**Burning Temples**
a game by [[ghostwrassler]]
[[play]]
[[.]]
(set: $appearance to 0)
(set: $altar to 0)
(set: $pyre to 0)
(set: $ending to "play the full game silly!")
[[..]]
You smell friction.
[[...]]
[[....]]
Something's warm.
[[.....]]
[[Wake up.->appearance]]
The ashes are cold as you stir.
You $appearance. As you wake, your temple comes into your holy view.
$altar is your $pyre. Your altar, your home.
Someone has relit your fire, after all these years. It burns low with your weariness, but it [[burns->wake up2]].
The [[stranger]] who thought to light it is long gone. But the deed is done. Your strength has waned in your [[sleep]], but despite the drowsy call there's a chance you could return to your former glory.
The next [[fourteen days]] will be interesting.
[[Your temple will be filled.->restcheck]]
(set: $followers to 1)
(set: $days to 0)
(set: $temple to "dirty")
(set: $hp to 8)
(set: $fear to 0)
(set: $awe to 0)
(set: $joy to 0)
(set: $sewplus to 0)
(set: $sacriplus to 0)
(set: $idolplus to 0)
(set: $priest to 0)
All the gods sleep sometimes. But your fires are renewed eventually, if your people love you.
Her fires were never renewed. It's a shame She was forgotten.
[[Back->wake up2]]
Traditionally, fourteen days are the days of the Restoration. The first among you was awakened from Her slumber over that course of time, and the world woke with Her.
The people running around on Her sacred ground no longer remember. But you do.
[[Back->wake up2]]
There's no real telling who lit your altar. Gods' influences wax and wane with the course of time, and omniscience has yet to be your strong suit. They could have been hoping to get a prayer from any of your former iterations.
But you're here now, and that's what it comes down to. Time rushes onward.
[[Back->wake up2]]
(either: "The sacred fire is burning brightly.","The shadows are deep.","Pilgrims are milling around at the door.","Someone is sleeping among the shadows.","Someone is preaching on the street.","The air in the temple is still.","Someone tracked mud inside.. Jerk.","A coin gleams in the sacred fire.","Birds are pecking at the temple floor.","Rain echoes in from outside.","Blood sparkles near the fire.")
It's been $days days. You have $followers followers.
[[Appear]]
[[Construct]]
[[Observe]]
[[Rest]]
Followers won't be convinced to your side by empty words. It's time to make an appearance.
What will you incite?
[[Fear]]
[[Awe]]
[[Joy]]
[[Back->main]]
While you are a powerful being, it is up to your followers to maintain your temple. Doing the housekeeping yourself would be shameful.
{
Your temple is $temple.
(if: $sewplus is 1)[Banners adorn the walls.](else:)[ ]
(if: $sacriplus is 1)[The rich smoke of sacrifices fills the air.](else:)[ ]
(if: $idolplus is 1)[Above it all looms your idol, worshiped and revered.](else:)[ ]
(if: $priestplus is 1)[And at its feet preaches your Chosen One, loyally spreading your word.](else:)[ ]
}
[[Clean up]] (15 followers)
[[Sew banners]] (50 followers)
[[Bring sacrifices]] (100 followers)
[[Build an idol]] (150 followers)
[[Ordain clergy]] (200 followers)
[[Back->restcheck]]
(either:"Children are playing on the road. Their shrieking can be heard even inside the temple.","A broken idol is being carried on a cart. The women attending it look grim.","Music drifts down from one of the other temples. Are you jealous?","There's a new skull by the road marker.","Someone's lost shoe is stuck under the door.. How annoying.","A little heap of stones is piled carefully near the entrance of your temple.","A string of paper tags flutters in the wind, the ink on them bright against the grey sky.","Bell-like sounds seem to drift in the doors, but those prayers are not for you.","A bell chimes solemnly in the distance.","A cat is trying to step around the puddles.. Oh, she slipped!","Flowers are springing up across the road lately. They end up on your altar often.","Someone's pinned a note to the doors.. It's illegible, unfortunately.","Someone carved a heart into the doorframe. Or at least, it looks like a heart.. ?","A caravan is trying to get down the road, but one of their oxen is incredibly uncooperative.","Someone's left a chime in the nearby trees. How pleasant.")
