More stuff if anyone's interested.

Devotion Awards

Characters gain Devotion Awards when they carry out actions that the Gods of their Pantheon approve of. These awards can be dedicated to any of the Gods by the character, sometimes resulting in Devotion to multiple Gods. Alternatively, the character can focus his Devotion to one deity, building up a store of trust between the worshipper and the God. Devotion Awards are traded in to gain access to Boons. Boons are gifts from the Gods to reward the faithful and take many forms.  

Devotion Awards also affect the character's Fame.

General Devotion
Dedicating a Minor Victory at a temple or shrine 1 pt
Dedicating a Major Victory at a temple or shrine 3 pts
Funding a shrine or temple 5 pts
Funding a pilgrimage 4 pts
Serving in a temple or tending a shrine 1 pt per year of service
Missionary work in heathen lands 4 pts
Making a pilgrimage to a minor site 1 pts
Making a pilgrimage to a major site 3 pts
Minor victory against opposing pantheon (Phrenic (Life) vs Cerenesian (Death) Pantheons) 2 pts
Major victory against opposing pantheon 4 pts
Finding the Cerenesian Arch 10 pts
Finding the lands of the Gods 10 pts
Abasing oneself before your God 15 pts

Devotee Devotion Awards
Devotees are the priests and preachers of the Gods. They devote their lives to a single God, spreading the tenets of the faith. Each God awards Devotion for different actions. These awards are in addition to General Devotion Awards, although the Devotee character must always devote general awards to his patron deity. If he devotes general awards to other Gods, he risks the wrath of his patron deity.

Hyssh
Craft skills 1 pt per point of craft skills
Trickery skills 1 pt per point of trickery skills
Ending the life of the Warped (who have stolen parts of Eternity. Undead really) 3 pts
Protecting the life of Immortals 3 pts
Maintaining old buildings or materials 1 pt
Killing an Immortal –3pts
Allying with a Warped –3 pts
Destroying old buildings or materials –1 pt
Opposing the followers of Dag-Gaden, the Billowing Shroud, Bringer of the End Days (Cerenesian Pantheon) 1-5pts

Now a snippet about Flameseekers (a caling) and the Secret Flame.

The Secret Flame

When the Phrenic Gods emerged into the Void from the Cerenesian Arch, they carried with them the secrets of creation; a living red flame that they fashioned into the earth, the sky, and the creatures and races that populate the brave new world. This Secret Flame was fragmented into billions of sparks, each one residing within a creation of the Gods. Without the flame, there would be only void.

Content with their creations, the Gods rested. Using the flame had exhausted them and whilst their gaze was directed elsewhere, their brothers, the Cerenesian Gods emerged from the arch. These Gods wielded destruction in equal measure to the creation of the Phrenics. The Flame of the Cerenesians was black and undid much of the work that the Phrenics had undertaken. Even more unsettling, the Cerenesians introduced death, disease and malady to creation. There was much turmoil among the new races and the creatures of the world.

Kraal, the Grim Herald, decided that something must be done to protect creation. He journeyed to the cities of his people on a lightning bolt fashioned from the Flame and told the most intelligent scholars of the secret of the Flame, so that mortals and Immortals alike could oppose the destruction wrought by the Cerenesians. Learning of this betrayal, Kalem-Dar, the Destructor, gave the secret of the black flame to his people.

Scholars, prophets and seers could now utilise the barest sparks of the Secret Flame. However, its use came with a price – The user of the flame must inevitably lose some of the lustre of his spark to bring life to another. Thus, the Flameseeker was born out of chaos.

At last the races of the world had a method of resisting destruction (or tempting it) that did not rely solely on the intervention of the two rival Pantheons.

Using the Secret Flame

The Secret Flame is used to create or destroy. The red flame of the Phrenics is used to create new wonders, matter where before there was none, and to reverse the damage wrought by the black flame. The flame of the Cerenesians is the reverse in utility; used to destroy matter that already exists, weaken creations of the red flame and ultimately return creation to the void.

Flameseekers must power the Flame with a spark of their own in order to bring it to life. This is represented by a statistical sacrifice in order to create the effect. These sacrifices range from 1 to 5 points and are determined by the power of the effect and the skill of the user. Unfortunately, the races of the world generally don't possess the regenerative powers of the Gods, so these sacrifices can only be reversed through the application of XPS.  

Fashion Lightning
Requirement: Mental Discipline - Mystic 5
Statistical Cost: Manual Dexterity 5  
Difficulty: 4 Successes
Fashioning Time: 4 successes, 3 rounds. 5, 2 rounds. 6, 1 round. 7, instantaneous

Description: A user of the Black Flame (a God in this case, as a skill of 5 is only available if you are divine) fashions a bolt of lightning from the Secret Flame. This lightning can be hurled at any target the God is aware of. It automatically hits, causing an amount of damage equal to the amount of successes achieved to the victim and anyone within 10 yards.

Alternatively, a God utilizing the Red Flame can ride the lightning. He grabs hold of it and specifies a destination. The lightning then transports him instantly to his destination before fizzling out.


