Lords of Creation: The World Madly Spins (IC Thread)

[Razade]

In the time before there was time there was only the Creator, or so the stories go. In the time before time the Creator created in ephemeral majesty, its creations all at once real and illusory and wondrous. But in time the Creator desired something new, or so the stories go, something that would last and not simply fade away. Thus did the Creator stretch out its space and weave with its powers the firmament on which Creation stood. The Void was lain upon it like a blanket, far and wide and endless was that space and in it the Creator rested The First World. Featureless, its body covered in the waveless oceans, a perfect blue marble. With its first words, and its last, the Creator sang and from the ephemera pulled thought and will into existence. These were the Gods and they would be given this Creation, for once created, the Creator could no longer remain.




Wan'shi, The Exile: The Void

Some stories say in those early moments that the Creator, so enchanted with its children and the creation that remained was caught in the jaws of the very Void itself. For all know that in those early moments, more than the Divine stirred. Before there was a sun or a moon or even the stars there lay coiled in the black sky the mighty Void Serpent, Wan'shi. Stirred by the sudden song, the vast beast uncoiled and devoured many of the Gods born by the Creator until it was sated. Still covered from the viscera of its meal, the tired serpent sought to hide within the first world, making burrows only to find it was much too large and so it once more fled into The Void to sleep off its meal. Or at least that's how the stories go.

Spoiler: AP Actions

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AP: 16

Create Land (The Underdark) -2AP: Beneath the waves of the First World, vast caverns carved out by Wan'shi at the dawn of creation as it attempted to find a place to rest. Bits of godflesh still line the ancient and deepest corridors. Mushrooms, large lightless forests of pale trees, vast underground seas and rivers populate the otherwise empty twisting maze. [Trickery (Deception) 2/10]

16-2=14AP

[Zelphas]

Hetta, the Stones of the Hearth

Uncurling from the small grey dot that she had made of herself to avoid the monstrous snake's rampage through the skies, a humanoid torso attached to the body of a monstrous scaly creature looks over the unlighted blue ball of the First World for a long, unhurried moment. The moment ends, and the newborn goddess shakes her head. Something is... missing in this world. Tentatively, still attempting to learn what she wishes to do and how to do it, the forelegs of the goddess's draconic body reach forwards, gripping and pulling at the space in front of the First World before her.

The waves of the First World bubble and foam, and then rising out of the water comes brown earth. The earth rises for a short while, and then flattens out, spreading like a canvas over the sea. Eventually, it stops, and poking up out of the First World's ocean is an enormous circular patch of rich brown earth. The earth slopes uniformly into the sea at its edges, and levels out further inland, turning into a vast, flat plain. One claw clicks upwards on the goddess's left foreclaw, and the ground suddenly buds and springs forth with short yellow-green grass, waving slightly in the wind.

Hetta, the draconic and humanoid goddess, descends slowly into the center of the land she has made, her claws sinking into the soft earth. She looks around at the uniform, waving grasses, her humanoid arms crossed. A slight frown creases her features. She did what she could, but... something is still missing here. What does she lack?

Spoiler: AP Actions

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AP: 16

Create Land (Circle Continent) -2 AP: A circular land roughly 5 million square miles in size, currently of level height and covered with short yellowish grass.

16 - 2 = 14 AP

[KragBrightscale]

Abu Dhahab, Lord of the Desert

After the gigantic serpentine devourer disappeared into the void, and the first continent rose from the waters, another much smaller reptile finally decided it was safe to move.

Inky black scales that blended with the darkness of the surrounding void made it hard to make out the lizard stealthily making its way towards the first continent. It’s scales gradually taking on a sandy brown color as it arrived at the edge of the continent with nothing more than grassy plains that extended past the horizon.

Feeling the soft sand of the beach between his clawed toes Abu Dhahab instantly felt relief and a sense of belonging, as if part of his very divine essence resonated with the sandy ground.

Looking out over the western coast of the world’s only continent, the great lizard saw a lot of potential. He dug and moved some of the coast’s sand and earth, dredged up sand from the ocean floor and relocated some great rocks to create a series of irregular bays, sand banks, peninsulas, and islets.

A drop of the Great Lizard’s blood fell into the sea, giving birth to fish, eels, and other scaled sea creatures. Some blood soaked into the new coast enriching it with minerals that dyed the beaches and rocks various shades of red and orange. Soon reefs teeming with life formed, completing the ecosystem.

Moving inland, Abu Dhahab raised up the rocks beneath the soil and carved it full of valleys, forming a landscape of contrasts. Dry sandy areas, patches of soft rich soil covered in pale grass and huge rock formations of granite and sandstone rising dramatically out of the ground in clusters of varying sizes.

As he worked the ground, some of his scales were shed and fused with the sand and soil becoming living creatures that spread throughout their newly created habitat. Small lizards, geckos, chameleons, skinks, and larger reptiles like monitor lizards, legless lizards (snakes) and crocodiles.

A couple hairs fell out and became various plants, insects and other tiny critters. Hardy shrubs, thistles, date palms, flies, bees, ants, centipedes, scorpions, beetles. They filled in the missing link in the food chain.

Observing his work, Abu Dhahab relished the feeling of turning a simple slab of land into a thriving and beautiful environment. Now he needed intelligent life.

Spoiler: AP actions

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AP: 16

Alter land (The Red Coast) -1AP:
The western coast of the first continent, extended further into the sea in some places, and cutting further inland at other places. The red sand and coral reef make it a stunning place. Total area 0.5 million sq miles.
Society (Commerce) 1/10

Alter land (Wadi Alsahali) -1AP:
The valleys of lizards. A plateau of granite and sandstone raised an additional 1500 feet (450m) then carved to form valleys. Valleys are roughly same altitude as rest of continent and make up around 70% of the 1 million sq. miles. Most open towards the western coast. This area is mostly dry and arid desert, with only sparse areas of greener patches where subsurface water results in hot springs.
Society (Commerce) 2/10

Create mundane life actions considered part of the alter land actions.

16 -1 -1 = 14 AP

[Gnomes2169]

Myths of the Daystar's birth

Spoiler: A pack of lies

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Passages from Renarr's eventual Daystar church
In the beginning, the creator weaved a creation. They sculpted a world, populated it with fledgling divinities who would play with the void and the seas.

And then the creator cast it off.

And once reality was abandoned, the serpent began to feed. Many of the gods crafted by the creator fell to Wan'shi's hungering jaws, some abandoned the heavens to create their wonders on the first world, some fled to the far corners of the Void. The Daystar and Eternal Night were the first ones to fight back.

The goddesses of night and day worked together, forming a plan, experimenting to create a tool that could drive away the serpent. The Eternal allowed the Daystar to perfect her weapon in the blackest of nights, hiding even from the roving monster until a weapon so inimical to Wan'shi's nature that it might destroy the monster was perfected. And when it was ready, Night drew back, and Solace blazed in the void, a blinding beacon of light and heat that melted away all darkness, to sear the serpent, and drive it into the bowls of the earth to hide. But Renarr's creation had been too... perfect.

The power of Solace burned many of the lesser gods as well as it had burned the great serpent's body. While the goddess had secured the heavens, the other gods died all the same. And so Eternal Night reached out to remake its barriers, a realm of darkness to cloak the heavens, a realm named Nocturne. In so doing, Solace's powers were dampened, and Wan'shi could once more return to its feast in the heavens once it recovered from the harm that had been inflicted, and the first strike against the serpent ended in failure.

But Renarr was not yet done. Not yet. To some of the godlings she extended protection from the sun's power, and she brought them into Solace's chambers to begin planning their actions against the great nightmare for when it returned...

In reality...
Things were hardly so triumphant or planned as all that. And Renarr was never two separate goddesses... though eventually that fact would become less and less important.

But one thing was true. Not all gods born were equal. Some were as children, and died in their ignorance. Some were born ignorant of the world, their stillborn thoughts and creations fed the serpent. Some fled from Wan’Shi, but were too slow, or trampled underneath by their brethren. Some were simply never given domains by the creator, and were to the true gods as mortals, and in them the serpent found easy prey.

Renarr was one of the fortunate divinities that had a full mind, who was properly developed, who had power to rival the serpent's own... and she decided to try and use that power to protect herself and the lesser divinities. A place without the astral serpent's domains, where it would be at a disadvantage should it challenge her and the other gods such a place would surely gather.

Both she and Wan'shi were kin, of a sorts. Both had aspects of Darkness. Both could live in the void and draw power from it. But Renarr was a duality, and the opposite side of her coin would not steal her strength. So she reached into the strands of creation, into possibilities and impossibilities within the void, and she crafted a realm to capitalize on the advantages she had. Beyond the barriers that already surrounded the First World, Renarr built a realm. A fortress forged from bound light, a beacon in the realities to blind the Void itself, to drown the darkness and give shelter to the gods that could flee to it fast enough.

And then, in the world's first mistake, Renarr said, "Let there be Light!" And then she opened up the portal to this realm before considering and finishing the protections. A massive portal floated in the void, able to hold hundreds of the First World within it, at a distance far enough to let Renarr see what happened in its unveiling and adjust it before its effects could reach the First World. She did not know there were still godlings out that far. And she did not know how vulnerable those godlings were.

Waves of heat from Solace blasted through divine flesh, killing dozens before Renarr could react. Hastily, she reached into the power she had over the domain of Darkness and slammed a barrier in between Solace and the rest of creation. The strands pulled from Nocturne pressed in on all sides around Solace, strong around the First World, but growing gradually weaker as it approached the realm of pure light. The barrier likely saved dozens of her divine kin and kept the waters of the First World from boiling... but it also meant that Wan'shi's feast could continue without any restraint, as the night would protect the serpent as surely as it did her kin.

Exhausted, dejected in her failure, the goddess staggered into Solace, striding through the void and reaching the radiant earth of that blazing realm. There she shaped a throne, sat upon it, and then looked in shock at a handful of lesser divinities that impossibly stood before her within a protective shell from Nocturne itself. At its heart stood a godling, attuned to darkness, who had taken power from the realm of night that now protected the First World and this handful of survivors.

The Suzerain of Night looked upon the goddess from the bubble he'd created, and he asked Renarr, "Now what?"

Spoiler: AP actions

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Starting AP: 16

-4 AP; Weave Plane - Solace: A realm of pure light, in which no one needs to sleep, eat or grow tired. Every part of this plane, from the rocks, to the seas, to the sky itself, radiates its own brand of light and color. Solace's size is literally the size of the sun, and the sun's surface, its portal, is the sky of this plane, able to be seen through via divine or blessed eyes. There are paths within this plane that lead ever deeper, into tunnels and realms that have their own ecosystems and natural wonders... but all of it is empty of life, and for now there are no signs of civilization except for the throne that Renarr uses as her seat.

This realm serves as the First World's sun. It rotates, has a gravitational pull, and performs all the other things you'd expect from an earth-like solar entity. That said, it burns much brighter, and much hotter, than real life sun, and appears to be a near-white violet in the sky, rather than near-white yellow.

-4 AP; Weave Plane - Nocturne: The dark reflection of Solace, Nocturne is a plane of eternal night and darkness unending. It does not have a portal that dominates the skies like Solace, and where all of Solace is forged from blazing light, Nocturne is made from frigid shadows and earth. This realm rivals its bright counterpart in size, but without the large portal, it has little to no gravitational impact upon the First World. The temperature in this realm hovers rather close to true zero, only kept from reaching that point by the little trickle of radiation it gets from the first world.

Being a reflection of Solace, physical structures, such as buildings, lakes, rivers, etc, all have a mirrored copy within this realm. As well, the sleepless nature of Solace is mirrored here, except on this plane, existence is experienced in a near dream-like state. True sleep is never experienced, but true wakefulness is nearly impossible for a non-attuned mortal to achieve.

-2 AP; Create Portal - Solace to the First World: This portal is the surface of the sun itself. Massive, unyielding, and perfectly accessible to anyone. You know... if you can survive first the void of space and then the massive bombardments of solar radiation and heat. The star created from this portal burns bright enough to be nearly ultra-violet, though the first world sees something else due to the Strands of Night blessing.

-2 AP; Create Portal - Nocturne to the First World: The portal to the realm of night eternal is placed above the surface of the First World on the opposite side of the world from the sun. This does mean that the portal moves as the world rotates and orbits around Solace. This portal radiates cold to areas near it, hinting at the utter lack of light and heat within its connected realm. The Strands of Night blessing draws its power from this portal.

-2 AP; Create Hero - the Suzerain of Night: The Suzerain is a (far) lesser divinity from the birth of creation that managed to survive both Wan'shi's rampage and Renarr's mistake, more akin in power to a Solar or Balor than he is an actual god. The Suzerain is a pale-skinned man with slate-grey eyes and completely black hair and blood. He is elementally aligned with darkness, specifically the night, and that connection gives him just enough raw talent and power to protect both himself and the small group of other lesser godlings that managed to move with him.

There are plans for this one. The Suzerain will grow.

-1 AP; Blessing - Strands of Night: This blessing effectively strains the light from Solace in order to make it non-harmful to beings that live on the First World, effectively forming a second atmosphere that doesn't have a downside, and that extends far beyond the planet's normal boundaries. This means there's no sunburn, heat stroke from the sun, sun blindness from staring at the sun with the naked eye for too long, etc, etc... but the blessing also ensures that there is never too little heat or light reaching the First World, effectively keeping things at a pleasant equilibrium where life could flourish if SOME GODS stopped trying to eat everything.

