[LP CYOA] Epic

[treave]

EPIC?

Brief summary of the LP's premise: Play an immortal and (possibly) enslave nations with necromancy!

TRIGGER WARNING: ANIME WITHIN

Chapter List:

Book One: The Epic of Ean

Chapter One: Humble Beginnings
Chapter 1.1: To The Beginning
Chapter 1.2: A Small Step
Chapter 1.3: The First Power
Chapter 1.4: Sargon's Ambition
Chapter 1.5: The Battle for Memphis
Chapter 1.6: Tendrils in the Desert
Chapter 1.7: Memphis Falls
Chapter 1.8: Return to Sumeria
Chapter 1.9: A Hand for Trust
Chapter 1.10: At the Walls of Akkad
Chapter 1.11: Prince's Folly
Chapter 1.12: Dam If You Do
Chapter 1.13: The Flood of Akkad

Interlude: Ean of the Akkadian Empire (circa 2300 B.C.)

Chapter Two: Lord of Sumeria
Chapter 2.1: King
Chapter 2.2: Ten Years Later
Chapter 2.3: The Empty City
Chapter 2.4: Tuwanu of the Dead
Chapter 2.5: Battle Plans
Chapter 2.6: Cautious Commander
Chapter 2.7: Misstep
Chapter 2.8: Sumeria Again

Interlude: Ean, Sumerian Wanderer (circa 2000 B.C.)

Chapter Three: The Sands of Egypt
Chapter 3.1: End of the Old Kingdom
Intermission: The Gieloth Cult
Chapter 3.2: Before Heliopolis
Chapter 3.3: Heliopolis - The Night Before the Storm
Chapter 3.4: Beneath the Temple
Chapter 3.5: Fight in the Dark
Chapter 3.6: Incubator
Chapter 3.7: Smothered Flames
Chapter 3.8: Deadly Herbivores
Chapter 3.9: The Sceptre of Ra
Chapter 3.10: Sekhenun's End
Chapter 3.11: Learning
Chapter 3.12: The World is Your Oyster
Chapter 3.13: Egypt Aflame
Chapter 3.14: A Dark Proposal
Chapter 3.15: Astarth's Game
Chapter 3.16: Babylon Strikes
Chapter 3.17: Fortress Tjaru
Chapter 3.18: The Night Before Battle
Chapter 3.19: Solitary Scout
Chapter 3.20: Deadly Desert Deathmatch
Chapter 3.21: Battle for Tjaru
Chapter 3.22: Hold the Wall
Chapter 3.23: Dawn of the Middle Kingdom

Chapter Four: Search for Power
Chapter 4.1: Setting Sail
Chapter 4.2: Aphrodite
Chapter 4.3: Vagaries of the Love Priestess
Chapter 4.4: The Palace of Knossos
Chapter 4.5: The Love Potion
Chapter 4.6: A Tangled Web
Chapter 4.7: The Labyrinth of the Minotaur
Chapter 4.8: Power
Chapter 4.9: Daedalus's Tower
Chapter 4.10: Escape from Knossos
Chapter 4.11: Greece at War
Chapter 4.12: Mehrune's Whereabouts

Interlude: Ean, Reawakened Immortal (circa 1900 B.C.)

Chapter Five: The God-King's Ambitions
Chapter 5.1: A Tiny Little Hunger
Chapter 5.2: Curse and Blessing
Chapter 5.3: The Marks
Chapter 5.4: Mehlu
Chapter 5.5: Gudersu and the Gutians
Chapter 5.6: Gamilsin
Chapter 5.7: East of Babylon
Chapter 5.8: Contingency Plan
Chapter 5.9: Nusku
Chapter 5.10: The Next Step
Chapter 5.11: Revolution
Chapter 5.12: Anbar-Shi
Chapter 5.13: The Besieged Border Fort
Chapter 5.14: Terror in Tjaru
Chapter 5.15: Invade the Delta
Chapter 5.16: Lying in Wait
Chapter 5.17: In the Shadow of Olympus
Chapter 5.18: Peak
Chapter 5.19: Thunderstruck
Chapter 5.20a: Tea-Time With Zeus
Chapter 5.20b: Ruin of Olympus
Chapter 5.21: Cataclysm

