In fact, there shouldn't be a legal definition of what is insane, only a legal definition of what is certifiable.
Legal dictionary of what country? What state, province, etc? It varies greatly depending on where you are in the world. You can be subject to uncontrollable impulsive behaviour and have a personality disorder, which would not constitute insanity. Insanity in which respect? In terms of pleading not guilty on basis of insanity? That too would depend on where you are. If you were to say "subject to uncontrollable impulsive behaviour such that it is likely to cause irreparable harm," maybe. But that too depends on where you are.
I've worked in psychiatry for nearly 10 years. I'm not trying to be a dick. I'm just trying to point out that it depends on where you are in the world and the context in which you are using the term. There is no hard, general, worldly definition of insanity.
This topic is interesting and useful to discuss but also to help to build your deities. I want to keep in mind that mine is in under construction, and many stuff may suffer changes in the future. Humans: All their deities were just like them, but because they have done something extraordinary or unbelieved, they ascended to Goodwood. Each city has its own god/goddess. . Amatha: goddess of ice, death and underworld. Allan: god of shadows associated with treason. Behmet: it's the king of demons worshipped like a god. . Sálus: god of magic, mystery, knowledge and wisdom. . Ai Hime: goddess of love, life and spirituality. . Porthas city (sorry the god doesn't have a name yet XD): god of war, fire, honour, and courage. Elves: Before even all races existed, it's believed this one has been on the planet and cosmos for thousands, billions of years. There were three brothers, and each has its characteristics. One of them is the older one. He believed that tradition could bring peace and prosperity for the future. The youngest thought that nature could offer all necessities for future generations. The middle one thought that the night and the unknown could build better and stronger the elves. . (?): god of hunt, tradition, and crafts. . (?): god of magic, nature, some associate as well with war. . Gehornet: god of murder, associated with night and treason. Can also be associated with death and black magic. I have other races, but I will need to explore more to come with ideas.
Considering that each city has a god, and a god is made by ascension, has anyone ever founded a city for the explicit purpose of becoming a god? Is there a divide between the elves due to this schism?
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DSyx_IP-p80uX6LcXFKYKFLqyQH_nYl7cQqhO1OZbdo/edit?usp=sharing Link to the non-condensed version of my stuff.
Yeah, I was under the impression that there were literal SYMPTOMS and known types of insanity, and definitions that had been agreed upon by the majority of people who study crazy folks for years, so I have no idea where this "there is no definition for insanity" came from. Or have we really devolved as a civilization so much in some idiotic quest for "inclusivity" that now we've hit the "not all crazy people are bad!" hallmark? Considering I had someone say that to me once, and I wrote it off as sarcasm, now I'm questioning if that's some kind of new talking point. "Not all sociopaths are evil! Some live perfectly normal productive lives, and the fact they have rape fantasies about children isn't a sign of a long untreated mental illness at all!"
Thank you very much for your response. To answer your first question. No. It never occurred to my mind. My process was, I have this idea for this city than have this god/goddess. On that city something happened, a prophecy, an honourable act, whatever it is that founded the culture of the town. About the elves, yes the deities have differences between them. On the older, I want to be inspired by African tribes; while on the youngest will inspiration from Hinduism.
This seems fun. I'll throw in my thing, too. The religion in my story is less tied to any sort of otherworldly beings, but more about beings that are given life by the world, called Yara (I didn't know this when I thought of it, but apparently, Yara is a Turkish word which translates to 'wound.' Whoops). On Yara, people/creatures can use the planet's energy to grant themselves abilities specific to them, as well as enhance their physical abilities. It's usually incredibly difficult to be able to use this, requiring years of intense training just to be able to get to the starting point. There are a few exceptions, but those aren't important right now. Currently, the people of Yara recognize seven deities. They are the Four Beasts (Leviathan, Might, Aria, Doan), the Spirit Priest, the Lightbringer, and the Eclipser. They are deities because they're literally given life by Yara, are technically immortal, and are tied to the world. This connection allows them to draw power from Yara, given them an advantage over most people, they start off with their unique abilities, and they can have more than one if they train for it. I'll say it now, the deity status of the Lightbringer and the Eclipser are debatable among the people, and the current Lightbringer is sure that they don't count, but I