The Domoth Realms

We thought we’d share with you some thoughts of the system we are contemplating for Ascendants. Right now the actual powers are sketchy (feel free to suggest ideas!) but we’d like your input on the general gist.

The intent of the Ascendant system is to add a new layer of competition among those players who attain the highest ranks within the realms: those rising to Ascendant status (either as a Vernal or through the Seals) as well as demigods. The Domoth Realms are vast reservoirs of the forces of creation which can be somewhat controlled by both Ascendants and Demigods. However, the cost in essence is enormous and Demigods are further drained of essence just by being in the realm.

In order to effectuate the blessings of the Domoth, the Ascendant or Demigod simply need to sit in a Domotheos Throne. However, again, this is costly in essence (especially for Demigods) and certainly combat could arise in the Domoth Realms as they battle for the thrones. In the future, Ascendants may be able to battle to “claim” a throne.

Basics

• The Domoth Realms are divided into 9 separate Domotheos, corresponding to the nine seals: Nature, Chaos, Knowledge, Beauty, Harmony, Justice, War, Life and Death. There are also Domotheos represented by each nexus: Magnagora, Celest, Glomdoring, Serenwilde
• Demigods may enter the Domoth Realm but just being in the realm drains them of 1000 essence per second (i.e., 3.6 million per hour). Mortals get thrown out of the Domoth Realms.
• Those who enter the Domoth Realms may sit upon a throne of a Domotheos. Sitting on a throne drains 1000 essence per second. (Note: for demigods, this is 2000 essence per second when including their normal drain.) If sitting on a throne and reach 0 essence, the Ascendant's body is destroyed. (Obviously, a Demigod at 0 essence becomes a titan).
• While sitting in a throne, you can be attacked (normally) by other Ascendants or demigods. If you die, you are thrown out of the Domoth and body destroyed. Dying on a throne is like dying to a zap and loss of 500k essence (in addition to normal phoenix or resurrection costs).
• When a Demigod or Ascendant is sitting in a throne, all Demigods and Ascendants are alerted.
• Domotheos thrones of a nexus can ONLY be claimed by an Ascendant who a member of that city/commune.
• FUTURE: An Ascendant may claim a throne in which case only that Ascendant or those he or she gives permissions to may sit in that throne. Vernal Ascendants automatically claim the throne of their nexus. Claiming a throne costs essence and essence upkeep and some sort of quest or contest. Demigods may never claim a throne. Sitting in a throne costs no essence for the one who claims a throne. An Ascendant may only claim one throne at any given time.

Throne Powers

There are 3 blessings per throne (except for city/commune): a minor, lesser and major.

• A minor blessing can be given if sitting in the throne for 15 minutes. These generally effect a single race.
• A lesser blessing can be given for sitting in the throne for 30 minutes (cumulative with a minor blessing). These general effect an entire guild.
• A major blessing can be given for sitting in the throne one hour (cumulative with a minor and lesser blessing). These impact an entire city or commune.

Thus, sitting in a throne for one hour will give 3 blessings. Each throne can only have one of each type of blessing active (i.e., one minor, lesser and major). Blessings can be changed by sitting in the throne for double the time it took to give the blessing. In other words, if someone sat in the knowledge throne for 15 minutes and gave furrikin a knowledge minor blessing, another can come along and change the blessing by sitting in the throne for 30 minutes (if someone wants to change it back to furrikin, the time remains at 30 minutes, i.e., it does NOT double again).

Alternatively, some thrones can neutralize other thrones (this counts as a use and neutralization cannot be reversed). All blessings last from the first of the month to the end of the month.

Nature (no opposite or opposes chaos/knowledge)
Note: If nature has no opposite, the blessing effects should be neutral as otherwise there would be no way to negate the effect.

• Minor - No ocean waves or Earth plane earthquakes.
• Lesser - Bless an herb to double its growth rate, or to increase lumber production per mulched/chopped tree in that period.
• Major - ???

Chaos (opposes Harmony)

• Minor - Bless a race to have +3 to a random stat OR neutralize harmony (or nature?) minor blessing.
• Lesser - Bless a guild ?? OR neutralize harmony (or nature?) lesser blessing.
• Major - Bless a city/commune ?? OR neutralize harmony (or nature?) major blessing.

Harmony (opposes Chaos)

• Minor - Bless a race to have experience increase OR neutralize a chaos (or nature?) minor blessing.
• Lesser - Bless a guild to have expereince increase OR neutralize a chaos (or nature?) lesser blessing.
• Major - Bless a city/commune to have experience increase OR neutralize a chaos (or nature?) major blessing.

Knowledge (opposes Beauty)

• Minor - Bless a race to have +2 intelligence OR neutralize beauty minor blessing.
• Lesser - Bless a guild to have increase in magic damage OR neutralize beauty lesser blessing.
• Major - Bless a city/commune ???? OR neutralize beauty major blessing.