[[Back->main]]
(set: $drop to (random: 2,10))
(set: $followers to $followers + $drop)
(either: "You smash a rival's idol in a burst of furious light. The people in the courtyard cower and quake in your shadow.","You smite the champion of a foreign god's temple, smearing their blood across those blasphemous floors in long swipes.","The fortress' walls crumble like sand under your immeasurable strength. The battle was over before it began.","The priest who tried to desecrate your holy ground pays for his crimes in a spray of blood. Your followers are silent.","You claw the shadows from their corners, ripping lesser spirits apart like toys as they scream.","The undead at your door are torn limb from limb and forced into the graves they once abandoned. The necromancer is nowhere to be seen for a long time after that.","The false prophet at your steps began to spew exclusively apologies when you showed up. You take his heart anyway.","No more wild beasts will be desecrating your temple, not after the bloodbath that wiped out the latest pack.","Demanding a living sacrifice was pushing it according to some, but the heart is still beating faintly on your altar.","The smell of burning blood is thick and rank, but the terror in your followers' eyes is worth it.","Many have attempted to claim the role of your champion, but none could stand up to your might and prove themselves worthy.","There will have to be some repairs to the temple, but no more crusaders will be striking your followers down. Their bloodstains, however, may be permanent.")
You gain $drop followers from this.
[[Go home->restcheck]]
(set: $hp to $hp - (Random: 1,3) )
(set: $fear to $fear + (random: 1,2) )
(set: $drop to (random: 1,6))
(set: $followers to $followers + $drop)
(either: "The great beast fell before your divine spears and infathomable might. The offerings at your countryside shrines doubled after that.","Mortals think they can challenge you, but when you held the sun in the sky for the whole day long, all bets were off. The other gods, however, were less than pleased.","They knew you could ward off the dead, but raising your own followers from death's grasp was well beyond what they could imagine.","You fell ancient monuments with a single, magnificent swipe.","As your strength grows, so does your radiance. The people are entranced by your fire.","Is there anyone who could rip a wurm straight from the sea like that? Probably not.","You part a mountain with one horrendous blow. The money generated from the new trade route finds its way to your tithe pool in no time.","A single roar from you sent the entire southern battalion running. They should consider themselves lucky to have gotten the chance to run at all.","Your obelisks rise impossibly high, towering over everything around them. Strangers from far-off lands come running to see them, and you.")
You gain $drop followers from this.
[[Go home->restcheck]]
(set: $hp to $hp - (Random: 1,3) )
(set: $awe to $awe + (random: 1,2) )
(set: $drop to (random: 0,5))
(set: $followers to $followers + $drop)
(either: "Your healing presence is soothing even to those on the brink of death. They lie consoled around your flame.","The shadows dance as people spin in mindless, joyous circles around the temple, all thoughts forgotten in your meditative whirl.","The music flows long into the night. Even your divine mind begins to wander to astral thoughts.","When the embers die down among the charred town's structures, you're there to pick up the pieces.","Some are said to have danced themselves to death in your halls--but it's only passion that you see around you.","The sick are brought in one by one to be tended by your followers. Even among the cloud of suffering, your fire burns bright.","Your people needn't beg and grovel for your blessing. Your kindness is widely known.","The floodwaters rushed to an unnatural halt at the temple doors. Your might--and love--were stronger.","Passing spirits shelter in the shadows of your halls. They fear no banishment under your protective shadow.","The risen dead find no hold near your hall--your light is more than enough to drive them away. Even so, you hope for their sake that they find peace.","Even thieves and brigands can find shelter with you if they repent. No one is unworthy.")
