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

[Kinro]

It had taken a good while, but finally, the kobolds of the Great Marshes had come upon and idea for societal organization that fitted them. A concept called 'democracy', whereby all kobold would be able to choose their representative, the precess greatly facilitated by the Kobold Post system. A single vote per kobold or resident of the Great Marshes, to be applied directly or transfered, at will, to any chosen representative.



And on the lands of Sor'Ryu, already, dispute was brewing. Even as plans were in motion to set up a teleportation gate to carry back the bounty of wood already being gathered, including new types, never before seen, a new faction arose, possibly influenced by this strange land, who wished to live closer to nature instead. Many of them had begun to wander into the woods, to befriend the dangerous creatures which lived there. Not all succeeded, of course, but more did than expected.

Spoiler: AP

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Rollover

AP: 2 + 6 = 8
PAP: 4 + 1 = 5

Teach Mundane Concept(Democracy)
A representative is chosen to represent the Great Marshes, decided on through voting, one vote for each resident of the swamp and each kobold anywhere. Major issues are also put to a vote, the voting being either direct or done through representatives, who can vote with the power of the votes allocated to them.

0 (Jewel)

Create Organization(Dino friends of Sor'ryu)
8 - 1 = 7

A faction of kobold explorers who have split off from the main group, these brave kobolds take advantage of the Wild Bonding blessing to befriend and live amongst the strange creatures of this wild land. Over time, they often take on traits of their chosen companion, those bonded with the fiercest monsters becomeing ferocious, for example, or those who ride the great sauropods becoming calmer and much more patient.

Peace (Alliances): 4 + 1 = 5

Bless (Ironwood)

A new type of wood found exclusively in the dangerous jungles of Sor'Ryu and Macra'Ahi. This wood is far stronger than any other known, while still nearly as light and is still easily able to take on magitek enchantments.

Adventure (Wood): 5 + 1 = 6

[Feathersnow]

To: Atali Ufrhokan

After consulting with Sister Prima Kaxim Kaxim regarding the recent diplomatic meeting, I, as newly appointed God-Empress of the Ghuls and Regent of the Brotherhood am willing to propose the following terms:

1)The Ghuls will enter into a formal mutual protection pact with the League.


2) At the discretion of the Empire, those Ghuls currently occupying areas under nominal Empire control as of this date will either accept parole or relocation to avoid hostilities. This will only ever apply to enclaves in current borders.

3)The League will be given full access to the magical potential of Pharmakeia

4)The League will be permitted to send observers to those structures built by Empire contractors

5) The League will be given full access to our records of production and export.

6)While we maintain the right to hire civilian workers from any nation, the League will be given advanced notice when we hire workers from potentially hostile nations and we will avoid, if possible, paying in trade goods the League considers of a sensitive nature.

Additionally, you should probably be advised that the Land of Cliffs and Spires is no more. By my new divine power, it has grown and been warmed into the Land of Caribou.

The current Ghul population has been relocated to the coasts, but the newly habitable inland areas are unclaimed. The Ghul population has no immediate need or interest in this land, and it is our hope that the League's begins settling there. Hopefully this can alleviate some of your problems while preventing another power with which we have less positive relations with from doing it first.

God-Empress Acis'sej @ City of Eastwatch-Fox

In the City, the only city of her people, Acis'sej looked at the Living Tower. She knew, in a sense, who had done this. But why? What mad god had worked this wonder, and for what end?

All she knew was that it was related to the disturbance in the Plains of Always and Never, and the force, though deeply disturbing, seemed non-hostile.


She did an object reading on the tower. She saw an image of a Ghul wreathed in magic cold fire.

Perhaps she should do something. But what, and why? Ghuls were just getting used to the idea of laws, and there was no law for this. There had been no law for what the Wendigo did, either. And no punishment worse than whst dhe had accepted voluntarily. But this Al'lebasi seemed harmless. Best let her be.

[Zelphas]

To Chain the Land and Bind the Sea

Carja Wyrdscrivener of MIND may have begun the formation of artificial islands, but it was Ruklo Tinkercloth of DRAMA who truly brought artificial islands to life. Quite by accident, he had discovered that bottled lightning, run through a wire, could turn salt water into fresh water if given enough time. He took this and a thin, papery material--a failure, he had thought, a curiosity, which allowed both salt water and air to pass through freely but retained fresh water--and created a thin, solid pad of wired netting. Spread over a patch of seawater, the netting quickly sunk; however, when lightning was run through the wires in a certain way, the pad filled with fresh water... and floated to the surface. A little bit of experimentation created netting bowls filled with freshwater, which could then be filled with dirt themselves--and thus, true floating islands were born.

Two major vulnerabilities in these floating islands quickly presented themselves: procurement of lightning and protection of the netting. The centaurs found themselves better suited for one of these tasks, and quickly enough the Electrical Entrapment and Leashing Society was formed. While not consisting entirely of centaurs (surprisingly for centaurs, artificial islands were a multicultural project from the beginning), but the centaurs who came to the floating islands and had magitek knowledge could often find work as one of the EELS.

Spoiler: OOC

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1 AP, 1 PAP + 6 AP, 1 PAP = 7 AP, 2 PAP

Create Advanced Concept (Artificial Islands) -1 AP: As a jump from the basic concept, artificial islands can now be made out of pads of wired sheeting filled with freshwater, which float upon the saltwater sea and can be directed with engines. the freshwater pads are much larger than the dirt islands they carry by necessity and are vulnerable to danger, and a constant supply of electricity is needed to keep the islands afloat as well. (Domain Progression: Technology (Magitek) 9/10)

Create Organization (EELS) -1 AP: This group is organized around maintaining and supplying the electrical needs of the floating islands, inhabited by centaurs, ghuls, and members of the Empire. They mostly use lightning rods and certain rudimentary magitek devices to contain lightning at the moment, but who knows what this focus on electricity and its uses might bring about in the future? (Domain Progression: Technology (Magitek) 10/10! Domain Get!)

7 AP, 2 PAP - 2 AP = 5 AP, 2 PAP Remaining

[dancrilis]

Altar of Creation - Bat Country
With birds being absent from Corrla after the deity Brietta banished them there were new problems that started to occur over time from insects as such a creature of non-avian decent was created from a seperate insect eater, the bat - the researchers worked out the numbers, fertility rates, appetite etc of the creatures so as not to devastate vital insects but also to prevent a unwanted swarms, then took to the alter to subtly change the environment of Corrla to ensure that bats could thrive to meet the specifications with some minor tweaks inserted to fix issues that arose as time went on.

Many people started to keep the bats as pets as intelligent animals there was lots of use for them.

Fountain of Life - Soul Cats
The priests took an interest in the fountain and the old revenants and concocted a new different but related creature - the soul cat, these were creatures dedicated to the priesthood and looked and acted like normal cats except when someone tried to harm their chosen priest at which point the cats would suck out the soul of the offender excepting the ren and which point the body of the offender would collapse into the form of a soul cat and the soul would be returned as that of a brand new soul cat - however whether through accident or quirk of fate soul cats were higher resistant to training and were also prepared to defend themselves even against members of the priesthood or other creatures, monsterous or not.
On the continent of Corrla it became very dangerous for anyone to attack a cat.

Mirror of Worth - Reconstitution
Occassionally people died before their time - no more, the priests now had a method of ensuring that they could live as long as they wanted to - when someone died there dedication to improving the lives of the People of Kerima would be judged and if they were found worthy they would be allowed to reconstitute at a location of their choice.

Throne of Thought - Paper
The researchers has been using many materials to copy data but through the power of the throne they developed paper as a widespread concept to - quickly finding that there was more use then merely recording available for it, poor writing paper could be used to clean the body or other areas and could be manufactured from basic plant material.

Spoiler: Actions

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Make four free changes using minor artifacts - as per the above.

[Gnomes2169]

Further Planar Metal Alloys
Night steel was an early success, but the drive to find further material that they could leverage did not stop there. Where it had been only natural for the Noldan Republic to spearhead development of Night Steel, with their connection to Nocturne, the Empire would take over development of a Solace and Skysteel alloy.

The resulting metal wasn’t any more durable than skysteel, but it was lighter and it unlocked the ability to manipulate both heat and air composition for a windweaver equipped with it. The later lead to questions about just what air was, since “thin” and “thick” air had such wildly different qualities, but the philosophical and physics debates could be ignored for now.

Currently that was the only other toy developed for windweavers, because the joint nations then went on to see just what could be made by combining other planar materials. The natural place to start these experiments was with a fusion of nocturne and solace metals, and the result was… unexpected. Combining objects with such opposed alignments had the smiths and scholars of the researchers worried that the combination might lead to the materials exploding or simply ceasing to exist, but instead they seemed to be almost eager to align to one another and blend once the intent and smith’s implements had been placed upon them.

The resulting alloy required vast amounts of material. Even though it did not require any Concourse metals to fuse them, in fact it rejected that and all other mundane and planar material, each tool produced from the alloy required nearly quintuple of each metal’s ingots than would be necessary for a standard item. Because of the vast quantity of resources used, the weight of this alloy was extreme, a standard longsword weighing nearly twelve kilograms, but its properties potentially made up for that drawback.

Firstly, the material was literally indestructible by current mortal means. No Solar could bend it, it could pass through the digestive tract of a clay dragon unchanged -in fact forcing the beast to regurgitate the metal from indigestion. No heat could melt it, no cold could warp it, no acids scar its surface. It was even capable of withstanding a single blow from the Suzerain’s blade, chipping and cracking but not shattering or vaporising like all other mortal material, and after a week it had seemingly healed itself from that damage and “grown” back to fill the gap, with only a small dent and crack left behind to show the terrible damage that had been wrought.

Secondly, it was capable of frankly supernatural feats. It could strike ethereal beings and mana constructs as if they were physical beings, could cut through steel implements as if they were wood. It could destroy walls made of raw force, and ignored other magical protections. Only other enchanted items, like magictech constructs, golems or other Nocturne alloys, were seemingly resilient to this metal’s damage.

But there were other drawbacks besides the weight and material costs. The first, a practical concern, was the fact that this alloy refused to take any form other than weapons or armor. Something about its nature, perhaps in echoes of Renarr’s final strike of both day and night against Wan’shi, seemed to require it be shaped as an implement of war. The second problem, one that made some swear the armaments were inherently cursed, was that this weapon had a voice. While it was not sentient, for it lacked Dream metal, this alloy softly hummed at all times. When it struck an object, that hum became louder, and louder, until it resembled some metallic, manic laughter, one that echoed the mirth of those in the thrall of Zariel’s Thrill, and one that took hours to fully fade away once it reached its full tempo.

The weapon the Suzerain had damaged had screamed like a wounded hollowcaller until it healed itself. That sound still haunted the nightmares of the mortals that had been close enough to witness it.

This alloy became known as Star Steel, and because of its properties and the absolutely extreme rarity of these armaments (for how could the cost be justified to mass produce items with such limited practical use, especially since such weapons required strength beyond most portals to wield properly?) each item became legendary in its own right. Every Star Steel weapon and armor was a symbol of status and power, each one bore a name and legacy that recorded the deeds performed by it, and which the bards recounted. Certain blades became part of a mythology of weapons, -each one out-lasting their wielders, but marking those in the stories that even so much as lifted them as heroes destined for greatness simply by their possession of such items,- and these strange, seemingly cursed weapons became synonymous with power itself.

There was also a third metal that almost went unremarked, but its wide-spread applications were too important for it to be ignored. Combining Concourse, Dream and Refraction metal, the scholars made an alloy that was, quite literally, living metal. This material’s form could be changed by the thoughts and imagination of the being it had been attuned to, could move like an ooze by mental commands, clung to vertical and smooth surfaces with ease, and the person that commanded it could “feel” what it touched. But it was hard to produce, the materials combined to make an amount of metal no larger than a grapefruit, needed to stay within a few meters of its master, could only hold a form for about an hour before reverting to its “puddle” state, and it was typically no harder than a dense wet clay, though a person that had mastered its use could temporarily compact the metal to make it more dense and durable. Because of these traits, this Living Steel only rarely saw military application, but became a favored material among engineers, craftsmen and artists, especially sculptors, for all the reasons one might expect a near-liquid extension of one’s body might be able to help in those professions.