This blessing extends in every direction from Nocturn's portal, growing weaker the closer it comes to the sun (or any other solar entity) and stronger the farther from light that it gets. This would allow for a planet like, say, Venus to exist despite Solace being a Violet star (though it would be too weak to protect Mercury), and prevent Uranus from getting any sunlight at all, if it was present within our solar system.

Total AP expended: 15

AP remaining: 1

Domain progress:
Realms (the Heavens): 10 (Create plane: Solace, portal to Solace, create plane: Nocturne) (Purposefully not taking this until ready to ascend)
Protection (Mercy): 3 (Create portal to Nocturne, Blessing; Strands of Night)
Order (Retribution): 2 (Create hero: Suzerain of Night... this will become obvious eventually)

[dancrilis]

Kerima

Kerima doesn't remember the creator, or what exactly happened as that being left - her earliest memories are twofold, firstly there was contentment and secondly there was pain, the contentment in her mind lasted only an instant were the pain lasted for what seemed an eternity.

After the pain came the fall where she collided with the water and hit the ground beneath passing through much of the mantle of the first world as she did so - and there in the darkness, battered and bruised her blood pouring out of her, her bones shattered, her organs punctured she began to heal.

She does not know for how long she lay in the darkness or where the creatures came from, she suspects they may have been born from her body, but perhaps they came from the slain god stuff that decorated some of the passages she found herself in - either way they sought to bind her and feed on her as she healed, but there primative techniques were as nothing to her and so they locked her away and forgot about her for a time.

When she rose she had made a decision - pain was to be avoided, contentment was to be sought, and control was the means by which both could be gained.

Emerging from her tomb she ordered the first of the creatures she met to serve her - it did not and its body betrayed it causing it to suffer in agony, the second standing beside it choose to serve, this would be the beginning of her empire.

Over time she decided to raise some ground to the surface to ensure she had eyes on the surface also and warped some of her servants to better serve her purposes above, the humans of the plains, the elves of the forests and the dwarves of the mountains, these races largely copied the goblins tribal nature and so she needed a second element of control so she took those who were most devoted to her and allowed them to harness the power of their devotion to her to allow them to preform minor miracles, insignificant to a deity but fantastical to a mortal creature, she then placed these priests above all other creatures.

People of Kerima
In the underdark the first creatures that found Kerima were the Goblins, vicious and cunning creatures who established themselves in tribal communities.
For the land above Kerima mutated some goblins into various forms, the humans of the plains, the dwarves of the mountains, and the elves of the forests - each set to protect and defend the lands of Kerima and designed for that role from the stock that formed them.

Corrla - Land of Kerima
The various areas that fall under the sway of Kerima are called Corrla - this consists of a number of two main areas, the underdark caverns were her fall left her, and the surface which she raised in the aftermath of her healing, a large and geographically diverse continent teaming with life.

Spoiler: Actions

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Create Race: Goblins (2AP) - Life (Evolution) 2/10
- Cunning and vicious creatures bound in tribal societies, breed fast and die young, standing somewhere between 2 and 4 foot on average for an adult.

Create Land: Corrla (2AP) - Life (Evolution) 4/10
- Corrla is a continent seperate from Circle Continent on the opposite side of the the First World or roughly the same size, it has many tunnles connecting to the underdark, as well as many mountains, plains and forests and populated with all many of creatures that one might expect in those locations.

Create Sub-Life: Humans (1AP) - Life (Evolution) 5/10
- Chosen from taller Goblins and manipulated to have much longer legs, while they still breed fast and die young both are much slower then for a goblin, they are also somewhat less vicious.

Create Sub-Life: Elves (1AP) - Life (Evolution) 6/10
- Humans who moved from the plains to the forest were ill suited for the environment and so Kerima changed them again giving them a much slower breeding rate and longer life so that they could learn there new enviroment well over time.

Create Sub-Life: Dwarves (1AP) - Life (Evolution) 7/10
- The first generation of humans breed with goblins producing a race who had the bulk of humans but were closer in height to goblins, there stocky creatures preferred the underground but also liked being near the surface, and an odd quirk held them to slow aging and breeding - as the humans stablised further away from goblins the breeding became impossible, many of the learned treat the story as fiction.

Create Mythical Concept: Worship (4AP) - Magic (Divine) 4/10
- All races under Kerima's domain worship her, and devote their lives to her words, even if many disagree on what exactly she wants or has said. Via the power of their worship they can perform miracles, such as healing the sick, or calling down minor curses on their enemies.

Create Mundane Concept: Language (1AP) - Society (Advancement) 1/10
- It became apparent to Kerima early that the goblins were useless if they could not be made to understand her requirements, so she instilled them with language, this has been changed, evolved and been corrupted by time into many different languages.

Create Racial Society (The People of Kerima) (2AP) - Society (Advancement) 3/10
- While the races are somewhat scattered and isolated, they all understand that Kerima stands above them and give her those who wield her power much respect regardless of race or beliefs.
- Tribal Theocracy.

Create Organization (The Priests of Kerima) (1AP) - Magic (Divine) 5/10
- These are the more direct servants of Kerima, bound by there devotion (and the power it grants) more then racial or geographic issues - it is they who ultimately control all areas of life for The People of Kerima except were the goddess herself decides to get involved.

AP Spend: 15
AP Left: 1

[Omoikane13]

Fleeing the Devourer as a sprite of wind was natural, but arriving on the First World did not feel so. Moiraithe, for that always had been and always would be her name, found herself on a canvas that had already started to be coated in paint. She flowed and wended her way across it, taking in the newborn beings and life, caressing them invisibly. Greeting them.

Others worked on cosmic scales with their newly-flexed power, some on wide swathes of the First World. It was a sibling of pain and rules that worked on the smaller scale, on the creatures. Shaped them from its flesh and bound them, bound their minds. The wind bound inside Moiraithe railed against this, wanted to thrash and free and strike at the sibling - who seemed to know herself as Kerima - and at the ties it had made.

"Why do you tie them so, sister?", Moiraithe sent as a whisper, non-directional, to Kerima.

As the words travelled on the wind, her mind turned to what could be done to free some of these poor souls from the yoke of worship.They were primed to believe in the gods, so that was perhaps the suitable avenue. it would certainly be worse to try and upend their societal foundation, would cause undue grief and chaos and likely result in further rules being established.

A paradoxical gospel. Tell the sapient beings that it was their calling and their right to be free, to self-determine, and to act as they wished. Tell them that they had nobody they needed to follow or worship except themselves, and that the deity Moiraithe would defend that right anywhere and everywhere. A banner of freedom.

While that was all well and good, beaming dissenting thoughts into the heads of the sapient beings would again be chaotic. A messenger would be best. Something that could stride across Corrla telling anyone and everyone that enforced worship and the ties binding them did not have to be permanent, that they could live as they liked and worship who or what they chose. Something that could even wander into the darkest of places to preach freedom.

Moiraithe found a mountain wind, cold and crisp, and coiled it. Curled it and twisted it until it sped up and coiled of its own accord. Until it began to collect mountain rock and dust, plant debris, all sorts of detritus. And then she gave it a spark of life, watching as the messy form coalesced into something more like the sapient beings of the First World.

She watched as the being began to move, saw its thoughts ignite. And she gave it a task. To spread freedom, to be free itself, and to spread that paradoxical gospel.

Spoiler: AP Actions

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Raise Hero: The Saorsa (2 AP):
A being formed of bound wind and debris, the Saorsa is a quick learner and absorbs knowledge very quickly. In addition, it often interprets its drive to promote freedom so that it can spread this knowledge.

The Saorsa's primary duty is to promote freedom. This usually takes the form of travelling to sapient cities and helping them with anything deemed as tyrannical worship, control, or similar issues. In addition, the Saorsa will push back against any form of government or religion that it deems to infringe on Moiraithe's gospel of freedom.

Being formed of pure wind and given life by a deity, the Saorsa is not easily stopped, but dislikes harming mortals.
(Fate (Freedom) 2/10)

AP Remaining: 14

[KragBrightscale]

Abu Dhahab, the Great Lizard

Rise of the Lizardfolk
Gathering a few of each of the different lizards he had created Abu Dhahab blessed them with intelligence and wisdom, raising them up to true sapience. To make the most of their new found abilities, the Great Lizard remolded their bodies into a more humanoid shape. Dexterous limbs and fingers, capable of creating and using tools, mouths capable of speech, and upright bodies that could walk on two legs.

The resulting people became known as the lizardfolk, for that is what they were originally. Although sharing a common name, each lizard still retained much of the qualities of their original species, resulting in numerous subcategories or subspecies with different unique traits, strengths and weaknesses. Eventually three distinct groups emerged, largely based on size. The large and bulky Crocodilians standing at about 7 feet, the small and dexterous Geckokin reaching only 4 feet, and the most numerous yet diverse Lizardfolk usually around 5 to 6 feet tall.


Tribes, markets, and merchants

Abu Dhahab blessed the first of his sapient creations with the knowledge of how to survive and thrive in the arid climate he had created, and guided them to form a society based on trade, tribes, and distributed authority. He taught them how to make use of whatever resources they had available, and trading with Neighbouring tribes to improve the lives of those in their own tribe.

Slowly, as the lizardfolk spread through the valleys and settled in small tribal communities, cities were built as strategic trade hubs and markets started being held out of both necessity and religious devotion.

Weekly local markets where members of a tribe gathered and bartered amongst each other. Monthly regional markets frequented by merchant caravans where people could buy products not usually available, news from afar was transmitted, and fierce haggling occurred. Finally, the annual grand bazaar hosted by the largest cities and trade hubs and lasting over a week, where exotic goods, feasts, and festivities abound.

Spoiler: AP actions

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AP:14

Create Sapient Life (Lizardfolk) -2 AP
Society (Commerce) 4/10

Create Subrace (Crocodilians) -1 AP
Society (Commerce) 5/10

Create Subrace (Geckokin) -1 AP
Society (Commerce) 6/10

Spoiler: Lizardfolk and subraces

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The most common type was also the most average of lizardfolk, whose origin were a range of medium to large terrestrial lizards. Similar in height to the humans that existed on the opposite side of the world, they exhibit a variety of different appearances such as having horns, having a frilled neck, or having ridges or spines along their backs and tails. Being the most populous amongst the three types resulted in them keeping the name lizardfolk.

The largest, and most sturdy subspecies came from crocodiles. Their thick scaly hide, powerful limbs and bodies that stood a full head taller than regular lizard kin made them formidable warriors. Like their non-sapient kin, Crocodilians prefer the water and settled primarily along the red coast in small fishing communities.

The smaller subspecies of lizard folk include those that came from skinks, chameleons, and geckos. These only grew up to a height of around 4 feet, had lightweight dexterous bodies, in addition to their specialized physical characteristics. The ability to change color, the ability to climb most surfaces, and the ability to dive into and swim through the sand. Over time, these groups combined to form the Geckokin where most individuals had some if not all three specialties.

Create Mundane Concept (Commerce) -1 AP
Society (Commerce) 7/10

Bless (Lizardfolk - Desert survival) -1 AP
Lizardfolk intuitively know where to dig to find water in even the driest of deserts, never get lost in a desert, and can go for extended periods of time without food or water surviving just on what their body has stored up. Before and after long trips Lizardfolk will eat and drink extra to refill their body’s reserves.
Society (Commerce) 8/10

Create Society (tribal merchant republics) -2 AP
Effectively independent city states, with tribal villages and towns. Major decisions that affect larger regions are decided right after the annual grand bazaar, before everyone leaves the city.
[b]Society (Commerce) 10/10

Gained domain (portfolio): Society (Commerce)

14 -2 -1 -1 -1 -1 -2 = 6 AP

[Zelphas]

In the Center of Circle Continent

As Hetta observed, the other gods began to act, and she started to understand. She saw the Rules that they were using to make their world, and how to fit within them. Her frown lessens, and she sets to work.

Wan'shi's Rule (as Hetta understands it): Consumption is key.

Hetta's claws tore at the earth again, and she ripped up pieces of earth to mold into the shape of her own lower form. Casting about for a moment, she saw the new creation of lizardfolk, and took the heads of the largest of these creatures to finish her creation's frame. Finally, she placed a rune between the eyes of the beast, a simple scrawl meaning "EAT". Four of these beasts were created, in total, and she set them out from the center of her land to fulfill their directive. They tore forwards, driven by a fearful hunger, a desire to consume all that they found.

Abu Dhahab's Rule (as Hetta understands it): Alter the existent world to fit.

The goddess looked around at the hole she had created, glanced ahead at the creatures she had sent forth, and noticed that very little of the land she had used was suitable for creating them properly. She had to dig through much dirt and rock before she discovered the proper material. And so, with a wave of her hand, she converted the pit around her into the proper material. Bands of multicolored clay rose out of the pit and spread across the center of the Circle Continent, dotted here and there with little oases of rivers, lakes, and trees.

Renarr's Rule (as Hetta understands it): Balance in all things.

The consuming beasts had laid waste to much land before Hetta saw Renarr's rule and began to convert her actions. Using her humanoid hands, Hetta pulled from the clay all around her and built a series of creatures modeled after her upper half. She gave them four lower legs and a powerful lower body, but covered them with fur instead of scales and added hooves instead of claws to their feet. She made many of these creatures, in contrast to the few of the dragons, and spaced them over the plains of her continent, leaving Abu Dhahab's area free of them unless they wished to travel there. She instilled into these new creatures a sense of protectiveness and fairness, a sense of territoriality and hospitality to guests, and she gave them the knowledge to fight the ravaging dragons and halt their advance.

