Jan 8, 2019 19:09:40 GMT -6
Post by Embla on Jan 8, 2019 19:09:40 GMT -6
MAJIN [NORSE VARIANT - ODIN]
Name of Species: Majin [Norse Variant - Odin]{CLICK HERE for Appearance, Culture, and Origin}
Baseline Dimension: Typical human dimensions, with some possible variance to the extremes in rare cases.
Baseline Appearance: While all Majin have a basic humanoid appearance, they may have traits that are otherwise unique based upon the divinity they represent. This can include anything from wings to bizarre eye colors to additional limbs. The appearance of various Majin will vary quite wildly and are often totally unique, as no duplicate-Majin representing the same entitiy can exist.
Culture/Origin of Species: Majin trace their origin to shortly after the start of the Ancient War. Majin at one point were all regular humans, exclusively, who were either religious officials or involved in paganistic cults. While at the time the idea of magic and the supernatural was largely little more than a myth, believers in these cults would often engage in rituals centered around the idea of sympathetic magic in order to allow certain individuals to "take on the visage" of a specific deity of some sort or another. These rituals generally involve self-mutiliation or attempting to otherwise resemble the likeness of their god as closely as possible, some form of "acting out" an event associated with the deity they're attempting to take on the traits of, and finish with the user committing suicide to be "reborn" in the visage of their chosen deity. The latter is the primary constant consistent with all Majin - the other two requirements may vary slightly on a case by case basis.
Because magic and talents had not actually started manifesting in people at the time these rituals were largely taking place, not a single Majin was successfully created, killing all of those who attempted to achieve this religious ascension. What it did do was sow the seeds for Majin to be born into the world at a later date; once talents began to manifest themselves, some fortunate individuals - seemingly at random - were able to be reborn suddenly into the world as actual Majin, many years later. Many of these individuals ceased to be the person they originally were, their personalities and memories irrevocably altered, with only bits and pieces remaining.
Majin, as an incredibly small and rare group of finite individuals, do not have any particular culture or single homeland, and are scattered throughout the world, generally unaware of the existence of others.
It is an important distinction to make that Majin are not gods, but neither are they mortals - they stand somewhere inbetween. The only Majin that could accurately be considered to be a "god" would be a "perfect" Majin who has surpassed the innate limitations of their kind. It also takes time for a Majin to develop their full potential after being revived, regaining one of their talents later. (This just a fluff-explanation for the talent-training & grade mechanics.)
Baseline Dimension: Typical human dimensions, with some possible variance to the extremes in rare cases.
Baseline Appearance: While all Majin have a basic humanoid appearance, they may have traits that are otherwise unique based upon the divinity they represent. This can include anything from wings to bizarre eye colors to additional limbs. The appearance of various Majin will vary quite wildly and are often totally unique, as no duplicate-Majin representing the same entitiy can exist.
Culture/Origin of Species: Majin trace their origin to shortly after the start of the Ancient War. Majin at one point were all regular humans, exclusively, who were either religious officials or involved in paganistic cults. While at the time the idea of magic and the supernatural was largely little more than a myth, believers in these cults would often engage in rituals centered around the idea of sympathetic magic in order to allow certain individuals to "take on the visage" of a specific deity of some sort or another. These rituals generally involve self-mutiliation or attempting to otherwise resemble the likeness of their god as closely as possible, some form of "acting out" an event associated with the deity they're attempting to take on the traits of, and finish with the user committing suicide to be "reborn" in the visage of their chosen deity. The latter is the primary constant consistent with all Majin - the other two requirements may vary slightly on a case by case basis.
Because magic and talents had not actually started manifesting in people at the time these rituals were largely taking place, not a single Majin was successfully created, killing all of those who attempted to achieve this religious ascension. What it did do was sow the seeds for Majin to be born into the world at a later date; once talents began to manifest themselves, some fortunate individuals - seemingly at random - were able to be reborn suddenly into the world as actual Majin, many years later. Many of these individuals ceased to be the person they originally were, their personalities and memories irrevocably altered, with only bits and pieces remaining.