would consider them to be deities. The Four Beasts and the Spirit Priest can be killed, but they will reform after a time, depending on the wounds that killed them. Reforming time has ranged from several days to a century. Leviathan - The wisest of the Four Beasts. A giant sea serpent who holds sway over all of the world's oceans, although he doesn't usually bother anyone unless he takes a personal interest. He is usually the most involved with human affairs, whether it be destruction, protection, or otherwise. Might - The strongest of the Four Beasts. A large dragon who controls the ground. He is quite territorial, and won't take action unless he is trespassed against or directly challenged. While touching the ground, he can see everything happening on Yara. Aria - The youngest of the Four Beasts. She's a wyvern that controls the skies and winds. She can move at speeds which can put lightning to shame, is able to create all sorts of air-based weather phenomena, and usually prefers to hide away from humans and creatures alike. Doan - The oldest of the Four Beasts. He's a giant made of magma that resides within the core of Yara. He controls Yara's fire and can, if he so chooses, either take away Yara's heat, freezing it, or make it too hot, effectively boiling the planet. He also has the unique ability to create creatures on a whim, though he doesn't usually use this power. The Spirit Priest - This being takes the form of a human and acts as a medium between humanity and the Four Beasts. He has influence over all of the Beasts, always knows where they are, and can even force them to follow his commands, given enough effort. The Spirit Priest can appear anywhere on Yara, although he's made his temple in a place that's very close to Might's territory so he can watch him more closely than the others. He can communicate with the Beasts if he is close enough. The Lightbringer and the Eclipser are different from the others, in that they reincarnate when they die, instead of reform. Their reincarnations have no idea of who they are, but are usually clued in fairly quickly. They have no inherent morals when they're born, but most people consider the Lightbringer to be good, and the Eclipser evil. They are mostly worshiped because of their reincarnation and extra abilities. All throughout history, people and armies have been trying to sway either of these two to join their cause, with varying degrees of success. Actually, there's a kingdom in my story called the Sun Kingdom, which serves as the main area of the story, which was founded by someone working with a Lightbringer. The Lightbringer - The Lightbringer is born with the ability to create light, and can have several extra abilities with enough training. The most notable abilities have been: creating worlds that they can travel to/bring others to; being able to heal any wound, no matter how severe; and the current one, controlling time, though she isn't very good at it. The Eclipser - The Eclipser is born with the ability to create shadows, and can have several extra abilities with enough training. Their most famous abilities have been: controlling anyone they touched; being able to take damage in place of anyone they could see; and the current one, who can implant shadows into someone and drain their energy over time. Not all of these deities are worshiped throughout the world, though. Some areas only worship the Spirit Priest, while others only worship Might and Leviathan. The setting for this story is set in a place where only the Lightbringer and Eclipser are worshiped. So, yeah, that's my pantheon. Kind of jumbled, maybe a bit confusing, but it was fun to write it all out. EDIT: I'm trying to think of ways to make the Lightbringer and Eclipser have a more god-like/deity-like status, because right now, they're just really strong humans, but I'm not really coming up with anything. What kind of things could I change about them?
Yes, it does, and this thread is about a micron from being tossed over the wall into that seething cesspit. Please be civil and stick to the topic.
Well, to get back on target, here's a brief rundown of the Raddam "religion", if you could call it that. It's vaguely lore-heavy but this is the trimmed down version mind, and it's also not just a religion or belief but a cosmological model they figured out a way to adapt into a faith... Quick side note: the Raddam are a nomadic, expansionist and extremely militaristic civilization of humanoid beings roughly similar in appearance to what we would call "big cats" and could broadly be defined as huge, humanoid lions, with the females noted as being more slim and humanlike as opposed to the males who look like Simba if he had a child with an Imperial Space Marine. Even the females are "a head taller" than one of the MCs, who is literally seven feet tall (be cause see, he's a genetically engineered soldier in a mechanized exoskeleton) an the males are said to "tower" over them, so individuals like Dakhan the ruler of the Raddam is basically like ten feet tall. Anyway... At the heart of the Raddam civilization is something they call "The Eternal Hunt", which is both a sociopolitical philosophy and a religion but also a kind of cosmological physics model they adhere to. Basically, to