FAQ - Eoris in 20 Questions

In 20 questions, this FAQ aims to give precise answers to the various questions you may have about Eoris Essence: 

1. What is Eoris Essence?

It is a table top role-playing game that features a vast world centred on the idea that we are made and we make history through our choices. In this case what we choose is more important God or her Creation, will lead us to choose sides in a war that threatens to end all.

2. What is the style of the game?

Eoris Essence is a science fantasy rpg in which the exploration of purpose of being and of action are key. Characters explore the world around and the world within as they take part in a moral dilemma that revolves around the idea of importance and what one is willing to do for what one believes in. A key question hangs over the characters as they face or escape the historical events that occur around them.

3. What are the themes of the game?

Given the vast cosmological, ideological, elemental and historical features of the game there are many possibilities for theme. High fantasy and deep character development clash with high action packed scenarios and situations that face the bigger than life ideas of the “celestial” we have with a sense of personal realisation and purpose.

4. What makes the Essence rpg game “transcendental”?

It speaks from the heart of things and its implications on life and the world. It is based on the idea that choices make history, and become inevitable. Our constant search for home is at the heart of why reason and desire clouds every thought and every decision a character makes. There must be a reason to kill and a reason not to kill, a reason to stay home or a reason to leave. Simple choices based on simple desires unavoidably escalate driving the characters into change. What a character is at the beginning, is not who she is in the end. It also explores the belief in God and why we believe in her/him. What makes God, God and why do we delve into the murky road that is answering the big questions of life by ourselves. Ignoring the rest of the universe and what happens within those, we decided, are our enemies and perhaps, in the journey making them our friends is at the core of why the thematic pushes characters into consideration of “the other” and of the self.

5. What do you mean by “Science fantasy”?

Simply put it means there is no real “fantasy” in the Essence rpg. Instead, whatever seems magical or unreal has an explanation that is based on a logic that is inherent to the world of Eoris. This logic explains everything and creates a filter in which the people see their “magical” world as we the computers we are working with now. We know it has a logical explanation, but once we think about how a microchip can store data when the power is out we start to question if we really do understand. Can we picture information in a magnetic medium? Does this information move around? Is it static? Likewise the people who developed the microchip did not develop the use of electricity. Our human technology is a collective construct no one understands completely. Push that into a thousand years of advancement and we have Saeia, Eoris’ all-tech. Likewise, it also means there is no real science on the setting, but ideas based on the general knowledge derived from observation today.

6. What is the setting of the game?

A world beyond our physical realm that lies in the fringes of existence and that is home to the Great Spirit, God. Cradle of life and origin of the Consciousness, this world is perhaps even more real than ours and it lies at the brink of dissolution. Its many cultures now face the unconscious of God made flesh, the Last Spirits, who seek to destroy her regardless of the cost. There is no evil, no good, and no absolutes other than the reality presentd and the choices that make us free.

7. What are the game’s main sources of inspiration?

Many things have inspired the game so the answer to this question will undoubtedly have gaps. The landscape of our country, Colombia, has been of paramount importance. Animal diversity and “human-animal” cooperation with a strong desire for an attainment of peace are at the core of the game and seem omnipresent whilst travelling through our country. Video games have also inspired.

Starting with Xenogears and moving to Shadow of the Colossus, the influences are great and hard to describe. A feeling of the magnificent mixed with the idea of simple landscapes that seem tranquil and even unimportant. A celestial event reduced to a series of human emotions and interactions that are perhaps very real to most of us. Technologies that serve as a means to exalt our human spirits and desires and the contradictory idea that our spirits and truest longings are not of greatness but of closeness to what is around us. A man staring into a lake, rather than conquering it, perhaps speaks louder of the spirit of the Essence rpg, than a vast warship moving through the cosmos.

8. How are South American elements included in the game?

Unavoidably we are South American. Colombian to be precise, and this gives the game a different approach to how societies see each other. It is not feudal, it is not modern and it is not tribal. It is mix of things in which many forms of government, of religion and culture had to learn to grow together and come to terms. From the most civilised and educated, to the most uneducated, primal and perhaps childish of beings, this world shares its sceneries equally. There is a history of tolerance growing into acceptance, growing into understanding that is easy to see happening on our continent daily. There is also a great desire for more. Like everyone is expecting something larger than life to happen. We believe in a one true god while also believing in thousands upon thousands of small deities, spirits, who share this world with us as much as God and everyone else.

