ANNOUNCE NEWS #933
Date: 10/18/2007 at 18:06
From: Estarra, the Eternal
To : Everyone
Subj: Welcome Ascendants!

Unfortunately, we come to the conclusion that the player god concept was
not working nor could we ever see it working. Thus, we are retiring the
concept. However, we have implemented a new system called Ascendants
which we are very excited about. Though there can be no more vernal
gods, cities and communes may raise Vernal Ascendants. Also, instead of
Ascended Gods, there may be more True Ascendants (like Ilyarin).

For now, the system is in flux and there is no formal mechanism for
cities and communes to raise Vernal Ascendants. However, at the cost of
1 million power and the consensus of the entire ruling council, we do
not expect it to happen anytime soon. On the off chance a city or
commune does want to raise a Vernal Ascendant, please message me.

See HELP ASCENDANTS for more information.


Penned by My hand on the 4th of Roarkian, in the year 188 CE.





11.5.1 ASCENDANTS

The mortal realm is bound by the Nine Veils, which hide the esoteric realms of
the Nine Domoth. Beyond the Domoth lies the Immanidivinus from which the Gods
themselves draw power. It was from these Domoth that mortals were able to
reach divinity and become true gods. During ancient times, nexuses of power
were used to propel chosen mortals through one of the Nine Veils and within
a Domotheos tap into the Immanidivinus and ascend to true divinity. These
were called Vernal Gods. During the Vernal Wars, the last nine surviving
Vernal Gods (originally called the Council of Nine but have come to be known
simply as the Nine) sacrificed themselves to give birth to Avechna the
Avenger, who was able to finally defeat the last and greatest of the Soulless
Gods, Almighty Kethuru. The Nine used the last of their essence to create the
Nine Seals that kept the Soulless Gods trapped within their prisons. The Nine
Seals were placed over each of the Nine Veils, tapping into the powers of the
Domoth.

Since then, one Vernal God has ascended to divinity, and she was Marilynth of
Celest. She sacrificed herself to destroy the Pool of Stars and save the Holy
Lands of Celestia from the Taint. (See the History of the Celestine Empire.)
She was the last of the Vernal Gods.

In the year 168 C.E., the Nine Seals began to weaken and a new type of god
arose from mortalkind. Thus is the story of the first and last True Ascended
God who was known as Ayridion, the White Flame. Ayridion ascended to godhood
from the mortal Soll Peulus who survived the Nine Challenges. Bearing the Seal
of Life, Soll Peulus was able to pierce the Veil and enter the Domotheos of
Life, thus ascending to godhood as Ayridion. (See Events News 79-89.)

In the year 188 CE, an event occurred that shook the foundations of creation
itself. A plague was released into the Pool of Stars and spread throughout all
the known nexuses of power. From there, the plague seeped into the Nine Seals
and bled into the Domoth, ultimately afflicting Avechna the Avenger.
Especially attuned to the Domotheos of Life, Ayridion the White Flame had
devoted his divinity to healing. He sought to destroy this plague by immersing

throughout the Domoth and driving it out. However, the plague had a mind of
its own, somehow infused with the malice of terrible, alien presence drawing
power from the Domoth and reaching out towards the Immanidivinus. Ayridion
sacrificed himself to create a breach between the Domoth and the Immanidivinus,
which has become to be known as the Threshold Abyss. The force of his
sacrifice destroyed the plague, expelling it from the Domoth and cleansing the
nexuses of power.

Because of the barrier of the Threshold Abyss, it is now impossible for mortals
to reach the Immanidivinus and obtain the mantle of godhood. However, they are
still able to enter the Domoth and become what is known as an Ascendant. Those
who reach Ascendancy through the nexuses of power are known as Vernal
Ascendants. Those who reach Ascendancy through the Nine Challenges are known
as an Ascendant by the Veil of the Domoth they passed through. After the
sacrifice of Ayridion, it was found that his soul survived, and thus Ilyarin,
once known as Soll Peulus, returned as an Ascendant of the Domotheos of Life.

VERNAL ASCENDANTS

Each city and commune may raise one Vernal Ascendant. There can only ever be
one Vernal Ascendant of a city or commune, and that Vernal Ascendant is tied
to the nexus of power. The entire council of the city or commune must come to
a consensus agreement to raise a Vernal Ascendant, which will drain 1 million
power from their nexus of power. If the Vernal Ascendant ever leaves the city
or commune, they will lose their Ascendancy.