(Note 1: All Flame effects require the use of the Mental Discipline skill - Mystic, to use. Those without Mystic special skill cannot use the Secret Flame. The score of the users Mystic skill determines the power of the spark. So someone with M.Discipline – Mystic 2, could only use sparks with a requirement of 2 or 1. The statistical sacrifice matches the power of the spark.)

(Note 2: If a user fails in his attempt to use the flame, he does not have to sacrifice statistical points.)

Fame

Heroes do heroic things. They save the villagers from a rampaging beast, they scale the unscalable mountain just for a glimpse of world's end, they wrestle giants and riddle with inscrutible immortals for a taste of the golden fruit. Sagas are made in their honour, frescos depict their victories and clay cameos of their profile are sold to commoners wishing they were the hero depicted. Their deeds are recorded in the Roll of Heroes kept by the Sagamakers, so that all may hear of their exploits.

Characters receive Fame for their exploits. Fame affects things as diverse as Barter Values, how the character is treated and the adoration he receives from the populace at large. It's main utility is in facing down other heroes in games of strength and skill or intimidating them into other actions. As the hero becomes more famous, his confidence grows to match it. A hero's Fame is a sort of measuring mechanism, so that conflicting heroes can gain an edge over one another or over creatures of myth that have heard of their exploits.

Heroes bid Fame against each other to gain a psychological advantage, sometimes playing to a crowd and sometimes just boasting because their lives depend upon it. The opposing heroes (or creatures) bid the number of their Fame score that they wish to commit to the attempt. This number is the amount of dice that they roll to determine success. The two opponents secretly note down the bid and then reveal the bid at the same time. Each opponent rolls the dice and notes successes. The person with the most successes has stared down his opponent. For the duration of the scene, the loser of the test has all of his skill successes reduced by one. The loser of a Fame battle permenently loses half the amount bid from his Fame score if he survives the event (stories spread of his infamy). Bidders cannot bid more Fame than they have and the total cannot exceed his highest statistical score.

Clashes of Fame are more common in gladatorial contests or carnivals and games than in deadly fights to the death.

Example: Cronan the Cerenesian Slayer comes across his arch rival, Mythos the Death Mage in an ancient ruin. Both heroes are storied and have faced down many threats. Events have been held in their honour. Blows are inevitable, but before they tangle, they exert their Fame on each other, looking for an advantage in the coming fight. Cronan has a Fame of 12 and Mythos 11. They both bid the amount of Fame they are willing to risk. When they are revealed, Cronan has bid 5 points and Mythos has also bid 5 points (both have a highest stat score of 5). They boast of their exploits, have friends recount their deeds and produce gifts they have been given. Finally they confront each other with their prowess and roll the dice. Cronan gets no successes, but Mythos gets 1. Mythos' bearing, confidence and prowess has cowed mighty Cronan.  Mythos has the upper hand already. Shortly after the battle is joined, Cronan decides that a retreat is in order and flees the field. The story spreads and Cronan's Fame is reduced to 10 as a result.

Edit: Actually, i'm going to drop the cap for this. Otherwise the bid will be fairly predictable. PCs can bid any number up to their Fame rating. Then it's a matter of risk and reward.

Skills

Because this game is meant to run all the way from normal mortal play to divine level, the skill mechanisms need to reflect that division as well as feed into the dice rolling mechanism. So that the amount of successes something rolling 5 dice is going to get is reflected in the affect of the skill along with those who are rolling 10 or more dice and the successes that this will generate. Therefore, skills are probably going to be the crunchiest part of the system and the one that will require a bit of looking up. The idea is that skill success charts will be made so that players/GMs can just read across to not the results.

Many Skills assume a baseline competence. This is a level set at what most humans are able to achieve. There is no need to make a skill test if the difficulty is below this level. Only when it is harder than the baseline should a skill test be undertaken. Then, it is the number of successes that determines how successful the character making the test is.

Example: Jumping

Running Jump

No. Successes 1 2 3 4 5 6
Default
Character’s Physique in yards +1 +3 +6 +12 +24 +48

Standing Jump

No. Successes 1 2 3 4 5 6

Default
Half character’s Physique in yards +1 +2 +3 +6 +12 +24

Vertical Jump

No. Successes 1 2 3 4 5 6
Default
1 Yard +0.5 +1 +2 +4 +8 +16

Note: Wearing a Bronze cuirass lowers the wearer’s Physique by 1 point for the purposes of determining Jumping tests.

The main problem is that each skill is likely to have different ways of measuring defaults and the effect of successes on those defaults. So a bit to ponder.