You gain $drop followers from this.
[[Go home->restcheck]]
(set: $hp to $hp - (Random: 1,3) )
(set: $joy to $joy + (random: 2,3) )
(if: $followers >= 15)[ (display: "cleanplus") ](else:)[ (display: "cleanfail")]
(if: $followers >= 50)[ (display: "sewplus") ](else:)[ (display: "sewfail")]
(if: $followers >= 100)[ (display: "sacriplus") ](else:)[ (display: "sacrifail")]
(if: $followers >= 150)[ (display: "idolplus") ](else:)[ (display: "idolfail")]
You don't have enough manpower.. What a shame!
[[back->Construct]]
Not a speck of dust to be seen. How nice!
[[Back->Construct]]
(set: $temple to "pristine")
(set: $hp to $hp - 1 )
You don't have enough manpower.. What a shame!
[[back->Construct]]
These banners were stitched with the utmost care. How charming!
[[Back->Construct]]
(set: $sewplus to 1)
(set: $hp to $hp - 2 )
You don't have enough manpower.. What a shame!
[[back->Construct]]
You don't have enough manpower.. What a shame!
[[back->Construct]]
The idol towers above the temple floor, the light of your flames seeming to cast your very essence into its stance as your followers bow before it. How stylish!
[[Back->Construct]]
(set: $idolplus to 1)
(set: $hp to $hp - 3 )
The smell of burning bones and perfumed smoke swells in your divine soul. How invigorating!
[[Back->Construct]]
(set: $sacriplus to 1)
Your strength is still returning. You should rest for now.
[[New day->daycheck1]]
(set: $hp to 8)
(set:$days = $days + 1)
(if: $hp < 1)[ (display: "Rest") ](else:)[ (display: "main") ]
(if: $days is 2)[ (display: "info1") ](else:)[ (display: "daycheck2")]
A long time ago would be understating it, but the gods' arrival was certainly far into the past; you often hear the people in your temple and padding through the streets referring to the 'old gods', and they're not really wrong. Each of your iterations is new, shedding skins as your followers' thoughts of you change.
Their faith does not define your existence, that is your own decision to make. But as their whispered words of piety grow and fade, you find your fire reflects it. You'd be lying to say it didn't bother you, but then the gods have been known to lie.
[[....->main]]
(if: $days is 5)[ (display: "info2") ](else:)[ (display: "daycheck3")]
There is a great roaring outside..
[[....->main2]]
There is a great roaring outside..
It's been $days days. You have $followers followers, but many of them are absent. Some may never return..
[[Appear->appear2]]
[[Construct->construct2]]
[[Observe->observe2]]
[[Tribute->offer2]]
[[Rest]]
What kind of a god appears on another god's day? Rude!
[[Back->main2]]
Not enough people are here..
[[Back->main2]]
The beat of drums has the air thrumming. People are dancing all through the street, all through the town, all across each other and everything with wild abandon, flinging their bodies to and fro with primal energy. Just outside the town burns a great pyre, topped with a straw hyena, crumbling to red and yellow cinders as its attendants howl. Blood runs freely, and the peoples' woes and warrants are thrown to the wind, if only for a day.
Today is the Dance of Valgt. The most timid of your followers cower from the violence outside your halls.
[[Back->main2]]
You lift a great wind to fan the hyena effigy's flames higher and higher. The dancing grows to a frenzy.
You can't help but wonder if you should do a little dancing yourself.
[[Back->main2]]
(if: $days is 8)[ (display: "info3") ](else:)[ (display: "daycheck4")]
There is a strange tune in the air..
[[....->main3]]
There is a strange tune in the air..
It's been $days days. You have $followers followers, but many of them are absent. Are they having a good time?
[[Appear->appear3]]
[[Construct->construct3]]
[[Observe->observe3]]
[[Tribute->offer3]]
[[Rest]]
What kind of a god appears on another god's day? Rude!