TRUE ASCENDANTS

When the Nine Seals weaken, a true ascendant is the mortal who passes through
the Nine Challenges and emerges the winner. Bearing one of the Nine Seals, he
or she pierces the Veil and enters the Domotheos of that Seal, emerging as a
True Ascendant.

ASCENDANT POWERS


* Ascendants are considered above demigods, though have most of the powers
of a demigod.

* If the physical form of an Ascendant is destroyed, they do not revert
to mortal life if they reach 0 essence and do not have the phoenix power
(unlike demigods). Instead, their bodies will slowly reform within a
Domotheos (if a True Ascendant) or within a nexus of power (if a Vernal
Ascendant). However, they can accelerate this process if they have enough
essence to do so.

* Ascendants may not join a Divine Order.

Very curious as to what makes these different from demis, if anything besides what is noted in the help file.

Seconded.

The only part I don't like is them not being in Orders. They're not Divine, they should still be able to serve Divine!

The RP is much bigger, for a start, but even so, that's not gonna motivate any demigods to bother with trying for it.

I wonder if vernal ascendants can be undone by their city/commune nexus, aside from kicking them out of the city/commune.

And to lusternia's staff, nicely done.

Ok, just be sure I understand... A city/commune can choose one person to be their Vernal Ascendant, so there can be only four (currently) Vernal Ascendants in existance. But anyone could become a True Ascendant if the Seals start weakening? So, there could be any number of them, just depending on how often those Seals start to weaken?

Right?

Well, as you may be able to glean, the final system for Ascendants hasn't been formally decided (much less implemented!).

Ascendants may be able to start cults with groups of players which would preclude them from being in orders. If we decide to scrap the cult system, we'll most likely allow them into orders.

We're also playing around with ideas of what powers Ascendants could have. We are looking at possibilities for worldwide powers, and possibly interesting roleplaying powers. We are trying to stay away from individual combat powers.

Yes, cities and communes would be able to remove Vernal Ascendants by cutting them off from their nexus. Rather a waste of 1 million power!

So, again, the system is in a slight flux but think of it this way: Ascendants are a new form of existence and not even the gods know what they can or cannot do. Thus, wait and watch as the Ascendant evolve and come into their own!

I wish the Admin would consider a way to "shift" Vernalness from one player to another in case that player goes inactive. Bit unfair in my opinion that a commune/city loses 1 million power without even removing that person.

It sounds really spiffy to me!

Yeah.. perhaps with a power loss, but not as substantial as the initial.

That wouldn't make much sense. It's a risk you'd have to take.

That's just part of the risk of raising a Vernal Ascendant! It's also a fairly compelling reason why your city or commune would want to be very careful before raising someone, and accurately reflects the gravity of the decision.

Yeah... I'd have to never go inactive.

I agree that risks must be taken, but not on this. It's fine if you risk 1 million power on a person who might get ostracized or quit the org, but that's about it. People go inactive for a variety of reasons, some good, some bad, but I feel that it isn't exactly on the same level as ostracization or quitting.

More power needed to do the shifting itself (not 1 mill) would be fine as well.

Edit: Ninjaed by the Admin, ah well.

Yeah, that'd be something you'd have to consider. Someone like Forren who's always around = good V.A. candiate. Someone like Noola who's got a history of vanishing = BAD V.A. candidate!

But I like that it costs so much power. It kind of makes having a lot of power in one's nexus matter more.

May I ask what ended up being wrong with the Player God concept?

It seemed Ayridion was doing well and had even contributed several interesting plots or little things like occurrences (when he good). While I know this wasn't a job, I am curious why you considered the Ascended role a failure? Is it just too limiting from a player perspective?

I mean the Vernal Ascendants sound good and all, I was just curious why the former wasn't working out.

That. Is. So. Cool.

I think the idea sounds really neat, though I don't really see any org raising anyone anytime soon. At least in Mag I don't foresee it.

I personally don't like the cult idea.

Assume I'm an Ascendant. I'm still mortal. I'm about as powerful as a Demigod. Why would I want people worshipping me instead of Terentia, etc?