Majin, as an incredibly small and rare group of finite individuals, do not have any particular culture or single homeland, and are scattered throughout the world, generally unaware of the existence of others.
It is an important distinction to make that Majin are not gods, but neither are they mortals - they stand somewhere inbetween. The only Majin that could accurately be considered to be a "god" would be a "perfect" Majin who has surpassed the innate limitations of their kind. It also takes time for a Majin to develop their full potential after being revived, regaining one of their talents later. (This just a fluff-explanation for the talent-training & grade mechanics.)
Traits: (Traits specific to this variant of Majin are bolded; traits common to all Majin are not.)
- Majin (almost) always possess two specific types of talent that maintain similarities across the board. This means there is a much smaller amount of talent variation between them overall. One of these talents will usually be related to magic, sorcery or the occult in some form or another (and may or may not be based around abilities the deity was alleged to have in old tales), while their second talent is typically a set of unique traits mirroring those of the deities. For example, a Majin representing a god of death may be capable of raising the dead, while a god of storms and lighting may possess an innate resistance to electricity or other elemental talents. This is both to their benefit and detriment.
- Majin are typically functionally immortal - while they can be killed through physical means, they are incapable of aging.
- The Omnipotence Paradox is indicative of an "impure" Majin, which is the state all Majin start in. If a Majin were to somehow find their way around this limitation to be capable of either 100% failure or 100% success, they would be considered a "perfect" Majin. This could not be accomplished by any of their own innate abilities, but exclusively through some outside source.
- Due to their nature as embodying literal gods, Norse-based Majin are abnormally powerful with their talents.
- This variant of Majin is naturally adept at wielding crossbows and spears of any kind.
- Playing on the tale of Odin drinking from Mímisbrunnr (the Well of Wisdom), this variant of Majin is always possessed of only one eye, leading to a delayed speed reaction and inhibited depth perception. The benefit of this is that this variant of Majin is able to immediately identify the function of any talent they see in use, except for those that "are beyond comprehension" (ie magics relating to eldritch subjects and other similar things).
Flaws:
- Majin (almost) always possess two specific types of talent that maintain similarities across the board. This means there is a much smaller amount of talent variation between them overall. One of these talents will usually be related to magic, sorcery or the occult in some form or another (and may or may not be based around abilities the deity was alleged to have in old tales), while their second talent is typically a set of unique traits mirroring those of the deities. For example, a Majin representing a god of death may be capable of raising the dead, while a god of storms and lighting may possess an innate resistance to electricity or other elemental talents. This is both to their benefit and detriment.
- Majin will possess any of the weaknesses associated with the deity they're mimicking. For example, if said deity was slain in lore by a specific kind of weapon, the Majin would also be inherently more vulnerable to that weapon, especially if sympathetic magic had been used to give it the properties of the specific weapon which had slain them. If sunlight was antithesis to their existence, the Majin would be unable to walk in the sunlight, etc etc.
- As Majin are representative of gods, they are affected by the Omnipotence Paradox ("if an omnipotent being can do anything, can it deny itself?"). As a result, their primary magical-based talent will always have a 50/50 success rate associated with it, although the effects of a "failed" attempt at using it will vary per-Majin's talent. This typically does not apply to their second talent, however. Additionally, any talents that could "collapse" their encompassment of "every possibility" into one specific result (success or failure) would be capable of killing a Majin with absolute certainty, and making it impossible for another Majin to take on the embodiment of their deity. A talent that ensured either success or failure with absolute certainty would be one example of this.
- As the embodiment of Odin, this Majin is required to rest for a full twenty fours hours once per week, from Midnight on Tuesday to Midnight on Wednesday. It is impossible to rouse them during this time, and they are completely vulnerable. As a result, both their resilience and vitality are reduced to 1 during this period, irregardless of typical aspect allocation. This period of time operates independently from any alterations made by chronomancy and other time-related talents, and as such cannot be extended or shortened in duration.
- Due to the association of Odin's death at the hands of Fenris during Ragnarok in lore, this variant of Majin has -2 resilience points when against werewolves and other related species.
