How important is the Achaean Mythos to you?

Borran

I almost made this a poll, but I remembered my last poll's options were found by a few to be too limiting.

I would like to know how important people think the Achaea Mythos is. Is it a bible that your character bases their decisions in, or a history lesson they studied once to pass a novice test? 

I remember reading through it and memorizing it because I found it fascinating, but since then I have only read it sporadically over the last decade and today I realized I remember very little of it. 

So what is the Mythos to you,  and what is it to your character(s)?

Carmain

There are a few characters from the Mythos I like, like Glacius that I would love to see more of (More evil gods please) but I am not quite Flair level at worshipping gone gods. The Mythos is super interesting. It is a part of what makes Achaea so mystical

Severina

I view it as canonical lore that illuminates the setting in which I play. In that context, the mythos (and other admin-authored content) has a higher innate value to me than player-generated content simply as an indicator of how things are 'meant to be'. Still, it's a mythology, and there's plenty of room to argue truth, relevance, and the reliability of narrators.

It's a great read. There's a lot of material to work with ICly. As for my actual IC views, I'll leave the RP for in-game.

Shirszae

Lore Is part of what makes or breaks a setting for me.  And Achaea's mythos are both interesting and quirky fun to read, so its a win-win.

Torinn

I take the mythos as fact. Something that definitely happened and everybody knows or believes in its truth

Aralaya

Same as Torinn, fact for the world

Anaria

I will say the unpopular thing, and admit that the Achaea mythos isn't important to me at all. The vast majority of it feels completely disconnected from anything I experience while playing. I haven't found any part of it that I can really make applicable to my character.

Borran

Anaria said:

I will say the unpopular thing, and admit that the Achaea mythos isn't important to me at all. The vast majority of it feels completely disconnected from anything I experience while playing. I haven't found any part of it that I can really make applicable to my character.

That is actually what I was wondering. Because I love the read, but I think I've had someone reference the Mythos few enough times that I can count it on one hand. And I've played over 13 years! 

Thank you for your honest input. 

Remilia

Anaria said:

I will say the unpopular thing, and admit that the Achaea mythos isn't important to me at all. The vast majority of it feels completely disconnected from anything I experience while playing. I haven't found any part of it that I can really make applicable to my character.

In practice, I've found that it's better to make my character fit the lore than try to make the lore fit my character. I've dived into the mythos myself and enjoyed it -- and adjusted parts of my character's concept to better fit the world in general.

Sena

Sena's perspective: It's a bit of history that can be meaningful or useful on occasion (especially when it comes to gods and the nature of divinity), but in terms of day-to-day life and the general affairs of mortals, it doesn't really have much impact/importance. Sena would look down on anyone with no knowledge of the Mythos though.

OOC perspective: It's really interesting, and good for setting up the background of the world (though I think the history of Seleucar and the Black Wave are better in those regards), and I think everyone who's invested in the game at all should read the Mythos/histories at some point, but I don't think it's really vital.

Prythe

Borran said:

I almost made this a poll, but I remembered my last poll's options were found by a few to be too limiting.

I would like to know how important people think the Achaea Mythos is. Is it a bible that your character bases their decisions in, or a history lesson they studied once to pass a novice test? 

I remember reading through it and memorizing it because I found it fascinating, but since then I have only read it sporadically over the last decade and today I realized I remember very little of it. 

So what is the Mythos to you,  and what is it to your character(s)?

I worry less about Mythos, and more about what I have seen and experienced first hand during my lifetime.

Israyhl

I'm bias because I am passionate about history. I love everything to do with history, be it tribal folklore that made it into recorded history, or history that, due to its sheer improbability, is recorded as myth and legend. I also enjoy a level of skepticisim when viewing any "mythos" as it introduces the possibility that some things were dramatized by the one recording it. 

In the setting of Achaea, however, Israyhl takes the mythos as fact in most cases. It is one thing when you have a mortal historian's works uncovered and then read through. It is another thing when you have a god (@Sarapis) telling you, "Yeah, this is how shit went down cause I planned it that way." He views the "events" that happen, alongside the mythos, as recorded history viewed from a neutral party, like the Fates or Crones or something, that are un-biased in simply presenting what happened to the masses. 

Really, though. I love mythos. I have read the mythos of every IRE game multiple times over even if I think they are terribad. 

Nataliia

So once upon a time, ages ago, I read the Mythos. Time and again I read it to try to remember it and pick stuff out of it, and I knew a fair bit. But I'll be honest in saying that after playing every IRE game, and reading the Mythos of every IRE game (at least twice), I just don't have a lot of oomph for reading it again, and again, and trying to keep it all in mind. And, I have even less desire to try to make some form of bullet point outline/timeline for reference.

