The God Mota

Mota has a number of workshops, both in the divine planes and the mortal worlds, which further increase his construction abilities, and a number of artifacts which help him in his work, which do things like accelerate time, provide him with technological power, or functionally be in two places at the same time. If he is forced to he can construct things by sheer force of divine will, but he much prefers to use tools, preferably those of his own creation.



Mota, Lord Constructor, is associated with the colour white, and is the head of the panetheon. Red is the colour of Dis, Lord of Destruction, master of combat and weapons. Blue is the colour of Tamar, Lady of Mercy, who's aspect is healing and healthy living. Green is the colour of Shaam, Lord of Peace, who brings rest and sleep, and favours the arts. Gold is the colour of Mens, Lord of Wealth, who has the power of transmutation, in particular base materials into gold. Black is the colour of Barmac, The Disciple, also called The Defender, and The Judge, a 1000'+ tall figure of darkness, only seen in times of great troubles. There are supposedly a thousand gods in the pantheon, which represent all the faces the gods show to mortals, but these are the only ones generally named. This has allowed the pantheon to claim that they, in fact, include all other gods, and that these should be subservient to Mota, though they very rarely push this point.



All the gods of the pantheon may be in instant contact with each other, and show each other what they can see, hear and sense. All can levitate and fly at will, between the stars if they desire it, survive in almost any environment, and wrap themselves in protective force fields which will stop almost any attack. Even if their physical form is harmed they can recreate it with just an act of will, and it will generally take major reality-altering magic, or the power of another god, to significantly harm them.



There are some worlds where only Mota is known, and none of the rest of his pantheon. In these Mota is often considered to be a creator god, and may be believed to be the one, or one of the ones, with other gods like Ptah and Bramah, who created the world. In one world, there are the Koshir, a pale-skinned agrophobic race of humans, who only worship Mota and his pantheon, and have been ruled for more than a millenium by a theocracy of his priests. These people live in a single, remote, immense city, the Sundome, which is defended from attack by the heat of the surface of the sun. Outside this city only Mota of the pantheon is known as a god, and an obscure one at that. There are ancient remains of the war between Mota's people and the Dragon Lords to be found in some isolated places. The priests of the Koshir would like to gather in all the lost artifacts of their gods, and occasionally travel out from their city with the aim of doing this.



The gods of the pantheon all wear metal-cloth, floor-length robes, in the colour of their aspect, with many hidden pockets, some of which are sealed to all but their touch. The robe has a hood with nearly invisible face mask, all concealed in the collar. They wear turbans, except Mota who wears a metal head-band, leggings, knee boots and gloves (not normally worn). These are all unsoilable, fire/acid/electricity proof (-50% damage), and are as protective as a suit of +3 platemail. Their hair and eyes, and beards in the case of the males, is of the colour of their aspect, and they all have halos. They all have staves, of great power, though Mota very rarely carries his. Mota is known to wear a ring, which some have taken to mean that he may be married, but to whom it is unknown. It is said that Mota has three daughters, though little is known of them, except that the middle one is mentally disabled in some way.



Mota's Staff takes the physical form of an 6' rod surmounted by an ornate cube 4 inch on a side. The base of the cube and the staff are covered with intricate designs in gold. The six faces of the cube are white on the top, red, blue, green and gold on the sides and black on the bottom (the staves of the other gods have the cube rotated so that their colour is on the top). This staff can raise force fields and force walls, transmute the elements, strike out with a wide range of weapon effects, including sleep and death (by coagulation) selective on a personal or racial basis, and do many other things if considerable time is taken to adjust it properly, including interfere with how magic functions, accelerate or slow time, and create (pocket) universes.



The staff shines a light appropriate to the divine aspect of the power it is using, such as blue for healing (e.g. killing infections), and gold for transmutation, though in theory this light could be turned off. Mota's staff holds a lesser copy of Mota's mind, so it can go forth on it's own, show an image of his shape, and act in his name, though with considerably less power than Mota himself can bring to bear. Even if a staff's physical form is harmed it can recreate itself with just an act of will, and it will generally take major reality-altering magic, or the power of a god, to significantly harm it.



The staves of all the pantheon have in theory the same range of powers, though the gods are most practiced in their particular aspect. In theory a demi-god, or even a mortal, could make use of one of these staves, but the staff would have to be willing, and for all but the simplest functions would have to instruct the weilder in it's use. The weilder of the staff may need a strong will to resist the urge to use the staff in the way that it's godly owner normally would, e.g. if Dis as a weapon, for destruction.



Priests of Mota frequently dress in robes after the style of their god, and some dye their hair and beards to match their god's colour; all male priest wear beards. They may carry a staff, shaped as Mota's Staff, and on occasion these have very great powers, though these are rare. The simplest staves have just an invisible, non-selective, stun effect. All but the most junior priests have devices in their turbans which produce the image of a halo over their heads, and keep them in contact with their temple. The highest priests have a device which transfers their spirit and lifeforce back to a hidden place, typically in their temple, on their death, so they can be reborn in a new body.



Priests often have technological devices under their robes, such as force field belts, anti-gravity harnesses, and high tech weapons. All but the most junior of priests will have their own workshops, typically in a temple, in which they will be skilled in construction, which is considered an act of worship. Though priests may use a wide range of technological devices, they tend to try and make this look like divine power, and they can get quite upset at those who do not accept that this is part of the way they show respect to their god. These devices will have concealed enabling switches, and/or booby-traps for the unwary, and will be clearly marked externally and internally as temple property; they may incorporate passive or active tracking mechanisms.



The Temple of Mota is quite willing to train almost anyone in the arts of construction. This goes all the way from the simplest craft skills, to the arts of high technology. They will sponsor people to learn the arts of magical construction, but generally they get someone else, like a college of magic, to do the actual training. In places where there are secular colleges of technology, scholarships may be granted to attend these, for those not suited to the religious life. Other gods of the pantheon sponsor other arts: Dis warrior skills and martial arts (and, far more rarely, assassins), Tamar healing and clean water supplies, Shaam diplomacy and artists, Mens merchant skills and good food, except for Barmac (some DMs might say he trains judges and avengers, though secret training in revolution might suit some worlds).



Mota is from the works of the science fiction author Robert Heinlein, specifically his first full-length novel "The Day After Tomorrow", also called "Sixth Column". In this Mota and his pantheon are created out of whole cloth, to hide the very recently developed high technology of the resistance, from a massively powerful foreign conqueror (who have taken over their country), behind a veil of religious trappings. The original Mota has been extensively developed through roleplaying. Note that "Mota" is "atom" spelt backwards.



(c) Rory O. McLean, 1980 - Dec. 2004 Permission granted to use for non-profit making purposes