Step 7: Setting things up

• You don't get it, the Leprechaun whispered. Nobody gets it.
• What don't I get? I asked, the strange rifle still pointed at the small humanoid's head.
• My gold. Your quest. The world. Your happily ever after. Whatever you're looking for.
• I'm not interested in the gold, and I don't believe in happily ever after. I just want answers.
• Oh... well, in that case, I might be able to help.

The Leprechaun stood up and I could have sworn that it was growing. For the first time since I had stepped down from the rainbow bridge, it actually looked straight at me.

• I can help, it repeated, as its smile grew, inhumanly large, uncovering rows of carnivorous teeth. I can help, if you can provide the questions.

Did you start with a list?

At this stage, if you started with a Deck of Ideas, neither the Players nor the GM have any idea of the setting.
Are the Comedians adventurers ascended to godhood in a decadent, end of the world fantasy setting? Are they synthetic deities hurled back from the future to experience omnipotence for bored viewers of reality shows? Pharaos raised back from the dead by a clockwork cult intent on bringing back their twisted version of Antiquity? Collective intelligences emerged from sound-based viruses? Corporate necromancers?
At this point, anything is possible. But it is time to start converging towards a playable setting.
This design will be influenced by both the Deck and the Ranks.
At this stage, the GM should remind players of the Deck of Ideas and read them aloud. If players have had more ideas to add to the Deck, now is another chance to add items.

...or with an inspiration?

Even if you started with a specific inspiration, there will be points on which you do not agree yet. Points you may want to change from the existing setting. Places and eras to pick. Roles to distribute.
Now is the time to start converging.

A third introduction to Attributes

This game has five Attributes:

• Backstage covers the domain of Comedians and lets players design families, hierarchies and factions of Comedians, their otherworldly palaces and domains, their means for traveling in and out of mundane reality and whatever resources they may have at their disposal beyond the veil;
• Stage covers the domain of mortals and lets players design the entire world, its threats, politics, technology, limitations, obsessions and whatever else mortals and Comedians alike may have at their disposal in the mundane world;
• Presence covers the godlike nature of Comedians and lets players design the origin and nature of Comedians, their immortality, their powers and weaknesses;
• Whispers covers the forbidden powers and enemies and lets players design whatever Comedians know or believe they know about them;
• Favour/Disfavour is a special attribute that mainly covers your luck, or lack thereof, and will be designed at a later stage.

The rules

As most things in Divine Comedians, the setting is created by asking questions.
By answering questions, Players establish Facts. Facts can be as simple as "The name of the city is Ythgens" or as complex a the patrilineal succession rules for the throne. Once a Fact is established, it cannot be contradicted later. However, as long as it makes sense within the story, a Fact can evolve during the story. If a conquering nation takes over Ythgens, they may decide to rename the city. Similarly, a Fact can be revealed to be a lie: the Comedians eventually realize that the city of Ythgens has never been independent, or even that it doesn't exist and they have all been living in an elaborate virtual reality.

Core Rule: Facts

Facts are the building blocks for a story. Once a Fact is established, it cannot be contradicted. However, Facts can evolve during the story.

Core Rule: Trust your ideas

By default, every idea is good. Don't let yourself be limited by what you have already played or read or watched, or by an inner whisper telling you "no, this idea is not up to the task".
Trust your ideas and roll along with them.

Your role

Players, during Session 0, your role is to provide ideas. These ideas may be unfinished, that's entirely ok. Build on questions from other Players. Build on previous facts established by yourself and other Players. Trust the GM to direct things into shape.
GM, during Session 0, your role is that of a director. You will hear ideas that you love immediately. You will hear ideas that you don't understand yet. You will hear ideas that contradict established Facts. You will hear ideas that challenge your mental models. You will also hear ideas that don't bring anything to the table. As a director, help these ideas fit together. Until an idea is ready to be turned into an established Fact, ask more questions.

Players now have Ranks in four of the five Attributes. Each domain covers part of the setting. A Player with a higher Rank will have a higher ability to design that part of the setting. Players with lower Rank get to ask questions and Players with higher Ranks provide responses that are now considered Established facts.
For instance:

