Kevin's Watch

To get an idea of how many people will be playing and so that feelings don't get hurt down the road, please go ahead and name which totem you would like to choose. If you want, you can also give a vague sketch of the character you will be playing.

The following list should give a good idea of what totems you can choose, but it shouldn't be considered exhaustive by any means (though try not to go for anything too exotic, since I can't including every kind of ecosystem). With the exception of river, mountain, or other natural feature gods, no two gods can have the same totem (and even those will be different rivers, mountains, etc.). They can be similar, however. If one player wants Raven and another Crow, for example, that's fine. Try not to pick a totem that is either too specific or too broad. Yellow-bellied sapsucker probably isn't a good idea and 'bird' isn't allowed.

I'm not going to name different kinds of plants, but if it's important to the culture, I can allow things like 'oak,' 'pine,' 'wheat,' and so on.

Alligator
Ant
Antelope
Badger
Bat
Bear
Beaver
Bee
Beetle
Bobcat
Buffalo
Butterfly
Chipmunk
Cougar
Coyote
Crane
Deer
Dolphin
Dog
Dragonfly
Duck
Eagle
Elk
Fox
Frog
Gopher
Grasshopper
Hawk
Horse
Hummingbird
Lizard
Minnow
Mouse
Opossum
Panther
Python
Raccoon
Rattlesnake
Salmon
Shark
Spider
Toad
Turtle
Viper
Vulture
Weasel
Whale
Wolf
Woodpecker

Dog

im in.

I'm thinking Dragonfly, but have no idea where I would be going with it, yet.

Hawk.

Now Fist is saying he won't play Surya in this new realm. Which was part of the fun of playing Nyx the Panther Goddess (of the Night).

However, now I'm thinking of re-imaging the Erd's Frusvolk from Aesir 1.0. They'd had a totemic lifestyle going before Erd showed up. Orca, Mammoth, Sabertooth, something else, and then Seal. Though the Seals weren't really totemic, that was just the animal that the four totemic groups associated with everyone else ("other") once they got outside their area.

But I could easily get my head around some kind of Inuit tribal group of early seafarers. It would give me a chance to study up on the local Puget Sound mythologies.

To the local (to me) tribes, Orca is known as the traveler. He is a mighty hunter, but is respected and left in peace by men. In turn, he leaves man in peace when he encounters them. But when roused to anger, he is a terrible foe indeed.

And, for what it's worth, I've been mildly looking for the past several years to find a really good Orca icon to get as a tattoo, and I've just been coming up short. I really love the Salish tribes art style, but I haven't found an image of only Orca standing alone. All the solo pieces I've found aren't quite right, and the ones that are otherwise right all of other stuff mixed in (usually as part of a totem pole motif). I did find a necklace earlier this year that is more or less right, but I haven't gotten a jpg of it to share online. So, y'all's loss, I guess.

I've got an idea forming in my head. (Class? Class? Anyone?) Can't figure out the totem yet, though. I'll edit this post today or tomorrow.

EDIT: OK, gotta make a decision, eventually. Badger.

Honey Badger doesn't give a shit!

You're never going to live down choosing Badger.

Is this working?

Yep.

Ristra, totem The Chilli Pepper

Goatkiller666 wrote:Honey Badger doesn't give a shit!

You're never going to live down choosing Badger.

Alas, I was vetoed. Totem is now Shen Mountain.

Ristra wrote:Ristra, totem The Chilli Pepper

As long as you don't name your high priest Flea or Keatus.

Was balon's question about fictional totem's ever answered? I'll gladly give up dragonfly for phoenix...

[Syl] wrote:

Ristra wrote:Ristra, totem The Chilli Pepper

As long as you don't name your high priest Flea or Keatus.

Of course not. But my shrine may be under the bridge....

Was balon's question about fictional totem's ever answered? I'll gladly give up dragonfly for phoenix...

Don't you always play a phoenix?

Menolly wrote:Was balon's question about fictional totem's ever answered? I'll gladly give up dragonfly for phoenix...

For the most part, I'd have to say no. A phoenix would pretty much destroy the atheist test.

This is not to say, though, that your totem cannot have magical abilities attributed to it. For example, if your totem was Lizard, your people could tell the story of how when Lizard travels in the underworld, he takes the form of Basilisk. It's something you'd have to achieve through your turn submissions, but the role of stories in this game will be huge (the more stories told about your god, the grander they are, the higher your Presence).

Alternate forms?

In the alternate realms?

Hot damn... maybe Orca is out, in favor of something else.

And, just to deviate from my norm, I'm going to attempt to invent an entirely new thing, instead of borrowing from other people's stuff. Wish me luck with that. (But if nothing really spiffy comes to mind, I'll fall back to Orca.)

[Syl] wrote:

Menolly wrote:Was balon's question about fictional totem's ever answered? I'll gladly give up dragonfly for phoenix...

For the most part, I'd have to say no. A phoenix would pretty much destroy the atheist test.

Fair enough.
I'll stick with Dragonfly, then.

[Syl] wrote:This is not to say, though, that your totem cannot have magical abilities attributed to it. For example, if your totem was Lizard, your people could tell the story of how when Lizard travels in the underworld, he takes the form of Basilisk. It's something you'd have to achieve through your turn submissions, but the role of stories in this game will be huge (the more stories told about your god, the grander they are, the higher your Presence).

Ooo, now this has possibility.
Thanks, Autarch.

Orlando wrote:

Was balon's question about fictional totem's ever answered? I'll gladly give up dragonfly for phoenix...

Don't you always play a phoenix?

nuh-uh.
Not always.
Only with one character, and if I am remembering correctly, the phoenix aspects didn't come in to affect until late in that game. I seem to recall being worried taking on phoenix aspects would conflict with another deity's creations until I received permission from both player and AllFather it was cool to do so.

good to go.

Shen Mountain