(Hopefully) A different take on fantasy stories with Adventurers, different races and "Heroes"

Allow me to explain.

Recently, I started to entertain a certain idea after reading some mangas of mixed qualities (some good, some bad) where they usually have the similar premise of "protagonist being betrayed or kicked out of the adventurer/Hero's party for being supposedly weak and useless". The quality of story writing in some of these was bad enough to make me think I could potentially write a better story with such premise. And, then I started to lay some groundwork for the world building and the story itself. Some games and universes, such as Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, and Rise of Legends served as bit of inspiration for the setting.

In this setting, magic exists, and the technology of the world is somewhere around early Reneissance as gunpowder weaponry exist but it still does not overshadow melee weapons like spears, axes, sowrds, bows and crossbows. There would be some elements of Steampunk and Magitek. The country where the main story would take place will be an empire (still thinking of the name, but I was thinking something Italian inspired), where other races coexist alongside Humans. Those races are Elves, Dwarfs and Beastkin. Other sentient races, like Fey Folk, Orcs, Goblins and whatnot would also exist. I'll get to them later.

Now, how would I explain the existence of Adventurers, Adventurer parties and guilds organizing them? Plenty of mangas provide weak to no explanation behind their existence. Here's my idea how I would justify them existing, alongside how to rationalize monster-filled "dungeons" - the general idea is to have the empire and other use these adventurers as scouts and to deal with smaller scale threats to cities and villages (you could see them as sorta pest control, but for monsters). Dungeons count among them, as they often are monster infestations army may have neglected to neutralize before that now needs to be cleared up. Being renowned Adventurers does open up more career options, such as joining the military of the Empire or receiving recommendations to join the Colleges of Magic or other benefits. In case adventurers encounter greater threat, such as too big monster population, larger than normal concentration of bandits or presence of stronger monsters, it is their responsibility to inform the army about the threat and assist them in suppressing the danger. Occasionally, the Empire might draft the adventurers into the army to serve as official scouts or be assigned to specialized batallions that might excel in siege, infiltration or monster hunting. Some higher ranking Adventurers or instructors for them might be former soldiers themselves.
These "dungeons" are more often than not either abandoned ruins that became monster nests, destroyed villages that were taken over by them, ruins where some dumbass cultists tried to summon demons and bind them to their will but failed, or place where some mad sorcerers and scientists tried to play God, resulting in the place becoming a home for the undead or mutants. Reasons behind their creation can vary, but what remains is that these dungeons can occasionally threaten trade routes or even cities. They need to be cleared out. If the threat is not that big, Adventurers can handle neutralizing them themselves. It would be their responsibility to inform or recover any valuables to the imperial officials and administration. But, if threat level is too high, Adventurers are ordered to inform the army and aid them in neutralizing these locations. Adventurers with high renown and trust from the nation could potentially keep any artifact weapons or equipment they would find when clearing up such dungeons and nests. However, in most cases (especially with parties of low ranking), they would have to hand these artifacts over but in return receive master-crafted and custom-made equipment as compensation.

The "Hero" and class thing most fantasy mangas have. More often than not, it did annoy me how in some of them "Hero" is treated as a class and how the one having said class was arrogant, conceited, abusive and full of themselves because they are the destined "hero" chosen by the gods to save the world from "demon lord". To avoid that, I decided to not include "Hero" as a class (or just do away with RPG class system completely) or have gods bless someone from their birth because destiny says so. Instead, there would be people called "Chosen", who managed to earn a specific god's respect and admiration, or forge a pact with them (if you prove interesting enough to be worth the investment). There is no such thing as someone being born Chosen. You gotta earn that position. And, if you fail or worse, betray that god, say bye-bye to your benefits. While these benefits would not turn them into One-Man Army who could obliterate entire cities, they would still be formidable characters whose presence could help tip the balance in a battle, especially between armies. Also, instead of just one god, there would be a pantheon of gods people pray to. Some races have their exclusive gods, and some gods are revered by all races.

Now, for the main story.
The general idea of a premise where the protagonist (let's call him Petruzzo for now) quits from the Adventurer party he is a part of because he was ridiculed and underestimated too many times by the leader and two of his stooges (together with Petruzzo, the party counted 8 people). The leader would be a pompous and incompetent noble, who only got so far thanks to him relying on others, especially the protagonist. Pretty standard. However, the protagonist would not be some random guy with super OP powers he didn't get to show off, but rather someone who was a soldier and served 3 years in the army during crusades against monsters and demons. The protagonist is around 20 years old, and he joined the crusade when he was 16 (I had an idea that he either lied about being 17 years old when he joined the army, or that recruitment age or age when one is permitted to become an adventurer is around 16-17 years old). The protagonist served both as a soldier alongside the Grand Marshall and worked with a quartermaster of the army (the merchant background of his family let him learn some things that made him a good apprentice to the quartermaster). As a result, Petruzzo was experienced in the arts of logistics and support, and had respectable combat experience. Because the rest of the party was less experienced than him, Petruzzo chose to handle the logistics part of the party and took on supporting role to help the rest of the party grow and keep them alive. Buffs, debuffs, healing and wounding high priority targets were his main battlefield responsibilities. But, the leader of the party and his stooges disrespected and mocked him regularly, often questioning many of the protagonist's decisions and plans. Despite the fact Petruzzo HELPED keep the party alive and efficient. He really WANTED to hurt that noble for his idiocy time and time again, but Petruzzo would get himself in hot water if he did that. So, he grit their teeth and worked with them until he was belittled one too many times and denied again the funds to get better equipment.
So, in a fit of rage, Petruzzo officially filed his resignation and handed it to the noble before leaving the tavern they were at and wishing him a messy death. While the noble and his stooges laughed at Petruzzo, the rest of the party felt they are in big trouble due to him leaving. While they tried to support him, the noble was too much for him to tolerate.
Out of a job, Petruzzo contemplated his next move. He considered returning to the military, hoping his past experience with the Grand Marshall will let him get a decent position. However, two of his colleagues who served alongside him under the Grand Marshall during the crusade approached him with an offer. The three of them would form their own Adventurer party and together they would reclaim a temple to one of many gods and goddesses of the Empire that's been supposedly infested with monsters. A mission that would see Petruzzo get mortally wounded and in an act of divine intervention be saved from dying and become one of the "Chosen". His life would take a more perilous turn and have him take on the enemies from within and without to the Empire...

Please, forgive me for the wall of text. I have some plans for the world building in regards to "creation myth" for Elves, Dwarfs, Humans and Beastkin, but I will post it later once we get the discussion going. In the meantime, what do you people think? Is this idea worth developing and exploring? And, what advice or suggestions would you give me?

I will become a great writer one day! Hopefully...

