Hm. Suppose that the realms require some mana to support life? The sun in the sky, the fact that plants grow in soil that can't really support it, the fact that the atmosphere doesn't bleed off into the void... these all require some level of background mana.
So, without a god or a free mana source, most realms become dark and cold... and everything eventually dies. Even the air tends to get stale and bad. Adventuring in such realms often requires a mage with appropriate magic or bringing along magical life support devices (with their own mana stored in them, naturally).
So you want mana sources. Unfortunately, once mortals figured out that they could become gods by merging with a mana source, they did so. And gods eventually go mad. And sometimes they use their powers to leave their realm for a nicer area... after which the realm tends to shrivel up and die unless a new mana source appears there.
There could even be a few realms where they have free mana sources that they're protecting... but once someone learns about it, you're liable to be invaded. And then, the best bet is to pick your most trustworthy leader/mage and make them into a god (assuming you know how). That way, you can move the mana source if it's threatened and you get the benefit of its magical boosts.
The problem is greed, really. The only way for a god to become a more powerful god is to absorb additional mana sources. Of course, if they take all of the ones out of a realm, they can either spend lots of time there (maintaining it since the god themself is a mana source) or just abandon it. Ambitious gods are often willing to sacrifice "minor" realms... and if they find a realm with mana but no known source, they're liable to send agents there to search for it.
Sometimes it can't be found. It may be deep underground, up in the sky, or hidden away somehow. It could even be gone, but the mana level hasn't dropped yet because not enough people are using it to really affect it. Actually, that wouldn't jibe with the "everything dies without mana" bit, so maybe not.
Posted by Kiz at January 23, 2005 12:32 AMCommentsPost a comment