The Republic Joins the Concordat
The republic had its own airships now, and while they were not the economic or military juggernaut that the Shaline Empire had grown into, its position within the archipelago gave it ready access to skysteel, and its rather free society was a bastion for windweavers.

So despite its size and relatively isolated status (until recently,) the Republic still had a skyship navy to rival the Empire’s. So while it might have been surprising that one of those vessels flew inland and landed in the middle of the concordat’s territory, it wasn’t completely unexpected. There may not have been many technologies or materials for the Republic to offer this conglomerate state that the Empire did not provide, but it did bring the church of the Vigilant, a new source of skysteel, and a rather abundant source of Nocturne and Concourse metals.

And thus did the former heart of the Vigilant pantheon’s mortal faith join itself to the new.

Fair feathered friends - the Spine Aerie roads
The caravan rumbled to a stop at the harpy’s call, and from its center a golden form streaked out, directly at the pair of phoenix. Zariel stopped just before one of the giant flaming birds, Thill clearly burning through him, narrowed his eyes, and stated, “Wait. Neither of you are Scalding. What, was he just too busy to come for our wrestling match today and sent you two? That will hardly be fair. Neither of you know how I fi-” Then the rest of the harpy’s words clicked, and the Slayer’s expression became infinitely more disappointed as he said, “Ah. Wait. He was just too ashamed to be a part of this. Or at least he was smart enough to realize how this would be seen.” And thus smart enough to not be in a position to potentially betray his sparring buddy.

The merchants, meanwhile, would be in varying states of incredulity, shock and outrage at the demands. One of them just seemed to be genuinely confused and asked the others, “Wait, the harpies and phoenix need money? Like… actual, real money? They wage wars? They... have a real society…?” The caravan master for this current trade venture, a middle-aged lizardfolk female, pushed herself to the front of all the cluttered, gossiping merchants of the expedition, and this would be the one in charge of talking to the harpies.

In a calm, patient voice, she states, “That’s… not how this works. Assuming you aren’t just bandits with some convoluted excuse, that’s not how any of this works. You don’t sit at the side of the road telling people “pay us or else,” that’s literally just banditry. And if you are from an actual government, and this is an actual decision from that government, you send representatives to other nations first to tell them your terms instead of changes in your territory, so there is time for them and their people to prepare and adjust, and a chance to negotiate. Or you just… set up a booth to levy the tax if you don’t want to negotiate… which your neighbors likely won’t appreciate. You don’t bring phoenixes to intimidate people.

“You also probably haven’t thought this plan through entirely… because you don’t actually care about the roads. So tell me. Who will maintain the roads? It won’t be the Empire or merchants anymore, not if we have to pay for the privilege of walking along what shaline engineers made in the first place. And I’m guessing you weren’t planning to pay Shaline engineers for the maintenance, which will likely be nearly as expensive as the fees you are leveraging. So who’s going to clear rock slides? Clear weeds and detritus that cracks the granite? Replace worn down and broken sections of road? Replace signs that break down or rot? Do any of you know… how?”

Gesturing at the harpy representative, the caravan master said, “So. Unless we’re being robbed… which we’ll give into because we only have one Solar and you have two damned phoenix,” An observation that Zariel scoffed at because he could clearly handle that challenge, “I would recommend bringing your decree to Dawnhold to talk with the ruling council instead of making the pronouncement on the side of the damned road. And also to the deserts to warn merchants from my homeland as well. If you do that… don’t count on the idea that your war is with Corrla to hold much weight. Corrla is used as an example of a nation of oppression, a model to be avoided… but it isn’t particularly vivid to those on the Empire’s council. It’s a legend more than anything. The few priests in the Union’s lands aren’t able to find purchase in Empire territories and are seen with a strong sense of distaste, of course, but it’s not the same as a true threat or invasion. They simply won’t care as long as Corrla stays in their half of the world.”

A message to the Kallaran League
The day was slightly overcast once the latter arrived in the league’s offices. Its only adornment was the Imperial Colonial seal, and its message was simple. It was an invitation, one with guarantees of safety both to and from the Empire’s capital colonial island so long as no acts of war were made upon the Empire’s people, and it was witnessed, ordained and initially delivered to the League by a reputable Colony contract mage. The message within was simple:

It is time for us to meet.
-Provincial Governor Calith Vatha

Renarr’s house - Concourse
Upon the realm of Concourse, more than one god still remained. As more and more power gathered to her, the Twilight goddess became more and more reclusive. Claiming a house and surrounding it with signs saying “no solicitors,” “private property,” “trespassers will be banished” and “no pets,” Renarr withdrew almost entirely. Within this house she did her best to care for Dia, though the river goddess’ condition was confusing even to a deity of Renarr’s status.

Despite this, she still walked among the mortals from time to time, usually alone. While she never directly interacted with the mortals she passed, the goddess took the opportunity to simply be around and watch all the mortals that had found their way here.

On one of these excursions, Renarr witnessed a particular sight. A Shaline mage stood in the center of a small courtyard, a younger solari male that she’d seen once before. He’d attracted a small crowd, most of them lizardfolk, and the scaled ones were warning other people within the Concourse away. One of those lizards moved to stand in Renarr’s way, as her divinity was masked on her walk, and he told her, “Ma’am, avoid this charlatan. He will try to offer you a path back home and other impossible services, all in the name of converting you to worship of the solar goddess.”

The solar goddess must have clearly shown her confusion, because the anti-priest told her, “They’ve become more bold recently. Converting people aggressively to their religion, proclaiming how much mortals owe their goddess, like other fanatics that get dragged in here.” Seeing her continued confusion, he tried to explain further, “Whatever Renarr and the other gods of the pantheon that made this prison are planning, it needs to be stopped. The first way that mortals like us fight back against their oppression is by isolating their faithful and not giving them a foothold.”

Before he could continue to bury himself deeper by continuing to talk to the frankly clearly insulted goddess, a disturbance at the edge of the courtyard drew his attention. Pushing his way past two lizards that had tried to hold him back, an orc dressed in a slightly faded Weshesh sailor uniform strode up to the mage at the courtyard’s center. A gecko-kin and crocodilian were taking turns telling the solari (in tones that varied in hostility and civility) to leave and stop trying to force his faith on others, while the mage sat at the edge of a fountain, chin in his hand, just looking… tired. The orc picked up the gecko and set the small creature in the way of the two lizards that were following him, much to the anger of the already irate creature.

To the mage, the orc asked, “They say you are offering to bring someone back to the mortal world. Are you truly able to do this?” The mage looked at the orc and nodded slowly. “They also say you will require me to worship the Great Slayer when you do. Is that true?” The gecko screeched that of course it was true, and the crocodilian began to open her mouth to make her own objections, only for the orc to sandwich her jaws together and clamp one hand down to keep that mouth closed. “I want to hear his words. Not yours. I have heard yours. Let him talk.”

The crocodilian wiggled her face free and shot an annoyed glance at the wesheshi, but set a hand on the gecko’s head and gestured for the lizards to return to the edges of the courtyard to reinforce the perimeter. When it became clear he wouldn’t be interrupted, the Shaline mage said, “Well. No. I frankly don’t give a damn about what you worship or don’t worship. So no. I’m not going to demand a conversion.”

Commenting to his much larger companion, the temperamental gecko grumbled, “Oh, and we should just believe a solari from the empire of the sun doesn’t worship the world’s second-greatest tyrant.”

Rubbing slowly at his eyes, the mage tonelessly explained, “Shaline has no state religion or room on its ruling council for church representation, religious freedom, including the lack of one, is a core tenant of our society, Renarr hasn’t been in Solace for over a century, which was before I was born, my faith in her makes little demands of me and none of others…” The gecko’s eyes glazed over like they had the last three times he’d explained that, and the Crocodilian sighed and shook her head because the mage clearly still didn’t understand how he’d been lied to despite her explanations.

The orc didn’t care about any of that. “So then, I don’t need to convert. What is your actual price?”

“Nothing.” The mage said, opening his hands and holding them beside his head. “I want nothing. No price. No catch. No strings attached. You just get to go home.”

The crocodilian and gecko, being what they were and from the Union, clearly thought this was too good to be true, and had already taken insult at the act of charity. Nodding to herself, the Crocodilian said, “And now you see. There must be a catch.”

Even the orc seemed clearly suspicious at this point, and with narrowed eyes he asked, “Do you expect me to believe that? Your empire is never content. Always reaching. Why are you any different?”

Something in the mage finally snapped, and he shouted, “Fine! You want there to be a price? You want a meaningless transaction, because no one can believe there are just good people in this world that agree it’s unfair that some god decided to just steal mortals from their homes and strand them here? No one remembers the last four times I did this? Fine! Here’s my price.” Pointing at the Weshesh, he states, “I’ll transport us to a beach between the Great Marshes and League. You give me your sidearm so I have something to protect myself on the way home, we say nothing to each other, and we go our separate ways. We never try to find each other again. That is your price.”

The orc thought of the offer for a moment, and then began to unclip the belt holding a cutlass. The rifle and bracer of knives he kept on his back. The crocodilian whispered, “You can’t seriously be considering accepting.”

The wesheshi responded in a neutral tone, stating factually, “This weapon was forged by the Weshesh, its value and quality cannot be matched in the mortal world. He offers to return me to that world using methods from his Empire that cannot be matched elsewhere. So it is a fair price. More importantly, I am a soldier. I am a tool of conflict, meant to fight and wage war upon my enemies. That is the purpose that I chose, that I fulfill, and I know no other.” Gesturing around him, the orc asked, “Tell me, where do you see war in this place? Where is the conflict? The clashing armies upon the waves, and the back and forth din of battle? I see nothing but these… arguments. This clash of thoughts and bloodless, impotent posturing. This is not my world. This is not where I belong.”

The militant gecko, who finally found his voice, shouted incredulously, “But he is your enemy! How can you trust him?”

The orc snorted, as if they had missed the point, and he responded, “I’m not an idiot. He’s a mage attuned to this place. This… Concourse. Even among the Weshesh we know how non-violent and soft these ones are. But even if he lies, and I am brought to the heart of Solace itself to be killed, I will have a chance to be a soldier and die with my weapons in my hands. I will not waste away and die a slow, pointless death here!” Holding the blade belt to the mage, the Weshesh ordered, “Your offer is accepted. We leave. Now!”

And without another word, the mage grabbed the hilt of that sword and both of them shimmered in a wave of transposition. Both orc and solari were gone. The gathered members of the Cult of Unyielding Hearts were at a loss for words for a moment as recent arrivals to Concourse began to realize that they had just lost an opportunity to escape and return to the First World started to rumble angrily and become hostile to the anti-priests. Things seemed about to come to a head before a recent human convert took charge and said, “Everyone, let calmer heads prevail! Remember the price of violence in this realm, and how the gods keep us cowed. Remember this prison of the gods’ creation! We cannot raise hands against one another lest they torment us for eternities to keep their promises of peace.” And with those words, a riot was diverted for just a moment and the crowds slowly dispersed enough for the cult to slip away.

In that excitement, no one noticed the barefooted young woman walk away. Renarr was… troubled. But she was no longer of the First World, so the actions of this anti-religious cult were not her concern. They were not her concern. And she could almost make herself believe that.

Circle Continent Exploration - Dawnhold First
Ethrial Thorn had promised to bring Timsah to the portal at Dawnhold, and it made a good place to start a voyage. The voyage there was rather uneventful, and given her juggernaut of a ship was accompanied by Thorn’s, they even received a special discount on their docking fees and supplies once they finally made way.

The peninsula's port itself was more akin to a castle guarding the non-blighted stretches of the peninsula’s coastline, but within those outward-facing walls there was a bustling trade city. Merchant stalls dominated the sides of each major street, hawking goods and wares from all of the Empire’s territories and the societies that traded with them. In the keep’s courtyard stood an entertainer’s district, its center a stage large enough to hold two plays and their audiences simultaneously, while its outer ring was home to various bards, smaller gnoll troupes, philosophers and the occasional adventuring party, home to boast about their adventures.

At the wall of one of the grain silos, a group of guards had cordoned off the road and they were investigating damage done by some saboteur just a day or two prior. Timsah would be able to identify at a glance that the marks and damage were caused by a gunpowder detonation, though it had not been enough to blast through the reinforced stone of the silo’s walls. The guards had apparently identified the weapon as well, and now debated as to the motivation of the people who had been trying to break into, of all things, a food depot.