How about making the unknown divinity (as I imagine this temple being a small and forgettable one due to how many monsters having the time to nest there) being someone minor and obscure who just been waiting for anyone to come along and bring an actual offering to it, rather than the "offerings" the monsters living in the temple brings forth in the form of bones or other things they can't digest themselves, like broken weapons, jewelry, half-digested clothing, a couple of broken shields, arrowheads, broken vials, backpacks, scraps of skin with tattoos on them (the monsters didn't like the taste of the ink since to them, it's like putting "soy sauce on an ice-cream", so they just carve the pieces with ink on them away from the food before eating it.) and other things adventurers could carry.

And when Petruzzo ends up on the altar, shoving aside all the leftovers from it and prays while trying to fend off the monster trying to eat him while on it, the obscure deity, puzzled over hearing an actual human prayer aimed not at anyone else but could be for it, after all this time, decides to watch a little to see where this goes.

The man fights off the monster, using the leftovers as improvised weapons, until he gets his hands on a broken wine-bottle and shoves it inside the monster's mouth while kneeing its lower jaw up, impaling its skull from the inside with its own jaw and killing it instantly.

Free, he finally relax and thanks whatever divinity he can imagine for surviving this.

And THIS is when the obscure, forgotten, deity introduces itself.

"Hello. Hi. Uhh... You're welcome?"

Panic from the man who flies off the altar and looks around. The Deity continues.

"FEAR NOT! For I am NO GHOST! I AM... I am?... Uhhhhh..."

The deity have to think a bit, since it has been "worshiped" by the monsters for so long that it have forgotten its original purpose. Or name for that matter.

"I think... wait, I almost got it..."

"I'm leaving." The man says and turns around. "Sorry for disrupting your tomb."

"BUT I'm not a ghost! WAIT! I-I GOT IT!" The deity clears its throat as it goes with the noise the monsters made whenever it dumped the remnants of their meals at the altar. "I... am "Noone"! The "Goddess of Trash"!"

...

Sorry, I got carried away there.

I think there might be a premise with a deity over something that sounds absurd, but in reality, could prove useful depending on how its blessing is used.

After all "One man's trash is another's treasure."

"If there's problems, there's simple solutions."

My idea for Petruzzo becoming a Chosen was a bit more dramatic - basically him and his two companions (and some unfortunate engineer, who was kidnapped or trapped in the temple and seperated from his steam walker) trapped in the main altair room, with him already mortally wounded either via impalement or slash across his body and him on death's door. His comrades desperately trying to defend themselves from the occupants (either monsters, dangerously organized bandits or even some conspirators planning to cause chaos in the empire) while still in shock and despair over Petruzzo's imminent demise. With his final breath, Petruzzo prays and begs the god of this temple to save his comrades. And, the miracle did happen as the deity answered his call, offering to make Petruzzo their Chosen. Petruzzo's blood splashed across the deity's statue was accepted as an offering (normally, that deity wouldn't accept it as an offering due to Petruzzo not spilling his blood willingly and the splash happening due to him suffering a mortal wound) and his desperate plea for help was enough to draw that deity's attention. Having no other choice, Petruzzo accepted the offer to become their Chosen. With his wounds healed and being bestowed with new powers, Petruzzo was able to aid his comrades in clearing out the rest of the temple. Afterwards, Petruzzo would collapse from exhaustion and his body still getting accustomed to his new powers. He would need to contact Grand Marshall and ask him for help...
I admit, now I noticing some holes in my planned story - WHY was the temple not cleared out before and to WHOM the temple was dedicated to. Was the deity obscure, or just a minor deity who has less followers than the main deities, including the All-Mother and creator gods for Elves, Dwarfs, Humans and Beastkin. I also need to decide what powers would Petruzzo get from that deal. His moment in the temple would be treated as A Taste of Power,and throughout the story, he would need to strengthen his body and properly master his new abilities if he plans to live longer. After all, Chosen are not immortal and he might still die in action.

[EDIT]: I had some ideas for Petruzzo, where he would gain some powers that would make him similar to Corvo Attano from Dishonored, and draw some inspiration from Lore of Shadows, Heavens and Beasts from Warhammer.

Edited by ArcticDog18 on Sep 24th 2023 at 8:52:40 PM

I will become a great writer one day! Hopefully...

Brainstorming is fun, isn't it?

Here are some ideas.

The reason for the temple not being cleared out already and the identity of the unknown deity residing in it.

The temple: Due to the monsters residing there being unusually/alarmingly smarter than what people expect from them, having learned to understand human language and how to write it, and being the reason the request exists in the first place in the guild. They sent it there in order to get some fine free food every so often.

And the reason for them being so smart, is thanks to the deity residing there.

The deity: The deity is absurdly obscure and unknown, due to being older than even the "first" known god known to man, and all of its worshipers have perished long before the other religions spread their influences across the world.

The only worshipers it having left into the present day, being the monsters residing in one of its few intact temples. And since it had no one else, it decided to bless the monsters for their generational-lifelong "devotion" by residing at its seat. Making them gradually smarter and smarter as they evolved further and further according to what they as a life-form, needed on instinctual level which their "god" provided for them.

"/// the Patron Goddess of Monsters" named after the slash-marks they kept making on its altar and walls of its temple.

And its reasoning for picking the MC being, that from its perspective, the MC is a bigger monster than its former worshipers due to slaughtering all of them "just because" rather than just one or two for food.

And for the privileges...

An equal exchange.

The Deity takes what the MC "doesn't need", aka its right to be called "human" alongside his human body and in return, the ability to transform into monsters.

With the catch being that the only form he can't assume ever again being his human form.

And from there, you have an MC who got quite an interesting journey ahead of him in a world where people have to "earn" the blessings of the gods, he was given a "curse" by one which he decides to find a way to somehow break and regain his taken away human form. Which is not the easiest since the deity really is that old and all but forgotten by the world, even other gods. All while he has to make due with his new shifting body and powers that without doubt would have him killed by society if they ever found out about it or branded a heretic by the churches thanks to the ancient forgotten deity now supporting him. Forcing him to try and seek help from the most unexpected places on his adventure.

...

Just some brainstorming, that's all.

Edited by Trainbarrel on Sep 25th 2023 at 5:15:28 PM

"If there's problems, there's simple solutions."

Skimming because I don't have much time. But I might be able to offer an alt justification for guilds and adventures in general. It also kinda builds on the pest control aspect.

That being that they are primarily the outcasts and misfits of soceity. The underclasses, the deposed nobles, the stateless, the ex-cons, etc. With the monsters being a dangerous threat, monster slaying is a job that is only taken by those desperate enough for it, those with no other options of social mobility.

Adventurers therefore have a high mortality rate, but the survivors end up becoming skilled enough to take on slightly more respectable gigs like merc work, and even more successful ones might end up as generals, martial teachers or the owners of the guild themselves.

