Pan-aeons: a God Game

[Garjel_blah]

Spoiler: Rules and Preamble

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It’s a fact of life that the universe tends towards disorder. That which is built will eventually break down. Structures crumble, fires burn, and in the end we’re left with naught but dust and ash. Chaos will someday make dust and ash of all creation.

However, “all creation” is a big place, and “someday” is still a long way off. In one galaxy, a planet orbiting a star much like our own deviates from the norm. Once an unstable world wracked by cataclysms and aimless change, it one day found itself mellowing, stabilising. Where once chaos reigned, order arose. Life flourished, complex and diverse. Over many aeons it strove, compelled by its nature to defy the odds.

From life emerged the most complex, yet in some way simplest expression of order - the soul. And from the soul came the gods, aspects of the sentient life and civilisation, each unique and near limitless in potential. Yet even they are fragile in a universe hell bent upon chaos. What will they do with the time that’s given to them?

Pan-aeons is a role-playing game, set in a fantasy world from the stone age onwards, where you take on the role of one of these gods. What you do is up to you, the world is your sandbox! As long as you remember that you’ll be sharing it with an entire pantheon of other gods, all vying for the worship of the mortal population.

Spoiler: Making your deity

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There’s a great deal of freedom in the design and character of your deity, but the most important thing to decide upon is their domains and their weakness.
First and foremost, your god needs either one or two domains, which is the concept or thing that your god is a god of. The Grim Reaper, for instance, would have a domain in death. Zeus might have a thunder domain. Cthulhu could have dual domains in madness and the ocean. As the game progresses you may be able to acquire more domains, but to start with there will be a limit of two.
Your god also needs a weakness. This can be the diametric opposite of your god’s domain, such as say life being the Grim Reaper’s weakness, but could also be some character flaw or inability that limits your god. Zeus might have a weakness in loyalty, due to his tendency to adulterate with mortals behind Hera’s back, and Cthulhu’s obvious weakness would be drowsiness, since he’s always slumbering and dreaming.
In game mechanics, your domains and weaknesses give modifiers for actions, making you better at actions that fall within your purview as a god, and worse at those that your weakness limits. A single domain god receives a +4 modifier, while a dual domain god received two +2 modifiers. Weaknesses give you a -2 modifier. Based on this, we can write our three example gods as:

Death (+4 Death, -2 Life)

Zeus (+4 Thunder, -2 Loyalty)

Cthulhu (+2 Madness, +2 Ocean, -2 Slumber)

This is basically what you need to decide upon for your god. Things such as personality and the appearance of your god’s main avatar are valuable flavour as well, and should probably reflect your chosen domains and weaknesses.

Spoiler: How to play

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In this god game RP, the writing and characterisation are the most important elements of play. However, to make things interesting, some gameplay mechanics have been designed. They’re based on an old RP I was in called Brave New World, which I had a great deal of fun with. I’ve tried my best to remember the rules from that game, and have made a few adjustments that will hopefully open up more options. Here’s the end result...

The game is divided up into ages, which are further divided into turns, and every turn the player gods each get to do two things; a divine action, and reactions to other gods’ divine actions. The number of turns per age depends on how quickly the players expend their AP.

Actions
A list of the available divine actions is given below, and you’ll find that they’re divided up into different tiers based on action points (AP), difficulty check (DC), and detectable/undetectable.
AP is a limited resource that gods expend to do actions. The AP listed for each action is how much that action costs to perform, with more powerful actions requiring more AP. Each god starts an age with full AP, and can do actions every turn until they run out.
DC is the threshold above which a god needs to roll (1d20, done by the GM) to succeed with their action. The DC listed for each action gives the action’s threshold, which more powerful actions having a higher threshold. If appropriate, gods may modify their rolls with their domains/weaknesses, to decrease/increase this threshold.
The detectability of an action determines which other player gods can react to your action. Detectable actions can be sensed by all other gods no matter where they are or what they’re doing, meaning that all gods may perform a reaction. Undetectable actions cannot be sensed by other gods, unless they have been specifically informed that the action is happened or are directly observing it take place, in which case only they may make a reaction.

Reactions
Reactions differ from actions in that they cost no AP, have no DC, and may be done as many times as a player wishes every turn. All that’s required is that another god has performed an action that your god can detect, and you may perform a reaction to that action. There are two types of reaction; help, and hinder.
Helping reactions allow you to subtract your domain modifiers from the god’s action DC, increasing the chance of success. In addition, you get to describe some way in which your help impacts on the result of the action, such as an additional affect or greater scope. Be creative, but try not to do anything that would spoil the action, since you are supposed to be helping.
Hindering reactions, on the other hand, allow you to add your domain modifiers to the god’s action DC, increasing the chance of failure. In the event that the action succeeds regardless of your hindrance, you still get to suggest some way that your hindrance impacts on the result of the action.
Note that while you may describe how your reaction affects the outcome of an action, the GM will decide how the action ends up being resolved, since there may be multiple contradictory reactions to take into account.

Spoiler: Example

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Let’s say that Zeus (+4 Thunder, -2 Loyalty) has 20 AP and decides to make the demigod Perseus (+2 Heroism and an as of yet unspecified -2 weakness) on his turn. From the action list, this action costs 18 AP and has 14 DC, so he’ll be left with 2 AP and has to roll above 14 to succeed in making his demigod. In the fluff he’s going to do this by showering a virgin with heavenly gold to make her pregnant with the baby demigod, which is sort of like lightning and is definitely not loyal to Hera, so he gets a +4 Thunder modifier to his roll. Now he just needs to roll above 10.

However, getting above 10 isn’t great odds, so Zeus goes to his fellow god Death to ask for help. Death agrees, lending his +4 in the death domain to Zeus’ roll. He justifies this by blessing Perseus’ mother with a non-fatal pregnancy, ensuring that the newborn demigod has a mortal family to care for him. He’ll also use a religious artefact that he made earlier, a Reaper’s Scythe with +2 in the spirit domain, to add a further +2 to make a modifier of +6. However, since the action is ultimately above giving life to a baby, Death’s -2 Life weakness also comes into play. His total contribution is therefore only +4, setting the new DC threshold at 6.

This still is not the end of it though, because creating a demigod is a detectable action, which means that Cthulhu is allowed to react. And since Cthulhu is a prick, he’s going to hinder. He’ll do this by telepathically cursing Perseus with nightmarish dreams of the depths, invoking both his +2 Madness and +2 Ocean domains. This doesn’t invoke his -2 slumbering weakness because he’s specifically acting through dreams. Now the DC threshold is at 10, which is back where Zeus started. Death's help and Cthulhu's hindrances just happened to balance each other out.

If the roll were to fail by scoring 10 or less, then Perseus would be stillborn (though the mother would at least be ensured survival by Death’s help). If the roll were to succeed by scoring above 12, then Perseus would be born as a demigod with +2 Heroism as specified by Zeus’ player, and -2 Water as determined by the GM based on Cthulhu’s hindrances.

This should give you an idea about how divine actions works in this god game

Spoiler: Divine Actions List

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Undetectable actions

Free/Instant: manifest avatar, teleport avatar, shapeshift avatar, interact with the world, perform inconsequential/non-divine magic, attempt to remotely contact other gods - general fluff and flavour basically.

1 AP/0 DC: influence one mortal (significantly alter the course of their life by compelling them to action, altering their body, killing them, etc.), scry one object or living creature (allows you to detect undetectable actions that happen within your scry, lasts until your next action or the end of the age).

2 AP/1 DC: influence a small group of mortals (~10), influence a small landmark or room, scry a small landmark or room, change the weather in a village-sized area.

4 AP/2 DC: influence a large group of mortals (~100), influence a large landmark or building, scry a large landmark or building.

6 AP/3 DC: influence a village of mortals (~1000), influence a village-sized area, scry a village-sized area, change the weather in a city-sized area.

8 AP/4 DC: change the weather in a state-sized area, create a basic living species (plant, fungus, micro-organisms), create a basic non-living substance.

10 AP/6 DC: influence a town of mortals (~10k), influence a town-sized area, scry a town-sized area, create an animal species, create one or a collection of lesser magical items (easy to both use and destroy, such as a magic carpet, health potion, invisibility cloak, etc.).

12 AP/8 DC: influence a city of mortals (~100k), influence a city-sized area, scry a city-sized area, create a collection of lesser magical minions (should be a reasonable match for most mortals, such as hellhounds, cherubs, horse-mounted Nazgul, etc.), immortalise a living creature or mortal, create a pocket dimension (must be bounded and unable to hold a population), reincarnate a mortal demigod.

14 AP/10 DC: influence one immortal, scry a state-sized area, create a single greater magical monster (should be challenging for even the best mortals to slay, such as a dragon, gorgon, fell beast-mounted Witch King, etc.), create a greater magical item (requires understanding of magic to use or destroy, such as a phylactery, enchanted weapons and armour, crystal ball, etc.), sanctify an area for +2 (max 4 per god).

Detectable actions

16 AP/12 DC: influence a state of mortals (~1M) or a small group of immortals (~10), influence a state-sized area, scry a country-sized area, induce a celestial phenomenon (comet, eclipse, aurora, etc.), create a sentient species, create a +2 domain religious artefact (max 3 per god).

18 AP/14 DC: influence a country of mortals (~10M), influence a country-sized area, scry a continent-sized area, create a plane of reality (can be unbounded and capable of sustaining a population), create a +2 domain/-2 weakness demigod (max 2 per god).

20 AP/16 DC: influence a continent of mortals (~100M), influence a continent-sized area, scry the entire planet, create a law of reality (such as a system of magic for mortals to use, or an objective morality), create a supernaturally gifted sentient species, assign a chosen people for +2 (1 per god).

22 AP/18 DC: influence every mortal on the planet, influence the entire planet, despoil a +2 sanctified area.

24 AP/20 DC: destroy a +2 artefact, confer a -2 weakness to a demigod, banish a god for a turn, announce a prophesy.

30 AP/24 DC: destroy a demigod, confer a -2 weakness to another god.

40 AP/30 DC: destroy a god.

Spoiler: The Pantheon

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Player	Deity	Domains/Weaknesses
Garjel_blah	Chern	+4 Decay, -2 Downtrodden
Godzillarich	Grawissen	+2 Mining, +2 Knowledge, -2 Unknown
Megadraco	Kahar-Djin	+2 Paths, +2 Thresholds, -2 Unexplored
Demonjazz	Alatadriel	+2 Fire, +2 Foxes, -2 Arrogance
The Jojo	Avestra	+2 Nature, +2 Birds, -2 Primeval
Batcathat	Ymon-Thal	+2 Life, +2 Death, -2 Unliving
El-the Ellie	Vreyalas	+2 Community, +2 Forging, -2 Darkness
Artemis P	Nestellbam	+4 Preservation, -2 Creation
gac3	Timorin	+2 Drama, +2 War, -2 Fear
sadatg	Enheduanna	+2 Devotion, +2 Subjugation, -2 Autonomy
Mira_124	Opulon	+2 Cosmology, +2 Divination, -2 Focus
flyinglemur	Dulnori	+2 Fortune, +2 Ambition, -2 Stability
Maryring	Petr	+2 Water, +2 Healing, -2 Pain
DarthArminius	Su'ule	+2 Sorcery, +2 Monsters, -2 Willfulness
Captain Cap	Solomo	+2 Guidance, +2 Wisdom, -2 Self-doubt
AlexanderML	Yir	+2 Sun, +2 Majesty, -2 Arrogance

Spoiler: Character Sheets

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Spoiler: Chern

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Name: Chern, Aspect of the Descending Cycle, the Wiltwatcher, the Masked One, the Stranger-Scavenger

Domain: +4 Decay

Weakness: -2 Downtrodden

Rationale: the power of Chern derives from his understanding that the universe functions in cycles. Most people take interest in the ascending part of the cycle – growth, birth, abundance – but Chern knows that there is often more wisdom found in that which is descending – decay, death, and destruction. For creation as a concept is naïve, in his eyes, and it is in fact recreation from the remnants of decay that nourishes life. This perspective manifests more broadly as a Romantic appreciation for the lowly and downtrodden, and makes it difficult for Chern to tolerate that which towers too high above its peers. This is when his -2 downtrodden disadvantage applies; actions that work against the lowly, or favour too strongly the powerful.

Avatar description: Chern most often manifests as tall man in the ragged garb of a wanderer or hermit, who conceals his face behind a plain mask or in hooded shadows. The mask is his main icon, but can vary considerably; sometime it is simply carved pale wood, other times it is bone, and occasionally even chitin. Chern is also commonly depicted as being laden with a large collection of assorted detritus and broken objects, usually in a bag on his back.