From the walls of the fort, the dazzling beacon of Solace’s portal could be seen, day and night. Where they were at the peninsula’s tip, the portal was dimmed enough by the Strands of Night at night time to resemble some earth-bound star, only dimly illuminating the port’s inland walls and the fields beyond. This would change progressively as night went on.

The first sight that awaited Timsah and her crew once they’d left the Dawnhold peninsula’s primary docks was… farmland. Massive, sprawling hills of irrigated farmland interrupted by only the occasional blightland patch, stand of trees, roadside town or vineyard. The roads that were built here were dominated by trade caravans, especially the unbroken stretch of highway that led directly to the Spine Aerie. Thorn opted to lead his guests along that highway at first, letting his lizardfolk guests mingle in their natural habitat among merchants. On the second day of inland travel, though, Ethrial led them to one of the side roads for the sake of time. This brought the expedition to places that bordered the blight lands of the peninsula, and in them old, ruined house foundations could be seen, which, when he was asked, Thorn explained had been built when more people lived here, back before the Empire took to the sea and founded its colonies. Once they had lost the need, the houses had been torn down and the land abandoned.

The night before the party had reached their destination was spent in Dawnhold’s shadow. This close to Solace’s portal, night was more akin to a false dawn. The night was spent in a tavern that was part of the urban sprawl at the base of the Spine Aerie mountain range, and in the morning there was a bit of a climb to reach Dawnhold proper.

The capitol city of the Shaline Empire was, in a word, a metropolis. Three major highways converged within it, and the bustle of its citizens and merchants going to and fro within its borders was almost suffocating at times. But despite the massive population, the stink that normally accompanied an inland city was muted here, plentiful public baths and well-made and maintained sewage systems kept Dawnhold surprisingly sanitary. As well, despite the sprawling population, the city was organized, walls and elevated tiers creating natural districts that made maps and navigating through the streets rather easy. There were multiple kobold libraries here that acted as universities, the greatest of which rested beside the portal to Solace itself, markets and theaters, military academies and a naval recruitment center, guilds for mages, civilian districts, small temples for the various deities of the world (sans the great serpent, who was called Wan’shi here as per the Suzerain’s naming of the entity) and dozens of other small shops and services that a city needed to keep everything running and its citizens content.

Each of the city’s buildings appeared almost new, as if the majority of the city had been built or renovated in the last thirty years. All of it was formed from polished and maintained marble, crafted from clay and then transmuted into the much more durable stone, and many of the residential buildings had strange shapes to them that gave them artistic flares. There was also a color scheme to the marble, each district tinted to help visitors and citizens identify just where they were. Gold for markets, red for industrial, white for civilian, blue for military, and grey for the buffer district between the platform with the portal to Solace and the rest of Dawnhold, with governmental buildings were white with full, uniform black pillars at its doorways. From a distance these colors were faint, almost unnoticeable, leaving the city an unbroken white until one was among the buildings.

The peoples here were diverse. The typical solari, elves, humans and goblins one might expect were present and the most common, but also harpy messengers flitted between buildings, various river and ocean godborn could be seen running cleaning and garden tending services, lizardfolk stuck to their markets for the most part but still traded their olives and outdated technologies, centaur carried food carts, orcish sailors sat outside a naval recruitment office or worked in smithies, gnoll traveling performers set up their stages and sold beverages brewed in distilleries they owned just outside the city, and the kobolds… so many kobolds. One could hardly walk down the street without tripping on a kobold. There was even a ghul in the courtyard… though that one seemed to be very confused and lost, and a group of kobolds was trying to help the anxious little creature out.

The platform leading to Solace rested above all of this, and on there foot traffic was notably slower. The portal was massive, wide as a castle and shedding enough light to rival that of day. The platform leading to it held two castles, one a shaline keep and the other the Great Library, each one built into the mountain peaks beside Solace’s gaping door. This left a wide corridor through which carts and the inhabitants of Solace could move, and they did so in small groups. In the center of this corridor, a tall being that seemed to impossibly be half-shadowed sat and spun clay.

Amerith rose as Ethrial and Timsah approached, the Solar setting her hand on her chest for a second to cover a wound that bled darkness, pain and discomfort clear on her face, and she nodded to the approaching heroes. “Son.”

Just as formally and coolly, Ethrial tilted his head in respect to her and responded, “Mother.”

“I see you still hold to that silly promise of yours.” The solar said, gesturing at Thorn, who was floating above the ground and had been since the expedition had made landfall. “But you also brought a guest. Timsah, I presume?” Bowing to the immortal Amerith said, “I am glad to meet the champion of the Jisr Colony. I was told that you would be an impressive sight.” Raising an eyebrow she informed the lizardfolk, “It is my duty to ensure that no threats to Solace or the Empire enter this portal. I trust that this will not be a problem?”

“Mother!” Thorn snapped, scowling at the archon as he did so. “Timsah is my guest, not a threat for you to assess.”

Amerith’s eyes flicked to her son for a moment before she turned her full attention back to Timsah. She seemed to wait for a response for a few seconds before saying, “I’m sorry. My son is right. I should stop second guessing his ability to judge others' character. Welcome to Solace.”

Spoiler: TL;DR

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First, three new planar alloys were synthesized. Day steel, a skysteel/ Solace metal combinationthat allows windweavers to manipulate the heat of things they touch and the oxygen content of the air in pockets around them. Living steel, which is sentient metal that can be morphed and shaped by the imagination of its wielder but is never larger than a grapefruit. And then Star steel, an impossibly heavy metal that only takes the form of weapons or armor, which can cut through other mortal metals like wet clay, destroys mana constructs, hums, cackles and builds in volume as it strikes or is struck by other objects, and screams and self-repairs if it is damaged. Not that it is often damaged, as there is no mortal force that currently exists that can do so.

The Noldan Republic is now a part of the Vigilant Concordat.

The caravan reacted to the harpies and phoenix, and the lizardfolk caravan master tried to explain that this was the worst way to attempt what they were trying to do. Also tried to point out that the harpies have all of zero infrastructure knowledge. We'll see if this helps.

A message has been sent from the provincial governor of the Empire's Jisr colony to the Kalaran League, inviting them to meet.

On Concourse, the Cult of the Unyielding Heart has accidentally made their presence known to Renarr, and they have begun actively and openly operating, though without physical violence since that would end their crusade rather quickly. They attempted to censure a Shaline mage that worships Renarr from interacting with people, but failed when a stranded Weshesh sailor pushed his way in and accepted the mage's offer of transport back to the First World.

Finally, Ethrial and Timsah began their journey, and the First World portion of the Dawnhold peninsula has been developed. Timsah also got to meet Ethrial's mother! Thorn doesn't seem to have the most friendly relationship with her for some reason.

Spoiler: AP actions

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Starting AP: 0, 0 PAP

Rollover AP: +6
Rollover PAP: +1

-2 AP; Create Planar Magic/ Windweaving mythic subconcept - Day Steel: An alloy of Solace planar metal and Skysteel, Day Steel is a lightweight, semi-transparent metal that allows windweavers to manipulate the oxygen content of the air and manipulate the heat of objects they come into physical contact with. This metal is as durable as bronze. The amount that the windweaver can manipulate these elements is dependent on their skill and limited by just how much of the alloy they have on their person. The more Day steel a windweaver has, the more pockets of air they can manipulate and the faster they can increase or decrease the heat of objects that they touch.

This subconcept is closed to the Shaline Empire and Noldan Republic.
Domain Progression: Magic (Planar) 6/10

-2 AP; Create Planar Magic mythic subconcept - Living Steel: An alloy of Dream metal and Refraction metal, Living Steel is a near-liquid metal that responds to the thoughts of people who attune to it. The metal takes the shape that the wielder imagines, but can only hold that shape for a few hours before it reverts back to its natural state. This alloy is soft, like wet clay, but can be made more compact and as durable as copper if the mage has mastered its use. Living Steel cannot retain stability if it is made in amounts larger than a grapefruit.

This subconcept is closed to the Shaline Empire and Noldan Republic.
Domain Progression: Magic (Planar) 8/10

-2 AP; Create Planar Magic mythic subconcept - Star Steel: Star steel is a mythic alloy forged from vast quantities of Nocturne metal and Solace metal. It is incredibly heavy, enough so that near-supernatural strength is needed to use weapons made from it effectively and flat-out supernatural strength is required to use a suit of full plate forged from it. This metal always takes the form of either weapons or armor. It is quite literally indestructible via current mortal means, and can even resist strikes from avatars and major artifacts (though such attacks will still damage the material). The metal can damage ethereal beings, can destroy mana constructs (including spell effects), cuts through steel and other natural metals of lesser durability like wet clay, and can grow back from damage that is somehow dealt to it (though such destructive power still leaves visible scars behind). The metal hums at all times, a sound that grows stronger the more it is used, eventually resembling manic laughter, and if it is damaged the metal screams a thin, soulless, haunting note. Every piece of Star steel equipment has its own voice.

Because of the resource costs and its narrow uses, Star steel is incredibly rare. To the point where every piece of equipment has a name, bards weave the weapons and armor into myth and stories, and possession of the items is taken as a sign of either heroism or vanity.

This subconcept is closed to the Shaline Empire and Noldan Republic, though the items made by it will inevitably spread to other societies.
Domain Progression: Magic (Planar) 8/10

-1 PAP; Join Concordat - Noldan Republic: The Noldan Republic joined the Circle Continent concordat.
Sphere Progression: Survival 7/10

Total AP expended: -6 AP, -1 PAP

AP remaining: 0
PAP remaining: 0

Domain Progression:
Magic (Planar) 10 (Planar metals, Night Steel, Day Steel, Living Steel, Star Steel) Domain get! Renarr is now a Greater Deity

Sphere Progression:
-Survival 6/10 (Mirage Portals to Concourse, Empire joining circle continent Concordat, Criminal Investigation, lighthouses, Republic joining the concordat)

[dancrilis]

Xill's Society

Xill had been laying the ground work for millennia and was now ready to act, she had numerous wave born children and had gotten Cothail onboard with the idea and converted many locathah to venerate her she was not in a position to estiblish herself as queen of her own society allied with The People of Kerima but also seperate - and broadly exclusive.

The organisations of the societies could overlap but where the priesthood ruled the people Xill (a priest admittedly) ruled the society beneath the waves on her own.

Spoiler: Actions

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Create Legendary Society (4 AP)
Xill has set herself up as monarch of a society beneath the oceans of the world, this society welcomes anyone extraordinary who is at least willing to pay lip service to Kerima but little more is required of them - many wave and river archons have joined the society.

Life(Rulership): 10/10 - Claimed

Kerima is now a Greater God.

[Zelphas]

Creation and Change Within the COVE

Discern worked and worked, sending out its Needle Nightmares to gather the material it needed for its experiments. At some point, the tiny cracks in its central code had effaced its ultimate goal; now the work was all that mattered, shaping something into something else and setting it free in the COVE to roam under observation. Discern seeded a few in their proper habitats after a certain time, of course, but most remained in the COVE, and so the underground continent became populated.

The first arrivals were the centaurs. Since they were a lawful, orderly race normally, Discern took the essence of the wild, untamed land of Macra'ahi and infected his captured mortals, causing them to grow larger, sprout new arms, and become fiercely territorial and wild. When released into the COVE, these new Wild Centaurs scattered across the floors, each taking only one as his or her territory. THey saw another Wild Centaur only to mate, raise young, or fight in their lives, and soon found a measure of calm. So far, soo good, or so Discern considered it.

It took elves next, noting their close connection to Solace and the Solars that lived upon it. Discern severed this connection with delicate care, then reached into Nocturne and gathered a double handful of the dark, cold plane. The resulting Night Elves were born in shades from palest violet and blue to deepest midnight, with hair of silver and eyes of purest black. Discern allowed them to "escape" into the COVE after its experiments were finished, granting them their pride and their confidence in their subterfuge as well as their (heavily curtailed) freedom. The Night Elves took the second-lowest level of the COVE and built their dark cities there, though their spies were on every floor and reported back often.

The choice to take Ghuls next had been a mistake, Discern reflected later. Convinced that it understood enough now to tackle these most mutable of races, the Avatar sought to push their transformative abilities to the limit, and in the end succeeded in producing a creature that could take nearly any form it wished; unfortunately, the process of doing so invariably demolished the mind of the Ghul upon which it was performed, converting it into a bestial monster with no sentience or higher thought. These Mimics became predators in the COVE's labyrinth, preying on unsuspecting travelers and others of their kind whenever they could.

