Theonosis:Pacificum

The Pacificum is an extra-dimensional space created by an ancient goddess of peace and understanding, Pacifica, who sacrificed her own existence so that all Deities could create an Avatar in the Pacificum without cost. The Pacificum functions as a meeting place, as Deities are incapable of attacking each other there.

Feel free to leave comments and questions. This page is the equivalent of Wikipedia's Village Pump.

Greetings, Where should I go?

Greetings all, I am the great Yahrintath, The Exalter, Maker of Kings, God of Aspiration, Innovation, Change for Personal Gain, and The Pursuit of Greatness and Martial Prowess! By that I mean, hello, of coarse.

I was just wondering which Province I should set up in. I would prefer one with a middle level of activity, that allows me to have semi-free reign, but also interact with some others. I am very open to any area really, as I am not adverse to Jungle, Desert (hot or cold) or Plains. I would prefer non-mountainous, but if that goes against my other criteria, then I will settle with it.

Further, I have read the How do I join, Collabor and other such intro pages. Is there anything else I should read prior to contributing?

Thank you.Yahrintath 15:32, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

(I do not know how to indent, sorry) - I decided on Buleautan, thanks.--Yahrintath 22:09, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

I'm a total noob

Hi, site admin here. I'm new to this kind of thing, and it took me quite a while to get this website set up.Modrobene 04:12, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Ducatillion

A friend linked me to this, looks like an amazing idea. Not really sure where to start, since I have a million questions that I don't have time to type out right now. Looks good though, I'll be back tomorrow. I'm also *really* new to editing wikis. Also, turned off Adblock to support your site. Recommended for anyone else, if they wanna keep this going. Ducatillion 21:32, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

No problem - feel free to look around and jump in wherever. You may find Wikipedia's help pages a lot more helpful on editing tips - it's the same software, so virtually everything should work the same as far as linking, templates, etc. And you may be interested in Theonosis:Advertising: in short, I would like to get rid of the google ads, but for now, I can't really afford to turn down any possible way of monetizing the site. So, thanks and let me know if you have any questions (for now, this is such a small wiki, you can pretty much leave a question anywhere and I'l find it through Special:RecentChanges). And please start working on whatever makes you happy; I'm working through the "rules", so they're constantly changing, but that's okay because the rules are not important. Modrobene 06:19, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

Already read the advertising part, which is why I turned off adblocker. As for jumping in - it seems like you're still working on a lot of conceptual stuff, like the way the game runs and works. For now, I think I'll start a small... region? Since there seems to be a lot of game concept stuff not yet on the wiki, I'll try and run it in a way that will cover as many concepts/rules that the game has in an attempt to help you flesh everything out. On a side note, Anglish and English made me laugh for no reason at all. Below here I started a section that will have errors, or potential errors, in the wiki formatting that I have noticed. I'll fix any that I see, but some I don't know how yet. Ducatillion 21:32, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

Okay, no problem, please do note any problems you see. (And thanks, I thought "Anglish" was kind of funny too.) BTW, you can sign comments using three tildes, like this: ~~~, or use four tildes to include the date and time in the signature. Modrobene 17:39, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

Logo

So that it can be scaled I have asked my friend to create the logo as a vector, when he gets done I'll send it over. not much of a problem, but it does make it more professional.Urlaki 21:42, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

There is a new png up, it should be the final one.Urlaki 21:42, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

Awesome, that does look nicer. Thanks, and thanks to your friend! Modrobene

what now?

So there seems to be this idea that you make a deity and then let it grow by writing about it. neat as that is, is there a system to see the growth? that is, a way to track what happens during what generation? Or should I just have a page for what Urlaki does and also track what is going on in the province?

I'm not entirely sure I understand the question, but I'll try to answer it. (see also Theonosis:Generations if you haven't already) Pretend for a moment we had a couple hundred users, and so each province had a few human-controlled Deities in it. On the first of every month in the real world, one Generation (50 years) will have passed. So all those articles on Provinces will be updated every month. So, say it's Generation 10, at the end of the month, we'll move the article on a Province like Edis to Edis/10. The article now represents Edis in Generation 11, and it should be updated over the next month. In some Provinces, updating might just mean adding a new king, in others it could mean adding a lot of information on what has occurred over the last fifty years. Some Provinces might assign certain people to certain tasks, others could be very open. Some could be sporadically updated, others every month strictly. So if you move into a new Province, you just update the page and at the end of the month, it will become official. There's no means to automatically monitor your power at the moment.

You can follow the rules outlined at Theonosis:Deific Actions to expand into new provinces or Zones, or otherwise gain new power. This isn't really a competitive game in the sense that we might strive against each other and one of us will win. Say you and I want to be worshiped in the same Province and same Zones, we'll just have to work out an agreeable way to share - keep in mind that our Deities can be at war, but we as players have to work together. Because the Theonosis:Rules are not important, you can basically just increase your power however you want without limitations, as long as you are following Theonosis:Deific Actions and aren't inhibiting other people's fun.

