All right, I'm putting these to paper (well, electrons) so that I can have material to start with. Right now I'm putting down everything that I have, which means that it's going to need to be reorganized, but I gotta start somewhere.
Universal Conflicts
There are a number of universal (really, multiversal) conflicts that define the status of reality for most races, religions, ideals, and other forms of faction in the multiverse. The number of these conflicts in existence is not set, and changes to the Music that alter the multiverse at large can add or remove universal conflicts. Generally, this is the province of deities, or, even more often,groups of deities. All of the universal conflicts described herein have been part of the multiverse for millennia, and it is believed that many if not most of them will continue to exist even as the multiverse comes to its End.
Multiversal conflicts are tightly tied to a feature calledDestiny, which is something that all creatures individually possess. Because Destiny determines when a creature can or cannot be resurrected, it is vitally important for individuals as well as races and even planes of existence.
Because of their immense scale, it is difficult for legendary heroes and even gods to alter the state of the universal conflicts directly. However, iconic or representative actions by destined heroes can exert influence on the status of the multiversal conflicts, which can cause shifts in the balance of corresponding universal conflicts so influenced. Additionally, the various universal conflicts can affect each-other, causing tug-of-war-like scenarios. However, if enough of the multiversal conflicts are sufficiently influenced in one direction or the other, the influence will win the war over the interactions.
In terms of game mechanics, the status universal conflicts are arrayed on a scale ranging from -2 to +2, with positive numbers generally meaning victory or at least advantage for the forces of good, and negative representing the opposite. Status shifts can be gradual or abrupt, however, and usually happen during massive upheavals that affect more-or-less the entire multiverse simultaneously (for example, if crossing D&D's Forgotten Realm's setting with Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, the Time of Troubles on Toril likely took place at roughly the same time as the War of the Ring in Arda).
It is widely believed that there are universal conflicts in addition to those represented here. However, it is believed by most that these are the important ones. The universal conflicts are generally divided (as they are here) into four categories, these being those of racial prosperity and survival, ideals of society and societal virtues, the status of arts and traditions, and the legacies of the various divine powers that made the multiverse. In truth, these distinctions are probably artificial, although there are scholars and theologians who argue otherwise, and who may not be entirely wrong.
Racial Conflicts
The racial conflicts are the universal conflicts that describe the status of the various races, be it in one or in several planes of existence. Generally speaking, the universal conflicts exist for the good (e.g. Elves, Dwarves) and neutral races (Humans), and not for the evil races (Undead being the obvious exception). This is because the forces of good do not (if they are good, in any case) wish to exterminate the evil races and drive them to extinction, while evils and neutrals are quite happy to subject the good races to genocide. There is a conflict that arguably represents the fate of the evil races, but it's the Cause of Diversity, one of the Societal Universal Conflicts.
In general, if a status for a given racial conflict is +2, then that race holds dominion in its favored lands over the other races, and that race's enemies are fleeing from it (or hiding in the conquered lands of other races whose universal conflict scales are less favorable). If the status is -2, then the race has been driven from its homeland and is in danger of extinction. A status of 0 means that the race is able to hold on to at least some of its homelands, but doing so is a constant struggle.
The Kingdoms Under the Mountains is the poetic name for the fate and status of the Dwarves. The chief enemies of the Dwarves are the various evil humanoid races such as Orcs, although Dragons also give them problems.
The Kingdoms of Men is the poetic name for the fate of the status of Humans, and similar, related races (e.g. Edain, Dúnedain, Halflings, High Men, Men Remade etc.). These myriad races are rarely threatened by extinction by evil since they work as well being minions of evil as many of the races of darkness, but they can be threatened by Elves, especially of the darker varieties.
The Realms of the Elf-lords is similarly self-explanatory. Enemies of the Elves are numerous, including Orcs and Orc-like races, the less scrupulous of Human-kin, and, rarely, Dragons and Dwarves.
The Dominion of the Liche-Kings is one of the few universal conflicts about an evil race, namely, the Undead. This is because the Undead are not technically a race, but rather a perversion of the other races. Their enemies include virtually everybody else, including the other evil races. Also, because their race is evil, a positive status for the universal conflict means defeat for the Undead and their liche-lord masters, while a negative status means victory.
Social Conflicts
Social conflicts, instead of representing the survival or demise of various races (for the most part), represent the cultural and social directions and dimensionswithin races.
It needs to be noted that while the social conflicts have determining effects on the alignment of individuals and societies, the alignments of individuals are also affected by race or religion. For example, Dwarves are more resistant to political corruption and infighting than Humans, Elves tend to value nature's beauty, Halflings more often set up democratic governments than autocratic ones, and while Orcs can treat their politics with honor and dignity, they willalways be violent.
