Morrighan

REFERENCES:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Myth/CelticMythology?from=Main.CelticMythology
https://tobiasmastgrave.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/world-building-technology-magic-and-culture/
http://thewritingcafe.tumblr.com/post/64964652882/for-the-fantasy-writers-who-want-to-include-magic
http://www.sfwa.org/2009/08/fantasy-worldbuilding-questions-the-world/
References
Siegfreid
Thor: God of Thunder
Vinland Saga
Game of Thrones
Lord of the Motherfuckin' Rings. Fucking Gandalf man.
Hellboy
Demon Knights
The Witcher
Dragon Age Series
Spera
Berserk
American Gods
Batwoman
Sandman
Sandman: Overture

HISTORY:
[THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S ORIGIN]
The world was birthed into existence due to the Sruth Diaganta, a constant cosmic flow of energy that imbues the universe with magical properties, eternally flowing throughout time, and from it were birthed the children of the river, into a small pocket of the universe.
This was the first civilization, they lived in harmony. Eventually they banded together to find the source of their world's creation, the Sruth Diaganta, by reverse engineering it's power, calling the process magic. They used this to travel along it to it's source, a place called the Veil, and within it lied a new world called Tir Na Nog, the paradise where time does not flow. They then set out to recreate their old world, Dohman, with life they deemed fit, and leaving their old civilization hidden away within it (humans, the race connected to themselves, fairfolk, the race connected to the world, and the fomor, the race connected to the gods), and became their gods, casting themselves in a new hierarchy. However the race was barred from entry into the world they created, without being a part of it. The gods limited the involvement of each other by only letting their three leaders enter the world at any time. However recently due to flow of the Sruth being disturbed by the very mortals they created, the gods are now in a frenzy over what to do, whether to let them run their course or to actively stop them from coming close to their level of power. In any case, gods from the camp wishing to destroy the mortals began to attack them, although in recent years, it looks like the mortals have been fighting back...

[THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S ORIGIN ACCORDING TO THE PATRONS]
>Gods created the world in their own image, they are universal constants
>The three patron gods, Aine, X, and X, used to lead humanity and the other creatures; fairfolk(elven/faerie mix), fomorians(in this lore they're like monsters/demons and are called the Forlorn), each of the three races have a patron deity, but they all left, the races relationships with each other are now disjointed at best, actively antagonistic at worst
>There are religions developed since that time that speak of the virtues of the 3 patron deities, essentially one main faction per race
----------
(all history past this point is objectively true)
[OBJECTIVELY TRUE HISTORY]
>Less than 200 years ago, humanity discovered how to actively use magic from ruins left by the First Civilization, a people long since passed wo left ruins and settlements with no traces of life, and began to teach and use it alongside the other races; it's a very new discovery in this world, to the point that there are elders around who remember what life was like before magic existed
>100 years after the Discovery of Magic, a God descended for the first time in millenia, destroying a human settlement
>These attacks continued with no one being able to understand why, as the gods that arrived spoke in a tongue deemed incomprehensible, and had no pattern to their attacks
>A band of "heretics" created a nationwide militia in major settlements
>Years prior to the start of the story, FemKnight's town was attacked and almost completely wiped out, being the most destructive attack since the First Descent
>The following year she joins the militia, and trains with them for a good while, becoming an adept soldier
>On one of her early dispatches, she ends up actually killing the god they're sent to destroy in a Shadow of the Colossus-esque fashion, and is praised for it
>Since then she's killed 3 other gods and is praised throughout most of humanity as a messiah-like figure

GODS:
Gods are figures mortals though they understood, but with recent knowledge they realize they know much less than they thought in years past, after Femknight begins killing some of the ones that have arrived
I don't have an exact reason why gods are attacking the world yet, I've been fumbling with a few
1. They attack because mortals has discovered magic and are at risk of destroying the world
2. They grow tired of mortals and wish to start the world anew
3. Mortals are coming too close to the power of the gods and they wish to stop them
4. They learn of a propechy telling them someone has the power to exterminate them, and they preemptively strike to try and eliminate them
5. They wish to test the mettle of mortals
In any case, there are camps of gods who don't want to attack mortals, so within the world of the divine there is a great deal of infighting, arguing and backstabbery
Rules:
There are multiple castes, Patron Gods, Greater Gods, Lesser Gods (Femknight has only killed Lesser Gods so far)
Gods appear more and more earthlike the higher in caste they are, with the pinnacle gods appearing exactly like humans/fairfolk/fomorians but with extraneous features like wings or animal motifs
Gods have to take a corporeal form to enter the mortal world, but still have most of their power and magical abilities
Killing a god can only be done by the use of the [Holy Sword] or by a certain breed of mortals called "Vessels" who are conduits for gods undergoing rebirth (fiddling with this idea especially as an actual explanation of why Femknight could kill gods, as her only doing it through mettle is kind of iffy, but I like that idea too, I'll just have to handle it properly)
(All of this information is basically unknown to mortals)