Credit Carpet-Crawler, DeviantArt

Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyem2I6Nxvc

Spoiler: Grawissen

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Name: Grawissen, Speaker of the Forgotten

Domain: Mining +2 and knowledge +2

Weakness: weakness -2 unknown, he will seek knowledge no matter how stupid it may be. He also has a he has a problem comprehending stuff he misses.

Rationale: My spirit was born in the darkness of the underground caverns, the pain and loneliness over the generations chipped at my soul. But one day I found something truly horrific. Bones, Bones of creatures that truly lived magnificent lives but are now forgotten like me. That is when I understood my purpose, to make sure the past is not forgotten.

Avatar description: His form is made up of very different bones from dead beings.

Spoiler

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T. rex legs:

Spoiler: T. rex legs

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Therizinosaurus arms:

Spoiler: Therizinosaurus arms

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Ankylosaurus tail:

Spoiler: Ankylosaurus tail

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Spinosaurus body and sail:

Spoiler: Spinosaurus body and sail

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And a Triceratops head

Spoiler: Triceratops head

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His body is held together by his will and if he wanted to he we can fall apart and reform himself.

Theme:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34CZjsEI1yU

Spoiler: Kahar-Djin

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Name: Kahar-Djin, the Connector, Guardian of Gates

Domain: +2 Paths, +2 Thresholds

Weakness: 2 Unexplored. Applies to actions involving areas not well known or explored by mortals.

Rationale: Kahar-Djin draws their power from the Paths, the connections between all things, though particularly locations. Yet, at the same time, they see the power in the Thresholds that divide all creation, and draw from them as well. One could see it as strange to draw power from such seemingly opposed sources, yet Kahar-Djin understands that they could not exist without the other. For how can you have a path between that which is undivided? And of what use is a division between two things with no connection? Yet, paths and thresholds do not truly exist in nature. No distinct paths form in the wilderness, and all is part of the same whole. No, divisions, and the paths that they form, are first created within the sapient mind, and then applied to the world around them. So, Kahar-Djin’s power weakens in those places untouched by a sapient mind.

Avatar Description: Kahar-Djin can take on many forms, but they most often appear in one of two forms: A warrior woman, clad in shining armor and carrying a great shield, who seems to always stand out, no matter where she is, and a wandering man wearing a traveller’s cloak, face obscured behind a mask, a walking staff in hand.

Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7W0Nm8iHwk

Spoiler: Alatadriel

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The Divine Iridescent Elegance of Vulpine Vestalry, Alatadriel: Creator of the Blade Dance, Patron God of Duelists, Protectorate of the Forge, Caretaker of The Hearth, Queen of Summer, Unparalleled Cook, Tea Master, Purifier, and Heavenly Gift to Mankind.

Domain: +2 to the ferocious, and fearsome domain of frightful fire. +2 to the friendly and flirtatious domain of fractious foxes.

Weakness: -2 to Arrogant “I’m not arrogant, I’m just simply better than you.”

Rationale: As Alatadriel tells it she existed long before mankind. In the days when great magnificent lizards roamed the Earth, there was only one that was insightful, cunning and magnificent enough to understand this rugged life. Alatadriel. She had been a simple fox at this time, but the unbefore seen cunning that she displayed had inspired enough amazement in her fox kin that she was gifted with some semblance of spiritual abilities. Even these primitive creatures understood the power of this fox.
As the “Gigantic Rock from the sky that destroyed all giant reptiles, made everything cold and turned the sky black” happened. It was then that Alatadriel, smartest of all creatures, came down into the tunnels with a stick of fire. It was this fire that protected her and many other creatures in the tunnels. That fire which provided warmth but scared all but Keeper of Fire Alatadriel. Many survived without her help of course, but Alatadriel will rarely tell it that way. One day though, as new grass grew upon the plain, the fire raged. Alatadriel learned of the terrible wrath of fire, losing her mammalian followers, the old spirit laid dormant beneath the Earth.
It was not until man much like the foxes of old started to huddle around the fire for warmth; did everyone begin to remember the powerful spirit. Alatadriel’s power grew with each fire that humanity tamed. As both man and beast grew to know it’s terrible glory. She was awakened by the thoughts of animals, but it was the strong belief of man in their tamed fire which let her grow her magical powers. Humanity, self-centered as always gave this primitive belief a human form. Thusly, Alatadriel could take a human form. Her people used to know her somewhat well as a spirit before she ascended to that of a full god. Though most have already forgotten that such a time ever existed.
To say, Alatadriel is a cruel god would be wrong. She does care deeply for her people, she would certainly never take something from you which you needed. Though her idea of what is needed is likely narrower than yours and will lavish praise and comfort on dutiful followers. As far as she is concerned, she was the first-ever animal to gain spiritual powers, the first true god. She survived cataclysms bodily and has walked the Earth for Aeons. Everything she sees rightfully belongs to her it follows to reason, and while she is happy to share her world with these upstarts, she would like you to understand that you are borrowing what is hers. She likes to see what is hers to flourish, and her possessions should be taken care of well.
It’s this arrogance that causes her to often act rashly, be overly petty, greedy, envious, or otherwise petulant when her things are not taken care of as she sees fit.


Avatar description: Typically, Alatadriel does not take on many different forms. Though she will occasionally manifest as a face in the fire or crackle on your hearth, she usually only takes two forms. A large bright red nine-tailed fox with shifting eyes and tufts of harmless fire following her movements among the animals and other non-humanoids. And that of a beautiful human woman with fox features, most notably nine large fluffy tails but also fox-like ears, claw-like nails on her fingers, a button nose and the shifting eyes of a fox on her face. Typically red-headed and having harmless blue swirling flames, almost cartoonish in their abstraction, hovering around her. She is usually wearing whatever dresses are considered both traditional but free-flowing at any moment.

Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10u0VZHDiq0

Spoiler: Avestra

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Name: Avestra - Avian Goddess of Nature and Queen of the Sky


Domain: +2 Nature, +2 Birds


Weakness: -2 Primeval


Rationale: Ever since the first bird broke through its eggshell to find itself in a world of raking talons and sharp teeth, Avestra has been there. For many aeons, she was nothing more than a whisper in the back of the hindbrain, the thrill at the height of the chase. It was only with the birth of another race of large-brained, two-legged creatures that Avestra finally had the strength to take on her own distinct form. And she didn't like what she found.


Manmade fires which tore through whole forests. Tools which one day would be able to carve out valleys and change the very shape of the landscape. Avestra took an oath that day to fight for the natural world until her dying breath. Even if it meant strangling the nascent civilisation in its cradle.


Avatar: Avestra can take the shape of any bird, or indeed any form at all, but her favoured avatar is that of a giant falcon with a three and a half metre wingspan. Her feathers are a wood brown speckled with flecks of gold, while her eyes burn with a fierce, primal intelligence.

Spoiler: Ymon-Thal

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Name: Ymon-Thal, the Eternal Argument, the Twin God, First Beginning and Final End
Domains: Life + 2, Death + 2
Weaknesses: - 2 Unliving
Rationale: A long time ago the first spark of life appeared but was quickly followed and extinguished by the first drop of death. Then another spark, another drop, again and again, one always following the other.
Soon after Ymon appeared, quickly followed and joined by Thal, to embody the opposed but interdependent nature of life and death.
Avatar description: Ymon-Thal almost always appears as Ymon and Thal, his paradoxical nature embodied in separate bodies. Their appearance (looks, age, gender) usually depends on who they’re talking to (or their intentions), but they are always completely identical. Not that most people notice since they act as differently as they look alike.
Ymon is bursting with energy, always moving, talking, doing and with a tendency to treat everyone as his new best friend. Meanwhile, Thal Is deadly serious, harsh and stern.
But no matter how different they appear and how argumentative they seem, Ymon-Thal always act as one, they could no more work against each other than a left hand could work against the right.

Spoiler: Vreyalas

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Name: Vreyalas; The Shining God; The Utopian God; The Blessed Craftsman
Domain: +2 Community, +2 Forging
Weakness: -2 Darkness
Rationale: The people that walk this world blaze the path forward. Vreyalas was born when the first sentient mortal was born, and is tied inextricably to the mortal desires for companionship and community, and for progress and improvement. Vreyalas was never a mortal, but he empathizes intrinsically with their plight. He was born in the mind of the first mortal: first as nameless desire, then as an ideal, then an idea. When the first mortal spoke to another, her words formed fire in the air. When that fire became cool enough to look upon, Vreyalas had been given a form.

Where darkness lurks, so too does abandonment and decay. These things are the antithesis of a functioning community, and should be avoided.
Avatar: Vreyalas appears to mortals in a multitude of forms, and isn't shy about walking among them when it suits him. He can appear as a beautiful man, woman, or in between; an old crone; or a child. To crafters that he particularly wants to impress, he might appear as a man or woman of metal or stone.

Spoiler: Nestellbam

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Nestellbam, the Preserver, the Lawkeeper, the God under the Mountain, the King of Dragons, the Mad God

Domains: +4 to Preservation

Weakness: -2 to Sanity

Rationale: The chaos that came from the original hunk of rock drove Nestellbam insane, for instead of learning to appreciate the cycles of life and chaos, as the other gods did, Nestellbam took fear in that. And in that fear, in that anxiety, took root of an incessant need for things to stay the same, to keep order in all things, to preserve. For, to Nestellbam, change is like the creeping doom that kills all things- change begets new ideas, which cause conflict between old and new, which cause destruction, which cause chaos and fear. Nestellbam hates fear; yet that fear of change, fear of the unknown, is also what drives him the most. He tells his followers of change as synonymous with sin, and he has recently begun collecting things, under a rock he calls Mountain, in order to preserve more and more of what there is in a society. He finds kinship with the lawmakers and lawkeepers of a society, and any and all who wish to understand the past- his most devout followers he collects as curators of his vast hoard of what once was.

It need be said that, when change is inevitable, as it always is, Nestellbam has been known to let go what he can in order to preserve what he can, hoarding it and collecting it under his mountain. Sometimes, in order to preserve, one must cut off a branch from the tree, or the limb from a person, something Nestellbam knows all to well. His followers also understand this. His detractors, or those who do not understand this simple idea, call him "The Mad God," for his supposedly fickle nature.

Avatar: Nestellbam often manifests as a large, white dragon, breathing ice in order to preserve what he can.

Spoiler: Timorin

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Name: Timorin, The Great Coward, Mischief Maker

Domain: +2 Drama, +2 War

Weakness: -2 Fear

Rationale: Timorin is the embodiment of chaos. He lives for causing mischief and stirring things up. Nothing harnesses the true power of chaos like war, so he often finds himself mixed up in starting them. He himself is no fighter. He pops in, stirs things up, and then makes his exit as he watches all that unfolds. The wilder the better.

Avatar description: Timorin takes many forms before mortals. Often the kind which seem most trustworthy; children, the elderly, beautiful partners. He takes whatever appearance he believes can accomplish whatever mischief he is up to.

Spoiler: Enheduanna

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Name: Enheduanna, Voice of Worship, Chains of Devotion, Priestess Queen
Domain: Devotion: +2, Subjugation +2
Weakness: Autonomy: -2

Rationale: As the Mortals to the Gods so should be the natural order of things. The Citizen to the Queen. The Husband to the Wife. The Dog to the Boy. The devoted should be recognized. Those who encourage devotion should be rewarded.

Appearance:tbd

Spoiler: Opulon

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Opulon, the Farseer, Heaven's Prophet, other names tbd
Domains: +2 Cosmology, +2 Divination
Weakness: -2 Focus

Rationale: Opulon was never a mortal, or at least wasn't one as far as she remembers. She doesn't remember much, really, if it wasn't something the stars whispered to her. For as long as she's been aware, she's heard the voices of the stars in the heavens and has been able to listen to their words - sometimes nonsensical, sometimes foretellings of things that have yet to happen. When she chooses to listen to the stars Opulon can become lost in their stories, freezing to the spot with her gaze affixed on the sky for decades. The stars speak to her and show her visions of things to come, and she is saddened by the fact that the stars cannot hear her voice as well.

Avatars: Opulon generally appears as a young woman with waist-long, dark hair, clad in a midnight gown and a hooded cloak of stars, especially when showing herself to mortals. Her eyes are silver and glow during the nighttime, constantly reflecting the light of the stars.

Spoiler: Cloak of Stars

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In other times, she enjoys flying through the sky as a barn owl, her feathers sparkling with points of light no matter the time of day.

Spoiler: Owl Form

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When not in either of these forms, Opulon has adopted a form that allows her to be as close to the stars as she possibly can be. In what she lovingly calls her "True Form", Opulon is a translucent beast taller than the tallest tree, with inky black-blue skin that blends in with the night sky. She sparkles from thousands of tiny pinpricks of light that shift as she moves and she trails lines of greenish-blue light behind her that resemble the Aurora Borealis.

Spoiler: True Form

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Think this, but imagine those blue tentacly things looking more like the northern lights.

