30 Day Challenge: Day 6 - Favorite Deity

I'm afraid I'm going to have to step away from D&D for my favorite deity, because my favorite is not one from a D&D game I ran, played in, or even heard about. It isn't even one I created myself... He's one I played.

Caleb Marsh, Baron of Moths.

A Boston dandy from the late 1700's who cheated the previous god of moths out of his mantle, and his life.

Now, moths may not be much of a portfolio, and there certainly aren't a lot of worshipers, but Caleb didn't care. As the CEO of MarshCorp, and a god, his life for the last several hundred years has been everything he'd ever dreamed of. Minus the attempts of rival gods to take his power, or of entropy to utterly destroy him, of course.

His best friend is Crackerjack, an evil sentient ivy plant (also a god) who he plays cards with (they both cheat). His older sister is the Lady of Summer, an older brother is the Lord of Eagles, and he once caused the sun to set in the East to save his overgod's very existence.

If you're interested in reading about the scenario I played Caleb in, you can download Briar & Honeysuckle, the scenario for Nobilis here: http://www.irishgaming.com/scenario_storage/gh/briar.zip

To be a god

“Do you want to be a god?”

There I was, minding my own business, standing in the lobby area of the hotel at a con when this woman who I hadn’t noticed before looked expectantly at me. 

“Of course” I replied. 

Well, really?  How else was I supposed to reply to that question?

“Then come with me!” She said, and turned toward the game room. 

I sat down at a table with a couple of other players, and was offered my choice of a number of pre-generated characters, while at the same time being told about the game and its world.  We were all members of the same family.  Of the available characters I chose Caleb Marsh the Baron (least god) of Moths.  Much like myself, Caleb had been minding his own business on Boston’s Commons shortly after the end of the American war for independence when a being of great power came looking around for someone of great honor and nobility to take the mantle of the god of moths.  Caleb glibly convinced this being that he was just the sort of chap he was looking for.  200 years later Caleb found himself as the head of the Marsh Corporation, an immensely powerful multinational, a playboy jetsetter, and an apparently ageless god.  His best friend is an amoral ivy plant who he plays frequent games of poker with (they both cheat). 

For the next 3 hours the group of us encountered rival gods, and fought against a being that was trying to prevent our Imperator (patron greater god) from becoming.  One notable event included dueling to a standstill the regent of war (or battle?) much to her shock.  Caleb didn’t spend much of his godly power on developing a great link with my moths, he spent it on himself!  Later, using the resources of his multinational, he traveled not only across the world (it’s flat you know) but to another that hung from Yggdrasil to steal an extremely rare painting.  At the very end, as we were putting the conditions in place for our Imperator to be born we realized that the sun was shining from the wrong direction.  With only moments to go, both in and out of game, I spent the last of my power for the session into forcing the sun to shift to where I needed it.  Had this not been a one-shot, there would have been hell to pay with the regent of the sun, I’m sure. 

The game ended moments later, as we had to give up the table for another game, but our Imperator was safely born, and life would continue on. It was my first and last time ever playing Nobilis, and it was amazing.  I bought the book just as soon as my FLGS could get it in stock, devoured it, and then was completely unable to get anyone interested in playing it.  It’s still the most gorgeous role playing book I’ve ever seen, and I would love to someday play again.