Speaking of which, the guilds are the government's method of maintenance on the unprivileged populations. Either they die en masse, or they thrive enought to be of use to the aristocracy.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Sep 25th 2023 at 8:00:37 AM

Interesting idea, with him into shifting into monstrous forms. I was considering having non-demonic shapeshifters in the universe. Also, Patron Goddess of Monsters. I could potentially work with this as a base for the setting.
To further help with future brainstorming, allow me to provide some more information on the four main races inhabiting the Empire and neighboring countries - Elves, Dwarfs, Humans and Beastkin. My idea for a "creation myth" for these races is that they were created by gods affiliated with All-Mother to oppose 5 Dark Gods and their minions, referred to as "Fiends" or "Abyssians". Back when the gods were trying to create the world. Dark Gods attacked it and the deities trying to create it. Since they couldn't fight alone, All-Mother and other deities created races that would help them wage war.
The first two races created were Elves and Dwarfs. These races were gifted incredible longevity Elves were strongly attuned to "Aether", or now commonly known as "Magic", and to the world surrounding them. Dwarfs, on the other hand, were designed to be hardy, tough and innovative. They received the gifts of knowledge that made them expert engineers, builders and blacksmiths. Dwarfs were meant to serve as the main frontline thanks to their sturdy bodies and even sturdier armor, while the elves were meant to provide them aid with magic. Dwarfs were meant to create cities and fortresses, whhile Elves created magic wards to negate Abyssian magic and purify the land from their corruption.
While these both races performed as intended, there were issues. Their contrasting personalities (an unintended side effect of rivalring gods designing them and giving them their boons) sometimes led to rivalries and quarelling between them, which sometimes disrupted cohesion of their forces. And, while both races were long-lived (especially elves), they had trouble replenishing their losses. The price for their longevity was low fertility rate. So, gods created a third race to fill in those gaps and remedy those shortcomings.
Humanity
Humans did not live long as Dwarfs or especially Elves. However, they made up for it for how fast they could reproduce and how Humans were designed by gods to be able to have children with the first two races, resulting in half-elves and half-dwarfs (they don't live as long as their pure-blooded kin, but at least they are more fertile). In addition, Humans were gifted with versatility and ability to learn faster than the first two races to allow them to fill in combat and societal roles when needed. While they couldn't match the expertise when it comes to magic, engineering or weapon crafting of Elves and Dwarfs (there were some rare cases where some Human individuals indeed reached their level), they at least achieved acceptable levels of expertise, allowing the alliance to field more mages, engineers and so on. After their introduction, Humanity became the backbone of the anti-Abyssian coalition, while Elves and Dwarfs took on more elite and specialized roles and became mentors to Humanity.
Fourth race to be created for this war, the Beastkin, were an experiment to create auxiliary forces. By using human template and mixing it with the raw Beast Magic energy, they created the first Beastkin. Aside from serving as skirmishers and shook troops, Beastkin also had another role - aid the first three races in taming various animals and beasts. Due to the war between All-Mother's pantheon and Dark Gods, raw elemental magic ran rampant. And, due to Beast Magic (which was used to create animals) running rampant, all various of monsters like Wyverns, Dragons, Griffons and so on started to populate the world. The other reason Beastkin were created was to help either exterminate more dangerous and malevolent monster races, or to help rein them in and possibly tame them. While some gods were skeptical at first with their creation (primarily through how some many of them vastly differed in appearance, varying between Little Bit Beastly and Beast Man), they nevertheless fulfilled their role and were accepted by both the gods and by the first three races. It was thanks to Beastkin that it was possible to tame other animals and beasts than horses, dogs or lions. It is heavily attributed to the Beastkin that Humans and Elves can field flying cavalry in forms of Pegasi and Griffon Riders, or even be able to ride atop certain Dragon species.
This is it about the "creation myth" so far. As for the gods, I need to plan out their pantheon. There would be plenty of them, with some being revered by all races (like the All-Mother), while some would be prayed to exclusively by one or two races. I would divide the pantheon into Major Gods and Minor Gods. And, I had an idea that the deity of that temple where Petruzzo became a Chosen would be to one Minor God whose cult waned in the past (explaining why their temple was overrun for so long and why no one cleaned it up yet), and only recently the said cult would see a resurgence in popularity and believers (explaining why Petruzzo and his friends risked their lives to purge it from monsters).
Trainbarrel, your suggestion might inspire me where to go with Petruzzo's powers. While I wouldn't make him be seen as some kind of Antichrist or heretic, his new powers as Chosen would require him to contact Grand Marshall and ask him for help with mastering them. Potentially, Petruzzo in similar case could become a kind of Messiah to the cult of that deity, and his adventures would not only lead him and his companions to fight the enemies of the Empire from within and without, but also had him re-establish the cult?

[EDIT] Morning Star 1337, I wasn't considering the Adventurer guild to be used in such a way in the Empire (perhaps in other nations in the setting). However, some of your ideas there are good and I like them. Adventurer Guild in the Empire serving as a sort of gathering for outcasts and misfits of society sounds interesting. Empire would present becoming an Adventurer as a way to climb the social ladder for the destitute (if they survive and serve well long enough) and a chance for some to redeem themselves. The officers from the Imperial Army, mercenary companies and members of other guilds and colleges (like the College of Magic) would pay close attention to the Adventurers in search of new candidates for their ranks. Adventurer Guild would be like a proving ground to see who has the will and determination to claw their way to the stop while still staying alive. But, I won't treat the Adventurer Guild as way of maintaining the unprivelaged masses. Some members of Adventurer's Guild would be nobles from distinguished houses (some would consider it a quick way to get famous, while some would be sent to work as an Adventurer to educate them about the world and so on). Also, my initial idea for the genesis of Adventurer's Guild in the Empire would be that some soldiers, especially Imperial Scouts and Imperial Monster Hunters would band together to create this Guild to help maintain peace and stability across the Empire while also alleviating some stress on the main army.

Edited by ArcticDog18 on Sep 25th 2023 at 5:26:17 PM

I will become a great writer one day! Hopefully...

I am going to be on a roll for the brainstorming now...

Going wild!

...

Yeah, the MC is going to have a "fun" time trying to find a form that won't immediately turn the guards or people against him or something so rare that he won't be hunted down for rare materials.

He could either choose something "plausibly domesticated" and pretend he belongs to one of his companions, or something so small that he could be carried around in one of their pockets. The common factor of the forms being that they don't have any human traits could prove a hurdle for him.

Not to mention the special abilities certain monsters have which they have learned to master from birth which he now have to take an extreme crash-course on to keep them from harming people.

Or the fact that there is no test in the Empire that can't prove he isn't just a monster pretending to be the MC, thanks to "///" (The name of the Deity, thanks to having worshiped by monsters for so long), so people would have to learn to trust him as well despite not looking human anymore.

What a way to explore "prejudice" in this universe through the adventure.

And for the cult, he is in for one uphill battle, since he not only needs to find anything that carry records from discoveries regarding the time-period when "///" was active, but find a good reliable necromancer since the cult itself died in ancient times and "///" itself only surviving thanks to the monsters doing their version of worship of it into the present day.

"///" might be able to give a pointer or two, but for real progress, the MC is going to have to find the cult's original founding members in order to get help with his "blessing". And going by the MC's case, it is highly likely these founding members have all become monsters themselves.

Quite bizarre monsters, since they wished for "///'s" blessing in earnest and received it then and there, but still monsters.