Spoiler: Dulnori

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Name: Dulnori, the gambler, the knave, the plucked fruit, the rolling coin.
Domain: Fortune +2, Ambition +2
Weakness: Stability -2
Rationale: He is the god of risk, drive, potential, and luck. He wants to see mortals follow paths of greatness and glory in life. He loves games, games of chance, games of skill, but most of all games that combine both. He often challenges mortals in various ways, granting them great rewards on victory, or even just for putting up a good enough struggle. And his rewards truly are great, vast amounts of wealth, power, sometimes even a wish. He likes to spur great men into action, or to make small men greater, and loves it when mortals choose to be daring or adventurous. He wants the same for the gods as well, and will often take bets among his peers. He dislikes stagnancy, preferring to shake things up when possible, and so has a difficult time keeping things from changing.
Avatar: His preferred form is a body of sand, sometimes twisting and changing, and sometimes pact into a rough golem shape. In human form he looks like a tall thin man with a golden cane. He appears often as shimmering coins and jewels, and sometimes as a room made out of emerald with a great mirror. As animals, he can appear as a rhinoceros, a weasel, or a carp. Finally, he often takes the form a tree, always bearing ripe fruit.

Spoiler: Petr of the Healing Waters

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Names: Petr/Peter/Petra. The Tender One. Healing Mother. Gentle Father. The Waters of Life. The Flowermaker.
Domain: Water +2. Healing +2
Weakness: Pain -2

Bio: Water is the key to life and to restoration. It's lack brings suffering and death. It's presence brings bounty and fertility. When the wound is cleansed in Water, it is Peter who soothes the bite of the beast, for He knows that no hunter can endure endlessly. When the Mother gives birth in Water, it is Petra who carries the pain away, for she knows the suffering of the labour. Wherever pain is soothed, and where health is restored, it is the gentle touch of Flowermaker's gifts. Petr is compassion, restoration and growth. He eases pain both mental and physical, and her waters sustain not just the bodies of all living creatures, but allow plants to grow and bear fruit.

Avatar: Though Petr has many forms, it is common, though incorrect, to divide the forms into Peter, the masculine, and Petra, the feminine. Common to all incarnations is the flawlessness of the body. There are no wounds nor scars. No blotches of miscolouration. The skin is perfectly smooth, like that of frozen ice. Yet the touch is always soothing, and neither warm nor cold. They have no hair, but water may flow from their scalp. There is almost always a constant cloud of healing mist surrounding them.

Spoiler: Su'ule

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Name: Su'ule

Domain: +2 Sorcery, +2 Monsters

Weakness: - 2 Willfulness

Rationale: The power of Su'ule manifests with magic, and monstrous beings like the chimera, dragons, orcs, etcetera, which, in other words, are beings that are "unnatural". With her ability to manipulate magical energy, she is particularly popular with magic users. It is notable that sorcery is different from divination. The former is basically manipulating energy to perform for the sorcerer's will, while divination is based more on it's deity's power. However, she sees her monstrous children as, well, children, and as a result, sometimes her off spring are either vain, or at least willful. Though she is not purely malicious or deviant goddess, she finds it against her nature to punish her children, at least as much as she should actually do it. Thus, sometimes, even if her monsters aren't necessarily evil, they are usually destructive. If they don't destroy Su'ule's other creations they may still acquire very bad reputations as evil creatures.

Avatar description:
Her head and neck is like a giant cobra's mixed with a dragon's, she also has huge black bat like wings sprouting from her back, a rattle snake tail, fore arms with vicious claws and fore legs that are of course, also clawed.

Spoiler: Solomo

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Name: Solomo, Sage of the Higher Spheres, the Guiding Light, the Radiant Wisdom, the Wise Stranger

Domains: +2 Guidance, +2 Wisdom

Weakness: -2 Self-doubt

Rationale: ''With immense power we were born among the beings of this world, above the beasts that wander on land, the ones swimming in the oceans and those flying through the skies in our incommensurable extension, unfathomable to the earthly minds; but this shall not make us arrogant and haughty, because as great as we may be, our strength and essence are bounded to this planet, a mere speck of dust floating in the void of an infinite cosmos, at the whim of forces and laws far greater than we are.
Can something be done to assure our survival in the eons to come, in an uncaring universe that inexorably descends towards chaos? I sincerely don't know, but I'll tell you where I think our best hope resides: in those mortals with their earthly but lively minds, struggling in the mud but seeking greatness; before our eyes, there's an ever-evolving crucible of ideas and perspectives, as their finite nature pushes these creatures towards ingenuity and progress through weakness and suffering. The same finite nature is however source of insecurity and vacillation too, and we must not feed their self-doubt, but guide them through the adversities and show them their worth.
Trust me when I say that a glorious path is ahead of them, a path that might lead to a level of existence even higher than our own, a path that might save us all.''

Avatar description: Sometimes, when a mortal is lost (literally or figuratively), a mysterious globe of light appears to indicate the right direction, ripping the veil of darkness or uncertainty; if that is not enough, the mortal will discern a source behind the light, a torch or a lamp held by a stranger: the other will recognize him as a member of his kind, old but healthy-looking; the figure is dressed with humble robes, which don't weaken the aura of extraordinary dignity.

Spoiler: Yir

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Name: Yir, the Glorious Sun, the Intolerably Pure Lord of All ('Intolerably' being used by those who dislike, despise, oppose, or otherwise don't agree with Yir being perfect)

Domain: +2 Sun (It is ME!), +2 Majesty (None can stand before MY glory and find themselves fit!)

Weakness: -2 Arrogance (No number of you can defeat ME!)


Rationale: Yir the Glorious Sun (often referred to as simply "the sun") has existed for an unknown amount of time, it's conscience fluctuating overtime as it overlooked the world; from periods of godly level of control and power, to times where Yir was comatose and detached from the world. No matter what though for all this time Yir has never stopped radiating it's glorious light (for even if the clouds block the sky, Yir's light still never ceases).

There is no (or at least little) doubt that Yir is indeed the sun that overlooks the world, it's more a matter on if it's paying attention to what's below it at the moment (during 'turns' it's awake, in-between turns it's asleep). Yir cannot actually pay attention to everything beneath it most of the time, but Yir would never admit it.

Yir overtime has had the idea enter it's mind that everything beneath it belongs to it, and get's angry at those that would refuse to at least acknowledge this claim. He expects others (especially non-gods) to lead lives where they try to be "pure", never sullying themselves doing anything that Yir would find repulsive (which is a long and convoluted list of things that can change). Those that are found to be pure (or close enough) are treated with a bit of respect by Yir; for they must be utilized, conserved, and be allowed to be shining examples like itself.

Those that try to challenge the glory or respectability of the Pure Lord of All will find it's power great, but it's arrogance even greater. Yir does not think it or those it supports can lose unless shown absolutely overwhelming power, and thinks little of trickery or tactics (or at least what tactics it's enemies might create).

Avatar Description: Yir has little need for an 'avatar' being the SUN; however, when it wishes to communicate it does change a little. To those it's speaking to Yir looks like it's made the sun pulsate, though the effect is localized to those it's speaking to. This is easily missed by those that are indoors or simply not looking up.

Just copying over all the information from the recruitment thread, will introduce the game properly in the next post.
Here's a link to the recruitment thread for my and other's convenience - http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...1#post24284541

EDIT: some additional world references...

Go to the OOC and Codex for more of this: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...-OOC-and-Codex

Spoiler: Su Sorcery

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All mortals were imbued with the potential to channel this magic, and deposits of a magical mineral known as magicite crystalised deep beneath the earth. This magic is in theory restricted only by what one's voice can shout, though true free-form sorcery would be attainable for only the most powerful mortal sorcerers, who could master the nine schools of sorcery:
The school of astrology, which allows for divination by communing with the stars.
The school of water, which may manipulate water and use it to heal.
The school of nature, which enable nature to be commanded, and has a more advanced sub-school called the school of treewhispering, which allows for communication with nature and is best learned at a young age.
The school of fire, which is notoriously dangerous and will destroy most who try to use it. Most will never even attempt it, and those who do attain some mastery of it will emerge burnt by the fury of the fox.
The school of the warrior, which allows one to channel magic into their physique, and can result in supercharging battle fields with the excess mana of the fallen.
The school of necromancy, giving command over the boundary between life and death.
The school of radiance, which allows the limited free-form sorcery by channelling the sun, and can only be performed with the blessing of a god.
The school of enchantment, which allows objects to be imbued with magic.
Additional restrictions were imposed on the raw power of Su'ule's shout. All prospective sorcerers would be limited by their mana pool, and overuse of sorcery would exhaust them both physically and spiritually. Furthermore, due to the influence of the Dragon, any form of Su Sorcery is incredibly difficult to perform in the region known then as the Harken Steppe, and creatures from the Steppe are inherently resilient to and poor at performing magic. However there are ways to overcome such barriers. Performing ritual sorcery with groups could extend the capabilities of magic, while prayer to one of the gods could bolster magical ability still further for the faithful.

EDIT 2: quick disclaimer since this has been raised to me a couple of times, but the pygmies referred to throughout this game are based on early human pygmies (see this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_floresiensis for details). I was not intending to reference any extant human pygmy minorities.

[Garjel_blah]

Chapter One: In the beginning...
Stone Age

Had any one of the fledgling sentient creatures on this far away planet looked up at the night sky at the time of their awakening, they would have noticed something that they were not yet wise enough to know was an extraordinary phenomenon, but still aware enough to find wondrous. The alignment of the planets, their brightness multiplied until they almost outshone the full moon. The gods, though their presence had been felt by mortals ever since the conception of the soul, now found the strength to manifest at full power. Their avatars appeared, scattered across the globe. Now was the time to present themselves to the mortals, who still only knew them as subconscious notions of a greater power, and be worshipped for their divinity!

Each god from the pantheon has been placed at random (mostly) in one of the six locations presented below. You are free to leave these locations, but I encourage you to put effort into describing the places you go instead, so we can organically develop this world (which I should really name...). Once we have enough places I'll put together a map or something. Anyway, here're the starting locations:

Spoiler: Ebonbark Bay

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Credit to IceArdor, DeviantArt

Where a mighty river opens up to the wider ocean waters lies a stretch of blackness called Ebonbark Bay. Black in quite the literal sense; the jagged headland rocks are predominantly black basalt, the sand of the beach bears the volcanic appearance of gunpowder, the soil further inland is dark and rich with nutrients... Even the trees grow with naturally black bark.

One might expect such a land to appear dead, charred, and rotten, but the reality could not be more different. There is a refreshing beauty to the place, as if it were the site of some ancient bush fire that is well on the way to regenerating its lost vitality. The air is fresh and abuzz with the sounds of wildlife. During one of the many fierce storms that batter this coastline mortals will find comfort in the solid fortress of the black cliffs, while on hotter days they may instead seek the cool, unobtrusive dimness of the well-canopied forests and damp mangroves. Food is by no means scarce, with modest beans, nuts, and roots available to anyone with the knowledge to forage for them, or fish for those brave enough to test the black, silty river and rough, grey ocean. Upstream the land opens up into a vast, meandering floodplain, populated by herds of larger beasts and birds, as well as a small but steady population of primitive agrarian humans.

Grawissen, Kahar-Djin, and Alatadriel will arrive here first.

Spoiler: Harken Steppe

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Credit to MaximeDaviron, DeviantArt

Looking around, one might think this land empty and barren. However, it's said that the plains of the great Harken Steppe are so vast and taut, that if you lay your ear to the ground you shall be able to hear every foot fall, every tumbling stone, and even the very hiss of shifting sand from one horizon to the other. Life on the steppe is few and far between, but even so it is all inexorably connected by the very earth on which it grows.

Conditions here tend to vary between extremes. Parts of the year it might be arid and blisteringly hot, baking the land into a desert and driving life away into migration. Then the rains fall, the valleys become roaring rivers overnight, and the plants and animals that had been so recently displaced return in force. Yet still the sun might set on an unwitting traveller, tired from a day in the heat, and rise the next day to see him frozen in his sleep by the bitter cold of night. An existence on the steppe can be difficult, but those that succeed grow hardy and fierce. The native beasts tend to be bigger than those from other lands, and so the steppe-dwelling humans have adapted into strong hunters.

Nestellbam, Dulnori, and Solomo will arrive here first.

Spoiler: Boa Jungle

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Credit to JordiGart, DeviantArt

There are parts of the forest floor in the depths of Boa that haven't seen sunlight in centuries. Life thrives so haphazardly in this jungle that the vegetation will just continue to grow on and around itself, coiling up and through and further up until they're smothered, rotting into a plant bed suitable for the next generation of light-hungry creepers. On and on until the ground becomes a foreign concept.

