u/Featherman13

The following documents were illegally obtained via an anonymous source inside the Office of Metaphysical Evaluation and Neutralization (O.M.E.N.), a clandestine international organization operating beyond the oversight of any public government or judicial system.

For over two centuries, O.M.E.N. has maintained the so-called “Veil,” a global campaign of secrecy involving the suppression of supernatural phenomena and the systematic containment, experimentation upon, disappearance, and execution of anomalous entities, practitioners of the arcane, and ordinary civilians alike.

PG2 O.M.E.N FIELD MANUEL

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pw7gIxRSI-foCYs\_xmiPU\_lOx4LY\_uETSZOkqQ2addo/edit?usp=drivesdk

DOCUMENT TITLE: MUMMY

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a9UQCCEKCPisQA3ielZ5QY92qRy5zPd0fE73TltHjL8/edit?usp=drivesdk

DOCUMENT TITLE: REVENANT

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eCYnWAcBh\_Nm7SNl-jEo6bPEf4G8zt3SqnHv\_vCgerQ/edit?usp=drivesdk

DOCUMENT TITLE: VAMPIRE

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UrOosleaR-gipCu8A7qC-n4Bc3d63YSZVHpe68UBOVg/edit?usp=drivesdk

DOCUMENT TITLE: WEREWOLF

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X3dG5E3SeUpgqcRBNnfIT9CDdCmDL2nZIYrnTZsSc7g/edit?usp=drivesdk

DOCUMENT TITLE: MAGIC

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VP8n55ajevXqKcYnhHIDzNEraCymgo1sVAUv-6\_LPIg/edit?usp=drivesdk

DOCUMENT TITLE: —REDACTED—

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TE8YjQ4op770qQuIGIy3RaUJVj7wD\_qv76naB1sikOc/edit?usp=drivesdk

————-

Further recovered documentation including DOCUMENT TITLE: GOBLINOID and DOCUMENT TITLE: MERMAID requires further analysis to uncover redacted notation.

The following documents were illegally obtained via an anonymous source within the Office of Metaphysical Evaluation and Neutralization (O.M.E.N.), a clandestine international organization operating beyond the oversight of any public government or judicial system.

For over two centuries, O.M.E.N. has maintained the so-called “Veil,” a global campaign of secrecy involving the suppression of supernatural phenomena and the systematic containment, experimentation upon, disappearance, and execution of anomalous entities, practitioners of the arcane, and ordinary civilians alike.

PG2 O.M.E.N FIELD MANUEL

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pw7gIxRSI-foCYs\_xmiPU\_lOx4LY\_uETSZOkqQ2addo/edit?usp=drivesdk

DOCUMENT TITLE: MUMMY

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a9UQCCEKCPisQA3ielZ5QY92qRy5zPd0fE73TltHjL8/edit?usp=drivesdk

DOCUMENT TITLE: REVENANT

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eCYnWAcBh\_Nm7SNl-jEo6bPEf4G8zt3SqnHv\_vCgerQ/edit?usp=drivesdk

DOCUMENT TITLE: VAMPIRE

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UrOosleaR-gipCu8A7qC-n4Bc3d63YSZVHpe68UBOVg/edit?usp=drivesdk

DOCUMENT TITLE: MAGIC

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VP8n55ajevXqKcYnhHIDzNEraCymgo1sVAUv-6\_LPIg/edit?usp=drivesdk

DOCUMENT TITLE: WEREWOLF

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X3dG5E3SeUpgqcRBNnfIT9CDdCmDL2nZIYrnTZsSc7g/edit?usp=drivesdk

DOCUMENT TITLE: \*\*REDACTED\*\*

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TE8YjQ4op770qQuIGIy3RaUJVj7wD\_qv76naB1sikOc/edit?usp=drivesdk

————-

Further documentation including DOCUMENT TITLE: GOBLINOID and DOCUMENT TITLE: MERMAID requires further analysis to uncover redacted notation.

(If you’re religious, you might hate this. I mean no disrespect to any theologies or cultures, simply trying to find an interesting way to combine their lore into a single story)

So Divinity is a comic idea I’ve had in the back of my mind for YEARS, but for this specific discussion the actual narrative story doesn’t matter- so I’ll only give the bare basics here.

Divinity is a story revolving around a mortal man, “Braven Grant”, whom, during the early 1900s when he was just a child, inadvertently caused the deaths of himself, his mother, father, sister, and about 2 dozen factory workers in an explosion. Because of this “sin”, the young soul was eternally damned to Hell on a technicality. After growing up in the slums of the underworld, Braven would be chosen by a disgruntled archdemon, the ex right hand of Satan himself, to aid him in a plot to steal the Devil’s soul. Through a series of lucky (or arguably unlucky) events, Braven himself would get his hands on the deity’s soul, being imbued with his supreme demonic powers and released back up into the mortal plane. Though, Braven would quickly find himself now trapped again, this time in the neverending war of Heaven and Hell, and a long standing feud between a family of gods.

Throughout the first arc of Divinity, we’re really only dealing with the Christian gods, Christ and Satan, and their realms of Heaven and Hell, as they’ve seemingly taken complete control over mankind following an event in the late 12th century (in some variations of my lore, this is Ragnarok). As well as a little bit in the realm of Purgatory, now ruled by the Grim Reaper after Lilith- the previous ruler- attempted a coup of both Heaven Hell and was banished.