[[Back->main3]]
Not enough people are here..
[[Back->main3]]
A great parade is slowly weaving through the town, mirrors lifted high overhead to reflect beams of sunlight back into the clouds. Their bearers sway back and forth, moving to a peculiar beat; around them run their friends, throwing flowers and swinging crystals. Water is poured across the stones before the parade's many feet, and the burgeoning, blinding mass shuffles along. At its head is lifted a great silver idol, opals for eyes and a clear crystal horn marking it as a unicorn.
Today is the Festival of Lourus. Her light helps the hopes of that dismal little town grow, or so they think.
[[....->subobserve3]]
You will your own flame higher and higher, commanding the few followers still huddled in your presence to bring mirrors for your purposes. With the right geometry, a column of light is bounced across the temple space, and up into the sky to join the others.
Once there might have been a pleasant tingle to filter back along that light. All you feel now though is stillness.
[[Back->main3]]
The temples in this town are empty. They dance and they pray and they set fire to their lives but you feel only your own presence among them.
The others left for greener pastures, so to speak. Maybe 'golden pastures' would be a better comparison, though; great cities and their golden spires offer far richer sacrifices and tithes than the open fields of the east.
Sometimes you think about joining them, but it feels like betrayal. Besides, you're still in no position to be running around too much yourself.
[[Back->main3]]
(if: $days is 11)[ (display: "info4") ](else:)[ (display: "daycheck5")]
There is a smoky haze to the sky..
[[....->main4]]
There is a smoky haze to the sky..
It's been $days days. You have $followers followers, but many of them are absent. Many will come back empty handed.
[[Appear->appear4]]
[[Construct->construct4]]
[[Observe->observe4]]
[[Tribute->offer4]]
[[Rest]]
Didn't you learn your lesson about trying to appear on other gods' days again? Rude!
[[Back->main4]]
Not enough people are here..
[[Back->main4]]
There are fires in the town's courtyards today, long columns of black smoke billowing up above them. The people raise their hands to the sky, singing and chanting and howling; their possessions burn before them, heaped into great pyres, drawing sweat from their skins. There is no idol to beseech or bestow upon, only the voiceless air and an empty temple.
Today is the Lights of Quiv. The people burn their things in pursuit of spiritual liberation. Their silhouettes are small and lonely against the great burning heaps.
[[Back->main4]]
You'd offer something to destroy, but it's not a very good idea when you're not at your full strength yet. Maybe next time.
[[Back->main4]]
(if: $days is 13)[ (display: "info5") ](else:)[ (display: "daycheck6")]
clarityorb.tumblr.com
ghostwrassler.tumblr.com
[[Back->gods1]]
There was nothing ever quite like Her. She was everything and nothing, filling the world with Her presence, Her spirit emanating from each thing. There was no 'living thing'; she was all of it, and so all of it [[lived]].
Sharing a consciousness meant there was no need to fight--everyone was together, all decisions were united. She thought for it all, She knew what was best, Her hand moved the pieces and the pawns in the ultimate play. But when you are everything at once, you are alone, and She could not bear it.
You remember Her pain. It is quiet now, where that wound once was, [[but it is not the same->lived2]].
When She let you and the other gods free of Her, it all slipped loose. Just as a fractured dam lets the whole river free, it all came pouring out of Her, each life gaining its own intent as She crumpled. It was the day of your birth and the day of Her death and the most horrifying moment you've ever known.
Her kindness sleeps now. In Her empty wake is left the remainder of the gods, all fighting and scrabbling for what scraps they can get. You're ashamed to be included, but you'd rather have your fire lit than not. At least when you're awake you can dream of Her.
[[....->lived3]]
Even if they've all forgotten Her, Her name is still carried in your heart.