the victor goes the spoils, and when you practice a religion that lets you harvest the raw essence of another being using a kind of psychic witchcraft those spoils can include their soul. This all started because the Raddam met another race millennia ago, likely around the time of the first Humans evolving on Earth, who the Raddam called the Quetzalcoatl, and who humans in the future call "The Serpent Gods". Now at this point you're wondering "what the blue fuck is a Quetzalcoatl and why does it sound like something a person with epilepsy screams while they're having a seizure?" And the answer is, we have no idea. They seem to be some kind of...things? That exist outside of what we define as the observable universe, and to hear the Raddam tell it they may be the remnants or "shards" of the primeval darkness that preceded the Big Bang. So when God said let there be light, he broke the literal glass ceiling and the pieces got angry and left Creation, and then decided to go start their own universes, personal pocket dimensions to themselves called Higher Realms. At some point the Raddam discover a way to access them, and seven of the Quetzalcoatl make pacts with the Raddam to grant them the knowledge of The Eternal Hunt and a chance at literal immortality if they serve them. So the Raddam leave their original six home worlds--in fact the blew them up, and used the pieces to make gargantuan ships that were hundreds of miles across called Throneships--and set out to conquer the universe. They practice a kind of witchcraft through sacrifice and death, killing and harvesting the raw pain and psychic screams of entire races, enslaving the ones they don't kill, and parceling off tithes to The Serpent Gods in exchange for more and more power which they define as Pure Force. Those who have the most Pure Force eventually ascend the godhood like the Quetzalcoatl themselves, becoming God Kings, of which currently about a dozen exist with Dakhan being the chief among them. These God Kings (and Queens) form the "Imperial Family" and interbreed with each other. Their bodies are just husks now, empty avatars which they use to fuck and enjoy pleasure but their true essences exist in their own personal pocket universes, Shard Realms, which orbit the greater Higher Realms of the Quetzalcoatl like planets orbit a star. Meanwhile the lesser members of the Imperial Family, princes and kings and so on, seek to kill, conquer and annihilate entire civilizations to gain more Pure Force to someday ascend themselves. These royals each rule over nomadic fleets and scour the galaxy constantly annihilating worlds to make more Throneships and expand their personal fiefdoms, like prides of lions hunting the plains. This constantly expanding territory of space which crisscrosses multiple galaxies is referred to as the Raddam Empire. Now if this sounds insane and unsustainable and seems like it will inevitably lead to constant war with literally every other race in the galaxy to you, congrats the flaw in The Eternal Hunt is made obvious. The five main God Kings, the de facto leaders of the Raddam Empire, and their "gods" are... Dakhan, the Damned King Essentially the ruler and chief god of the Raddam, who possesses the power to create armies of Endless Knights, which means he can basically snap his fingers and make an entire continent not feel so good, and then their corpses rise up and become jittering, near-mindless carcasses writhing in agony who can scream so loud it shatters bones. Needless to say he's an unpleasant person. He's also a complete psychopath (more than the other Raddam) and literally doesn't understand the very idea of compassion or empathy, viewing it as this weird "superstition" that Humans cling to for no logical reason. He also literally raped one of the Quetzalcoatl and sired a child by her...she didn't mind, see, cause by their standpoint if you're weak enough to get raped you deserved it. So tolerant. In the pantheon of the Raddam he represents the key tenant of the Hunt, and his Shard Realm is basically a hedonistic temple-universe dedicated to himself. So humble. Isirr, the Witch Queen The insane(er) wife of Dakhan, who is basically a cross between Nala from Lion King and Cersei from GOT. She's the preeminent sorceress-god and practices a kind of psychic alchemy. Worshiping and obsessed with sex and hedonism, she's basically a sentient version of 2 Girls 1 Cup and her Shard Realm can best be described as a cross between a brothel and Hell. Her followers among the Raddam literally tear the souls out of people and use them to fuel crystalline runes which they can barter to The Serpent Gods for various "blessings"--which include opening holes into Hell to drag entire cities into the abyss forever. So Isirr becomes famous because, spoilers, but she does this to a human planet and kills the entire thirty-billion population in a day then builds a towering crystal the size of a moon and sells it to a Quetzalcoatl which becomes her new Throneship and a weapon that can blow up suns. Amon, the Judgement Blade A guy who feels he is the chief judge or "Accuser" of the Raddam Empire. Now, the fact that their laws basically have no logic and exist purely to justify their Eternal Hunt and quest for power to feed