Much like its namesake, the Boa Jungle grows up constricting itself, creating a continuous network of interlinking branches and vines that form bridges thick enough to support megafauna. Verticality is part of every creature's life here, as moving on the true forest floor would require burrowing. Even rivers must form in chaotic rapids, punctuated regularly by waterfalls through cavernous forest glades. Food and water are abundant here, but so is danger. Poison and disease ooze from every other plant or creature, predators stalk through the shadows. This abundance allows for two kinds of sentient life; regular humans, living in the sparser peripheries of Boa, as well as the pygmies, tiny hominids that live in the trees. They keep a wary distance from each other.

Chern, Ymon-Thal, and Opulon will arrive here first.

Spoiler: Stonesthroe Mountains

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Credit to spiffyartistgirl, DeviantArt

Only some cataclysmic violence could have created something the likes of Stonesthroe. Soaring peaks that look as though they were pulled from the earth by the scruff of the neck, plummeting caverns like the impressions left behind from their uprooting. If you ever wanted to leap from the highest peak to the deepest depths in one great stride, then this would be the place to do it.

Some of the peaks of Stonesthroe are permanently capped by snow, such is their altitude, but most of the mountain range experiences a wide variety of conditions. Humid river gullies wind between sheer cliffs and into narrow caves, disappearing into one side of a mountain only to reappear from the other. Above and around them grow hard-wooded trees and mighty conifers. The further up the mountains you climb, the sparser it becomes, until only scree and eventually ice remains to blemish the slopes. Maybe even cloud if you ascend the highest summits. Life is surprisingly abundant in these parts, though once again as a function of altitude. Caves make good homes to some of the larger, more threatening wildlife, as well as the stocky neanderthals that make this place their home. They tend to occupy the loftier caves, while groups of humans stick to the lower valleys.

Vreyalas, Petr, and Yir will arrive here first.

Spoiler: Lucent Reef Archipelago

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Credit to parkurtommo, DeviantArt

One of the most gorgeous places on the planet, the Lucent Archipelago could take even a god's breath away. Clear blue ocean girts this small cluster of islands and lagoons, each protecting the rest from the lashing of waves, and allowing the development of Lucent Reef. At night, the beaches and coral outcrops become eerily illuminated by a dazzlingly high concentration of phosphorescent microbes, giving the archipelago its luminous name.

Life both on the islands and in the water is diverse and exotic, providing food and danger as well as wonder. The nearest mainland is close enough to prevent total isolation, but still sufficiently distant to allow for quite a unique environment. Even humans have not yet made it to this corner of the planet; only pygmies live on the Lucent Archipelago, swimming and fishing from the warm water in relative peace.

Avestra and Timorin will arrive here first.

Spoiler: The Gnaw Wastes

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Credit to dlikt, DeviantArt

No one's invented hell yet, but in its absence, the Gnaw Wastes make a fine replacement. An inhospitable fusion of extremes, the wastes are a highly volcanic region of the polar ice caps, making it simultaneously unbearably cold and deadly hot in patterns that are impossible for the unaccustomed eye to pick out.

Very little survives in the wastes. Between the freezing blizzards, thin ice sheets, bubbling tar pits, oozing lava, smothering avalanches, noxious fumes, and scalding steam, most creatures find their niche else where. However, there is a life here for those that can find the balance. Lava tunnels provide protection from the cold, fresh snow provides water free of acid, and what little game does roam these parts carries enough blubber to feed a tribe. Only neanderthals have the hardiness for such a life as this, so far.

Enheduanna and Su'ule will arrive here first.

All gods start with 25 AP. The Stone Age will end when someone reaches 0 AP, or after three turns, whichever comes last.

[Garjel_blah]

Chern, 25/25 AP, Boa Jungle

The cover of the canopy was near total, but through a small gap in the leaves a wondrous sight could be discerned. The planets, drifting in their aeons-long waltz across the celestial sphere, slowly drew together until, with what could have been an almost audible click, they fell into alignment. A twinkle lit the undergrowth.

It was as though Chern had been lying there all along. Nestled in the hollow of a rotting log, the grimy and emaciated figure raised a hand to his face, groping blindly. Then he dug his nails into the wood in front of him, slowly but firmly tearing away a chunk of the soft debris. He pressed it to his face.

"Ahhh..." he hummed, and pushed himself upright. The wood had bleached bone-white against his face, fusing into a blank mask. His eyes glowed yellow from deep within the sockets, like luminous fungus growing at the bottom of a shadowy pit.

"The smell of this place... Decay abounds. The pressure of life upon life upon life, compacting itself, squeeeeeezing..."

Chern scrambled to his hands and knees, using his willowy fingers to shred the rotting stump beneath him.

"I must see moooore!" he insisted earnestly, his eyes flaring up as he dug into undergrowth. "Show me moooore!"

Where his hands rent the wood, tiny yellow spores fused, shining like live sparks from a fire. The first gift of Chern to this new world.

Spoiler: Action!

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Create a basic living species (8 AP/4 DC)

+4 decay, as the species is a detritivore.

Chern will attempt to spread his divine decay into the Boa Jungle undergrowth, in the form of a luminous yellow fungus called "glowloam". This created species of fungus propagates by corroding tunnels through tough yet nutrient rich soil and minerals, forming caves over time while simultaneously illuminating them.

[Artemis P]

Nestellbam, 23/25 AP, Harken Steppe

Nestellbam awoke in the dark, in the cold, freezing, scared. There was a noise- no, not a noise, but something Nestellbam had known in the time before he was aware. He watched as the woman, dressed in a furry cut of a large animal, came to him, every day, and sometimes left things- offerings, he would learn later, by his base. Once, a large croup of animals approached the dwellings of the humans where he was above; long, sleek, furry creatures, with long tusks coming out from their jaws, mewing and raising fierce cries- and the woman, and her friends, were attacked, long, strong jaws snapping. And that is when Nestellbam awoke in full.

It was a temporary burst, a simple surge of power, caused by his anger, that caused this to awake. Suddenly, the people's bones were stronger, the claws that raked and the teeth that bit them unable to cut through skin, bones stronger, unable to break, and that animals- sabertoothed cats, he would learn they were called- fled into the night. And then it was done, everything faded away, the woman and the village preserved. And the woman, his favorite servant, led them, and they all prayed and grew stronger- and so he preserved. And he learned their odd noises, called language, though this took many, many years. He guided them- they liked to hunt larger creatures, called buffalo, and they followed the patterns of them- but no matter how far away they traveled the steppe, he always heard their cries.

Spoiler: Action

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I'm not certain if this is two actions or one, since the actions were supposed to be several years apart but with the same group of people- but I'll expend the AP twice.

Action 1: Influence a small group of mortals (~10) 2AP/DC 1
+4 Preserving the village/Auto-success.
AP left: 23

[Mira_124]

Opulon, 25/25 AP, Boa Jungle

The floor of the jungle was far below, the sky above glowing suddenly with unbelievable light. The planets aligned, a rare occurence that had not been seen for many, many milennia, and new creatures drew breath on an unfamiliar planet.

Opulon opened her eyes, confused as to where she was. She had been among the stars, listening to their whispers, when a blinding light caused her to shut off the connection for a moment, closing her eyes. When she opened them again, the land around her was new and strange, but full of possibility. The treetops swayed gently in a warm breeze, the balmy temperature creating a thin sheen on the leaves all around. Calls of various animals could be heard from every direction, with no place truly silent. She was nestled into a particularly large tree branch, positioned as if she had just climbed up a tree to take a nap away from bothersome beings.

Nearby, rudimentary huts were in adjacent treetops, looking to be mostly of branches and fans of foliage from the trees. Many small humans milled about, in and out of the huts, going about their lives with purpose. Some carried wood on their backs, crossing flimsy bridges of tree-fiber and vines to build new huts. Others swung down into the lower levels of the jungle, spears in hand, to hunt for food on the jungle floor. A group of huts near the middle of one of the nearby trees let loose a cacophony of sound; babies crying, mothers humming, children yelling as they are wont to do. Opulon sat quietly for a while, hidden from view, and watched these small humans. Her eyes glittered, both literally and figuratively (in interest), as she watched.

Slowly, she rose, walking towards the edge of the branch she had been sitting on. She had her eye on a small group of pygmies, 10 or so, who were building a hut on the outskirts of the high-up village. As she made a mental note of their location, Opulon took another step, this time off of the branch, and mid-fall she transformed into her favorite form, her "True Form", the incorporeal form that glittered with thousands of pinpoints of light.

Spoiler: Divine Action

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Influence a small group of mortals (2 AP/1 DC)

"These mortals", she thought, her True Form slowly lumbering through the trees towards the small group she had seen, "they are interesting... Perhaps I can make this even more interesting..."

Opulon, in her True Form, walks past the small group of pygmies she'd singled out, her head high above the canopy of trees, and each one hears a message in their head, in their own language.
"Stop what you are doing and look up into the leaves. I am Opulon, the Farseer, the bringer of the explosion in the sky. Believe in my abilities and I will give you a taste of what is to come - and how to change your fates. Look at the stars each night and you will see me, hear my words of the future. Spread the word of my presence and I will reward the loyal greatly".

With that, she wills the hands of each of the 10 pygmies to glow in a similar fashion to that of her ethereal form, but still letting the hands interact with physical objects.
"This is proof of your interaction with me; show your hands to those closest to you to make them believe your words and let the others know to look to the stars at night. Your hands will return to normal after your task is complete".

[DarthArminius]

Su'ule, Mother Of Sorcery In The Gnaw Wastes

25/25 AP

Rising from the fires of the maw, meeting the frozen cold, Su'ule felt no pain, and was not harmed. She was the world's first monster, and for now the only one. She was also the goddess of sorcery, and the world's first witch. Raising her cobra and dragon headed face to the sky, she unleashed an enormous scream of pure, unadulterated primal force. Into the sky, the essence of Su'ule spread across the universe as her very will began to change the universe. Before, the world was a place of little magic. Only the gods were magical, all else followed some undisclosed laws of nature, perhaps, as mortals might come to know, something known as science would be learned in future academies, colleges and other institutions of learning.

The Law of Sorcery would be thus: Magic could be manipulated by those who learn it's principles, be they god, mortal or immortal. Through sheer force of will, manipulation of energy can be achieved. Incantations, and spell casting could now be done.

Spoiler

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-20 AP to create The Law of Sorcery. Sorcery basically taps into the very voice of Su'ule used to scream into the universe. .

[Batcathat]

Ymon-Thal, 25/25 AP, Boa Jungle
An egg hatching. A bug crushed under a falling rock. A seed starting to grow. A pygmie impaled on another's spear. Lives and deaths beyond counting appearing every moment. The planets aligning may have been what allowed Ymon-Thal to manifest but the buffet of lives beginning and ending was what made it worth it.

Ymon flew quickly from plant to plant, animal to animal, life to life, marveling at each. "Look! This one, this one has six legs! And this one has weird leaves!" He turned to his other self, hovering motionless just above the tree tops. "Thal! Why aren't you looking? Look! The one with a plume is doing something!"

Thal ignored Ymon, as much as you can ignore someone who is quite literally part of you. Though he had to admit, for once Ymon's exuberant reaction wasn't entirely unjustified. Thal had sensed death, both in a general and a billion specific senses, for as long as he had existed. But this... this was something new.

Halfway between a tree and an interesting butterfly Ymon suddenly stopped, itself a miracle of the mundane kind. "We should do something!"

"Aren't you already? Several somethings, by the look of it." Thal replied.

"Something with this" Ymon said, with a mental gesture towards his divine power. "Something big."

Thal nodded in agreement. "Go ahead. Life before death."

Focusing on the feeling of life in the making Ymon-Thal extended his mind to every mother-to-be within considerable distance. Whether just conceived or about to be born the Twin God touched thousands of lives in the making, turning one into two. That was the idea, anyway.

At the same the mothers carrying them, whether asleep or awake, shared the same vision of Ymon-Thal, each aspect holding a newborn baby.

"You will have two children, as a gift from Ymon-Thal and a reminder of the value of life", said Ymon.

As the vision faded Thal spoke. "Treasure them. While you can."

Afterwards, as Ymon felt tired for the first time in existence, he turned to Thal. "So did it work?"

Spoiler: Action!

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Influence a city of mortals (12 AP/8 DC) (I am assuming that cost is for the number of people influenced rather than the geographical area as there aren't any cities at this point)
+ 2 Life
In case it's unclear, what Ymon-Thal is trying to do is make everyone (of the sapient species) he can reach who is currently pregnant give birth to identical twins as well as giving a vision to the mothers in question. "Influence" is a pretty vague term but I'm hoping this qualifies as that, he's not making a new species or anything after all, just more of the existing ones.