[PLOTS:]

[FemknightXPreistess]
>maybe having a point where they push past their beliefs and choose being friends with eachother over their personal dogmas or something like that
>I really like stories like that. It's easy to get along with someone who agrees with you on every matter anyway, being someone's friend despite differences requires a willingness to try and understand others and the respect necessary to accept their believes even when you can't agree.
>i like this kind of story too
but it ruins it a little for me if they have to compromise too much. they should hold to what they believe in, or if they change, have a legit reason. and then learn to get along despite that.
>I think ideally both parties should be able to learn something from each other and become better people without having to compromise too much.
So at the end there is still a major difference in regards to what they believe in but they respect the others stance and see value in some of their views.
>Yeah, that's what makes that type of (sub)plot interesting. Like I said, it's easy to be friends with someone who shares your opinions to begin with, but if you can be close to someone who thinks very differently then that's an admirable trait, in my opinion, because it requires effort. And I mean, that's kind of what I want to see in a hero, someone who does the right thing, not just the easy thing.
>There should really be more stories like that.

Romance can ground a story in a good way - sure, the story may be about stuff like war or politics, but at the end of the day, the risks and threats of those conflicts come down to the human level - politics and war both stem from the basic desire to have yourself and the people you love be safe.
IIRC your protagonist's basic motivation stems from the loss of her family to this impending apocalypse, right? It's hard to engage the audience in that kind of stuff, because they haven't had a chance to get to know the character's family, so I think a romance could be a very good idea to show her gaining a new "family" (that you can then use to motivate her, or for drama, or whatever).
Just make sure it fits. You could probably have it work even as a super-mushy sort of thing, in the proper context (like the two trying their hardest to ignore the fact that the world is going to shit and that they might end up on different sides of a civil war and just enjoying their moment of peace together), but something more low-key might be easier to work with.
Don't know if any of that makes sense.

[Conflict Depth]
[2/8/15 9:54:24 PM] PHN: maybe humanity getting magic powers is a step forward in releasing them from the gods control
[2/8/15 9:54:35 PM] PHN: so it's a combination of old fantasy and "They Live"
[2/8/15 9:55:26 PM] PHN: oooo, and then you get some "human" turncoats who are actually agents of the gods trying to manipulate things into getting humans back in line and hitting the status quo again
[2/8/15 9:55:44 PM] PHN: so then there's faction wars and more meat to the story

[Fairyboy]
A young man's father dies and tells him the location of his fairfolk mother, and he goes on a quest through the part of the world most dangerous in order to find her. Also there's a witch who desperately wants his man-meat.