• a Backstage Fact could be "there are 117 known Comedians", "the Backstage is actually the ever-sleeping body of an Elder God and Earth is but one of its millions of putrefying organs", "the Celestial Hierarchy is inhabited by Dragons", "for Comedians, the highest prize in the universe is control of the Maze of the Nine Elements";
• a Stage Fact could be "Cyberpunk Antiquity", "Human colonies established by aliens throughout the galaxy", "there are very few magicians, but their power is Earth-shattering", "we share the world with alchemical vampires";
• a Presence Fact could be "Comedians need art to survive", "the power shared by Comedians is called the Noosframe and it lets them tap into the dreams and nightmares of mankind", "when a Comedian dies, they may revive from any statue, painting or picture of themself", "the weakest of Comedians are about twice as strong as the strongest humans", "Comedians cannot invent, whether science or stories, but they are exceedingly good at using existing inventions to further their ends" – note that the Presence doesn't mean that all Comedians must wield exactly the same power, only that their powers share a same source and can be compared on the same Ladder;
• a Whispers Fact could be "We thought we had hunted down the Unlocked Ones, but we realized too late that they had learnt how to live within us", "three times, the Spyrians have attempted to shift the Cosmos into the Plane of Pure Geometry", "the Nihil Symmetry has means to erase entire centuries from history, rewriting time as they do so".

1. For each Attribute, in the order Backstage, Stage, Presence, Whisper
   
   1. The Player with Rank 2 gets to ask *one* Question about the part of the setting covered.
      • The GM is in charge of making sure that the questions remain pertinent and within scope of the Attribute.
      • If the Player with Rank 2 does not have a question in mind, the Player with Rank 3 may take their place, or the Player with Rank 4, if the Player with Rank 3 doesn't have an idea, etc.
   2. The Player with Rank 1 gets to answer the Question. This answer gets written down as an Established Fact.
      • The GM is in charge of making sure that answers remain pertinent, within scope of the Attribute, does not contradict previously established Facts and does not cross any Boundary or Veil.
      • Players or GM may realize that they should extend Boundaries or Veils. This may require the Player to provide a new answer to the Question.
      • If the Player does not have any idea, or if the Player asks for help, anybody may provide suggestions.
      • The Player may, but *does not have to* pick an idea from the Deck of Ideas.
      • The GM may ask further questions to clarify or expand the answer.
   3. Repeat the process with the following variants:
      • The Player with Rank 3 asks *one* Question, instead of the Player with Rank 2.
      • Either the Player with Rank 1 or the Player with Rank 2 may provide the answer.
      • In case of disagreement, pick the answer of the Player with higher Rank.
      • If this causes frustration among Players, the GM is in charge of channeling the frustration into character creation. More on this below.
      • The answer gets written down as an Established Fact.The GM has the same responsibilities as previously and may again ask further questions.
   4. Repeat the process with decreasing Rank. In each case, Players with lower Rank ask Questions, players with higher Rank respond and Players with higher Rank, by definition, outrank players with lower Rank. If there are several Players with the same Rank, the character with the highest number of points spent bid speaks first.

Once every Player has had the opportunity to ask one Question, if the GM feels that there are still major holes in the setting and if the players still have ideas, the GM may repeat the cycle from start as many times as needed.
At this stage, the setting is most likely incomplete. That is normal. Players will have many further opportunities to expand it while creating their characters. In addition, after session 0 is over, both Players and GM may ask Questions on the setting to higher ranked Players. Once again, answers will get written down as Established Facts. Of course, once the Players have dropped reins on the setting, the GM is free to expand however they see fit.

Examples

Alice's group

Round 1

Backstage

• Carla, Rank 2: What does the Spirit World look like?
• Bob, Rank 1: What's the Spirit World?
• Carla, Rank 2: I'm counting on you to tell me!
• Bob, Rank 1: Well, the Spirit World... contains all the forgotten places.

Stage

• Bob, Rank 2: What does the Land of Laments look like?
• Frieda, Rank 1: Basically, this is Hell or some form of harsh Purgatory.
• GM: Can you detail that?
• Frieda, Rank 1: Always dark. A land of factories and chimneys that spit out a smoke black as ink. Lots of smog. Some kind of endless Victorian London, full of misery, crime, despair.

Presence

• Erik, Rank 2: Who are we?
• Carla, Rank 1: We are Spirits of Contestation.
• GM: Are the Spirits of Contestation physical?
• Carla, Rank 1: Yeah, we basically look human.

Whisper

• Carla, Rank 2: There is something with us in the Spirit World that wants us to fail, what is it?
• Frieda, Rank 1: Fallen Spirits of Contestation, who have become Spirits of Establishment.

As you can see, the Player who asks Questions has considerable design power, if they're willing to phrase their questions in a given direction.
With just Round 1, we have an interesting premise for the setting. This is not quite what the GM was expecting, but surprises are good.

