A Tale of Two Gods

I realized tonight that in these posts I've been focusing mostly on mechanics and not much on the narrative elements of the setting that will be used in the game, so let's talk story.

Here are some paragraphs from the core rules that describe the setting of Radiant Fantasia, Samsaria.

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What is Samsaria?

Samsaria is the fantasy world featured in the Pandemonia Chronicles: DAWN novel. I think you should read that book in order to get an idea of the flavor of Samsaria, but this game book has enough information about Samsaria that you should be completely fine playing Radiant Fantasia without reading Pandemonia Chronicles: DAWN.

Where is Samsaria?
Samsaria is a parallel universe to the world that the main character of Pandemonia Chronicles, Gestalt, is from.

(Note: Gestalt is from a world that is very similar to, but not the same as our world. The stories I write take place in a multiverse. Gestalt is actually from a parallel universe to our own where Champoeg, Oregon did not become a ghost town. I grew up in Oregon and a lot of of my fiction takes place in alternate versions of Oregon.)


What lives in Samsaria?
I‘ll admit it.

Samsaria is pretty much filled with every conceivable mythological creature you have ever heard of.

It has Unicorns, Sylphs, Salamanders, Manticores, Goblins, Dryads, Trolls and Dragons, among many others.

Creatures from the myths of non-European cultures appear too: Kitsune fox girls, Tanuki raccoon dogs and water imp Kappas also live in Samsaria.

Samsaria also has creatures that aren‘t from mythology, and instead hail from fantasy fiction: things like Munchkins, Snarks and Cheshire Cats—then it has creatures from American frontier and lumberjack "Fearsome Critter" tall tales‘ like Jackalopes, Cactus Cats, and Hoop Snakes.

Some of the different Human, Elemental and Demon races will be discussed in this book in Chapter Four: Playable Races, and some of the other types can be read about in the free Adventure Module included in the back of this book. I‘m not going to discuss every possible creature that is in Samsaria inside this Core Rulebook—it would pretty much consume the whole book if I did that. But you‘ll get a pretty good idea of what is creeping around by reading these sections.

The default setting for a Radiant Fantasia game takes place thousands of years before the events in the Pandemonia Chronicles novels. Many of the adventures modules take place right before the Great War between Pandemonia and Gluskab.

Sure, tensions between the demons and humans are boiling—Deus is starting to gather her Paladins and Anu is gathering his demons into an army—but the two kingdoms are not yet at war. This means it is possible for elementals, humans and demons to party with one another without any kind of restriction (minor note: during the Great War, demons and humans were hostile to one another and elementals were a neutral third party until the very end where they joined forces with the humans).

Does Samsaria have Gods?
Samsaria has two prime Gods; Anu Malsumis the God of Death and Deus Gluskab the Goddess of Life. These two gods are in constant opposition to one another and wrestle for control over the world.

A Tale of Two Gods
Deus Gluskab‘s role in the world is as a preserver of mortal life and she is responsible for protecting Samsaria from the machinations of those that could ruin the natural harmony of the world, such as Outer Gods and demons. She rules over the Gluskab Empire, the largest human civilization. She has a narcissistic personality and acts as an overzealous mother to the humans of her lands, as they are the only ones that worship her. She offers to make the wishes of her faithful a reality, but only if they prove themselves worthy by obeying her strict laws.

Deus views arcane technology and Elemental Pacts as a threat to her position as a god insofar as if humans had greater prosperity, they would not need her as much. She has convinced her clergy that arcane technology and Elemental Pacts will only cause humanity to destroy itself, and only through her can they gain happiness. She also prefers to work through others and has endowed her Priests and Paladins with her own magical power so they can act in her steed.

In contrast, Anu Malsumis is responsible for harvesting the souls of the deceased and transporting them to the Netherworld to await reincarnation. He is also regarded as the Demon King because of his favoritism toward demons. Compared to Deus, he is usually indifferent when it comes to things like worshiping and technology, although he has a megalomaniacal streak and rarely ever shares his magical power with anyone.