[Morrigan]
goddess!morrigan, the god of war and vengeance was exiled from the other gods because reasons
but she can still speak to people through crows, and has one follow human!morrighan around
and at one point human!morrighan has to make a geas with her in a near death situation
but anyway, goddess!morrigan gets her end of the deal by rebirthing in the mortal world through this super edgy scene where human!morrighan has this horrific transformation
like black bile starts flowing out of her nose/ears/mouth, and crows flock around her and pick away at her, then goddess!morrigan rises from the mess, seemingly killing human!morrighan
[2/9/15 1:13:56 AM] S S: nd it'd be easy to make parallels between their characters since
[2/9/15 1:14:28 AM] S S: morrigan is the goddess of war and vengeance, and morrighan is a human killing gods and monsters
[2/9/15 1:14:56 AM] S S: prone to violence and stuff, all that "you and i aren't so different:" bs
-----------
CHATS
[2/9/15]
[2/9/15 11:32:20 PM] S S: ok
[2/9/15 11:32:42 PM] S S: thats probably better, since she'll be going through a lot of shit
[2/9/15 11:32:53 PM] yuri everyday: her reasons to fight the gods makes sense either way
[2/9/15 11:33:02 PM] yuri everyday: because it's a good cause really
[2/9/15 11:33:08 PM] S S: alright
[2/9/15 11:33:10 PM] yuri everyday: you just have to show it
[2/9/15 11:33:12 PM] yuri everyday: not tell it
[2/9/15 11:33:35 PM] Ammonoid: why fight when you have everything to lose?  because you have everything to lose, that's why.
[2/9/15 11:33:53 PM] S S: true
[2/9/15 11:34:25 PM] S S: i was going to have the experiences directly affect her mood
[2/9/15 11:34:49 PM] S S: like she'd be slightly pessimistic about everything despite very one thinking she can save them
[2/9/15 11:35:19 PM] S S: and it would contrast the priestess thinking that if they come to an agreement with the gods everything will go back to being normal and happy
[2/9/15 11:35:49 PM] yuri everyday: I like this contrast of diplomacy versus war
[2/9/15 11:36:13 PM] Ammonoid: ...that could be fucking awesome
[2/9/15 11:36:37 PM] Ammonoid: fighting off antagonist gods and trying to persuade neutral gods to join in with the humans
[2/9/15 11:36:44 PM] Ammonoid: DUDE
[2/9/15 11:36:44 PM] S S: yeah
[2/9/15 11:36:47 PM] Ammonoid: DUDE I LIKE THAT
[2/9/15 11:36:52 PM] S S: same with bad gods influencing humans
[2/9/15 11:37:02 PM] S S: promising them with godhood
[2/9/15 11:37:19 PM] Ammonoid: i have ta ask again
[2/9/15 11:37:24 PM] Ammonoid: what is the endgame for both sides?
[2/9/15 11:37:30 PM] S S: what do you mean
[2/9/15 11:37:35 PM] Ammonoid: like, the win condition
[2/9/15 11:37:46 PM] Ammonoid: uhhh, i hear it used most often in WH40K
[2/9/15 11:37:48 PM] S S: humans win if they get the gods to stop/kill them all
[2/9/15 11:38:09 PM] Ammonoid: the humans' endgame is their dead leader comes back to life and leads them into a glorious new golden age
[2/9/15 11:38:17 PM] S S: there are two parties who want both sides, and the third who's working for the god
[2/9/15 11:38:25 PM] Ammonoid: the tyranids' endgame is to pierce the heart of the galaxy and eat everything
[2/9/15 11:38:46 PM] Ammonoid: the eldar's endgame is they create a new god of death to defeat the chaos gods
[2/9/15 11:38:57 PM] S S: bad god endgame is to kill all mortals and keep magic to themselves in order to stay in control
[2/9/15 11:39:09 PM] Ammonoid: the orks endgame is to plunge the entire galaxy into war (they're currently in their endgame lel)
[2/9/15 11:39:19 PM] S S: good god endgame is to usher mortals into an age of glory with them, like jor-el
[2/9/15 11:39:44 PM] Ammonoid: what are their methods to go about doing this in more specific actions?
[2/9/15 11:40:13 PM] S S: bad gods are actively trying to kill mortals in droves
[2/9/15 11:40:19 PM] S S: and influence the decline of magic
[2/9/15 11:40:33 PM] Ammonoid: how do they do that?
[2/9/15 11:40:43 PM] S S: good gods were being passive in letting mortals to come to their own realizations of power or w/e
[2/9/15 11:40:49 PM] S S: and present themselves when they thought the time was right
[2/9/15 11:41:06 PM] S S: did you read my pastebin
[2/9/15 11:41:19 PM] Ammonoid: not all of it ( ._.)
[2/9/15 11:41:42 PM] S S: well the gods come down to earth using what i'm calling the sruth diaganta
[2/9/15 11:41:57 PM] S S: which is basically the bifrost but an interdimensional river
[2/9/15 11:42:19 PM] S S: also acts as the source of magic for the universe
[2/9/15 11:42:59 PM] yuri everyday: On 2/9/15, at 11:40 PM, S S wrote:
> good gods were being passive in letting mortals to come to their own realizations of power or w/e
and present themselves when they thought the time was right
that's pretty... inactive of them though...
[2/9/15 11:43:13 PM] S S: well the idea was this passive vs aggressive approach
[2/9/15 11:43:33 PM] S S: but the bad gods force the good gods to be aggressive after a certain point
[2/9/15 11:43:46 PM] Ammonoid: DEUS VULT
[2/9/15 11:44:01 PM] yuri everyday: wouldn't people be like "Damn, good gods. We need your help now, but you're too lazy sitting in your heavens. Seriously?"
[2/9/15 11:44:31 PM] S S: i had the reason so far as
[2/9/15 11:44:37 PM] S S: the 3 patron gods made a decision
[2/9/15 11:44:49 PM] S S: and 2 of them wanted to negative approach
[2/9/15 11:45:19 PM] S S: and that was their executive decision
[2/9/15 11:45:35 PM] S S: and they stuck with it for a while, as they had been using that system for a long time
[2/9/15 11:46:02 PM] S S: but then the good gods got sick of it and had to act
[2/9/15 11:46:15 PM] yuri everyday: the gods seem quite beauracratic
[2/9/15 11:46:16 PM] S S: causing the gods to fight amongst themselves for the first time
[2/9/15 11:47:00 PM] S S: yeah but
[2/9/15 11:47:19 PM] S S: lots of god setups were that way
[2/9/15 11:47:25 PM] S S: plus it's disrupted anyhow
[2/9/15 11:48:16 PM] yuri everyday: reminds me or Roman politics. Someone is gonna get stabbed
[2/9/15 11:48:23 PM] S S: that's the idea