Does this answer your question? (Eventually I would like to have a more organized system for measuring Deific Energy and deciding whether and how you succeed at doing things, but that's technically way beyond me. I figured if I just made the site open, people who know how can come up with helpful tools and such). Modrobene 01:45, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

What comes to mind for me, is a database that tracks the deific actions. you would log in, say you want to use a action, then fill in a form saying what it is, with as little or as much as you want. it is saved in the database, and populated on the wiki page. I don't know how much coding you know but that wouldn't be too hard to do.

As for the game itself I think it is a really great idea, and I agree that it should not be a very competitive game (as that would probably just degenerate into dickery) but I do think the game needs a bit more structure. let me put it this way, on one side you have structure and on the other you have freedom, somewhere in between those two is a line called fun. As it is I think you are past the line towards freedom (but thats just me) and you could use a bit more structure (not too much, as you don't want to go past the line in the other direction). You seem to have some structure (new gods get a province of about 100k people, what you can spend your energy on and how much energy you can use etc) but maybe you could add something that outlines how a new deity is created. that is, when they are created how much stuff do they get, and how much must they create. are they created in the generation that the user joins? or do they poof into existence a long time ago and are just now written about? (does this matter?).

having rules like that for creation gives new players the ability to concentrate on what it is they need to do to get started. I have spent all day on this site, and I am still learning all kinda of things (this I think has to do with the amount of time the website has been up more than anything) because I simply didn't know what was immediately important for me to know. Give the players a list, something like pick 5 from this list of 25 options for your deity, so that they can flesh their deity out before worrying about going to a new province or interacting with other deities.

I don't know, I just feel lost in a sea of choices, I can do so much and so I haven't really done anything. I'd like to help out as much as I can, but I just don't know what to do. Urlaki 02:52, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, I kinda thought people would feel that way - that's one of the reasons I thought I'd open up in a low-key way, get some people in and work out how to do things as we go. I like very much the idea you mention of having a Deific Action form you can fill out, that's more or less what I was envisioning. My coding skills are nonexistent, so I have no ability to make such a database, though I agree it would probably not be difficult for someone who knows how to do so. I suppose a MediaWiki extension would probably be the best way to go. I've figured out how to install those, mostly. I'll think about your suggestions and try to work out a more detailed guide for newcomers, I agree we need some more structure, and I don't want anyone to get "lost in a sea of choices", but at the same time, I don't want to force people into doing things one way, potentially driving people away. Anyway, I'll try and add a bit more structure while keeping flexibility; I'll assume newcomers are starting at Theonosis:How do I make a Deity?, so keep an eye on that. Modrobene 03:17, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Okay, I made Theonosis:How do I play? which I think makes it a bit more clear what you're supposed to do. I'm not sure what you mean by offering a list for people to choose from, but I'll try to implement something there. Let me know if that's not what you're thinking of. Modrobene

what I was talking about with the list was just a way to limit new player's options. The idea being that they can only do certain things and hopefully that will force them to get situated in their province, learn about their setting, get the basics down pat. this limitation could be lifted after some time(one generation) or perhaps after it was decided that they are ready. The other idea of the list is to make them think we are not limiting them; that is, that will have options to choose from and so the will be able to start their deity in a strategic way to how they wish to play (though this only really works if the things they can do have value outside of just what they are. that is, a temple adds more followers or maybe a avatar increases the types of actions you can do. perhaps this is too much structure but it is an idea).

example list, pick 3. (it's short I know, but it is just to give you an idea of what I meant.)

extra avatar

recurring hero

extra temples

miracle

artifact

on a side note, is this how you want to have these discussions? Urlaki 05:29, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Okay, cool that's kinda what I just made at theonosis:How do I play?. It can probably be expanded, and may need some work, let me know what you think. This is fine for discussion for now - feel free to leave a note on a more specific talk page if you want, but general discussions should be here and formatted like this, I think. I have some other thoughts on that How I play? page, but I'm done for the night... been drinking too much to think clearly now. Modrobene 05:37, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Hey, I've expanded on Theonosis:GRPG. What do you think? Modrobene 04:00, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

looks like a neat idea, but I do think we should develop a system for battles. something simple would be best.Urlaki 17:06, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

Okay, I fleshed it out with units and combat. Let's continue this over there, though, at Theonosis talk:Collective. Modrobene 18:42, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

What what? is this thing alive?

