What Does A "Normal" Godsmoot Look Like?

[HorizonWalker]

So, we know from some characters talking about Godsmoots like they've attended them before that a Godsmoot happens, like. Every few years. But they're not all about whether or not to destroy the world, otherwise Wrecan, who acts like he's been to one before, wouldn't have been caught off guard by it.

And that leads me to the question in the thread title. What does a "normal" Godsmoot look like? What's it for? What are they voting on? Haven't they had billions upon billions of years to work out the details of their rules and all that? What's left to talk about that comes up so regularly?

[Peelee]

Votes to introduce splatbooks rules. Like the Favored Soul prestige class. :smalltongue:

[Fyraltari]

It looks exactly the same but with less fighting. And I guess the pantheon voting order is rotating or something else the Northern Gods would only vote as tiebreakers which I don’t think they’d like.

Given that they still have grudges between one another despite having hadn’t countless years to learn to live with each other I think they still disagree on stuff between them and they all try to have the rules changed to their advantage so they would mostly vote on minutia of their own business.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Voting down whatever geographical feature Njord wants to implement next.

"No, Njord, we aren't allowing you a volcano in the middle of that shallow sea. You tried that 3↑↑4 worlds ago, and the mortals still have tales of Atlantis."

Grey Wolf

[Nith]

Maybe settle serious arguments between some gods where the rules are ambiguous. So maybe god 1 accuses god 2 of improper interference in the mortal world, which god 2 disputes.

I also imagine that some, maybe most, godmoots are not inter-pantheonic, that is they are only concerning a single pantheon. So in a dispute between Sunna and Frigg only the high priests of the Northern Gods are summoned. This would also raise the probability of a tie. It might also be the case that in questions where the stakes are smaller not every God actually goes. So Fenrir might not care about the issue at hand and tell his high priest not to bother going.

[woweedd]

It looks exactly the same but with less fighting. And I guess the pantheon voting order is rotating or something else the Northern Gods would only vote as tiebreakers which I don’t think they’d like.

Given that they still have grudges between one another despite having hadn’t countless years to learn to live with each other I think they still disagree on stuff between them and they all try to have the rules changed to their advantage so they would mostly vote on minutia of their own business.
I mean, I don't think they'd have to rotate. There are three of them, thankfully an odd number, so if two vote one way, no need for the North to vote at all, logically-speaking.

[Nith]

I mean, I don't think they'd have to rotate. There are three of them, thankfully an odd number, so if two vote one way, no need for the North to vote at all, logically-speaking.

I think what Fyraltari means is that the Northern Pantheon wouldn't like being in a position where their votes only matter half of the time, so they wouldn't want to go last every time.

My guess is that whichever Pantheon called the moot generally goes last, and that it varies from time to time. With special rules if one of the non-convening pantheons need a tiebreaker like the Northern pantheon needs now.

[CriticalFailure]

Maybe the Northern pantheon goes last because its tie breaker has the potential to drag on the longest.

[Fyraltari]

I think what Fyraltari means is that the Northern Pantheon wouldn't like being in a position where their votes only matter half of the time, so they wouldn't want to go last every time.

Yes. If people vote in succession, the last ones to vote are the less likely to have their opinion matter since the later you vote the more likely it is that a majority has already appeared.

This can be side-stepped by having everybody voting anonymously and then counting the votes or by having everybody vote at once with a simple ‘All in favor, raise your hand.’’

But that doesn’t make as suspensful a page.

[woweedd]

Yes. If people vote in succession, the last ones to vote are the less likely to have their opinion matter since the later you vote the more likely it is that a majority has already appeared.

This can be side-stepped by having everybody voting anonymously and then counting the votes or by having everybody vote at once with a simple ‘All in favor, raise your hand.’’

But that doesn’t make as suspensful a page.
But...The order doesn't really matter. A majority will emerge regardless, no?

[hroþila]

But...The order doesn't really matter. A majority will emerge regardless, no?
It only matters if pantheon 1 and 2 don't vote simultaneously or at least without knowing what the other voted, because otherwise pantheon 2 might be influenced by pantheon 1's vote. But if that's prevented, then pantheon 3 has as much of a say as the other two, whether or not the vote has already been decided by the time they vote.

[Fyraltari]

But...The order doesn't really matter. A majority will emerge regardless, no?

If at every Moot the order is the same then the North only gets to vote on issues the other two are divided on but they get to make the choice which means either more or less power than either of the other pantheons depending on how often West and South agree.

That distinction disappears with other voting methods.

[woweedd]

It only matters if pantheon 1 and 2 don't vote simultaneously or at least without knowing what the other voted, because otherwise pantheon 2 might be influenced by pantheon 1's vote. But if that's prevented, then pantheon 3 has as much of a say as the other two, whether or not the vote has already been decided by the time they vote.
Yeah, this is what I meant.

[HorizonWalker]

If at every Moot the order is the same then the North only gets to vote on issues the other two are divided on but they get to make the choice which means either more or less power than either of the other pantheons depending on how often West and South agree.

That distinction disappears with other voting methods.

Yeah, no, it. Really doesn't work that way. In a system with three votes to count, there is no mathematical distinction between "two of them cast votes first and if they disagree then the third party votes" and "all of them vote at the same time." It doesn't matter where the majority gets its two votes from. There is, of course, something to be said about the psychological distinction, where the third party could be influenced by the votes of the other two parties...

...but then we run into the problem of "Rich Burlew is writing a fantasy story, not a guidebook on proper election protocols."

[Nith]

There is also a psychological difference of perception in of voting when it is still up in the air and voting when your vote don't actually matter. Even if it substantially doesn't affect the outcome it is still nice to have the appearance of having a say. A lot of the Gods seem really prickly and I imagine it would matter to them even if they knew it didn't matter substantially.

