“ In the Temple Square of The City, where the nine Greater Gods have their houses of worship, a sudden flash of light blinds (perhaps permanently) all those who are nearby. When the light has faded, a tiny, naked baby is lying in the doorway of each Temple. The Gods, it seems, have come into the world - but why?”
“ Magical Fiends: When a mage or wizard casts a spell and draws more energy than s/he needs Magical Fiends are drawn to that spot and they feed of the extra magic as long as they can. When someone's magic is being fed off of they can't cast spells as well and they feel weaker. The only way to remove a magicial fiend is for it to be drawn away by someone else's power or to go to the very spot you first cast the spell and kill them”
“ In the Middle Ages, and even up to the early twentieth century, most of Europe's executioners were related: the Sansons and Deiblers in France, the Pierrepoints in England, etc. The reason for this was that, it generally not being socially acceptable to, well, kill people, executioners and their children could, generally, only marry other executioners or <i>their</i> children.
The parallels with massively inbred, Hapsburg-style dynasties are obvious- imagine a rather clever but politically inept satirist noting this, and being sentenced by the latter to a meeting with the former; even worse, imagine a dynasty of deranged and deformed executioners- think Texas Chaisaw Massacre with government funding.”