Notes on Thaumic Disturbance and Gravitas, Professor Hobbes

All living things cause a disturbance in reality, a displacement of time and space commonly known as Free Will. Normally, this disturbance is microscopic and largely undetected amid the backdrop violent orchestra of space. Animals, plants, and even bacteria leave there own faint mark on the fabric of space-time merely by existing. Humans themselves, as well as other creatures, leave a stronger disturbance in reality—a hole where one has died, a pressure of love or hate in the lives of those around them, imperceptible by modern technology but nevertheless undeniably existent. Planets and stars themselves dance to the great patterns of Will, and when they do man calls it gravity.

At the most basic level, this disturbance can be divided into the pull of two opposing forces: light and darkness, death and life, good and evil.

Where plants, animals, and humans normally displace and exert a small amount of influence on their surroundings, the will-matter of some creatures is so condensed, so distilled that one can actually alter metaphysical reality. This manipulation is responsible for those effects commonly known as magic, psychic abilities, etc., and lies in the realm of nature spirits, witches, werewolves, vampires, and others with some power.

The Pagan Gods are on another level entirely. Merely by their existence, the Pagan Gods displace reality to such an extent that they actually generate a small amount of space-time around themselves. These pocket-dimensions are called gravitas and include such places as the top of Mt Olympus, the underwater city of Atlantis, and gardens of Babylon. While these realms can be traveled to from specific places on earth, they do not exist on the same plane of existence as the regular world. Many of the Pagan Gods combine their God-realms into larger regions known as Pantheons. Some of the more prominent Pantheons include the Norse, Greco-Roman, Aztec, and Underworld.

The Underworld is an expression both of the Gray Wardens’ combined gravitas, but also that of the souls of those who have died. All sentient creatures have souls, and sapient beings such as humans have immortal ones that exist well beyond the spans of their mortal lives. Humans in particular combine their gravitas so that the whole is greater than each individual human by him or herself. The greater Gravitas a Pagan God has, the harder it is to enter another powerful gods’ realm without permission. Such was the power of Ysue that when he sacrificed himself and broke the chains of the Underworld, he freed all Pagan Gods from the need for sacrificial communion with their followers, and gave mortals hope of immortality.

In modern times, with man's scientific need to describe and measure everything in his environment, the amount of reality generated by a god, known as the gods “gravitas”, is used to measure the individual power of each god. Gravitas is measured in square kilometers of God-realm generated by multiples of five. The weakest gods, with a gravitas of 1, generate between 1 and 5 square kilometers of reality. Zeus, who is widely considered the most powerful of the Pagan Gods, generates 3,574 square kilometers and has a gravitas well over 700.

At a much greater level, the earth itself is the manifestation of Gaia, Mother Earth, as are each of the other planets the manifestation of a Primordial, the Solar System is the gravitas of the Great Creator, and the entire universe itself a mere manifestation of the Will of the Almighty.

Much of the gravitas of the Pagan Gods is afforded them through their Affinities for certain groups of people, actions, places, creatures or objects. The youngest gods are often the least powerful partially because they do not yet have specific Affinities. For example, the Gray Lords have affinities for the spirits of the dead. Ra is tied to the power of the sun, while Poseidon is linked to power of the sea. These affinities define the powers and personalities of the gods to some extent, so while it is true that gods can technically change reality in any way they wish (as long as it is within their strength of power to do so), they almost always manifest their power in ways natural to their Affinity. The Morrigan may disappear by changing into a thousand ravens that scatter to the winds, but she would probably never cause flowers to bloom all around her presence, although she is equally capable of both actions. The Pagan Gods which linked themselves to mankind’s endless expressions, passions, and intellectual capacity, grew in importance and power until they had overcome their own progenitors and became the new rulers of the earth.

The great Affinity for Fate is the talent to read into the highly complex interactions of gravitas in the world and be able to predict the future. They do not cause the future by predicting it. Fate is a hard Affinity to reach for, a harsh taskmaster requiring absolute truth and complete mystery.

There are several distinctive types of the Pagan Gods, divided mainly by their reactions to humanity. The most well known and frequently most powerful gods are those of Civilization. Their power arches over grand concepts like Love, War, Weather, or Agriculture. Closer to humankind, though much less powerful in their Affinities, are the gods of Community. These gods are concerned with smaller matters, such as particular towns or cities, homes, the husbandry of a particular animal, or even the descendants of a certain family. Contrasted with the gods of Civilization and Community, the Pagan Gods of Nature are concerned primarily with the natural world and largely ignore humanity as long as they do not intrude on the wild god’s territory. Gods of wild animals, mountains, rivers, and seas, these Beings vary widely in their level of power and ability. Some are even quite a bit more powerful than the celebrated gods of Civilization, although they were anciently overcome by the combined forces of their children against them. Diametrically opposed to the gods of both humanity and nature, the gods of Destruction and Chaos want to end all existence other than their own. Children of strange stars, imprisoned at the beginning of civilization, the Pagan Gods of Destruction are worshipped only by the totally depraved and represent a real threat to all life.