I also still stand by my previous guess that many godmoots are within single pantheons rather than between them all.

[Jasdoif]

There is also a psychological difference of perception in of voting when it is still up in the air and voting when your vote don't actually matter.And not having to vote if your vote wouldn't matter....Which is one of the few advantages of modelling three votes as two votes with a tiebreaker: If a tiebreaker is necessary, the tiebreaker is also the deciding factor; which may be important to voters/gods who don't like others forcing them to waste their time.

[mjasghar]

Since travel is allowed between continents I assume disputes of jurisdiction

[Wizard_Lizard]

Maybe it's just a time for priests to hang out together?

[Jaxzan Proditor]

My guess would be there’s often a lot of nitpicking over the finer details of various inter-pantheon agreements and how the current world is being run.


Voting down whatever geographical feature Njord wants to implement next.

"No, Njord, we aren't allowing you a volcano in the middle of that shallow sea. You tried that 3↑↑4 worlds ago, and the mortals still have tales of Atlantis."

Grey Wolf
This is also seems quite plausible, and no I’m not in the slightest way biased towards this headcanon by the use of up-arrow notation. :smallwink:

[Peelee]

Voting down whatever geographical feature Njord wants to implement next.

"No, Njord, we aren't allowing you a volcano in the middle of that shallow sea. You tried that 3↑↑4 worlds ago, and the mortals still have tales of Atlantis."

Grey Wolf

My guess would be there’s often a lot of nitpicking over the finer details of various inter-pantheon agreements and how the current world is being run.


This is also seems quite plausible, and no I’m not in the slightest way biased towards this headcanon by the use of up-arrow notation. :smallwink:

Y'all make 34 sad.:smalltongue:

[BaronOfHell]

Votes to introduce splatbooks rules. Like the Favored Soul prestige class. :smalltongue:

I know it is a joke, but it made me consider if say a group of friends (or enemies for that matter) are playing D&D and decide to change the rules like the first comic http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0001.html or introducing a new class as you wrote, I guess the event could have an in-game explanation similar to a Godsmoot where the gods decide to change the mechanics of the world, which I think could actually be pretty cool.

[CriticalFailure]

Converting to 5e would be a nightmare.

[Grey Watcher]

I question if there really is such a thing as a "Normal" Godsmoot. I am willing to bet that every last rule can be traced back to some church/deity or other attempting shenanigans.

[HorizonWalker]

I question if there really is such a thing as a "Normal" Godsmoot. I am willing to bet that every last rule can be traced back to some church/deity or other attempting shenanigans.

Oh, for sure, every single one of these rules is written in blood, as the epilogue to some adventure. But they can't all be earthshattering like this one. Or maybe they can and earthshattering adventures like this just happen literally all the time here in this world.

[Fyraltari]

Oh, for sure, every single one of these rules is written in blood, as the epilogue to some adventure. But they can't all be earthshattering like this one. Or maybe they can and earthshattering adventures like this just happen literally all the time here in this world.

The bodyguards’ reaction (including Wrecan who already went to two other Moots) says it isn’t usually that high-stake.

[Squire Doodad]

Oh, for sure, every single one of these rules is written in blood, as the epilogue to some adventure. But they can't all be earthshattering like this one. Or maybe they can and earthshattering adventures like this just happen literally all the time here in this world.

I mean, the Mechane crew literally call the party's quest just another "apocalypse of the week". While someone actually threatening the world on a scale the gods undo it is probably very rare, a general "the end is nigh/the dark lord rises/the sun's fusion is failing?/etc." is apparently fairly common. Say, every couple months or so. Maybe every week or two. Lotta adventurers out there, and *something* has to let the Low Epic characters gain experience.


Maybe it's just a time for priests to hang out together?

There's like 3 high priests who bring snacks and food for a picnic each time in hopes that they can have fun and stuff. The "Dvalin takes forever" thing is an elaborate cover-up.

[Heksefatter]

The last Godsmoot was way back, just before the first OotS strip, and upgraded the world to the then-new 3.5 edition. The Gods, being of divine wisdom, refrained from upgrading to either the 4th or 5th edition.

[Squire Doodad]

The last Godsmoot was way back, just before the first OotS strip, and upgraded the world to the then-new 3.5 edition. The Gods, being of divine wisdom, refrained from upgrading to either the 4th or 5th edition.

Indeed. Normally they have a "once a decade" schedule for three-pantheon Moots, with specific exceptions for more concerning situations. The 3.5 update was slated for a three-pantheon vote (and was nearly unanimous, oddly enough), with the previous Godsmoot actually just being a question about whether things were better if they were shaken or stirred. In the conflict that followed, several major in-universe holy orders fought, and many lives were lost, including nearly half of the Sapphire Guard's backup emergency reserves team.

[Kornaki]

The last Godsmoot was way back, just before the first OotS strip, and upgraded the world to the then-new 3.5 edition. The Gods, being of divine wisdom, refrained from upgrading to either the 4th or 5th edition.

Presumably the decision to not do fifth edition would have required a vote

[Heksefatter]

Presumably the decision to not do fifth edition would have required a vote

Hmmm...perhaps the threat from the snarl made them postpone those deliberations? All the intrigue and concern going on behind the scenes would make them too busy?

[Sky_Schemer]

What's left to talk about that comes up so regularly?

New recipes for cake (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1011.html).

[D.One]

I wonder, when they decide to destroy a world, and after a vote for "Yes, destroy" succeeds, if they keep discussing the rules about the next world to be, with the clerics watching all of that. That's got to be terrifying.