Interlude: After the Cataclysm

Chapter Six: The Changing World
Chapter 6.1: What Happens Next
Chapter 6.2: Foundation of Empire
Chapter 6.3: Rendezvous in Athens
Intermission: Terasphagos (~1890 B.C. / 5 A.C.)
Chapter 6.4: The Gutian Dilemma
Chapter 6.5: The Hidden Hand
Chapter 6.6: Ten Years to the Founding
Chapter 6.7: Hattusa Kneels
Chapter 6.8: The Rift Incursion
Intermission: The Empire (30 A.C.)
Chapter 6.9: Miasma Maze
Chapter 6.10: Lodestone and the Rift
Chapter 6.11: The Second Terasphagos Incursion
Chapter 6.12: Son of a Breach
Chapter 6.13: The Great Wall of Korinthos
Chapter 6.14: Purple Rift
Chapter 6.15: A Void Full of Balls
Chapter 6.16: Sphere Diplomacy
Chapter 6.17: Playtime
Chapter 6.18: Home is Where the Heart is

Interlude: Escape

Chapter Seven: Pretenders to the Empire
Chapter 7.1: Prelude to a Storm
Intermission: State of the Empire (~3rd Millennium)
Chapter 7.2: Diogenes Camna
Chapter 7.3: Death, Banquets and the Idea of Love
Chapter 7.4: Surfacing Memories
Chapter 7.5: Murderous Rat, Cunning Snake
Chapter 7.6: House Arrest
Chapter 7.7: Spinning a Web
Chapter 7.8: Travel Plans
Chapter 7.9: Scheming in Crete
Chapter 7.10: Guns and Glory
Chapter 7.11: Cold Winds of Change
Chapter 7.12: Initiation Rites
Chapter 7.13: Into the Darkness
Chapter 7.14: The Wolf's Question
Chapter 7.15: The Wolf's Answer
Chapter 7.16: Shadow on the Steppe
Chapter 7.17: Fort Euphraxes
Chapter 7.18: Silent Fort
Chapter 7.19: Ambush, Campfire and the Young Soldier
Chapter 7.20: Massacre at Fort Euphraxes
Chapter 7.21: Ban's Butchery
Chapter 7.22: The Cursed Sword
Chapter 7.23: Diogenes the Hero

Interlude: Awakening

Chapter Eight: The Divine Throne
Chapter 8.1: The More Things Change
Chapter 8.2: The Lady of the Martyrs
Chapter 8.3: Meeting the Band
Chapter 8.4: First Aid
Chapter 8.5: The Sacred Tree
Chapter 8.6: The Tree of Life
Chapter 8.7: Winds of Omen
Chapter 8.8: The Clear Blue Sky

Epilogue: Flowers of Inanna

Another Epilogue: Somewhere in the multiverse...

___

Book Two: Inheritor of the Stars

Prologue: Registration

Interlude: A Brief History (4000 A.C.)

Chapter One: School Days
Part 1 - Arrival in Olympia
Part 2 - The First Night; The First Day
Part 3 - Home Invasion
Part 4 - Inheritor
Part 5 - Home Invasion: Aftermath
Part 6 - Relius Engura
Part 7 - The Grand Olympus Hotel
Part 8 - Relius's Room
Part 9 - Fleeing the Grand Olympus
Intermission: The Apostles of Hiranyagarbha
Part 10 - The Old Leaves Bookstore
Part 11 - Questions for a Bookstore Manager
Part 12 - Julius Gallardo
Part 13 - Capture
Part 14 - Escape from the Laboratory
Part 15 - In the Meantime
Part 16 - In the Meantime (II)
Part 17 - The Dunamis Coup
Part 18 - Battle on the Stage
Chapter End - Farewell Olympia

Interlude: Space Colonies (4025 A.C.)

