"A Fistful of Gods" - Truel (& Klapaucus)

A rather strange god, or pair of gods, that might be useful in
some campaigns. In cases technology may be left lying around from
an ancient, lost, civilization, and it can be useful to have
details of the gods of such.


The God Truel - ROM, 06/Dec/04

Truel is the Great Constructor, a greater god who is capable of
making just about anything. His companion, and sometimes
adversary, is Klapaucius, a master constructor arguably of equal
status to Truel, but generally not as widely worshipped.

The form that Truel takes varies, but it often appears shiny, as
if made of metal, and is capable of producing whatever tools are
needed for any form of construction work, at will. The
knowledgable say this is the form of a robot, the ignorant that
he wears a close-fitting metal mask and gloves. Klapaucius takes
a similar form, but it is claimed that he can easily be told from
Truel by his cynical expression, and way of speaking.

It is claimed by some that Truel and Klapaucius are twin creator
gods, responsible for building entire universes, or even groups
of universes (the multiverse), and in fact all the beings and
gods in these, and are now mostly resting from their mighty
works. According to one story, they were actually competing to
produce the best simulation of a universe, or a multiverse, and
Klapaucius pointed out that Truel's latest attempt did not really
seem to be distinguishable from reality. This implies that the
Truel and Klapaucius that manifest inside their creation may be
simulations that they designed to be there, and the true ones are
outside everything, and may still have access to controls that
would allow them to adjust the simulation. Assuming they have not
gone on to more interesting projects. For real confusion, both
sets may be the same, having created themselves, including their
history up to the point of creation.

Truel and Klapaucius particularly favour those who suggest
interesting tasks of construction to them, and inventors of all
kinds are their particular favourites. They are more easy-going
than many gods, and tend to favour those who work and construct
things, rather than those who order them around, like nobles.
They don't tend to like those who are cruel or oppressors.
However, both of them tend to get carried away by interesting
technical situations, or potential construction projects, and can
neglect the consequences of what they are about. Afterwards they
may be very sorry, and will try their best to fix things.

Priests of Truel may seek perfection in becoming more like their
god, by the process of cyborging, which is also open to fervent

worshippers. Priests of Klapaucius have on occasion been accused
of forcably cyborging people, but this does not seem to be part
of their religion, more a way of getting one-up on priests of
Truel. Most higher priests of Klapaucius are extreme cyborgs,
some have had their intelligence transfered to a completely robot
body. Note that cyborg and robot parts can be very, very,
expensive, and are typically more difficult to repair if damaged
than healing living bits.

Other priests of Truel seek perfection through the use of their
skill in construction to aid others, from nobility to the most
humble, but in such a way that they will not unduely disrupt
their lives. They may do this by constructing schools and
universities, irrigation, sewage and drainage systems, seawalls,
defensive works against barbarians, but rarely temples to the
glory of Truel. Such priests have no objection to the use of
constructed items to reduce their chance of dying, and some
higher priests take precautions to ensure they are restored to
life if they die. It is believed that some such priests live for
many times their natural lifespans, and as long as they continue
to practice the arts of construction, and are not too blatant
about being long-lived, Truel does not seem to be concerned about
this. They don't give problems for any temple hierarchy as they
are wanderers, and don't accept any religious title except
"Servant of Truel", though many, particularly the older ones, are
worthy of being called at least High Priest.

Also, almost any constructed being can become a priest of Truel,
including (intelligent) robots, AI computers, alchemical
manikins, intelligent magical items, and psionic constructs; even
simulacra. They just need to be capable of making choices, and
have a soul/spirit. The temple of Truel even looks favourably on
such beings petitioning to gain a soul/spirit, and Truel will
often grant such, even if the being does not suit becoming a
priest. Sometimes there has been competition with the temple of
Klapaucius, as to who gets to help such a being.

There are legends of machines, some hidden away in inaccessable
places, which will cyborg people. In the simplest case these
replace previously lost body parts with robust mechanical
substitutes, powered by the person's own body, and repairable
with things like Mending spells. Some fanatics deliberately sever
limbs, or remove their own eyes or ears, to get mechanical
replacements. Some even rarer machines forcably cyborg those who
get too close to them, and may even adjust their minds so that
they accept and can make best use of these 'improvements'. These
machines may be regarded as holy shrines to Truel or Klapaucius,
and there may be pilgrimages to them. Some even stranger machines
are supposed to do things like tell novel stories, or poetry,
which some claim is prophetic, but it is almost impossible to
gain useful knowledge from these.

In the universe of Tim Deacon's "Gods" campaign, the being that
became Truel was "Lenny", unit LNE of the Dinochrome Brigade, a
Mark XXXV Bolo, which is a tens of kilotonne AI-operated robotic
tank, tasked with protecting humanity from its enemies. Lenny is
derived from science fiction author Keith Laumer's "Bolo" books,
tales of future interstellar war, with immense robotic armoured
fighting machines, capable of devestating planets. Note that this
LNE does not actually appear in any story. Uniquely in this
setting, Truel is partly a warrior god, tasked with protecting
all sentient beings from the Great Enemy (the Universe Eaters,
though they are very rarely named as this), by aiding in the
construction of weapons for this fight. One of the forms Truel
takes in this world is an immense metal colossus, and he has
Bolos as his divine servants.

Truel (and Klapaucius) is the creation of the science fiction
writer Stanislaw Lem, in his collection of short stories, "The
Cyberiad". The book can be read for quite some time before you
realise that Truel, and in fact everyone in this setting, are
robots, and humans are legendary beings.

--
Dreamer
dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk
http://www.romsys.demon.co.uk/