Which would be a nice showcase on what is waiting for the MC if he ever let's go off his own identity and humanity within his changing monster-shape whenever he finally finds one of the members.

Since now when their God have "Chosen" someone at long last, they will be at least open for a meeting with that one. Even if they are located in spots that's really not "human-friendly" to say the least. Or close-by.

He's definitely going to need some serious specialists to find the paths to these places.

The closest one residing in the depths within the catacombs of "The City", erased from memory and guarded by "The Sandstorm", its acolytes which also serve extremely unfriendly against anyone even remotely human-looking who might end up within the very vicinity of the desert they haunt at night, singing their guttural prehistoric choir against the full-moon in a vague imitation of the religious rites the Acolyte practiced and taught their ancestors so, so, so long ago. The original meaning and text lost, but still, the chorus and musical tones still intact. Only the Acolyte knows the lyrics and meaning, but it has been in hibernation for the last 65 million years as of present time. ("///"'s blessing gave it the body to pull it off), dreaming of a past long gone.

The dangers plenty, either by trying to find "The City" across a vast desert nobody have been able to map out, thanks to "The Sandstorm". And if the storm itself catch them, it will gnaw every human and demi-human down to the bones in a painfully long process. And if they can reach "The City", there's dozens of tunnels, all leading into an underground cave-system of tunnels, which leads so deep into the ground, that if you get lost or lose the torch, or if you stumble into "The Sandstorm" passing through while in there, you might end up starved to death and/or gnawed to bones before even reaching the catacombs. Which, also holds another challenge in the form of containing not one, but hundreds of stone-coffins lined up there. Only one being the "Doorway" where the Acolyte resides. The rest being divided like this: Half of them being mimics, a quarter being empty, and the rest containing bodies which belongs to the ancestors of "The Sandstorm" and will increase the risk of drawing it towards the Catacombs by 10% for each ancestor-coffin opened.

And "The Sandstorm" is going to go through the Catacombs anyway both before and after their "chorus" as they need to go through the "Doorway" themselves in order to rest near the Acolyte as its presence have served as a soothing existence for them for longer than they can bother to remember, genetically imprinted onto it like baby-chicks to their parent.

To summarize this quest: Not only does any adventurer need to cross the desert, avoid "The Sandstorm" while doing so, find "The City", find the right tunnel, find their way through a slippery maze of caverns (not all passages made for humans), get into the catacombs, find the right coffin (the Doorway) among hundreds of other identical ones without getting eaten by mimics or open more than nine ancestor-coffins in total by mistake, get into the "Doorway", figure out how to wake up the Acolyte, get the desired outcome from talking with the Acolyte (who does not speak any human tongues whatsoever,) BEFORE "The Sandstorm" comes back and ends it prematurely, and then get out of there without getting caught by "The Sandstorm" on the way out of both "Catacombs", "City" and desert.

This is the easiest founding member of the Cult of "///" quest on the list to find.

(Now I am tempted to make names for them.)

And the MC would have the interest to find them, as the best hope he got, is if the Cult is re-established, "///" might remove the "curse" off from him now when there are others anchoring it to this reality, rather than just him (thanks again to having killed off the monsters that alone were worshiping "///" and keeping them relevant even into present day.) giving it a shot.

Of course, the other gods might not be happy with having one which predates them all by a wide margin resurface into a time of humanity, since this is after all "The Patron Goddess of Monsters" here, and they might fear that this one might take all of mankind's races and turn them into monsters with its authority, creating an "Primordial Eden" without mankind included in it, and stripping the other gods, goddesses and divinities from their source of worship in one single fell swoop.

They've spent too much time with humans, so to speak, and picked up some of their habits along the way.

Wow, the MC is going to get so many enemies during this journey. But he is a "man" on a mission and he intends to see it through, while cleaning up the Empire in the process.

Which also makes it so much sweeter whenever he do manage to find a few people who considers him a "true companion" along the journey when helping them with some of their things to do in life, despite being a monster.

And this is in-between his own main quests as well.

Edited by Trainbarrel on Sep 25th 2023 at 7:17:31 PM

"If there's problems, there's simple solutions."

I think I would approach it in a different way. And, I guess I still have time to decide what powers (I am stuck between turning him into a Magic Knight / Musketeer or someone who can turn into different beast and half-beast forms, effectively making him into a magically empowered Beastkin) or what deity turned Petruzzo into their Chosen.

My idea was that after purging the temple, Petruzzo would pass out from exertion (he is not used to his new powers). His comrades, Mist (a cat Beastkin who is very fond of Petruzzo and learned with him how to use a sword and gun) and Carmine (a half-elf who helped Petruzzo learn the basics of magic back when they served together in Grand Marshall's retinue), and the inventor named Ferracino who was rescued by them at the temple (the reason why he was at the temple was him trying to test his combat walker fueled by his experimental Aether Crystal Generator, but he was overwhelmed and forced to abandon his walker mid-experiment) ended up carrying Petruzzo back the city. When he woke up, Petruzzo, Carmine and Mist discussed what to do next, especially since now Petruzzo was a new Chosen of a deity who was left into obscurity for centuries. Ferracino suggested Petruzzo should go to the Church of the All-Mother (which helps organize other churches dedicated to other gods of the All-Mother's Pantheon), College of Magic or to the military for help since he was now a Chosen. Petruzzo felt the safest choice was the military due to his past with Grand Marshall and Imperial Quartermaster who served under Grand Marshall.

Which turned out to be the right choice, as the Grand Marshall agreed to help Petruzzo, as he and others from the squad they served in his retinue performed most excellently. They were the troops he trained from ground-up and turned them into fine defenders of the Empire. When he learned from Petruzzo that he was now a Chosen of a long ignored deity, he used his connections to examine Petruzzo thoroughly. In the meantime, Grand Marshall warned Petruzzo that there would be those in the Empire that would seek to exploit him due to his status as Chosen, or in case of some traitors or foreign enemies, try to kill him to weaken the Empire. When Petruzzo would ask what he should do now, Grand Marshall suggested he should build up his Adventurer party and surround himself with people he could trust. Grand Marshall hoped Petruzzo would try to use his newfound powers to help keep the people of Empire safe. At the same time, he warned him to not flaunt his status as Chosen.

My plan for a story would be Petruzzo, Carmine and Mist trying to recruit their comrades from the squad they served in as part of Grand Marshall's retinue during the crusade, uncover the secrets of the deity that marked Petruzzo as their Chosen (and are oddly very interested in them) and try to defend the Empire. A task that could prove more dangerous than even he would anticipate. Not to mention him learning more about the dangers of being a Chosen and how right Grand Marshall was about people wanting to keep him under their thumb or extinguish his life due to being a potential threat to their plans for the Empire.

I will become a great writer one day! Hopefully...

I just thought of something.

What if his "blessing"/curse allows him to turn other human beings into monsters?

With the outcome depending on the affected human's personality, making every case unique whenever used.

Not all times on purpose, some mostly by accident at the start, until he figures out the trigger behind it.

