From: mumble@nomail.invalid   
      
   On 06/08/2014 01:29 PM, A. Tina Hall wrote:   
      
   > What I see as proper (good) gods   
   > would make the story pointless. They would prevent all bad things; no   
   > story to write that I want to write.   
      
   You might find it useful to reconsider your concept of what entails a   
   "proper" god.  From the bits I grasp of what you have written here, you   
   seem to have been dealing with godlings or demi-gods rather than   
   anything which would approach Godhood.   
      
   You say that proper gods would prevent all bad things, but that implies   
   that bad decisions on the part of mortals will not result in bad things   
   happening to them, which does not seem at all proper or good.  When   
   mortals commit bad actions, they should (properly) receive bad results,   
   otherwise there is no possibility for them to develop a "moral compass"   
   of any sort, since whatever they do will result in "good" coming to them   
   (which is itself "bad" behavior on the part of the "god").   
      
   A "proper" God does not by any means obviate all stories, the story   
   becomes that of an individual either trying to understand what he's done   
   wrong to land himself in trouble, or denying that he's erred in any way   
   and digging himself an ever-deeper pit.   
      
   The "magician" is then transformed from one who overcomes natural law   
   for the purposes of his own desires, to one who has come to understand   
   natural law and acts only as necessary to fulfill it within the   
   circumstances of the moment.   
      
   Or perhaps I've simply misunderstood you entirely, but if you're stuck   
   wasting your time on gods of the ancient Greek sort, I think not.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)