Looking over the creation, she felt that they were not balanced enough; the dragons were built to consume food, but the centaurs had no counterpoint to that. After a moment of thought, Hetta took up the grass that grew over the Circle Continent and twisted it, elongating it and making it droop with fresh seeds. She took this new plant to the centaurs and taught them how to grow it, so that they could counteract the dragons' rampage.

Kerima's Rule (as Hetta understands it): Creatures live upon the land.

Hetta was relieved to see Kerima raise her own land from the sea; what she had already done was within the Rules, after all.

Moiraithe's Rule (as Hetta Understands it): Unique creatures may be made to serve your will.

"Mas... ter..." Hetta is startled out of her contemplation in her Pit of Making by a blank, inhuman voice. The voice belonged to a messy lump of clay, set aside by Hetta herself in the midst of making, had formed itself into a vaguely human shape, with only the impression of a face. "Or... ders?"

Spoiler: AP Actions

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AP: 14

Create Legends (Clay Dragons) - 5 AP: These dragons are beasts of clay, not flesh, and are possessed with extraordinary power and endless, omnipresent hunger.

Alter Land (the Pit of Making) -1 AP: in the center of Circle Continent is a land of rolling clay hills in many different colors, occasionally dotted by streams and lakes with trees and shrubbery. At the middle of this land is a deep pit filled with little holes, tunnels, and clumps of soft clay.

Create Race (Centaurs) -2 AP: Formed from multicolored clay, Centaurs live in stable herds throughout much of the Circle Continent. They know of the dragons, and fight them off whenever encountered.

Create Racial Society (Tribal Farming) -2 AP: Centaurs gather in herds led by a council of elders, and they live in a specific territory from generation to generation.

Create Mundane Concept (Agriculture) -1 AP: Hetta creates grains out of the grass of Circle Continent and teaches the centaurs how to grow it.

Raise Hero (the Lump) -2 AP: A massive lump of multicolored clay given life by accident, the Lump is a proto-golem. He lacks the rules that other golems will have inscribed in them in order to exist, making his fate much more uncertain.

Earth (Clay) Progress: 10/10 (Create Land 2, Clay Dragons 5, Alter Land 1, Raise Hero 2)

14 AP - 13 = 1 AP Remaining

[Feathersnow]

Idix: The life and death of Skidi

At that first slaughter of gods, the being that would be called Skidi ran. "XiDi" or "Questing Hand Gives", in Hieroglyphics. She ran accross the heavens and dove into the sea. She dove past the sea and into the earth beneath it.

When she could hold her breath no longer, she surfaced again, at the South pole, dredging up a broken land. A land of bare rock. The land of Cliffs and Spires.

As she breathed in again, the land grew flush with trees, each tree a living spirit.

And, in an instant, the trees froze and died. Skidi looked on in despair at her first children, and ate their leaves, so their Ka would not die along with their Khet.

For each dead dryad, she learned its Ren, its True Name, and it appeared in the bark of the dead tree, and, as it did, each tree turned to stone, petrified and uncorruptable. These were the first words, each stillborn dryad is the reified Ren of a different concept, each living on, her Sah the written Word itself.

As the Great Caribou memorialized her firstborn, new life sprung up where she walked. Mosses and lichens and short, stocky sedges. Hardy, tiny green things that could withstand the cold and the dark.

Her sad task done, Skidi looked on at at the empty land. She let out three bleats, one for each of the kinds of lesser beasts.

First came the oozekind, who have no bones nor limbs and who recover from any wound. The puddings and the cubes and the slimes.

Next came the hardy crawling things, that live for days and sleep for months. The flies, and the crickets, and the crabs.

Next she called forth the birds of the air, that wander, but come home to the rocks.The gulls and the finches and the eagles.


As she ran and bleated, four hanks of hair got caught in a bough of a dead dryad.

Each grew into a kindred of greater beast, named after the tree that, though dead, gave it birth. The Seal, was born from the word meaning "She of Both Worlds"
the Fox, from the word "Cunning" the Penguin, from "Unity" and the Rat, from "Handy."

And then a fifth came forth, from fur shed on the ground, the Ghul. In the form of a seal, yet cunning like a fox. Clannish like a penguin, yet dextrous like a rat. It was everything and nothing. Formless, mutable, and seeking. This is why, today, the word for "Ghul" in Hieroglyphics is the first symbol of the names of the four kindred of greater beasts bound in a cartouche then modified by the Rune of the Questing Hand. "SFPR":Di

And then the long night fell over the Southern pole, and Skidi lay down in exhaustion. And, in the night. The first Ghuls fell on her, as she lay, unable to resist.

And, as they ate her Khet, they gained the Ka of divinity, and the learning it entailed. And they knew they had done wrong.

As they set the first fire in the first lodge, they planned, guilty yet gleeful at their new potential. By Spring, the Ghuls were fat and rich off the crafts they had learned. Not least how to trawl the seas as she had, to reap the shellfish of the coasts. Nor how to culture the mobile fungi that shambled the Land of Cliffs and Spires.

And so, in reverence, they re-assembled the bones of Skidi, and Inscribed the word "The Gift of the Questing Hand" on the skull.
And so was born Idix.

Spoiler: AP Actions

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Actions]
Starting AP 16
Ending AP 0

Create land 2 AP
Nature (Tundra) 2/10)
The Antarctic continent of Cliffs and Spires is mostly bare, volcanic rock with sone hardy life.

Create mundane concept: fishing 1AP
Nature (Tundra) 3/10
As Skidi dredged forth the land, her followers net up sea food.

Blessing: All sentient beings have multiple souls. 1AP
Magic(Transfiguration ) 1/10
Inspired by the Egyptian model. Ka= vital essence, Ba= personality, Khet= physical body, Akh, complete self, Sah= self devoid of physical body.

Blessing: All things have a single true name. Each Sentient being also has a unique, personal true name. 1AP
Magic (Transfiguration) 2/10
Called a "Ren"

Blessing: The Ba of a sentient, if not bound to an appropriate vessel, can always be recalled by use of a true name. 1AP
Magic (Transfiguration)3/10
Useful for magic of various types. Especially reincarnation and necromancy.

Create mundane concept: writing 1 AP
Magic (Transfiguration) 4/10
Pretty self explanatory. Each word was first written on the bark of a stillborn dryad, which shares its true name

Create mundane concept: ooze-herding 1AP
Nature (Tundra) 4/10
Not quite farming, not quite animal husbandry.

Create mythic concept: psychometry 4 AP
Magic(Transfiguration ) 8/10
The magic of learning by handling (or eating) an object (or corpse) Allows Ghuls to retain the souls and memories of their ancestors more easily.

Create sapient race 2 AP
Magic(Transfiguration ) 10/10
Ghuls are small, dim, inept seal-like, humanoids that can subtly shape shift to be physically comfortable and merely mediocre at specific tasks

Create society 2 AP
Nature (Tundra) 6/10
The Lodges of Cliffs and Spires are a Democratic Republic based around female-line clans that live in different coastal regions of the continent.

[Razade]

Wan'shi, The Exile: The Void


Being full never lasts. Not when you're a vast serpent coiled deep in the cold Void.

The scent of new things, strange things, aroused Wan'shi. It tasted heat and blood, divine powers and desires. All things Wan'shi savored and more. The lights of Wan'shi shifted and with a coiled strike rose from the Vast and with a gaping maw surged to swallow the new bright point on which the First World revolved. Its heat burned and pillars of smoke filled the mouth of the dragon beast before it fell back into the depths of the Void from where it slumbered. But the serpent was not to be deterred, so vast and powerful was this bright point. Again, and again, from the deep Void the snake uncoiled and struck as if to swallow the Sun, each time getting closer to its mark, each time needing more to burn. Each time it rose, new bone and blade covered its sinuous body. Not its own, no. The Gods could recognize even at a glance. The serpent Wan'shi decorated itself with the bones it could not swallow of the many and might Divinities that might have been. The beast that had been with the Void cloaked itself in their brethren, a mockery.

Yet the Serpent could not devour what it so prized, and in its hunger turned to devour itself.

The serpent Wan'Shi followed the cast off and burnt remains of its body as they fell, drawn to the First World, its ancient nest that it far outgrew. It coiled in the skies until it was akin to rings about the planet, its lights like stars cast out in the void in strange signs and markings. So caught up in its own consumption the snake did not fall upon the life that sprung to the world but instead, its bloody pieces raining down on the First World. This frenzy was not to last either, and before long the twin baleful pools of light within the beast's skull turned to the simple rock and with a hiss that shook the foundations of the very earth and skies, it descended once more and it took the form of a vast storm whose presence shifted rock and stone and trembled even the mightiest of beasts and stripped all it crossed bare.

Spoiler: AP Actions

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AP: 14

Curse (The Serpent Blood Rains) -1AP: The blood of Wan'shi is caustic, corrupting and decaying anything it touches. The rains fall over ocean and land, creating blight spots on the circular continent, Corrla and the Land of Cliffs and Spires [Evil (Natural Disasters) 1/10]

Curse (Hurricane of Fangs) -1AP: A vast hurrifcane that decimates all in its path. Over the oceans at the moment but mobile. [Evil (Natural Disasters) 2/10]

14 - 1 - 1 = 12AP

[SpeedWitch]

Excepts from a discarded essay

Many of the river archons are capable of assuming mortal form, whether as silent reflections in their waters or as grand creatures that inspire fear and awe from river societies.

The River Dia does not have such a form - not really. There are plenty of stories of her walking the world clothed in lost memories, but she has no body that is truly hers.

Some say it was forgotten. Or that Dia never had one to begin with. Some even say it was discarded to grant Dia more freedom than her river-kin, removing any tethers to mortality that could land her in the Serpent's jaws.

* * *

In the most torrid summers, the rivers start to run dry. While they love to complain about the heat, the archons clam-up as to why they're so bothered by it. "Water dries in the sun, don't you know that? It's just a fact of creation."

Only one talkative river in the numerous valleys of Wadi Alsahali spins a proper tale for the fact, one that has to do with Dia herself, and the transformation of the river archons.

---

A few hundred leagues above the First World

A massive shield of water enveloped a swath of godlings before instantly boiling, the steam casting a massive shadow across the ocean. The destruction wrought by the Daystar was brief, but enough to end the lives of all archons who could not find refuge from the sun’s light. Those at the edge of Dia’s protection popped and sizzled into charred corpses that froze when the light faded, and those closer to the First World became steam and clouds that drifted down to the First World, and would eventually find lands to rain down on and become rivers.

Dia, meanwhile, slowly reconstituted herself from mist into a sprawling river whose waters were as dark as night. When her form was finally complete, she looked upon her shadow cast on the first world, then back at the Daystar. Still boiling, she launched herself forward and began to trek across space towards the star, determined to discover just what exactly caused so many of her kin to burn away into the ashen husks she was now passing by

Solace

A surge of black water broke upon the Suzerain's bubble and began to flood the throne room, replacing the bright tiles of Solace with an empty void. After another moment, the waves receded, and all divines in attendance understood the sound of the river lapping against the walls as speech:

... Oh. Am I. Interrupting? How rude of me. I was just. Looking. For a change of. Scenery.

The water rose slightly, climbing up the base of the throne.

All those
c o r p s e s

must really. Clutter up your view. Of that little puddle. Our late Creator left for us.

---

Spoiler: AP ACTIONS

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Archons
Create Legends (5AP)
Lesser divines that aren't strong enough to become full-fledged gods, but still hold immense power. There were many archons brought into existence by the Creator, but the majority of them were either consumed by Wan'shi or eviscerated by the Daystar before they could even set foot upon the First World

A few managed to survive both catastrophes, or at least their essence was preserved enough for them to be remade. These lucky few retained the ability to align to divine domains as powerful extra-planar servants to the gods that rule those domains, giving the gods access to potent elementally aligned servants, should they choose to claim them.

((The use of the subspecies action on archons is flavored here as a god claiming their own archons for their divine court.))

River Archons
Create Subrace (3AP)
Also known as River Spirits, these are archons that were successfully spared from the Daystar by Dia, aligning to her river form and becoming rivers themselves. They spread out along the First World as clouds to find land to settle, then rained down to become permanent fixtures in the geography of wherever they find themselves.

While the majority considered themselves in the court of their savior, river archons were mostly free agents at the dawn of the world, many of them seeing the creations of other deities and trying to do the same, although their limited power and mobility prevents them from making impacts on a continental scale. Still, the most outlandish tales of river archons come from this time: rivers that appeared to run with salt, candy, blood. Crabs made of water that would raid villages unless offered proper tribute. Rivers that would tell secrets of creation if offered service or great treasures.

The Ring of Gods
Create Land (2AP)
The corpses of archons charred by the Daystar, some of which contain ice from Dia’s attempt to save them. The frozen ones orbit the First World in a circular pattern, Dia’s essence causing them to flow around the planet like a river. Sometimes a dead archon will twitch with divine energy and fall from the ring as a meteor or shooting star.

Remaining AP: 6/16

[Kinro]

Lor was. It did not know how or why. All it knew was that was casting light down into a strange world down below. Light that was not his own. It came instead from another orb. This one did cast out its own light. Light so bright that is was pain to look at it. No, better to look upon the other world. And so, Lor looked on. It looked on and looked on for a long time, the looking being made easier by the not-his-light that it reflected down. It looked and saw other beings that were. These being made things and created things that also were. Lor didn't understand these things and these beings. It didn't know what they seemed to know without trying. And so, the first desire grew. The desire to know. This desire became a hole in Lor. A painful hole. Quickly, it filled the hole with light and as it did, the hole became a beautiful jewel, of light and Lor first knowledge. The knowledge of the pain of not knowing.

