I have left the Elkron and their workings deliberately vague because I don't want to create too much Setting for the Mythos Machine. The point of the project is to encourage other people to use their own creativity. So the Elkron are there as a framework, more than as individual beings with histories. How GMs handle them in the future is something I shall be very curious to see. That said, there are some rules to them.
I will try to give them to you in the order of importance I think they deserve (you may wind up disagreeing, and that's ok).
1. Each Elkron is the Embodiment / Avatar / Reflection of one of the 12 Alignments.
2. There is a table of correspondences for the Elkron, and it lists each Elkron's corresponding symbols ... plants, trees, animals, colors, gems, flowers, musical notes, and so on. These are used by the GM to build symbolic references in their World that only the Sages are likely to notice or understand.
3. The Elkron are divided into two major groups... the Celestials who are in the Heavens (Constellations and Planets), and those that dwell in the Realm of the Id (the Jungian Archetypes of the Tarot). Each Elkron has both aspects, so there is an upper-world and an lower-world aspect to each Elkron. In addition both groups, the Celeistials and the Archetypes, have an inner circle of 12 members, and an equal number of outer circle members. These correspond with the Titans and the Olympians... the Old Gods and the Young Gods. The Constellations and the Archetypes that correspond to them are the Outer Circle or Elder Elkron. The rest are the Inner Circle or Young Elkron.
4. Each Elkron has a Throne. Their interplay is the original Game of Thrones.
5. There is a game that the Elkron Play. I have some rules for it but haven't play tested it yet. We can skip lightly over this for now, but I want to explain what the game is like. There are Ages. Starting with the Dawn Age where the Elkron Incarnate and create the World. The start with a certain amount of Kismet and use that to fashion the world to suit their plans. Different alliances can occur, depending on circumstance.
After the Dawn Age comes another wherein the Elkron create the Races of the World. The Good Elkron will create Good Races, etc. They also plant the Seeds of Destiny, which are Holy Quests.
Another Age is called the Age of Heroes. This is where the Elkron step back and watch how things transpire. By this point the Elkron have spent most of their Kismet on building the World and creating the Seeds of Destiny. The Heroes are there to fulfill the Quests. Whenever a Quest is fulfilled the Elkron who created it gains Kismet, according to a multiple of how much they spent to create it, which relates to how complicated or difficult it is. So the Elkron gamble during the Dawn Age that their Heroes will fulfill their Quests and allow them to regain their Kismit. Because they are going to need it.
The final Age is called The End of Ages, and it is the War of the Elkron that will be the calamity of the Universe, and end the World. The Elkron who have regained their Kismet fight it out to determine which of them will be the Ruler of the next Universe. The Ruler of the Elkron's alignment is what stamps the Universe with it's initial Kismet, and sets everything in motion (setting the base Alignment of that Universe).
Anyway, I don't expect to get around to this game soon, but the idea is that a group of Elthos GMs get together for a month or so before they create a Shared World. They each play one to three Elkron, and set up the Races, and spend Kismet, and create Seeds of Destiny. When the Dawn Ages are completed and the Races created and all the terrain is built, then it's time for the Age of Heroes to begin. The GMs then invite their Players to Gen Characters and those are the Heroes who will try to fight it out.
The purpose of this is to help the GMs create a back story that makes sense, and is also part of a game the GMs themselves are playing with each other.
I see this is a phase III thing. But I also thought it would help you to understand the Elkron a little better to hear about it.
As for how to create the Elkron... it's up to you for your world. Just allow that each Elkron represents and Alignment, and those Alignments associate to certain Philosophies.
Here's the list of Elkron:
Elkron Zodiac ------- ---- El Good Scelus Evil Fas Law Kaos Chaos Aer Air Rhea Earth Aestus Fire Oceanus Water ASHKORAH ARIES OMRI TAURUS SHAVARA GEMINI ANATH CANCER PALAMIR LEO MINVAR VIRGO AMAYA LIBRA OBITUS SCORPIO SARTOR SAGITTARIUS ELVAL CAPRICORN EAVOR AQUARIUS ELMINIR PISCES GORUND MARS ELBEN ELKOR HERMIVAR MERCURY LUNA MOON ELDRIK SUN ELTHOS EARTH LILANU VENUS LETUM PLUTO VALANIR JUPITER KARNAT SATURN MINA URANUS MEROVIUS NEPTUNE
Here are the Philosophic Viewpoints of the Alignments
[N] - Neutral
[C] - Chaos
[L] - Law
[G] - Good
[E] - Evil
[N] – : "There are many Elkron of Power, Cunning and Wisdom."
