Well, here's the first part of that world building/setting project I've mentioned in my journals. I wanted to have a world that included vore, but have an actual grounding and history in the world, instead of it just being there for the sake of being there. This gives an overview as to how vore came into existence, and how it manifests. This is still a work in progress, but most of the core elements are set at this point regarding this piece.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

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A Short History of the Divine Game



In a time before mortal comprehension, the gods once acted directly upon the material realm, competing with each other for supremacy. It is a part of their nature, their being, to rule. While the gods were incapable of acting upon each other directly, they could make their powers known and felt among the material realm, of which each god saw themselves the rightful ruler of. Some would accept a shared rule, but in the end, ruling was all that mattered.

Their powers were great, able to manipulate the fabric of reality itself, and they brought the full force of their might against the world to smite their opposition and impose their will on the material realm. There were but pockets of short lived peace to be found, as the contentions of the gods created a realm of chaos. However, their actions were not without consequences. Almost too late, the gods saw that the constant, aggressive use of their power was beginning to rend the very fabric of reality itself. They all felt it, for they were all intrinsically tied to the fabric of reality; it was why they could manipulate it so easily. The gods knew their purpose was to rule over reality, but if reality ceased to be, as they realized was a very real and close danger, they would cease to exist as well.

Unfortunately, even putting some of their animosity aside, the discussion on how to solve their dilemma was little less heated than the very battles over reality they were trying to contain. The material world became a dark place in these times, for it was in ruins with no governing force. The gods knew they had to curtail how much they acted upon the world, but if they could not wield their power against each other and must restrain so greatly their powers on the material realm in order to keep the now fragile strands of reality from wearing thinner, how then were they to decide who would control and claim rule over the realm? How could they compete with each other without truly being able to compete?

The beginnings of that answer came from a most unexpected source. The gods thought themselves alone in their discussion, until they were interrupted by beings they had never seen before. At first, many were outraged at the intrusion, until they realized that to enter the realm of the divine, one must be of a divine nature, or so they thought. But the beings that entered were clearly not gods. If they had a strong connection to the divine, but were not gods, then what were they?

The beings addressed themselves as the avatars of reality, created by reality itself to safeguard it in the material realm, where it was now dangerously close to unraveling. With little preamble, they proposed a competition, one in which a gods influence was used rather than power’s direct use. A god’s follows would be the deciding factor over which god would claim dominion over the material realm.

On this, the gods were rather quick to come to an agreement, as it seemed a fitting solution. How better to see who was most fit to rule than to let their subjects determine it? For that is the real measure of a god’s power and influence. The discussion began in earnest as to how their followers, whatever form they may take, would be the deciding factor. Once again, the debate soon ground to a halt, with nearly every god proposing a system and none willing to compromise, and every system proposed clearly favored the one proposing it. Throughout the discussion, the avatars remained silent, until they were all but forgotten. When once again tempers flared to the point that discussion was no longer an appropriate term for the dialogue, the avatars spoke, gaining the attention of all.

Once again, they set forth a proposition. Let the rules of the game follow one of the most basic rules of reality. Let it mimic the laws of nature, the relationship of predator and prey. The strongest, most devout follows would overcome, and show who was the most fit to rule. Many of the gods were unsure about such a system, as it seemed to have such little ties to divine devotion, and also did seem to favor the gods with influence over nature or other baser qualities.

More boisterous were those who then thought the avatars merely promoting rules to benefit themselves in some fashion. To the gods’ unanimous surprise, the avatars said that they themselves would not be participating. They were to protect the fabric of reality, and it was neither their desire nor role to rule. That was the domain of the gods. When asked what part they would play, for surely the avatars would not have their hands off entirely, the avatars replied that they would be the ones to make sure the rules of the game, once established and agreed upon, would be followed, and so preserve reality.

The gods, while not believing the avatars benevolent, saw them as an acceptable third party, for the avatars not only would not be participating, but had no connections to the gods themselves and so no favoritism could occur.