Chapter Two: The Beginnings of Conflict
Part 1 - Late Again
Part 2 - CF Anhur
Part 3 - First Kill
Part 4 - Mission Briefing
Part 5 - Flight of the Kaguya-hime
Part 6 - Crossroads
Part 7 - Base 43
Part 8 - Mother Crab
Part 9 - The Scarlet Lightning
Intermission: Major Armed Forces of the World (4025 A.C.)
Part 10 - Escorting The Spirit of Adventure
Part 11 - Meeting Major
Part 12 - Setting the Battlefield
Part 13 - Colony Drop
Part 14 - The Empress Strikes Back
Part 15 - Lost
Part 16 - State Funeral
Part 17 - Conversation in a Funeral Hall
Part 18 - Changing Conflict
Chapter End - Return to the East

Interlude: War Timeline

Chapter Three: Higashi Cases
Part 1 - Working Life
Part 2 - Case of the Missing Lawmaker, Act I
Part 3 - Case of the Missing Lawmaker, Act II
Part 4 - Case of the Missing Lawmaker, Act III
Part 5 - Case of the Missing Lawmaker, Act IV
Part 6 - Case of the Missing Lawmaker, Conclusion
Part 7 - Case of the Cursed Songstress, Act I
Part 8 - Case of the Cursed Songstress, Act II
Part 9 - Case of the Cursed Songstress, Act III
Part 10 - So You Messed Up and You're Now a Cyborg Ninja. Now What?
Intermission: State of Technology (4026 A.C.)
Part 11 - Reload: Case of the Cursed Songstress, Act IV
Part 12 - Case of the Cursed Songstress, Act V
Part 13 - Case of the Cursed Songstress, Act VI
Part 14 - Case of the Cursed Songstress, Conclusion
Part 15 - Vacation in the North
Part 16 - Breakthrough
Part 17 - Immortal
Chapter End - Dive

Chapter Four: World Zero
Part 1 - START
Part 2 - Gate
Part 3 - Field
Part 4 - Countdown
Part 5 - Connection
Chapter End - END

Interlude: All That Has Passed

Chapter Five: Terra Reborn
Part 1 - To The City of Broken Dreams
Part 2 - Reunion in the Old Quarter
Part 3 - New Seeds
Part 4 - House of Knowledge
Part 5 - Planting the Seeds of Hope
Part 6 - A Winning Proposition
Part 7 - The Order of Pithos
Part 8 - A Familiar Face
Part 9 - One More Month
Part 10 - Unseen Threat
Part 11 - Ambush
Part 12 - The Promise of Entertainment
Part 13 - Misjudgement
Part 14 - Ultimatum
Chapter End - Joining the Fleet

Interlude: The League and the Empire

Chapter Six: To The Stars and Beyond
Part 1 - The Gate of Ean
Part 2 - Framejack
Part 3 - Into the Fray
Part 4 - Turmoil in Space
Part 5 - Interlude in the Cracks of Reality
Part 6 - Rendezvous Point
Part 7 - The Belesis
Part 8 - Boarding Party
Part 9 - The Tactician
Part 10 - Fight or Flight
Part 11 - Imperial Crusade
Part 12 - Bring on a War
Part 13 - Backstory
Intermission: The Goddess and the Youth
Part 14 - Meeting at Kamabharata
Part 15 - Break
Part 16 - Tinkering
Part 17 - T-Minus Thirty Days
Part 18 - Battle at Uranus
Part 19 - Man vs Crusade
Part 20 - The Real Crusade
Part 21 - The Mission
Chapter End - The God and the Youth

Interlude: Preparations

Chapter Seven: Destiny's End
Part 1 - Opening: War Council
Part 2 - Departure and Arrival: Gelmark
Part 3 - Delta Hunt
Part 4 - Defector
Part 5 - The Belly of the Beast
Part 6 - Database Break and Entry
Part 7 - Information Medium
Part 8 - Central Brain
Part 9 - Control, Alternate, Delete
Part 10 - Garden of the Gods
Part 11 - Tribulations of the Grand Marshal
Part 12 - Stalker Encounter
Part 13 - Advent of Space Whaling
Part 14 - Crossroads of Life and Death
Part 15 - Stardust to Stardust
Part 16 - The Will That Prevails
Part 17 - Embodiment of the Devourer
Part 18 - Code Masters
Part 19 - The All-Seeing Eye
Part 20 - Those Who Challenge the Divine Will
Chapter End - Man · God · Machine

Epilogue: The Continuing World

Another Epilogue: Somewhere in the multiverse...

