New (old) Mod: Caelum, Towers of Silence

[VedalkenBear]

Hello, guys. I am going to be changing the mod I was writing (Caelis Immolatum) to something that should be more interesting.

Caelum: Towers of Silence.

(I'd _really_ appreciate any help KO could be here.)

More or less, I am planning to make a _very_ Zoroastrian Caelum, which ironically meshes in some ways with the mod I was already making.

The 'big draw' of this mod will be that every commander (recruitable, at least) will be able to change forms between two shapes; one that represents asha and another that represents drej. (These are Zoroastrian terms that are generally translated as 'law' and 'chaos'.) The Spentas will remain as coded (they're taken almost verbatim from Zoroastrianism), but I plan on diversifying the yazatas. Furthermore, I will be constructing Amesha counterparts for the drej commanders to summon.

Following from my previous mod, I probably will make it MA and quite matriarchal (the Seraphines running everything). It will also be very Fire-oriented (apparently Zoroastrianism uses Fire as a focal point for meditation etc.). This will lead to the 'fire/air' combination that originally started me on the path to my first path.

The name 'Towers of Silence' comes from the Zoroastrianism method of dealing with the dead. They place the bodies in towers for nature (generally scavengers) to strip clean to the bone, and then put them in what amounts to ossuaries. The significance that that can attach to Caelum should be obvious.

An alternative to the 'dualist' commanders is to make the drej commanders heretics (which is rather underestimating their relationship with Mazdaists).

What I am looking for at this point is commentary, first and foremost, from anyone more knowledgeable than myself on Zoroastrianism. I definitely don't want to inadvertently offend people. Also, anyone who wants to weigh in on various design aspects listed here would also be appreciated.

[Kristoffer O]

Sounds nice!

There are many yazatas in zoroastrianism, so there is plenty to pick from. They are mostly virtues and other abstract ideas, so you need to be creative when giving life to them.

There is also the Fravashis - guardian angels.

I think the common transliteration is 'druj'.

The evil spirits, deavas and yatu are led by angra Mainyu, the hostile spirit - ahura mazda's counterpart. The daevas are sometimes just any demon, sometimes the evil counterparts of the amesha spentas.

Here is a list of the seven daevas (seven since the spentas are seven in some traditions). They correspond to seven sins, but I'm not sure which these are (probably not far from the christian seven deadly sins). Aeshma, Akomayah, Indra, Nanghaithya, Saurva, Tawrich, Zarich.

I'm not sure about this listing, but aeshma at least is quite common. Aeshma is the daeva of wrath/fury.

Here is a zoroastrian page. Not sure how useful it is. There are quite many around.
http://www.avesta.org/avesta.html
http://www.avesta.org/angels.html

Mary Boyce has written several works on zoroastrianism. She might be a bit biased, as she is a zoroastrian herself. But that is probably not a problem in this case.

This summer I had an idea regarding a more developed zoroastrian LA splinter nation (part caelian) that was to be decidedly dualistic. I did some gathering of religious titles. I can probably find them again if you want them.

[DrPraetorious]

I had a zoroastrian nation in the works myself, but abandoned it in favor of many, many other projects.

Zoroastrians venerate the purifying power of fire, and the purifying power of water as well. Air and astral would probably round out their magic selection.

I'd suggest that the druj forces be mainly in there as national summons - so if you have a death/blood God you can diversify into evil, but you don't get more than 4 paths base. Amos drew me a couple of really *****in' three headed dragons, which I might be able to dig up for you, you could use 'em for Dahak et. al.

I believe that those burial practices for Caelum are already specified in-game; read the flavor text on the late era spellcasters, and you'll see that they mention those burial practices (which they have abandoned.)

Zoroastrianism had two sorts of priests - there was a medean hereditary priest caste, the Magi, who converted to Zoroastrianism but were always heterodox, and has a positively legendary reputation for magic-working in the classical period. Making them both heretics and priests (requires a little copystating) would be quite cool, I think. Ideally, magi should be legendary-grade powerful, or at least have such a reputation, but that might be a game-balance issue with a flying nation like Caelum, especially in the mid era.

They also have a more conventional priesthood: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbad

Which you should possibly convert into multiple ranks of Seraphine?

Good luck!

[Wyatt Hebert]

Also, Bear (), I believe the monster Angra Mainyu from FFX-2 is taken straight out of Zoroastrianism; I read about it in one of the books my wife reads... It's a bit odd; it's all about darkness.

Also, I'd love if the LA version, assuming you make one, would convert into a Gnostic viewpoint.

Anyways, when I get home, I'll be seeing if my mod will even run.

Cheers, all!

[VedalkenBear]

KO: I actually got most of my info from wikipedia *hangs head in shame*, but I think their source is mainly avesta.org. Sorry about the misspelling on druj; I was going from memory.

DrPrae: Yes, Fire/Air/Water/Astral will be the paths of this nation. Primarily Fire/Air (they are Caelian after all), but their best mage will most likely have 3S, to make way for the national summons. (They have a definite stargazing aspect to them as well.) I looked into the Magi; if I use the duality idea that I mentioned, most likely the druj commanders will be heretics _and_ cause unrest. After all, from what I read this would fit thematically as well.

I'm toying with the idea of giving them daeva summons who are stealthy and unrest-generating, rather like the EA Pangaea Revelers. Most likely also like the darkness (light's opposite), etc.

Wyatt: Hey, Bear. And yes, Angra Mainyu is right out of Zoroastrianism. It's their equivalent to Satan (rough, but still there). And how'd you guess? I had actually thought of following this up with a Gnostic LA edition. It's like you read my mind or something.