Round 2

Backstage

• Erik, Rank 3: What are the laws of physics like in the Spirit World?
• Carla, Rank 2: The same as in the Land of Laments, except creativity works better and it's easier to move and breathe.
• GM: I take it that it's also a nicer place to live in?
• Bob, Rank 1: Yeah, definitely.

Stage

• Carla, Rank 3: What kind of oppressors rule over the Land of Laments?
• Frieda, Rank 1: The Barons
• GM: Can you elaborate?
• Bob, Rank 2: Nobody has seen them. They rule from propaganda posters and newspapers. Nobody is entirely sure that they exist.
• GM: So, what you're describing looks a lot like they could be Whispers, but we're in Stage. We need to agree that they're *not* the same thing as the Spirits of Establishment, and they are essentially a mundane threat.
• Frieda, Rank 1: Sure. They don't have access to Backstage and their power is just that: they give orders and people are scared or convinced and they obey.

Presence

• Frieda, Rank 3: So, Carla or Erik, can you tell me just how awesome we are?
• Carla, Rank 1: We certainly kick ass.
• GM: That was... interesting. Can you both rephrase this into something that we can use for our setting?
• Frieda, Rank 3: Fair enough. So, what makes Spirits of Contestation better than human beings? No, that doesn't quite fit. Ah, I have another idea: how does human contestation manifest Spirits of Contestation?
• Carla, Rank 1: Counter-propaganda. That is, there are always artists and militants writing down leaflets, or tagging walls, or singing militant songs, etc. We are manifestations of these leaflets, these tags, these songs.
• GM: Made flesh, as established before.
• Carla, Rank 1: Yeah, made flesh.
• Erik, Rank 2: That is also what makes us immortal, I believe. They can kill us, but as long as there is one leaflet, one tag, one song of us, we can return.

Whispers

• Erik, Rank 3: So, these Spirits of Establishment, what makes them tick?
• Carla, Rank 1: Well, they want to make us like them. They enforce the status quo.

The setting is nicely taking shape. However, at this stage, it isn't clear to the GM what the powers of Spirits of Rebellion look like, nor those of Spirits of Establishment. The GM is going to start nudging questions to get some precisions there.
Also, it looks like the Spirits of Rebellion are too closely allied. That's definitely something that can be played with Divine Comedians, but it's more fun if the Comedians have distinct objectives and at least some reasons to disagree. Let's see if the GM can drive a wedge here.

Round 3

Backstage

• Frieda, Unranked: How do we get in and out of the Spirit World?
• Carla, Rank 2: Doors, secret doors.
• Erik, Rank 3: No, through posters!
• Bob, Rank 1: Yeah, I like the posters. Through posters and tags and generally expressions of rebellion!
• GM: Well, Bob outranks Carla and Erik, so let's go with his fact. Any expression of rebellion or only yours?
• Bob, Rank 1:... All of them.
• GM: Can a mortal follow a Spirit of Establishment through a poster?
• Bob, Rank 1: No, they can't.
• Carla, Rank 2: But what if we want to bring someone over there, to protect them?
• Bob, Rank 1: Right. Ok, if we hold someone's hand, they can cross through. Also, any object we hold.
• GM: Does this mean that you are *safe* in the Spirit World?
• Carla, Rank 2: Well... sure. Why not?
• GM: Is there something supernatural protecting you? Or is it just that your natural enemies cannot follow you?
• Carla, Rank 2: They just can't follow us.
• GM: Alright. So I'm writing down that you can harm each other while Backstage.
• Erik, Rank 3: Why did you betray us Carla, why oh why?

Stage

• Erik, Unranked: I think that we have everything we need, don't we?
• GM: I'd like to know more about *what* you're typically doing when you're in the Land of Laments. Why don't you spend all your time in the Spirit World?
• Erik, Unranked: Ah, right. So, why do we bother with the Land of Laments?
• Carla, Rank 3: We're trying to start a revolution!
• Bob, Rank 2: Yeah, we're trying to get rid of the Barons!
• GM: All of you?
• Carla, Rank 3: What do you mean?
• GM: I mean that even if you are all Spirits of Rebellion, created by artistic arts of rebellion, there are many ways to be rebels. If we compare this real-world politics, Bolsheviks against Mencheviks, Republicans and Napoleonists were both rebels against the Restored Monarchy, Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party were both rebels against Japanese, etc.
• Carla, Rank 3: Alright, but we all want to get rid of the Barons!
• GM: Can I assume that there are several factions among you that don't agree on the means to do so?
• Carla, Rank 3: Sure!
• GM: Whoever comes next, I'd like questions on this in the next round of Backstage.

