Hierarchy of the Gods

[cyl]

Hey... this question came to me when I was looking for the most powerful gods I could find in the books (essence 8/9) to see what those were made of to compare them with 3rd circle demons and possibly get a glimpse of an Incarnae / Elemental Dragon's power...


Has anyone ever made a pyramid of the heavenly hierarchy ? (kinda like to regroup all infos in one single file)...


Because I suspect it could come handy for STs willing to use Yu Shan and the bureaus (siddy games mainly).

 

[Brickwall]

It's not a pyramid, unfortunately. The most powerful god in the Bureau of Humanity is not on the same level as a middling god of the Bureau of Divinity, in any sense of the word. I don't feel like drawing a non-euclidian shape right now, so you'll have to guess.

 

[cyl]

Well for the gods it's easy to see the pyramid (though of course we'd be talking about several pyramids in fact). Their ranks is represented by their essence. The higher the essence the higher the rank.


Now of course I would not dare hoping that our dear writers would have made something coherent out of their work... But maybe that can be fixed.

 

[wordman]

The closest I've seen to this probably isn't what you actually want. It's more of a bureaucratic org chart for, say, the Bureau of Heaven or the Bureau of Humanity. Might be of some use, though.

 

[Brickwall]

Rank isn't the only factor in position. Theoretically, one Essence 7 Celestial Lion is the same rank as another Essence 7 Celestial Lion, but the Celestial Lion who guards the gate in Meru isn't going to have the same pull as the Bronze Faction supporter Celestial Lion censor. However, he'll definitely have more pull than the Essence 8 Gold Faction supporting god who the Bronze Faction forced into a position of effective non-power.

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

And you're quickly forgetting Terrestrial and Celestial Gods are another matter.

 

[cyl]

So anyone interested in helping building canon pyramids of 2e published spirits working ?


Could be a useful ressource for ST willing to introduce both Celestial and Terrestrial Orders in their games.

 

[Brickwall]

What part of "there is no pyramid" escapes you? Seriously, divine politics are too complicated to be reduced to anything like a shape.

 

[Tedryn Nist]

The closest you can get to a pyramid of Yu-Shan's hierarchy is the Incarna and the heads of the Bureau of Destiny. Beyond that things quickly dissolve into a tangled ball of yarn.

 

[Ophion]

They actually have ranks, but it doesn't help much.

 

[The zombie cat]

i believe ofishaly (according to the bookkeepers of heaven) there is a nice heretical command structure, and it is relatively easy to understand if extremely wide in scope. bu on top of that you have connections, favor trading, and corruption, gods that have been demoted but are still higher essence than there new position should warent and leverage that personal power into political influence.


by the end of all this you would need an army of bureaucrats backed by solar level charms just to begin to work out where teh true power is being wielded.


Edward