Spoiler: AP Action

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Create Major Artifact (The Jewel of Lor (Teach Populous))
A beautiful jewel, like a diamond, but appearing to be made of pure silver. It is forever slowly spinning and, in its reflections, one can almost seem to see new ways of doing things. Knowledge coming from elsewhere.

16-5 =11
(Knowledge(Teaching) 0+5 = 5)

The hole was mended, but the desire still burned. It looked down again and soon saw a group of being that were and they were praising Lor and asking it for guidance. It heard them and listened to them and understood. They were beings of scale and desert and of the harsh sun. They had been driven from their village by the serpent rains and they were lost and they were in the dark, save for Lor's light. They were experiencing the pain of the desire of knowledge. Knowledge of the place where they should be. But Lor did not have that knowledge. All it could see was deserts. The harsh lands of the sun. It could not touch those lands, as it could not look upon the sun. Instead, it made new lands for them. Lands that were the opposite of the desert. Wet and dark and cool.

Spoiler: AP

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Alter Land (The Great Marshes)
The Great Marshes are deep, dark marshes and swamps that hug the elevation east of the Wadi Alsahali plateau, extending across its whole North-South length.

11-1 = 10
(Swamp(Kobolds) 0+1 = 1)

Lor's guidance, however, it could not extend during the day, when its reflected light was hidden by the true brilliance of the sun. These people it had chosen to guide, it could only do so when the sun was gone. And so, it taught them to see during the night. It helped them to become smaller, to more easy lift themselves out of their valleys. It made them fast, to reach their destination quicker, and made them suited to their new lands. Under its influence, too, they became quick of mind and curious. The journey was harsh, taking many nights, but eventually, the beings of scale climbed out, over and down from their valley and what they found there, they called paradise. And they found themselves to be new and called themselves kobolds.

Spoiler: AP

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Create Subrace (Kobolds)
Kobold are a reptilian race, though not cold blooded. They prefer to live in cool, wet environments, that keep their scales supple. They see very well in the dark, especially in moonlight, but have trouble during the day. They are fully nocturnal. They stand about half the size of Lizardfolk, about the same as goblins and are fast and curious beings. Their lives are generally shorter, too, but they arrive to maturity quickly and are able to learn at a surprising rate.

10-1 = 9
(Swamp(Kobolds) 1+1 = 2)

The kobolds grew and spread quickly in their new paradise, always under the watchful gaze of Lor, who loved them most, they who shared his pain for knowledge and who loved its nights. It taught them without knowing how, the arts of writing. This they took to eagerly, carving their intricate, dense runes on every surface available to them, their very homes, even their tools, filled with carefully maintained knowledge.

Spoiler: AP

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Teach Mundane Concept (Writing)
Kobolds learn a symbolic, dense writing system made for carving, which they use everywhere.

0 (Using jewel)

[Gnomes2169]

Spoiler: Previously, in Solace

Show

Solace

A surge of black water broke upon the Suzerain's bubble and began to flood the throne room, replacing the bright tiles of Solace with an empty void. After another moment, the waves receded, and all divines in attendance understood the sound of the river lapping against the walls as speech:

... Oh. Am I. Interrupting? How rude of me. I was just. Looking. For a change of. Scenery.

All those
c o r p s e s

must really. Clutter up your view. Of that little puddle. Our late Creator left for us.

The water rose slightly, climbing up the base of the throne.

Solace, a Meeting of Gods
Renarr had been at a loss for how to answer the question that had been posed to her. How was she supposed to plan now? She'd poured almost everything into making this fortress, this place safe from the serpent, and then she'd had to pull into her emergency reserves to correct her mistake before it could lead to utter destruction of the world below. Fumes. That's all the solar goddess had left. She needed time to recover before she made another move.

Before she could tell this impertinent godling this, however, another goddess entered the picture. The assembled unaligned archons would let out startled shouts, many of them attempting to jump away from the darkness now at their feet, terror that the serpent had managed to follow them in here even causing one godling to stumble and begin to fall, his arm momentarily caught outside of the shell of protective darkness and almost instantly becoming nothing but atomic dust as the heat touched it.

The Suzerain managed to grab that archon before the rest of him joined that now-destroyed limb. "Stop moving you fools, my protections extend only so far. You are divinities. Feel! Sense about you. This divine nature is not the snake's."

For a moment Renarr's face is a mask of heartbroken agony, and the exhausted solar goddess turned her crimson eyes to the lapping river, one hand clenching tightly at Dia's observation. In response, the albino goddess turns her head away in a bit of shame. "No one was supposed to be there..." She told the flowing river. "This place was... made too well." To both the river god and the archon hero, the goddess would gesture at the sky of Solace, parting it ever so slightly so they could observe Wan'shi's repeated failures to consume the planar fortress that this conversation was being held in. "The serpent will never reach us here. My fortress is nearly perfect. It is just..." All those corpses could be seen as well, floating in the void...

"So then, you have the power to hurt that monster, and you are instead using it to hide." The Suzerain interrupted, his tone cool, not accusatory but more observing it as a fact.

Another god may have yelled or smote the arrogant near-mortal for questioning them. Instead, Renarr pulled her feet from Dia's manifestation onto the throne so she could pull her legs in against her body. "I... wanted to protect all of you..."

"Ah yes. And you did a fantastic job of it." Now there was some sarcasm in there, and the archon of darkness earned himself a glare from the goddess.

"How dare you? The serpent would have killed you all if I just fought it. Alone, I cannot face it in the void. And none of you were-" In one, unified voice, Renarr asked, "Who, exactly, are you?"

"You can call me the Suzerain of Night. Until you've fixed this mess you've made, my true name is my own." Setting the newly maimed godling in front of himself, the Suzerain states, "And you can start fixing it now. So, again. What is the plan, bringer of light? You can burn the beast. Your fortress is made. Now what?"

What anger Renarr had displayed faded almost instantly at the most blatant reminder of her failures. For a handful of seconds she thinks, watching Wan'shi turning to cannibalize itself and become storms and disasters upon the First World. What was she going to do? "Now? We hide. We build strength. We find allies. We kill the serpent. Or... we keep hiding. No, we kill it. We will not be able to hide forever while it continues to eat and grow in power. The threat is too great, the monster needs to be stopped."

The Suzerain folded his arms across his chest and grunted at that. "Hmph. It's a start." Shifting his feet through Dia's starless, void-like form, the archon asks the river goddess, "We seem to be in need of allies, since our resident sun god has exhausted herself in an ill-planned opening gambit. It seems you want fewer god-corpses made. Think you might be able to help?"

Who died and made this archon god-king?

[dancrilis]

Kerima

She heard Moiraithe as she spoke and choose to answer "they are mine and they need control - without it they would be lost in the dark, your creature can exist to weed out the weak but weakness has consequences", with that said she relaxed confident that her people could reject the ways of The Saorsa, however the events that occured next caused her more alarm.
Firstly a seperate deity manipulated the souls of her followers and bound them to names, then that deity was slain by those who should be loyal to it, and finally the serpant rain contaiminated areas of her continent causing chaos and death in its wake - of these the slain deity was her primary concern, this required a punishment.

Traveling under cover she moved to the Cliffs and Spires and there she took a Ghul who had feasted upon Skidi and dragged it to one of the blight spots created by the serpant's blood - she forced the creature to ingest the fallen divine power in mockery of its betrayal of its deity and held its multiple souls in place as it did so, she warped its flesh mangling it soul and body in agony which could have only one release - the conversion of two other traitors to the divine, should that be achieved the creature would be deemed to have paid for its crimes and could move on in peace.

These creatures she called Revenants, the appearance of them varied based on the base stock but all were monsterous in form guided by mystic senses that drew them to those who betrayed the divine or were unfaithful with a drive of forcing the creatures to drink there tainted blood in a transformation ritual which would ease the monsters suffering for a time and kill it on the second feeding allowing it peace, the faithful were safe from the creatures and could even likely domesticate them to an extent - Kerima granted them formidable regeneration which allowed them to raise even after wounds that would likely kill most creatures.

These creatures might have began in the land of Cliffs and Spires but she took the process back to her own land when she was done - for those who listened to The Saorsa this seemed an apt punishment, and would be another tool to keep her people in line.

People of Kerima
The various peoples on Corrla reacted differently then the goddess, much of them saw The Saorsa as a evil creature trying to corrupt them and so the priests erected wards against such, the goblins and the dwarves largely ignored the creature as they existed mostly underground but the elves and the humans were more susceptible - that was until the serpant rain, this event was seen by some priests as an omen that those who were not loyal in faith were bringing evil to the land and so they began a twofold approach, using the powers of their faith the warded off the cursed land from spreading or contaminating the waters while hunting those who rejected the ways of Kerima so that the only place they could be safe was the tainted lands - where the priests were content to allow them to eke out there pitiful existance as a lesson to others.
The second horror that arose was not inclined to let them alone however, the revenants were creatures who relentlessly hunted those who betrayed there faith but left those who were pure alone and untouched - these forces largely worked to bring greater fervor to the belief of Kerima.

Spoiler: Actions

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Create Monsters: Revenants (1 AP) - Life (Evolution) 8/10
- Despite the name (and occassionally the appearance) these creatures are very much alive, in fact possibly overflowing with life energy, strong, fast and incredibly tough, with unnatural regeneration ability - they exist for one reason to hunt down those who betray divinities (which they can sense from leagues away) or those without faith and convert them into revenants via forcing them to consume the essence of the current Revenants, once this ritual has been done twice the creature can finally find peace, the newly created Revenants will of course have to find there own prey. With no available prey they entered a more docial state their pain somewhat lessened without a target and could even be eased by skilled healers - until such time as a target would appear.

AP Left: 0

[Razade]

The Hurricane of Fangs: The Circle Continent

There is no reasoning with a storm. It simply moves as it does and anything in its way is of no consequence. Not to the rain or the wind, not to the razor sharp teeth that cut through ocean and dirt and drew it into the Serpent's maw at the center of the vast and terrible storm as it moved over the face of Creation. The storm moved slowly but anything on the far coast of the Circle Continent could see. Could see what bore down on them and how little one could do to stop it. It started as a dark line on the horizon. A week before that the winds picked up, a screeching hissing sound. A week in the winds on the coasts of the continent were wild and the fish of the deep washed up on shore, those not sucked into the maw of the serpent outright. Then the rains and the thunder, whipping and battering anything in its way, a simple arm of the mighty vortex.

When the storm in truth hit, shorelines were pulled under sucking waves and yet the true fury of the storm was far off and the baleful eyes of the serpent Wan'shi blazed through the clouds like balls of great lightning. As if the sun and moon itself had descended from the skies. It was as if the world was ending and for anything in the path of the storm...that may have been true.


The Depths: The Underdark

In the dark caverns and vast tunnels of the Underdark, before Goblin feet roamed the higher reaches, before there were humans or elves walked under the eyes of the Solar Goddess, the Weshesh roamed the deeps. One would hardly know, the Weshesh of the darkness themselves. Slender, indistinct creatures with keen minds and a connection with the god meat that lined the deep. They spoke through thought and sustained themselves on the rich mana that flowed through the earth and into the world above. There the Xen slaved, driven by unheard calls, collecting godflesh and the power it contained. But it was not their work beneath that busied them most, no. It was the lurking in dark nights, crawling to the surface, pulling the races of the surface into the Dark with them. Studying them. For this was what their society thrived upon, research, replication. Soon they would learn to walk in the light, among the other races. For now, they remained below.

Spoiler: AP Actions

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Create Race Life (The Xen) - 2AP: Xen are a biologically morphic species, ranging from the height of goblins to the height of humans and elves. They are otherwise featureless, black skinned creatures with glowing eyes of various colors. In their native lands, the Xen wear tight clothing for convienence rather than protection but when they venture to the surface they wear masks and other coverings to protect them from the sun. Xen are naturally adept with mana, speak telepathically to any race and so long as they have a source of mana do not need to eat. When slain they simply dissipate into mana. [Trickery (Deception) 4/10]

Create Society (The Weshesh) - 2AP: Xen Society, the Weshesh, is an alien one. Weshesh view each other as equals however within their simple hovels they have a pecking order that other races would not be able to descern. Fierce mental battles take place within the Xen minds, debate and rhetoric fused with emotion and mana in a war that rages even when they rest. The Xen work towards common goals, whatever they might be, directed in this ever changing war by those holding the most power. [Trickery (Deception) 6/10]

Create Mythical Concept (Mana) - 4AP: Born from the godflesh brought from Wan'shi, mana has suffused the very soils of the First World from the depths. It is a powerful arcane energy that, when tapped, can produce devastating spells, alter terrain on a small scale, craft illusions and summon powerful elemental effects. Power drives power however and those who use mana will seek more power in it. [Trickery (Deception) 10/10]

12 - 4 - 2 - 2 = 4AP

[SpeedWitch]

Spoiler: Previously, in Solace

Show

Solace, a Meeting of Gods
Renarr had been at a loss for how to answer the question that had been posed to her. How was she supposed to plan now? She'd poured almost everything into making this fortress, this place safe from the serpent, and then she'd had to pull into her emergency reserves to correct her mistake before it could lead to utter destruction of the world below. Fumes. That's all the solar goddess had left. She needed time to recover before she made another move.