The failure of the Ghuls widened the cracks still further. Discern sent its Needle Nightmares after the harpies next, and for no particular reason, it removed all traces of avian from them, replacing that half of their nature with piscine features instead. The Merfolk came to live in every waterway within the COVE, and found their way outside, where they had to brave the frigid waters of the northern seas before finally finding climates amenable to their living. Discern proclaimed the experiment a success, though it did not know why.

Finally, near the end of its mad dash of experimenting, Discern took exclusively Crocodilians from the Lizardfolk ranks. It ripped the scales from their bodies and replaced it with thick fur, mangling and shortening their tails, smashing in their snouts to a broader, flatter form, using the bones from their mangled tails to fashion horns to crown their heads. These new Minotaurs were instilled with the discipline and the familial nature of the Centaurs, and their nomadic tendencies were strengthened. They roamed the labyrinth of COVE in small family units, avoiding the lairs of hte Wild Centaurs, for their older "cousins" saw them as interlopers and often attacked.

Discern... paused. It could not review its work; something shuddered away from the thought of it. But no more could it go forward, not without a clear goal. It must do the work, but it did not know what work to do. It remained, poised over its operating table, for a very long time.

In Refraction

Hetta feels the rush of change that tells her that she has been invested with more power again; her Avatar must be steadily at work. On a whim, she looks over the First World to observe Discern's actions.

She crosses her human arms. One draconic foreleg paws at the ground in steady, sharp rasps of sound.

Something has gone terribly wrong. She may need to step in. Again.

Spoiler: AP Actions

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5 AP, 2 PAP

Create Sub-Race (Wild Centaurs) -1 AP: Wild Centaurs are four-legged, four-armed centaurs about twice the size of the average centaur, though some have grown larger than that. They are fiercely territorial and solitary creatures, preferring to live alone for the entirety of their adult lives except to mate and to raise young. (Domain Progression: Life (Experimentation) 6/10)

Create Sub-Race (Night Elves) -1 AP: Naturally suspicious and stealthy, Night Elves do not trust any other races as of yet and prefer to avoid them, building their cities in far-off corners of Nocturne where the darkness hides them and to spy on the world from afar. Discern has placed Nocturne's essence into their beings, and so Night Elves do not freeze in Nocturne's endless night. (Domain Progression: Life (Experimentation) 7/10)

Create Monstrous Sub-Race (Mimics) -1 AP: Mimics are ambush predators, presenting themselves as innocuous bits of furniture or detritus before leaping upon their prey and devouring them whole. Pure omnivorous opportunists, Mimics will eat anything--including other Mimics. (Domain Progression: Life (Experimentation) 8/10)

Create Sub-Race (Merfolk) -1 AP: A strange blend of humanoid and fish, Merfolk live in large pods and are cautiously friendly of approaching sentients, though they will run at the sign of threats and are blindingly fast in the water. Merfolk raise their young communally; there is no true concept of "mother" or "father" in their society, for the society raises them all. (Domain Progression: Life (Experimentation) 9/10)

Create Sub-Race (Minotaurs) -1 AP: Minotaurs wander the labyrinth of the COVE with an uncanny sense of direction, moving in groups of no more than six or seven and rarely settlign in one place for long. Perhaps due to a quirk from the strange nature of their creation, older Minotaurs (over the age of 60) are increasingly prone to bouts of insensible rage, in which they can recognize neither friend nor foe but attack all around them indiscriminately until they collapse from exhaustion. (Domain Progression: Life (Experimentation) 10/10! Domain Get!)

Hetta Ascends to a Greater Deity.

5 aP, 2 PAP - 5 AP = 0 AP, 2 PAP Remaining

[zzzzzzzz414]

Kassa and the First Note - Final Verse

The highest island of the Dark Continent - Tlicuetihui, the desolate land, the unshaded place - was, as of yet, uninhabited. No tiefling of the still-newborn Triumvirate had quite yet come to claim the frozen land, nor the great Ziggurat that loomed at its center. But, nonetheless, a figure stood at its very edge, peeking over, quietly observing the lands below: a tiefling skeleton, clad in black rags and wreathed in gray mushrooms.

The avatar of Kassa considered their work, of the whispers the wind carried to them from the islands beneath, the fledgeling cries of a new civilization, and was satisfied. But there was one more thing left to do, something to mark her new, more active role in this world. She had begun to hear rumors of something new and miraculous, a gift greater in scope than almost any that had been given before. Free, bountiful healing, as powerful as any divine magic if not moreso, summoned from simple sand! An unprecedented boon. An earth-shattering change. A complete and undeniable imbalance.

The skeletal figure waved an arm and, with a swirl of scarlet magic, held in its hands something Kassa had not seen in a very long time: a simple clay vessel, unimaginably old by now, held together by magic long after it should have crumbled. Water, herbs, blood, pestle, mortar and spoon: all these and other things appeared as well, mixing, cutting, boiling, preparing.

In ages past, the one who knew herself as Kassa might have been content to simply watch this development with amusement. To watch as the wheel churned, grinding away despite the various gods pulling it this way and that. But...no. Not here, not anymore. She was not a terribly powerful goddess, but she was, in fact, a goddess. This world may be fated for oblivion, but did Kassa not have as much right and power as any to steer its course? To direct its long spiral according to her desires - to maintain something at least resembling balance? The contents of the pot simmered, boiled, churned and curdled, reducing at last to a small puddle of slimy, bright crimson liquid. The skeletal figure tipped the pot over the edge of the great cliff, sending the liquid plummeting downwards for miles upon miles until the droplets hit the ocean at long last; and as they did, something began to invisibly bloom, to grow, to spread and spread until it had contaminated every last drop of the vast, churning seas upon the First World.

If the God of Coin wished to offer the gift of life so cheaply? Very well - then let its opposite cheapen in equal measure.

THE SEAS OF THE FIRST WORLD: Poison, Portals, and Unexpected Opportunities

It did not take long for the nature of Kassa's curse to become known; it seemed that saltwater, any saltwater, could, through a rather simple brewing process, be made into poison - so long as one acted with clarity of intention while doing it. This caused a great amount of sudden panic across the coasts of all nations, a sudden rush of chaos as access to poison - and thus, incidents of poisoning - spiked. Healers everywhere - the priesthood of Kerima, the mages of the Empire, the herbalists of the Everrun and of the Red Coast - suddenly struggled to treat the influx of victims, unprepared after the healing sands of Abu Dhahab had sharply cut demand for their services. The Alchemist guilds and Potion-Masters of the League, meanwhile, struggled to keep up with the sudden lack of need for their lower-grade posions, rushing to set up facilities to harvest seawater, while shifting their focus to the higher-grade toxins that salt-poison could not replicate. Of all of them, however, none were more acutely impacted than the Waveborn and Wave Archons.

The salt-poison could not be brewed by accident, and was entirely dormant and harmless otherwise; so the vast majority of sea life was entirely unaffected by the curse. But the waveborn and wave archons were not mere sea-life; they were, in part, manifestations of the sea, kin with its spirit and nature. So while the curse merely affected the water for most, for the waveborn it affected their very bodies. Many Waveborn - and even a few Wave Archons - suddenly found their powers and magic rewritten overnight, their familiar abilities "augmented" with - or, in some cases, entirely replaced with - new, sinister power over venom and death. This manifested in different ways - some found that they could manipulate the potency and effects of poison, even ones that were not derived from saltwater. Others found that they could heal and neutralize it. And a few, exceptionally dangerous individuals found they could create it, turning water they found in their vicinity into poison - including the water that flowed through the very veins of other living creatures. Waveborn awakened through mana mutation experienced even more noticeable effects, such as the development of venomous barbs, tentacles and claws.

And, as they had been changed in various ways, so they reacted in various ways. Some simply accepted their new abilities as they were, even viewed them as a blessing or advantage. Others viewed them as a monstrous curse, hiding them, moving away from their coastal dwellings. A few, wave archons in particular, attempted to take a more direct approach, trying to use their powers to cleanse the curse out of their waters; but though they succeeded in a few small coastal brackish lakes or landlocked salt basins, the sheer volume of seawater made this an exercise in futility for anything larger.

One group in particular, though, a few waveborn alchemists within the Kalarian League, decided that, like anything else, these new powers were something that could be exploited. They were already well-versed in the arts of alchemical poison-making; and many of them had developed abilities that augmented these skills even further, granting them unparalleled fine control over their creations, able to produce effects and concoctions that would take other alchemists much expense and effort to reproduce. And, maybe even more importantly, they could heal said poisons in ways that were only reproducible through direct divine magic or Pharmakeia; the healing sands had no effect on internal maladies. So, searching out others with compatible talents, this group of waveborn founded the Salt Blossom Guild, a group specializing in the creation of - and healing of - exotic, powerful, and unusual poisons. And, as they explored the ways in which their new abilities could be weaponized, they began to step into...other services as well.

Meanwhile, this sudden change in waveborn abilities had more indirect effects as well. Captain Yharala Judir did not, in fact, have any power over poison whatsoever. The lizardkin waveborn was a summoner of fog and mists - an ability that had served her quite well in her career as a smuggler, running contraband past the Imperial Fleet and hiding from the occasional too-eager pirate. But she had heard the stories of her fellows suddenly developing new poison-based abilities and decided, well, there couldn't be any harm in experimenting, re-testing what she was capable of, could there? Yharala certainly wouldn't say no to poisonous clouds of fog being added to her repetoire.

She did not find any hidden reserves of poisonous fog hiding within herself. But she did find...something. Something unusual, a tug that hadn't been there before. She grabbed it, pulled it, poured it outwards, and like normal, fog appeared, rising from the seas around her. But this fog was...different. Deeper. Denser. Moving with some indescribable quality of its own, sparkling with what she'd swear looked like distant stars...and then, it happened. She could sense it, a subtle change in the temperature, the pressure, the air itself. Cries of alarm rose up from the deck as her ship suddenly found itself pulling into the harbor of a city she had never seen before, under a sky she did not recognize, packed with buildings of unfamiliar make. There were docks, but they were empty, abandoned save for a few people milling aimlessly about. As she watched, said people simply stared up at her, blankly - and then exploded into action, cheering, running off towards what looked like a main plaza, jumping in the water, practically clawing at the side of her ship. And it was then that Captain Yharala realized that she may have stumbled into something quite powerful indeed.

THE KALARIAN LEAGUE: Mushrooms, Mana, and Esoteric Solutions

Though the proclaimed God-Empress Acis'sej was seemingly reluctant to meet the League's representatives in person (much to the irritation of the Red Council's diplomatic offices), the promises made in her correspondences held true. The observers from the League (as well as the multiple survey parties that had been hastily assembled to accompany them) were permitted to enter the newly-christened Land of Caribou without incident; the keys to the strange realm of the Dreamlands were handed over, and the communication abilities of their Ixi worked as advertised; and, with some trial and error, the first fully League Pharmakeists were inducted by the Green Council.

The League's leadership, in total, could not have asked for a better outcome, slight diplomatic oddness aside. Besides, they certainly did not have time to bicker over the finer points of ghul political tradition, not when yet more issues had appeared in the form of a singularly baffling letter from the colonial administration of the conquered Dhalir islands. What the Empire could possibly want - or what the League could want from them, aside from the immediate withdrawal of their navies and return of their lands - the Red Council did not know. They would have dismissed it as an empty insult, were it not for the seeming effort of having it delivered and verified by contract mage. And so, a small diplomatic team headed by Otka Ufkorua headed to the islands - escorted by military vessels and bodyguarded by two dozen of the Makhalib Maksur's finest, promises of "safe passage" be damned.

The affirmation of the alliance was in many ways mere formality, but in the midst of the ongoing uncertainty regarding the Empire and the Weshesh, as well as the sudden upheaval created by the emergence of salt-poison, the new certainty of the alliance was welcomed. With the advent of full League access to the Dreamlands, the joint Sisterhood-Council Merchant firms cemented their positions in the League, quickly becoming the centers of an emerging financial sector trading in goods and, increasingly, communication and information services. And with Pharmakeia now accesible to the Alchemical Guilds, organizations outside the Institute began to experiment with it, offering new potions that combined the fundamentals of slime potioneering and blood magic with the mathematical exactitude and methods of Alchemy.

