More actions
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.