Side-Write: Wild Mythos (Patreon)

I'm getting more comfortable with what I want this game's world to involve, and after last time's exploration of how I want the game to feel, I'm feeling ready to start taking stabs at building out what's actually happening here. I'm blending a lot of different goals and desires here to try and find a sweet spot that works for everything I'd like to do.

As always, this is very much a rough draft of what may be. I might make changes to all this, and I might even scrap it all if it comes to that, but this is my first real attempt to lay out what's actually happening in the background, what "the world is" that Project Wild One takes place in. I hope you find it an interesting journey!

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A long, long time ago, this world was a simpler place. There were no monsters, and no gods. The people ruled the land and used technology to live long lives, fly through the sky, speak across great distances, and kill each other with terrible speed. Some say it was a wonderful time, in which we were the masters of our own destiny. Others say it was an age of strife, corruption, and terror. That we never should have had so much power or control over the world and everything in it.

Then, the gods came. There were six in total, and they arrived one at a time: first the three elder, greater gods, then the three younger, lesser gods, each the opposite and foil to one of the elders.

First came the God of Wisdom. He (the gods have no real gender but may be called by either) is said to know all that there is to know, and can see through to the truth of any situation. None can hope to approach his level of enlightenment, but many strive nonetheless, and merely being in his presence is said to bring an incredible sense of clarity, at once solving one's problems... and removing all the mystery from one's life. No great leader can claim to be benevolent without regularly visiting him to seek insight and strip away their own flaws.

Second came the God of Justice. Where her predecessor focuses on cold facts, she is a manifestation of morality, and she sees into the heart of every man and beast, judging them by their own standards as well as hers. Criminals and sinners can't help but repent in her presence, and entire governing bodies can be stripped of corruption in a single visit from this avatar of righteousness. Her very existence keeps people all across the world mindful not to give in to temptation.

The last of the greater gods to come to us was the God of Life. Under his guidance, love blooms, medicine advances, crops flourish, forests burgeon overnight, and the world becomes a greener, more vibrant place every day. Disease dissolves in his path, and all people and creatures thrive almost beyond control long after he has passed. Perhaps more than any other, the people pray to this god, whether for luck in love, mercy in dangerous times, or to be nurtured and protected in any number of ways.

Then, to balance out the severity of justice, came the God of Freedom. A capricious creature wandering the land, he can abide by no cage or shackle, and seems to crave change more than anything else. Like all the lesser gods, he is not so powerful as the elders, but he can always trump the attempts of his counterpart to bring too much order and restriction to the world. Those that have committed misdeeds pray to him for forgiveness and the chance to be free of their past.

And to prevent overwhelming wisdom draining all of the mystery from life, next came the God of Wonder. In a world where we seemed to know just about everything, she worked to create new mysteries, to excite and reward our imaginations. Many of her works are subtle, but most well known are the many wondrous and magical inventions she brought into our world, both from the very imaginations of our own people and from who knows where, perhaps her own imagination alone. With her in the world, it is hard to ever say that anything is impossible, even if it was yesterday.

Finally, and fittingly, came the God of Death. Before the world choked on its very bounty of life, she came to help us harvest and accept that for every beginning, there must be an ending. It's said that nobody dies alone, for each of us dies in her arms. And she remembers each and every one of us: the dead are her company, regaling her with endless tales of our strange lives. It's said she encourages all of us to live life to our fullest, so that at the end of it all we may be proud of the tale we add to her library.

Some say the gods should not be worshiped or even accepted, and even back then many rejected them, but for many years we lived in what is almost universally called a golden age, watched over by these powerful beings that largely seemed to want the best for us.

The trouble began for us when the God of Wonder conspired with the God of Life to create something even more spectacular and wondrous: new forms of life. At first, many people were delighted: creatures from fairy tales were suddenly real and among us! Some were fearful, but their concerns were lost in the waves of excitement as these creatures toured the world, growing more numerous as the gods nurtured them. The God of Life seemed to take great satisfaction in creating life anew, and the God of Wonder had never seen such a powerful reaction from the people, so they kept adding new creatures, until...

The God of Freedom barely had to come near for the situation to dissolve quickly. The creatures fled in every direction, sowing chaos and danger, and the people pleaded for the gods to take them away.

But the gods refused. These creatures were alive now, and the God of Life would protect them just as he protects us. The God of Justice saw no problem with hungry creatures devouring prey, even if those prey were people. The God of Wisdom was always slow to act and spoke of us learning from our hubris. And as the chaos grew, the lesser gods only grew happier with the situation, for they preferred change over stagnation. We learned a harsh lesson: the gods might be benevolent, but we are not special in their eyes.

And for a time, all was plunged into anarchy and destruction.

Finally, however, the God of Life saw that the people could not survive against such an onslaught and moved to find some way to protect us. He convinced the Gods of Justice and Wisdom to help him find a solution. The three greater gods have between them an incredibly potent power that they can only use when all three of them are in agreement: the power to change the very nature of reality. Together, they forged a new law: no creature killed with violence shall stay dead. Those that need meat may have it, but both the people and the monsters would no longer have to fear dying at each other's hands in this suddenly very crowded and dangerous world.

For a long time, life was still very hard for the people of the world, and more was lost than we may ever know, but as our numbers grew again, we managed to build cities again and gather in relative safety. Some curse the gods, and some work tirelessly to kill the monsters of the world in nonviolent ways, but most of us have no choice but to accept that this is the reality we live in: we are one type of creature among many, and though we flourish under the blessings of the gods, we cannot assume they favor us over those that would take everything from us.

Some say the monsters have started building their own villages out there in the wild. Not all the monsters seek to kill us, but most are so strange and so different from us that we tend to fear and avoid all of them today. Those that thrilled at seeing magical creatures in the flesh are many generations dead, and to us, the world is a very different place. A world where we control the land, the sea, and the sky without rival seems a wild, pointless fantasy for children, or a bitter image of paradise.

Some among us, the deviants and extremists, like to wander out in the wild and mingle with the creatures. They can't be killed, after all, so what's the harm? So far, only people seem to know how to kill anyone for good. They come back with stories of sharing food and fire, even pleasures of the flesh, and they talk of peace with the creatures. But they're careful not to say so around the wrong people...

Some of us take comfort in knowing the gods watch over us, even if they watch over the monsters as well. Some of us do appreciate all the strange wonders of this world, collecting scraps of magic and stories of faraway places. Some of us even believe we're better off like this, quoting ancient tales claiming that when we were in control we were poisoning ourselves, killing the very world with our greed. But most of us are just trying to get through the day, and hoping the right god might come by someday and take all our troubles away.