I'd like to come back and contribute, maybe write some short stories. sorry to the lack of contact, its been a busy few months. Urlaki 03:24, 12 February 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, there's not a lot of regular activity at the moment, but I'm working on some things offline. I've been busy too (both working full time and going to school fulltime). I'm still keeping it going, but I think it needs a critical mass of some short stories and such to get things going. I've finished a novel and am editing it now, so hopefully I'll get that published soon. Modrobene 03:49, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Chat/Contact

So, I find this whole place incredibly interesting and I would love to be a part of it if I find that my personal time is open ended enough. However I have lots and lots of questions that I don't think I can adequately ask as a part of a post here. If, perhaps, someone could contact me via gmail and discuss a few things I would be most gracious. My gmail is morningcoatgentleman@gmail.com , and feel free to message me whenever or how ever. --Thaleonin 01:02, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Hey, recently stumbled upon this site, and I am quite intrigued as well. I noticed its been quiet for a while now, but I would assume it is due to lack of activity. There have been several new users around the same time I joined, so I shall welcome you in lieu of the proper members (Modrabene and Urlaki, it seems). I would rather use this page to talk, so that newer members can see what is going on, and older members can see how I am ruining their hard work. --Rotham 05:54, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Well nice to meat you Rotham, its nice to see that I am not alone. The sort of things I'm trying still to get through my head are like limitations on places, whether we need certain things approved, how many zones we can take, etc. I have a in-depth idea in my head but I'm not sure where it would be best suited etc. I have an idea for a dualistic deity that is like two sides of a coin, being a god of Riches and Greed but also the Poor and Charity. I felt that he would make a very good urban deity, but I have no idea what setting or region would be good for an extremely stratified city-state or metropolis of some manner. Additionally there are stil la bunch of tricks I have yet to figure out how to do with the wiki articles... --Thaleonin 17:35, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

There is this page :[[1]] that sets what I think is supposed to be the tone of the project. You may also want to look at the Collabor and Collective pages as a guideline for starting off. I started off with my Diety by copying the format used by others and inserting my own information. Then I picked a setting for him to be based in, described a region (as none were described) and a province. The only things I think that need to be approved are the limited zones, and even then it says that they are only really strongly recommended against.--Rotham 18:50, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

So should we pick a setting from the predetermined bit and make it our own or simply make our own? I have this horrid fear that I will be impeding upon something that Modrabene had something in mind for. Gah, so much to do its almost overwhelming! Luckily I have all those scores of notebooks full of idle musings to work off of! Hahaha!--Thaleonin 22:28, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Hey, sorry you two, I've been busy the last couple days. User:Urlaki kind of dropped out suddenly (possibly impending final exams?), so I'd been working on something offline (a novel set in Crikland). You're both basically right on all points. I intend for this to be a very open website, so you can kind of do whatever you want, as long as you're not disrupting others. There's a list of settings I've made, but it's not set in stone. Anything that's a red link can be described or changed as you wish. As I said, I'm writing a novel in Crikland and maybe doing some stuff elsewhere in the Deepdark and the Northern Kingdoms, but aside from that, you can do whatever you want elsewhere. Don't worry about impeding something me or someone else is planning - anything that's not written in an article or talk page is fair game. Modrobene 05:12, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

yeah, sorry. I got busy with a few projects. I have not forgotten, I do check in but I have not had time to contribute. when school is done I should have more time. Urlaki 22:05, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Kind of Important Question

What time period is this set in? --Gorutolo 22:19, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

I kinda assumed it was high magic medieval.

-Rotham (too lazy to log in)

I think it's okay to vary, but shouldn't go past the level of technology typical in fantasy stories, I guess "high magic midieval" is a pretty good way of putting it. No gunpowder, no printing press. Of course, each area could have its own level of advancement, though, so some could be more primitive than that. I tend to think we shouldn't go more technological anywhere, but if you wanted to, I'd be fine with making a new continent that's got gunpowder or steam engines. Modrobene 17:16, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

So it'd be okay to make an area that has technology based around early Enlightenment period? Gorutolo 15:43, 18 November 209 (UTC)

That's further along than I had envisioned, but if you only want a single, fairly small area, that's fine. How about an island somewhere? If a number of people want to get involved, we can enlarge it later if we like. (early enlightenment would mean no industrial revolution yet, but the printing press, steam engine and gunpowder are all used, right?) Modrobene 21:03, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Steam engine isn't invented yet but guns and printing press are around by that time. The place I had in mind wouldn't really use guns ever though. An island would be great to use. Thanks. Gorutolo 21:06, 18 November 2009 (UTC) -One more random question. How do we determine how many "points" we're supposed to get to expand on our deities? Gorutolo

The technical details are at Theonosis:Deific Energy, but they're very subjective. It basically depends on what you want to do - if you're just worldbuilding because you enjoy worldbuilding, then as long as you stick to your area and don't interfere with other people, you can basically ignore the points. (just don't go way off - you can't have 1,000 worshipers and maintain hundreds of temples, for example) If you want to play Collabor or Collective, then follow those rules (which are still under development, for now you can just wing it if there's an unanswered question, or we can talk about it on the talk page). Basically, my end-goal is that you'll assign a project to each province just by assigning it on the talk page, and anyone can participate as long as they agree to the rules for that province, so if someone creates a video game, for example, they can set the rules for the area it is set in, and you could put your god there as long as you follow the rules. You can even make up your own rules as long as they only apply to a specific area, just explain what's going on on the talk page. Modrobene 03:26, 19 November 2009 (UTC)