Now the rules of the game began to fall into place, the avatars of reality serving as mediators. Not all the gods were pleased at the thought of using predation as the primary method of defining the balance of power. However, another solution could not be agreed upon, or at least predation had the fewest detractors. In truth, it became the method of choice because it was the only option not proposed by another god.

Once it was proposed that the predation of the divine game had only to follow the form of predation, and not necessarily the precise function, even the hesitant began to see how it could remain in line with their desires. The power of the gods would manifest primarily within their followers, and every living creature would possess a divine spark that could be influenced by the gods, but only altered through predation. Therefore, a being would fall under the domain of a god by being devoured by a creature under the domain of the god.

It was the devouring aspect that several were displeased with, but here then is where a compromise was had and the ill feelings of many of those gods were addressed. The means of devouring for the purpose of the divine game would not fall completely under the laws of reality, but would also draw from the divine spark of all living creatures, and would invoke a measure of the gods’ power to alter reality. This finite bending of reality would allow some of a god’s power to manifest directly into the material realm through their followers without threatening to further undermine the fabric of reality.

That’s when someone proposed the idea that a balancing factor of the game was to be the devouring of a creature alive. While there was initially surprise at the suggestion and quite an uproar, all soon saw it was a tactical balance of power. Life could go on as normal, but the process of conversion would have to be a deliberate act, and one could still fight and win while in the gullet of a beast. A soul, and its divine spark, could only be converted when eaten alive. The soul would then, and only then, travel to the god’s domain in the godly realm to be reborn under the god’s influence. A body slain by any other mean would pass on, as it always had, without the meddling of the gods.

From here, the gods began to see the implications of these developing rules, for their power to influence the world the way they saw fit, while still following in their own image. As terms were being further refined, some wondered that if it were to resemble the form of predators and prey, what role would prey play? Surely, reality could not sustain itself were everything predatory. Once again, the avatars proposed a solution, and some of the gods began to wonder if they had not planned out the entire game in advance. The avatars proposed that for the souls to be born as prey oriented animals, they would be resistant to conversion. They would be a semi-static statistic, largely incapable of conversion, but also whose souls would not always enter the domain of another god after being devoured. Therefore, carnivores and herbivores would share an equal measure in the act of “vore” that was the central element of the game. The new term of vore was something that surprised the gods, but given how it was presented, they thought it a fitting, and more easily referenced, terminology.

One of the final rules to be implemented was that the winner of the divine game would not have supreme rule. In time, the divine game would begin again. While every god wanted complete dominion, their own self interest also saw the benefit of the rule. If one god were to claim complete dominion, there would be no reason for the other gods to exist, as so they would cease to do so. No one wanted to risk that fate at losing the divine game.

What no god realized was that, in a fashion, they were indeed being undermined. As the rules of the game were finalized, the avatars of reality were to ones to set the definitions and interpretations, for the game would be entwined with into reality, tying the divine and material realms together to form a stable conduit through with the gods could act and the avatars could enforce the rules. In this, they allowed those given a divine spark to have a measure of control over it, giving greater power to mortals. When the game first began, and the gods learned of the intricacies that the avatars had instilled within the rules without their knowledge, they were outraged. But the rules were now set, and they were bound by their own divine creed to follow them. In time, the gods saw that the avatars indeed possessed great wisdom, and the divine game was a work of art.

During the first game, the most arrogant gods thought to cheat the game and quickly claim dominance. Then, the power of the avatars came to light, and all the gods realized that, while individually they possessed no more power than any god, they were capable of manipulating the fabric of reality in ways the gods could not even comprehend. One god, in fact, was wiped from existence completely, as though he never existed in the first place. Only the avatars know of him.

Some gods did not learn their lessen, and the first to win thought he could simply not relinquish rule and start the game over, causing the other gods to vanish over time. That, however, was not up to him. The avatars reset the board themselves, beginning the game anew. While the avatars wipe the world of all life to reset the game, they do not scour the world completely, and remnants of past generations and godly influences still exist, making the game just a little different every iteration.