Amethyst Hunter/GamesOfDivinityPre-History

The Games of Divinity
Or Why the Celestial Incarna Are Not Crack Addicts


     The Games of Divinity and their “addicting” influence over the Celestial Incarna are a
well known “fact.” I propose that this fact is actually a cruel lie, told by the Incarna,
not to keep us away from them, but to keep their true purpose secret. All of the Gods
allowed to play the Games of Divinity are aware of their true power, and the only other
beings that know this are the Primordials.

     The Games of Divinity existed before creation, and in fact, before the Primordials
themselves. This is evident by the passage that states something to the effect of “From
their thoughts and will sprang all of creation…while they played among themselves the Games
of Divinity, which are not for men to know or understand.” This means that the Games existed
before creation, surely. I propose that the Games of Divinity existed before the Primordials
as well. The phrase “…they played among themselves the Games of Divinity…,” which implies
that the Games of Divinity existed before the Primordials. I believe this implication due to
the language, which, in a section rich with creation, does not specify the creation of the Games
of Divinity, implying that they existed before the Primordials. This begs the question, how did
the Primordials find the Games, and what told them of the Games.

     I believe that the Games themselves, sitting unplayed, created the Primordials who would
play them. Since the Games did not know of levels of power, their creations were of extraordinary
power. The Primordials them created Creation, as a place on which to stay, but there were some
creations who resisted. Gaia and Autochthon chose not to play, a choice the Games had not considered,
and for who would not want to play games that gave such bliss? The Primordials then created the Gods,
who created the Exalts, etc., etc. The history from this point is known; however, when the Incarna
chose their pieces on the Games, they came to realize the true power of the Games.

     Since the Games created the Primordials, the Games also built in a Failsafe. If the games ever
failed to be played, the Games could unmake the Primordials themselves, in order to create a new set
of beings to play the Games. Additionally, the Primordials would continue to exist, so long as the
Games were played. Since the Exalted “slew” the Primordials and the Incarna continued to play the
Games, the Primordials could not truly die. However, if the Incarna cease to play the games in order
to fully destroy the Primordials, they too would be destroyed, by the very fact of the Failsafe the
Primordials built into the Gods. This would leave creation without ample defenses, as well as
destroying Gaia. All of Creation; Yu-Shan, Creation, The Underworld, even Malfeas, would return to
the Wyld from whence it was created. This means that playing the Games of Divinity, in fact,
sustains all of Creation.

     It helps that the Games of Divinity are incredibly fun to play, so it is not difficult to
persuade entities to play them. This is why Dreamstones of the Games of Divinity are so addicting.
Imagine being visited by a power greater than anything you could ever know, greater than the Gods,
greater even than the Primordials themselves. Imagine your very thoughts coalescing into reality
around you. Objects created from nothingness. Imagine holding the Deathlords as your servant’s
servants. Imagine the power you know as even a 10 essence Solar being your servant’s servant’s
servant. This is what the Dreamstones of the Games show us. No wonder people are lost to them
forever. No wonder the Incarna enjoy them so much. The only thing we don’t realize is how
much we need them.

     Only the Games know that there actually is an end to this cycle. If one player “wins,”
a nearly impossible task then the Games will be satisfied, and can safely be left unplayed.
As mentioned above, this is practically impossible, because the Games enjoy being played so
much, they do anything they can to prevent someone from winning. This is mechanically
equivalent to matched check of one die against one of an arbitrarily high number. There
is an extremely low, but still possible, chance that all but the single die will come up
without successes. Even using the value of 100 dice, the chance that that particular roll
will succeed is 1.959 times ten to the negative 21rst percent. Also note that the Games of
Divinity may choose any number for this roll, making the chances of succeeding on the roll
effectively 0. A real life correlation might be doing a job you love, it’s work, sure, but
you love it and get paid for it. This is why the Celestial Incarna are playing the Games,
not because they’re addicted, but because they have to, in order to keep creation running.

Comments

Coolness! This is really, really interesting. It also makes a lot more sense to me and moves the gods from addicts into being, well, gods. Flawed, maybe, but still, ultimately, Creation's Rulers and Stewards. - MoonSword