The Red Council, as ever, required new weapons; and so, using the base created by the Institute's experimentation on molds and fungi, the Alchemy guilds began to produce them. They were successful in inducing the Direwolf's Curse into mutiple strains of the metallic bloodsteel; and it was soon found that the magic could be manipulated in this way, brought out in different ways, even as experimentation with other fungal properties such as venom or corrosiveness continued. The end result was a wide variety of Alchemical Fungi - living weapons that could be launched at an enemy, taking root and spreading quickly and aggressively. Many of these were designed to take down enemy ships or fortifications - some strains secreted chemicals that could quickly corrode wood, stone, and even metal, weakening it enough that a decisive, splintering strike could be made. Others were incredibly flammable, designed to spread across a surface and then, like pitch, exploding into noxious, dangerous, clinging flame when a spark is applied. But many were designed to target enemy fighters as well, emitting poisonous gases or, more dangerously, using modified versions of the Direwolf's curse to burn and blind them, turning their own metal weaponry and armor against them.

Meanwhile, others - the Mana-Harvesting Guilds and merchants in particular - noticed something unusual begin to appear in the stocks of their Union and other lizardfolk trade partners - small gemstones that appeared to be some form of crystallized mana. The crystals were not of much use to them - the Ichor they already produced was much more useful in the alchemical trade - but it was discovered that the Union was more than happy to accept them as currency. And with a bit of experimentation, it was found that their own mana-harvesting operations could be refitted to produce them - at more standardized size and quality than the rougher crystals the Lizardfolk carried. And so, the barons of the Yellow Council soon found a new, and quite lucrative, source of income.

And of course, the Institute ever performed its own experiments - and one group, in particular, was nearing completion on a project the Red Council had quietly sat them with some years ago. The fact that both the Empire and the Weshesh had successfully struck out into the new frontier of the skies above was, at this point, no secret - and not something the Red Council intended to leave unchallenged. The windweavers of the Sisterhood had helped them ascertain the properties of the Skysteel that the Empire had so suddenly and greedily snapped up - and so the likely secret of their flying vessels. The problem, however, lay in execution. They did not have the heavy industry necessary to imitate the dreadnoughts of the Weshesh; and, though their shipwrights tried time and again, they simply could not crack the design that the Empire had used to integrate the Skysteel into their crafts - a task made all the more difficult by the League's far less advanced smelting capacity. So, while the shipbuilders tinkered, the Red Council "suggested" that the Institute lend their expertise; and, drawing from research within the Changing Lands, the expertise of a well-known group of Shelled animal trappers, and even a contact from the distant Lands of Kerima, the Institute had set aside a remote island in the southern Jisr, generously provided by the Land of Caribou, for work on a more...unusual solution.

Spoiler: AP Actions

Show

0AP, 0PAP Total

Rollover: +5AP, +1PAP

Curse: The Waters of Innocent Death [Created with Traitor's Cookpot]

All saltwater can, through a fairly simple brewing process, be made into a low-grade poison, which can then be further strengthened through other means. Creating this poison requires clarity of intent and purpose while brewing - it cannot be created by accident, or by someone who does not know what they are doing. The poison is only created through action, and the curse is entirely inert otherwise: all sea life is entirely unaffected.

Wave Archons and Waveborn are affected, however, owing to their connection to the sea, and many have had their powers complemented (or replaced) by various poison-related abilities: the ability to influence its severity or effects, the ability to cure or neutralize it, and in some cases the ability to spontaneously create it. These abilities apply even to poison that was not created by saltwater brewing.

Create Organization: The Salt Blossom Guild [1AP]

The Salt Blossom Guild is an organization comprised mostly of waveborn with poison-influencing abilities, or other abilities that are useful in the creation or healing of alchemical poisons. Their most public-facing service is as healers and purveyors of lower-grade toxins such as rat poison or other pesticides, as well as herbal and pharmakeic medicines. Many barons or other individuals with powerful enemies employ Salt Blossom healers, who can neutralize most poisons in seconds, or test their foods and drinks for them. However, they are known in shadier circles as purveyors of many powerful and exotic toxins and poisons - as well as experts in the art of subtle assassination. The most terrifying of their agents are the Salt-Blood: waveborn with the ability to transmute the water within a body to toxins and back again, killing in a way that is nigh-impossible to avoid and difficult to detect afterwards.

Craft (Alchemy) 6/10

Create Organization: The Twilight Horizon Transport Company [1AP]

An organization of ship captains, composed largely of waveborn and wave archons, and specializing in transit to and from the plane of Concourse via fog portals. Each ship within the company has at least one waveborn or wave archon with the ability to summon fog or mist, which they can then use to move their ships in and out of the plane.

They offer two primary services: the first is transportation of goods and people in and out of the plane of Concourse. The second is transportation of goods and people from any place on the first world to any other place, using the city of Concourse as a medium to greatly reduce travel time.

Owing to the relative rarity of waveborn, much less waveborn with the specific abilities to open sea fog portals, their services are rather expensive; more of a specialty courier service than a general mass transportation guild, used to get important people and items across the world quickly, or in and out of the planar city of Heping. For this reason, they are also well known for the skill of their mercenary waveborn guards and the relative luxury of their vessels, ensuring that their cargo arrives at its destination swiftly, comfortably, and securely.

However, in the spirit of the initial rescue of stranded Concourse dwellers by Captain Yharala Judir, the organization's founder, the Company maintains a permanent office in the city of Heping where the stranded and truly penniless may sign up for one-way passage to the city of Dawnhold.

Magic (Mutant) 1/10

Create Mythical Subconcept (Blood Magic): Weaponized Fungus [2AP]

Various strains of fungus altered through Blood Magic and infected with various forms of the Direwolf's Curse through the Bloodsteel Strain, altered to become fast-growing living weapons. These fungal strains have a variety of effects, from breaking down enemy fortifications or ships through corrosion of wood and stone, to acting as a form of quick-spreading and devastating fuel for fires or explosions, to creating clouds of noxious fumes, to turning enemy weapons and armor against them through spreading of the Direwolf's Curse. Almost all of these strains are designed to die before they are able to spread too far and pose a possible permanent threat to the surrounding landscape, however. Almost all.

Though these fungi are very powerful, they are also difficult to produce, fairly easy to wipe out in their earliest moments of growth, and impossible to control once unleashed. Captains and commanders who do not use theirs judiciously may have their only strain killed before it can do any damage; or worse, it may spread out of control and threaten their own ship or warriors.

Craft (Alchemy) 8/10

5-4 = 1AP remaining

1-0 = 1PAP remaining

Spoiler: TL;DR

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Kassa makes it so that saltwater can be turned into poison
--
Healers all over freak out over surge in poisonings; poisoners all over freak out over drop in poison prices; waveborn all over freak out over sudden rewriting of their abilities; a few waveborn band together and form alchemy/assassination guild; a few other waveborn accidentally discover sea fog portals to concourse, form transportation company
--
league finalizes alliance with LOC; alchemy guilds get their hands on pharmakeia and invent weaponized fungus; mana harvesters find out about mana crystals and begin producing their own for sale to the Union and the red coast city-states; a team in the Institute is working on a secret project to solve the flight problem

[Feathersnow]

Eastwatch-Fox
A chance encounter
No one was sure afterward whether it was the Archon that drew out the Gryphons, or the wreckage of the Gryphons carelessness that called out for the Archon to fix it. Perhaps it was inevitable they would both be drawn to DRAMA's installation at Firefly island, in the artificial bay protecting Eastwatch-Fox's coast. Abyssal Emperors were telepathic, and Invested were drawn to made places.

Or perhaps they were both creatures of Skidi, perhaps they were drawn by Acis'sej's address "to come home." And, though more Centuar than Ghul, Eastwatch-Fox was by far the largest and densest population of Ghuls in the world.

For these were creatures both like and unlike those seen in the world before. The Penguin/Whale hybrid creatures hadn't been seen except in tall tales before the rising of Artica and the Land of Caribou had changed the sea currents. But they started following ships, begging for treats and being general nuisances. What was disturbing was that the blessing of Abu Dhahab seemed to effect them not at all, as though they hunted by touch and sound.

The Invested were rarer still. Appearing as ghostly figures, usually animals but sometimes humanoids, rumors of them appearing were even scarcer. But everyone who knew anything about them knew they were creatures of tilled fields, cities, and protectors of the bred and the tame.

The one thing that was for sure... the Abyssal Emperors couldn't have meant any real harm. If they had, this story would have been far shorter.

They came, and the Centaurs panicked. And the Gryphons, hearing their panic, reflected it in frenzy. The few Ghuls, acting on intuition, for they knew little more about the creatures for sure, fed them oozes laces with minor healing magic. The Gryphons, realizing they were being bought off, left. Then everyone noticed the Archon, in the form of a manatee, licking the torn membranes of the desalination bubble to cause it to heal.

It was a few weeks later that they realized that plants would grow in impure but non-salty water. And that the Archon must have used the opportunity to seed the bubbles with this "hydroponics." And so, the food output of the city inched closer to self-sufficiency even as the population boomed.

Spoiler: AP actions

Show

AP 0 +6
PAP 0+1

Create Mythic Sublife- The Invested.
The lost Archons of Skidi appeae in times of crop loss and damage to large or complex structures in order to help.
AP -2.
Craft (Megastructure) 10/10
PAP -1 (Survival)

Create Mythic sublife- Abyssal Emperors
These intelligent but bestial aquatic gryphons are known to track ships and beg for treats. They are also highly telepathic and exist simultaneously in teo plains of existence at once, usually the First World and The Dreamlands. Some say they share a hive intelligence.
Ap -3
(Uncommitted)
Create Advanced Subconcept- Hydroponics
This science of growing plants under completely artificial conditions is, in some ways as much an achievement of Ghul Biosciences as Blood Magic
AP -1
Race (Ghul) 10/10
AP remaining 0
PAP 0

If my god were still alive she would have ascended this week.

[Writtensanity]

Nimuna wiped the blood off of the Gift of Love and sighed. She should have known better than to come to the Dark Continent in this form. The first several Tieflings hadn't recognized her as the Avatar of Briettia and had thrown themselves at her to prove a point about killing a foreigner. She had instead proved her point about natural selection.

But yes, this was no place for the Caretaker, but that had been the form she'd been in shortly before this on Macra'Ahi. Being an Avatar with plans was busy work after all.

But she was here to deliver something to the Tieflings, both news and a gift. There were whispers of her within the Dark Continent already, as she'd had a hand in crafting all of their being, but the divine simply arriving was.. unprecedented here. That said, once she'd proven herself she was quickly brought to her destination by some of the reverant tieflings.

The bathhouse in the centre of Xolicatl was quiet this time of day, as most Tieflings were training or trying to bargain their way up in society. Those in charge understood that this made it a perfect place to have quiet meetings. Two Teiflings conspiring in a back room? Suspicious. Two ran into each other at the bathhouse? That could be explained away in the world of politics.

At the base of a large pillar made of sandstone that was lined with gold trimmings, a tall, viciously scarred Tiefling sat between two male concubines that she'd taken in the past year. She raised a single eyebrow at the Avatar as she rounded the corner into the room. The teifling dismissed her two companions and stood up from her seat, only to take a small bow towards Nimuna.

This was Itzicoatl, the current Tlahtoani of Blood.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Itzicoatl asked. She somehow kept her voice calm and cool in front of the Goddess. She knew that Nimuna the Caretaker wasn't there to punish or kill her as the Tlahtoani of Blood, but she had been graced with visions of what the Ascended Life could do, and wasn't keen on incurring its wrath.

"It's time for the Tieflings to sing the song you were birthed for," Nimuna said, "the Winged Kingdom marches on Corrla, alongside the rest of the Harpies and their Weshesh allies."

Itzicoatl sat back down in the water and motioned for Nimuna to join her, "And?"

"And should the first continent burn without the Opera of the Song it would be-"

"I'm not questioning whether the Tieflings are going to join in on that fun your holiness," Itzicoatl corrected, "that is a given, I was wondering if you had anything other to say aside from letting us off our chains at our first target."


"Well," as Nimuna spoke, the first smoke started drifting into the room and Itzicoatl leapt up. "Her name is Vellia, and if you can kill her, I've instructed her to stay with the Tieflings for the time being as a manifestation of the song."

