Dei Civitas
The Axioms of Dei Civitas:
With the gods banished, Technology became the new religion of Dei Civitas. Discoveries were made and inventions built at a rapid pace, with Dei Civitas never experiencing anything like the Dark Ages of Medival Core Earth. In fact, though their pastoral "Golden Age" lasted millenia longer than that of Core Earth, Dei Civitas soon caught up, and was on the verge of quickly surpassing their cousin reality. But with the invention of the atomic bomb, and the unconscious recognition of it's destructive potential, the pace has slowed greatly, almost stagnated, and now Dei Civitas sits only slightly ahead. And most of this advantage is due to the increased axioms of the Law of Magic/Science trickling down from the Heroes to the population at large.
The countries of Dei Civitas, while not living in perfect harmony, have enjoyed nearly fifty years of unbroken peace. The occasional rattling of sabres is heard, but for the most part everyone is perfectly willing to leave the fighting to the Heroes. Economically, international corporations are the norm, with nearly any business with more than ten thousand employees having at least one division in foreign lands. Travel between countries is monitored, but otherwise unrestricted.
The Magic axiom of Dei Civitas, while fully supporting all forms of magic, is vastly under utilized. As on Core Earth, magic on Dei Civitas is often associated with gods and religions, and is not entirely trusted. Strangely enough, though, the Law of Magic/Science allows for individual Magic axioms of 20, including limited wish parsing. Whether this is an innate relationship between the axioms, or indication that Technology is no longer as trusted as it has been is unclear.
The Spirit axiom of Dei Civitas is great enough that it is contradictory for any "enemy mythos" to use it's power. And all mythos are enemies - even Faith(Atheism) and Faith(Science) - since the collective subconscious of Dei Civitas banished all gods from the reality millenia ago. Currently, the axiom is used only to fashion "super powers", miracles that grant the Heroes of Dei Civitas abilites far beyond those of mortal men.
The World Laws of Dei Civitas:
Before the Age of Heroes, the collective unconsciousness jealously horded the possibility energy of the cosm, to point of actually draining it from it's inhabitants. In an effort to limit abilities, so that things could not get out of hand as they did with the gods, the average possibility energy portion per being was reduced to the point that the avergage Stat Value was 5, rather than 8. In addition, the cosm limit on Stats was reduced to 10, and skills of more than three adds (+3) became contradictory. (Note that a reduced need has also reduced the Damage Value of "normal" weapons in Dei Civitas. The Limit value for hand powered weapons and the base DV of guns and the like are all three points lower than their counterparts in other cosms. In fact, the Effect Values, TOU, and even Weight Values of most objects in Dei Civitas are 3 points lower than equivalent items in other cosms. While this makes them even more prone to break during Super battles, it also makes them quicker and easier to construct. Entire city blocks can be rebuilt in less than a month, entire cities in six.)
With the creation of Heroes, the first true Possibility Rated beings arrived on Dei Civitas. The collective unconsciousness freed them from the restrictions of Normals, allowing them the full 66 Stat points, a cosm limit of 13, and no cap on skill adds. It also provides the energy for Powers, a group of Miracles that elevate Heroes even further beyond Normal Man.
The collective unconscious offers it's Heroes a choice of two areas within which to excel. The Path of Magic grants Heroes a personal Magic axiom of 20, with full access to dimensional travel, impressed spells, and even minor wish parsers. The Path of Science grants a personal Tech axiom of 32, the traditional "Comic Book Science".
But the paths are not without their costs. Once chosen, they can never be changed. Nor can practitioners of one path even attempt the other, as the sister axiom drops an equivalent ammount, a Tech axiom of 16 for the Path of Magic, a Magic axiom of 4 for the Path of Science. Magicians remain relics of the past, while Scientists can not even comprehend the most basic of magics, dismissing it as vague coincidences. In addition, the Path of Magic remains somewhat feared by the collective unconscious, and those who choose it find their lives even more disrupted, more often than not tragically so, by the Law of Adventure.
Note: The axiom increases due to this law only effect a character's personal axioms, making their use a rule of one contradiction in Dei Civitas. Same for the decreases, meaning that characters can try to access the other path also as a rule of one, though very few have ever tried.
The Law of Adventure is quite similar to the Law of Drama in the Nile. Both produce a nearly unbelievable string of coincidences, and provide for a near constant opposition to the actions of the PCs. But whereas in the Nile all of this Action exists merely to speed up the pace of life, on Dei Civitas, it all has a greater purpose, and a guiding hand. In a further attempt to keep tensions low, the collective unconscious has chosen to use it's Heroes as entertainment, as clown colored bread and circuses to keep the people of Dei Civitas from ever again entering inot a world war, or using the weapons of mass dustruction they have built. Because the Magic and Spirit axioms still leave room for free will and random events, the collective unconsciousness does not have complete control over every aspect of Dei Civitas. But it does have enough to guide the general outcome, and can usually manipulate individuals to it's own ends.
The Heroes of Dei Civitas are the most directly controlled, both in the Law manipulating their lives and producing threats to battle, but also in their very abilities. A Hero's Powers are determined by her Popularity, a measure of how much they are, well, "entertaining" to the public at large. The more popular a Hero is, they more powerful they become. And even the most powerful hero can find themselves washed up if they lose the public interest.
In game terms, Popularity is the Faith which powers the miraculous Powers of a Hero (at 15+Popularity "adds"), and also determines their number (equal to Popularity). A Hero starts play with 3 Popularity. This cannot be increased at any time by the expenditure of Possibilites. Any adventure in which a Hero commits a Glory act and plays a Glory Card, their popularity goes up by one (1). Any adventure in which the Hero commits a Glory act but does not play a card, their Popularity remains stable. If a Hero does not commit a Glory act at all during an adventure, their Popularity drops by one. Since Popularity determines both number and strength of a Hero's Powers, a single loss tends to be just the first in a downward spiral. (Heroes with a Popularity of 0 often find themselves "expendable", with their enemies still around due to the Law of Adventure, but no Powers. Heroes with a negative Popularity may become Villains at GM's Discretion.)
Note: Since Popularity is being measured by the collective unconsciousness, which is nearly omnicient and omnipresent, it is not neccessary for a Story Seed to be planted, or even for any news of the Hero's Glory to be known by the public at large. It is sufficient enough that they performed the act.
Read the History of Dei Civitas.
Look at the Powers of Dei Civitas.
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