Edit: I think a little explantion of the above is in order. Take Running Jump for example. If the jump is equal or lower in yards to the characters Physique, he does not need to make a skill test to make the jump successfully. However, if a character with a Physique of 5 needs to make a 6 yard jump, he must make one success when he rolls a skill test. If he wants to jump 7 or 8 yards, he must make 2 successes. 9, 10 r 11 yards and he will need 3 successes (not something that rolling 5 dice will likely get you). This ingrains normal human achievement into the mechanism. If you were playing a heroic game and the Physique was 7, then the default for that character would be 7 yards! Only if he wanted to jump 8 yards or further would he need to make a skill test. He is also more likely to make more successes, thus adding yardage to his baseling more easily. It's when you get to the mythic and immortal levels that the effects of the skill ramp up (indicated by the sudden jump in the skill tables above from +1, +3, +6 to +12, +24 etc. These characters are likely to have scores of 7 or greater. A Physique stat of 10 (immortal) means that the default running jump distance is 10 yards! He is on average going to make 4 successes, increasing his jump distance to 22 yards, if he needs to roll at all. Some Qualities (which will be detailed later) also affect the default skill baseline before successes are rolled for.

A short example of a mythic beast.

The Sphere of Ordon (Mythic Beast)
Manual Dexterity 0
Endurance 6, Diehard 1
Pragmatism 4
Agility 4, Avoidance 1
Physique 1
Alertness 9, Perception 4, Sign Reading 3
Leadership 9, Oration 3, Presence 3
Mental Discipline 9, Tongues 2, Mystic 3, Control 4
Interaction 8, Charm2
Prowess 4

Qualities: Oracle (M.Discipline), Telepathy (M.Discipline), Regeneration (Endurance), Deathless (Endurance), Levitate (Agility), Flight (Agility), Farsight (Alertness), Darksight (Alertness), Truesight (Alertness), God-King (Leadership), Aura of Koss (Leadership)  

The Sphere of Ordon is the storied God-King of the far off realm of Ordon. It is said to be a floating eye the size of a mule. It rules over the main city of Ordon and acts as protector, advisor and religious leader to the savages of that land. It is said that the Sphere can see the true intent of every man, into the heart of the sun and into both the past and the future. Even wilder stories say that it speaks directly into the minds of those it meets, instantly knowing the language of the person communicated with and that it flies like a bird. Travellers say that the Sphere also has mastery of the Secret Flame. If the stories are true, than this mythic beast is a fearsome opponent indeed. It seems content to rule over the squabbling tribes of Ordon, however, and has not made any move against the civilised states of Phrenia. It is sometimes sought out for it's prophetic mutterings, but usually demands payment that the supplicant is unwilling or unable to achieve, such as draining the Spawning Pools of Elgoria, or putting out ones own eyes. When all else fails, the Sphere has been known to destroy supplicants with a blast of the Secret Flame. It resides within the Watching Tower, facing out to sea and its gaze fixed on matters only the Sphere is privy to.

Sagamakers have wondered for long centuries whether the Sphere of Ordon is the offspring of Irg, the All-Seeing, Watcher of the Cerenesian Arch. If this is true, then the Sphere may be an important defence against the forces of destruction that the Cerenesians present. No one has survived the subsequent wrath of the Sphere when the question has been put to it, however.

I could do with a bit of help with the damage mechanism, if anyone has any thoughts.

The plan in combat is that the (Prowess) Swordsman or Spearman of the attacker is used for melee attacks, (Physique) Wrestling for unarmed attacks and (Alertness) Marksman are used as the relevant skills to attack. So the amount of dice you roll is determined by those stats and skills. You roll and note successes. The defender can use his own Prowess or Physique or (Agility) Avoidance to oppose this and subtracts the amount of his successes from the attackers. If that reduces the attackers successes to zero or below, then no damage is taken. If it still results in a positive number, then the remaining successes of the attacker are taken as damage by the defender. Now, i want damage to be simple and am considering the damage to be an across the board reduction to the amount of dice that the injured party can use in future skill tests (each attackers success results in one less dice roled by the injured party). However, that will soon mean that some stats will be zero and the others very very poor. When is he dead or unconscious? So then, i thought that the damage could only apply to one stat, rolled randomly on a d10 and future skill rolls for skills under that stat suffer. In theory, this is better, but again, when is there death or unconsciousness? I've already decided that some creatures will have a stat of 0 in some areas, so deciding that when a stat becomes 0 is the onset of either state isn't going to work. The alternative is to say that when Endurance reaches 0, then the character is dead. Then that makes Endurance the most important stat...

Then, there is the mythic, heroic angle to consider. It ain't very heroic to be struggling with skills the whole time and then die. So another idea is Resolve, which equals the characters highest stat. When he is damaged, he makes a Resolve test (rolling an amount of dice based on the Resolve number), needing to roll more successes than wounds he took, to shake off the damage. If he doesn't roll more successes, then he takes the damage to his Resolve score (which regenerates with rest). Once his Resolve is 0, then he gives up the ghost and dies.

Any thoughts?

Well, i've come up with something else. Damage comes from the characters Resolve as noted above (although 3 rolls to determine a hit & damage, is that too many?). When Resolve hits 0, the character must make a Diehard roll (Endurance) to remain conscious (1 success remain conscious for 5 rounds, 2 successes 10 rounds, 3 successes 1 scene, 4 successes indefinitely). Every future damage comes directly from a random stat (roll 1d10), lowering the characters efficiency with that stat. Once Endurance has reached zero, the character is dead.

I seem to be spitting feathers here, so i'll call it a day. Thanks to Elliot for your help on the probabilities!