Demiurges

Killing a man is easy. Killing an idea, now that's hard.
  It wasn't just gods and mortals who died in the cataclysm of the End of All Things. The entire nature of reality was brutally rearranged to fit a new order, with things that had once been cosmic truths now discarded and slain. Rules of the cosmos such as Gods Are Powerful Beyond Mortal Ken or Opposing Forces Shall Never Mingle were irrevocably broken. Like Echoes, not all went quietly into oblivion or whatever afterlife ideas go to, but linger. Demiurges are all that remain, undead ideas and concept that refuse to rest, robbed of all power.  

Description

Each Demiurges is different, but all have an abstract appearance. Some appear as a cohesive cloud of geometric shape constantly shifting and collapsing into each other, while others are the last light of a dying star. At least one is the form of an ancient, water-logged city that rises from the depths only to fall back again. No matter their physical appearance, Demiurges are powerless. The rising city can never be reached, the cloud of triangles pass the land without bending a grass, the light burns nothing - Demiurges have lost all they once had. The only power they have is as fuel for mages, as a trapped Demiurge can be harvested for powerful magical components.  
Of course, catching one is anything but easy.
  Demiurges are mindless, and move without purpose or goal. Some re-enact ancient tasks performed to maintain the old world, trying to align stars that no longer exist or balance forces of planes long since broken.  

In the World

Its difficult to say exactly how many Demiurges exist in Ithekshem, but most put it at no more than a handful. Powerful laws were shattered into pieces, and each one could become a potential Demiurge, and many were simply blasted into oblivion. Others are still falling to the world, along with all the other pieces of Celestial debris that still scourge parts of the world. For most, Demiurges are haunting memories of the Old World, or a final part of it to burn as fuel to conquer the new one.
 

Old World Blues

No matter how much some might wish to bring Demiurges back to their cosmic state before, they're out of luck. Ithekshem is different now, and whatever forces that conspired to slay the very underpinnings of reality aren't easy to replicate.   It doesn't stop people from trying. Just as gods and wizards try to recreate the afterlife or reforge planes, some try to heal the Demiurge and mend a broken reality. They too fail.  


Cover image: by Sebastian Wagner

Comments

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Dec 20, 2020 11:48 by Sloqush

Poor Demiurges, going from fundamental cosmic law to spell fuel is certainly a deep fall..so it is probably a good thing that they are mindless, otherwise, they would probably hella sad :/   On a completely different note, I spotted a typo in the last paragraph, as I am assuming you meant "celestial debris" instead of debris made from eels (though that would certainly be something :p)

Dec 20, 2020 12:59

You never know with Ithekshem, it could be eel-stars crashing down on earth!   But no, it's celestial :D Whoops, fixing now


Creator of Araea, Megacorpolis, and many others.
Dec 20, 2020 22:21 by TC

Damn, the metaphysical implications of this are amazing... This is such a fascinating idea, I do feel pretty bad for them though :/

Creator of Arda Almayed
Dec 21, 2020 13:56

The whole article started with "Undead ideas!" :D


Creator of Araea, Megacorpolis, and many others.
Dec 22, 2020 11:13 by Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull

Aww, poor Demiurges. :( Luckily they don't have brains, I guess. Such an interesting (but sad) concept.

Emy x
Explore Etrea
Dec 24, 2020 07:50

Poor little undead ideas


Creator of Araea, Megacorpolis, and many others.
Dec 22, 2020 18:00 by Angantyr

A sad story of ideas, that once were the foundation and now, remain a dream difficult evading a firm grasp. They make for powerful components yet have no power.   What are they used for, for example?

Playing around with words and worlds
Dec 24, 2020 07:54

All things pass, all ideas eventually fade. :)   Oh, all kinds of magical shenanigans. They fuel powerful spells and crafting magic items/artifacts :) A lot of spells will mention costing components or artifacts requiring a certain number of components to make.


Creator of Araea, Megacorpolis, and many others.
Dec 24, 2020 07:02 by Maybe Stewart

I feel like I need to go listen to the angsty music of my high school years now. Such a melancholy yet beautiful idea.

Dec 24, 2020 07:55

Haha, thank you <3 :D


Creator of Araea, Megacorpolis, and many others.
Jan 7, 2021 21:09 by Stormbril

This is absolutely fantastic, I love this idea :D

Jan 8, 2021 09:48

Thank you <3


Creator of Araea, Megacorpolis, and many others.