The gravitas of the Pagan Gods is such that merely being in their presence causes mortals to die. Therefore, the gods assume many guises when among mortals, changing into lesser material forms with the weaknesses of the flesh. A Pagan God can make many of these forms and interact with many people simultaneously in different places, like fingers of the hand typing. Forming these Avatars allows the gods to leave their center, their God-realm, and wander the worlds. There are roughly twenty thousand Pagan Gods currently in existence. Many Pagan Gods are sleeping through centuries, some have died, and many more have come into being.

Because the Pagan Gods exist on multiple levels of reality and can be only partially harmed in any one reality- no more than a human can be seriously harmed by a (non-diseased) mouse. They can exist in multiple places at once and have the intelligence to allow them to concentrate in all of those directions on at least a human level of intelligence. Gods often have several Aspects, split personalities, because of this multiple-place phenomenon. Gods are not truly physical beings and as such are highly morphic. They can also change their immediate surroundings and people around them. They can see inside a person’s soul, see into the future, see across vast distances, or see through obstructions such as solid objects and darkness. They can hear as well in a similar manner. When a god takes on a shape, they also take on the limitations of that shape i.e. a god can change into a storm, but they are not longer so concentrated as to attack a single individual, can change human, have human limitations, etc.

Selection of Unusual Beings in North America, Professor Hobbes

Angel (Phasma melekis): messengers, guardians, and champions of Light, Angels are sent to earth for specific purposes and help guide civilization to peace and happiness. Angels have great white wings and a light that shines from within, with halos over their heads. The Angels mentioned in this list are the mortal Angels, who have chosen of their own free will to dwell on earth in a mortal form for a period of three hundred years, after which they ascend back to the heavens. An angel killed on earth may ascend immediately, reincarnate after a period of time, or become human, elemental, or even Fall, depending on their actions while on earth. Some, falling in love with mortals, may choose to become fully mortal themselves. On the other hand, especially good mortals can sometimes become angels. Angels are sometimes known as the Fair, which can cause some confusion.

Ariel (Phasma aeris): air elemental. Ariels, like other Elementals, need to stay in near constant contact with their element. In the case of Ariels, they have difficulty touching the earth with their feet and cannot even enter an enclosure that has the possibility of being closed off from outside air access.

Demon (Daemis): the living embodiments of entropy and destruction, Demons are entirely chaotic and inimical to life. It is said they are the children of distant stars, and their attempts at corporeal forms are flawed at best, and usually completely aberrant. The greatest demons are the Gods of Destruction and the children of Apothis. Demons take on a variety of forms, with mandibles, tentacles, darkness for eyes, or any other form of aberrant anatomy imaginable, and some that are not. Some demons have enough self control to seek oblivion through the manipulation of mortals rather than just wanton destruction.

Devil (Phasma ruos): The Fallen are a third of the Angelic Host who were cast out of Heaven for following Lucifer, and now foment discord and evil on earth, in direct opposition to their heavenly brethren. Devils have small horns; their insides are darkness, and scars of torn wings on their backs. They are often associated with demons. Devils are not limited by a three hundred year span, but instead have been stuck on the mortal plane for over ten thousand years. It is extremely hard for them to form corporeal bodies, and so they often take the possession of willing mortals. Some Devils seek to repent and return to the heavens, but most are completely debased.

Dryad (Phasma arbolis): tree elemental. Dryads can wander around a three mile radius from their home tree. A dryad may change trees by carefully transplanting and nourishing a seed. Dryads are commonly associated with peace.

Genie (Phasma magus): Genies are a little more cosmopolitan than most elementals and are often associated with insurance agencies. In fact, they are not actually elementals, but rather lesser gods and primordials bound to the service of humankind in the Dawn War. There power is much diminished, and many are very bitter. They like insurance agencies because of all the red tape they can place in front of actually helping people.

Naiad (Phasma aquaris): water elemental. Naiads divide themselves in the more social Naiads (fresh water) and the more powerful Nereiads (salt water). Without aide, water elementals cannot wander farther onto land than a man can swim unaided out into sea.

Natural (Homo phasmis): child of an elemental and a human, Naturals live slightly longer than regular humans and take on the aspects of their elemental parent, both in form and power, although they do not have nearly the same strength as that of their spirit parent. For example, a naiad-born Natural would have shimmering, wet looking skin and hair, with the ability to breathe underwater, but would not be able to control or transform the water as her parent could. On the same token, she is not bound to her element.

Nephilem (Homo aetheras): Born of either angels or demons, Nephilim combine the best of mortal and spiritual parents to a power level approaching that of the Chosen. Nephilim born of devils and angels are usually very rule-bound, while demon-born Nephilim are hard for even themselves to predict. They are not necessarily good or evil, as like all humans they have the unmitigated power to choose, but often choose the alignments of their parent according to their tendencies.

Oread (Phasma gaias): earth elemental. Earth elementals are much more comfortable in underground spaces and enclosed areas than on the surface world, but can manage that as well. They cannot, however, let both feet off the ground, or swim, or anything that would make them lose contact with the earth. Earth elementals often resemble and are most comfortable around a certain type of stone, earth, or sand.