"What is she?" Itzicoatal asked as she strode over to the wall to grab her spear.

"She's the only Wildfire Phoenix," Nimuna explained, "and she is my other form's chosen hero."

Spoiler: AP ACTION: Vellia Ascended Inferno

Show

Vellia the First and currently only Wildfire Phoenix has been chosen as a Hero by Nimuna, Ascended Life.

Vellia is a Wildfire Harpy, meaning that she is immortal and for all practical purposes a Harpy Sized Phoenix with Pyrokinesis. Due to her smaller size and the small spark of divine energy from within her, unlike Phoenixes which revive over a short moment, she revives essentially instantly upon death.

As part of becoming a hero, she has Nimuna's presence around the wild, meaning that animals know to avoid her at all costs.

Though she truly only follows Nimuna's will, Vellia is currently working with the Tieflings.

AP SPENT: 2
AP REMAINING 8 (+6 from rollover)
AP Allocation: Life Survival (Portfolio Gained)

[Feathersnow]

The Great Badger
In the Beginning
In the beginning, there were Twelve Courts for Twelve Gods, and not the least of them was the Nameless Court of The Caribou and her Invested, for she was the god not of creation, but the created, of nothing in particular made to service, and, above all, the power to change things by will.
And not the least of the Court of the Invested was Badger, whose aspect was the most potent and ratified of them all- the Patron of Made Life and the will that makes others bow.

But, almost immediately, a crisis struck, by a being both like and like the gods, a devouring serpent that slaughtered divinities and their broods. Caribou ordered the survivors the hide, and Badger charged the serpent. Caribou assumed he died in the maw of the beast, and died believing her consort was as dead as the children he had sired and the land she had made. Had the Badger explained his plan, history may have taken a different course. But Badger was never one for explanations.


As he approached the maw of the Serpent, he burrowed through reality itself, and hid in the very wake, the shadow of the devourer.

He hid were no one bothered to look for
some time. Then the debris of dead gods began to float by, and bored, he fashioned his first child from some of their bits.

The first was called Larva, and it was unfinished. Badger looked upon its potential, and bid it manifest, and the First Larva became Prime, the Progenitor and first of the Xenex.

Prime begat other Larva, but he knew it was not seemly, nor practical, they should all be as grand as The Prime, at least, not right away. So a lower benchmark was set. The Larvae became Workers.

Immediately, the workers set to give their life structure. At first, they congealed the reality around them into flat surfacesq, and used them as gaming tables. But, after they began to hunger, they learned by necessity to make crude vessels to go among the dead gods and scavenge.

After a time that seemed long but may not have been, the Prime decided that it was fitting there be more workers. The Prime could have made them, or Badger could have been asked to intervene. But the Workers should strive and take part in their own evolution, decided the Prime, and Badger disliked interfering, anyway.

The Prime Surveyed the minds of all the Workers, and queried who was the best among them for a special and vital task. Most answered the one called "Nymph," who was the strongest, toughest, and most patient and levelheaded of all the Workers. But Some, including Nymph, voted for the one called "Drone"

So Prime went to Nymph and said "You are the strongest and wisest of all the workers, why would you choose Drone?"

And Nymph answered, "Drone is the cleverest and the most ambitious. The most aggressive and the most emotional of all the Workers. If any could be trusted to a vital task, it would be Drone. And Drone is frail, and my friend. I fear it eould hurt them to be passed by when they want this more"

And the Prime went to Drone, "The plurality of your fellows would choose Nymph for the great new task over you, yet you would choose yourself. Explain why."

And Drone, sheepishly, replied, "Perhaps you should choose Nymph. Their virtues are many and their faults are few, but I am driven always to better myself and to prove myself. But Nymph is my friend, and I have complete confidence they could succeed"

And so Prime announced, "I have asked all of you who is the greatest among you, who best suited for the great work of forwarding the future of our race. And I found I had asked two different questions.

H]enceforth, the greatest among you, those who would be leaders and warriors and huntresses, will blossom when the time comes and there is need and room, into new bodies, just as all our current bodies blossomed from Larvae.

They shall be called Nymphs, and they shall be called "she." And the one now called Nymph will pick a new name, as befits her new station. And she will be your leader, second only to myself and Badger.

But another was chosen! Those of you who ever seek and pry and quest, those who might be artists, scientists and scouts, they shall, as need and room allow, blossom into a new form as well.

These shall be called Drones, and be called "He," and the now called Drone shall pick a new name as befits his new station, and he shall be great latitude in the completion of his work, save he cleave to the leadership of myself and Nymph, and the values Badger has given us."

And so, by the will of Prime, with the combined contributions of Nymph and Drone, the First Pool of Emergence was made, from which the first new Larvae would be birthed.

But, before anything else could happen, a unforseen event came. In its death throes, the Great Serpent cursed the Void to be inhospitable to life! In a last, desperate attempt to save the colony, Prime wove a great cocoon and altered the weather to abate the radiation storms.

Badger slept in the cocoon with them. Waiting fir Caribou to come looking, now the skies were safe for divines, if not mortals.

If Badger had known that, hidden from each other, Caribou had let herself die in despair, perhaps he may have sought a better plan, or perhaps he would have slept forever and joined his mistress at the end of time.

There they were, all in one place

The Hour of Ascension was a solemn occasion, these days. Idix was gone, and with her both the unity of purpose and the clarity of direction that bound her religion.

The Sisterhood was an organization trying to beĺ drifted further away in goals.

The handful of Shelled and Ferrin converts found themselves sidelined in an empire that was moving almost as fast as it was fragmenting.

The main population of Ghuls were ever more lost as their society pivoted and changed more in years than it had in lifetimes.

The Dryads, ever aloof, ever judgemental, sat reserved and apart.
And, for the first time, a few Invested had come, and a few pods of Abyssal Emperors frolicked in the sky.

Acis'sej rose, as if to make a speech, but her heart was not in it.

And then, The Great Badger came, carrying Prime in his wake.

He sauntered up to the empty throne of Idix, and sat upon it.

I Would Sow The Chaff

And the meaning was clear, a meaning alien to Idix's noble start as her tragic end.

Surrender that which is unwanted, leave if you would not choose to stay, become unburdened. The Badger will take what is unwanted and make it something new.

And Prime reached to the minds of the ancient beings in the congregation, and let them give away their memories they no longer needed, the garbage of centuries that had slowly driven them all mad.

And Prime wove it into the minds of sleeping workers, so they might have context and life as they awoke into the First World.

And, soon, they might be ready...

Spoiler: AP action

Show

Funeral Pyre
Idix is no more! 8 of her 9 portfolios are being sacrificed for AP, leaving only Magic (Transmutation)

AP 0 +40

Create Monstrous life- Xenex Larva.
These creatures can perform basic acts of cystomancy or mundane labor under the direction of a higher caste Xenex. Xenex have fungible souls that transfer to a Larva that then metamorphoses into the slain Xenex. A Prime can induce a Larva to become a new worker.

AP -1
1/10 Race (Xenex)
39 Remaining

Create Mythic Sublife- Xenex Prime
A gigantic creature resembling a stick insect with a human head, with broken stripes of tan and green coloration. They serve as the communication hub and memory banks of aex Xenex community.
These creatures have the power of weather control and basic Windweaving, as well as telepathy and the ability to send Ixi at will.
AP -3
3/10 nobility (superbeing)
36 Remaining

Create Mythic Sublife- Xenex Nymph
Large, powerfully built humanoids with a healing factor and access to Prana Bindu and Pharmakeia. They have tiger stripes
They form the Lieutenants of the Xenex society, and are promoted by primes.
A Nymph must contribute eggs to form a Pool of Emergence.

AP -3
6/10 nobility (superbeing)
33 Remaining

Create Mythic Sublife- Xenex Drone

Resembling Humanoids with butterfly wings for arms, these are the specialists of the Xenex Society.
They are gifted in blood magic and can create crude tractor beams and energy shields with their minds. They are capable of Psychometric object reading using these powers.
A pool of Emergence will only produce new life if under the care of a Drone.

AP -3
9/10 nobility (superbeing)
30 Remaining

Create Racial Sublife- Xenex Worker
These resemble humans with small extra arms and no clear gender markers. They enjoy structured leisure activities.

AP -2
Race (Xenex) 3/10
28 Remaining

Create Monstrous sub-life- the Pool of Emergence

These resemble oddly colored ponds choked with strange plants. A Drone can convince them to issue forth Xenex Larvae.

AP -1

Race (Xenex) 4/10
27 Remaining

Create Legendary society- The Hive Cluster
This society encompasses the few surviving Xenex that went into stasis to save themselves from the radiation storms of the Void after the Death of Wan'Shi. It is presently trying to locate itself somewhere more hospitable to life.

AP -4
8/10 Race (Xenex)

23 Remaining

Create mythic concept- Cystomancy

This is the magic powet of creating ectoplasmic barriers.

-4 AP
4/10 Magic (Protection)
19 Remaining

Create mythic subconcept- Bioships
This is the art of using Cystomancy as a latticework to build ships capable of three dimensional travel

-2 AP
6/10 Magic (Protection)
17 Remaining

Create Mundane concept- Board Games
they are fun for the whole hive!
-1 AP
9/10 Race (Xenex)
16 Remaining

Blessing- Pain Shared
The First Prime, under the direction of Badger, allowed Ghuls to voluntarily cull their memories reducing both their neuroses and their hypothetical combat prowess
-1 AP
10/10 Nobility (superbeing)
15 Remaining


Minor Combat Artifact- The Burden of Aeons
The combined memories of the Cold War can be re-awakened to deadly effect by the Cemex Primes who store them.
-3 AP
9/10 Magic (Defense)


12 Remaining

Spoiler: Old Possessions

Show

Ascended Hero-
Acis'sej, Empress of Ghuls
Still an avatar, she has accepted a subordinate role to The Great Badger, but will still stand as the Head of State of the Formerly Idixist flock

-5 AP
5/10 society (Diaspora)
7 remaining

Legendary Society- The New Dispensation
This encompasses those civilians of the Brotherhood, former land Of Cliffs and Spires, snd Enclaves and their aristocratic rulers that wish to join with The Great Badger.

-4 AP
9/10 society (Diaspora)

3 remaining

Organization- The Sisterhood of Navigators

This organization is a group of traders and sailors with string strong political ties to the Ghuls and The League

-1 AP
10/10 society (diaspora)
2 Remaining


Total AP Left- 2

[zzzzzzzz414]

THE REMOTE ISLAND OF NAFIR: Skymetal, Secrets, and an Unusual Revolution

"Yes, yes, this way now, almost there, hurry hurry now!" the ghul known as Adnol'leb called back, scarcely pausing his waddling scramble across the rocky, half-frozen shore. "Very important developments you know, no, ah, time to waste!"

Nal'uri followed closely behind at a brisk walk, pulling her coat closer as another bitter wind blew across the iron-grey waves, the cold clawing its way beneath her fur. Not for the first time, she wished she were in a ghul body right about now. The Institute had better have a damned good reason for dragging her all the way out to this miserable freezing rock - and she had said as much, multiple times, as they had made their way around the island from the sole, isolated port, but her compatriot had only giggled knowingly in response - nothing, it appeared, could ruin the researcher's good mood this morning.

"I don't suppose you can tell me what, exactly, it is we're getting closer to?" the gnoll called back over the roaring wind. "As someone with a bit of knowledge in these things, this doesn't look like a shipyard, air or otherwise." It was an open secret within the Sisterhood that the League had long been looking to create their own air fleets, Nal'uri was an accomplished windweaver and sailor (though not too accomplished to avoid being pulled aside for this nonsense, she thought bitterly) and the absolute secrecy of this trip and location was impressed upon her many, many times over the last few weeks, so it didn't exactly take a scholar to surmise what this was about.

"Ah, no, it is something even better! But, in good time, in good time. Ah, look, we are here!" The pair rounded the edge of a large, rocky outcropping, and their destination finally revealed itself: a cluster of squat buildings, surrounding an artificially-hewn grotto. Wooden lodge-like structures, Ufnal'uri noted, rather than stone buildings. Unsurprisingly, it seemed as though they hadn't trusted any kobold contractors with this site. After recieving a cursory nod from the handful of guards flanking the area, the pair proceeded across the small courtyard and into the cave, winding tunnels and chambers illuminated by yellow alchemical lamps.