Before she could tell this impertinent godling this, however, another goddess entered the picture. The assembled unaligned archons would let out startled shouts, many of them attempting to jump away from the darkness now at their feet, terror that the serpent had managed to follow them in here even causing one godling to stumble and begin to fall, his arm momentarily caught outside of the shell of protective darkness and almost instantly becoming nothing but atomic dust as the heat touched it.

The Suzerain managed to grab that archon before the rest of him joined that now-destroyed limb. "Stop moving you fools, my protections extend only so far. You are divinities. Feel! Sense about you. This divine nature is not the snake's."

For a moment Renarr's face is a mask of heartbroken agony, and the exhausted solar goddess turned her crimson eyes to the lapping river, one hand clenching tightly at Dia's observation. In response, the albino goddess turns her head away in a bit of shame. "No one was supposed to be there..." She told the flowing river. "This place was... made too well." To both the river god and the archon hero, the goddess would gesture at the sky of Solace, parting it ever so slightly so they could observe Wan'shi's repeated failures to consume the planar fortress that this conversation was being held in. "The serpent will never reach us here. My fortress is nearly perfect. It is just..." All those corpses could be seen as well, floating in the void...

"So then, you have the power to hurt that monster, and you are instead using it to hide." The Suzerain interrupted, his tone cool, not accusatory but more observing it as a fact.

Another god may have yelled or smote the arrogant near-mortal for questioning them. Instead, Renarr pulled her feet from Dia's manifestation onto the throne so she could pull her legs in against her body. "I... wanted to protect all of you..."

"Ah yes. And you did a fantastic job of it." Now there was some sarcasm in there, and the archon of darkness earned himself a glare from the goddess.

"How dare you? The serpent would have killed you all if I just fought it. Alone, I cannot face it in the void. And none of you were-" In one, unified voice, Renarr asked, "Who, exactly, are you?"

"You can call me the Suzerain of Night. Until you've fixed this mess you've made, my true name is my own." Setting the newly maimed godling in front of himself, the Suzerain states, "And you can start fixing it now. So, again. What is the plan, bringer of light? You can burn the beast. Your fortress is made. Now what?"

What anger Renarr had displayed faded almost instantly at the most blatant reminder of her failures. For a handful of seconds she thinks, watching Wan'shi turning to cannibalize itself and become storms and disasters upon the First World. What was she going to do? "Now? We hide. We build strength. We find allies. We kill the serpent. Or... we keep hiding. No, we kill it. We will not be able to hide forever while it continues to eat and grow in power. The threat is too great, the monster needs to be stopped."

The Suzerain folded his arms across his chest and grunted at that. "Hmph. It's a start." Shifting his feet through Dia's starless, void-like form, the archon asks the river goddess, "We seem to be in need of allies, since our resident sun god has exhausted herself in an ill-planned opening gambit. It seems you want fewer god-corpses made. Think you might be able to help?"

Who died and made this archon god-king?

Solace, a Meeting of Gods

The waters clung to the throne a moment longer before retracting with a splash. Renarr felt the river's attention shift to the archon maintaining the bubble of shadow.

I exerted some force to. Protect my kin. But I have strength enough for this, Suzerain.

I, The River Dia, will join you in arms against the Void Eater.

And with that proclamation, the river began to crawl up the walls and columns, covering all surfaces in a thick layer of water - even the throne (unless Renarr exerted her own power to stop this). A nearly invisible tunnel of waves extended up past the empty ceiling towards the First World. The floor itself became ice, safe for the divines to stand on, barring any nasty slips.

We must plan swiftly. Many gods have fled to that world. Many more godlings. The Serpent will claim them all. Every divine must pull their weight. Even. That. One.

Ice crackled around the throne.

Yet. With all our power. The beast may be too strong. To kill. But. It has limits. It could not enter this place.

[Omoikane13]

She heard Moiraithe as she spoke and choose to answer "they are mine and they need control - without it they would be lost in the dark, your creature can exist to weed out the weak but weakness has consequences", with that said she relaxed confident that her people could reject the ways of The Saorsa, however the events that occured next caused her more alarm.

"A sign of weakness, sister, that you do not trust your creations to function for themselves. An indication of ineptitude, perhaps."

The Saorsa had done admirable work, and had apparently gained a fondness for a small handful of cuisines and traditions, pleasing Moiraithe. It meant that her champion was learning and living, even when difficult, and it meant that it had been tested by the world and had passed. Before, others viewed it as a tool. Having heard the creation of winds cheerfully (in a sense) recount its preferred snacks, Moiraithe knew it to be her first child. And all children of Moiraithe would be protected. Kerima was coaching the peoples of Corrla with death and fear that they needed to be controlled, that they were useless by themselves, and that the Saorsa's teachings of living as you wished were evil. Moiraithe knew that this was taking its toll on her child's increasing mind, but didn't want to get into a deific fistfight with other gods.

The results of that were plain in the blighted lands that Kerima had driven those who desired self-determination into.

Moiraithe did not wish for some sweeping combat, to use her winds to fight back storms and rains, though she could. That way lay the everpresent hubris of a deity, lay an attempt to weave fate herself. And that was not as it should be. The winds were for change, not for monuments to Moiraithe. It would be better to give the mortals the tools they needed. She would whisper some of the knowledge herself - to the peoples of Corrla, for they could not cast out a voice in their ear - and would have the Saorsa deliver it to others. She thought that the Saorsa would enjoy the new peoples and the new environments.

=====

First, a multi-purposed gift. There had been dregs and pieces of water-travel, but it would do well to have it widespread. And with the winds being key to the act, sailors at the very least would likely be protected from Kerima's revenants. She whispered the knowledge of shipbuilding and sailing the oceans to those fleeing Kerima's grasp, watched as they cobbled together vessels, sent an idea here or there to help them resolve a problem. Moiraithe then sent the Saorsa to the Ghuls and the desert races, giving the Ghuls as much improvement to aid their fishing as possible with basic barges and trawlers, and providing the gift of sand-sailing to the many reptilian races in the desert.
Sailing would promote some delightful adventures too. Moiraithe smiled at the thought. She would bring that joy to whoever she could, other gods be damned.

Second, Moiraithe had seen that mortal societies could be fearful of the Saorsa. While some saw it as a wondrous servant of a god, some were twisted to see it as a usurping demon. The answer was to have the mortals do similar duties. She would not command, not twist, not control, but inspire. She would collect those mortals that would champion freedom from fate like her, and she would inspire them and empower them. Perhaps gift these mortal champions with some small measure of power, and then simply aid them in what they wished to free.

=====

For now, that would be sufficient. To bring the mortals closer together, and to empower those of them that would defend freedom and self-determination. It was a start.

Spoiler: AP Actions

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Create Mundane Concepts: Shipbuilding, Sailing (Water), Sailing (Sand) (3 AP total):
While boats and the like have existed before, the Journeywind has gifted mortal races (well, those who can use it for now, but it's not tough to learn) with the knowledge needed to truly travel the waves and dunes, and to properly craft the vessels with which to do so.

The races of Corrla know of Shipbuilding and Sailing (Water), but not openly. The Ghul have been given fresh knowledge of Shipbuilding and Sailing (Water), aiding in their fishing and general lives. The peoples across the Wadi Alsahali have been given Shipbuilding and Sailing (Sand), and this will spread easily given their trader-society.

(Fate (Freedom) 5/10)

Create Organization: The Knights of Moiraithe / Gale Knights + Bless (2 AP):
Moiraithe has empowered those mortals she deems champions of freedom everwhere, whatever race or society. If a mortal finds themselves standing up to a tyrant, shattering unjust laws, or even just living a life that helps others live theirs, they may find themselves suddenly able to shape the wind, twisting it to their needs. Some will try and create sigils and banners, but they will all know each other through being blessed by the wind.

(Fate (Freedom) 7/10)

AP Remaining: 9

[Book Wombat]

Sen, the Hearthtender

After the creation of the First World, the shattered fragments of the Creator's Divinity began slowly to fade. Although most disappeared a few shards had come together, as if seeking companionship, and formed an unstable sparkling sphere in all colours, as if seeking companionship. This sphere soon solidified into an egg, a protective barrier between the troubles of the newly formed realm and the still fragile held within.

As time passed it protected it's still developing charge from the destructive creation of Solace but later on, the egg having no means of movement, was swallowed by ravenous void serpent along with many other fledgling deities. However, instead of being absorbed by the endless void within, the egg stayed intact and was brought to the First World before being regurgitated by the serpent into the endless waters.

While sinking into the depths of the ocean only a few moments passed beforethe egg started shaking, a spider web of cracks expanding until a small beak poked out. This newborn being, in the form of a turtle, peeked out of its shell and watched the shimmering light above the water.

Now excited to experience more it gathered the floating egg fragments and filled them with land from below, not knowing how it did but that was something to think about later, up towards the light. Surfacing from beneath the waves it felt the soft sand, the cool water and the warming light.

Then something happened, all the experiences together awakened something deep inside it, something important. It felt it crack and from it arose her identity. She now knew she was Sen, a deity, but something was still missing. Still very excited she wriggled in pure happiness and burrowed into the sand to enjoy the warmth.

After gathering her thoughts she wanted to share these feelings with others and created with her new knowledge eggs in the likeness of her own.

With them safe on the dunes, she thought about the home they would live in and set about to changing her island to something better than the mess she had made instinctively, not very hard. Some more time passed until the Shell Isles were formed to what they are now. With the last island turned into a flourishing habitat Sen felt her core become clearer, more defined revealing another part of her existence. Home, a place of safety and shelter. She didn't feel complete yet though, just one part missing.

The eggs hatched soon enough, but they didn't have the same flame of consciousness she had, only a dim glimmering ember of instinct. For all her effort they didn't stay on the islands for long and instead paved their own path into the wide wide waters of the unknown. Almost heartbroken the goddess slept. Waking up to the new day she decidd to try once more, this time infusing the eggs with the kindle of thought and imprint of home.

When they awoke she knew that she had succeeded, succeeded in creating a family, and discovered one more part of her identity. Family, those that care for each other. Now complete the Goddess of Home and Family, Sen the Hearthtender, resolved to do her best to care for her family and home.

The Shelled, as she had taken to call them, were different from her previous children, blazing fires of thought that spread like a wildfire. They stayed with her and made their home on the islands, making her happy beyond words. Although they were intelligent, communication was a limited to basic gestures and sounds. To change this she developed a way to open one's mind, to manifest thoughts as though they were words.

Happy with what she had accomplished, she blessed the islands to swim where her family willed it before sleeping once more beneath the sand ignorant of the other gods' actions...

Spoiler: Actions

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Starting AP: 16
Remaining AP: 2

Create Land [2AP]: The Shell Isles
An archipelago of floating islands around. There is one main island surrounded by five minor ones along with a few dozen smaller outcrops which all together seem to be in the form of a swimming turtle from above.
Underwater they're all connected to a huge upside down mountain covered with the egg shell that protected Sen from the void. The whole archipelago is covered in a multitude of slow-moving rivers.
The largest is named Senter and has a seemingly impossible volcano out of which two lava streams flow splitting the island in two. Around the volcano lie fields of ash and crystal upon which strange plants grow. The island is bordered by a beach with large swathes of forests between it and the volcano. Underwater one may see the hints of a vast cave system.
The five minor islands each have their own traits:
Lakehead has two large freshwater lakes surrounded by trees carrying fruit.
Reefside is almost completely submerged and covered with corals and seaweed.
Dune has gently sloping dunes of golden sand
Stonehill is, as the name says, a large hill with several large boulders.
Greentop has many tall trees and underwater caves.

Create Monster [1AP]: Titan Turtles
Turtles, almost mundane turtles with a very hard shell. They like to swim around, lie in the sun, eat seaweed and explore. As they approach their hundredth year they can get as large as small hill, for the next hundred they tend to sleep for years at a time before dying. They're also very cute.

Create Race [2AP]: The Shelled
Around the size of young titan turtles (from head to tail as large as a human), these chelonids are quite intelligent. They can swim well and hold their breath for hours on end but are rather slow and clumsy on land. Their shell after which they're named is as tough as rock but still light enough to not be a burden.

Form Racial Society [2AP]: The Shelled
The Shelled have a council of elders which decide on the future of their race, most of the others have different areas or work such as collecting food, building houses (cave-like structures) and navigating among others.

Create Mythical Concept [4AP]: (Mind Manifestation)
Allows the consciousness to interact with others, and with enough strength even the physical world. Granted to the Shelled.

Bless [1AP]: Sanctuary Tides
The tides will carry the Shell Isles where the Hero of the Shelled wishes it to go.

Raise Hero [2AP]: Renna, Friend of the Tides
One chosen by the Shelled to guide the Sanctuary Tides.


Domain Progress:
Mind (Manifestation) [6/10]
Nature (Chelonid) [8/10]

[gac3]

Magirus, The Shaper, The Flame Tongued, The Spicy

Magirus enjoyed the Wadi Alsahali. It was hot and it was dry. The fire inside of him burned all the brighter for it. He could feel the transformation happening among the creatures of the land. He liked these people. He liked this land. He strolled through, wearing the corpse of a bighorn sheep he had killed and eaten. He had taken the form of one of the native geckokin. They were fun. Mobile and stealthy. As he walked he searched for them, killing a handful of animals along the way and dragging their corpses behind him.

Finally Magirus came upon a small group of the geckokin relaxing around a hot spring. "Hello there. I have brought you gifts. Let me show you how to use them."

