Ryzom

I recently heard someone mention Marduk in a list of ancient deities and it instantly made me think of Ma-Duk, so I looked it up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marduk
Not much detail, but he's "the main good god". and it mentions Tiamat, which made me think of the dragon in Ryzom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiamat
While it mentions Tiamat being a dragon is a very recent association, all that really matters is where the inspiration came from, and whether any of the existing earth mythology is carried over.
If you read, Marduk and Tiamat seemed to be mates, who created the universe. Interesting to think that Ryzom's dragon might actually be part of creation despite what we're told. or perhaps not... also, it says Tiamat is more like "mother earth". although if the dragon ash is a scientifically proven substance that "de-evolves" creatures... hmm, I don't know. Would mother earth do that to protect herself from harmful homins who are incapable of living in harmony with her?

Who knows if the gods of the world of Ryzom are real or made-up, whether they make direct contact with their followers, and whether people in authority are honest about what their gods tell them. for example, if the Kami are "just human(or homin)", and Ma-Duk does not speak directly to them, they could easily misinterpret what is being communicated to them. Even if the contact is direct, flawed being can still misinterpret.

It is really amazing how people can interpert the same thing. I am not sure where you got the "main 'good' god" from. For me the key passage in that article is;

"When he killed his enemy, he "wrested from him the Tablets of Destiny, wrongfully his" and assumed his new position. Under his reign humans were created to bear the burdens of life so the gods could be at leisure."

Nice work, I have been often wondered about the significance of the name Ma-Duk and I think that you have found something.

Actually, that speculation has been brought up before. And the word "Kami" is Japanese for spirits, which, our kami, claim to be the spirits and protectors of Atys.

bluefve wrote:And the word "Kami" is Japanese for spirits

or just gods

True. You can use it to refer to "God" or a "God", in which you would say Kami-sama, the suffix of "-sama" showing your deepest respect for that person as someone to look up highly too.

Has anyone played "Septerra Core"?

I always sorta figured SoR got a lot of inspiration from that game.

I have and I agree.

Kami can be used generically in Japanese as "god" yes, but the way the Kami are depicted in Ryzom as guardian deities of varying shapes, colors, and sizes .... it is taken as the spirits type.

In Shinto belief (official Japan religion) there are untold number of kami -- basically everything has a kami that can be attributed with it. Rivers have a kami, trees have a kami, rocks, etc. They are the "essence" of these things I suppose.

The Miyazaki film "Spirited Away" can give a glimpse into the idea of "kami" and there is a recent anime called "Kamichu!" about a middle school girl who finds out that she is a kami, and the story is slice of life tales about her trying to find out what kind of kami she is and traveling back and forth between the real world and the world of the kami.

I have Spirited Away, and another Miyazaki film which would give some insight may possibly be Princess Mononoke?

At any rate, I'll have to look into Kamichu. Seems rather interesting. Thanks for the suggestion, Shinon.

mrshad wrote:Has anyone played "Septerra Core"?

I always sorta figured SoR got a lot of inspiration from that game.

Those who want to try out that game, you can download a playable demo here http://www.lith.com/sites/septerra/demo.asp