Beauty (opposes Knowledge)

• Minor - Bless a race to have +2 ego OR neutralize knowledge minor blessing.
• Lesser - Bless a guild to increase influence damage OR neutralize knowledge lesser blessing.
• Major - Bless a city/commune ??? OR neutralize knowledge major blessing.

Justice (opposes War)

• Minor - Bless a race with something like the Justice Karmic blessing OR neutralize war minor blessing.
• Lesser - Bless a guild with something like the Justice Karmaic blessing OR neutralize war lesser blessing.
• Major - Bless a city/commune ??? OR neutralize war major blessing.

War (opposes Justice)

• Minor - Bless a race to increase damage OR neutralize justice minor blessing.
• Lesser - Bless a guild to increase damage OR neutralize justice lesser blessing.
• Major - Bless a city/commune to increase damage OR neutralize justice major blessing.

Life (opposes Death)

• Minor - Bless a race to decrease damage OR neutralize death minor blessing.
• Lesser - Bless a guild to decrease damage OR neutralize death lesser blessing.
• Major - Bless a city/commune to decrease damage OR death justice major blessing.

Death (opposes Life)

• Minor - Bless a race ?? OR neutralize life minor blessing.
• Lesser - Bless a guild ?? OR neutralize life lesser blessing.
• Major - Bless a city/commune ?? OR neutralize life major blessing.

Magnagora (only Ascendants/Demigods of Magnagora has access)

• Increase discretionary power of Magnagora OR stop discretionary power of another city/commune (or neutralize blessed increased discretionary power).

Celest (only Ascendants/Demigods of Celest has access)

• Increase discretionary power of Celest OR stop discretionary power of another city/commune (or neutralize blessed increased discretionary power).

Glomdoring (only Ascendants/Demigods of Glomdoring has access)

• Increase discretionary power of Glomdoring OR stop discretionary power of another city/commune (or neutralize blessed increased discretionary power).

Serenwilde (only Ascendants/Demigods of Glomdoring has access)

• Increase discretionary power of Serenwilde OR stop discretionary power of another city/commune (or neutralize blessed increased discretionary power).

Minor - No ocean waves or Earth plane earthquakes.


Wouldn't everyone scramble for this one?


And 'a race', 'a guild', etc, how are these chosen? Are they the guild/race the Ascendent is currently?

It would certainly make all those millions of essance that some of the Demigods have apparently saved up useful!

I think it sounds neat!

This design gets the Kaervas seal of approval.

If you're sitting on the throne, can you attack back?

Sure!

I'm not seeing anywhere in here how long the blessings last... if Kaervas sits on the Nature throne for 15 minutes, how long do waves/earthquakes stay disabled once he gets up?

It would make more sense if, instead of thrones, there were altars they have to focus on or something. Sitting on the thrones and fighting at the same time feels a little iffy.

Would the race blessings work for spec races? And would it be possible to choose the blessings to only work on those of the specced races, or those in one org?

Ooh! I thought of an actual question!

Is the time cumulative? Like, if you're sitting on the throne for five minutes and then you have to get up to defend yourself or something, and you're successful and sit back down, does your time start over or just keep ticking from where you were? If it would just pick back up, what if someone sits down while you're gone, does it reset then? Or does it keep individual track of whoever's sat on it in a certain amount of time? And if so, what would the time limit on that be? Like if you sat on it and were there for eight minutes, but then someone knocked on your door and you had to log off, when you returned three hours later, and went back to sit on that throne, would it start from 8 minutes or would it have reset?

That's way more than one question!

It'd probably work for one race, whether specced or not.

I agree.

Maybe being marked by a seal could give some sort of benefit when it comes to sitting on that seal's throne. Maybe slightly less time or reduced essence loss per second while sitting on it?

Yes cumulative. As for everything else, we haven't decided! This is a VERY rough draft.

NOTE: Perhaps 'sitting in a throne' is metaphorical and you don't actually "sit" on a physical object but are more engulfed in the energies.

Nifty!

Thought about giving someone sitting in the throne a delay? Make getting these blessings a fairly risky process? Something like .5 seconds on every command, to encourage them to bring guards?

Sure, there could be some benefit for being a Seal Holder.

Mortals aren't allowed there though...so what guards could they bring?

Ah, thanks. I completely missed it in the pile of stuff.

So basically, if it's near the end of the month, don't bother?

Also-- would a Demigod gain any essence for killing someone sitting on a throne above and beyond what they currently would (to encourage Demigods to actually visit, since that's a pretty nasty drain). I'm not really seeing many demigods who'll actually participate in this as-is, except (as Geb said) as gank squads to run in, kill, and leave. Though I guess a higher essence gain would just encourage more of this. Hrm.

Also-- how hard will it be to stop sitting on a Throne? What's to stop someone from being attacked and just getting off to save further loss? Simply the whole "timer is reset" bit, or will it be more than that?

Edit: Except it won't be reset as it's cumulative. Interesting.

Edit: Ninjaed, that was to Shayle.
Other demigods and ascendants. That cult mechanic doesn't seem to have appeared, but a pack of demigods slavering over an ascendant, maybe.