Snippets of info and speculation

Xrysmathra the Usurper modified the Arch-God's temple into her own, following the destruction of the Citadel and the fall to Earth.

Xrysmathra is able to manipulate and animate dirt, soil and earth (and stone to a lesser degree).

Xrysmathra is able to maintain a strong bridge between Earth and the Bowels, helped by her control over soil and rock.

The gods and creatures in the Bowels grew strong over time due to perpetual war with themselves.

Gods are born from parts of other gods. Or rather, manifested from their essences.

All gods have a purpose and are related to some object in one of the realms, such as alcohol, water, trees ...

Sophim was either not that powerful or had not been born yet during the First Divide. He lived through the Second Divide though.

[11/16/09 01:57:06 ] ? Vincent ? : A bit about the Bowels though; it's basically the foundation upon the world of the mortals is built, magically. You could view it as the enterior of a hollow planet, if you wanted to, but with continents inside it, smacked agains the interior side of the bounderies of the sphere. [11/16/09 01:57:36 ] ? Vincent ? : You can lookup some "hollow earth" conspiracy stuff if you're not sure what I mean with that.

The Bowels is a sort of inside world, as if being smacked against the inside shell of a planet. It has large, dimly lit continents but lots of caves and such aswell. Lots of lava, vulcanoes, deformed landscapes and horrible creatures.

Following the Second Divide, the gods in the Havens grew fat and lazy and stopped studying the Spiritual Realm and enriched themselves with magical energy.

There wasn't really someone in charge in the Bowels after being locked there. Just allied gods who turned on each other over time. Cause ... well ... that's what you do when resources are scarce and you need lots of it for more experimentation.

The Bowels is where the souls of the mortal races go when they die. Following the imprisonment of Tzarrists in the Bowels, this became the source for morality among mortals. Live good and your soul will go to the Havens and enjoy untold splendours. Live bad and your soul goes to the Bowels, where it is subject to horrible torture and abuse. It's why Xrysmathra would want to corrupt the Earth; to get more souls. How would she do it from the Bowels though? Undoubtably there'd be cracks in the prison gates and some gods would be able to get out and corrupt the mortals from within, in disguise. Leading them into battle with one another and such.

Xrysmathra will have to disguise herself to get into the Havens and kill the Arch-God though. When the Treachery happens, she'd be the one leading it. But they'd never let her back into the Havens. So either she doesn't lead the war or she has to disguise herself, which would be almost impossible, I figure. Unless it was done through spiritual means, as the Havens got to lazy to study those things. But the Exiled gods on Earth would know. Oh well, if they're convincing some faction of the Bowels, it might just as well be her. Blame it on bad judgement.

[11/16/09 00:45:51 ] ... : My HQ should be a mausoleum. [11/16/09 00:46:12 ] ? Vincent ? : Gods build massive places. [11/16/09 00:46:50 ] ? Vincent ? : So it could be a huge city-temple complex dedicated to you, with a large mausoleum somewhere in it. [11/16/09 00:47:31 ] ? Vincent ? : The importance of a god is measured by the amount of followers and the structures they build. *nods* [11/16/09 00:48:08 ] ... : So, I'd have the biggest city? [11/16/09 00:48:38 ] ? Vincent ? : No, that's the Citadel. :p [11/16/09 00:49:13 ] ? Vincent ? : But only because the Citadel was built when a huge amount of gods worked together and had their palaces and such at the same place. [11/16/09 00:50:03 ] ? Vincent ? : But your city-temple-complex could potentially dwarf even the largest of a single other god's temples. [11/16/09 00:50:26 ] ? Vincent ? : Especially since I imagine you'll be enslaving entire nations and races. ;D [11/16/09 00:50:51 ] ... : So, who reside in the Citadel now? [11/16/09 00:51:18 ] ? Vincent ? : Those who survived the explosion, which aren't that many. :p [11/16/09 00:51:38 ] ? Vincent ? : Still a huge numbered, but only a fraction of the amount there once was. [11/16/09 00:51:42 ] ? Vincent ? : *number [11/16/09 00:52:26 ] ? Vincent ? : Besides, most lesser gods are unable to travel between the Earth and the Havens, since most ties between them were severed due to the explosion. [11/16/09 00:52:36 ] ? Vincent ? : So, what do you think of this; [11/16/09 00:53:45 ] ? Vincent ? : Due to the explosion, a large chunk of some important god's (possibly even the arch-god) palace / temple-complex "fell" from the Havens onto Earth, causing widespread destruction, after which you claimed it as your own and started retrofitting it. [11/16/09 00:54:43 ] ... : Sounds good to me. [11/16/09 00:54:51 ] ? Vincent ? : It'd be the ultimate insult. [11/16/09 00:55:38 ] ... : "Time to do some renovations." [11/16/09 00:56:05 ] ? Vincent ? : "I'll start by destroying everything that depicts him." [11/16/09 00:57:08 ] ? Vincent ? : How about, while most people think he's been killed, you still have his "essence" trapped somewhere in your new temple? [11/16/09 00:57:37 ] ? Vincent ? : And you're actively attempting to destroy it, without much progress tho.

