Deorum apparatus unde venerunt

During their 2019 quest for the Frost King's treasure in Manik, the Retconning Crocodiles, upon wondering how to get through the ice door, bemoaned their lack of a plot coupon or of “the deorum apparatus unde venerunt”. (PROSE: The Frost King's Treasure)

Behind the scenes

A deus ex machina is a common name for a plot device where an unexpected force appears out of nowhere to extract characters from a seemingly hopeless situation; being based on the Greco-Roman theatrical trope of this being achieved via a literal god who appears on-stage through a machinery-based special effect, the expression literally means “the God [appearing] from the machine”. The spurious Latin coinage of a “deorum apparatus unde venerunt” translates as “a device from which Gods come”, thus riffing on a literal reading of “deus ex machina”: the suggestion is that it is a literal machine through which the Crocodiles could have summoned a god to help them.