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| Not was Bruce had in mind I suspect ... |
I'll be honest, I don't get what Ravers are supposed to be. The book says they are formed/born from the remains of a slain god and are motivated to corruption and murder. But what specifically is a Raver and why do they behave the way they do? Are they some sort of shattered fragment of the god's psyche, driven insane in death? Are they just mindless portions of divine energy given form within the rotting fragment of a dead god's body?
Let's break it down and see if we can learn anything...
Raver noun
- informal a person who regularly goes to raves.
- a person who talks wildly or incoherently, as if delirious or insane.
So yeah ... pretty sure the first definition need not apply here. Then again maybe Nulumriel throws some bitchin' parties... digressing ...
A person who talks wildly or incoherently, as if delirious or insane. OK, now we're getting somewhere. So we can assume that Ravers are meant to be wild, incoherent, delirious, and/or insane. Broadly speaking I think we can assume that the intent is to have an unpredictable, and incomprehensible enemy fueled by divine power and formed from dead gods. So, insofar as trying to discern why a raver acts the way it acts we're left, as players to scratch our heads and hope to figure it out if we're lucky. As GMs, this signals to me that we can assign whatever reasoning we desire to the actions and motives of the bizarre creatures.
I could see Ravers as trying to accomplish some aspect of the dead god's own domain responsibilities but with just a shattered and fractured portion of that god's essence they do so in strange and twisted ways. As an example The Skin was once part of a god who judged a soul's goodness and worth. In some strange way this creature now berates and demeans the souls in its domain perhaps because it is only capable of seeing the unworthy aspects of a soul and calling those out.
Physically ravers don't seem to have any direct correspondence to the portion of godly flesh they inhabit. Given the behaviour of The Skin one might expect it to take the form of the god's tongue or lips, instead it's skin. Again, given the shattered and incoherent aspects of the creatures this isn't entirely unreasonable. Divine power courses through these creatures, and should be capable of many things. A Raver formed from a godly eye may well seek to continue working a divine craft, using optic nerves as tendrils to beat and form "raw materials" (e.g. people) into "divine wonders" (e.g. icky messes or monsters).
I think I'll need to spend still more time thinking how best to use Ravers in any future games I run, but I like the potential. For instance I especially like the thought that a godling who shares the same domain as the god from which the Raver spawned might be able to slay a Raver and gain from its freed divine essence their first divine shift(s).
How about you? How do you see Ravers in Gods of the Fall? Do you have any cool plans to use them in your games?