[TRUE GODS]
[2/10/15 12:01:39 AM] Ammonoid: a rational explanation for true gods being apathetic is because the shit that's going down is nothing new to them
[2/10/15 12:01:50 AM] Ammonoid: hell, it could be even of less urgency than other happenings before it
[2/10/15 12:02:54 AM] Ammonoid: "what, the false gods are trying to wipe out all humans? that's not so bad, remember when M'ese'ul thahn tried to blot out the Light of the Universe and escape to the lands beyond the Realm?  THAT was a crisis."
[2/10/15 12:03:43 AM] S S: actually that might be interesting to do
[2/10/15 12:03:51 AM] Ammonoid: kinda like how Sauron was small-fry in the grand scheme of the timeline of the Lord of the Rings
[2/10/15 12:04:18 AM] Ammonoid: Like, sure he's a huge threat, but only to those he's a threat to
[2/10/15 12:04:18 AM] S S: i was thinking of at one point, goddessmorrigan would use humanmorrigan's body for rebirth
[2/10/15 12:04:24 AM] S S: and their souls would transpose places
[2/10/15 12:04:46 AM] Ammonoid: dark night of the soul
[2/10/15 12:04:47 AM] S S: and then humanmorrighan would venture throughout the vast unknown
[2/10/15 12:05:00 AM] S S: trying to find her way back, meeting other gods and such
[2/10/15 12:05:01 AM] S S: learning about the river
[2/10/15 12:05:27 AM] S S: like this part would essentially be the beginning of act 3, arc wise
[2/10/15 12:05:40 AM] Ammonoid: this would be the Descent into the Underworld portion of the traditional Epic?
[2/10/15 12:05:46 AM] S S: 3act wise sorry
[2/10/15 12:05:52 AM] S S: hmm let me look that up again
[2/10/15 12:06:49 AM] S S: i think so?
[2/10/15 12:08:07 AM] S S: maybe she could meet the true gods and have things put into perspective
[2/10/15 12:08:21 AM] Ammonoid: aye
[2/10/15 12:08:24 AM] S S: both giving a message of how futile her problem is
[2/10/15 12:08:26 AM] Ammonoid: thers tha rub
[2/10/15 12:08:49 AM] S S: but also realizing that its important to her, and it still needs to be dealt with
[2/10/15 12:08:50 AM] S S: due to that
[2/10/15 12:09:02 AM] Ammonoid: like in hellboy
[2/10/15 12:09:31 AM] Ammonoid: 'you are not the first civilization to die, nor will you be the last.  take comfort in the knowledge that a new species will rise from the ashes of yours.'
[2/10/15 12:09:47 AM] Ammonoid: of course no comfort is taken and the heroes fight even harder

