Hey Game Fans, we’re taking a look at some world building ideas and concepts for the home setting i run. If you’ve checked out my other world building articles, this is the setting that focuses on Lakeport and the larger world around it. Today i’m going to take a look at one of the more interesting gods for the setting, Mah-Shen, The Lord of Emotions. Before i get started on Mah-Shen himself, let me give you a little background for the gods of this world.
Broadly speaking, the gods divide themselves into a variety of groupings and factions, but the grouping i am concerned about today is the old gods and the new gods. The Old gods predate one of the most important conflicts of the setting, the Fey War. These are the gods that originally found this world and shaped it to their designs and interests. They shaped the great forests and mountains, and populated the world with creatures in their own image. The first Gods to walk the world were the gods of Giantkind, the Fey themselves, and the three Elder Wyrms. A few other gods would appear after this first establishment, most notably Ahrimaius, the God of Creation. These are the Gods of antiquity, and they made the world the way it was, for good or for ill.
The Fey War began as internal issue between a small fey enclave and their neighbors. It spiraled out of control to a level of violence and bloodshed that would haunt the old places of the world forever. At the darkest point of the war, when the Me’Ah’Chin hordes looked ready to take the fight to the Gods themselves, the eldest of the Fey Gods, Grandfather Oak, cast the most powerful magic anyone had ever seen. He summoned heroes and champions from across time and space to the Garden where Oak had planted his first seeds. He made them a simple offer. If they would turn back the tide of darkness and save the world, he would bestow upon the seeds of godhood, and make them the new gods of the world.
Heroes to the end, most of these people died during the war to liberate the world. Heroes from thousands of worlds and cultures fought, bled, and died in a distant land to save it from the most terrible monsters they had ever encountered. When the last battle had been fought, and the dead tallied, less than fifty of the thousands of heroes and champions were still standing. A few would succumb to lingering injuries sustained in the war, and their number would be diminished even further by a tragic incident.
The survivors returned to the Garden, and Grandfather Oak kept his word. Each hero or champion became the living embodiment of an idea or a race. One by one, the new Gods and Goddesses organized themselves, and set about the work of trying to heal the lingering damage the war had caused. Some places were never completely healed, and there are distant parts of the world that still think that ancient war rages….but that’s a story for another time.
Mah-Shen, The Even
History
Before the War, very little is known about Mah-Shen. One of only a few heroes who joined the war by themselves, Mah-Shen was early to the fight, and some of the histories of that war put him on the front lines before anyone but the Fey. He didn’t speak of his time before the war, or even the place he was from. Odd in speech and mannerism, Mah-Shen didn’t seem to understand the interactions between other people.
During the War, Mah-Shen spent most of his time searching out and finding the mobile foundries and hidden bases that fueled the war effort. Without his insights and explorations, the war might still be raging to this very day. He led several different teams on desperate runs to destroy these facilities where he found them, and there are many Gods that owe their lives to his efforts.
After the War, Mah-Shen turned his attentions to trying to understand the world around him. He took for his portfolio Emotions, and has spent the balance of his time getting better acquainted with them, though if you were to ask him, he still doesn’t truly understand.
Relations with Others
Mah-Shen is an oddity among his contemporaries, as he doesn’t view relationships the same way everyone else does. He has the best relationship with Pureheart, because he is mostly immune to her manipulations, while allowing her to let down her guard. He’s never been a schemer or manipulator, and as a result he is a thing that she enjoys talking to on a theoretical level. Most of the other gods appreciate his contributions and the power of his domain, but he remains an oddity among them.
Relations with Servants
Mah-Shen’s servants are each aspects of a specific emotion, and with his full complement of attendants, he can experience a simulation of the emotional spectra. His servants are dutiful to him, even the ones that represent negative emotions. He had a servant aspected to desire attempt to take his power at one point, but that servant was made a lesson to the rest, and still maintains a much reduced capacity at his side.
Relations with Mortals
Mah-Shen is a curious figure to mortals, much in the same way they are a curiosity to him. As he represents the full emotional spectrum, he is integral to the living experience of every mortal creature in the world. His priests often take on the roles of counselors and healers of the mind, helping people understand their feelings and how they motivate them to do things.
Unusual Sayings
“What a wondrous experience Emotions are...” Mah-Shen is constantly impressed by the drive and motivation that emotions provide for mortals and spends most of his time studying them.
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