions for the "third circle" souls of Gaia. A number of these ideas suggest that the souls form key aspects of Creation. What are her souls? How many does she have? How do they play into these new worlds? Is there a limit to how many worlds she can make?

Creation's Gods

How much do the gods of Creation known about Gaia's actions? How much do they care? If Gaia finished the Games, what are gods in Yu-Shan playing now?

The Other Primordials

How much do the Yozis know about Gaia's role in their imprisonment? How about the Neverborn? Or Autochthon?

Gaia's Worlds

This list shows all the possible worlds Gaia may have built. Which will you use?

• ConataeGaia/Sample (Wordman) - More of a template suggesting a "standard" formatting approach for the worlds.

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