The Heavens Itself

A world of the afterlife, inbetween heaven and hell where the many aspects of life continued more or less normally.

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The Heavens Itself was created by NetherBoats 1 year, 10 months ago

NetherBoats
Playgroup Leader

Havi
Playgroup Member

Albert the repenting flagellant martyr
A 1-Victory Newbie Contractor

niceping
Playgroup Member

SomeGuy142
Playgroup Member

Walmund the novel .
A 0-Victory Newbie Contractor

Purgatory

(Exists in the same Universe as Khortos. Often referred to as the KHORTOS UNIVERSE for the sake of convenience.)

Whether having lived a previous life, or being born here, you are dropped in a mysterious world of dark winding caverns and linear ravines. Its confused inhabitants claim that their ancestors used to come from another world and that this is somewhere inbetween heaven and hell. Purgatory.

The rare bunch that experienced a 'previous life' called their world Khortos. Fewer are able to even recall what happened, with the clearest memory being that they were judged at some point by a group of unknown entities who placed them here. This realm may be the confirmation of beliefs. Maybe a higher power giving a second chance, punishment to re-experience worldly things, or perhaps a temporary stay before the arrival of ultimate judgement. It was even more miserable for the seculars, having failed Pascal's wager. Some outright committed suicide, believing their life to have already been over, while others yearned for concrete answers. And those that live, must keep themselves from being consumed by the darkness.

Those born here, were the lucky ones. Yet, they can feel their soul yearning for something. Something that's not there. Freedom, perhaps?

House Rules

Contractors from The Heavens Itself Are portable, and may play in Contracts in other Playgroups.

Character Creation Rules

Assets forbidden: Assets that turn you into a furry.

 

Backstory Settings

Other than standard ContractRPG rules, there are some things you would want to consider when making a character:
- Background: most importantly whether they are formerly from a world, or are they already born here? (affects stuff like languages)
- Race: Refer to the worldbuilding channel to see races.
- Current status: Where do they live? Do they have a job? Do they have friends or relatives? 
 

Full Setting Description

Creation
 
The origins of this world is a much debated topic. According to the two major religions of the surface world Khortos, known as Orthidism and Alfalyhism. Two celestial beings emerged from a sea of chaos in a dying world, and married in a covenant to restore the world as it once was. Orthi created Sabisia, the god of solidity and stability, whilst Alfalyah (Ortha) at the time tended to the gardens of the surface, creating other deities such as Immilem (goddess of compassion), Alnicti (god of temples and worship), Lantemot (goddess of fertility and healing), Evai (warrior goddess), and Kinolast (god of wisdom and faith). What happens afterwards differ greatly. Alfalyhist claims Orthi's methods of stabilization required great suffering from mortals, and that he was careless which forced Ortha to break the covenant and flee to the other side of a celestial river with the rest of the gods, forming the Divine Council. She would build her own realm of Khortos from the ground up, until Orthi chased after her and Sabisia betrayed her, starting a kind of Heavenly War which the Council won. Orthidists are more split on what happened. The mainstream Luurgist-Orthidian church of the west stated Alfalyah to have betrayed Orthi for her own selfish desires, and Sabisia, a once rightful guardian found a clever way to stop her. The war ended in a stalemate with Orthi agreeing to occupy the underground world and Alfalyah occupying the surface world. Another denomation known as Crusader Orthidism suggested Orthi lost with the Sabisian betrayal never happening, and that he is still fighting to this day. It's certainly strange to find myth so well-integrated to mainstream history. This is mainly due to the unknown and scientifically impossible nature of the Tree of Life and Khortos' existence. Nobody knows where it came from.
 
Furthermore, the mythology of every major ancient culture appears to always have two major forces clashing during the early period of the world, both Alfalyhism and Orthidism had grown to become the two major religions of Khortos, and reported accounts of encounters with Harbingers which records are still kept today by many civilizations appear to refer to these deities from both religions. Although, some very rare exceptions do occur which claim some other deity or even a one true God was mentioned, primarily in records from the far east which mention of a deity named Ameratesu as bearing some semblance to Alfalyah, depending on the local culture the accounts came from. Thus why, to this day the creation story or at least the 'two forces clashing' myth, despite many changes and integrations to other theories of creationism, evolution, etc, has been widely and begrudgingly accepted by scholars as an explanation of where the world came from.