The world is Eden. As the name suggests, Eden is a perfect world. It doesn't know war, hatred, violence, or evil.
But one day, a young boy gets swallowed by a whale while swimming in the ocean. Distraught, his parents rush down to the shore, drop on their knees and begin praying. Suddenly, something happens.
You appear.
And thus it is that Black and White begins. You play the role of a young sorcerer who gets sucked through time and space to become God and savior to the people of Eden.
The Tribes
The world of Eden consists of about a dozen tribes. These tribes include Egyptians, Japanese, Greek, Zulu, Celts, and others.
As the game begins, you choose which tribe you want to start out with. This choice is important, because each tribe has different attributes, and will affect what spells you will have and how you will play the game.
For example, the Zulu tribe will have more war spells than the others, and will be better at fighting, while the Egyptians are much better at building. Celts have access to weather spells, and Japanese have access to mind spells. The Greeks are designed to be the "beginner" tribe, and have no special abilities or drawbacks.
These tribes are important, because their prayers, chants, and dances provide you with the magical energy you need to survive and cast spells. However, they will only chant, dance, and pray if they believe in you, and to gain that belief you're going to have to do some work.
Quests and Challenges
As you play the game, the people of your tribe will ask you to do things for them. These quests range from finding lost children to healing the sick and more. As you complete these quests, the people's belief in you grow, and you gain more magical energy, allowing you to cast more powerful spells.
However, completing a quest doesn't necessarily mean doing exactly what the people wanted you to do, and therein lies the beauty of this game. You can choose to be a good, benevolent god, or an evil, malignant, one.
So, for example, you could find that lost child and, instead of returning him to his family, burn him in the town square as an example to other children about the dangers of getting lost. Or you could take that villager who is praying to you for food and throw her in the ocean.
You could also balance the two extremes by committing an act of evil, then rewarding the grieving family in order to console them of their loss.