Presence

• Bob, Unranked: Right. We already know what Spirits of Rebellion are. What else do we need?
• GM: Powers? Unless you wish to be basically unkillable human beings, which is alright with me, but Carla and Erik are going to hate themselves for spending so many points on Presence.
• Carla, Rank 1: Yeah, you wouldn't want to do this. Trust me.
• Bob, Unranked: In that case... can you tell me about your powers and why they are clearly insufficient to fight the Barons?
• GM: Thank you, Bob.
• Carla, Rank 1: Yeah, thank you *so much*.
• Erik, Rank 2: May I? I think that our powers are not impressive. Very useful but not impressive. Maybe something about leading crowds?
• GM: I can work with that. But it would be a bit boring if you all had exactly the same powers.
• Carla, Rank 1: Maybe we can all project emotions. Not necessarily each one of us the same emotion?
• GM: I can definitely work with that. I'm going to assume that it works on other Spirits, too, right?
• Frieda, Rank 3: Why would we want this?
• GM: Well, you definitely want to be able to do something against Spirits of Establishment, for one thing. Plus, this looks like an interesting way to do PvP if this needs to happen.
• Carla, Rank 1: Alright...

Whispers

• Bob, Unranked: Oh, it's me again. Well, what do the Whispers want?
• GM: ...as far as you know.
• Frieda, Rank 1: That one is easy. They want to make us like them.
• GM: Can I assume that you're actually on some kind of talking relationship with the Spirits of Establishment?
• Frieda, Rank 1: What do you mean?
• GM: I mean neither Spirits of Establishment nor Spirits of Rebellion are going to shoot first and ask questions later. Maybe a few characters are, but it feels to me like that's not the first reflex. You want to *convert* each other, not *kill* each other.
• Frieda, Rank 1: Well, we can't kill each other.
• GM: Don't worry, I'm sure I can find a way.
• Frieda, Rank 1: Alright. So, anyway, yes. I think *we* can work with that. The Spirits of Establishment are basically our elders and we're the wayward children. We hate each other's guts, they believe we're stupid and we believe that they're traitors, but we're more likely to scream at each other than to shoot at each other.

No clear nudge so far, but the seeds have, hopefully, been planted. In a few steps, we'll introduce Relationships, which should help them bear fruition.

Further rounds

This design process can last as long as the players and GM want, but you have probably understood how it goes.
In further rounds, we'll learn that the strength, intelligence and knowledge of Spirits of Rebellion is as good as the crowd they manage to figuratively gather around them. Consequently, Spirits of Rebellion spend considerable time in the Land of Laments, as this is where they are smartest and most useful in the fight against the Barons. That is not all: for reasons unspecified as of yet, some pieces of street art can strengthen the connection of Comedians to the Presence. During Gameplay, the GM will happily use these pieces of street art as in-story representation of Character Improvement mechanism.
We'll also learn that Spirits of Establishment have similar powers to Spirits of Rebellion, entire armies at their disposal, entries in to the Spirit World, or perhaps a Spirit World of their own. So far, Spirits of Establishment feel more like a faction of Comedians than their thing entirely. However, if needs be, the GM remains entirely free to decide that there is another power, lurking deeper in the shadows, something controlling the Barons and the Spirits of Establishment. Such changes can be introduced while establishing Relationships or later, during gameplay. In both cases, the GM will need some help from the Players, in particular Frieda and her Rank 1 in Whispers, to progressively introduce and detail this deeper power.
We'll learn that moving through the Spirits World is actually complicated, as forgotten places are only partially connected to each other, through forgotten memories, some of which may be quite dangerous.
We'll learn that the Barons are actually at war against each other. They have always been at war and will likely always be so. The geography of the Land of Laments is complex, non-Euclidian. While the Land of Lament is one endless city, the city folds upoon itself in impossible ways, giving each Baron an immense territory and numerous neighbours. The war unfolds both on land, on the canals, and in the skies, with dirigibles, dogfighting pilots, even steam-powered sky destroyers. Noone is safe from the war, nor from the draft. Mechanized police officers patrol the streets, quashing rebellion.
At this stage, no Barons or Whispers have been named. That is not a problem. If Players haven't done it themselves by then, the GM will make it happen during the step on Relationships.

Mario's Group

Round 1

Backstage

• Qimmiq, Rank 2: What does... the university of magic look like?
• Pria, Rank 1: The university of magic is a sprawling campus that connects many worlds and many places in the world. It is full of activity, with thousands of professors, tens of thousands of students, many of them not human.

Stage

• Qimmiq, Rank 2: What does the Stage think of students and teachers in the university of magic?
• Pria, Rank 1: They don't know about it. Magicians exist semi-hidden, that is they hide the true nature of their powers.

