Mythians - Races
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Mythians are Elves, but bound to our world. No longer wanderers between worlds, they are elves that have forsaken some of their magical power to reclaim their souls and live in Karnum. Some have traveled in Profundum, but none live there. The first Mythian came into being when an elven sorceress left a casket of honeyed grape juice in her manse during an excursion to the sky to snuff out a star that had offended her (only to have realized she had destroyed the wrong one). When she returned, wear...

This is a playable race in a game I’ve been developing. I like the premise, but the overall impression feels lacking to me. Mythians come from elves in this story, which are more like cenobites than fairies (taking cues from Pratchett’s Lords and Ladies but hyperbolically so, until you’re more into Gwar territory). They’ve renounced horrific madness and cosmic power. It’s got a lot going for it, but I’m not happy with how “simple” and just-so it all feels. Any help?

  • Cryophilia@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    20 days ago

    Sounds like a race ripe for a little exploitation. Reminds me of the “good Indians” of the American West who decided to agree to the white men’s treaties only to then be herded off to a reservation anyway. You could probably throw a lot of tragedies in their past. And they could be a good foil for judging how tolerant other characters are.

    • Brave Little Hitachi Wand@lemmy.worldOPMEnglish
      2·
      19 days ago

      Thanks! I like the idea of burdening them with a past to reckon with, it should have occurred to me at the start. Maybe also certain vestigial mental health issues, to go along with the leftover magical power they might have kept.

      The rez idea works if I can reimagine a few assumptions. I had thought there would only be a few of these folk in all the world, but perhaps they’ve had time to proliferate once they found each other and learned to overcome their habitual isolation.

      Now I’m wondering if there was at some point infighting among some elves that led to a certain number of ‘forced mythians’. Such folk would be distinct from the voluntary sort, slightly more like their old selves. Rendered sane against their will, resenting their own lucidity. That’s an angle I can really have fun with!

      • Cryophilia@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        19 days ago

        Vestigial mental health issues is an excellent idea. Like in Wheel of Time when having access to saidin made men crazy, and they eventually removed the taint, but you never quite knew how crazy someone had gotten before the taint was removed.

        You can basically take partial insanity to any number of directions.

        • Brave Little Hitachi Wand@lemmy.worldOPMEnglish
          1·
          19 days ago

          Super fun. I always liked it when an RPG had some kind of sanity erosion built into the game, but I’ve not often seen it done in a way that is mechanically elegant and genuinely fun (unless you bring your own fun to it, that is). Are there any TTRPGs you know of that do this well (or badly enough to be worth knowing about)?