The Power of the Gods

New Gods art by Paris Cullins

Much like the fiction that inspired it, different Victorious chronicles have different backgrounds for the “Event” that caused SuperMankind to emerge. Like all GMs, I’ve got my own and it involves ancient gods and magicks stored to defend Earth against a future cataclysm. As such, the “gods” of the past were simply supers that gained power and were worshipped by the non-powered mortals around them. If you read Greco-Roman and Norse mythologies, this is very believeable as often the gods act as capricious and self-obsessed as any human would in a similar situation. In this regard, the power that makes a SuperMankind is a funny thing. It reflects the inner being to a degree, with external powers and abilities often mimicking the inner psychology of the person in question. Thus good people look kindly and noble, while evil look monstrous and malicious. Not always in either case, but enough to keep the tropes alive and going.

Yet there’s another hitch, and one that explains a curious thing of ancient pantheons. Gods and goddesses often lived together in Olympus or Asgard, despite hating each other. Why is this? Because they had a vested interest in congregating. As noted in the Victorious rules Designer’s Notes, I took the idea that SuperMankind stayed together because their powers (whatever they are) actually fed off each other and as time went by this power increased. The more supernatural beings congregated, the more powerful they all became. This is a good rationale for the leveling up player character heroes or heroines experience during their time in a Victorious game.

Yet a possible down side to this phenomena, beyond the increase of power and the reduction of the aging process, is that of Supervillain prisons. Like Dartmoor in Great Britain, mortal authorities have found it more convenient to keep all criminals with powers in one place so as to keep them well guarded. In the above premise, such would actually increase their power levels over the long term! Which as a consequence gives Genteel Magistrates a great way to have villains increase in level as well despite being in prison, so they remain a constantly parallel threat to the heroes of the gaming campaign.

But what does all this energy do to mortals that are a regular part of a heroine’s life? What about those that are staff or allies of a heroic group and thus interact with them constantly? That’s a story for another post… 😊

Genteel Magistrate

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