the gods, this means Amon basically serves more as an executioner and killer of heretics than any kind of judge. He's also Dakhan's brother and to the Raddam he represents what the Raddam view as "justice". Which really equates more to honor in combat. He's one of the few Raddam who shows any real honor and fealty, but even then he's unimaginably ruthless and brutal in a fair fight, such that his Shard Realm is literally made out of the blood-soaked bones of the countless billions he's killed since his ascension. The sight of a star which is basically a giant pulsing, burning heart pouring out blood and held in the teeth of a screaming skull the size of Jupiter is...off-putting to the humans who first see it. Calaban, Firstborn of Dakhan The son Dakhan and Isirr. He's a petulant little shit who is implied, by both what his father says and the way he acts around human men, to be what we would call "homosexual" but the Raddam call "ill-made". He inherited his mother's hedonistic attitudes and lives in a Shard Realm that looks like Rent if it were basically an entire galaxy instead of one apartment building. That being said he's also easily their most feared military commander and serves as a primary antagonist, and while Dakhan deigns to admit it he always has to turn to Calaban to have any kind of actual leadership for the Raddam armies, instead of just screaming fanatics lusting after blood and rape. Calaban is also one of the few Raddam who has some grasp of human emotion, and seems to understand and feel love for a human character--who is weirded out by this both because Calaban is a ten foot lion because he's not into giant furry dudes. Calaban represents the concept of wisdom among the Raddam. Kull, the Destroyer King Brother of Dakhan. He's obsessed with death and the finality of existence and likes to collect trophies for his "dynasty" to keep in vast arsenals and vaults in his Shard Realm. Kull views this as protecting or preserving them. His followers view him as a war god, and like Dakhan he possesses the power to create Endless Knights, and keeps some examples of them in his timeless vaults. He also possesses the ability to devour "data", not just electronic information but also the metaphysical concept of data, or to oversimplify it he can erase things from existence with a touch. Including planets. We don't see a lot of the Quetzalcoatl but when we do meet some, they're basically unimaginably vast serpent-like monsters with feathers and wings, like a cross between a buzzard and a cobra. One is mentioned as having been forced to sire a child with Dakhan, and the offspring, Gunirr, is called the "Snake King" and looks like a gigantic snake-dragon with a lion's head and wings--all snow white and with red glowing eyes. He acts as the guardian of Dakhan's Shard Realm and his personal footsoldier.
In my story, which takes place in Hell, Lucifer and the Archdevils are the main "deities". There are hundreds of unnatural beings such as demons, arachne, vampires, lycans, etc, but they all see Lucifer as their high king and "god", and both love and fear him, because the God as we know it apparently compels his followers to kill everything that's different. (I didn't write Christian mythology, I just interpet it.)
What's the primary conflict in your world? Is it Hell against Heaven, Hell against humanity, internal power struggles in Hell, or something else?
At the very core of my If Eternity should Fail series is the story of the creation, and gods of Triskele. Around 5000 years before the story in Of Sins and Shadows, the Zelassa occurred. The elves lived on a floating continent that always orbited sun ward. Magic began to fail, and the continent began to crumble. The surface of Triskele was bombed back to the stone age by falling chunks of the continent that created a nuclear winter environment. People and elves only survived by taking shelter in dwarven mines. After the people returned to the surface the pantheon gods appeared. They arrived in M'dran, the Triskele equivalent of Egypt, and created a pantheon. They then spread out to different lands and created new pantheons. Here's a few examples: In the Three Lands there are the Leanai Ar Diabhal. Their lead diety is Diabhal, the goddess of Land and People. Their followers are called the Cine De Triur Tir. In Styr there is the Jarrait Jaur. Their lead diety is Jaurti, the thrower. Their followers are called the Jende Jaur. In Esnan there is the Gelhim. Their lead diety is Sahgrel, the god of water and trade. Their followers are called the Gelam. There are more pantheons, such as the Gottumgorm, Axis Wzrok, and others. A few centuries before OSaS, the Íolball arrived. They are a monotheistic group who claim to represent the one true god, Íol. They are striving to drive out, and replace the pantheon gods. That's the conflict in the series, Íol versus the pantheon gods, along with the fallout from the arrival and defeat of the Dreadgods, the cause of the Zelassa, and the secret of the creation of Triskele. That's it for my story. Thanks for reading and Godspeed!
I like that. It's an ideal and beautiful homeland for the elves, but it undoubtedly throws an ocean of shade over the humble people below them. What a perfect way to build resentment.