9. Who will be the Characters?

Well… that’s up to you. We designed a game system that literally allows you to play as conventional humanoid characters. But we have seen players have characters that are simple animals of this world attempting to survive as the rules of men and gods alter their habitats. Truly this game offers many possibilities that are fun and easy to explore.

10.  What types of Characters can be played in Eoris Essence?

Basically any type. Truly, check it out for your selves. Nevertheless, main characters could be the Contacts, beings who have the ability to redefine the fabric of the world instinctively. That is, without the need for advanced technologies.

11.  Inhabiting the world of Eoris could be explained by using what examples of popular media?

The idea of cultural/biological diversity that mixes the old traditional scenarios with advanced technologies found in games such as Xenogears, some final fantasies, Journey (the video game). Also an idea of vast landscapes like those found on Shadow of the Colossus, especially when referring to the evocative feeling and the sense of wonder of the simple mundane. The idea of multiple warring groups may be compared to starcraft’s races and their desires for survival or universal dominion. The incredibly (almost fantastically) talented characters and their close relation to many forms of intellectual and physical prowess could be compared with over the top protagonists like Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes. Finally, the idea of the “Dream of the Universal Consciousness” which is Eoris itself, has levels of depth and exploration comparable to Inception and Paprika.

12.  How do I find the Eoris books?

You may visit www.essencerpg.com, our blog, facebook, twitter or look for the books on amazon. You may also join any forum in the internet and create a thread, through which the creators will contact you.

13.  How is the game system?

Designed to have a complex, long and fully detailed Character generation process that offers so many options some may feel daunted, the Essence System provides thousands of options for players to choose from. It also includes three games in one. You may play as Xylen (ordinary beings), Sil (free spirits of God) or Kalei (Spirits that serve the unconscious will of God and seek to destroy her).

14.  Eoris is a complex world with many mysteries and secrets. Will there be a revelation or must we come up with solutions on our own?

The idea is for every gaming group to create their own version of the game and make it their own. This however does not in any way clash with the idea of a fixed idea given the cosmological order of Eoris. Nevertheless, new expansions are underway where secrets will be revealed and the history will advance to explore the furthest depths of the war.  

15.  Is Eoris Essence an on-going series?

Eoris is a world creation that has many years in the making and encompasses wondrous efforts from its creators. It is indeed an on-going series.

16.  What will the style of the scenarios and adventures be like?

When directly relevant to the historical events of the world, the style is an escalating, over the top, celestial confrontation between beings who wish to overcome one another no matter the cost. In this struggle inner demons arise and the true purpose behind every action is revealed. 

        Nevertheless, the setting is presented in an open and free manner so that Players and GMs alike may decide on what form of game they will experience. This is based on the idea we had when we first played roleplaying games: The world is but the scenario, events and characters are what matter. The more we played D&D, the more we realised that what was being proposed was a world where anything could happen. This is also the case for Eoris Essence. We feel that anything could and should happen. We welcome everyone to experience the world of Eoris in as free a manner as possible.

17.  What does the Primordial Clay or “custom species creator” do?

Allows character to modify any previously existing species, or create their own. Narrators (gaming masters) use this tool to create enemies and antagonists, new species, vehicles, and any creation that is based on a physical form.

18.  What are the creatures of Eoris Essence’s bestiary? Are there classic enemies like goblins and dragons, or an entire new wave of creatures?

Basically any the Narrator wishes to include on the setting so long as it is not a magical species or race. Only biological creatures inhabit the world of Eoris. Magic simply does not exist.

19.  Who are the “Aiej”?

The spirits that inhabit the world of Eoris and that represent or embody the soul of a particular thing. Some spirits are fragmented into different beings instead of just one. For example the Sil as a whole embody the spirit of life in a certain fragment of the universe.

20. Will Eoris Essence have expansions?

Yes. But it is important to realise the books that are currently for sale present a version of the world and of the game that is open, free… but also unique to the limited edition. Never again will the books be printed in the same manner or with everything they have including the three game modes.