"Now, we have had, ah, a few false starts with this particular project, new boundaries being, ah, broken, you know, but we are quite confident in this batch!" Adnol'leb chattered amicably. "A new paradigm in flight technology, yes. We are ready at this point to bring in the pilot - that, ah, is to say, you, in order to help us confirm a few things over the coming weeks. Ah, but I get ahead of myself, first you must meet them!"

...them?

As the two of them finally arrived in the last chamber - larger than the rest, green-robed researchers attending to various equipment lining the walls - the answer to Nal'uri's unasked question presented itself. There, in the center of the chamber, was a small hollow in the sand, full of...baby turtles.

"Uh." The gnoll blinked. Had there been a mistake of some kind? Adnol'leb grinned at her obvious confusion.

"Yes, not, ah, quite what you were expecting, hm? Ah, but these are no ordinary turtles! You see these particular newborn chelonids have been carefully bred over successive generations of blood magic aided introduction of tertiary biometallic traits in conjunction with-"

"Er, uh, yes, very interesting" Nal'uri interjected, hoping to cut off a ramble that she knew wouldn't stop once it had started, "but you mentioned that these animals are some kind of...flight technology? I am a windweaver, not a harpy druid or a Keriman beast-tamer. I'm not certain what you expect me to do with these...things. As cute as they appear to be."

"Ah, hm, yes, perhaps a demonstration will prove more educational than an explanation. Come, come this way, right over here!" Adnol'leb gestured towards the hollow, and Nal'luri, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes, walked up and squatted down next to it. Upon closer inspection, these seven turtles did seem...unique. Not just in size - they were newborns, apparently, but already the size of large dogs - but there was something about the shells. Strange, silvery lines seemingly inlaid into the material, too organic to have been carved, but spiderwebbing across their backs in hexagonal patterns almost too intricate to be natural. The silver stuff seemed to be speckled across their skin as well, she noticed.

"Now, ah, I am aware you have used skymetal before - that is, indeed, why we have chosen you! - but are you familiar with Bloodsteel weapons or armor?"

"To an extent. Practiced with a few, but have never wielded one against a true opponent."

"That will suffice, that will suffice! If you would, ah, reach out to one of them, please, as you would to establish a connection to a bloodsteel weapon, that should be a sufficient demonstration of the basic concept."

Starting to get a dawning realization of what was happening here, Nal'luri extended a paw, palm out, and extended her will outwards. She found herself striking on something that was...very much not a bloodsteel weapon. It was a thought, then a rush of thoughts, then a presence, reaching upward and outward, carrying with it a flood of sensations, emotions, energy. And then, the frontmost turtle floated upwards to nuzzle her paw, and a lot of things suddenly snapped into place.

WASTELANDS OF THE FIRST WORLD: Dust, Desecration, and Old Magic

The Curse of Wasted Earth did not have a mind, per se. It had once been part of a mind, one might say; the desire of a god given magical form, left to echo and echo within the bones of the earth long after the death of its creator.

That was, at least, what it had begun as. But the Wasted Earth was old, old magic, nearly as old as the world itself; and nothing is left within the earth that long, feeding upon the discarded dead of the cultures above, without beginning to...develop. To degrade and mutate, to blossom as it was twisted into new forms by the compounded actions of those above.

The curse existed to punish waste of the dead. But there was one kind of waste that began to resonate with it more than the others, to thrum with the imitated anger of an ancient god. The waste that emerged, not when a killer killed for survival, or self-defense, or an ideology, or even as a mandated display of strength, but for the sheer sake of killing. The act of hunting merely for sport, for the pure joy of extinguishing a life from the world, waste embodied not just in the treatment of the remains, but in the act itself.

And so, where a Bone Horror raised from the earth by the curse came upon these remains, it did something it had never done before: it picked the bones up, and added them to itself. And thereafter, it began, not to wander, but to hunt.

THE LAND OF CARIBOU COLONIES: Blood, Blasphemy, and a Charming and Helpful Individual

Gurokha Uftorkan trudged slowly through the driving winds, the heavily laden sled behind her leaving deep furrows in the snow. She occasionally looked behind her to see if her companions were still behind her, though the bluish light of her lantern did not let her see much but their gray silhouettes.

No matter. They had known what they were getting into. They needed to make it tonight.

The Kalarian League had not gone into the Lands of Caribou expecting very much. If this place was being given to them freely by the ghuls, then clearly there must not be much of value there, compared to the much more temperate coasts. They were pleasantly surprised at the supplies of good timber to be found there, and began setting up lumber camps to harvest it; only to start recieving a few strange reports of loggers - sometimes whole camps of them, even - totally and inexplicably vanishing in the night. Increased security at the camps led to guards vanishing as well - this time, with signs of a bloody struggle that could not have possibly been caused by any known animal. Frustrated, they turned to the local lodges, and, with some difficulty, managed to extract from them the tale of the Wendigo - tales that seemed eerily similar to dreams and stories that had been passed around from some of the League's artisans over the last several years.

Attempts to hunt down and kill the Wendigo failed, miserably. Attempts to recruit the Wendigo also failed, miserably. Attempts to placate the Wendigo, and study it at the same time, fared...slightly better. It (...she, apparently?) was actually quite happy to negotiate with them, and even share some of its knowledge, in exchange for flesh and blood. The flesh and blood of still-living beings, specifically, the fresher the better. Somewhat reluctantly (it wasn't all that different from the arrangements the League had with a few of the vampires within its borders), the Grey Council of the Land of Caribou assented, and several researchers from the Green Council - people like Gurokha Uftorkan - came to exchange knowledge with the Wendigo, as well as glean more about her properties.

This worked well, for a time. The Wendigo was more than satisfied with the blood they brought her - mutants and alchemists and philosophers, so much richer than that of random loggers! - and the knowledge she gave in return was more valuable than they could have imagined. Knowledge that only seemed to grow with each passing meeting, synthesizing the experiences and knowledge of those whose blood she drank into ever more esoteric-yet-brilliant insights. It was the Wendigo, in fact, who helped create a few of the blood magic inscriptions that proved to be instrumental in the success of the League's flight project - inscriptions that would have caused the project to take much longer otherwise.

But after a while, the situation became...less tenable. The more hardline Idixists of the Sisterhood and the Institute decried the practice of consorting with the Wendigo, stating that it was nothing less than blasphemy. And the Wendigo's blood requests grew ever more worrying. Mere mutant blood was no longer enough. She began asking for incredibly dangerous creatures from the depths of far Macra'ahi, and for the blood of ever-higher and more knowledgeable figures within the ranks of the League. More power in other words; power of such a scope that its request had grown far beyond a local matter, and had begun to attract the attention of the Red Council. The final straw came when the Wendigo requested the blood of the chief researcher of a top-secret alchemical project that even the researchers assigned to her had never heard of - one that did, apparently, exist, but was only known to a tightly-guarded handful of people, none of whom had given blood to the Wendigo. She had, apparently, deduced its existence and subject matter through inference alone, piecing together the information from the hundreds of life experiences they had now fed her. With that, the Red Council, jointly with the Sisterhood, demanded an immediate end to all contact with the Wendigo, and the Green Council dutifully withdrew.

On paper, anyway.

"We're here!" Gurokha shouted to her companions over the storm, as they arrived at the threshold of a small cave half-buried in snow. Within, though, just out of sight of the cave mouth, was a pleasant, warm fire - and lying there next to it, a bit cramped in the small (for her, anyway) cave but happy as ever to see them, was the Wendigo.

"Hello there! I hope you'll forgive our lateness, and the odd timing, great wise one." Gurokha said, letting go of the sled and moving closer to the fire. "Some insipid internal politics and fearful old fools have led to us needing to be a bit more...discreet about our meetings from here on. But! Worry not, my companions and I are still fully dedicated to our relationship - and to you. And without the busybodies in Port Seldyria breathing down our necks, I've had a bit more latitude in picking out your gifts."

As her companions finally filtered in, Gurokha removed the cloth covering the sled with a flourish, revealing what lay underneath: wooden boxes packed with row upon row of labeled blood-filled vials, more than had ever been brought at once before. "So!" she said, grabbing a vial and offering it up to her, "It's been a while; what do you say to a good meal and a nice, long conversation?"

---

Spoiler: AP Actions

Show

AP total: 1
PAP total: 1

Rollover:
1+5 = 6AP
1+1 = 2PAP

Create Monstrous Sublife (Titan Turtles): Aether Turtles [1AP]

Aether Turtles are modified cousins of the Titan Turtles, bred through many years of careful Blood Magic. Like Titan Turtles, they look like massive versions of conventional sea turtles, ranging from the size of a large dog at birth to the size of a large hill at adulthood (about 30 years old), usually living 200-300 years. Unlike Titan Turtles, however, Aether turtles have been infused with traits from the metallic wildlife native to the Changing Lands, and their shells and skin contain lines and flecks of a special variant of Skysteel. This special Skysteel is a variant of Bloodsteel that has fully bonded into a symbiotic relationship with the rest of the turtle; altogether, these traits mean that Aether Turtles are capable of flight if bonded with a windweaver pilot; this bond uses the magic of Bloodsteel to establish an empathic bond not dissimilar to the ones created through Druidic worship, and allows the rider/pilot to direct the turtle's actions.

As a result of the integration with Bloodsteel, Aether Turtles are, in stark contrast with Titan Turtles, obligate carnivores who prefer fresh meat.

Aether Turtle eggs are, at the moment, rare, and controlled exclusively by the Kalarian League.

Craft (Alchemy) 9/10

Create Organization: The Kalarian Storm Fleet [1AP]

A special cooperation between the Makhalib Maksur and the Sisterhood of Navigators, the Kalarian Storm Fleet is a military fleet dedicated to aerial and naval combat, primarily in the form of specially armored Aether Turtles flown by windweaver pilots.

Though the League's shipwrights cannot produce flying airships, they can reinforce the Aether Turtles with additional implements of wood (all lightened while in flight through integration of Skysteel), building sails, a deck, weapons, and other chambers on the back of the turtle's shell to enhance its speed, carrying capacity, armor and offensive potential. The resulting "craft" is heavier and sturdier than an Imperial skyship, but lighter than a Weshesh barge, and, though prone to unpredictability (being a living animal) and possessing multiple weak points, is also capable of moments of great insight, acrobatics and reaction speed thanks to the bond it shares with its pilot or pilots.

Due to the variance in size as they age, Storm Fleet aether turtles (Or "Storm Turtles") are often cycled "upwards" over years, going from relatively unadorned single-person strike vessels manned only by their pilot (who is usually bonded from the turtle's birth) up to larger craft and eventually massive war galleons with dozens of crew and possibly even carrying smaller turtles as auxilliary craft.

A full-sized, fully-equipped Storm Turtle normally has multiple bonded windweaver pilots, a complement of (usually mutant) soldiers capable of flight, and a Sisterhood weather controller - the ones from whom the Storm Fleet gets their name. The strategy of the Storm Fleet involves striking fast and hard, using the cover of conjured clouds and fog to ambush an opponent before they realize what is happening, striking decisive and destructive blows with their magic from all angles before the enemy can mount a solid counterattack that could risk injuring or spooking the aether turtle.

Though they are obviously most well-known for sky combat, Storm Turtles are also aquatic vehicles, capable of landing and swimming at high speed in the ocean, and engaging with marine ships just as well as aerial ones.

Craft (Alchemy) 10/10

Create Monstrous Sublife: Bloody-Bones [1AP]

If a Bone Horror animated by the Curse of Wasted Earth happens upon the remains of a creature that has been killed solely for "fun" (a creature that was killed purely for sport, the victim of a serial murderer, etc.) it will absorb the remains into itself and undergo a transformation into a Bloody-Bones. Rather than wandering aimlessly, a Bloody-Bones slowly but endlessly pursues the ones that killed all of the creatures whose bones make up its components, able to magically track them anywhere on the first world - it will even pursue the dead, if they have intact bones. When it finds and kills its killer (or discovers their remains), it integrates their bones into itself, and continues on to the next target. As it makes this journey, it picks up any dead remains it stumbles across, and kills any living creatures it finds; in this way, it slowly transforms from a small creature to a massive, lurching, toothy behemoth of bone and rotten flesh, spreading desolation in wide swaths behind it as it goes. In the unlikely event that a Bloody-Bones successfully kills and/or absorbs all of the people responsible for the deaths of its constituent parts, it will resume aimlessly wandering - but only until it absorbs remains that will send it towards a new target.

