[Torg] Hope Sidebars (Core Earth World Laws 8 of 11)

[Jones Jasyn]

Changing the Rules of the Game

Storm Knights always lose. Every High Lord raiding Earth, except one, has won every invasion they’ve ever attempted. The youngest, Pharoah Mobius has destroyed nine cosms in 30 years. The most experienced, the Gaunt Man, has had 2000 years to invade and destroy realities and he won every single time. It is a simple, ugly fact that Storm Knights always lose.

Until now. Core Earth’s World Laws implement several effects throughout the High Lord’s realms and home cosms. The Power of Hope ensures that all villainous plots are opposed, if only by a single Storm Knight. He isn’t guaranteed a victory, but without him a defeat would be inevitable. 

This facet of Earth’s reality is explained in the adventure book: Storm Knights are presumed to win every (or nearly every) module. On Core Earth, Storm Knights can hope to win, and Earth’s unique World Laws describe why. They change the rules the High Lords have to play by.

Further Consequences of Hope

Earth had an abundance of Storm Knights even before the invasion- the World Laws of Earth created them. Due to the intrusion of this aspect of the Power of Hope, new heroes (that is, Storm Knights) are being created in the home cosms of the High Lords. These heroes can fight the High Lords on their own home ground and win.

The High Lords are used to winning. After all, they have always won. Other than Kranod, every High Lord who invaded Earth has won every single invasion. Most High Lords can muster such overwhelming force that their targets have no chance to resist. On Earth, this situation no longer holds true.

This World Law means that, for any High Lord involved in the Wars, the stakes are very high. Most High Lords rule their home cosms unchallenged. Storm Knights, those who fight the High Lords, are rare and rarely succeed. The odds are just too heavily stacked against them. On Earth, this isn’t true. More, because of the Power of Hope, it isn’t true in the High Lords’ home cosms anymore.

They may be able to achieve Torg-hood, but the sudden creation of dozens or hundreds of new Storm Knights- who, against all odds, have the upper hand- threatens their power base. If they falter, they may fall.

Heroes Without Villains

In the real world, people can act heroically in situations where no villains are present. Firemen, police, soldiers- all these professions occasionally involve the need for heroic actions. (In fact, some of the exploits of real world individuals- such as Audie Murphy- dwarf the exploits of cinematic heroes.)

Such events happen in Core Earth, just as they do in real life and possibility-rated characters can obviously do much to protect or save innocent lives. The World Laws of Core Earth neither encourage nor discourage such events, instead focusing on the clash of heroes and villains.
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Jasyn Jones
jasynj (at) gmail (dot) com

"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Ulysses, Alfred Lord Tennyson

Check out my Torg webpage, Storm Knights:
web.me.com/stormknights/