The Cause of Nobility measures the tendency of governments and noble courts in particular to become decadent and corrupt webs of lies and assassinations or to be shining examples of the conduct that the common folk rightfully aspire to. Additionally both intraracial and interracial are more common when the status of this conflict is more negative.
The Cause of Justice measures the ability of societies to resist non-governmental corruption, ranging from lowly bandits to powerful crime lords. This will of course affect the political system if the criminal factions become powerful enough, but the Cause of Nobility will still affect the tendency of government officials to be evil even beyond the affect of corporate or criminal corruption.
The Cause of Beauty represents the tendency of different races and cultures to respect the beauty of the world, including and especially the beauty of nature. Obviously race matters a great deal here, but most races natively respect nature in some fashion.
The Cause of Liberty represents the tendency of societies to form governments that answer to the will of the people and protect freedom instead of being authoritarian and tyrannical. It should be noted, however, that deities, even good-aligned ones, prefer to have their chosen heroes as monarchs, so religiously good-aligned nations with a positive state of this conflict will tend toward constitutional monarchies rather than true republics or democracies.
Traditional Conflicts
The tradition-based universal conflicts divide over the various arts and traditions of heroes and villains and their use by heroic or villainous forces and factions. In practice, they break down by character class, although the priestly classes (Cleric, Druid, Elemental Priest, and Paladin) are represented by the respective Conflicts of Divine Legacy. A positive status for a given tradition means that its members are secret or overt defenders of truth and justice, and a negative status means that they are agents of tyrants and corruptors seeking to rule or destroy the world. Of course, there are exceptions. A look into the fortunes of the two competing monastic orders of George Lucas'Star Wars universe would serve as inspiration.
Masters of the Wild tracks the fortunes of the wilderness-themed heroes and villains and their ability to either maintain honor or bring horror and evil to the wild.
Masters of Discipline represents the allegiances of those who devote themselves to mastering disciplines of form and perfection, either of combat or of self-perfection. Are they valiant warriors and contemplative, peaceful mystics, or the secret police of an evil state?
Masters of the Underworld follows the status of those who use their wits, guile, charm, and secrecy to make their way in society, either as freedom-fighting swashbucklers or as spies and assassins for the highest bidder.
Masters of the Arcane addresses those who possess the knowledge of magic not borne out of the favor of the gods, and the uses to which they apply their secret expertise.
Conflicts of Divine Legacy
There are five known general classes of beings that the lesser races choose honor or worship, which have different tendencies and qualities. Each conflict here represents the relative strength of the religions of the corresponding class, as well as the beings of the class as well. For classes that are generally benevolent, a positive status means strength and a negative status means weakness (or even death), and the converse for classes that are generally malevolent. Classes that are mixed will be dominated by benevolence or at least friendliness in the case of positive status, and likewise the converse.
Nomenclatural note: for this document, agod can be of any of the five classes as long as it is of sufficient power, while a God (note capitalization) refers specifically to the class of Gods.
Legacy of the Gods - the Gods are spirits whose form and essence draws from the fundamental principles of the world. They are invariably powerful, enough to be gods in the general sense, but the range of power that they possess is fairly small, with the least Gods still able to challenge the greatest Gods. Gods can be fickle and are easy to anger, but are generally benevolent; there are few truly evil Gods. Gods can, however, be evil by default, embodying evil principles, and the line between them and the most powerful Demons can become very blurry.
Legacy of the Titans - Titans are immense physical beings and are part of the world, their bodies often literally making up the world as continents, oceans, skies, and so on. As physical beings they can be harmed physically, but rarely do they have biology as mortals would understand it, exceptions being those Titans whose bodies are essentially living machines. Titans are extremely powerful, moreso than Gods, but sleep more often than they are awake. The alignments of Titans are often mixed, with those composing the earth and sky being usually good and those composing the netherworld almost always evil.
Legacy of the Demons - Demons are spirits, but unlike Gods, their essence represents an antithesis of the principles and properties of nature and of the world. Demons range tremendously in power; some are less powerful even than the average mortal, and are only worshipped in ensemble or at the bidding of much more powerful Demonic overlords. The mightiest of Demons, however, rival and surpass even Gods, although rarely do they exceed the powers of Titans. Demons, true to their antithetical nature, are almost always evil.
Legacy of the Dragons - the most familiar at least in concept of the divine classes to many mortals, Dragons are biological beings like the lesser races. Indeed, lesser Dragons can be challenged and slain by experienced and capable members of the lesser races. In addition to their biology, however, Dragons do also possess an elemental nature, and the greatest of Dragons are Titanesque in their level of power, even in some cases effectively being Titans by comprising worlds with their bodies. Like Titans, Dragons are also extremely mixed alignment-wise, with some shining examples of good and others absolute pits of vileness.
