The reason for this change is not to over complicate things, but I find it more of the opposite. By developing on top of lore that is already preexisting, you are adding depth to your story telling. I recommend running your world however you want, and depending on the level reveal more of your cards.
DM Cards
There are few things more important than having things up your sleeve, here’s where I start.
- How Many Greater gods want the land, and there general temperament
- How much elemental influence is left in the land I usually just roll a percentile for each of the four elements
- How does the Greater god(s) plan to consume the plane?
By answer these questions, and weaving it into your story telling, you are prepared for when the wizard hits level 9 and attempts to contact other planes, or in the event he wants to leave to a different shard of the multiverse.
Building your First Greater God
Your Greater Gods should have a deep understanding of the world and it’s machinations, because most likely they are the ones that put them into place. Greater Gods operate at a level above your average human, while they might show attachment or affection, most likely it’s in the same was affection is shown to bugs, with no intention of a longer form relationship. Greater Gods should be frantic in some way, they seem like they are always in a rush, knowing that another Greater God may show up at any moment to try and take what is theirs. Here’s a few examples to get you started, I made one that is considered Evil, one that is considered Good, and one that could be considered Neutral, but at the end of the day I recommend creating your own as it fits in your story.
1) Yigrasil: While sounding similar to the tree of life Yigrasil is unassociated. This Greater God seeks to completely over power the realm through force alone, but cannot act until someone lets him in. In a way Yigrasil is the purest form of the Greater God parasitic relationship and operates like a worldly vampire. His influence and power is incredibly strong so he has no reason to build relationships or assemble armies, his goal is to get a single mortal to open the door to him. Yigrasil creates followers AKA cultists to assemble complicated rituals where they can assemble windows or portals to different realms, but instead of taking it all of the way to another shard where life is, they open up a portal to his unending starry blackness. He is characterized in visions as a the silhouette of a man, with gown and skin made of stars, his visions usually include large hallways of windows that lead to different realms, showing the lands he has conquered on display for his followers. Many of his followers follow the gambit of power, but for Yigrasil it all ends the same, once the door is open to him in the realm of opportunity his unending blackness spreads like ink from the source, eventually blanketing the entire realm in being.
2) Ilnor the Great: Ilnor is a lawful good Greater Deity who does not consume lands, but instead bolsters them. Ilnor waits in hiding until another Greater God attempts to occupy a realm under her domain, leveraging her mortal following she seeks to trap the Greater God to the realm and ultimately destroy them to increase her own power. She is wise and clever, but not incredibly powerful, relying on a network of heroes and relationships to ultimately overpower her adversaries. Ilnor is characterized in visions as a frail figure with a sly smile, always positive even in the darkest of times, and as things become more grim, the more young and beautiful she becomes.
3) Jelver: Jelver is a neutral Greater God who acts as a farmer which is considered the most normal of all of the Greater God behavior. Realms create magic as Wizards grow in strength and die, the wizards draw magic naturally from sources across the realms to them and then naturally disperse back into the realm as a form of ebb and flow. Jelver occupies the entire space around the world so that all of the magic dispersed ends up in them instead. Jelver tends to stay out of the affairs of mortals and just operates as if they did not exist in his world view. I like to make an occupied Greater God affect the sky, in Jelver’s case his physical representation is the sun and the sky as it travels across. The common folk would not know any better, as Jelver would have always been there, but if Jelver were to suddenly occupy a space his influence would be seen and speculated on. Jelver does not encroach or take from the realm, merely encourage it to grow to an optimum point, however if the realm attempts to push back on Jelver’s influence he may leave with his sun-like influence, or worse attempt to over power the realm.