[The JoJo]

Avestra, 25/25 AP, Ebonbark Bay

The Forest People had seen better days. Millennia ago, their ancestors had hunted big game across the fertile plains of inland Ebonbark Bay, their sturdy bodies and thickset brows perfectly suited for the dogged pursuit of their lumbering prey. But then the tallheads, with their gracile frames and perfected tools, began to pour in from the north.

The People were simply unable to compete. Some were assimilated by the newcomers, overwhelmed by sheer numbers and absorbed without a trace in just a few generations. Many more perished at spear point, or simply because the herds their tribe had always depended upon were devoured by the tallheads' unending appetite.

The remaining few were pushed down into the dense forest to the southeast, where in time they became the Forest People. Trapped between the now hostile plains on one side, and the West Lucent Sea on the other. And even then, the tallheads continued to push back the boundaries of the forest, clearing ever more space for their own hunting grounds and less for the People. It was during one of these clearings that the forest finally spoke.

On that particular day, a small group of tallheads had ventured far enough into the forest to attract the attention of the People. They had built up a great fire with no care for how closely its flames licked the nearest trees or who or what was burned by its rising heat. A great anger was felt by the forest dwellers, but none dared challenge the well armed interlopers.

Then suddenly, there was a shrieking from overhead. The People looked up with astonishment as not one, or two, but thousands of birds of all shapes and sizes descended from above them, in such great numbers that they blotted out the sun itself. By the time the tallheads noticed, the flock was almost upon them and it was too late to save them from their fate.

As quickly as they had appeared, the birds melted back into the trees. But above the heads of the awed forest dwellers was a single giant corvid, so large its shadow covered the area of a small village. It shrieked a cry heard across the entire forest and then dissolved into countless black feathers, which rained down upon the onlookers.

From that day forth, they were no longer the Forest People. They were now the Crow People.

Spoiler: Action

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-Influence a town-equivalent number of mortals (~10k)- convert the Forest People, an isolated group of Neanderthals stranded in the southeast of Ebonbark Bay, into the Crow People, primitive worshippers of Avestra. Use +2 Nature and +2 Birds.

[Garjel_blah]

OOC

Spoiler: Action

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I'm not certain if this is two actions or one, since the actions were supposed to be several years apart but with the same group of people- but I'll expend the AP twice.

Action 1: Influence a small group of mortals (~10) 2AP/DC 1
+4 Preserving the village/Auto-success.
AP left: 23

Action 2: Influence a large group of mortals (~100) 4AP/DC 2
+4 Preserving the buffalo/Auto- success.
AP left: 19

I hope that's correct, but if I did something wrong, let me know. It was just a guess!

If you want to do two separate influence actions, then you need to wait for the first one to be resolved before you do the second one. Even if you're guaranteed success, which you are. I'll resolve all actions at the same time once everyone has posted. Having said that, the two actions are both otherwise perfectly fine, so if you just remove the second one and it's associated fluff and repost it after I've resolved the first then that'd work for me.

[Garjel_blah]

Chern, 17/25 AP, Boa Jungle

Spoiler

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-20 AP to create The Law of Sorcery.

Chern jerked upright, distracted from his digging. He looked up at the circle of dim light at the entrance to his fresh burrow.

"What is that I hear? The shriek of power. Someone of my kind is flexing their capabilities..."

With a booming snap of his fingers, Chern silenced the echoes of Su'ule's mighty scream.

"I will not be made to cower before your might, o foreign god."

The Wiltwatcher returned to his digging, content that he had bestowed the gift of Chern upon the upstart.

Spoiler: Hinder!

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Hinder Su'ule's create Sorcery action

+4 decay, since it relates to the draining of energy.

Nothing should be above decay. Chern will place restrictions on the lengths a sorcerer can go in channelling their magic, such that overexerting their sorcery can leave them temporarily drained both in body and in spirit. Basically I'm adding mana bars, which is probably fair enough for any magic system so don't hate me.

[Godzillarich]

Spoiler

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-20 AP to create The Law of Sorcery.

Grawissen: Speaker of the Forgotten, Ebonbark Bay

25/25 AP

As he worked in his tunnels he suddenly felt a strange sensation. Magic... "Well, this seems to be the creation of new knowledge." he thought of the ramifications of this in his lair... " I will help but when I call upon your aid Su'ule you better be ready to repay the debt..."

Spoiler: Help

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+2 knowledge, will help it make it a beautiful act, immense intelligence is gained by studying it, the creation of knowledge magic, able to store thoughts and ideas. + 2 mining, its spiritual form would almost resemble a cavern producing magical crystals onto the physical world that can only be accessed by mining, they glow like light bulbs giving the underground a light system.

[Mira_124]

Su'ule, Mother Of Sorcery In The Gnaw Wastes

Spoiler

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-20 AP to create The Law of Sorcery.

Opulon, 23/25 AP, Boa Jungle

As soon as she finished speaking to the minds of her small group of pygmies, Opulon sensed a familiar feeling in the air. The distant sounds of a voice drift around her, entwined with a power similar to her own, and she feels... Something growing, a new form of magic.
"Ah... Magic. I see I'm not the only one to have landed in this strange place. I wonder how many others there are, and what they are up to...", she quietly spoke to herself, eyes affixed to the sky.
Opulon reaches out mentally, finding the mind of the deity who was the source of the magic, and speaks to her."I do not know what you plan to do with this new magic, Su'ule, but I will aid you. The people deserve magic as much as we do. Try to not let them get carried away?"

In her heart, Opulon believes that magic should be available to all sentient beings, especially if it allows them to read the stars like she does. Hearing the voices from above brings her endless joy and she longs to spread that ability to as many as possible. Perhaps even a few mortals will show talent in foretelling the future.

Spoiler: Help

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+2 Divination in the hopes that the magic allows people to read the future, +2 Cosmology to allow as many as possible to hear and understand the stars' stories. (If the magic is truly the voice of Su'ule, Opulon hopes that the people can use the magic to not only hear the stars, but communicate with them.)

[Maryring]

Petr, 25/25 AP, Stonesthroe Mountain

Petr rests upon one of several snowclad mountaintops. A place cold, where water lies as a white blanket upon the stone. Petr picks up a small handful of snow. Clutches it, then lets it drift back down to the ground. Flowing like a river, Petr's essence shifts down the mountainside towards a basin of water. Water is life, and in this instance it is the life of a tribe of Neanderthals. A most peculiar kind they are. They build, create, think, dream. Petr could spend centuries just looking at them, occasionally offering a gentle touch, a nudge towards water, or a brush to steal away their pain. But in the end, the observation lasted only a few far too short moments.

A tidal wave of power ripples through the world. A desire. A claim. A statement of how the world should work. But Water, strong though it may be, does not easily break a wall of stone. Nor does a will, even a Divine Will, break reality so easily. It could pass, and likely nothing would change. But here, Petr senses an opportunity.

First, Petra of water seizes ahold of the wave of power. She brushes a hand through it, guiding and shaping it. Taking part of the pure will to harden like water to ice. A principle to help bind the law of sorcery to the domain of water. Invoke the signs of Water, and Petra will permit the law of sorcery to manipulate water. To freeze it and boil it. To move and still it.

Second. Peter of healing binds the law of sorcery to that of the physical body and mind of those that live. With this bond, the Law of Sorcery may restore that which was broken and torn. Flesh and bone, even mind and soul for those who understand the intricacies of restoration.

When the Law is invoked for these actions, Petr will offer assistance.

Spoiler: Help

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Petr uses their mastery of Healing and Water to create all spells that fall under the domains of Healing, or Water, or both. Thus a +4 to assisting.

The scream makes Petr painfully aware that there are others out there. Others with incredible power. Others who may not wish the world well. Observing the Neanderthals will have to wait. For now, it is time to act. Petr flows down the rivers from the mountains, watching the splits, bends, and meeting points. Small lakes of cool fresh melt-water. Small communities that spring up near the rivers. There are more Neanderthals, but also Humans. And who knows what might be further downstream. They need a gift. Something to help them when Petr isn't around to assist. Perhaps a small, simple gift to begin with. More can be given in time.

Spoiler: Action

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Create a basic living species (8 AP/4 DC)

+2 from both Healing and Water.

Petr seeds a new type of flower. The Icewater Lily. A flower that blooms in cold water. The petals are thick and solid, and the juices of it's flesh acts as a mild antiseptic.

[flyinglemur]

Dulnori:
In the great steppe, a power awakens, rising up from the cold soil. The gambler is born into this new age of change and potential. He wanders the steppes, watching, waiting, for something to peak his interest. Then he feels it. A great power pressing on the world, breaking and remolding it. He must heed this call to action. Dulnori takes hold of this feeling, and understands what it is, a chance, a promise, an opportunity for mere mortals to take control of their world. He must aid this power to blossom, but how?

He thinks about his travels, and what he's seen. Countless men wander the steppe, fighting desperately for survival. They struggle against the sun and the wind, but most of all they struggle against their hunger. The beasts here are strong, and hunting is limited, lest they forever run out of game. The people of the steppe live hard lives, and they deserve something better. They deserve the chance to take control of their own destiny, and rise to a greater place in this harsh land.

Dulnori speaks, and his words echo across the fabric of reality. People's of the land, hear my decree. With this new energy that flows through your world, you have a chance. Take control of the wilds. Tame the beasts that stalk you, command the roots and vines to grow at your pace. Enjoy my gift, and make sure it doesn't go to waste.

Spoiler: Help

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A new sub-class of magic is created, natural magic/shamanism/druidry etc. With this magic people can make animals friendlier and healthier, and encourage plants to grow.+2 Ambition, because magic as a whole gives people the opportunity to do much greater things. +2 Fortune, because natural magic will greatly improve the material condition of people, especially in the steppe.

[gac3]

Timorin: 25/25, Luscent Reef Arpeggio

Waking up alone on an island is rather boring. The pigmies kept Timorin busy for a short while but he quickly lost interest as nothing was happening here. They all were peacefully enjoying the beautiful island paradise. Where is the fun in that? Just foraging for food, catching some fish, and generally lounging about. Well Timorin felt the island needed a bit more pizazz.

For the bark of a nearby tree, beneath the sea he found the Luscent Reef that gave the islands their name. Carefully he picked out a piece of the reef that he transformed into a magnificent glowing crown. He then left the crown on the shore of the beach and left.

Shortly thereafter a pigmie wandered upon it as they strolled carelessly along the sandy beach. Finding that it seemed perfectly sized for their head, they placed it upon their head and returned to the small village they belonged in. Instantly they realized people were treating them differently. They were being asked more and more for advice and treated as a leader and looked at with great respect. They were granted the best food and waited on hand and foot. They were content and never took the crown off. But as the days drew on the others began to resent the crowned pigmie. They found their sight being drawn constantly to the glowing crown on their head. One night tensions finally break and several pigmies make attempts to kill the crowned pigmie. They fight for the crown until a new one places it atop their head. Then they begin being treated as a king and the cycle begins again.

Spoiler: Action

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Create Lesser Magic Item: -10 AP DC 6

The Lucent Crown is a cursed magic items. It makes you functionally king/queen over all those around you who serve you with great love and loyalty. However the longer you wear the crown, the more the emotions begin to tip in the opposite direction until finally your once loyal subjects betray you to take the crown for themselves.

(1d20+4)[22] +2 Drama, +2 War

[Megadraco]

Kahar-Djin: 25/25 AP, The Cosmos

The cosmos is a vast, complex, chaotic web of light and darkness, motion and stillness, death and rebirth, nearly inscrutable to even a divine gaze. Yet, once every hundreds of years, a pattern emerges. The stars and planets align, the incandescence forming a path down to the realm of mortals. And down that path walked a masked, robed figure, a staff in their hand.

Kahar-Djin stopped in the path, and turned their head. A terrible, primal roar washed over them. It reverberated from mountain to mountain, and it kept getting louder as it moved from cloud to cloud and they took their hands to their ears and it didn’t stop as it bounced from planet to planet and he fell down to his knees and it kept getting louder and it wouldn’t stop as it traveled from star to star and she screamed as the world drowned in a cacophony of noise and fury and primal chaos that kept getting louder and would never ever-

"STOP!"

The roar subsided. Kahar-Djin stood, catching their breath, and listened. The roar had been shattered, divided into hundreds, perhaps thousands, of individual words and phrases. As they continued walking down the cosmic path, their meaning became clear to them. They were spells and rituals, Sorceries. Perhaps intended to be free and chaotic, they were now discrete units, fragments of sound and motion bound inexorably and eternally to individual effects… Or were they?

Kahar-Djin extended their domain and, probing at the sonic, magic and cognitive thresholds that bound each sorcery to itself, found them lacking, unable to fully resist the chaos within them. Undisturbed, they’d hold their own, but a being with enough time and dedication in their hands would be able to tie them all together, unlocking the full potential of the scream, if only for themselves. The divinity worried. It would take centuries, of course, but what were centuries in the lifespan of a god?

