The Game of the Gods

The Game of the Gods

No one can hear a scream in the vacuum of space. Or so they say. They would be wrong though. The gods can. The gods can do anything. They are omnipotent. They created it all and can change any of it on a whim. They can manipulate time and space. They have all the power. They can do whatever pleases them.

Gods need entertainment, stimulation, challenges, praise, rewards. They enjoy games that challenge one another to show individuality and creativity. This game was a civilization building game. It started in the vacuum of space and would come full circle back to the vacuum of space before it was over.

It was a simple concept, but could be infinitely challenging. It contained an endless supply of possible variations, twists, turns and elaborate intricacies. The gods played it relentlessly. They were hooked like addicts. It consumed them, for what humans would know, to be millions of years.

The first step was choosing their resources. They were allowed up to 100,000 resources to begin the game, out of a list of billions. Plans were formed and each would begin various tasks of creating a civilization from the vacuum of space to completion. Completion was generally when they became bored again. They had to pass certain benchmarks before they could move on to a higher level of creation. As is only logical, first, you had to form a solar system, planets, moons, etc. design and implement gravity, heating, cooling, regenerative patterning of essentials, and so on. A god could opt to buy a creation from another god, or go in a different direction. Once they had created those basic building blocks, they moved on to the creation of life. They started very, very small and worked their way up as the game progressed. As one form of life was created, other gods would gain inspiration and create more varieties.

It quickly turned into an environment teaming with life. Things appeared like microbes, strange and exotic vegetation, and soon after that, biological creatures started popping up. Some gods created predators, believing great power is achieved by force. Others took the position that stealth or speed would better serve their chances of scoring the highest points, and points got them more resources. A wide range of concepts emerged while creating life. Everything from poisonous venom to rock hard encasements were used to form the creatures. A dozen ways to process oxygen came into play. Creatures were matched to the conditions in which they were placed. Every detail was worked out, every outcome accounted for. Points scored against them required a loss of time and resources to repair the damage, and reinvent the creation to withstand future attacks.

Some gods created huge but docile creatures, others small vicious ones with big teeth and long claws. They made things that crawled and things that flew. Things that swam and things that used propulsion. They made things that were easy to conceal and things that were impossible to miss. They made scary looking things, funny looking things, and things beautiful beyond the imagination.

It was basically a game that could never be won. Can God make a rock bigger than he can roll? They were all gods, so they were all omnipotent. One god pitted against the other still meant every player won, because of the very nature of gods.

The things they created could certainly lose though! They were the whipping boys of the gods. It was the creations that did the suffering. The creations were finite and died. The gods didn’t care. Suffering of lower forms was of no concern. Winning was all they cared about; outdoing their fellow gods.

When they advanced far enough, they began the final level. Humans. To be created in their own image. The crowning glory in all the achievements. They had to trade in existing resources to afford the human creations, and had not designed the planet to accommodate all the creatures at the same time.

Some gods had poured such extensive time and resources into a particular creation that they chose to keep it, but most life was wiped out for the final level of the game to begin. The basic functions weren’t changed a lot, but almost all the huge creature creations were removed. A number of bothersome less productive creatures were also eliminated.

The game was fun and adequately entertaining, but they were all getting a bit antsy about reaching the crescendo. They were just about to begin the truly epic portion of the game and the anticipation was almost tangible. What had been rudimentary, was about to become very complex and intricate. Gods could indulge in the creation and manipulation of not only function but now emotion and intellect. They would be able to experience the deepest benefits of being all powerful. Being all powerful loses appeal when there is no one on which to use it. The other gods were impervious, since they had the same attributes.

They were excited and even a bit giddy as they put in motion the creation of human civilization. The time had come for displaying themselves through the canvases of the humans they were creating. They were fairly predictable about it, some creating very predatory, primal humans, some opting for the traits of intellect and wisdom. It would be very interesting to see what was most successful, possibly ending age old arguments amongst the gods.

At the start of the final level they only had points enough for creating very simple frameworks. As they won more points, they would add more skills, and better developed skills. Each god had a unique strategy and they added characteristics based on those strategies. For example, those who believed in brute force added size and endurance, those that believed in intellect added deductive reasoning and logic processing. It was widely believed it was going to be the most fun they ever had, and indeed that proved to be true.