-----------------------

A blood-red moon looming in the sky, so massive that the stars can barely be seen under its crimson glow.

Bodies scattered all around you. The rocky plains are full of the newly deceased. Many of them are human. Many others... indescribable. All of them dead - by your hand.

You know it is a dream. You have never seen this place before. You have never seen the strange and terrible creatures that, even in death, could bring about nightmares to the sturdiest warrior. It is a dream, and you know you must awaken.

***

You open your eyes. The sun glares brightly directly above you, and you shade your eyes with your hand. It must be noon, which is strange - your last memory seemed to be of the evening. You try to sit up and almost immediately a sharp pain travels up your spine and spears into your brain. Groaning, you clutch your head and collapse back onto the soft, inviting grass.

What was the last thing you remembered? You rack your aching head and think. The last thing you remember was cresting a hill and seeing a crater, but before that...

***

A. You were marching with a troop of the royal guard, under orders from the king to investigate rumours of a star that had fallen in some rural village. You were chosen because of your skill at arms and cunning in battle, which have earned you respect despite your age.

B. As an assistant to one of the most eminent royal astrologers in the court, it was only natural that your master took you along on the expedition to find the fallen star. Your analytical mind and intelligence has been of great help in his calculations all throughout your tutelage.

C. Your sheep are all you have in this world. Naturally, when one went missing, you went everywhere you could to find it. Your travels with your flock have granted you a healthy body, a charming disposition and the knowledge of survival.

 

[Urist McLurker]

This seems like a bad idea to me to have yet another one of these things. On the other hand, it's treave, so I'll bite.

A

 

[oscar]

A

 

[treave]

I'd already planned out and considered starting this sometime back, and when root posted his I was conflicted whether to go ahead with it or not. In the end, since I have a bit of free time on my hands, decided to just go ahead with it for now.

It's like Kickstarter, if you wait to space it out there'll still be new stuff popping up every day.

 

[oscar]

Hmm I'd prefer to be more of an aristocratic figure with some charm and education -as- well as skill with the sword.

 

[treave]

It's not that free-form, unfortunately. But you'll get plenty of chances to mold the character's personality and skills as the story goes along via choices you make, which may lock out other paths in the future. So if you want the character to be a noble aristocrat, there is a way.

 

[oscar]

Ah yes, but I guess some brute could be fun to play as well

 

[Cassidy]

C

Also, it's getting crowded. Hopefully enough people will have time to put enough votes on all of these threads and not neglect anyone's LP.

 

[Urist McLurker]

Now is better than never I suppose. Besides if anyone goes The Barbarian on us, we won't be dry of this kind of good content.


Well it said the royal guard and that we're cunning in battle right? I wouldn't be so worried about being just a brute, by no means monocle of course, but surely not just a mindless brute.

 

[Lindblum]

A
going to try and make the protagonist into a KKKcodexian masterpiece

 

[Esquilax]

C. Your sheep are all you have in this world. Naturally, when one went missing, you went everywhere you could to find it. Your travels with your flock have granted you a healthy body, a charming disposition and the knowledge of survival.

But have our sheep improved our skill at lovemaking? That's the real question.

A

 

[treave]

I don't forsee too many votes coming in. Probably I shouldn't half-arse it and actually describe the premise of this LP in the first post. >_>

Very well, A it is; lengthy plot exposition and update incoming. Let's see if the premise will be interesting enough for the Playground readers.