And it is not a fast or instant transformation either, but a gradual one, so the MC got enough time to halt it if he catch on to it fast enough. (reversing it is another matter though and needs to be taught separately as a whole other function all together).

It would make sense in this case if the deity that cursed him being "///" the Patron Goddess of Monsters.

And it would not be the first time in mythology that a divinity decided to turn a human into something else for one reason or another.

Edited by Trainbarrel on Sep 26th 2023 at 3:59:44 PM

"If there's problems, there's simple solutions."

okay I read the the rest of the post and I think I have a suguession on how to handle the resident devils (or rather Maou)

If multiple deities exist, then there are two not mutually exclusive options. One being that there is a pantheon, the other being that there are multiple regions. Here I would suggest having there being multiple religions with various divinities in different roles. Where one god might be a Messianic Archetype in one religion, but a Satanic Archetype in another as far as the respective followers go at least. I'd also loosen the separation of church in state and have some nations be outright theocracies. (Zoroastrianism and Hinduism make a good example of this in action with the roles the Asuras and Devas have being completely swapped between the two faiths. A lesser example is the cases of demonisation in the Bible)

This means that the archdemons here would not be literal legions of hell, but instead either gods of an antagonistic faith or their experienced chosen, whose opposition to the empire is more overtly ideologically and geopolitically driven than usual.

I'd also consider tying in a personally divine rivalry, perhaps the asshole party leader is the Chosen of a god that is allied to the one that empowered the soldier, but has a noted rivalry with. An example would be Ares and Athena.

With class systems, unless you're going for a Lit-rpg feel, it might be best to ignore those, but at the same time that wouldn't preclude specializations that would evoke the common classes and roles.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Sep 26th 2023 at 7:58:50 AM

Regarding Maou the Demon King trope, I chose to avoid or present it via different way. Archaon the Everchosen from Warhammer and Sauron from Lord of the Rings were sorta my inspiration for a Greater-Scope Villain of the story. This "Demon Lord" would've been their Chosen who managed to unite the forces of Dark Gods into one cohesive force. The task itself is nigh impossible due to the Dark Gods being bitter and fierce rivals and fights between their forces being regular occurence. But, if someone were to achieve it, such an army under the command of that particular individual would pose a threat of apocalyptic scale. Hence why other nations have entire organizations of scouts and assassins who seek to nip such threats in the bud. But, if someone like that was growing out of the control, a military intervention would've been called to eliminate such Chosen. Again, there would be so such case where someone is "fated" to become such champion of the Dark Gods.

As for the All-Mother Pantheon, I had an idea that some deities receive more focus in different nations, potentially due to the population differences (for example Empire is balanced in regards to reverence to the gods, while their neighboring country would favor more the creator god of Elves and in turn ignore or even scorn the Dwarfen creator god and its followers due to greater population of Elves and Half-Elves in comparison to Dwarfs). And, certain rivalries between major and minor gods would result from all sorts of arguments and conflicts, ranging from theological and political debates to straight up fights on the streets. The Empire tries its best to squash any more violent conflicts between different churches and cults. But, sometimes, it can escalate enough to warrant sending Adventurers or even army to pacify them.

Your suggestion towards divine rivalries gave me a sort of an idea. The god or goddess who turned Petruzzo into their Chosen would have a history of rivalry with a different deity from the pantheon. In the past, the god who blessed Petruzzo was popular and was known for bestowing smaller boons upon the land and the people. More popular than his or her rival. However, due to Petruzzo's benefactor god being seemingly slain or disappearing due to unknown yet reasons (as his or her boons stopped coming), its cult lost followers and instead their rival gained more popularity. Only very few believers remained, who tried to find a way to bring back their god. In Petruzzo's times, that rival's god reputation got a hit thanks to his or her followers screwing up or doing some unacceptable things within the Empire. The last believers of Petruzzo's benefactor god could hear whispers of their god, asking for help. Due to these pleas being faint, the followers decided to request adventurers to clear out the temple where Petruzzo, Carmine and Mist went and where Petruzzo was turned into a Chosen. The rival god's cult, fearing the return of Petruzzo's benefactor god could damage their reputation further and result in them losing their position in capitol, so they would try to send their Chosen and hired thugs and assassins to humiliate or eliminate Petruzzo. That asshole party leader would be roped into this, as he would blame Petruzzo for his party's luck going downhill and him wanting to take his revenge.

Also, Petruzzo's benefactor god who turned him into a Chosen. Their gift would not be a "curse" but a genuine blessing. I might still need to think about what powers Petruzzo would get, but I am still between giving Petruzzo stronger combat (including buffs and debuffs) and utility magic (such as shadow walk, short teleportation or being able to command animals and see through their eyes), or turn them into a shapeshifter. In the latter case, that deity would have strong connections to Beastkin, as Petruzzo technically would become a Beastkin himself due to his newfound status as a shapeshifter.

I will become a great writer one day! Hopefully...

Y’know, I feel like I’m working a story with the exact same “purpose” (for lack of a better term) but I’m going about it the opposite way. So this brainstorming session has been a very interesting read.

If I can pick-out the ideas in the thread that really popped-out at me as being worth exploring: I like the idea of competing pantheons. It may be interesting if each pantheon had their own “chosen one” to accomplish either complimentary or competing objectives.

I also really like the idea of the “chooser” deity being a minor or obscure divinity. Maybe they chose the protagonist for a very specific and small-scale purpose which then snowballs into a bigger adventure? You could have it that the chosen-ness was meant to be small but the protagonist made it into something bigger as part of his revenge scheme. That could be fun. I find it’s a good rule of them that you start a story with a prophecy or macguffin or quest object but by the halfway point, it should be irrelevant with the story propelled by the characters and their motives.

I'm glad this thread might be of use to you. Since this is a public space so-to speak, feel free to pick some ideas or elements that might benefit your story.

As for the benefactor deity who saved Petruzzo's life. As I dwelled on it, I think I might have an idea how to work on it further. And, truth be told, I was thinking to avoid prophecy thing and have Petruzzo reach the temple due to his own choices or coincidence rather than say "it was fate". Him appearing in that temple and begging any god, especially the one to whom the temple was dedicated to, for help with his last breath was not some divine plan, but rather just him and his friends trying to get rich and hopefully get some useful artifacts to pawn off to the cult or imperial army in exchange for good gear. He was a right man in the wrong place. The benefactor god was either woken up completely or at least saw something interesting enough to take a gamble and turn Petruzzo into their Chosen. The benefactor god would've turned anyone in this situation into their Chosen in order to reclaim their temple and start their revenge plot on their rival for taking away their believers. Petruzzo, Carmine, Mist. A selfless prayer to save their friends from certain doom even when they would lay dying would be enough to deem them worthy of becoming Chosen for that benefactor god. But, it happened that Petruzzo was the "lucky" one.