As they sat, other groups of lizardfolk passed by and Magirus brought them in to learn. Soon he had a few dozen different lizardfolk around him as he taught them to shape the corpses to their needs and make various tools to aid them. Then he taught them how to prepare the corpses to grant them power and spread it among them.

As the groups dispersed, they each were stronger than before and with a mission. They took off in different directions to spread the knowledge they were given and enhance their skills.

Spoiler: AP Actions

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Starting AP 16


Bless -1AP: Malleable Corpses:
Magirus blesses corpses to be more useful to those who wish to shape them. Leather is easier to work and bones are easier to shape when heat is applied. When not being shaped, they will be sturdier and hold up better than normal.
Crafting (Corpses): 1/10

Create Mundane Concept -1AP: Cooking:
The art of turning edible material into meals. This includes a focus on making them more palatable. This would provide better results and create recipes.
Profession (Chefs): 1/10

Create Advanced Concept -2AP: Corpse Crafting:
This is an overarching realm of skills that include things like leather working, tanning, bone smithing, etc. Made easier by the blessing Malleable Corpses, Corpse Crafting covers everything form the making of clothes to weapons to tools and anything else you could feasibly make by shaping and manipulating the corpses of various species.
Crafting (Corpses): 3/10

Create Mythic Concept -4AP: Synthesis:
This is the mystic art of taking living material and turning it into potions and elixirs that grant special enhancements to the users. These involve adding heat and preparing the material in various specific ways. This includes corpses and plant material.
Example ingredients and the results: Ears of a bat: Enhanced hearing. Vocal chords of a wolf : Can mimic a wolf's howl. Pheonix ash (Not yet existing, just a hypothetical): the ability to rise upon death as a pheonix. Elephant Muscle: Enhanced Strength.
These enhancements are only improvements up to the new rank. Synthesizing the muscles of an elephant and a rhino give you the strength of the stronger, not the additive strength of both.
Magic (Synthesis): 4/10

Create Organization -1AP: Bellagirian Brigade:
The Bellagirian Brigade are an organization of essentially battles chefs. They are skilled with the above concepts (Synthesis, Corpse Crafting, Cooking) and seek to experience as much as they can while spreading the knowledge to those willing to learn. They typically arm themselves with corpse crafted cooking tools to optimize convenience.
Bellagi - plural
Bell - Singular
Profession (Chefs) 2/10

Total:
-9 AP
7 AP Remaining

Domain Progress:
Profession (Chefs): 2/10
Magic (Synthesis): 4/10
Crafting (Corpses): 3/10

[KragBrightscale]

Destructive rain and Kobolds

As the blood and viscera of the great devourer fell upon the land it caused widespread destruction. Chunks of smoldering flesh fell through the sky like meteors and crashed into the ground causing the earth to shake. Large craters were left behind as sand and dust was thrown into the air blocking out the light of the sun. Dark clouds that had absorbed the blood of the devourer rained down acid over some of the valleys transforming it to a true land of death. As the clouds faded and the dust settled the destruction that had happened was revealed in it’s entirety.

Abu Dhahab witnessed it all happening with a mixture of sadness and lingering fear. As the sun set, he saw the lizardfolk huddling in caves they had dug in the stone. Some tribes lost everything and had to flee for their lives.

A few tribes of Geckokin fled eastwards towards a new light in the sky. A softer, cooler, silvery counterpart to the fiery light of the day. By its light they left Abu Dhahab’s domain, and found a new home. A wet land transformed by a different deity, similar to what he had done when creating the desert but taking it in the opposite direction.

The great Lizard watched with approval as the refugees’ bodies were adapted to their new environment, and new knowledge was imparted to them. Though the Lizardfolk had lost some tribes, they had gained a richness in diversity through the addition of their relatives the Kobolds. Abu Dhahab wished this new people group well, and did not rescind the blessings he had imparted earlier.

A new environment, a new resource, a new ingredient

Rebuilding their lives after the disaster from the sky, the lizardfolk made sure to create more places of refuge. Tribes now made sure to carve their primary homes into the sturdy rock formations found in Wadi Alsahali, though tents were still widely used.

Some valleys had been severely damaged, with nothing living remaining. Having witnessed the drastic loss of life and destruction of the environment, Abu Dhahab mourned. As he walked through the barren wasteland, his tears fell to the ground and neutralized any toxins still present. It would take a lot more to bring life back, but the Father of Gold saw greater profit in investing elsewhere.

After he had passed by, a tribe of Geckokin had found the ground in the dead valleys had turned white. Scraping some off they tasted what looked like white sand and it reminded them of seawater. Thinking it might sell well as a novelty, they brought some to sell at the next monthly market.

That months market was a smashing success. A roaming Geckokin Bellagirus was visiting at that time an was selling tools. She discovered what came to be called salt being sold and instantly tasted its potential. Buying up their entire stock in exchange for some bone tools and a promise to teach them some crafting skills, she quickly set up a food cart and sold meat skewers that had been seasoned with salt and roasted over a fire.

Her food sold out fast, and she had to buy more meat from other vendors as more customers came to try the new dish that showcased how flavor could be enhanced. After the market she shared the source of her secret ingredient, making salt became a hot commodity that propelled the Geckokin tribe to prosperity.

With their newfound wealth, and recently learned crafting skills, the Geckokin tribe created a fleet of lightweight vessels out of bones, with large sails capable of skimming across the salt flats. With their mobility and experience they dominated the salt industry absorbing several other Geckokin tribes and eventually formed the widely celebrated merchant group known as the Salt Flat Skimmers.

Development of arithmetic and coinage

Abu Dhahab watched in interest as his creation started rebuilding their simple yet lively society. The markets, the grand bazaars, haggling of the price of fish, and arguing over how many colorful rocks a cluster of dates could be traded for. The discovery of salt, and how it overturned the market becoming so valuable that some Lizardfolk would only accept salt in exchange for their wares.

There was still so much untapped potential. Resources that lay untouched. Wealth just there for the taking. Crude bartering was also insufficient, it was clear from what he had observed. Although the concept of weights were being used to measure goods, a palm sized or finger sized rock was not very accurate. This needed a system.

Wondering around in the appearance of an elderly Lizardfolk merchant, Abu Dhahab visited markets and grand bazaars introducing the concept of arithmetic. Numbers, counting, and calculating using sets of beads on string or sticks. None recognized who he was, but the knowledge quickly spread along with the rumor of a wise old merchant.

Meeting with the tribal leaders, and market managers during the grand bazaars, Abu Dhahab also introduced the first gold and silver ingots. Explaining their use as a standardized currency and how to create more, he taught them gold panning and how to hammer the metal into shape with the aid of heating it with fire. As they already had tools of bone, they picked up the new craft quickly.

Soon gold ingots spread throughout their markets and a few creative craftsmen ventured further by combining metal working and what they knew of corpse crafting to create elegant accessories and simple jewelry, thereby cementing the metal’s value.

Venturing forth, Lizardfolk merchants look for others to trade with

Although many tribes grew wealthy through trade, others hit a wall due to a saturated market. Feeling lost and confused as to what they should do, the answer was brought to them by the whispering wind, a strange entity never seen before. Not of flesh and blood, but living and friendly nonetheless. Not knowing how to treat the stranger, they resorted to their usual hospitality.

Sharing food and drink, they entertained their guest and learned of other peoples. People without scales, and instead had soft warm skin. Elves, humans, dwarves, ghuls, the tales of foreign societies seemed almost like fantasy. As the guest left to continue their travels, the tribe had clarity regarding the way forward. They would travel to find new markets.

Venturing further away from their homes, these brave merchants gathered together in large groups for safety. Some traveled southeast into the swamps hoping to find novel new resources. Others traveled to the Great grassy plains and land of clay in search of other civilizations. These groups of traveling merchants became known as the Mutajawil

Spoiler: AP actions

Show

AP: 6

Bless (land - salt flats) -1 AP
Transforms the barren wasteland into the still barren salt flats. How? salty tears.
Travel (Caravans) 1/10

Create organization (Salt Flat Skimmers) -1 AP
A group of salt merchants made up of several Geckokin tribes that pilot lightweight bone vessels with large sails. The vessels make use of the sand-sailing concept and can skim across the sand and salt flats at high speed.
Travel (Caravans) 2/10

Create Mundane Concept (Arithmetics) -1 AP
Abu Dhahab introduces the concept of numbers, counting and the use of a primitive abacus or strings and beads to calculate.
Travel (Caravans) 3/10

Create Mundane Concept (Currency) -1 AP
Introduction of ingots of gold and silver with standardized weight to be used in exchange of goods.
Travel (Caravans) 4/10

Create Mundane Concept (basic metalworking) -1 AP
The skill to create things using soft metals such as gold, silver, and copper by hammering and heating. Primarily introduced to create currency and jewelry.
Travel (Caravans) 5/10

Create Organization (the Mutajawil) -1 AP
Nomadic groups of traveling Lizardfolk merchants whose home is the caravan they move around in. They stop at different villages and cities and set up a weeklong market before moving on.
Travel (Caravans) 6/10

6 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 = 0 AP remaining

[Zelphas]

On the Grassy Plains of the Circle Continent

The Mutajawil found an odd reception in the grassy plains at first; many of the centaurs had been forced to leave their ancestral homes due to the ravages of the acid rains, and the Clay Dragons had been able to tear through the world with much more freedom than before. One dragon had even slipped away from the watchful centaur tribes, disappearing into the south and east in the chaos of the storms and the rains. The centaurs, wary of anything lizardlike due to dealing with the Clay Dragons and reeling from the storms, were at first difficult to find, let alone trade with, but finally the two very different people began to meet. Another bump in the road came when the centaurs, complete herbivores, were offered the hides and bones of animals; their confusion and (in some cases) revulsion nearly stopped the entire trading attempt once more. And so it was by slow degrees, with many false starts, that the two different peoples began a tentative relationship.

Two things were given in trade to the Mutajawil to bring home to their lands. The first was a development in food, given to the centaurs by Hetta when she saw their difficulties and reached out to preserve them. The goddess had watched others refine and develop what their creations ate, but she had been at a loss; her centaurs ate no meat, and so she could not simply copy what the other deities had done. She found the answer by observing her creations themselves; by creating small, enclosed ovens of clay and burning the grasses and occasional trees within them, the centaurs found fire and some shelter from the storms. Hetta combined this with a mash of the grains they grew, water, and a few other herbs and grasses, placing all of this in an oven and drawing it out after a time, she made bread. Thus, baking was born in the Circle Continent.

The second thing that the centaurs gave to the Mutajawil was a warning. Every centaur tribe without exception had a story to tell the traders of the fearsome Clay Dragons, monsters of endless appetite and undying, earthen flesh. Some few Mutajawil, happening by chance to come across the tribe that was right near a Dragon's current feeding place, were brought to see the beast itself, observing how it ate the grass down to earth and rock and pounced upon anything living with speed and ferocity. The centaurs were charged with holding these beasts at bay, they were told, but the rains and storms had weakened them, and one dragon had slipped their net. Be wary, the Mutajawil were warned again and again; it may be coming to you.

Outside the Pit of Making

Those Mutajawil that entered the lands of clay surrounding the Pit of Making were always stopped a few miles from the border by a nearly-shapeless lump of smeared, multicolored clay that spoke in a toneless voice. "If... you take... you... must make..." it repeated, gesturing to the land around them. It did not elaborate. Any Mutajawil that pushed forward into the lands would find the streams and trees disappearing several days from the center; only the most well-prepared (or most foolhardy) would manage to discover the pit that currently held the goddess inside.

Spoiler: AP Actions

Show

1 AP

Create Mundane Concept (Baking) -1 AP: The centaurs have learned to make enclosed clay furnaces, and how to mix together their grains with herbs and water to form flat cakes and loaves of bread. (Cooking (Baking) Progress 6/10)

1 - 1 = 0 AP Remaining.

[Gnomes2169]

Spoiler: Previously, in Solace

Show

Solace, a Meeting of Gods

The waters clung to the throne a moment longer before retracting with a splash. Renarr felt the river's attention shift to the archon maintaining the bubble of shadow.

I exerted some force to. Protect my kin. But I have strength enough for this, Suzerain.

I, The River Dia, will join you in arms against the Void Eater.

And with that proclamation, the river began to crawl up the walls and columns, covering all surfaces in a thick layer of water - even the throne (unless Renarr exerted her own power to stop this). A nearly invisible tunnel of waves extended up past the empty ceiling towards the First World. The floor itself became ice, safe for the divines to stand on, barring any nasty slips.

We must plan swiftly. Many gods have fled to that world. Many more godlings. The Serpent will claim them all. Every divine must pull their weight. Even. That. One.

Ice crackled around the throne.

Yet. With all our power. The beast may be too strong. To kill. But. It has limits. It could not enter this place.

Spoiler: Previously, in Solace

Show

[/B]

Solace, a Meeting of Gods
Not stopping the water goddess from spreading at the moment, though Renarr herself remains clean of the moisture and cold that was spreading, the Daystar responds. "My power can cause the beast harm. It can break the serpent's body, can burn away the darkness... but it can draw away, heal, rebuild itself from the divine flesh it has already glutted itself upon. Its essence is beyond my reach. If I had not wasted so much power here, perhaps I could have sealed or truly killed the pieces that I carved away, made them inert... But now..." The exhausted goddess shook her head.

"Perhaps you could pool your strength together?" The Suzerain recommended. "What you carve away, Dia and any other allies you find can pin down and drain of the beast's vitality."