Salamander (Phasma flammas): fire elemental. Salamanders must be constantly consuming some source of dry fuel to survive, and they must have oxygen to breathe, but they can carry their fuel with them and are therefore some of the most mobile of the elementals. They are rare, often short-lived, and very dangerous.

Shapeshifter (Homo morphogenus): Humans with the ability to change shape into various animals were common among the Native Americans, and continue to live among regular humans. Fox, Bear, Seal, Snake, Owl, Hawk, Raven, Rabbit, Cat, Coyote, and Hare are all some of the more common Clans. Shapeshifters only have two forms, that of a human and that of a regular animal. They have no other special abilities, other than unusual hardiness and slightly better senses in both forms.

Frankenstein (Phasma contineos corpus): a creature sewn together from corpses and gifted with a spirit, the first type of Golem created without godly intervention. Illegal in all fifty states and Mexico, named after the creator of the first Frankenstein creature.

Ghost (Animus): remnant elemental of the living, usually persists due to death trauma or a message for the living.

Golem (Phasma contineos theopotestas): a creature of whatever material, usually stone or clay, gifted with a spirit through divine intervention, created in ancient times as protectors.

American Vampire (Letumo vampiros ameriges): American vampires are currently campaigning for equal rights (it is legal and even encouraged to kill vampires and other forms of undead in most states). They have developed a sunscreen which allows them to bear sunlight, although it has the side effect of making their pallid skin glitter. More importantly, they have developed an alternative to living blood, although it is an open question as to how many actually use the alternative. The pretty vampires of North America are scoffed at by their demonic European antecedents (Letumo vampiros nosferatus). This is a mistake, as while the younger American vampires are not quite as strong as their forebears, neither do they have such a wide array of debilitating weaknesses. In their campaign, they are joined by several packs of American werewolves in a (very) uneasy alliance. Rare children of humans and vampires, called dhampyrs or Slayers (homo vampiros), share some of the characteristics of vampires, but are not immortal, are not as strong, do not need blood (although drinking it grants them extra abilities), and do not need to fear sunlight.

American Werewolf (Homo loupus morphogenus): crossbreeds of the European monsters known as werewolves, the Loup Garou (Letumo lycanos) and the common wolf shapechangers of North America. Unlike monstrous werewolves, American werewolves can control their rage, are sentient during their transformation, and can change shape at will. American werewolves form packs and actively hunt down rival predators and monsters, such as Loup Garou, vampires, etc. Due to a powerful ritual in the early days of Colonial contact, wolf shapeshifters are very rare in the Americas, while monstrous werewolves, here known as lycanthropy, is nearly non-existent.

Zombie (Letumo corpus): Occasionally an outbreak occurs, but zombies are really only dangerous when led by some other malevolent intelligence. There are actually many different kinds of walking undead, from Walkers (relatively harmless servants of necromancers), to ravenous red zombies and the sentient Risen. Zombies can be created by infection, by restless spirits, or by black magic.

Volatile Races of North America, Professor Hobbes

Drow (Homo svartalfaris): close relatives of the Alfar, drow are also known as Night Elves, Dark Elves, Svartalfar, and Unseelie. Drow Clans are often embroiled in bloody conflicts or neck deep in seedy operations, yet for all the negative stereotypes there are just as many heroes from this passionate people as villains.

Hill Giant (Homo gigantes lastrygoneus): The most common of Giants, known for their cannibalism and cruelty. Like other savage races, Giants live on the ragged edges of civilization. They are much less intelligent than other peoples, and are often used as the brute muscle.

Goblin (Kobolo fomorianis): The common goblin takes a surprising number of forms. Goblins are also known as Fomorians and have ancient feuds with elves.

Gremlin (Kobolo gremios): A breed of goblin peculiar to North America, the Gremlin is a terror of mischief, with a dark gift for destructive engineering. Gremlins are commonly manic-depressive.

Orc (Homo kobolis depreos): a halfbreed mix of goblin and human, the Orc has become one of the most feared of the savage races by civilized people, often terrorizing neighborhoods in biker gangs and crime families.

Troll (Kobolo gigantes): the largest and most savage of the goblin breeds, the common troll is often associated with bridges and toll-booths.

Lizardman (Homo Lacertilia chimerae): Natives of the Amazon rainforest, this savage people often sacrifices intruders to their strange gods.

Minotaur (Minotaurus chimerae): fiendishly clever architects and savage warriors, the Minotaurs have carved out a small niche in civilization for themselves as soldiers of fortune.

Ogre (Homo gigantes horibles): Lording over the less intelligent and weaker savage peoples, the Ogres are a type of giant that lust for power, political, magical, or by brute force. Though rare (because of constant infighting), Ogres make powerful adversaries.

Red Dwarf (Homo naenis roujis): cousins of the dwarves, the Nain Rouge, or Redcaps, are not actually a different race, but other dwarves have disowned them for devotion to savagery and evil.