Eternals and realms

Introduction

The purpose of eternals is to emphasize the fantastic elements of the setting. These elements are Empire's replacement for demons and faeries, they fill the narrative niche for something powerful but inherently alien. They may be antagonists who oppose the Empire, allies who offer aid or creatures that the players can bargain with.

Power

Eternals should not be portrayed as gods, while some eternals are powerful - their powers are comparable with that of an Imperial mage, just very different. Individual eternals may be arrogant or try to assert their dominance, but the baseline for most eternals should be to treat with Imperial mages as equals. One of the fundamental concepts of Empire is that the players represent the most powerful beings in the game world - eternals and the leaders of barbarian and foreign nations may rival the power of players - but they should not exceed it. If you are creating plot using eternals then please make sure you respect this limitation.

To keep the power level of eternals "right", each eternal will ultimately a defined set of powers and a score for "eternal might". Every time they use their powers, this reduces their eternal might - when they have no might left - they can do nothing. Eternal might corresponds to an equivalent level of ritual power for an Imperial mage - but only loosely - the powers that an eternal has are easier for them to access than an Imperial mage, it's just that that is all they can do.

If a good plot genuinely needs it, then we can add another power to an eternals list of known abilities, but this is not something to be done lightly. Limits on a NPC's ability should be seen as a good thing when writing plot - they encourage an NPC to use their intelligence or the PCs to get round the limit. The more powers an eternal gains, the less interesting a character they become.

Familiarity

There is an instinctive desire when creating plot around an eternal to want to create a new eternal that perfectly fits the plot. Partly this makes plot-writing easier, but partly it makes the plot-writing process more satisfying, it is fun to create a new character that is evocative and challenging.

This urge should be resisted at all costs - it flatters the plot writer but does nothing to improve the experience for players. What makes a plot interesting and enjoyable for players is familiarity - think of recurring villains in a TV series like Buffy. If a plot involves an eternal that they have met and interacted with before - that enhances the experience by giving the players context and personal history and it deepens the world and makes it feel more convincing and real. It is also more financially achievable - we are working to build a library of costumes and sets for our eternals over time - but we would rather have 20 amazing costumes and sets than have 50 rubbish ones.

As a result there is a pretty serious lock-down on creating new eternals. It is not that it is impossible - if you have a brilliant idea for an awesome Spring eternal then we will look at it and it is possible that we might add it to the wiki - but you should assume the default answer is no and write and develop accordingly. We will not sanction player events that use new eternals for the same reason. If your realm-based plot genuinely needs a new character then look at creating a herald who is in service to an existing eternal.

There is a complete list of available eternals on the Empire wiki.

Heralds

Heralds are the class of creatures from the realms below eternals, if eternals are akin to faerie lords and demon princes, then heralds are everything that stands beneath them in the mystical pecking order. A herald is normally the servant of an eternal - but a herald can be independent of any eternal, or it could be a treacherous servant with its own agenda. Heralds are always less powerful than eternals, but they can have their own abilities and their own eternal might score to power them.

Although heralds should follow the same guidelines for familiarity as eternals, they are not under the same limitations in terms of creating new ones. There is no set list of heralds and writers (and players running sanctioned events) are free to create their own heralds if it fits better with their plot. Heralds are also more free to act than eternals, they can leave the hall of worlds and move around in Anvil to interact with players. Encounters with eternals should be important and significant moments - encounters with heralds should be much more common place.

Further Reading

• Organization
• Writing
  • Plot Team
  • Style guide
  • Process
  • Tools
• Skirmish
  • Battle Team
  • Style Guide