The revenge of the benefactor god would focus on rebuilding their cult and elevating its status from mostly abandoned save for few true believers to once again known and revered, and taking down their rival god's cult down a peg or two (with some unavoidable killing and ass-kicking involved). But, like you said, this seemingly small quest would snowball into greater adventurers and bigger trouble Petruzzo and rest would get themselves into.

To answer Morning Star 1337 regarding their suggestion for ignoring class system - I was intending that. There would be no classes holding back what characters specialize in or what is their intended role in the group. For example, Petruzzo took on a more supporting role in the previous party due to him learning decent utility and combat magic that is oriented towards buffing up allies (like concealing his allies in shadows or empowering their weapons to allow them to strike ethereal opponents or pierce through solid armor that lacks magic resistance). However, despite that, he is not a pure mage, as he is a decent duelist who uses sword and pistol in tandem. Mist also uses the same fighting style as Petruzzo with sword and pistol, but she is better at swordplay than him (while he is the superior sharpshooter), and her specialty is being a tracker and tamer. Carmine's gift with magic also didn't relegate him to being just a mage, as he also used bow and spear. Carmine's main role was long-range support, while his spear was for close quarters combat. In general, Petruzzo's allies were versatile enough that even if I bothered doing the story as Lit-rpg, I would have problem deciding their classes.

I will become a great writer one day! Hopefully...

With planning out the pantheon there does seem to be a few recurrent archetypes that can help with that, using classical mythology to illustrate

• The Top God: Yous eem to had already filled that slot with the All-Mother so I'll skip that for now
• War God: Gods of conflict and of war. Ares is the more obvious example, but Athena (goddess of strategy) also counts and Aphrodite can be seen as one as well (and her predecessors were ones outright)
• Love Goddess: Usually female, usually has the domains of love, sex, beauty, and sometimes procreation. Aphrodite is Greece's poster girl for this
• Death God: Either a psychopomp (see: some interpretations of Thanatos) or the ruler of an afterlife (see: Hades)
• Mother Earth: An earth goddess (usually) associated with nature and fertility. Gaia and Demeter are in that ballpark.
• Father Time: Time gods also seem pretty common.
• The Messenger: I'd say this is an archetype but the only one I can think of is Hermes. Basically the divine messenger relaying messages from the rest of the pantheon to each other.
• Trickster God: Hermes again, also Loki in Norse Mythology. Has a tendency to be demonized. They are ofc tricksters
• Solar and Lunar Deities: The Sun and Moon had been worshiped due to their presence in the night sky. Usually as Twins or siblings. The examples here are the twins Apollo and Artemis and their Titanic predecessors in Helios and Selene
• Fertility God: Who you pray to for a successful harvest and/or babies. Sometimes overlaps with the Mother Earth archetype (see Demeter again)

Minor Deities can be modeled on specific concepts, resulting in Odd Job Gods. While they are not quite gods per se, Greek myth has a lot of people (usually nymphs) becoming the first specimen of various plant species or animals and that can be used to make their analogues and expys minor gods as well.

These are only my interpretations, If you haven't done so already I look into the pantheons of old mythologies and certain religions to see what concepts are commonly worshiped. It is also obvious, but I'd be remiss to not mention that a culture's values are reflected in their gods to an extent (such as Athena and Athens), so that means that what your Empire values is gonna factor in who they worship.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Sep 27th 2023 at 7:31:03 AM

By the way, on a different topic I think might be important here.

Have you identified the "pitfalls" within this premise that sets the distinction between the "good ones" and the "bad ones" in terms of how the story comes out using it?

You did said in the first post that you've seen several stories of this premise, good and bad ones, and wish to write a better one, so identifying what makes it a "bad story" and fix those parts might help with that.

Edited by Trainbarrel on Sep 27th 2023 at 4:50:28 PM

"If there's problems, there's simple solutions."

yeah it would be a good idea to identify the flaws with the genre, that you aim to fix, even if they seem obvious (the misogyny in Shield Hero for starters)

Thank you guys for pointing out the pitfalls that have aggrivated me. Allow me to explain.

There were pitfalls that annoyed me a lot and made me drop reading certain mangas after a while. Among them were "Party kicking out the protagonist for seemingly being weak and/or useless, while they often helped keep the team going", "Protagonist becoming super OP in a very short amount of time, while his party that betrayed him saw their quality plumet to the point they can't beat weak mobs", "Misogyny" (that one is obvious), "Use of slaves". Those are I can vividly remember and mention for now.

I wanted to rewrite or approach these pitfalls in a different, more satisfying way in my story. For example, instead of being betrayed by the whole party and/or kicked out, Petruzzo left out of frustration due to being belittled by the party leader and his stooges and being denied funds for new equipment one too many times. The noble disliking Petruzzo would stem from pride, as he cannot accept that a commoner and a son of a merchant dares to question his plans and strategies (despite said commoner being trained by Grand Marshall, currently one of the greatest generals in the Empire, and by one of the most competent quartermasters under G.Marshall's recommendation). Unlike most stories where like abusive sheep they follow the leader in their decision to get rid of the protagonist, the other party members tried to URGE Petruzzo to stay knowing full well he was the only reason they managed to get this far. They got along with Petruzzo. They didn't quit alongside him due to the noble leader preventing them in one way or the other or because they didn't have an alternative at that time. Later in the story, those party members who were good to Petruzzo would either get fed up with the noble and leave, or try to ask Petruzzo for help with ending their contract with the noble leader and either join his band, join different adventurer party or just find a different occupation.

Case of Protagonist suddenly becoming super OP after leaving the original party. While Petruzzo would become really strong as Chosen, he would not be a One-Man Army. He can't solo a mountain-sized monster by himself or a demon general. But, he would be strong enough that only either another Chosen or someone really skilled in combat would decide to take him on solo. While Petruzzo would become a center piece of his new adventurer party, he will rely and cooperate with his party members who will contribute into finishing quests or defeating antagonists. It will not be "Petruzzo's show and his party members are just an audience or cheerleaders for him". Even for an added bonus, I would occasionally let other party members defeat the main antagonist of a story arc instead of having Petruzzo finish them off. As for the quality of Petruzzo's original party plummeting - like I mentioned before, the noble leader is an idiot who only got this far relying on Petruzzo and the rest. Instead of like in most mangas where the original party was oblivious to protagonist's contributions and fail each time to find a proper replacement who could work at the same inhuman pace as the protagonist, all party members sans the stooges would start to openly criticize the leader for driving Petruzzo away and acutely explain that drop of their quality is directly related to him leaving. The noble, our of his pride and arrogance, would rebuff these claims and continue to push forward, while the rest of the party (the reasonable ones who never betrayed or were rude to Petruzzo) would start to consider leaving the party and ask Petruzzo for help. They would secretly contact Petruzzo and talk with him whenever they can, asking for advice how to deal with the noble or if he could take them in to his party.

Misogyny issue. If there was ever going to appear such character in my story, they would be a jerk or antagonist who will eventually get his ass kicked. Petruzzo would NEVER treat anyone harshly just because they are female. To him, even concept of racism is idiotic. If he's gonna hate you, it will be due to that person's personality and past grievances. He would never allow his emotions to make him start hating someone based on their race or gender. He prefers to see people as individuals, with his opinion not being affected by that person's gender or race.