However, a more pressing issue soon occupied their mind. That power was unlike any a mortal could ever possess. No matter how many of them gathered, a mortal race would never be able to alter the universe in such a fundamental way. No, that Sound was the work of a god. So, there were others.

Spoiler: Reaction

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Hindering Su'ule's Creation of Sorcery action

+2 Thresholds, as the divisions between each sorcery was established.

In their panic, Kahar-Djin divided the primal scream into individual spells and rituals. Individual mortals can only access these discrete units. Only immortals that dedicate centuries to the task can obtain the ability to practice freeform magic.

[Demonjazz]

Alatadriel: 25/25 AP, The Beaches of Ebonbark Bay


Alatadriel had found herself on the black bank of an ocean. She yawned a mighty yawn, stretching her back on her four legs as a fox is want to do. Though it did perhaps look a bit silly for a naked, mostly human woman to do. "That was a good nap." She said to herself as she bounded along the shores. She remembered a whole lot more people living here when she fell asleep, but that didn't seem to bother her. As she walked proudly with her head held high across the banks it was not long before foxes gathered behind her in her steps. It was not much longer before the hooping and hollering of a band of huntsmen eager for food had found the strange naked woman.

The foxes started to scatter, but Alatadriel made a comforting motion to them. "Oh, hush you. Do you really think I'd let harm come to you? Sit!" She said forcefully. The foxes falling in line behind her.
"Well met, hunters! Her divine and iridescent elegance, Alatadriel has come yet again to grace you!" Small blue flames floated passively around her head.
The lead hunter with a leather shield and a spear stopped in his tracks. He fell to his knees, the troupe though confused fell into a hasty line behind him.
Alatadriel sauntered towards the troupe, she inspected them as one might expect a CEO to inspect a new intern. "Hmm, I'm glad to see that some remember me." She touched the lowered face of the leader, a large brutish man heavy with scars and what would at the time be considered a neatly trimmed beard. She carefully took her thumb and index finger and carefully lead the older man up to his knees. "Though it does not seem that all here do." She gestured to the confused members of the group.

"My queen!" The leader thumped his spear against his shield. "I can not believe you are truly here! My father and my father's father had told me that long ago, you lead our tribe to victory against the brutes of the south, I have kept the story true, and strong. But I did not-"
"Shhhh." Alatadriel took the man into a hug which he fell into. All at once the layers of strength and bravado he had put up fell away "There is no need to explain yourself to me. I missed you too." The man let out a sob as he fell into the goddess's open bosom. She stroked his curly hair gently like a mother to a child.
"I am sorry queen." He said in between sobs.
"Oh, I have moved up in the world, child. You may call me your god now."
"My goddess! I'm sorry to appear weak in front of you, but I am simply overcome with joy over your return!" He said wiping away a tear from his eye. "Most believed you would never return."
"Oh, there is nothing wrong with appearing weak, young one. A warrior must learn to feel before he can learn to fight. For what good is a soldier with no will. But right now, young one. You need to rise. I fear a new beginning is coming upon our people. Please explain to the others."
The Warrior still tears in his eyes got up to his knees and pointed his spear skyward. "Brothers, and sisters!" He shouted. "This is our true god! The one above all! The Divine, and Iridescent Alatadriel! The spirit of tamed fire! May we serve at her beck and call so that so she may lead us to another great age!"
The troupe raised their shields and spears to the sky. Making a great clatter on the beaches of Ebonbark. "My goddess! Shall we start the fires in your honor!" The leader shouted.
"Of course. We shall dance, and feast as you explain the many great inventions of your time."

The one they explained first was the new invention of clothing.

Spoiler: A Negotiation, The Next Day

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“So much to do, so much knowledge…” Grawissen thought to himself, as he digs through the caverns. So many bones here, so many with interesting stories. Bones of fish, reptiles, insects, arachnids, birds, mammals and any other animal group can think of. All of them so very in shape and size some of them repeat some of the bones of creatures he already found, some new beautiful wonderful species, all of them equally important. “So many stories…” Just then he heard a calling, it was a being similar to him. While he did know he needed to be wary of said beings the curiosity naturally got to the God of knowledge. So he dug up until he came to the surface. A letter waited for him, sealed with a kiss calling for a meeting between the two.

Grawissen has found himself in the abode of Alatadriel. A secluded grove deep in the forests of the Ebonbark Bay. Foxes played among the bright blooms there or dutifully helping Alatadriel prepare for her guest. Alatadriel handled a primitive ceramic kettle over a fire pit. "I am sorry. I'd normally have the place a bit more spruced up, but you see, the carpenters still haven't quite gotten a hold of the wood here, so I've been having to use stone for most of my furniture." Alatadriel sat down on a rock, wriggling uncomfortably on the surface as she poured two cups of tea on the large stone slab that served as a table. A fox jumped in her lap, covered by a primitive fur loincloth. She absentmindedly scratched behind the creature's ears. "Tea, truly a miraculous invention by humanity, I might add. Leaves steeped in water to create a magnificent brew."
She took a sip and sighed. "Ah, but no time for pleasantries. I called you here for business and I'm sure you are busy as well. You see, I've hit a roadblock. I'm trying to create a race of foxes." She said pulling out a large sheet of papyrus with detailed biology of a fox. This one appeared to be breathing fire. "To keep the fires you see. Humans are quite good at it, but perhaps a bit forgetful. And it's been coming along great, except for one thing." She pointed a location on the sheet where the brain of a creature had normally gone. "It's dreadful to admit but I've been having some trouble with making them appropriately smart."

This Fox being filled him with curiosity, nothing of the bones he found so far pointed to evolution leading to Alatadriel, then again there was nothing leading to his own creation seemed to naturally go with evolution. This being however but a strange proposal, to create life, he pondered demand. “Okay, I will but I want three things out of it,” he said as he picked up some rocks. “One I want you to help me make a mighty tool, a pickax that could carve rocks with perfect position to help me in my search for knowledge, secondly I will ask you for help in creating my own race when I ask for it, and thirdly the race I helped create with you strange fox will cherish knowledge. If you accept this and I will help you.”
and this is after your post

Alatadriel tapped on the side of her cup. "Three for the price of one? That's pretty steep don't you think?" She sipped on her tea. "I can hand my fires to your tool, and foxes already cherish knowledge. But I expect something else in return when I come to the aid of your new race. In other words, you will owe me." Alatadriel tilted her head quizically scratching her chin. "That is still 2 for 1 though is it not? How silly of me. All should be equal among friends. I did think that perhaps they would be of help to allow them to dig well into the earth. So that they may hide from prying eyes. Perhaps I should leave the claws up to you as well so that we may be certain that we are equal?"

Grawissen pondered this for a bit. “Agreed your foxes will be welcomed beneath the earth and I will assist you again…” He then paused again, holding a conversation out in the blistering sun was not a comfortable experience, he was not used to the light. “... As long as it’s something that I would not think of as repulsive but I will repay your debt.”

"No, of course not. I am after all a benevolent, and caring god. I would never commit any deplorable acts. I am after all a god of the people."

the skeleton being then reached out his hand offering to shake, "Then it is agreed"

Alatadriel shook the strange creature's arms. "Then it is agreed"

Spoiler: Action

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Divine Action: Create a collection of lesser magical minons. 12AP/8 DC

Alatadriel seeks to create The Hua-Ling, Vulpine Vestals to tend to her fires. These adorable creatures appear as nothing more than a normal fox but are particularly cunning able to articulate what they have seen. They eat various woods and then contain them in a special organ in which rages a fire. They're able to expel this fire at any moment to varying degrees of intensity. They are also subtly more beautiful than a normal fox

Spoiler: Help

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+2 knowledge: this Fox race will cherish the knowledge of the earth, all that they find they will study and love. Mining +2: the ground will welcome them and give them skills to dig complex tunnels for the cities

[Godzillarich]

Grawissen: Speaker of the Forgotten, Ebonbark Bay
After his conversation with Alatadriel, he wandered the forest taken in by its beauty. "“Such fascinating life…” Grawissen mumbled to himself as he examined one of the trees. "“... The surface is so much more colorful and vibrant….” Just then he saw weird animal, it was a baby elephant ( although at this point Grawissen had no idea what that was) peering from the bushes. "“... A little one, what is your name?” he asked as he reached out his hand. Suddenly the little one ran off deep into the forest. "“Stop little one…” Grawissen yelled as he slowly pursued, trying his best not to knock over anything. He was led to a river, bigger versions of the little one walked about and drank from the river. "“Fascinating…” He said to himself as he took a mental note of the situation. "“...this seems like a good place to study…” He thought to himself "“... But first I must create my Tool...”

He remembered back earlier Alatadriel with what she helped make for him

earlier that day

Alatadriel brought Grawissen to a clay furnance. To Alatadriel it seemed pitiful to the one that she had planned, but while small the design would be startling to most other members of the world except perhaps Vreyalas's land. It was what would later be called a bloom furnance, an insulated chimney which had several different pipes running throughout so that air could add to the fire. Alatadriel's various tools laid out on a table next to Grawissen. She handeded the dinosaur a black sooty rock. "Sorry, we are still making improvements on the furnance. We are hoping that we could nake some sort of device to somehow be able to expel large amounts of air into the fire instead of having to rely on a natural wind. Now, if you want a high quality metal though. It's important that you use this rock. It's called charcoal. It's a kind of rock made from burnt wood. It's fairly hard to make so it we don't have a lot, but we should have enough for your pick axe. Now the bloom from the furnance though. That's the, uh, iron that you're melting right. It's going to come out a bit softer than what you're used too, but if you keep working it afterwards, you should be able to remove most of the impurities, and have it come out much stronger than what other furnances could make."
The Hua-Ling, the fire breathing fox that Grawissen had helped make laid at his beck, and call. They started to gather charcoal in pit of the furnance, and one chewing a large piece of mahogany hopped to the furnance, the creature squared it's shoulders and took in a great draught of air, an unmistakble sparking sound heard as it lit the fire with it's spewed breath.
present day
With the furnace a pickax was made but Grawissen was not done yet. Still need to imbue it with his power. "Help me with this item and this pickax will serve you as it serves me. he called out to the other gods.

Spoiler

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16 AP/12 DC:Create a +2 domain religious artefact:Grawissen’s Pickax +2 architecture

Spoiler: Grawissen’s Pickax +2 architecture

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Mining+2: Mighty pickax is designed to carve swaths of caves areas quickly and delicately, making sure not to damage anything of interest like fossils or gems and make sure is the cabins are extremely sturdy.

Knowledge +2 the pickax is able to detect where forgotten or noteworthy elements are and can help find out what exactly is dug up.

Spoiler: Help

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Alatadriel lends her furnance, and fox helpers to Grawissen to make his tools. +2 from the fire, and another +2 from the Hua-Ling hands.

[Demonjazz]

Alatadriel: AP 13/25, A Secluded Grove

Alatadriel sat in her grove. It was beautiful as always, She'd even made some minor improvements in her abode... There was now a single wooden chair.
It was a pretty comfy chair to be fair. It rocked back and forth. Quite enjoyable.
Oh, and there was a patch of grass where there were a bunch of leaves to sleep in... Definitely not the Goddess of House Design.

She was drafting out designs for what would later become a bellows when she heard IT. The shout heard across the world, a scream of primal energy echoing across the plane. She could sense that another god, a dangerous upstart sought to give to the rest of the world the powers that the gods had...
Alatadriel sat still. Unsure of what to do. She thought that she'd have some time before this echo would take full effect. She had quickly brought in the leader of the tribe to have a quick talk.
"Ormotag. How much faith do you have in your fellow man?" Alatadriel said very seriously.
"Man as a whole? Trust enough that I would not kill a man on sight. But I would not welcome him into my home."
"Imagine now, Ormotag, though it might be quite hard too. If man had access to abilities like... Mine. To create from nothing. Though lesser, unwieldy, hard to control, much more limited for mortals."
"To spawn fire without fuel?"
"Yes, that would be an example."
"A great deal could be done. You would no longer need to harvest the trees for wood, furnaces would be powered by man creating even stronger metals, we would never be cold. We'd be able to create great works of art from the abundance of metal, new weapons of war, artists able to carefully warp metals to make sculptures."
"Yes, I am aware."
Ormotag pounded his spear on the ground. "But fights. They would not be eloquent! It would no longer be only the might of a man against the other! It would be the might of fire against fire. Plains deadened, fire flung at your enemies, villages burnt to the ground, battlefields clouded in smoke, men choking to death before they even hit the van, skin melted, the might of fire is dangerous as it is necessary for life."