Presence

• Qimmiq, Rank 2: Wait, me again? Alright. So... alright, how does magic work?
• Pria, Rank 1: It's all make-believe!
• GM: Could you elaborate?
• Pria, Rank 1: Well, if you can make people believe that something is real, and if you have Presence, you can make it real!

Whispers

• Oscar, Rank 2: So, Naomi, you and me have vested interest in Whispers. Let's go with: what do the Whispers offer?
• Naomi, Rank 1: Knowledge! Magical knowledge beyond our wildest dreams!
• GM: How is that knowledge different from Presence?
• Naomi, Rank 1: Right. Demonic knowledge.
• GM: If you wish, but how is demonic knowledge special? If it's just reinforcing the powers of Presence, it's not very interesting, plus you have wasted all these points.
• Naomi, Rank 1: Alright. So, demonic knowledge... at low levels, it's about understanding people and at high levels, it's about entering minds and wreaking havoc inside them.
• GM: That works. We'll detail later what's low-level and high-level, but entering minds sounds like something appropriately demonic!

Round 2

Backstage

• Oscar, Rank 3: I'm curious about this university. How do you become a student if the world doesn't know about it? How do you become a professor?
• GM: That's two questions but I'll let it pass.
• Qimmiq, Rank 2: I think that to become a student, you just have to find the university. It's just so hard to find that this doubles as a qualification test.
• Pria, Rank 1: Absolutely. So, this means that we have students of all origins and ages, because the university connects pretty much everywhere. As for professors, I guess they're recruited from among students?
• Qimmiq, Rank 2: Yeah, and there's an initiatic ceremony.
• GM: You're getting me curious. What kind of ceremony?
• Qimmiq, Rank 2: Well, you have to perform some kind of magic PhD and at the end, you have to demonstrate a new spell!
• GM: Right. We haven't spoken of spells yet, I'm sure someone will be able to tell us more in Presence.

Stage

• Pria, Rank 3: So, what kind of a world are we talking about?
• Naomi, Rank 1: Any world would do.
• GM: So, if I understand, what you're saying is that there is an infinite multiverse, and that no world is more important than the others, at least as far as the university itself is concerned?
• Naomi, Rank 1: Exactly.
• GM: Alright. I think it would be interesting to add some universes that have some kind of importance when we deal with Relationships, but we can start with that. Is there any common point between the universes, though?
• Naomi, Rank 1: What do you mean?
• GM: Are they all inhabited by humans? Strike that, that would contradict something already established in Backstage. Are they all planets? Do they share a technology level? Do some of them have magic and other technologies or thaumaturgy or something else?
• Naomi, Rank 1: I think I'll go for everything exists somewhere. Different laws of physics, different species, etc.
• GM: Alright. Since these universes don't know about Presence-style magic, I assume that travel between these planes is unknown to most inhabitants, possibly inexistent for people who are not members of the University, right?
• Naomi, Rank 1: Yeah. Only university students and staff can travel the planes.
• GM: Well, and possibly Whispers.
• Naomi, Rank 1: ...and possibly Whispers.

Presence

• Oscar, Rank 3: Yeah, what are those spells? I mean, we estalished earlier that all magic was about making people believe things, but now we have spells? What's the story.
• Qimmiq, Rank 2: Ouch. Yeah, Maybe we don't have spells after all.
• GM: Too late. You have spells. Now tell us about them.
• Pria, Rank 1: I know! Belief can be captured!
• GM: Er... what does that mean?
• Pria, Rank 1: A magician who manages to make people believe something can make it happen, right?
• GM: A Comedian can do that, yes. We'll probably want to add limits, as I don't think it's enough to convince one person that the Earth is flat to make it so, but yes, that's what was established.
• Pria, Rank 1: So, some of that belief can be captured in bottles, or books. And reused later.
• GM: Only bottles and books?
• Pria, Rank 1: No, anything! That could also explain why we have an entire university, some magicians do that with bottles, others with books, or computers, or pills, or... I don't know, songs!
• GM: I like the sound of that. Now, can you give me an example?
• Pria, Rank 1: I'm... Sure. Say I want to become invisible. Well, not invisible, but unseen. Let's say I can manage to convince a group of people – random people, human beings – who should be able to see me that they really can't. Not sure how, perhaps pure bullshit, or perhaps smoke and mirrors. Now, I can use this to actually become invisible from these people. *Or* I can store the effect on, say, my smartphone. When I click on the app, people won't notice me.
• GM: Are spells permanent, by the way? Do you need a counter-spell to become visible again?
• Qimmiq, Rank 2: If I may? I think that they shouldn't be permanent. Otherwise, we'll need a counter-spell for everything and that's going to be pretty annoying.
• GM: Works for me. Also largely solves my flat Earth problem.
• Pria, Rank 1: But the secondary effects remain! If I somehow manage to throw a fireball, that won't last long, but the person who got burnt remains burnt!
• GM: Makes sense. I wonder whether a spell can be reused or whether you need to prepare it again with a new group of people, etc.
• Pria, Rank 1: No, I really want to reuse them.
• Qimmiq, Rank 2: Yes, please, no vancian magic.
• GM: As you wish! May I suggest that spells grow weaker with time and that spells become less powerful when cast in circumstances too different from those in which they were captured?
• Pria, Rank 1: Yes, I guess that makes sense.