Whereas Deus likes to orchestrate events through her followers, Anu is more direct and prone to personally appearing before those that displease him to deliver them his wrath.

Although it may seem peculiar, the one responsible for the creation of demons is Deus Gluskab, not Anu Malsumis. Using Ancient Magic left behind by the creator-gods who forged Samsaria, Deus attempted to restore life to dead elementals and magical creatures by avoiding the normal cycle of death and reincarnation. However, the magic she used was unnatural to Samsaria and warped the souls, creating a new life in Samsaria known as 'demons'. Realizing her mistake, Deus sought to destroy them but Anu Malsumis, upset that Deus had interfered with his authority over the Netherworld, instead rescued the demons and gave them protection in the part of the world he controls.

Since this event, the kingdoms these gods control have been at odds with one another, gathering military strength and preparing to go to war to settle their differences.

Bear in mind, the souls of the Gods are immortal but their bodies are not. In actuality, the physical bodies they use don‘t belong to them. Deus and Anu‘s true form is incorporeal and they have diminished capacity to use their magic when they lack a physical body to amplify their magical energy. Consequently both gods choose to possess the bodies of the most magically talented race on Samsaria—the Aswang.

As a civilization, the Aswang are generally left alone by Deus and Anu because when their previous bodies die, they possess the body of another Aswang. They perceive any prosperity gained by the Aswang as a good thing for them since it ensures the survival of that race. Originally, the Aswang freely allowed the Gods to possess members of their race and considered it a great honor. However, as the Aswang developed civilization, science and wealth they came to loathe this arrangement. The gods can at any time decide to possess them or their loved ones and use the body for their own purposes—a constant reminder that no matter how greater the Aswang are, they still are not the masters of their own destinies.

Other Deities in Samsaria
Aside from the resident Gods Anu Malsumis and Deus Gluskab, there are two other groups of deities; Elder Gods and Outer Gods.

Elder Gods are deities from a higher plane of existence than Samsaria. Their magic is referred to as Ancient Magic (sometimes called Lost Magic) and it is magic that is too powerful for non-Gods to wield. Legend has it that they fashioned Samsaria with Ancient Magic and then left, leaving Anu and Deus in charge while elementals were left with their duty to protect the Elemental Roads.

If there was a grand purpose in creating Samsaria, no one really knows. Even those who were there when the world was created have little memories of those events and only know what jobs they were entrusted to do. Although capable of using Ancient Magic, even Anu and Deus do not know them all, and are excited when a new spell is discovered in some ruin created before they themselves were born. Even to the gods, the creation of Samsaria is a mystery to explore.

Outer Gods are deities from parallel universes that occasionally attempt to sneak into Samsaria through inter-dimensional portals. The goals of Outer Gods differ and their characteristics depend on what worlds they come from. Some Outer Gods are worshiped by certain creatures in Samsaria.

In Samsaria‘s distant past, a group of Outer Gods calling themselves 'Sinistrals' invaded and attempted to corrupt many of Samsaria‘s residents into an army to invade other worlds. Although they were defeated by a united effort between Anu Malsumis, Deus Gluskab and the Elemental Chiefs, the Sinistrals proved immortal. All that could be done was for the Elemental Roads to be used to seal them in a slumber, but even this magic was not strong enough to fully subdue them.

From the nightmares of the Sinistrals materialized Horrors—terrible creations that are manifestions of the dreams and desires of the Sinistrals, existing simply because the Sinistrals want them to.

Worse, several minor races such as the Reptites and Goblins worship the Sinistrals and actively work to free their masters from their prisons. The Sinistrals use their telepathic abilities to reach out to their followers and actively encourage their hostility toward other races; especially elementals in the hope that the weakening of the elemental population will weaken the power of the Elemental Roads enough for them to break free.

What is Magic?
Magic.

It‘s pretty cool, isn‘t it?

Well, no one can argue the ability to throw fireballs and freeze people in ice isn‘t fantastic, but many people do argue about how exactly magic works.

In Samsaria, the predominant explanation for how magic works is as follows and this is the theory all Elementals believe.