Legacy of the Aliens - Aliens are, true to their name, alien. They are (usually) biological beings, but their biology is alien in nature, their bodies often composed only partially if at all of normal matter that Humans or Elves are made of. The power-range of Aliens also exceeds that of the other four classes, with the weakest Aliens being barely more powerful than average humans, and the greatest vastly dwarfing even Titans in terms of their sheer scale and power. Aliens are exotic both in terms of alignment as well as in form and function, having mindsets that don't fit easily or at all into the alignment strictures that other beings, even Gods, belong to. However, Aliens do fit on a range between friendly and hostile, as incomprehensible as their motives for being so may be, and the status of this conflict usually determines which the Aliens will be.
-Heir to Beleriand, Heir to the Silmaril, Chosen of Illuvatar-
GM of the Glory of the Past Middle Earth Roleplay Thread
Creator of the New Keepers Campaign
There are a number of universal (really, multiversal) conflicts that define the status of reality for most races, religions, ideals, and other forms of faction in the multiverse. The number of these conflicts in existence is not set, and changes to the Music that alter the multiverse at large can add or remove universal conflicts. Generally, this is the province of deities, or, even more often,
Multiversal conflicts are tightly tied to a feature called
Because of their immense scale, it is difficult for legendary heroes and even gods to alter the state of the universal conflicts directly. However, iconic or representative actions by destined heroes can exert influence on the status of the multiversal conflicts, which can cause shifts in the balance of corresponding universal conflicts so influenced. Additionally, the various universal conflicts can affect each-other, causing tug-of-war-like scenarios. However, if enough of the multiversal conflicts are sufficiently influenced in one direction or the other, the influence will win the war over the interactions.
In terms of game mechanics, the status universal conflicts are arrayed on a scale ranging from -2 to +2, with positive numbers generally meaning victory or at least advantage for the forces of good, and negative representing the opposite. Status shifts can be gradual or abrupt, however, and usually happen during massive upheavals that affect more-or-less the entire multiverse simultaneously (for example, if crossing D&D's Forgotten Realm's setting with Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, the Time of Troubles on Toril likely took place at roughly the same time as the War of the Ring in Arda).
It is widely believed that there are universal conflicts in addition to those represented here. However, it is believed by most that these are the important ones. The universal conflicts are generally divided (as they are here) into four categories, these being those of racial prosperity and survival, ideals of society and societal virtues, the status of arts and traditions, and the legacies of the various divine powers that made the multiverse. In truth, these distinctions are probably artificial, although there are scholars and theologians who argue otherwise, and who may not be entirely wrong.
The racial conflicts are the universal conflicts that describe the status of the various races, be it in one or in several planes of existence. Generally speaking, the universal conflicts exist for the good (e.g. Elves, Dwarves) and neutral races (Humans), and not for the evil races (Undead being the obvious exception). This is because the forces of good do not (if they are good, in any case) wish to exterminate the evil races and drive them to extinction, while evils and neutrals are quite happy to subject the good races to genocide. There is a conflict that arguably represents the fate of the evil races, but it's the Cause of Diversity, one of the Societal Universal Conflicts.
In general, if a status for a given racial conflict is +2, then that race holds dominion in its favored lands over the other races, and that race's enemies are fleeing from it (or hiding in the conquered lands of other races whose universal conflict scales are less favorable). If the status is -2, then the race has been driven from its homeland and is in danger of extinction. A status of 0 means that the race is able to hold on to at least some of its homelands, but doing so is a constant struggle.
Social conflicts, instead of representing the survival or demise of various races (for the most part), represent the cultural and social directions and dimensions
It needs to be noted that while the social conflicts have determining effects on the alignment of individuals and societies, the alignments of individuals are also affected by race or religion. For example, Dwarves are more resistant to political corruption and infighting than Humans, Elves tend to value nature's beauty, Halflings more often set up democratic governments than autocratic ones, and while Orcs can treat their politics with honor and dignity, they will
The tradition-based universal conflicts divide over the various arts and traditions of heroes and villains and their use by heroic or villainous forces and factions. In practice, they break down by character class, although the priestly classes (Cleric, Druid, Elemental Priest, and Paladin) are represented by the respective Conflicts of Divine Legacy. A positive status for a given tradition means that its members are secret or overt defenders of truth and justice, and a negative status means that they are agents of tyrants and corruptors seeking to rule or destroy the world. Of course, there are exceptions. A look into the fortunes of the two competing monastic orders of George Lucas'
There are five known general classes of beings that the lesser races choose honor or worship, which have different tendencies and qualities. Each conflict here represents the relative strength of the religions of the corresponding class, as well as the beings of the class as well. For classes that are generally benevolent, a positive status means strength and a negative status means weakness (or even death), and the converse for classes that are generally malevolent. Classes that are mixed will be dominated by benevolence or at least friendliness in the case of positive status, and likewise the converse.
Nomenclatural note: for this document, a