Slavery issue. In the Empire, slavery would be outlawed and anyone caught having one would be severely punished. Some of their neighboring countries do practice it, which resulted in Empire having increased border control with them to ensure there would be no human/elf/dwarf/beastkin trafficking. And, even if I ever went for a scenario where Petruzzo abroad accidentally got a slave, he would do his damnest to end the contract and find a good home for that slave.

I'll have to think of more pitalls that angered me and address them properly.

I will become a great writer one day! Hopefully...

A small idea.

How about, in order to keep the MC's power-set simple and not taking away from his actual skills and experience, the "blessing" he gets as a "Chosen", is actually a rather minor power which is all the obscure deity (It's probably easier to just referring to it as an "it" rather than a given gender, as another sign on how forgotten this divinity really have become) can muster in its severely weakened and forgotten state?

For example: It grants the MC the power of Camera Perspective Switch.

Meaning that he can, when the blessing is active, see the world and himself in third-person to a certain radius.

That's it.

Doesn't make him stronger, faster, smarter or grant him any other supernatural powers whatsoever.

He can see his imminent surroundings in third-person and that's it.

Anyone who hears about it is either going to laugh, not believe him, or think this supposed "god" scammed him good.

However, it do have advantages and with the MC's creativity and smarts, alongside his experience as a soldier and a body to prove it, eventually turns this "worthless" power into a very dangerous one.

Think about it.

Of course it is a very hard "blessing" to master properly, disorienting as it is to change between first-person view and third-person view in the blink of an eye it will take a lot of practice, but once that is done, imagine how well a trained and experienced soldier like the MC can put it to use.

"If there's problems, there's simple solutions."

Of course the audience is also something to consider. The reason why these pitfalls are pervasive is because of A. Isekai influence and B. Because the audience (usually otaku incels) love them. The Isekai genre was built on vapid power fantasies and it spread into adjacent stories leading to the subgenre of "kicked from an adventurer party, seeks revenge" among others.

Your audience might be different, and unless you are angling for a deconstruction (which granted is possible with what you given thus far) people are gonna expect more flashy spectacle somewhere along the line.

However it does open up an interesting idea. The rival that Petruzzo is fed up with and his posse? Maybe he is modeled on the standard Stock Light-Novel Hero that permeates the genre(s), or a descendant of one.

Another option would be to pile on niche powers that can be used by Petruzzo to great effect beyond the initial blessing, both as a sign of progress (as the feats would slowly increase the deity's standing) and to compensate for the inevitable power creep. Keep him Weak, but Skilled, but emphasize the skilled part.

True. Perhaps my biggest mistake was to not take into account the reason why these pitfalls were so pervasive. And, I do admit that my target audience would've been folks who would enjoy story and games the likes of Dishonored, Valkyria Chronicles, maybe a bit of Trails Series and whatnot, with some Warhammer and Rise of Legends inspirations.

Okay, that idea for the rival? That would be amusing as hell. I think I would make him a descendant of one (and perhaps make his family just as unbearable or perhaps even corrupt, explaining future conflicts with the rival's family). I had an idea where once Petruzzo and his rival would come to blows and they had a duel, Petruzzo would REFUSE to use his Chosen powers or his magic and beat him with simple sword and pistol combo. And, throw some smack talk, like "You do not strike sir! You flail!" (yes, Petruzzo would enjoy whooping his ass, especially in front of an audience). I'm not sure if he should spare the rival afer winning that duel, but I was considering for Petruzzo to eventually kill him or neutralize him and condemn him to a fate worse than death Corvo Attano would approve.

As for flashy spectacles, I was planning battles against bigger monsters, badass duels between characters (one of them even evoking Geralt vs Olgierd from Hearts of Stone), battles in the streets or catacombs against conspirators, evil cultists or undead, and more. I was considering if one of the battles against monsters, bandits or rebels should involve imperial reinforcements in form of Imperial Airship (think Kharadron Overlords Arkanaut Frigates, Dwarf Thunderbarges from Warhammer or Kirov Airships from Red Alert).

As for powers, I was still thinking what should Petruzzo ultimately get (and in turn, decide what kind of deity turn him into their Chosen). But, your idea of him growing in power as his benefactor deity's standing grows would be interesting. And, I agree that it would be more interesting to see him as Weak, but Skilled with greater emphasis on "Skilled" part. And, perhaps additionally translate it into his improving leadership skills, where he can strategize on the fly to adapt to certain opponents and adjust accordingly how to bring them down?
As for the potential power set he might get from the deal, I had some ideas of my own:

• Turn him into a musketeer version of Magic Knight, who uses magic in tandem with his sword, pistol and occasionally crossbow and rifle (inspirations - Corvo Attano and Geralt of Rivia)
• Effectively turn him into a Beastkin, who can shift between human form and different half-animal forms for different benefits (for example turning into half-bat would give him echolocation, half-cat or half-wolf would enhance his senses and make him into more deadly Fragile Speedster, while half-dragon form would be an excellent Lightning Bruiser).
• Grant him unique ability to drain Aether with his bare hands from people or objects, and either use it to boost the effects of his magic or empower his allies
• Grant him the power of nature and ability to apply boons and curses, similarly to a witch of the forest kind of thing.

That idea with him piling on niche powers also sounds interesting. It could turn him into a dangerous Jack of All Trades.

I will become a great writer one day! Hopefully...

For the Rival.

Personally, I think that a good rival, is someone who wants to surpass the other and have them genuinely admit that they have surpassed them. Not killing them or anything since if one part of a rivalry dies, then that would be "cheating" and the surviving party will have forever lost the contest between the two since there is no way to surpass the dead.

A rival who does not cheat. A rival who does not take shortcuts. A rival who wants to win by their OWN merits rather than anyone else doing it for them.

A rival that is painfully aware of how "weak" they are (especially if they are from a renowned family whose members have credentials of their own or renowned for it.) and decided to put everything into living up to those credentials whenever anyone puts them on their heads and expecting just as much or more from them by default.

A rival who takes every single opponent dead-seriously, since he knows that if he doesn't and get made a fool, it's going to be problems back home later. (The pressure of upholding the image to not embarrass the parents and put their low opinion of him even lower.)

A rival who more likely, if anything interrupts a fight with the MC, may it be monster, dragon or other people, tell them/it to "SHUT UP!" and attack it alongside the MC in case of it being a monster just so the duel between them can continue undisturbed. (And if they cross paths during a disaster, the rival won't start a duel with them since there is a place and time for everything, including raising the score. The building burning down around them or the town being assaulted by a Zerg Rush of gargoyles not being either of them.)

Someone with their priorities set straight, so to speak.

...

But that is just personal opinion of course.

Because I've seen so many stories where the rival does so stupidly self-centered things that it make me scream "ARE YOU ******* SERIOUS!?" and slap my face over their skewered priorities in that moment.