Elemental Magical Theory 101
Magic is a supernatural force that exists naturally in the world, responsible for everything from the changing of the seasons to how much water is in a lake. Magic is, to put it simply, the building block of everything that makes up a world. Magic also allows the normal laws of a world‘s reality to be altered, but doing so requires a very large amount of magical power to be mustered into a single location and directed toward a single purpose.

Not every world has enough magical power to cause changes to its own reality, but it is possible (although normally extremely difficult) to draw on the power of one world and channel it into another world, allowing that world‘s reality to be altered. The world of Samsaria is imbued with an amazingly huge amount of magical power, so the use of magic from other worlds is very rarely performed (except Nocturne Magic, which is almost exclusively used by demons, and the magic of Gods like Anu Malsumis and Deus Gluskab, who draw on the magical power of other worlds almost exclusively).

The flow of magical power throughout Samsaria is directed by the Elemental Roads, which are something like invisible (to humans, anyway) super-dimensional highways where magical power travels throughout the reality of that world. The Elemental Roads are connected to an Elemental Throne that can direct the movement and application of specific incarnations of magical force—such as Fire, Air and Light—and that Throne must be controlled by a powerful elemental in order to safely govern over the use of this incredible power—that individual is the Elemental Chief.

Raw magic has no intelligence of its own—it is just a force of nature. However, elemental beings are creatures whose bodies are complete manifestations of magical power, but they possess a soul and are therefore an intelligent being. The specifics of how elementals came to exist has been lost to history, but elementals regard themselves as creatures who have been charged by the Old Gods with protecting Samsaria by ensuring the Elemental Roads flow smoothly.

Because magic is such an incredible force, trying to use it in its most raw form is highly dangerous because without direction from an intelligent being, this power would manifest itself in unexpected and violent ways. Therefore, it is believed that Spells were created by the Old Gods and put into the hands of caretakers—the Elementals—as a way to access this magic in a relatively stable way.

A spell is not magic—rather, a spell is a key to unlock a specific manifestation of magic in a way that can be controlled by an intelligent being. Think of the raw force of magic as a huge ocean and an Elemental Throne as a dam that holds this ocean of power at bay from flooding the world and wrecking everything. Using this same symbolism, try to think of a magical spell as a key to unlocking a small gate on that damn, allowing a tiny amount of this vast ocean to pour into the world, directed toward a specific destination and purpose.

Wisely, the Old Gods realized allowing spells to be used ad-infinitum could cause havoc across the world, even in the hands of the caretakers. In order to use the keys to this power—the spells—one must know the proper name and incantation for using this key and then offer a portion of their own magical power in exchange for the use. Once done, a pre-programmed incarnation of magical force can be conjured into reality and directed by an intelligent being toward a singular purpose, although with experience one can learn to use one spell to do a wide variety of similarly related things.

Queen Maeve, Chief of Air
King Alberich, Chief of Earth
King Svarog, Chief of Fire
Queen Melusine, Chief of Water
Queen Dawn, Chief of Light
King Loki, Chief of Shadow

Elemental Chiefs are the royalty of elementals, and govern over all other elementals. As elementals are immortal but do not live forever, there have been many Chiefs of each element. However, when a new elemental ascends to a Throne to replace a deceased Chief, that new Chief discards their prior name and takes on the name of the previous Chief—the names of Chiefs are therefore honorifics and a symbol of their power to govern the Elemental Roads.

It is important to know that magic is not ―all-powerful. Although it is a different kind of tool than most, it is still a tool. To cast a magical spell means to access a predefined blueprint, although a talented spellcaster can sometimes tweak this blueprint to produce a similar end-product (this is demonstrated in spells that have multiple uses).

Magic of the Gods
Deities such as Anu Malsumis and Deus Gluskab are capable of magic that is unrestricted by the Elemental Roads, drawing on power from the dimensions they control (the Netherworld and Heaven, respectively). This magic is given shape by their own imaginations. However what spells they are capable of are limited by a shared perception of themselves, so each spell used represents an aspect of how they and others view that god.

Should the deity perish, their personal spells become unusable.