I keep seeing this resurface on the front page, so I guess I'll go ahead and put in what I can for my WIP. In my The Heart of the Radiant book, there are four classes of divine entities. At the time my story takes place, the vast majority of these beings have abandoned the world. The lowest class are simply called Divine. They aren't much different from normal people except they can ascend to the next class and also can't be killed. They can be split apart into mind, heart, and body and can enter and exit the world at will, but other than that they are the same. The middle class are called Radiants, which are ascended Divine. They have the same abilities as their lesser counterparts, but are difficult to harm and are far more powerful. There are a few notable Radiants in my world. Grandis (aka Supreme Lord Grandis) - the most powerful (non-split) Radiant with legions of followers, heralded as the savior of the world. With most other Divine having disappeared, he has tasked the ordinary people of the world with many of the responsibilities he had once given to Divine (such as preventing the return of Syrus and Eclipse, mentioned below). Escalor - the right hand woman of Grandis and the only other non-split Radiant at the time of the story's beginning. That's pretty much all she's known for these days, as she's taken on a more passive role and her followers have more or less pledged their allegiance to Grandis. Syrus - the Fallen Radiant, and the leader of a group of Radiants who sought to drive all other Divine from the world. He was defeated and split by Grandis, and though he once commanded many followers he is now a feared and despised figure. Eclipse - the Dark Radiant, who was created by Syrus (and thus is not a true Radiant) to purge the world of Divine. They were also split by Grandis, but not before frustrating the other Radiants to the point of driving most of them off to other worlds. Most common people are unaware of Eclipse's existence, but those who know of it view their return as an even greater threat than Syrus. The highest class are called Masters. These were the ones who shaped the world to begin with, and before they disappeared they maintained balance in the world and would bring restoration should catastrophic events ever take place. They aren't present in my story, but are revered as both creators and the ultimate authorities by the people. The last class of divine entities are monsters. Some were once human, others were not, but they all either resurrect or reincarnate if they are ever defeated. The only one viewed by the people as truly a divine entity, though, is The Great Destroyer, Apollyon, who brings about the apocalypse with each revival. The Masters used to use their power to undo the damage caused by Apollyon, but now only the Radiants stand between it and the eventual end. That's my religious backdrop. There's more to the Divine and Masters and where they come from than what the common people know, but unless I write a sequel after finishing this book I doubt I'll ever explicitly reveal it.
I got bored and wondered what demonics do when they're not torturing humanity, and I got the idea for a school in the underworld for demonics. The basic principle is; anything the church would take one look at and shout "EVIL!" is welcome here. I prefer the paradise lost version of Lucifer anyway, it makes more sense than "He got greedy and now he's an evil SOB". It's basically an academy type dealio for "evil" beings.
I have a Mythological System in Mind not Only for the CS world I'm currently Developing, Entitled Crusades Amidst Wyrmsfyre (Mispelling is intended lol), but it Extends to the Multiverse of all the Settings, Worlds, Planes, n Sub-Dimensions I include as a part of the Reality/Dimensional Ultraplane my Stories Happen in or Games that Occur with My General House Rules n Methods in Mind by me n My Fellow Friends n DMs in their Own Rights Who Use My Formatting n Rules Ethos. That Myth Concept is this idea: That This Reality was Initiated by an Alien Overpower who Commanded the first Powers in the Earliest Days thru Today, That There Have Been Now 9 Ages Called Aeons That mark a Collective of Deity like Beings of Various Types That r All Under this Master Overpower. Each Aeon ends with a Terrible Threat to Reality that the Powers of the Age must Defend, Often Against Entity Like Dimensional Powers Who Serve as the Great Threat of That Aeon until an Apocalypse where the Powers within vs Entities without Showdown for this Reality's Fate. In the End, at Each 8 of these Events Called Epochal Trials, Most Powers n Entities R Slain, n the Master Turns to the Surviving Powers that won n defended His Reality to Transend themselves n gain power n Spheric Interests beyond their current Roles by Undergoing Avatar Combative Trials, ach battle terms unique to the Portfolio Spheres Concerned, with the winner Assimilating by Union, Conjoining, Merger, Subsumation, Consumption, Devour, or Other (The exact ways r still work in process of what each means), the just being in each age New Powers reign over each age tho their roots may be Aeons back, just modified by Assimilation, to the other range end where the power may use part or a version of the old power's Name but is totally changed in sex, interests, AL n Personality, u name it. In the End there is Always a Ultra Pantheon Spread over All Worlds that has a Leadership that Functions with this Master's Express Concent, Called like in Chinese Mythos the Mandate of the Celestial Cosmos; then there r at least 1 Greater if not 2-4 Lesser in Confederation Amonst Themselves, that r Opposed to this Mandate or to the Master's Will, n thus r The Enemies of Heaven Pantheon; n finally there r the lesser minor least n marginal Divine like Beings from Angelic or Fiendish God Nobility/Royalty to Vestigials, Toltymnics (Shaman or Druid Spirits), Eidolleons in 3 or 4 Classes, Quazipowers that defy easy grouping, Paragonals n Saint-Powers, to Exarchs Proxies n Half Powers like Heracles or Perseus in Myth. These form a Lesser cast on both sides & in the middle, as mere Personifications of Philosophies, Cosmic Truths or Forces, or Universal Energies Related to 1 of the Immortal Classifications that Unify Reality Called the Spheric Paths of Creation, which has roots in the paths of Immortality from Basic D&D Rules Cyclopedia but much expanded. Anyway the Actual details to follow shortly, but that's the mythological theme n conceptualjust, details to follow shortly. . . .
Also, welcome to the forum! You sound like you've got a lot of passion for this topic. What does CS stand for?
