Wednesday, November 7, 2018

The Alphabet of Outer Beings - E is for Eschatology

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E is for Eschatology

Eschatology is the study of, and the beliefs around, the end of the world. This may be a prophesied destruction of creation, the nest step in the cyclic destruction and renewal of the world and the gods themselves, or even a cultural shift that tears down the old world and brings forth a new culture.
This is the way the world ends,
This is the way the world ends,
This is the way the world ends,
Not with a bang, but a d20
(with all apologies to T.S. Eliot)

Table E1: 1d20 Ways to End the World
  1. The world will end in cold and darkness as all the gods, good and evil, perish due to lack of faith from the mortal realm. 
  2. A great war between the forces of law and chaos will consume the world and raze it to the ground. In the end only the godless survivors will know what comes after. 
  3. The end will come when the gods all perish and usher in a dark age bereft of divinity until such time as new gods arise once more from mortals powerful enough to claim the heavens for themselves.
  4. The world will end in fire when the sun god finally tires of the day/night cycle and scours the world clean with divine fire. 
  5. The current age will end when death and darkness are finally conquered and the followers of light and life achieve true paradise.
  6. The gods of a prior age, eternal and slumbering, will wake at last and cast down the current order and usher in a new age.
  7. The world will end with the arrival of a great new power that will upset the balance between law and chaos. 
  8. The great cycle of ages will come to an end and begin again with a final battle between the forces of life and death. 
  9. The forces of Chaos finally overthrow the last of the champions of Law. The mortal realm descends into pure anarchy as mortals tear each other apart without law to hold them together.
  10. The elemental balance will be upset and the world will be torn apart by the competing forces of air, earth, fire, and water raging out of control.
  11. The divine for forsake the mortals, and the world falls to the infernals and their servants becoming a twisted hellscape.
  12. The world will spin on without gods after technology grants mortals the power to slay the gods.
  13. The last souls will be born into the mortal realm, grow old, and perish, leaving the world quiet once more as nature reclaims the worlds. 
  14. The age will end when the mortal races die out and are replaced by new races of mortals, forcing the gods to change and adapt.
  15. The world ends when the gods finally tire of their games meddling in mortal affairs and destroy the mortal realm.
  16. The godkiller escapes it's prison within the world and begins to slay the gods one by one. The age ends with the death of the last god and the end of mortal religion.
  17. Powers unknown and unfathomable from outside of reality itself attack the mortal and divine realms slaying god and mortal indiscriminately. All worlds end as the very planes themselves are torn asunder. 
  18. The planes of reality crash together shattering and reforming with gods and mortals both undergoing change and rebirth.
  19. The forces of Law finally triumph over Chaos resulting in a world of pure law. The age ends with the mortal realm stifled by unending conformity, unchanging and without progress.
  20. The gods of darkness will finally extinguish the sun and snuff out all light and the world will come to an end in darkness and cold.