The Old Gods Sector
- Thread starter vegascat
- Start date
What if we did T20 Traveller and introduced the Cleric Class from D&D 3.5 and modified it for T20, basically alter the class skills and proficiency to be suitable for a Traveller setting, and also adjusted the spell list a bit as well. Instead of basing spells on wisdom, we use the T20 Psi score instead? Cleric spells are borrowed psionic powers, each cleric has a telepathic link to his or her deity, and through that link, a deity grants his or her cleric a clerical spell-like psionic power with properties identical to the cleric spell of the same name. No need for wizards or any other spell using classes, just clerics and in the case of Gaia - Druids. This should be interesting. Clerics would allow the game to be more combat intensive, one can recover stamina and lifeblood more quickly.
One interesting feature is that Clerics can use divination spells to communicate through their deities across interstellar distances, this ability would make clerics very powerful throughout the sector. There are range limitations, basically the deity's range is 1 sector, about 16 sub sectors, certain spells aren't available in a Traveller setting of course, no Alignment detection for example, no raising of the dead except for the recently deceased if the body is intact, no undead and no animate dead spells, it isn't really magic after all, its science, nothing to do with other planes of existance, the gods reside somewhere within the sector, no one knows for sure where they are, they can disguise themselves as humans or other creatures. Death and the afterlife is a mystery, the gods don't know anything about souls of other planes of existance, they are physical beings with psionic powers dwarfing those of ordinary humans, they are not human, though they often look it, this is a magic is science approach, the gods keep track of their clerics through telepathic links, Clerics are few in number and the gods chose who they are and who the grant powers to. Clerics are kind of like Jedi in the Star Wars universe, most people have never seen one.
As for what a god might look like, I like this picture: https://images.app.goo.gl/4NZNogij74J66FNF8
And this is Aphrodite's mother:https://images.app.goo.gl/6D6y4XpQ84FN6zaq6
One interesting feature is that Clerics can use divination spells to communicate through their deities across interstellar distances, this ability would make clerics very powerful throughout the sector. There are range limitations, basically the deity's range is 1 sector, about 16 sub sectors, certain spells aren't available in a Traveller setting of course, no Alignment detection for example, no raising of the dead except for the recently deceased if the body is intact, no undead and no animate dead spells, it isn't really magic after all, its science, nothing to do with other planes of existance, the gods reside somewhere within the sector, no one knows for sure where they are, they can disguise themselves as humans or other creatures. Death and the afterlife is a mystery, the gods don't know anything about souls of other planes of existance, they are physical beings with psionic powers dwarfing those of ordinary humans, they are not human, though they often look it, this is a magic is science approach, the gods keep track of their clerics through telepathic links, Clerics are few in number and the gods chose who they are and who the grant powers to. Clerics are kind of like Jedi in the Star Wars universe, most people have never seen one.
As for what a god might look like, I like this picture: https://images.app.goo.gl/4NZNogij74J66FNF8
And this is Aphrodite's mother:https://images.app.goo.gl/6D6y4XpQ84FN6zaq6
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I just recalled a series--four novels, IIRC--about immortals (called Tide Lords by Jennifer Fallon) who gain power due to not dying--and from access to power that ebbs and flows over centuries (hence the Tides . . .) New Tide Lords occasionally arise, and in the series one such noob is figuring out the situation he's now in. But yes, when the tide is high, they have the power of gods. When the tide is low, they tend to just endure.
How do you explain gods with Traveller science fiction elements only, not importing fantasy the way they do in some superhero comic books for example. In DC comics you have one character thats comes from a distant planet, and another one that comes from a Greek myth. Now explain those Greek myths in science fiction terms, they don't just show up as is, for some reason the ancients believed they were gods, but you can't just leave it as fantasy, can we turn this into science fiction?
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Long lived, and can personally ignore or manipulate the established laws of physics.
So you expect gods that can lift themselves up by the seats of their own pants, and then go around cutting the holes out of donuts, and then drawing doorways on walls and stepping through them?
I suppose you could do that, but that's just fantasy.
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Or simply were born immortal like the first of Lorien's people
Babylon 5 clip S04E06 Into the Fire - Lorien and Immortality
Babylon 5 clip S04E06 Into the Fire - Lorien and Immortality
Or simply were born immortal like the first of Lorien's people
Babylon 5 clip S04E06 Into the Fire - Lorien and Immortality
Its callen nanotechnology.
You did not watch the video or are referring to something else. There is no mention of nanotechnology in the video clip. If you are concluding an inference to nanotechnology, I would like to know how you drew that conclusion.
Nanotechnology is a kind of Clarketech, you can build just about anything out of atoms, you can make copies and keep people young.
I did not ask what nanotechnology is. I have a sci-fi fans knowledge of the topic. I asked how did you draw that conclusion given the exchange between the two characters in the link to the YouTube clip.
I didn't watch the video clip until just now. In biology, there is a limited number of cell divisions per organism, this is part of the mechanism responsible for aging, I think this is an advantage in that it reduces unlimited cellular division in cancer. There is no physical reason why living things must age, the human body repairs itself to a limited extent, advanced technology may find a way around this aging mechanism and find a way to repair the human body indefinitely, but there is more to being a God than just biological immortality.
Gaia
I would like to see the reactions of a scout crew surveying a desolate planet when Gaia seeds that planet with a full balanced ecology. Start off with a massive bombardment of ice meteors to up the hydro percentage and start a few lines of volcanoes changing the atmosphere type and density. Before the scouts can lift off, they detect a large ship flying low leaving in it's wake explosive plant growth. The biggest surprise would be the grass, bushes and a tree on the skin of their scout ship that will soon penetrate the skin, breaking the air seal. Creatures start showing up, hungry and active, interfering with the hot power washing the the ships surfaces. The surface skin will be permanently stained in a natural camo pattern and will scan as organic that will interfer with normal scans.
I would like to see the reactions of a scout crew surveying a desolate planet when Gaia seeds that planet with a full balanced ecology. Start off with a massive bombardment of ice meteors to up the hydro percentage and start a few lines of volcanoes changing the atmosphere type and density. Before the scouts can lift off, they detect a large ship flying low leaving in it's wake explosive plant growth. The biggest surprise would be the grass, bushes and a tree on the skin of their scout ship that will soon penetrate the skin, breaking the air seal. Creatures start showing up, hungry and active, interfering with the hot power washing the the ships surfaces. The surface skin will be permanently stained in a natural camo pattern and will scan as organic that will interfer with normal scans.
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