[Morrigan]
[2/10/15 12:10:34 AM] yuri everyday: On 2/10/15, at 12:04 AM, S S wrote:
> i was thinking of at one point, goddessmorrigan would use humanmorrigan's body for rebirth
I really like that idea
[2/10/15 12:11:00 AM] yuri everyday: it would be more sensible that the reason why humanmorrigan is so badass is because goddessmorrigan is sponsoring her
[2/10/15 12:11:19 AM] S S: yeah with the geas
[2/10/15 12:11:21 AM] S S: its an arc of
[2/10/15 12:11:23 AM] S S: she's badass
[2/10/15 12:11:33 AM] S S: but theres a point where she's not badass enough
[2/10/15 12:11:48 AM] S S: goddess gives help with a price
[2/10/15 12:11:54 AM] S S: she pays the price
[2/10/15 12:11:58 AM] yuri everyday: what's teh price?
[2/10/15 12:12:04 AM] yuri everyday: early death?
[2/10/15 12:12:08 AM] yuri everyday: body vessel?
[2/10/15 12:12:13 AM] S S: vessel
[2/10/15 12:12:17 AM] yuri everyday: gotcha
[2/10/15 12:12:33 AM] S S: like there'd be this situation
[2/10/15 12:12:43 AM] S S: that humanmorg literally cannot stop on her own
[2/10/15 12:13:03 AM] S S: and goddessmorg after constant subtle nods and conversation would appear
[2/10/15 12:13:28 AM] S S: and offer her the choice to have her help or accept failure
[2/10/15 12:14:04 AM] S S: and it would probably be some sadistic choice situation like two problems at once
[2/10/15 12:14:24 AM] yuri everyday: well...
[2/10/15 12:14:37 AM] yuri everyday: being a body vessel for a goddess doesn't sound that bad
[2/10/15 12:14:57 AM] yuri everyday: what would you sacrifice if you became a vessel?
[2/10/15 12:15:03 AM] S S: well it's not, but morrigan doesn't mention the rebirth since she wants revenge on the gods
[2/10/15 12:15:11 AM] S S: the endgame is your life is forfeit
[2/10/15 12:15:45 AM] S S: the endgame of a vessel is for a god to be reborn through you
[2/10/15 12:16:17 AM] S S: but it turns out it's just your physical body, and your soul gets transposed with theirs
[2/10/15 12:16:35 AM] yuri everyday: does femknight have a family? friends she'd be missing if she got reborn and completely devoted to the mission?
[2/10/15 12:17:15 AM] yuri everyday: because if she doesn't have any of those than goddess Morrigan's sadistic choice isn't really sadistic. Just makes more sense for someone who doesn't have anyone.
[2/10/15 12:17:25 AM] S S: i dunno about family, and i had priestess as her main concern in terms of friendship, most of her friends are soldiers
[2/10/15 12:17:39 AM] S S: i might as well have them there too
[2/10/15 12:18:11 AM] S S: fan is at risk, the girl she has ambiguously gay feelings for is at risk, her colleagues and culture is at risk
[2/10/15 12:18:15 AM] S S: so she makes a choice

[Morrighan]
[2/10/15 12:19:39 AM] yuri everyday: You're trying to avoid tragic backstory or no?
[2/10/15 12:19:54 AM] S S: i don't need it, i don't even particularly want it
[2/10/15 12:20:16 AM] yuri everyday: It doesn't hurt to have one either way, because it both works out.
[2/10/15 12:20:19 AM] S S: i just needed a setup for a somber and slightly pessimistic character
[2/10/15 12:20:43 AM] S S: who has things she wants to protect, having lost things before due to being weak
[2/10/15 12:21:03 AM] S S: the backstory doesn't have to be ultra tragic
[2/10/15 12:21:27 AM] S S: but there should be a major loss of some kind that she felt she could have stopped
[2/10/15 12:21:41 AM] S S: that would make her so devoted to not losing things like that imo
[2/10/15 12:22:22 AM] S S: and then when goddessmorg takes her body and she's flung into the far reaches of nothingness
[2/10/15 12:22:33 AM] S S: she can only feel as if she's back where she started
[2/10/15 12:22:43 AM] S S: helpless and weak, unable to make a difference
[2/10/15 12:23:04 AM] heysawbones: Sibling. Drowned.
[2/10/15 12:23:10 AM] heysawbones: Alternately, best friend, drowned.
[2/10/15 12:23:18 AM] heysawbones: Main character: cannot swim?
[2/10/15 12:23:19 AM] yuri everyday: dead parents are quite popular
[2/10/15 12:23:21 AM] heysawbones: Afraid of water.
[2/10/15 12:23:28 AM] heysawbones: Could not overcome fear.
[2/10/15 12:23:28 AM] S S: might avoid dead parents
[2/10/15 12:23:42 AM] Ammonoid: my mc's entire family died when their house burned down
[2/10/15 12:23:51 AM] Ammonoid: spoilers: the house burned down after they died
[2/10/15 12:23:58 AM] Ammonoid: to cover up their deaths
[2/10/15 12:24:00 AM] Ammonoid: ooooh
[2/10/15 12:24:07 AM] onespiral: Ayy
[2/10/15 12:24:20 AM] Ammonoid: i'm still not sure why she can't see their ghosts though, being a medium and all
[2/10/15 12:24:22 AM] yuri everyday: It depends on how brutal you execute the death of a loved one