 

[treave]

Chapter I: To The Beginning

The pain recedes, and you begin to gather your thoughts.

You are a member of the royal guard serving King Sargon of Akkad. Your earliest memories are of the dusty streets of Kish. As a street urchin, you cultivated a talent for fighting in brawls. You may not have been the strongest, but you certainly were the quickest, and sometimes the dirtiest. You never thought that you would ever join the army, but you did.

King Sargon had a lust for war, and conscription for his army was constant. Short as life may be in the army, at least life there kept you fully fed. However, your elevation to the king’s personal troops barely a year later was not due to your skill and bravery in combat, though you demonstrated no shortage of those. Instead, you rescued him from the attentions of a massive boar on one of his hunts near the Tigris. A daring bait, a cunning trap, and many lucky spear jabs later, you had become – temporarily - one of the king’s favored. It was fortunate that your promotion was not begrudged by that of your fellow soldiers; the boar fed them well for a week.

It was soon after the hunt that reports of a fallen star came in from a village north of Uruk. Apparently, the star had been predicted by some dusty ancestral royal stone carving to fall during the time of King Sargon’s reign. Whosoever was found worthy of the star would be bestowed eternal glory by Enlil himself, who had sent the star to earth to honour the great mortal kings. The king, ever so eager to claim divine favour, sent a retinue of his royal guard along with his chief astrologer. Twenty of you departed from Akkad. The astrologer and his apprentice kept to themselves, poring and muttering over strange numbers that you did not understand.

And so off you went.

The village proved hospitable enough, and the maidens willing. On the next day, you set forth with five of your brothers-in-arms, the astrologer, and his apprentice to investigate the fallen star. As you crested the grassy hill, you beheld the smouldering crater before you…

***
You shake your head. You saw something in that crater, but are unable to recall it. The images flit around the edges of your mind, refusing to be drawn into focus. You can only remember a darkness that moved as if it were alive, and screams…

Well, they certainly screamed well enough.
Too bad their bodies were a bit too fragile for our size, eh?
You’re a bad joker, mate.

You can’t help but laugh. It seems as if you’re hearing things.

Well of course you are, you violent monkey.

You close your eyes. You count to three, three being the only number you can count to, and you open them, and you stare at the crater. There is nothing there now.

There wouldn’t be.
Yeah, we moved into you, didn’t we?
We’re going to try and make you into a… kkk kkzzh masterpiece.

Your mouth is dry. For the first time since you’ve woken up, you open your mouth to speak.
“Who-“

Don’t bother understanding. It’s clear you are no mindless brute but you won’t understand what we are… yet.
I’d really have preferred that you were a more aristocratic figure – you know, charming, good with a sword.

“Well, I am good with a sword.” There was more than one voice. Are they demons? Or are you going mad?

A bit lacking on the charm, and don’t talk back. I bet we could train and pretty you up. Demons wouldn’t do that to you now, would they?
Anyway, it’s a bit tiring to be exhausting our speech so soon, so we’re just going to take a little break.
But don’t feel lonely, we’ll be back. After all, we are going to be spending the rest of eternity together…

The voices subside, and you sigh. It seems like this is going to become a pretty bad week.

***
You are an immortal now. That much is not in dispute. You will never age; you will never die. You will regenerate from the worst of wounds. Even utter and total cremation will not stop your ashes from reforming… eventually.

In addition, you are slowly discovering new abilities you can do with your undying body. Your senses are sharpened - you can hear a pin-drop a metre away. You can rattle tiny objects with your mind. You can will your skin to become a shade darker. You can give your nose an extra pointiness to it. You can create tiny little sparks with which to singe your enemies, or cool them down with a gentle breeze. All of these powers, and more, are yours to command and develop.

The only drawback? Living with a host of voices in your head. Sometimes they give good advice, sometimes bad. And you are not able to act without their consensus. Does that make you a puppet? Maybe. Probably. But the voices do not appear to force you to decide except at critical junctures, so you might think of it as kindly counsel from a gathering of priests at council.