Alatadriel sat. Remembering her early days as a firekeeper before man. She remembered the plain catching fire and the terrible screaming of creatures running through the flames. The plain barren and dead for decades afterward.
She sat silent for a moment. "Thank you for your help Ormotag. You have done a great deed for mankind today." She took the leader back to his home as she floated into the sky. Hearing the echo return she reached out into the primordial energy of the sorcery. From a certain point of view, all energy was naught but fuel for a flame. A flame that she could light.

Spoiler: Hinder

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Alatadriel has set your magic on fire. A -2 Hinder from fire that has burnt away Sorcery's usefulness on the element. Mortals cannot manipulate the Fire Domain nor does their magic have an effect on it beyond that which the physical objects they summon would.

[gac3]

Timorin: 15/25, Luscent Reef Arpeggio

You could feel the magic reverberating through the world as some force tried to give it form. The energy was invigorating but so limited. Timorin gave it a little push and helped guide it. The limits on the power were so mundane with the way they burned through the users. But let us give those limits a spin and see how things go. Magic should belong to all and the ability to get stronger should always be available, Timorin thinks. "You owe me great sorcerer." He makes the most flexible with how it interacts with the body, able to strengthen and modify it.

Spoiler: Help Action

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Still not quite sure what I should say above.

Idea is making the magic function like Mist from final fantasy 12. Strong in some areas, making magic easier and more flexible and weak in other areas, making it harder. All beings have access to the Mist (think force) and upon death, their Mana is released, strengthening an areas natural mist levels. So sites of great battles or slaughters would be high in mist wile peaceful places may be devoid. If this doesn't make sense, I will fix after I have slept

+2 War towards the creation of sorcery.

School: Not sure a name, but transmutation might be the closest. The premise of my school is being able to feed Mana into your body for enhanced strength or night vision or super hearing. Stuff like that.

[The JoJo]

Avestra, 15/25 AP, Lucent Reef Archipelago

Avestra soared on the warm currents above the Lucent Reef Archipelago, finding herself back in the place her consciousness had first emerged. The warm blue waters, pockmarked with green islets, provided welcome relief after the colder climes she had flown from. Unfortunately, she had not been heartened by her first foray across the globe.

The tallheads, as the Crow People had called them, had spread across the majority of the known world. That in itself was not a problem, except their sheer numbers were already putting pressure on the great beasts of every continent, not to mention the other human species who were slowly being pushed to the sidelines. Their raw intellect allowed them to overcome the usual checks and balances that kept a population stable, and if Avestra knew one thing, it was that tipping the balance of nature was a risky thing. Who knew where the world would end up?

Then, she heard a cry reverberating around her, joined shortly by several more voices. There were more of her kind. This was new information which would potentially shape her plans. For now, though, she saw that her fellow deities were attempting to create a new layer of reality. Magic. She decided there was little chance of stopping so many other gods, and so instead, decided to give nature a tool to fight back with. And perhaps also those few mortals who were willing to live in harmony with the natural word.

Spoiler: Help

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Help the creation of sorcery with the addition of a new school of magic, Treewhispering. (+2 Nature, +2 Birds)

Treewhispering is a magical ability that trees use to communicate with each other, regardless of kind. A solitary tree will have little use for this ability, but in a forest, it allows the quick transmission of information about weather conditions, disease or even forest fires so that some preemptive action can be taken, however slight. These signals can be learned by tree-dwelling species, in particular birds, who have a symbiotic relationship with their giant hosts. In return for transmitting avian messages within a single forest, birds can carry information between isolated trees too far from each other to directly communicate, or even between separate forests, forming a truly global network.

Treewhispering is also an art can be learned by sapient mortals, though it is a notoriously difficult field of magic to master. The best window of opportunity is the first few years of life, when the brain is primed to learn language. Even without instruction, a small child growing up within a forest may pick up some of the subtle ways the trees pass messages to one another. Once that short window has passed, however, it takes many years of hard study and living among trees to begin to grasp its intricacies. Fluent treewhisperers are not only able to understand the trees themselves, but are also able to hijack the channels which birds use to communicate to send their own messages to each other.

[Batcathat]

Ymon-Thal, 13/25 AP, Boa Jungle
Still hazy from trying to touch the minds and wombs of so many people Ymon-Thal was resting, each of him sitting at the top of an enormous tree.

Suddenly Ymon-Thal both felt it, rather than heard it. A scream and the rules of reality seemingly starting to twist in response to it.

"Someone else..." said Ymon.

"We are not the only one" agreed Thal.

Instinctively they realized what was happening, a way for mortals to play around with creation itself a little bit.

"Seems fun!"

"You think everything seems fun."

Ymon shrugged and took an entirely unnecessary breath before getting to work. He reached out to the twisting threads of reality and lending it a spark of his own connection to life.

"Very well." Thal said and sighed. "Life and death must always be balanced." He mirrored Ymon's action, letting death follow life into the fray.

When the spark of life embedded itself in the still unwritten rule of reality Ymon-Thal felt something... life-adjacent within it. Something prolonging life and delaying death. Ymon smiled and Thal frowned. Where did it come from?

Trying to follow it to it's source Ymon-Thal's shapes faded from the jungle, instantly reappearing on a snowy mountaintop.

"Greetings" Ymon-Thal said to the deity before him. "I am Ymon-Thal, god of Life and Death."

Forward as always, Ymon added: "I feel you are a defender of life, are you not? Would you help bring thousands and thousands of new lives into the world?"

Spoiler: Help

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Ymon-Thal helps with the creation of sorcery, lending it the ability to effect life and death. Both domains apply so +4 but I'm unsure whether his weakness does, on one hand sorcery might not count as being alive but it feels more alive than, say, a rock. I leave it up to GM-judgement wether my help count as +4 or +2.

Spoiler: OOC

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For those who didn't follow the discussion on Discord, that's Petr's mountaintop in the Stonesthroe Mountains Ymon-Thal teleported to.

[gac3]

Timorin: 15/25, Luscent Reef Arpeggio

Another force reverberated throughout and Timorin felt the call to help in the creation of a mystic and powerful.... Pickaxe... Seriously? Do these people have no imagination? Sending a wave of assistance Timorin adds a little flair to the pickaxe. "Remember this boring one."

Spoiler: Help

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+2 to the pickaxe creation from Drama.
Since it is a artifact of architecture, it can not be used to make a mundane structure. The will always have a weird quirk. Maybe it creates a giant sphere castle that rolls and rolls but the inside stays still. Maybe the buildings lean at impossible angles. It will vary with each use.
Edit: Apparently it's for caverns. So maybe the caverns have weird patters like moving snake carvings and other odd stuff like that. Or they go up on the inside above where they possibly could go on the outside.

[Megadraco]

Kahar-Djin, 25/25 AP, Ebonbark Bay

Kahar-Djin stepped off the celestial path, and their feet touched the ground for the first time. They walked on the dark, rich soil, and looked around the stormy floodplain. In the distance there was a forest, and downstream the river opened up into a vast ocean. They saw black beaches and ebony cliffs.

And, in the distance, they heard screams.

Kahar-Djin rushed to their source, holding her shield up against the strong storm winds, and rapidly found it. They saw a small village struggling against the storm. Some of them were trying to keep the tents in place, while others were trying to keep the children and elderly safe, to keep the wind from spiriting them away. A tent got picked up by the storm, and a man shouted. A child split from the group, and cried as the wind began to push him back.

Kahar-Djin stepped forward, raising her shield ever higher, reflecting a flash of lightning. The reflected light twisted around her, and then rushed around the village, creating a circle of light that extended to the heavens. The storm stopped, the wind settling down. The villagers looked in awe at the circle, and once it vanished, they were surprised to see that outside the village, the storm kept going, the wind blowing and the rain, but not a single drop of either was touching them. Around the village was a circle of stone, fused into the ground, runes embedded in it.

“Worry no more, people of this village,” she said. “I have drawn a protective circle around us. Never again shall a storm or a flood touch this place, it shall be safe from the ravages of nature.”

A young man broke away from the group and approached the divinity, awe in his eyes as he gazed upon her brilliant armor. He bowed his head, and spoke.

“Thank you, divine one, for this blessing. May I ask your name?”

“You may call me Kahar-Djin. I must leave now, to explore his place, but before, I must ask. What is your name, young warrior?”

The man looked puzzled for a second, as if wondering how she knew he was a warrior, but then stood straight.

“My name is Bron.”

Spoiler: Action

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6 AP / 3 DC: Influence a village-sized are.

Kahar-Djin drew a Threshold (+2) around the village, protecting it from the inclemencies of weather.

[Maryring]

Peter lies at the mouth of a gentle river. In his hands he collects water, clutches his fist close, and when he opens it there is another flower. Countless flowers already drift upon the gentle waves. Countless more still need to be made for a sustainable population. But for now there's a break, for now there's a guest. Or rather, guests.

"Welcome." The voice trills like water rushing against pearls. Fellow immortals. It is a pleasure to meet you." He stands up tall. Snow has woven a tunic of frosted white and icy blues over his form, leaving only the head and hands free. They are white and soft to the touch. "I am Peter. And you are correct that I hold myself close to life. Life was born in Water, and so I find my duty to allow it to endure." He rubs his chin thoughtfully. "And You are the beginning and end of that which lives. I think I felt Your touch during the earlier wave of energy washing across the world. Ah, but I am distracting Us from Your question. You wish to bring new Life into the world?" Peter closes his eyes for a moment, extending his awareness briefly in consideration. "A multitude of twins... yes. Yes I do wish to assist. I will extend My touch, entwine it with Yours. I will ease their burdens and ensure a smooth delivery for the children. All I ask in return is that once they are born, I will want to grant them a gift." A statement only half true. Twins are a painful burden to bear, and though the desire to offer a follow up gift is true, the assistance is not contingent upon Ymon-Thal's acceptance. AAlready now, Peter scoops up a handful of water and blows gently upon it, creating small bubbles that float out across the world, adding a blessing of good health to the blessing of new life.

Spoiler: Help

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Providing a +2 from Healing domain to Ymon-Thal's influence attempt

[AlexanderML]

Yir 25/25 AP, Above All, Gazing Below on the Stonesthroe Mountains

The glorious sun awoke into full sentience, gazing down below on the pathetic mortals that lie beneath it's golden majesty; from the tops of the harsh peaks where Yir's light barely gave comfort, to the lower valleys where it's light gave life. Looking down on this steered a mixture of feelings in Yir, mainly the desire to guide them to it's will, and the desire to see them grow less flawed.

There were also immortals down below it, those that had power comparable, yet far lesser (it'd say), to it's own magnificence.

---

The Primal Scream of Sorcery:

While gazing below thinking on what it should do, Yir heard Su'ule's scream given up onto the heavens and felt the power that was unleashed by the enormous act. If the first witch looked up onto the sky, she'd see the sun shine brighter than normal, for Yir resonated with their voice. Not even acknowledging the falsehood of the statement, it spoke.

"My majesty and glory shall aid this, for in it all who look up into the sky shall find MY power and be in awe!"

Spoiler: Reaction

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Yir shall aid the creation of sorcery by resonating with the primal scream, becoming a beacon of magical energy that mortals can draw upon through their magic. Essencially, Solar Magic.

Solar Magic: Yir is somewhat conforming to (but also straying from) Kahar-Djin's hinder in that mortals can call upon the magic of the sun to give blessings, as long as they follow purity rites they may use Yir's light to cast magic with some spontaneousness in the effects the magic-user is looking for. The major downsides to using this sort of magic is that it cannot be used at night, underground, or anywhere where the sun does not shine (long-term Solar magic weakening in these conditions), and one has to live a 'pure' life style (though purity is defined mostly by culture, Yir's viewpoint is a part of this).

Aiding the creation of Sorcery with +2 Sun and +2 Majesty

---

On The Highest Peak:

Ner'ah saw the world below him with the dawn, vast gulfs of snow, earth, and lakes lined with rivers that eventually faded away into a world of green. He had seen parts of this for his whole life, but had never climbed up so high as to see the whole of his home.

Something had called him and, as he had seen traveling here, others to try and reach the highest of peaks. What surprised the young Mighty Man (neanderthal) was that even Small Folk (humans) from the Green Lands had come, if fewer in number to the Mighty Folk. Not everyone who had journeyed had made it, but a surprising amount had considering how heavy the sky weighed on their chests.

As the day went on, Ner'ah began to see the true magnitude of what was occurring, for while a hundred souls had traveled to the peak of peaks, whole tribes where traveling nearby.

When the sun had reached the highest point in the sky, Ner'ah and the others nearby had their eyes drawn to it almost instinctively. It was glorious, the light that shown down onto the world was both majestic and life giving. It then spoke.

"You who have traveled here to see me upon these peaks have heeded a sacred call. Take the first sign of MY blessing and power. For I shall be like a father and mother to all of you and to those that descend from you. Know that I am Yir, the light above all."

Ner'ah and the others were then blessed with the power of divine light.

