Greywander
2023-11-26, 12:44 AM
I have the idea for a story kicking around in my head, and I have a pretty decent outline for the first major story arc planned out, but things get a bit fuzzy after that.
The first arc centers around the attempted revival of a dead goddess, who is the steward of one of the divine implements. These are tools of great power that, among other things, are capable of slaying gods. In this case, the divine implement is the Fires of Creation, which takes the form of a black flame. You might think a god-slaying black flame sounds familiar, but I think I actually had the idea before playing Elden Ring and it was actually inspired by Dark Souls 3. I just really like the black flame aesthetic.
Anyway, the second arc of the story will deal more with a competition/war between all the gods as they put their own divine implements on the line, so I need a bit of help figuring out what those are so I can plan the story out appropriately. I do like the combo of something tangible with something metaphysical. The Fires of Creation are both literal fire, albeit divine in nature and therefore more potent than normal flames, but also a force of creation. It makes me think of a raw chaotic force that is both creative and destruction, taking the old and turning it into something new. A tool for crafting. Which is oddly fitting for fire, as it's both incredibly destructive and also the cornerstone of technology in the form of metalworking.
In total, I think seven divine implements is a nice symbolic number. (There would be more gods than this, and part of the competition would be gods without an implement trying to take one for themselves.) This means that all of the important metaphysical functions should be covered across each of the seven implements. Here's a few possibilities that I was thinking.
Winds of Change - Maybe governs seasonal changes? I'm not really sure how this one would work.
Sands of Time - Perhaps not just the manipulation of time, but time itself? Causality? The inexorable and irresistible pull towards the future, and ultimately, death?
Water of Life - Not much to say about this one. Everything needs water to live.
Tree of Knowledge - I mean, books are written on paper, and root networks could be seen as similar to things like the internet.
Rock of Ages - Responsible for keeping things the same. In this sense, it could be seen as opposing the Winds of Change or the Fires of Creation, or even the Sands of Time.
Shadow of Death - Seems kind of redundant with the Sands of Time, but perhaps it could be differentiated enough to stand alone.
One of the first other implements I conceived of was the Spear of Sunlight, another concept shamelessly stolen from Dark Souls, though now that I've expanded the concept this one no longer really fits the other themes I have going. But the idea behind it was that it could shoot lasers or bolts that would piece through targets and the holes left behind would be rimmed with plant growths, mostly grasses and flowers. It could probably be used less offensively to simply grow plants. Part of that function might be absorbed by the Tree of Knowledge or maybe the Waters of Life, but I do think it makes sense to have some kind of solar/celestial divine implement, and none of them so far fit.
Another thing I'm struggling with is understanding how each of these could be used offensively, as they are supposed to all be god-slaying implements. That might not be their primary purpose, but they're all supposed to be capable of it. Also, since the Fires of Creation take the form of a black flame, then so too should each of the other implements have a unique form to differentiate them from their mundane counterparts.
Anyway, what are some other possible divine implements I could use? I could even expand the number beyond seven if there's enough good ideas. I kind of like the idea of taking these cliche idioms, like the "sands of time" or "winds of change", and turning them into more literal power sets.
The first arc centers around the attempted revival of a dead goddess, who is the steward of one of the divine implements. These are tools of great power that, among other things, are capable of slaying gods. In this case, the divine implement is the Fires of Creation, which takes the form of a black flame. You might think a god-slaying black flame sounds familiar, but I think I actually had the idea before playing Elden Ring and it was actually inspired by Dark Souls 3. I just really like the black flame aesthetic.
Anyway, the second arc of the story will deal more with a competition/war between all the gods as they put their own divine implements on the line, so I need a bit of help figuring out what those are so I can plan the story out appropriately. I do like the combo of something tangible with something metaphysical. The Fires of Creation are both literal fire, albeit divine in nature and therefore more potent than normal flames, but also a force of creation. It makes me think of a raw chaotic force that is both creative and destruction, taking the old and turning it into something new. A tool for crafting. Which is oddly fitting for fire, as it's both incredibly destructive and also the cornerstone of technology in the form of metalworking.
In total, I think seven divine implements is a nice symbolic number. (There would be more gods than this, and part of the competition would be gods without an implement trying to take one for themselves.) This means that all of the important metaphysical functions should be covered across each of the seven implements. Here's a few possibilities that I was thinking.
Winds of Change - Maybe governs seasonal changes? I'm not really sure how this one would work.
Sands of Time - Perhaps not just the manipulation of time, but time itself? Causality? The inexorable and irresistible pull towards the future, and ultimately, death?
Water of Life - Not much to say about this one. Everything needs water to live.
Tree of Knowledge - I mean, books are written on paper, and root networks could be seen as similar to things like the internet.
Rock of Ages - Responsible for keeping things the same. In this sense, it could be seen as opposing the Winds of Change or the Fires of Creation, or even the Sands of Time.
Shadow of Death - Seems kind of redundant with the Sands of Time, but perhaps it could be differentiated enough to stand alone.
One of the first other implements I conceived of was the Spear of Sunlight, another concept shamelessly stolen from Dark Souls, though now that I've expanded the concept this one no longer really fits the other themes I have going. But the idea behind it was that it could shoot lasers or bolts that would piece through targets and the holes left behind would be rimmed with plant growths, mostly grasses and flowers. It could probably be used less offensively to simply grow plants. Part of that function might be absorbed by the Tree of Knowledge or maybe the Waters of Life, but I do think it makes sense to have some kind of solar/celestial divine implement, and none of them so far fit.
Another thing I'm struggling with is understanding how each of these could be used offensively, as they are supposed to all be god-slaying implements. That might not be their primary purpose, but they're all supposed to be capable of it. Also, since the Fires of Creation take the form of a black flame, then so too should each of the other implements have a unique form to differentiate them from their mundane counterparts.
Anyway, what are some other possible divine implements I could use? I could even expand the number beyond seven if there's enough good ideas. I kind of like the idea of taking these cliche idioms, like the "sands of time" or "winds of change", and turning them into more literal power sets.