Let the rival have a working brain.

Edited by Trainbarrel on Sep 28th 2023 at 5:09:01 PM

"If there's problems, there's simple solutions."

Don't worry. I was considering a recurring rival that is not a complete idiot. The noble leader that pissed off Petruzzo into leaving the party is more of an obstacle and pest rather than a legit rival to him and his new party. Hence why I considered Petruzzo killing the noble in a legal way or neutralize him (either as part of their duel or later once the noble leader decides to assault Petruzzo and his party as part of his petty revenge).

The recurring rival in question. I have an idea regarding why Petruzzo would not hate him and approach each of their fights like a professional, and how to explain them being willing to cooperate and postpone their non-lethal duels in times of crisis.

The rival would be a patriot to the Empire, just like Petruzzo.

Basically, both would love their country and do their best to serve the people and help others. He wouldn't despise other nations and view them as inferior to the Empire, instead trying to better the Empire to serve as a beacon of progress and example to follow. When a crisis would struck, both would drop their duel and focus on dealing with the problem (like, let's say a bandit raid on a village or a monster planning to attack a city). Or, if there ever was a national emergency, the rival would even suggest cooperation with Petruzzo's party to resolve the issue as quickly and efficiently as possible. Obviously, the rival would get annoyed if something interrupted his duel with Petruzzo, though.

The rival would try to uphold their reputation and try to score wins against Petruzzo fair and square. That means, he would never cheat via using poisons or trying to somehow debilitate Petruzzo before a fight. Hell, in case someone poisoned Petruzzo to rig the duel in his favor, the rival would go ballistic and try to find the one who dared to poison his rival. And, the rival would show appreciation and respect when Petruzzo would refuse to use his magic or Chosen powers. In a way, while rival wants to show everyone he's better than Petruzzo and have him admit it, he would acknowledge Petruzzo's growth. They would not be friends, but the respect would be there.

Potentially, the rival might also challenge often Mist due to how she uses similar fighting style to Petruzzo (minus the magic), but is a better sword fighter than him.

I will become a great writer one day! Hopefully...

If I may build-off (or maybe contradict) what Morning Star 1337 was saying: I’ve found the archetypes of gods to be the following…

• Original God-King: the first ruler of the cosmos. Sometimes benevolent but often tyrannical. Usually overthrown by his son. Always a god of sky (Greek Uranus), sea (Canaanite Yam, Babylonian Apsu/Tiamat) or Earth (Greek Cronus).
• Sky King: overthrows the original king to be ruler of the cosmos. Think Greek Zeus, Canaanite Hadad, Babylonian Marduk.
• Creation Queen: mother of the Sky King. Can be an ally to him (Greek Gaia, Canaanite Asherah) or enemy (Babylonian Tiamat).
• Resurrected God: a deity (often of a seemingly unimportant domain) who is killed but resurrected by one or two goddesses. The Babylonian shepherd god Dumuzid, the Greek beauty god Adonis, the Greek wine god Dionysus, the Canaanite storm god Hadad, the Egyptian underworld god Osiris and arguably the Norse light god Baldr all qualify.
• Life Queen: a goddess associated with love (and sometimes war, strangely) who aids the resurrected god. Greek Aphrodite, Babylonian Ishtar, Canaanite Anat, Egyptian Isis are examples.
• Death Queen: a goddess associated with death and the underworld who sometimes aids the resurrected god. Greek Persephone, Babylonian Ereshkigal, Egyptian Nephthys.
• The Usurper God: a villainous enemy who kills the resurrected god often out of jealousy. Often a brother or half brother. Adonis has Ares or Apollo (both half-brothers of Dionysus strangely), Osiris had Set. You could count Typhon/Mot as this to Zeus/Hadad with Hera/Anat being the Love Queen and Gaia/Asherah as the Death queen but that’s kind of a stretch. I guess you could also count Loki in his role in Baldr’s death.

The reason why I’m bringing this death-resurrection god myth up is because I find that the isekai genre tends to follow it. Often an isekai protagonist will die in his “normal world” before awakening as a more powerful being in the “another world”.

I think it might also be a cool backstory for the chooser deity to fill the role of either the Sky King or maybe the Resurrected Deity to create a more direct parallel between this mythological plot and the isekai genre.

Just an idea though. If you want to talk villains, I can throw-out of few observations I’ve made on mythological bad guys. I can also dip into some archetypes I’ve noticed in Indian and North European mythology.

Villains doesn't need to be mythological or divine though.

For example, a human villain who is fed up with all of the gods and their habit of "picking favorites", decides to find a way to eradicate ALL of them in one fell swoop through "annihilation by atheism" and let the world be free of divine influence forever, thinking it can take care of itself.

Without realizing that through their pure unflappable ''faith'' in this private world-view has created a brand new newborn deity within themselves, which have granted them a blessing in the form of being surrounded by a Anti-Magic-field, which negates all blessings and magic getting inside of it all together.

The villain considers this as "proof" that their plan will succeed. The newborn god on the other hand, invisible, ignorant and innocent as it is, just want to make its only follower/parental figure happy and protect them for as long as possible.

This would be an opponent that takes pure skill to deal with and prove a challenge, depending on how resourceful they are in covering for things such as conventional weaponry.

Their plan is basically to find a way to expand the field of effect for their "blessing". They'll win if they manage to coat the entire planet with it, cutting the world from the divinities and gods forever.

Except one.

...

Just as an idea.

Edited by Trainbarrel on Sep 30th 2023 at 2:07:50 PM

"If there's problems, there's simple solutions."

Woosmo, your idea for a Resurrected God is a nice suggestion. Perhaps I could follow an angle that the benefactor god who turned Petruzzo into a Chosen actually was killed, but thanks to different god, it was possible to resurrect it. And, perhaps Petruzzo was actually more of a Right Man in the Wrong Place, as the last high priest or priestess of that god knew it was resurrected but needed to be woken up. The high priest or high priestess intended to awaken the god themself after Petruzzo, Mist and Carmine would purge it of monsters via blood sacrifice and prayer, but Petruzzo accidentally awoken the god. However, the High Priest would not be mad as fully resurrecting and awakening that god was their priority. Btw, my story would not be an isekai, and not all of those those mangas I called out were isekai story either, as protagonists were natives of their world.

As for the antagonists, I had some ideas for different story arcs:

• The noble that irritated Petruzzo to leave the original party and his family
• A faction of nobles who intend to depose the current Emperor and install their puppet on the throne. They would use bribed bandits and tamed monsters to spread chaos across the empire and present Emperor as an inept ruler
• A group of conspirators from a neighboring country who want to destabalize the Empire to either allow their country’s aggresive expansion or to claim the role of „Shield of Civilization” (borrowed from Total War Warhammer, where Order factions would join forces to eradicate forces of Chaos and forces of Destruction), with some imperial relics along the way
• Mad necromancer who plans to ascend to godhood as the new God of Death

I am open for criticism on this one and fresh ideas

I will become a great writer one day! Hopefully...