[C] – : "There is no Elkron; every one is for themselves."
[C-G] – : "There are Chaotic Good Elkron; the ultimate attainment is to be free."
[C-G-N] – : "There are only Good Elkron; man’s purpose is to create art and live free."
[G-C] – : "There are Elkron, but men must rule their own affairs by reason."
[G] – : "There is one Almighty Elkron, the King of the Universe; Seek Love."
[G-L] – : "There are Elkron; man is to work for the Good and obey the King."
[G-L-N] – : "There are Elkron; man’s place is to be serious, able and Just."
[L-G] – : "There are Elkron; man’s place is to obey the Laws of the Empire."
[L] – : "There is no Elkron, only laws of nature; mans place is to learn them."
[L-E] – : "There is Hades; man’s place is to obey the Emperor and die."
[L-E-N] – : "There are evil Elkron; man’s place is to obey the Emperor no matter what."
[E-L] – : "There are evil Elkron; man is to obey the cruel and suffer."
[E] – : "There are only Evil Elkron; man’s place is to serve and die."
[E-C] – : "There are no Elkron; man’s place is to serve the Community and fear."
[C-E-N] – : "There are no Elkron; man’s place is to overthrow the Elite."
[C-E] – : "There is no Elkron; every moment should be lived for pleasure."
I hope this helps. I'd say if you have any questions feel free to ask ... but ... I do want people to do their own thinking about this for their own worlds so I'm inclined to give this much to World Weavers and then let them run wild. :)
Here's a diagram to help you see the upper and lower aspects of the Elkron...
Also note - the Elkron live on the Celestial Island of Elthos (in my World), and the there are 24 Thrones ... there is an inner circle of mountains called the Dragon's Teeth, and an outer cirlce called the Dragon's Spine. On 24 of these mountains in ancient temples along inaccessible ridges are the 24 Thrones upon which the Elkron sit. From these Thrones they converse with one another, and observe the lands of their child races, and their heroes, below.
Another view ... this is a cutaway view of the Celestial Island ...
The connecting thread between all Worlds is the Alignment system. Through that permeate the manifestations of the Elkron in their myriads of Universes. The only thing that doesn't change is that there is Good and Evil, Law and Chaos at the root of all things. That is the foundation and metaphysical constant of the Elthos Multiverse.
Here's another diagram that shows the Alignment relationships to various political philosophies...
Also note that at the top of the post you can see the Elthos Tarot backface of the cards which shows the Celestial Island Map... that shows which Elkron are where, what their Associations with each other are by position, element (air, earth, water, and fire), and their Alignment positions. That has served me quite well over the years. And once when I got lost in an interdimensional time-rift by accident, the card was useful in helping me to navigate back to earth in the 21st Century. So keep a card with you... never know when you might need it.
Anyway, the way the Alignments work in the game itself is that as Characters do things they get evaluated by both their Action and their Motive. Between these two the Action determines the Law-Chaos value (an integer between -6 and 6), and the Motive determines the Good-Evil value (an integer between -6 and 6). So as Characters do things in the World for different reasons their Alignment changes accordingly. As GM I usually consult with the Players to find out what their Characters Motives were for given actions if it wasn't obvious, but Actions are a bit more deterministic. The Mythos Machine interface provides a way to note Alignment changes in the Experience Gains Screen. The result is that 1) Character Alignment is not fixed - it changes according to what the Players do with their Characters, and 2) Character Alignment changes can be tracked and shown over time - which is very cool, though not a feature that is implemented visibly in the Mythos Machine as such, yet. It will be... but only after other more pending development is finished up.
At some point I will publish more about the Elkron once the project's Phase I is complete (pretty soon now), but for now, for Gamemasters using the Mythos Machine at this stage of the Elthos Project Development, this is probably good enough to get you going.
To see the 24 Archetype-Celestial Elkron you can view them here:
Elthos Tarot Deck ... coming soon to a POD service near you.
Cheers, and have fun with it.
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