Whispers

• Qimmiq, Rank 3: I'm not really that interested in Whispers, with only one point.
• GM: It's alright, they're interested in you.
• Qimmiq, Rank 3: ...fair point. So... what do Whispers want?
• Oscar, Rank 2: Souls!
• Naomi, Rank 1: Souls!
• GM: Souls it is. Souls of the dead or souls of the living?
• Oscar, Rank 2: Er... what?
• GM: Is it a standard "I'll take your soul when you die" kind of pact or rather a "I'll give you knowledge for 5% of your soul, and I'll take delivery of these 5% right now"?
• Oscar, Rank 2: Who would accept the latter?
• GM: Who would accept the former?
• Naomi, Rank 1: So, are you talking of *our* souls?
• GM: I'm talking of the souls of anybody who deals with Whispers. Presumably many NPCs, and quite possibly your Comedians, too, yes.
• Naomi, Rank 1: Well... unless I'm missing something, we can't really die in this game, so we should definitely go for option 1.
• GM: I'm entirely happy with you not dying, but that hasn't been established yet. Feels like Presence to me, if anyone wants to ask pointed questions on the topic. But if your characters are mostly immortal, this will give Whispers a very good reason to try and find how to kill you.
• Naomi, Rank 1: Ouch. Right. Right. I *think* I'll go with... If we go with the latter, we'll have some sort of corruption mechanics, right?
• GM: Possibly. Probably. We can still have it with the former if you want to.
• Naomi, Rank 1: No, not a big fan of rules deciding that my character is going bad. I'll stick with the former.
• GM: Former it is, then. The Whispers would be very happy to see you after you die. The sooner the better, of course.