Lifting up a finger, the sun goddess points out, "Perhaps. Though the beast's body is massive. Alone, it would take me decades, if not centuries, to fully shatter its form." She points at the unaligned archons, who were walking around in the cooler area crafted for them by Dia, their feet splashing through the river. "Fortunately, I think we might have the tools necessary to speed that along."

The other archons looked to each other for a moment, before looking to the Suzerain and drawing the same conclusion. The one-armed one let out a slow sigh and mutters, "Well. I guess I've kinda been wondering what I would look like if I glowed. Though I'm gonna get ate. I just know I'm gonna get ate."

"If it makes you feel any better, the snake shouldn't be able to digest you any more than it would be able to digest the rest of my power." Renarr pointed out.

The miserable archon shook his head and walked along the river Dia for a bit, muttering to himself, "It just ain't fair, is what I'm saying. I was supposed to be a god of parties and dice, and look where I end up. Creator got bored before I could get finished. Just ain't fair..." A little bit of the tension seemed to be relieved for the other godlings as their brethren shuffled off to be miserable, the little bit of humor, meager as it might be, helping them swallow the pill that they were needed in the struggle to preserve creation. None of them backed down.

"So then, you infuse these ones with your power so that this war against the serpent is shorter, less painful to the world itself. Dia," The archon of Night said, looking to the river goddess, "You are a being of water, and span more of the world than we could reach. Search for the other gods. See if any will join our struggle, for I am certain that they would be happy to preserve the creations they already struggled to create." Looking once more to the first world through Renarr's window, the Suzerain folds his arms and mutters, "If the beast sees us move from our fortress before we are ready, it may make another attempt at Solace... or it may strike while Renarr is vulnerable. Either way, our best course of action is likely to have her stay here and have her replenish her strength until she can infuse the others. I think that I might be able to slip away with you if you desired, Dia. I will likely be ineffective against Wan'shi to begin with, and I may be able to reach that mirror god that I saw for just a moment before the world turned it away."

[Kinro]

The Kobolds spread quickly through their new lands, though staying well connected, thanks to their knowledge of writing and thanks, too, to a new discovery, a type of shrub that grew long, tubular branches, just the right size for a Kobold's hand and just the right hardness to be easily carved. They were cut to size into small section and carved over, allowing messages to be easily moved all across the Great Marshes, so that none of the forming tribe was ever fully out of contact with another. And so, the various tribes maintain strong bonds even as they filled the marshes.

Spoiler: AP

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Racial Society (Kobold Tribes of the Great Marshes)
The Kobolds of the Great Marsh is not a single entity, but rather the entirety of all the various smaller tribes found throughout the Great Marshes. A single tribe will usually consist of between one and three dozen members. While they are essentially independent, the various tribes are held together by bonds of trade and mutual assistance, propped up by an unofficial system of message passing. Any Kobold going to some tribe or other will take with them 'carving sticks', small wood-like cylinders, cut from the growth of local plants and carved with a message, to be passed along. This forms a sort unofficial, but surprisingly efficacious, post system.

9-2 = 7
(Swamp(Kobolds) 2+2 = 4)

And eventually, it came to pass that new emissaries came to the Kobolds. New and old, cousins from the lands that were no longer theirs, wearing the forms of their ancestors. Towering giants, they were, and strange. Their thoughts and bodies were slowed by the coolness of the swamps, their breathing made difficult by their humidity. They stumbled around in the dark even more so than in the light. Their feet sunk deep where a Kobold skipped lightly. To this land, they were nearly as unsuited as unsuited as the Kobolds were to the lands that first birthed them. But the Kobolds greeted them warmly, though their languages had split just as sharply as their forms. And yet, their languages had a common root. And, more importantly, a history. Soon, the Kobold tribes were seeking out old houses and, most intriguing to Lor, bringing out old carving sticks. Very old ones. Writings were nearly sacred to the Kobolds, after all, and they kept all the carving sticks that they received. These were passed down through generations or, when it became too much, entrusted to local temples of Lor. This was followed, almost inevitably, by some sending messages not to those that existed now, but to the future, entrusted to the temples for the care of those that had yet to exist. Lor saw all this now and chose to encourage it. Soon, there would rise a new caste of shaman-keepers. And then simply keepers of carvings.

Spoiler: AP

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Create Organization(Marsh Librarians)

An organization originating from the tradition of Kobolds storing carving sticks in the temples dedicated to Lor, joined by Kobold dedicated to the preservation of them it would spread to become an organization dedicated to maintaining and spreading all forms of knowledge, spreading through the lands separate from its racial and religious origins. Though it would always boast a large number of Kobolds in its ranks and symbols of the golden mirror would often be seen in its halls.

7 - 1 = 6
(Knowledge(Teaching) 5+1 = 6)

But as for the emissaries, soon enough, a crude common language was formed between them and the Kobolds. And then, the Kobolds began to learn. Or, at least, record. Some of the concepts seemed strange and would take time for them to digest. Metals, they had little of naturally and they easily corroded in the wet swamps and the idea of trading for bits of them seemed strange. The complexities of commerce, especially, seemed foreign, as what they found most precious was something that one could keep and give. But arithmetics, that caught on like wildfire. It was like writing and counting at the same time, like telling a story with numbers. Or using numbers to tell of a thing with precision. It wasn't long before new glyphs were invented and systems of adding them together in new form. As for the emissaries, priceless, ancient carving sticks were pressed into their hands in thanks for the knowledge they had so freely given. Perhaps a strange result for the merchants who had come to trade resources, but found a people who yet wanted none of what they had to give and gave them nothing but bits of wood with weird marks in them.

Spoiler: AP

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Teach Mundane Concept(Arithmetics)
Kobolds learn arithmetics from Lizardfolk merchants

6 - 1 = 5
(Knowledge(Teaching) 6 + 1 = 7

The encounter with the emissaries did more than spread knowledge of numbers to the Kobolds, it also thought them how much there was to learn beyond their swamp, new knowledge from new people. Knowledge of people. Perhaps more. So while some chose to preserve knowledge in the temples of knowledge that were now being erected, others chose to be those who gathered it. Those who tired to go East found it the most difficult. The land of their origin no longer welcomed those that had abandoned her. The harsh sun and dryness was nearly deadly to them now. But with enough work a compromise was found. Mountain hot springs were places where the hot and the cold mixed, and the wet and the dry. It was also where Kobolds and Lizardfolk could meet in environments that were tolerable, occasionally enjoyable, to each. And, just the same, these meetings were mostly at dusk and dawn, when the day and the night mixed. Other lands, the mountains to the North and the plains to the East, were much more welcoming, though none as pleasant as the Kobolds' true home in the Great Marshes. Lor worried for its people, then, and its worry became a blessing onto them, that, just as it had guided them once towards their new land, they would always know again the way to them.

Spoiler: AP

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Alter Land(Magnetic Pole)
A magnetic pole has been placed in the middle of the Great Marshes. And, of course, on whatever place is directly opposite to it

Bless(Magnetism Sense(Kobolds))
Blessed by Lor, Kobolds can intuitively sense magnetic waves, and so always know in which direction the Great Marshes lay. This is mostly evident to those who leave them, as , to the ones who live in them, the effect permeates too strongly.

5-2 = 3
(Swamp(Kobolds) 4+2 = 6)

[SpeedWitch]

Spoiler: Previously, on The X-men

Show

Solace, a Meeting of Gods
Not stopping the water goddess from spreading at the moment, though Renarr herself remains clean of the moisture and cold that was spreading, the Daystar responds. "My power can cause the beast harm. It can break the serpent's body, can burn away the darkness... but it can draw away, heal, rebuild itself from the divine flesh it has already glutted itself upon. Its essence is beyond my reach. If I had not wasted so much power here, perhaps I could have sealed or truly killed the pieces that I carved away, made them inert... But now..." The exhausted goddess shook her head.

"Perhaps you could pool your strength together?" The Suzerain recommended. "What you carve away, Dia and any other allies you find can pin down and drain of the beast's vitality."

Lifting up a finger, the sun goddess points out, "Perhaps. Though the beast's body is massive. Alone, it would take me decades, if not centuries, to fully shatter its form." She points at the unaligned archons, who were walking around in the cooler area crafted for them by Dia, their feet splashing through the river. "Fortunately, I think we might have the tools necessary to speed that along."

The other archons looked to each other for a moment, before looking to the Suzerain and drawing the same conclusion. The one-armed one let out a slow sigh and mutters, "Well. I guess I've kinda been wondering what I would look like if I glowed. Though I'm gonna get ate. I just know I'm gonna get ate."

"If it makes you feel any better, the snake shouldn't be able to digest you any more than it would be able to digest the rest of my power." Renarr pointed out.

The miserable archon shook his head and walked along the river Dia for a bit, muttering to himself, "It just ain't fair, is what I'm saying. I was supposed to be a god of parties and dice, and look where I end up. Creator got bored before I could get finished. Just ain't fair..." A little bit of the tension seemed to be relieved for the other godlings as their brethren shuffled off to be miserable, the little bit of humor, meager as it might be, helping them swallow the pill that they were needed in the struggle to preserve creation. None of them backed down.

"So then, you infuse these ones with your power so that this war against the serpent is shorter, less painful to the world itself. Dia," The archon of Night said, looking to the river goddess, "You are a being of water, and span more of the world than we could reach. Search for the other gods. See if any will join our struggle, for I am certain that they would be happy to preserve the creations they already struggled to create." Looking once more to the first world through Renarr's window, the Suzerain folds his arms and mutters, "If the beast sees us move from our fortress before we are ready, it may make another attempt at Solace... or it may strike while Renarr is vulnerable. Either way, our best course of action is likely to have her stay here and have her replenish her strength until she can infuse the others. I think that I might be able to slip away with you if you desired, Dia. I will likely be ineffective against Wan'shi to begin with, and I may be able to reach that mirror god that I saw for just a moment before the world turned it away."

Solace, a Meeting of Gods

A circular platform of ice rose from the waters.

My waters run swiftly. And my form darker than the Serpent's. If you wish to go. I will ferry you safely across the void, Suzerain.

Some of my essence will remain here. For the godlings' sakes. While Solace's goddess rests.

Meanwhile, as the armless archon walked, a small column of water shot up beside him and linked with his shoulder, solidifying into a new limb. Renarr felt the river's attention turn to her once again.

Treat them well. For life is fragile. Never forget this.

Once the Suerain stepped onto the platform, Dia would form a new water column around the platform and rush off to the First World with him in tow, following his directives to find new allies.

True to her word, some of her water remained in Solace, pooling around the archons and protecting them from its heat.

* * *

Sometime after the two had left, the newly-armed archon would notice flickers of light shining from within his void limb: flashes of extravagant parties, whispers of scandalous rumors, the rush of a good jape. Things he had long put out of his mind while the serpent rampaged across the cosmos, now perfectly preserved in his arm.

---

Spoiler: AP Actions

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Sunspots
Bless (1AP)
Dia has pooled parts of herself into Solace. These expansive waters have similar properties to that of Nocturne, moving around and freezing on surfaces, greatly reducing the light and heat in the area to just a little above 0°C. The pools follow guests vulnerable to Solace's extreme conditions around the plane and protect them from harm. Renarr or another deity can easily shunt or dismiss these pools to Nocturne with but a smidgen of their power. With proper observation methods, an onlooker from the First World can witness these pools manifest on the Daystar.

Sprites
Monstrous Life (1AP)
Thoughts and memories, once forgotten, can leave an individual in the form of a tiny, invisible, intangible speck of energy called a sprite. These sprites are relatively immune to being moved or harmed by natural elements, and can even phase through solid objects. Sprites generally trail behind the individual they were formed from in chains or clusters, trying to reenter their mind; occasionally succeeding, often causing another sprite to pop out. Severe head trauma or other ailments of the mind can sever a sprite chain, leaving those memories to drift aimlessly across whichever plane they were lost in.
Sprites usually dissipate on their own a few decades after their progenitor dies.
Other Interactions...
◆ When a creature with a soul dies, its remaining memories are encoded into its Ren, preventing them from becoming sprites.
◆ Archons and deities can easily absorb sprites into themselves or remove them at will. Sprites taken from another creature and put into a deity will be preserved even after the one who created the sprite has perished.
◆ The psychically inclined are able to sense sprites and even manipulate them, their powers in the manifestation of the mind following the same principles.

Remaining AP: 4/16

[Gnomes2169]

Spoiler: Previously, on The Avengers

Show

Solace, a Meeting of Gods

A circular platform of ice rose from the waters.

My waters run swiftly. And my form darker than the Serpent's. If you wish to go. I will ferry you safely across the void, Suzerain.

Some of my essence will remain here. For the godlings' sakes. While Solace's goddess rests.

Meanwhile, as the armless archon walked, a small column of water shot up beside him and linked with his shoulder, solidifying into a new limb. Renarr felt the river's attention turn to her once again.

Treat them well. For life is fragile. Never forget this.

Once the Suerain stepped onto the platform, Dia would form a new water column around the platform and rush off to the First World with him in tow, following his directives to find new allies.

True to her word, some of her water remained in Solace, pooling around the archons and protecting them from its heat.

* * *

Sometime after the two had left, the newly-armed archon would notice flickers of light shining from within his void limb: flashes of extravagant parties, whispers of scandalous rumors, the rush of a good jape. Things he had long put out of his mind while the serpent rampaged across the cosmos, now perfectly preserved in his arm.