Still, you are immortal now. And as one, you will find your adventures spanning from the fertile plains of Mesopotamia to the far flung reaches of the stars themselves… should you develop your powers correctly. You have the potential to shape cultures and empires, and advance the state of humanity; or to bring it all down and enslave nations with necromancy. Of course, you aren't the only immortal around, and even mortals can be more ingenious than you give them credit for at times...

And who knows? At the end of the universe, you might even find the answers as to why you have been saddled with all this weirdness…

***

Proper choice-making update incoming, so basically you guys are going to be the voices, and this is going to be a pretty high-powered campaign. Think God-Emperor of Mankind, and you have an idea of what the guy can rise to become. You can't die, but make the wrong choices, and you can miss entire centuries at a go, missing out on the chance to influence humanity's development.

 

[oscar]

This is going to be awesome

 

[treave]

Chapter 1.2: A Small Step

The voices have really gone silent.

Taking a deep breath, you get off your back and stand up. There is no more pain – you feel more alive than you have ever felt before. Everything seems clearer and sharper. Your physical condition seems to be better than it ever was. Still, you can’t afford to waste any more time on wondering about yourself. You look around the area, trying to see what has happened to the others that came with you. It does not take you long to find them. Your brothers-in-arms are dead. You are pretty sure of that, seeing as their limbs and heads are now located quite far apart. The astrologer appears to have met the same fate.

“Where is the apprentice?” you wonder.

A second later, your question is answered. A slight shriek is heard from behind you. Wasting no time, you turn around swiftly, drawing your sword and preparing for combat in one fluid move. The apprentice lies sprawled before you, his skin even paler than usual. Even though he was about your age, you had not spoken to him before this throughout the trip, as he had seemed more inclined to keep to his numbers and charts together with his master.

He looks up at you, his eyes dark and wet. Trembling, he asks a question.

“Do you hear them too?”

At that moment, a figure climbs up over the hill and waves at you. Both you and the apprentice turn to look.

“Hey. Hey!”

A tanned youth who does not look much older than yourself sprints down to meet you.

“There’s someone alive after all! I was looking for my sheep and then I came upon this crater and then you guys came banging up the hill in your armor and shields and then something happened… and you were all dead.” without pausing to catch his breath, he rattled off his summary of events. “Not all of us, it seems,” you reply. “Does anyone know what happened, exactly?”

As the sole military figure left, you decide to take a more commanding tone. The apprentice scrambles to his knees and shakes his head, before starting to mutter to himself. The shepherd just grins at you, seemingly relieved just to see someone that wasn’t scattered all over the field.

“No, not really. It seems like I’m getting someone speaking to me in my head, though. I’m sure I’m just unsettled after seeing all… that.” He gestures around at the corpses.

You narrow your eyes. It seems like you are not the only one to hear the voices. As if on cue, you hear the muttering start up again.It looks like the voices are waking… along with the darkness, again flitting along the edges of your mind’s eye.

“So, what are you going to do?” you ask the shepherd.

“I still haven’t found my sheep, for one. I’ll probably be on my way in a while. Do you need me to guide you back to the village?”

What an optimistic and cheerful guy. You turn to the apprentice.
“I’ll be fine… just let me rest for a while. I’ll go back to the village.” he murmurs.

You close your eyes. The muttering is getting louder. You decide on your next course of action…

***

A. You attack without any warning. You can take them. The shepherd looks strong but he is unarmed, and you are confident of dispatching him in one blow. The apprentice can be dealt with easily. No one must know of what happened here. You can blame the failure of the mission on them later.

B. You try to persuade them to not tell anyone the full truth of what they’ve heard and seen here, particularly about the voices. Having had the pleasure of being in the king’s presence before this, you know he will not take kindly to any survivors returning empty-handed. You request the apprentice to concoct a suitable, astrologically-flavored tale for the king as an excuse. Hopefully your lie is not exposed.