Spoiler: Divine Action

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I did not want to finish the post until I see if Yir succeeds or not. He is trying to influence a little under 10,000 people, to create the Blessed of Yir (or the First Giants), a sub-race of neanderthals and humans that are noticeably larger/tougher than normal people of their kind (~9ft tall), with golden colored eyes. If this works then Yir's blessing breeds true, but becomes a recessive trait if one of the blessed creates a child with a normal member of their species. They grow to full size only if they get plenty of sunlight, those that stay underground or indoors during the day grow stunted compared to those that spend the majority of their days in the sun due to mundane biology.

Action: Influence a town of mortals
AP Cost: 10
DC: 6
Bonuses: +2 Sun, +2 Majesty

[Godzillarich]

Grawissen: Speaker of the Forgotten, Ebonbark Bay

9/25 AP

The elephants walked along a large path as Grawissen follow along. "“They seem like they are the traveling type travel…” Grawissen thought to himself as he pursued the elephants, still taking visual notes on the behavior. He then stopped himself and something caught his eye, a glimpse of a being that felt similar to Alatadriel. "“Another my kind...?” he thought to himself. "“... What is there story?”

Kahar-Djin was looking at the elephants, his staff in hand, extending their domain, analyzing the migratory paths of the large beasts. It was quite an interesting behaviour, and they were taking mental notes for other ways they could be applied when his sight snagged on something. A strange... Bone creature, somehow moving of its own volition. An undead...? No. Something different, higher. Something... Divine.

Both of the gods simply stared at each other, it was a mixture of fascination and extreme awkwardness. "“So you’re another one of us…” Grawissen asked, breaking the silence as he walked closer. "“... I would assume there wasn’t just two but this is still a fascinating sight to see.”

The divinity looked at the other god in his... eyesockets.

"Oh, there's many more than that. You certainly must have noticed that hideous roar that passed over the world, right? Because I kept analyzing its fragments, and while it came primarily from one divine being, I noticed the influence of many gods."

"Ha ha ha so that’s what was...” Grawissen last as he patted Kahar-Djin on the back. "...there’s so much still to learn…” he then turns over to look at the elephants. "“... Large and small.” Grawissen reached into his rib cage. “I know we’ve just met but let me ask you something…” he then pulled out his pickax. "“... I’m trying to categorize the forgotten, the knowledge of the world but having some trouble digging it out hands…” He then placed the pickax into Kahar-Djin hand. "...help me construct my tool and I will owe you a debt.”

Kahar-Djin held the pickaxe in their hands, analyzing it. With their domain over Thresholds, they could see its limitations, while the pickaxe's Path showed, indeed, that its purpose was one of knowledge. However, they also noticed a strange thing, a trace of a different divine power. Something... Unpredictable and chaotic, though not as primal as the roar. This was a carefully planned chaos, the contradiction only contributing to it. They said as much to their fellow god.

"Did you know about this?"

Grawissen shook his head, "I did not think would be a problem, I never stay in one place in the caves below. In fact, this is my first time on the surface.

"Regardless, at some point in the future you might wish to return to one of your caverns, and this... Trick, of sorts, might make that rather difficult. But not if I can help it." Kahar-Djin raised his staff and brought it down with a mighty slam. The elephants scattered, abandoning their paths. The divinity extended their domain, collecting the discarded Paths and wrapping them around the ax's handle in an intricate pattern that would be completely invisible to mortal eyes.

"There. It is done. The one who holds this ax shall never find themselves lost in any tunnel it creates, or, for that matter, any tunnel created with mundane tools." They handed the ax back to Grawissen, and looked him in the eyes again.

"I find the pursuit of knowledge to be a noble thing, and am always willing to encourage it. Consider this a gift, with no strings attached."

Grawissen grab the pickax and put it back in his rib cage. "“I thank you…” He then turned his attention to the ground. “... I hope our next meeting is as pleasant as the last.” And with that, he started digging disappearing into the earth.

Spoiler: helping

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+2 Paths, that the holder of the pickaxe will never get lost in any tunnels created by the pickaxe or any mundane tools.

[flyinglemur]

Dulnori, 23/25 AP, Harken Steppe

Dulnori took to traveling again. He wandered the steppes, watching the people hunt with their primitive tools. They were skilled, but skill could only do so much against the great beasts.

One day in his wanderings he came across something new hidden in the earth. It was a metal he had never seen before, colored a beautiful bronze-red. He took this metal from the earth, and went on his way.

The next day he came across another metal, it was colored a wonderful white. He took this metal from the earth, and went on his way.

The next day he investigated his new prizes. They were very pretty, but he wondered what they might be useful for. Then he seized on a brilliant idea. "Lets see what happens if I fuse them together." He did just that, and created another new metal, colored a magnificent orange-brown. He saw that it was much harder than its components, and was well pleased with this result, which he soon dubbed bronze.

The next day he came across a village. It was a small village, that he had seen only once before. They had been attacked by ravenous sabertooths, but somehow manage to survive. He realized that these people would be the perfect testers of his new invention, so he hatched a plan. He made javelins, tipped with bronze. He then decided that such magnificent weapons deserved more than just a casual toss, so he also created the amentum. This was a leather device, that could hook onto the javelins allowing them to be thrown much farther or with a greater stability, depending on how it was wielded. He approached the village bearing his gifts, and a challenge.

"I am Dulnori. I know you're all mighty hunters, and I'd like you to try your hands at greater prey." He handed them their new weapons. "These are much better tools than anything you've every used before, and I'll let you keep them, if you can kill a certain animal." The bravest of the hunters spoke, "And what animal would that be stranger?"

"Me". He took the form of a great rhinoceros, the first time he ever did, and the chase was on. It was a brutal contest, Dulnori was much stronger than any usual animal, but then again, the hunter's weapons were stronger than any others as well. After hours of hunting Dulnori fell, and the humans approached his body. Of course, they couldn't really kill a god, but they proved they could take down a beast of power and magnitude beyond anything they had faced. He changed into human form, and guided them back to their village.

Dulnori was a bit careless in this display however, and was soon noticed by another power of the steppes.

Spoiler: Action

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Influencing a small group of mortals by giving them the first bronze javelins, and the amentum (~10) 2AP/DC 1
+2 Fortune, for giving the village such powerful gifts/Auto-success. AP left: 23

[El'the Ellie]

Vreyalas, 25/25 AP, Stonesthroe Mountains

The Stonesthroe Mountains were a brutal place, for the unprepared. Wind whipped through the valleys and across the slopes of the mountain, kicking up snowstorms and cutting through all but the stones of the mountains. Among this cold, two humans huddled together for warmth: they had nothing to speak of, but even at its basest self, a creature can share and give its warmth. Alone, these two humans were cold and vulnerable. Together, they dared to dream of fending off the wind.

The stars aligned. Quite literally. Between these two humans a blinding flame sparked to life. The light was too bright to look upon at first, but when it died down the humans saw a being that made them drop to their knees. A golem of metal, twisted and wrought with perfection. Vreyalas had been born.

"Rise, mortals. You desire for companionship is a glorious thing. Alone, you will struggle and live destitute lives, but together, you will be great. Together you shall be greater than the sum of your parts, and forge something new. Not only will you survive in this world by caring for each other, you will thrive in it. Go, for now. I have designs for this world. Trust in each other, pick the other up when they fall, for they will do the same for you."

Vreyalas' first words to humans were brief, because he sensed a presence. No, not one, but several. And the echos of a resounding scream that shook the magical fabrics of this world.

"So, I am not alone. Good. But this magic that is meant for mortals... It is powerful, but dangerous. A tool. These mortals are lovely, but they are also foolish. Perhaps together, they can exert more control..."

Vreyalas grabbed several strands of magic from the Ether. Twisting them like bands of metal, he tied half of them into a chain and watched as it propagated back into the Scream of Su'ule. The remaining strands he kept for himself. Weaving them into the metal and earth around him, Vreyalas joined the baser forms of magic and the material. The other gods, no doubt, could shape magic into a physical form, but why should they alone be given that power. "Let us see what wonders mortals can craft."

Spoiler: Help

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Vreyalas will help the creation of Sorcery by adding two variations:

Ritual Magic: Magic can be performed by mortals together, not just in isolation. It is typically harder to produce a spell to be performed by many (and takes longer to cast) but the effects are always greater (or more controlled, longer lasting, etc). If a mortal's spell can make someone fly, for instance, many powerful mages working in tandem might be able to raise a town off the ground.

Artificing: Magic can now be wrought into physical objects. This is different from enchanting (where someone who can cast spells can imbue that into an object): anyone, even those that can't innately cast spells, can craft something with magical effects with the proper materials, reactions, and by inscribing the right glyphs.

Since this uses Community and Forging, I help with a +4

While Vreyalas worked, the first couple prospered. The worked together and, as Vreyalas promised, they were protected from the worst that the mountain could throw at them. While one hunted for food, the other felled trees to make a shelter. While one made a fire to keep warm, the other turned the pelts of animals into clothes. Soon, others saw this small cabin of trees. They felt the heat of a hearth coming from inside and felt a deep longing.

Each time someone found the cabin, either Shana or Thess would greet them. They invited the new comers to sit by the fire and warm themselves, eat the food they had to spare. And gradually, they began to help as well. Over time the people worked together and added a second hut alongside the first. Then a third. Then a fourth so large that it could hold a dozen people and had three spaces for fires. The people looked on in wonder at what they had done: none of them alone could have built such a house. Not even Shana and Thess, who were inseparable and strong, cold have made it together. They began to wonder: if ten of them could build a cabin dozens of feet long, what could twenty of them do? What could a hundred? What could a thousand?

Vreyalas was overjoyed to see these ambitions, this sense of companionship forming. And so he appeared to wandering humans as a wise man, aged but strong.

"There is a place where you can be warm. A place where humans work together. If you go you must help them, but in turn you can grow strong and old, like me. The place is called Theshana. It is the First City. Follow the smoke, to the edge of the valley." One by one he pointed the way, and one by one they joined the others in Theshana.

Named after its founding members, Theshana grew. Dozens of cabins sprang up: each one a labor of the community, and each one celebrated. People fell into tasks that they were well suited for: the most able-bodied hunted. The most dexterous made clothes. The most soothing fixed injuries or eased passings. Each could do more in one task than they ever could when they needed to do all of these themselves. They traded, spoke, fell in love, learned. In time, the people of Theshana made a new word: "excess". People no longer fought to survive every day, but dreamed, and planned, for the future.

Spoiler: Action

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Spending 10 AP to Influence a Town of Mortals to... well, create the first town, and to grant them prosperity.

+2 because this is community-related.

Vreyalas looked on Theshana and his heart swelled. These mortals worked hard, and were rewarded for it. But something bothered him... What was it?

Ah yes! The trees. They were... fine. These humans were clever to use the strong wood to block the wind and keep in the heat of fire. But eventually they would decay. Vreyalas considered how he could pull and shape metal and stone from nothing. Humans, of course, could not. It was locked in the earth. But Vreyalas had heard whispers on the wind of a god that could free metal from earth. So he went to him.

Ebonbark Bay

Vreyalas appeared before Grawissen as a silvered woman.

"Speaker of the Forgotten! I am called Vreyalas. It seems we may be able to work together.

Under my guidance, mortals on the Stonesthroe Mountains have formed a society, where together they prosper more than any of them could have alone. And yet... it rests upon wood. A concept so... temporary. I've seen the holes you have dug and metals you pulled from the earth, and that you showed mortals to do the same. I wish that my humans learn this, so that their houses be stronger, and last longer, and so that they do not fear the biting wind and blowing snow.

But I do not come empty handed. I have seen that you seek understanding of this world: a noble goal. A greater understanding leads to prosperity. The mortals in my domain, my... society, can grow old. And before they die, they can pass what they know on to their children. And them onto their children. Because each needn't focus on surviving, mortals can preserve knowledge from one generation to the next. Not only this, but they may share what they know with each other. A hundred, a thousand people working together to understand. And though some may die, the collective does not forget.

I propose that exchange: I show your people to form collectives, and you show mine to reap the metals and stones of the earth."

[Artemis P]

The scream rent the sky, as the power in the world changed, fabrics of reality spinning, sorting, changing, in ways both predictable and unpredictable. And then it was joined, by one, then two, then four, and more, each adding power and strength.... and change, to the words. And in that change, in that one viciously powered scream, Nestellbam cowered, for the fear and pain this caused him was like a deific migraine, and it was all he could do to not succumb and be swept away. He threw up powers and defenses like a shell, against the words, hoping the power would sweep over him, leave him unchanged.

Spoiler: Reaction

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-4 to Preserve the Laws of Reality. The Harken Steppe, and the peoples of it, are unable to support magic, as all magic fails in the Steppe, while the peoples of the Steppe are immune to magic cast on them, but they themselves cannot cast magic either.