I had heard on an episode of The Dungeoncast (YouTube; the episode was either about Fey creatures and beings or about the Feywild itself) how in RPG’s and works of fiction immortal, ancient beings have plans that play out over hundreds to thousands of years. I would agree with that to some extent for some beings of great power that are long-lived. But I don’t think that would be or should be the case for all powerful, long-lived, fictional beings.
When I got to be about forty years of age I started getting bored with a lot of things in life that use to interest me, so I can’t imagine that beings that would be four thousand years old, or forty thousand years old, that have great power, have seen and done everything there is to see and do, would be content to year-after-year, century-after-century, do the same damn thing over and over and over again and not at some point just go, “eh,” and get bored. Up in some heavenly plane some where is some god looking down at mortals and says, “What, what are they doing? Again?” They call out to another god passing by, “Hey come ‘ere, come ‘ere. Look at what they’re doing down there.” The other god takes a peek down into the mortal world, “Wait . . . didn’t they do that like a thousand years ago?”
“Yes.”
“And they’re doing it again?”
“Yup.”
“What’s with this people?”
“I dunno. Hey! You down there! You did that a thousand years ago! Ohhhhh that’s sooooo original! Can’t you people come up with anything new! Ugh. Why did we ever make these people?”
“I dunno, man. It was a slow day.” Two angels are walking by. The first god calls out to them, “Hey, you two! You two. Now you two are in charge, we’re goin’ over by the pool and get some drinks. Call us when they (mortals) finally do something interesting down there.”
At what point does some being of great power just say, “I don’t care anymore”. Now in Dungeons and Dragons usually the gods have to care because they get their power from mortal followers. But even with that, they may have stopped carrying about a good many things. Maybe they let go of centuries to millennia-old grudges with other immortal beings. “What the hell were we arguing about seven thousand years ago? Whatever.”
Personalities change. Maybe some being that was evil and bloodthirsty to the core ends up, slowly over time, one step at a time, becoming the most gentle, compassionate being you ever met. And vice versa. Is there some rule that says the evil s-o-b has to stay evil forever? Or is that just to make things easy for players and readers?
What about a god or other immortal going down some path where they become progressively more detached from reality? They become interested in something, it becomes a hobby, then an eccentricity, then an obsession. You end up with some god or being, some burly, hulking mass, ugly s-o-b in tawny/brown coveralls that ends up in some little room that looks like 1950-something with blue or plaid wallpaper, and they sit on some little chair, seated at some little table, having a tea party with some porcelain or other dolly. Bulging-eyed figure with thinned, brown hair. Big head, fish-like, angular rounded. How did that monster end up there?
Along those lines, what about a god that goes “mad” as in ends up with some mental disorder – social anxiety, OCD, schizophrenia, some irrational fear. Are they simply erratic, or from D & D lingo “chaotic”? How bad is the mental health issue? What are its triggers? How did this being get this way, and can they be brought back from this state? How do you go about psychological therapy for a god?
How ‘bout burnt out gods that now let their subordinates due most of the work and the god just signs off on things? The number two collects all the prayers and presents them to the god at the pool sipping margarita’s and the god snaps their fingers and grants them all once a day.
What about the god or immortal being that wanted to destroy everything and they get their way? They wanted to turn the mortal world to a pile of ash and after centuries of trying they succeed and now they sit on a thrown on a pile of rubble. Okay, now what? How long before the satisfaction of their great act of destruction, their act of sticking it to the other gods or beings, wears off? At what point does any worship from survivors this destructive being gets not do anything for the being. This worship, or adulation they sought for so long just. . . nothing. At some point maybe that being of destruction ends up deciding to make something, then something else, and another something else, and ends up becoming a god of creation and builds the world anew. When does a being of creation get bored with their creation or thinks that their creation has ended up becoming something that they never wanted and it’s time to wipe the slate clean and start over? How many cycles of creation and destruction has a being or some set of beings been involved in? And when will the next cycle of destruction and recreation begin for the mortal world?
After existing so long, what does it take for a mortal to get the attention of burnt out, bored god? Maybe a god or immortal being that’s so bored that even though they were once very stable and methodical they end up just doing spontaneous, random stuff, not even for fun, but just to see what will happen (I think Will and Brian from The Dungeoncast covered something a kin to that).
So yes, there probably would be a fair number of ancient, powerful beings that would be content with doing the same things over and over again and playing the long game, and I think there probably would be a lot that wouldn’t.
Be Well : )
Will