C. You ask the shepherd to accompany you and the apprentice to testify to the king about the truth of the events that happened, including the voices that now chatter in your head. King Sargon may be cruel and unyielding, but he is also known to be just. Surely he will understand the situation and allow you a reprieve.

D. You flee into the wilderness. You do not fancy returning to the king at all, and something about the fallen star has changed you. You do not know what, but you feel as if the answers lie elsewhere. Where your path leads you after this is up to the gods.

(I will try to execute any of the choices made to maximum efficiency. You can also suggest alternate choices to be considered, if you want, and if any information is unclear there's the option of asking me to describe it in further detail. Trying not to pack too much detail into the update itself, though I've fleshed out large amounts of the events.)

 

[newcomer]

B

I think A is quite useless; after all, the voices means we are immortal, and I suspect the apprentice also obtained the gift of immortality. Better recruit him as a friend before he turns against us

 

[treave]

I originally planned not to write out the premise and let the readers discover the immortality along with the character at the end of the Mesopotamian chapter. In such a situation A would seem quite viable. Of course now it's kinda spoiled... But I promise I'll try to make the choices harder as we proceed further into the story.

But anyway, a bit of further information:
As a newly-minted immortal your powers are still weak. This also includes your regeneration. Any new immortals might take weeks to regrow their spine and rejoin their head, for example. You can certainly buy enough time to get back to the king so that your story alone is heard, if you want.

 

[newcomer]

I originally planned not to write out the premise and let the readers discover the immortality along with the character at the end of the Mesopotamian chapter. In such a situation A would seem quite viable. Of course now it's kinda spoiled... But I promise I'll try to make the choices harder as we proceed further into the story.

But anyway, a bit of further information:
As a newly-minted immortal your powers are still weak. This also includes your regeneration. Any new immortals might take weeks to regrow their spine and rejoin their head, for example. You can certainly buy enough time to get back to the king so that your story alone is heard, if you want.

I want to know more of this immortality, especially the resurrection part:

-What is the mechanism for recovery from mutilation: is it regrow or rejoining when body parts happen to be close enough
-Extreme case: the head is thrown into volcano, the upper body cremated & thrown into sea, limbs somehow ended in outer space, a few organs are buried... how, when, and where will resurrection occur?

 

[treave]

In general, the rough guidelines are:

1) If there are parts that can rejoin, this takes priority. Wounds and dismemberment heal the quickest if the parts are put together.
2) If a body part is far away enough that rejoining does not happen within a certain period of time, regeneration will occur. Regenerating entire parts take a longer time. Regeneration usually takes priority on the object with greater mass, or the ones currently able to regenerate. How this is known will remain unexplained for now.
3) All of this improves with age/experience/practice, which will accrue at a greater rate during some lengthier timeskips where you settle down and nothing really exciting is going on. Of course, experiencing certain events can trigger a greater advance in your abilities.
4) If I detail this any further we will get bogged down in rules lawyering in the future. Yes, there are ways to stop regeneration completely and you can probably think of some right now. I assure you those methods will work if we need to employ it.

I haven't actually set down any hard rules, because anything that puts you out of commission for many millennia basically ensures that the universe moves on without you, and when you do reappear, your power will be lacking. The character may be immortal, but he's certainly not unbeatable. Throw him into a black hole and that's the end of it, for example. Anyway, there are certain bridges regarding technological ramifications that we will cross when we get to it.

*edited for brevity.

 

[ScubaV]

I like the premise. As for the vote I wanted to be all "There can be only one!". Sadly, I don't think we have any means of stopping their regeneration and it's best not to make enemies for life eternity just yet.

B

 

[Smashing Axe]

B

 

[newcomer]

I like the premise. As for the vote I wanted to be all "There can be only one!". Sadly, I don't think we have any means of stopping their regeneration and it's best not to make enemies for life eternity just yet.

B

Worry not, a few millennium later we can throw him into the black hole

 

[Cassidy]

B.

I think this may end as interesting as Planescape:Torment.

 

[CappenVarra]

Mesopotamia

a vote for B

 

[eklektyk]

B

gets