Further rounds

In further rounds, we learn that, while all members of the Invisible College, students and staff alike, know about gateways to other worlds, also known as Lay Lands, very few can use these gateways freely. Some of it is presumably due to the nature of time in the Invisible College, that doesn't age academics as long as they live on campus, but catches up with them as soon as they cross over towards Lay Lands. Comedians are not necessarily the most powerful academics but they are part of a small elite who has managed to semi-permanently enchant themselves into not aging further on Stage. This gives them considerable bargaining power but also makes them both general-purpose agents of the College and the envy of other academics who have not discovered how to achieve this same immortality. Of course, there may be other researchers who have also succeeded but not disclaimed their success. The magic and advanced technology of Lay Lands typically doesn't work in the Invisible College but temporary bubbles may be created using Make Believe to make either work.
We also learn that the Invisible College looks very much like an early 19th century English University in the countryside, including servants and polo championships. Society on campus is a complex beast, burdened by a thousand years of tradition. The campus is divided into dozens of faculties, each of them covering the use of a branch of knowledge, including its applications to both creating, storing and retrieving spells, ranging from technology to memetics, from painting to sex. Within each campus, students are hierarchized by grade, but also by various merit badges. Students and staff are also gathered into more or less secret societies across faculties, some of which are strongly suspected to be involved in dangerous magics, attempts to impose their political views or Whispers. In parallel, students and staff come from hundreds of different worlds and thousands of castes, with sometimes very different religious and political beliefs. Sadly, religious and political murder on campus are not unheard of.
Make-Believe Magic is forbidden on the grounds, except during practice, but this fundamental rule is one that most students and academics break on a weekly basis – not just sex and alcohol-based magic. There is a campus police, nicknamed "Asuras", composed of both staff, volunteer students, enforcers recruited on various worlds and supernatural automatons, nicknamed "Rakhsashas". The Asuras are known to be efficient, brutal and ruthless. Nobody seems to know for sure who leads this police. Recently, a student militia seems to be organizing itself specifically to counter the Asuras, which has lead to violent fights and several deaths.
Speaking of chances, the entire High Council of the university has recently been replaced. The new High Council is all smiles and promises, but nobody is quite certain of what happened to the previous High Council and apparently nobody has heard of any of the members of said council. Rumours abound and it is said that investigators have been brought in from Lay Lands to try and figure things out.
As nobody ages and many see no reason to return home, the population of the university keeps increasing. Consequently, the university keeps being remodelled and expanded. Most staff and students don't really know or care where this additional land comes from.
On Stage, thousands of worlds, most of them unaware of the Invisible College. Some of these worlds, have magic, or technology, but these typically work only locally. Both the university and individual staff maintain a number of observers in Lay Lands, who typically know very little of their true employers. Despite this, the Invisible College has strong ties to the Lay Lands, both because of recruitment and because it needs to import almost all of its food and other goods.
A few Lay Lands have provinces that covertly belong to the university, and whose population toils unknowingly to feed, clothe and keep the Invisible College supplied.
Things are, however, not well. For the past few years, the Invisible College has needed to dispatch agent after agent in the Lay Lands investigating trouble. Several Lay Lands protectorates have undergone revolutions or are fighting internal wars and have abruptly stopped their service as providers.
So far, the university has managed to gain footholds as fast as it has been losing them, but it is a slippery situation and involves relying upon lesser-known providers.
We also learn that faculty members, being essentially ageless at least within the University, can distinguish themselves from mortals simply because they have had additional decades, if not centuries, to practice their various mundane skills. In everything that doesn't involve Presence, Comedians are therefore impressive but not superhuman. Furthermore, the variety of Lay Lands may justify an equal variety of traits such as superhuman strength or agility or empathy.
For simplicity, academics speak most of the languages of most Lay Lands. This is explained by the University being extremely good at teaching languages and having had influence over Lay Lands for thousands of years.
As already established, Presence is the Art of Make Believe. An experienced academic may gather ten people, make them believe that money is growing on trees, that they are in Heaven, or that they are surrounded by enemies, and for a short while, around them, money will be growing on trees, they will find Heaven, and armed knights will be coming for them. Make Believe is limited in duration and distance – if an academic wished to make the Earth flat, they would certainly need to convince most of the human population, all over the globe, and even then, the belief most likely wouldn't be sufficient to keep airplanes in the sky, or to keep the planet stable. After a while, reality always reasserts itself, minus any damage caused by Make Believe.
Make Believe works both in the Lay Lands and in the Invisible College. To introduce belief, Academics typically rely on sleight of hand, or religion, or hypnosis, or pseudo-science, or media personas – and of course academic authority. Make-Believe by itself does not grant any form of immortality, although it may be used to achieve temporary and local invulnerability. Any sufficiently experienced academic has learnt how to store spells in some container for future use. Some types of containers may be less potent than others and containers need to be able to *work* in a world to be able to store or release a spell. Consequently, Academics tend to shun advanced technology or lay magic for such purposes, unless they know that they intend to work a spell in a specific Lay Land.
Most Lay Lands have myths, or even reproducible experiments, of Daemons, intangible creatures of shadow, who apparently come from a different plane of reality and can only reach Lay Lands or the University when summoned. Apparently, these Whispers have existed for at least as long as the University. While Daemons have difficulties communicating with mortals, they are extremely intelligent, manipulative and adept at adopting a persona that matches local beliefs. They are always willing to trade knowledge for pieces of a mortal's soul, although their definition of soul is very unclear.
As far as the University can tell, Daemons have individuality, are entirely immortal and may belong to a number of warring factions. Academics have long known that part of this eternal war between Daemon factions takes place on Lay Lands and even within the University, but have not managed to understand much of the goals or means of this conflict.
Daemons can read secrets from the mind of most mortals, as well as rewrite part of these minds. Some mortals are naturally immune and Academics have developed entire arsenals of counter-measures to prevent their minds from being invaded, although it is not entirely certain that all these counter-measures are efficient, or whether all Daemons may be stopped in the same manner. While it is a rare occurrence, Daemons have also been known to possess mortals entirely. This seems to be the only way for a Daemon to remain on the Mortal Plane longer than a few minutes.
All known Academics who have achieved agelessness have done so with the help of a Daemon. What they have traded for this knowledge is a secret they keep preciously, if they remember it at all. Rumours circulate that there are ways to protect oneself from Daemons, or perhaps even to get in touch with the lost fragments of one soul through booze and cigarettes, or perhaps other self-destructive activities. In truth, the Players brainstormed this idea to attach a Hellblazer style to all their characters. In technical terms, the GM may very well decide to interpret this with a little imagination and manifest Character Improvement in contexts that involve alcohol and tobacco, with Comedians absolutely literally finding Character Improvement on beer coasters and in empty cigarette packs. We'll discuss Character Improvement in the chapter dedicated to Gameplay.