[[You'll keep it there.->main]]
(if: $fear > $joy)[ (display: "comp1") ](else:)[ (display: "comp2")]
(if: $days is 14)[ (display: "endcheck") ](else:)[ (display: "main")]
(if: $joy > $awe)[ (display: "joy end1") ](else:)[ (display: "awe end1")]
(if: $fear > $awe)[ (display: "fear end1") ](else:)[ (display: "awe end1")]
end stats:
Ending - $ending
Fear - $fear
Awe - $awe
Joy - $joy
Follower count - $followers
(if: $temple is "pristine")[Clean temple - yes](else:)[Clean temple - no]
(if: $sewplus is 1)[Banners - yes](else:)[Banners - no]
(if: $sacriplus is 1)[Sacrifices - yes](else:)[Sacrifices - no]
(if: $idolplus is 1)[Idol - yes](else:)[Idol - no]
(if: $priestplus is 1)[Clergy - yes](else:)[Clergy - no]
**Burning Temples**
a game by [[ghostwrassler->gw2]]
thanks for playing <3
[[Replay->play]]
You've grown [[powerful]].
You're much stronger than before. Stronger than other iterations you remember.
As you flex your abilities, emerging from the cocoon of your altar's fire, your followers [[cower]].
[[**You're //terrifying//.**->terrifying]]
**And in this otherwise godless wasteland, this is only the [[beginning->endstat]].**
My, have the days [[passed->fear end2]].
(set: $ending to "Fearsome Might")
My, have the days [[passed->joy end2]].
(set: $ending to "Joyous Energy")
You've grown [[bright]].
Almost blinding--but your warm halls are [[treasured]].
**you are //[[steadfast]]//.**
**And in this land of false hope, you will lift the world back to [[Her Standards->endstat]].**
My, have the days [[passed->awe end2]].
(set: $ending to "Awesome Power")
You've grown to be [[towering]].
Your name has spread farther than ever before. Your idols are cropping up by the hundreds in awe of your [[miraculous feats]].
**You are //[[infathomable]]//.**
**And in this world of empty promises, your word will be the truth by which to [[live->endstat]].**
clarityorb.tumblr.com
ghostwrassler.tumblr.com
[[Back->endstat]]
The ashes are cold as you stir.
You $appearance. As you wake, your temple comes into your holy view.
$altar is your
[[gleaming copper cauldron]]
[[stained wooden pyre]]
[[scarred stone tablet]]
The ashes are cold as you stir.
You $appearance. As you wake, your temple comes into your holy view.
[[Among the marble columns]]
[[In the dim of the painted cave]]
[[At the foot of your shimmering pool]]
[[In the glow of the stained glass]]
The ashes are cold as you stir. You
[[stretch your many wings]]
[[flex your silvery claws]]
[[blink your thousand eyes]]
[[bare your golden teeth]]
(set: $appearance to "stretch your many wings")
(display: "altar")
(set: $appearance to "flex your silvery claws")
(display: "altar")
(set: $appearance to "blink your thousand eyes")
(display: "altar")
(set: $appearance to "bare your golden teeth")
(display: "altar")
(set: $altar to "Among the marble columns")
(display: "pyree")
(set: $altar to "In the dim of the painted cave")
(display: "pyree")
(set: $altar to "At the foot of your shimmering pool")
(display: "pyree")
(set: $altar to "In the glow of the stained glass")
(display: "pyree")
(set: $pyre to "gleaming copper cauldron")
(display: "Wake up.")
(set: $pyre to "stained wooden pyre")
(display: "Wake up.")
(set: $pyre to "scarred stone tablet")
(display: "Wake up.")
(if: $followers >= 200)[ (display: "priestplus") ](else:)[ (display: "priestfail")]
Among the ranks of your most loyal followers, clergy has been selected. An adorned figure now speaks of your triumphs and urges your commands to those who seek your presence, and attempts to convert those who do not. How convenient!
[[Back->Construct]]
(set: $priestplus to 1)
(set: $hp to $hp - 3)
There's no one here right for the job.. What a shame!
[[back->Construct]]