Solace, a Meeting of Gods, Ending
Renarr's crimson eyes would watch as the river goddess' form disappeared with her passenger, power gathering around her as she considered everything that had just happened. As the unfortunate archon lets out his startled yelp at gaining a new limb, the goddess suddenly sits up straight in her chair and she asks, "Wait. How did he know my name?" Renarr knew she hadn't told him.

She watches the fading divinities even closer, missing the injured archon's return to show off his new limb to the other unaligned godlings. Which was probably for the best, since he was claiming it meant he was finding his true calling as a water deity, and Renarr needed to not give herself a black eye from face palming so hard.

The Suzerain's Reflection
The journey to the first world would be nearly silent, the Suzerain kneeling within Dia's currents as she carried him outside of the serpent's sight. He was searching for the light he had seen from Solace... there. "There it is, on the dark side of the world." Close to the portal to Nocturne, as fate would have it, just beside the coiling serpent's winding tail. Stepping from Dia's flow, taking full advantage of being submerged within the Strands of Night, he whispers, "Luck in your search." And then the two split.

Floating through the void, pulling on the strands from Nocturne, the Suzerain drifted until he slowed and stopped before Lor. Taking a deep breath, the archon looked upon his own reflection in the mirror and... saw himself, but adorned with a crown upon his head, a blade in his hand. "Ah. So that is your nature." Or at least, that reflection of his ideal self hinted at a nature related to secrets and desire. And there was certainly a power here, a divine intellect.

He did not know if this god could talk.

So instead, he placed his hands on the god's frame and made bare his intentions. The desire to stop the serpent's swathe of destruction, the need he and his allies had for aid, the plan to shatter Wan'shi to neutralize the threat it posed to the world and the creations of all the gods, Lor's kobolds included. He also imposed a suggestion by using a memory, a memory of how brightly Lor shined when the mirror had reflected Solace's light, then a memory of how Solace's light and heat had Wan'shi at bay, before running an imagined scenario where the slowly orbiting god was used to magnify a much more closely placed blast of light. "Imagine what might be accomplished if you combined your power with hers." The Suzerain whispered on the off chance that the mirror could hear him, all while looking into the eyes of his own reflection to see if there was any response.

[dancrilis]

River Archons in Corrla

On the continents of Corrla the river archons were largely left alone, or were treated as dangerous entities when they moved against villages requiring priests to call on their powers to push them back, or in some cases where revanants and river spirits entered battles against one another where neither could truely prevail. This was worse for rivers near the blight spots where the Serpent Blood's caused the waters to become corrupted with its taint - a force the archons were unable to truely resist even if they avoided the actual blight zones themselves merely being downstream was a sufficent problem.

Their aid came from what might have been an unlikely source the priesthood of Kerima had ample reason to seek to cleanse water sources of taint and confine the blight to the areas where it had fallen, and this generated some discussion amoungst the river spirits - who was the Kerima and could she protect them, moreso would she?

There were no easy answers for this - but one spirit choose to offer homage to the divinity and after figuring out the different between lip service and actual belief noted that the revanants stopped attacking it when they were close - this triggered a much greater interest in the creature and it sought out one of the priesthood, an elf who worhipped Kerima primary as a goddess of life who allowed the priest to guide her followers, thus began a long conversation which ended when the archon choose to become one of the priests directly and learned how to tap into the power of faith.

This archon began the difficult work of spreading the word to others of its kind of which there were two core tenets that it understood: worship Kerima, honour the priesthood.

This allowed the archon to protect itself from the blight as the mortal priests did and introduced new elements into the priesthood of Kerima.

If the goddess cared for lesser divinities worshipping her she gave no specific sign - which most took to be approval.

[Razade]

The Storm Descends: The Circle Continent

There was no warning. Alright. There was a lot of warning. A giant storm on the horizon is as much warning of the storm one is going to get. No one on the ground could have guessed how terrible it would truly be.

When Wan'shi, that terrible and vicious thing, made landfall on the Circle Continent one present would only have a single term to describe it. The end of the world. Razor sharp teeth fell from the skies, angry little hail-like maws that devoured and chewed anything they fell upon as winds like whips pulled the devastated pulp up and into the storm. What was worse was the speed of the great hurricane, stalled over the north east of the circle continent as the very jaws of the serpent made contact.

The entire First World shuddered at this, deep vents in the ocean ripping open and on the circle continent, vast chasms tore through the earth and dirt like vast claw marked wounds. Even over the mighty continent rain and wind blew, nowhere safe from the storm itself. Even the parched deserts, so close to the epicenter, felt the skies open above them and cast down their contents and where Wan'shi's jaws touched, only the churning seas remained as they rushed in to fill the serpent's mouth. One might fear that the serpent might drink all the oceans up in a single gulp and strip bare the precious land beneath.

Spoiler: AP Actions

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AP: 4

Alter Land (The Day of Thunder) - 1AP: Vast rifts and chasms open in the Circle Continent, creating large and vast rivers that separate parts of the continent while exposing the inland to routes to the Underdark. [Evil (Natural Disasters) 3/10]

Alter Land (The Bay of Teeth) - 1AP: A large chunk of the North Eastern deserts simply disappear, anyone caught as the storm descends describing teeth falling like hail. The ocean claims the empty spaces. [Evil (Natural Disasters) 4/10]

4 - 1 -1 = 2AP

[Kinro]

The Suzerain did find Lor floating in the place above the planet but beneath the stars, a beautiful mirror seemingly sized for him. Its sides were covered in gold and jewels and, prominent at the top, a beautiful sliver diamond spun slowly. It faced him, unmoving. Always, it faced him and yet, never it moved. Never was there any sign in it of the Suzerain's presence, except, perhaps a sense of attentions. And, of course, the reflection it showed of the god as he could be. Nothing still happened as the Suzerain placed his hands on it, not until he had done all he wished, until he had said all that he wished to say. Then, there was movement and there were words, not from Lor himself, but from the Suzerain's reflection. The reflection spoke with a voice that the Suzerain wished he could have, and with words that he wished he could use so well, but it was Lor's mind that was spoken then.

The Suzerain's reflection spoke of Lor's beginning, when it first saw the world and its affairs, the gods, the snake, when it experienced its first and only glance at the bright orb's light and when it experience the pain of not knowing. It recounted how it had met its people. They had felt the pain of the snake and he felt their pain. But that pain had brought them to it and it felt joy at this. And they felt joy, too, in their new land that it had made for them. Lor could not thank the snake, but it could not hate the snake either. Lor directed the Suzerain's attention to the vast salt flats that the lizard god had made in his pain, now enjoyed greatly by his own creations. Again, joy from pain. The reflection returned its attention to the Suzerain and through it, Lor thanked him. To him, he could be grateful, for he had given him knowledge it could not otherwise have gained, knowledge of its own splendor. For this, it would trust the Suzerain's words and all he would have to say. But before it could help it also needed to know, the pain that the snake was yet to cause, could the Suzerain know that it was not yet again again of hidden pleasure?

The reflection returned to being a reflection as Lor awaited the Suzerain's answer. But its attention was not fully on the god. Some of it had gone down to the swamps, from which some brave Kobolds were now departing, to meet their world and those who lived in it, willingly facing the harshness of the world beyond their paradise, to find greater joy still. And it continued to watch even as it saw the snake come once more, saw its people huddle in fear as their continent split, still it hesitated. Still, it awaited the Suzerain's answer.

[Omoikane13]

"I need to ponder some ideas with you," Moiraithe told the Saorsa. Her first child had recently checked in after some travels around the various reptilian nations, and its roiling feet of debris were shaped plantigrade as an affectation from the trip. That, and it had espoused the efficacy of using the dead as building materials. She had asked if the corpses were freely given and upon hearing that they had been left the topic alone.

"Of course!"

"What do the mortals need to keep them going? In a non-obvious sense." The conversation's position roughly sixteen thousand leagues above the First World gave them both a prime view of Wan'shi's storms and destruction. "I'm not getting into some godly fight, so we need to be the ones to give them the tools to survive as worse comes."

The Saorsa thought hard. This didn't show physically as such, but Moiraithe had made the creature.

"Most of them have found their ways to hunker down and last through the storms. The reptilians even spread out. And the Corrlan just send their exiles into the blighted zones."

"Anything that would purify blight would be far too noticeable, and I don't wish to taunt the snake either. However, aiding in rebuilding is possible. Perhaps we can do for plants and smaller life what we did for the larger mortals. Let them blend and flow through the lands. I'm sure I can establish a suitable wind"

=====

"If the mortals could reach this high, storms would be meaningless. And travel and adventure would be ubiquitous."

"Well I can't just grant them all magical flight. That's not how this works."

"You gave some of them the wind."

"And if all of them had it, it would become another tool of tyranny and fate."

Both Moiraithe and the Saorsa were quiet. As Moiraithe thought, she absentmindedly prototyped, wisps of wind outlining ideas for gifts and creations. What technologies the mortals could have that wouldn't decimate their way of life, or be useless, or any number of other things. What beasts would do the same.

"I gave them ships. They took to the water and to the sand. What if they took to the sky?"

The Saorsa stayed quiet, but only because it knew its mother did not need it to say anything.

"We could use the rejuvenating winds, along with a sprinkle of extra life. Islands, so that they don't block out too much light below. Let things grow for a while, and then we'll see about giving the mortals a way to explore. Their ships are a bit too basic to ride wind. Maybe we should make them something fun while they develop."

The Saorsa brightened at that, for it knew that would be its task. To figure out what the mortal races considered adventure.

"Above Wan'shi's storms?"

"Of course. No point in lands to carve your destiny from if they get carved out by something else."

=====

Spoiler: AP Actions

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Bless: The Wind of Athnuachan (1 AP):
The Wind of Athnuachan is a titantic current of air, easily kilometres of wind at least. This is no ordinary wind, no, this is a Bless action. The Wind of Athnuachan regularly travels near to the surface of the First World, battering settlements somewhat but also picking up seeds, sand, soil, nutrients, as well as small insects or similar tiny beasties. This rejuvenating material is then deposited in other locations on further "fly-bys", helping in the rejuvenation of many destroyed or barren areas. Basically, think that whole deal with the Sahara feeding the Amazon, but world-wide, magical, and looping.
Two notes:
- The Athnuachan system does affect rain, but not with any notable magic, just as a giant weather pattern could. Rain patterns are encouraged to a healthy degree, but a hypothetical deity of rain could prevent that with minimal effort.
- The Wind of Athnuachan can not fix magically destroyed areas. It doesn't even "fix" normally destroyed areas, just brings new life and general rejuvenation. Those chasms and eaten areas are there until a proper Alter Land, but they might be populated with some hardy plants thanks to Athnuachan.

(Fate (Freedom) 8/10)

Create Land + Bless: The Skysea (3 AP in total):
The atmosphere of the First World has already been graced with a wind carrying life, but now islands bob merrily in the magical, semi-solid winds in the sky. These islands are patterned after assorted samples of existing terrain, and will slowly be populated by brief Athnuachan visits.

The Skysea is also home to assorted specially designed fauna and flora that are naturally at home in the winds, including flying fish, many birds, skyborne plankton, and many other species that I may detail later/elsewhere.

The winds between Skysea islands are roughly as solid as a healthily active sea, although "swimming" deep enough will dump you back into normal atmosphere, with all the falling that implies.

in the future, it's possible that reliable craft could sail the Skysea, but that day is not here yet. In addition, the Saorsa will be travelling the lands to find out what the mortal races consider an adventure, and those answers may show up far in the sky...

(Fate (Freedom) 10/10 -- Portfolio gained)
(Air (Sky) 1/10)

AP Remaining: 5

[Zelphas]

Upon the broken plains of Circle Continent

The Kobolds came to the centaurs, and found a species in mourning. They had known that the great serpent was coming to strike them, and so the centaurs had attempted to go against their deeply-encoded territorialism and forsake their ancestral lands in order to save their lives as the fangs came down. Some of them managed it, leaving the land of their ancestors and entering new plains that seemed (to them) as alien and uncomfortable as the fabled deserts of the Lizardfolk traders.

Not all were able to leave.

The centaur people's mourning was only slightly cushioned by the fact that a Clay Dragon had been caught at the edge of Wan'shi's rampage. The creature, so impervious to all means of attack by the centaur tribes, had fallen in the astonished eyes of the few eyewitnesses who managed to escape. Even this miracle was bittersweet to the tribes; with one Clay Dragon gone, and now one seemingly dead, they had only half of their ancestral enemy left to fight. Mixed with their mourning was confusion, and worry; without their lands, without their foes, who were they? What are they supposed to do?

The tragedies and confusion made the centaur tribes astonishingly gentle with their smaller Kobold neighbors. Where once they would have brushed off the small lizards' desire for knowledge and stories as frivolity, now they listened to their tales... and told their own. Where once writing would have seemed like a silly bit of nothing to many, now the centaurs learned it, and shared the skills of baking in response. Helped by the painful, awkward years of trading with the Lizardfolk, the centaurs and the Kobolds began their relationship on a much warmer, gentler note.

Inside the Pit of Making

A splatter of rain fell into the pit, turning a half-shaped clay form into swirling mud. Hetta paused from her work, looking up into the rains and feelign the pain and confusion of the mortals she had made. The god of the Lizardfolk, he had wept when his creations were harmed, and his tears had helped them. Hetta did not feel the same... emotions, though a vague part of her wished she could. She did feel... something, however. An unformed idea, a strong yet confused desire, that did not yet have the power to take shape.

Yet.