More ideas?

Questions

Backstage

Why not start with one of these questions?

• When did the Courteous Lands diverge from the mundane world?
• Why is the Garden of Power shaped like a maze?
• How does the Statue of the Titaness judge people who enter the Hidden Court?
• What kind of power does the Eternal Tribunal hold over immortals?
• Why is Hell empty?
• How old is the Sentient Metaverse?
• How many mortals live in the Last Shelter?
• Who drives the Multiverse Train?
• How did the [name from the Deck] end up controlling [name from the Deck]?

Stage

Why not start with one of these questions?

• Why do mortals live underwater?
• How did magic pollution affect New Paris?
• Why do the religious authorities close all temples on Sundays?
• What is the role of the Counter-pope?
• When did Europe become covered by the jungle?
• How did society evolve when copper ran out?
• What do the Most Benevolent Intelligences require from mortals?
• How long have the [name from the Deck] known about [name from the Deck]?

Presence

Why not start with one of these questions?

• What happens to someone who survives drowning in the Styx?
• Absolute Purity was a lie, but what was it hiding?
• How do dreams and nightmares take shape in the world?
• What makes us, Messengers, different from other Angels and Demons?
• How comes mortals don't realize that we are actually holograms?
• How does [name from the Deck] communicate with Comedians?
• What turned the [name from the Deck] into the source of your powers?
• What does finding a [name from the Deck] makes us stronger?

Whispers

• What do we think happened to the former capital of Nalya?
• As far as we know, how did the second sun disappear?
• As far as we know, why is the president of Mifrim a living dead?
• As far as we know, what made the elder branch of the Latruids change side and try to destroy the world?
• As far as we know, why hasn't [name from the Deck] yet succeeded at taking power?

Setting seeds

Here are a few more starting points if you need inspiration:

• Cyber+religious setting. Comedians are Djinns. Angels, Demons and AIs are Whispers. Perhaps the Presence communicates through NFTs.
• Post-industrial setting. Comedians are Theater Plays made flesh. Whipers are rumours of doom made flesh. Perhaps the Presence communicates through old books.
• Space fantasy. Comedians are mummies of Ancient Egypt, Pre-columbian civilizations, etc. preserved from death to lead their people to ever-lasting glory. But the Inquisition has immensely intelligent Black Hole-powered computers, aka Whispers. Perhaps the Presence communicates through incomplete star charts.
• Bronze age fantasy. Comedians are semi-immortal champions picked by their respective pantheons. Whispers are the ancient (alien? technological?) powers that create monsters and attempts to wipe out mankind. Perhaps the Presence communicates through dreams and omens.
• Renaissance Fantasy. Comedians are fairy princes and princesses, gifted with immense magical power and the ability to travel through stories. Whispers are the forces of nightmare, come to reclaim the hidden realm of fairies. Perhaps the Presence communicates through incomplete decks of tarot cards.
• Steampunk Colonial Fantasy. Comedians are human-looking Dragons, as well as captains and industry. This world's counterpart to Europe is in the process of carving colonies from the counterpart of Africa. Whispers are the spirits of divinities of the colonized continent, attempting to infiltrate the "civilized" world and bring it down. Or perhaps it's the opposite. Perhaps the Presence communicates through puzzle boxes.
• Prison Fantasy. The Stage is a fantasy penitentiary, cut from the rest of the world by a never-ending storm. Prisoners have taken over. Some of them have stumbled upon magic that won't let them die. The Dreamer wants access to this plane and will take over mortals. Perhaps the Presence communicates through messages hidden in cigarettes impossibly smuggled into the Penitentiary.
• Contemporary Fantasy. Cats. The unseen masters of Earth. They could be either Comedians or Whispers. Perhaps the Presence communicates through old journals lost in the streets.
• Highschool Fantasy. Ghosts of teenagers mingling among mortal students. They can't leave the highschool, but they can visit other worlds, through the imagination of their friends. Thread carefully, for there are ghost eaters in the city. Perhaps the Presence communicates through SMS spam.
• Contemporary fantasy. The company thought it was resurrecting dinosaurs through genetics, but in reality, it was bringing back Fallen Angels. They are the Comedians. Heaven's Angels have either left off or are forbidden to intervene. But Fallen Angels were not the only supernatural creatures returned back to life. Perhaps the Presence communicates through apocryphal prophecies.