This works out really nicely with Nataliia because she is not a scholar or historian and cares more about the world she knows, than the world that once was. As a player I enjoyed the read the first couple times around, I just don't have the impetus to read it so often that I never forget it.

Sholen

I think they are very important oocly for depth of the game. It's where Sho learned about the world. She/I loves the history so much, that she has read it multiple times. Also fan girls over @Aegis in His first battle. It shaped her view on chaos and the world and just about everything. She also lives the part about Lord of elements because she is a magi. So yes. She kind of fan girls and loves it. Not a bible to her, but she respects it and thinks everyone should read it.

Tahquil

I love the mythos. The thing I love more than the mythos is that the Tritons said 'Fuck you landwalkers, that's not what happened" and a mythos of their own was created.

Aerek

As a player, the Mythos is important to me because it sets down some canon that explains why things are the way they are. It's a foundation that you can rely on, and does help establish Achaea is a game that--aside from its Silmarillion influences--has a pretty unique setting and doesn't fall into too many of the usual fantasy tropes. It gives enough information to give the world its flavour, but not so much that players can't interpret it differently and build on it for themselves. I like that a lot.

As a character, the Mythos is still important, but it's only as reliable as any myth or legend is. Some folks might take it as fact, others might dismiss it or parts of it as myth. Debates on the finer points of the Mythos are valid (and interesting) conversations between parties of different perspectives, and I enjoy them. (Though I think it would be strange RP to completely disbelieve the Mythos, given that the Gods obviously exist and have corroborated it on several occasions)

Ellodin

the history is pretty important to me since in a past life, my character was one of thoth's quisalis on nishnatoba. also came to sapience from kashar to take revenge for the death of lucaine's teacher

it's the very thing that distinguishes achaea, world-wise, from any other given roleplaying game with knights, monks, druids, and gods

Asmodron

Lore and storyline are what make a game interesting to me, and anyone that plays a historian or scholar knows how important good structured lore is. Some games ( I wont mention for reasons of insulting) that I felt just kind of gave up on their lore or randomly changed it to suit their whims, quickly made me lose interest in them.


For me especially concerning Khalas, I need to take what I can and most of the information about him is in the Mythos. You can usually find roads of truth that start from the mythos, to discover new things about some characters in the modern age.


I am not against adding to Mythos, such a chapters of things that could have happened (this was already done by the way, with the chapter added of Agatheis seeking to protect his control over the elemental lords, Events news #229). I would only be strongly against randomly changing it.

Lorielan

Never forget, history is written by the victors...

Asmodron

Lorielan said:

Never forget, history is written by the victors...

O.O

Mishgul

and we definitely like the victors.

Siena

I like the Mythos so much I had to print them all out and put them into a folder like book. Or maybe I am a nut in general for stories. 

Antonius

I've never read all of it. It's always been one of those things where I've said "I should read that at some point.", and occasionally I'll make a start, but then there's always something else that ends up taking priority.

Gattanbahar

Lorielan said:

Never forget, history is written by the victors...

Preach, sis.

Dochitha

I don't know about Achaea's mythos...

I enjoy fighting, then think and code, and fight again.

...and hunt and buy artefacts...

Frankly I think I will enjoy more if I understand the mythos and histories so I could tell some stories to the young ones, or at least speak the right language and cliche... but... I don't read novels.

Frederich

@Dochitha

We had to read that shit in the Outriders.  Be glad you can be naive and not had to read a light novel.  (I copied it all down to a text document so I could ctrl+f the damn thing)

Anaria

One of the major problems with "post renaissance" Achaea seems to be the total lack of passion when it comes to the Houses. In some places this is so bad, the city actually mandates that you have to join a House even if you don't care about it in order to remain in the city after a certain age.

Making the mythos required House reading on top of that is a sure fire way to ensure that players hate and despise it. 

Frederich

No.  I actually liked READING it.  I just don't like being forced to read it.

Trey

The only thing Trey really enjoys about the Mythos is the entertaining aspect of the War of Succession. He generally assumes that everything is overblown and exaggerated in terms of the power that people held, but recent eyewitness accounts of Parni deSangre have him wondering exactly how much is exaggerated.

Anaria

My response to both @Daeir and @Frederich is the same. That was my entire point. If you read it by choice, either because you like reading novel length backstory or because you chose to join a House of scholars, that is well and good. 

Krypton

The "Histories and Mythos" SHOULD be mandatory reading. It's literally the most pivotal and undisputed canon behind what Achaea is and how it came to be, and is posted directly on the website for a reason.

In the U.S., it would be like knowing who Jesus, Christopher Columbus, and George Washington Beyoncé are.