BUT, this story is NOT just centered around the Christian religion. As the story moves forward I’ve left some breadcrumbs to a wider and stranger divine world. Mainly- the “Cosmic Gods,” who are fundamental forces of the universe and the creators of all our “gods,” throughout history. These human gods, such as Odin, Satan, Sehkmet, as well as those from Mayan, Chinese, Hindu, etc. are all part of a large, chaotic, complicated family.

Now…. My problem. I have a ton of ideas in my head for how to structure this, but I have no clue which one is the most interesting/easiest to understand.

Alright, now the post actually starts-

**Idea 1 MANY OF OUR GODS ARE THE SAME ENTITIES**

In this variation of the lore, the family of gods is much smaller than you’d think. Only 5-7 “gods” truly exist, each being known by a different name across different cultures. Each one is the child/vassal of a cosmic god, with specific powers and responsibilities related to their parent’s domains. Throughout the millennia, inconsistencies in behavior or roles simply came from the entities’ changing personalities as they grew older. The 3 main ones of the current story are the children/vassals of the Cosmic God of Death- who himself acts as the omnipresent “God” we worship in Christian mythology.

Satan Hades, Loki, Set, and Yuma.

Lilith was Hectate, Isis, Hel, and Persephone

Christ was Baldr, Osiris, and Quetzalcoatl

As I add more characters- currently have Odin and Ares set to join the story- they will similarly be matched with deities or figures from other cultures.

This family used to be 1 single pantheon, however after Satan/Loki initiated Ragnorak, he massacred most of his siblings and took control of mankind, only leaving a few survivors- Christ/Baldr, who had always been way of his cruel brother. Lilith, who both Christ and Satan have been eternally in love with (yeah sorry, I know it’s a family but they’re technically not blood siblings and this fits the lore of Set/Isis/Osiris, and Hades/Persephone really well). Tyr/Ares/Sehkmet, who aided Satan in Ragnorak. And Odin/Thoth/idk, the previous leader of the pantheon.

The pros of this method:

-There’s a lot less to keep track of, and a lot of inconsistencies in the lore can be explained away with “humans got it wrong’

The cons of this method:

-My main character stole the soul of Satan, and gained specifically ‘demonic’ powers, so Satan also being a bunch of other entities who don’t really have that “fire and brimstone” theme is strange.

-There are a LOT of inconsistencies. Some gods have no close match in another mythology, and explaining absolutely all of it with “nah humans got that part wrong” or “nah humans made that one up completely” doesn’t feel right. Some of them have matches but they are so ridiculously different in terms of personality or domain that it becomes difficult to imagine they’re actually just the same entity.

**Idea 2 EACH PANTHEON IS ITS OWN FAMILY, CREATING A DIVINE EXTENDED FAMILY**

In this variation of the lore, each pantheon- like Greek/Roman, Egyptian, Norse, Chinese, Hindu, Christian etc. are each their own complete families who ruled over different regions and eras of Earth, their influence and power being constantly taken from each other in this neverending struggle. Potentially they each are the children of a different cosmic god (this might not happen, as it only works for the Christian trio), with the Christian gods being the children of the Cosmic God of Death, and managing to win this power and dispose of their cousins in some fashion (unclear on how or why). They now hold total control over mankind, with all other families being relegated to their weakened realms.

The pros of this method:

-Every god or figure you can think of can exist no problem, as they all belong to a massive family tree

-Easily can explain other realms I’d want to visit in the story like Valhalla, Olympus, Duat, etc. as they are simply the same as Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell, but tied to a cosmic gods who are unrelated to death.

The cons of this method:

-Domains make no sense unless I completely change the concept of Cosmic Gods. Originally each one was similar to our gods in that they drew power and controlled specific aspects of the universe. But for this to work, they’d all have to be the same overarching ‘gods’ with no real ties to any particular domain, that way it makes sense why each pantheon has similar gods. But that also makes the whole connection to the afterlife, which is a huge part of the actual story, feel kinda out of place?

-Why and how did the Christian gods gain so much influence over the other families? I don’t know, and I don’t like that i don’t know.

——-

Alright, I had a few more ideas, but they’re sorta just slight variations of these 2. Also, if you were reading this and had your own ideas of how you’d handle it. PLEASE let me know, you don’t have to just pick Idea 1 or 2, I want real advice as to how I could clean all this up.

Oh and my unofficial 3rd idea was to just scrap all the other mythology stuff and focus the whole story solely on Heaven and Hell. Which tbh, is probably the best option, i figured I’d see if I could find a way for my main character to also interact with more interesting characters. (Plus the “lore” I could pull from in Christian/Catholic “mythology” is suuuuuuper scarce in comparison to others).

Sorry, I know this is wildly vague and probably difficult to answer, I’m just looking for anyone who’s gone through a similar process and found a relatively simple way to do it.

If this type of post strictly aint allowed, do yo thang mods.

So I’ve grown a bit tired of my written lore, as I started it well over 7 years ago when I pretty young, and am now planning on scrapping most of it to restart from the ground up.

Obviously I’m gonna retain some events and ideas from the original timeline, but a lot of the early ages of history in “Dracon” are getting completely changed- which has led to some tricky contradictions with certain events I hoped on keeping.

Anyway, I’m just looking for advice from anyone who’s done something like this? Taken their world, stripped it down for the best parts, and then rewrote it around those parts?

Or just any general advice of how you’d go about organizing these ideas?