[11/16/09 01:27:32 ] ... : So, why is the Usurper evil, and why does she hate the Arch-God? [11/16/09 01:28:17 ] ? Vincent ? : Mainly because he locked her up inside the Bowels for a loooooooong time.

[11/16/09 01:41:17 ] ... : Should the Usurper have her HQ in the Bowels or the plane of mortals? [11/16/09 01:41:49 ] ? Vincent ? : Plane of mortals. [11/16/09 01:41:56 ] ... : Maybe the Bowels is where she puts Gods which she enslaves. [11/16/09 01:42:06 ] ? Vincent ? : Though it could rise through the Bowels, if you'd want to. [11/16/09 01:42:11 ] ? Vincent ? : *into the [11/16/09 01:42:19 ] ? Vincent ? : Well, dig into, rather. [11/16/09 01:42:34 ] ... : She'd control the Bowels, at least. [11/16/09 01:42:38 ] ? Vincent ? : The planes of existence aren't connected physically, but magically. [11/16/09 01:42:52 ] ? Vincent ? : Well, large parts of it, yes. [11/16/09 01:43:22 ] ? Vincent ? : She isn't allmighty, she still depends on her allies in the Bowels. Fortunately they share her cause and see her as a worthy leader. :p

[11/16/09 02:03:13 ] ? Vincent ? : What if the Usurper grows so powerful she cannot be destroyed without doing a huge deal of damage to all planes of existencE? :

[11/16/09 02:07:12 ] ? Vincent ? : Well, there's the physical world of earth, fire, water, wind and lightening. [11/16/09 02:08:34 ] ? Vincent ? : Then there's the magical realm of words and knowledge that echo through all existence, with which the physical world can be changed at will. But they're still connected to "matter". [11/16/09 02:09:23 ] ? Vincent ? : And then there's the spiritual realm, that goes beyond the realm of magic and even time and space. It exists solely because of the mental capacity of beings. [11/16/09 02:09:57 ] ? Vincent ? : Meaning that you'd have to have a bloody powerful mind and training to use that. [11/16/09 02:11:39 ] ? Vincent ? : The physical world is temporal and changes all the time, the magical world is intemporal and flows through the physical, the spiritual realm is atemporal and encompasses everything. [11/16/09 02:11:57 ] ? Vincent ? : (intemporal => eternal, I mean) [11/16/09 02:12:26 ] ? Vincent ? : Meaning space and time do not apply to the spiritual realm.

[11/16/09 02:15:17 ] ? Vincent ? : There's billions of gods. [11/16/09 02:15:37 ] ? Vincent ? : And every particular bit of the physical realm has some god devoted to it. [11/16/09 02:15:46 ] ? Vincent ? : That's why the Citadel is so friggin' large.

[11/16/09 02:17:10 ] ? Vincent ? : Well, it's basically like this; the more followers you have and the more your particular bit of reality is practiced, the more power you have. [11/16/09 02:17:28 ] ? Vincent ? : Meaning that war would, for instance, be a good way to severly weaken the god of peace. :p

[08/05/09 01:48:00 ] Vincent : I'd imagine dragons being the minions of gods though. [08/05/09 01:48:21 ] Vincent : "Yes, you're a dragon. Now go do my biddings." [08/05/09 01:51:00 ] Vincent : "The Usurper laughed at the Dragon Aspect. Her fingers snapped and the mighty beast fell. No deafening roar, no thunder fueled by rage, just silence. Death."

[08/05/09 02:00:53 ] ... : Well, anyway. [08/05/09 02:01:10 ] ... : So, I led the coup and killed the God of the Gods, with a bunch of other Gods at my disposal. [08/05/09 02:01:14 ] ... : Who weakened him. [08/05/09 02:01:22 ] ... : Before I finished him off and drained some of his powers. ;d [08/05/09 02:01:41 ] Vincent : Sort of. ;D [08/05/09 02:02:16 ] Vincent : The resulting explosion from his death kinda killed a lot of gods on both sides. [08/05/09 02:02:55 ] Vincent : Meaning that if the Citadel of Gods is ever revealed in the games, a big part of it will be in ruins. [08/05/09 02:03:15 ] Vincent : And it could be filled with vengeful God-Spirits. (hm) [08/05/09 02:04:28 ] Vincent : Which you would try to draw to your side ... [08/05/09 02:04:32 ] Vincent : As would others.

[08/10/09 00:14:48 ] Vincent : Do you build a new one, customized to your needs or do you invade an existing one? [08/10/09 00:14:58 ] Vincent : Or did you already have one and you expanded it? [08/10/09 00:15:15 ] ... : It would be so awesome if I took over the palace of the God of the Gods and made it mine. [08/10/09 00:15:29 ] Vincent : That's quite impossible. [08/10/09 00:15:30 ] ... : Corrupted it, basically. [08/10/09 00:15:34 ] ... : Why? ;d [08/10/09 00:18:03 ] Vincent : Because his death caused a massive explosion, destroying most of the palace of the Gods of Gods and filling the Citadel of Gods with rampant energies. The gods who were present in the Citadel were either killed, went insane, are sane but stuck and left fighting those who went insane or hurled into the mortal world. [08/10/09 00:18:36 ] Vincent : And then the 'bridge' between the mortal world and 'the heavens' was sealed.