It will not cease its quest until it is destroyed; bits of it can be physically broken off, but these will often animate again as Bone Horrors and/or simply be picked up again by the beast. Fire, or the magic of Requiem, is more effective.

Change (Transformation) 6/10

Create Organization: Coven of the Wendigo [1AP]

A small group of semi-rogue alchemists, pharmakeists, heretic Idixists and scattered others dedicated to the Wendigo, with the covert support of certain members of the Kalarian Green Council and the Gray Council of the Land of Caribou Colonies.

The members of this group are ardent followers of the Wendigo's knowledge and philosophy, with many believing her to be a supremely wise being with the potential to become even greater - godlike, even - if they follow and assist her in her pursuit of knowledge and power. Several of them seek out the blood and flesh of specific individuals or creatures requested by her, or dedicate themselves to the study of transformative Pharmakeia in the hopes of becoming like her. Many of them travel and live physically with the Wendigo, though they have devotees and sympathizers (many of them inspired by the dreams they've had of her) scattered across the First World, who assist in acquiring knowledge in their various fields to feed to her, as well as a significant contigent that works within the Ichorian Institute or various alchemical and pharmakeic guilds of the League.

Though the core group is nominally loyal to the Green Council, seeking the Wendigo's help with many of the conundrums being pursued by the Ichorian Institute, a growing number of them are truly loyal first and foremost to the Wendigo herself.

Change (Transformation) 7/10

Portfolio Acquired: Craft (Alchemy)

Nature (Parasites), Trickery (Betrayal), Craft (Apothecary), Trickery (Thieves), Death (Plague), Entertainment (Storytelling), Craft (Alchemy)

Ascension: Intermediate Deity

6-4 = 2AP Remaining

2-0 = 2PAP Remaining

Spoiler: TL;DR

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-League introduces flying magically-engineered Aether Turtles that can be flown with the help of windweaver captains. League also creates the Storm Fleet to fly them, also utilizing wooden skymetal-lightened turtle enhancements, flying mutants, and weather controllers.

-Bone Horrors that happen upon the bones of a creature killed for fun/sport might turn into Bloody-Bones, monstrous abominations that endlessly pursue the ones who killed them and collect carcasses to add to their forms along the way.

-League makes contact with Wendigo after arriving on Land of Caribou, sets up exchange of blood and flesh for knowledge, eventually shuts down contact with her when higher-ups start to worry about the amount of power they're feeding her (also, heresy).

Rogue researchers/heretics secretly establish the Coven of the Wendigo, a cult dedicated to the Wendigo and her teachings/wisdom, and to assisting her in her quest for power and knowledge. Nominally loyal to certain members of the Green Council, increasingly loyal exclusively to the Wendigo herself.

[KragBrightscale]

Agriculture in the Desert

Unlike most other places on circle continent, the deserts of Wadi Alsahali where too dry to support extensive farming. Until recently, Lizardfolk and Gnoll farmers were limited to the area surrounding oases to grow their crops. Even extensive irrigation was not feasible due to the lack of suitable water sources.

Sandstorms and dry winds also put a limit to crop growth, leading to Lizardfolk having a diet of mostly meat and fish supplemented by dates and other foods that could be grown. Although many could make do with relying on their Ki, that was not sustainable in the long run, and not everyone enjoyed meditation enough to skip meals.

Food remained an important import, until certain advances in agriculture amongst other societies became known to merchants. Hydroponics used less water than regular farming methods due to a reduction in water evaporating from the surface of the soil or draining away deep into the ground. This made it suitable for those living in the desert, provided they had enough water to get started.

Wells, a simple invention that recently spread through the wadis, had been thought up by some Lizardfolk who were tired of digging new holes whenever they needed water. Why not make a permanent access down to the water below the surface. They were not really that difficult to make, considering their current technological capabilities, and soon many deep wells were dug and maintained in villages as well as places known only to those who regularly crossed the deserts.

The challenge of water access partially solved, farmers and craftsmen of the Union got to work trying to mimic what had been described to them by gnolls who had visited the growing city of Eastwatch Fox, and merchants who had heard rumors through other sources.

Lacking the bio-technology and other secret methods used by those of East Fox, the Lizardfolk made do with more mundane options. The first attempts to grow plants in water rather than soil was not successful, and the small sprouts quickly failed due to lack of nutrients.

It wasn’t until they combined it with the idea of pisciculture that they finally succeeded to sustainably grow what they needed. With the newly established aquaponics, the people of the deserts finally had a more reliable source of food, making them less dependent on trade to feed their population.

As the technology spread from city to city, the more established aquaponic facilities started growing trees like coconut and banana palms. Instead of fish, some facilities switched to oysters, providing both pearls and food in addition to the plants they grew. Using as little as a tenth of the amount of water as regular farming, the desert cities finally overcame one of the large hurdles that limited their population’s growth.

Ki forging - Eternalite

The development of metalworking techniques never stopped, and from traveling merchants, news of unidentifiable metals being seen in the empire was concerning. Knowledge of their properties and how to produce them were secrets not for sale, though considering the empire lacked the extensive access to ores from the depths that the Weshesh could provide, the ores must have come from elsewhere.

Lizardfolk smiths and craftsmen theorized that the most likely source of the ores the empire used was solace. Attributing unknown objects to solace was the easiest explanation, due to the lack of access to it or understanding of what it was like there. Nevertheless, their guess wasn’t too far off, and the metals where definitely of otherworldly origin.

Mixing Ki into a metal while it was molten didn’t do much other than increase its durability and help alloys blend better, but the experiments where done with just that. Considering other societies’ widespread use of magic, and their own dislike of it, metalworkers began mixing in small amounts of holy sand with the ores before smelting.

For reasons unknown to the researchers, only bronze took up the sand successfully, and required a constant supply of Ki to mix properly. The resulting new Alloy, Eternalite, brought metallurgy full circle, giving bronze, by now mostly phased out, a new use and life.

Eternalite was duller and and heavier than usual bronze, with occasional specks that glittered in the sunlight. It wasn’t until extensive testing was done that it’s unique properties became understood.

Holy sand was used blessed by Abu Dhahab himself to counter the devourer’s unstoppable regeneration, and had been used to suppress all sorts of unnatural things by the monks of the Order of Zahd ever since.

Similarly, alloys that included Eternalite had a suppressive influence on magical abilities and effects, even absorbing a portion of the energy contained in the magic to mend itself slowly and increase it’s durability even further. Ki was likewise absorbed and nullified, so cultivating near objects made of Eternalite Alloys was far less effective than usual.

Although it’s use was quickly adopted by non-practitioners, a few experiments were done to test its feasibility for use in weapons and shields. Its potential for use in protective objects was only fully realized with the next major invention.

Land Crawlers

As some focused on food production and fueling the growth of their civilization, others continued to invest in heavy industry, metalworking, and defensive measures.

Learning from their orc allies the strategy of mobile fortresses, the Lizardfolk craftsmen of the Union adapted what had been used to create sky barges and the Weshesh sea fortresses and combined it with their knowledge of wheels to create something more suited to the desert dwelling Lizardfolk.

Using the special alloys they had discovered, a land vehicle large enough to house an entire village or tribe was successfully made. Wrapped in linked plate metal bands that helped with traction, the large wheels lined the bottom of the monstrosity. Black smoke rose from the exhaust vents as the numerous boiler rooms supplied high pressure steam to the rest of the machines.

Layers of defensive plate metal made of Eternalite alloys, and countless openable hatches that hid the latest advanced cannons ensured that engaging these vehicles in combat would be suicidal in most situations.

A large hollow interior with bridges and stairs that connected the multiple decks allowed the mobile fortress to house both a troop of highly trained Ki warriors and many sand skippers armed with light cannons within its hulking metal frame.

Each Land Crawler functioned as a mobile factory, battle fortress, and mothership. Though relatively slow moving in comparison to sand skippers, the land crawlers could carry so much more goods, and some functioned as mobile market places. Some even incorporated aquaponic facilities to provide for some of the food needs of their population.

Outfitted with giant drill heads, a few smaller crawlers dug down new tunnels down and into the underdark, the domain of their allies. Extensive mining operations began, with the crew rising only to trade for basic necessities and sell off their ores or metal ingots.

Other subterranean Land Crawlers ventured further, far past the edge of the desert above them, undermining century old borders in their search for rare minerals and hidden wealth.

Spoiler: AP actions

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AP: 4+6 (rollover)
PAP: 2+1 (rollover)

Create mundane concept (wells) -0 AP (artifact discount)
Pretty straightforward, holes in the ground to access water deep down. Either use buckets and chains or simple pumps to bring water to the surface.Lizardfolk were already blessed with the ability to know where water is in the desert. Now they more permanent access to water.

Teach concept (hydroponics) -1 AP
Production (industrialization) 9/10

Create advanced concept (aquaponics) -1 AP (artifact discount)
Eastwatch Fox has already achieved this but now it’s also possible without their bio-magical means. Lizardfolk like raising oysters in combination with palm trees (coconut/banana) using this tech.
Production (industrialization) 10/10 GET!

Create Mythic subconcept of Ki (Eternalite Alloys) -2 AP
Mixing in holy sand when smelting bronze and supplying the alloy with Ki during the process creates an alloy with magic dampening and even magic absorbing qualities. The alloy is also capable of slowly mending itself using absorbed magical energies.
War (Machines) 2/10

Create advanced concept (Land Crawlers) -2 AP
Giant mobile battle stations armed to the teeth with the latest weaponry available. It’s hollow interior acts as a hanger for sand skimmers and other smaller vehicles, and the numerous production and storage facilities ensure a steady supply of munitions and weapons. It’s sturdy outer shell makes use of eternalite alloys to protect the community inside from magical threats.
[b]War (Machines) 4/10

AP: 11 -1 -0 -1 -2 -2 = 5 AP
PAP: 3

[Kinro]

Eventually, it was done, a great teleportation portal was erected inside the encampment in Sor'Ryu and, from it, began to flow large shipments of woods of all sorts, to feed the kobolds' increasingly wood-hungry society. More and more advancements seemed to be made, then, seemingly overnight, though not without the occasional cost of a mad researcher or two. But from cart that could be pushed along came ones that could be ridden on. And then, a surprising breakthrough, the creation of what seemed like an artificial soul, done through a complex, delicate and expensive process, to imbue specially constructed constructs with something that almost appeared to be a will of their own, able to understand orders and, sometimes, even speak.

Spoiler: AP

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Rollover

AP: 8 + 6 = 14
PAP: 5 + 1 = 6

Create Mythical Sub-concept (Magitek Vehicles)
14 - 2 = 12

An evolution of the existing carts, these contraptions can be ridden by their user instead of merely pushed, helped in large part my the creation of a number of specialized controls.

Adventure (Wood): 6 + 2 = 8


Create Mythical Sub-concept (Magitek Servants)
12 - 2 = 10

Massive artificial humanoids, more than twice the size of an adult kobold, these servants have been imbued with am artificial soul, so that they are able to understand and follow a kobold's orders. Their expensive creation currently limits them to only a few dozen, owned by the Great Marshes nation itself.

Adventure (Wood): 8 + 2 = 10 (GET!)

[Gnomes2169]

Mana Crystals and Mages
As mana crystals began to condense, the Empire and the Republic both became immediately interested in the new gems. Where the League and lizard societies began to use it as a currency, the cultures of Day and Night were much more directly utilitarian with the precious objects, using them to power rituals and spells, allowing them to conjure more planar metals, but also to let their engineers build and maintain more buildings and roads, to repair damage done by privateers and smugglers, or to use as batteries for mages and the magically adept should combat arise.

With all the uses they had in both societies, mana crystals were only used as trade objects with gnoll merchants, and even then it was as a stand in for gold, silver and copper. And those gnoll merchants quickly became rich with Imperial trade simply because of how highly mana crystals were valued, even minor ones being worth a coin pressed from platinum in many places.

The Empire's Interests Progress
The idea of an effective investigative branch of Imperial law and security slowly slipped into the collective consciousness of Shaline's ruling class. Something to investigate and counter foreign interference, hunt down smugglers and root out corrupt individuals from the military and provincial governments to ensure another coup attempt would not gain traction. Ever since the development of criminal investigative systems, investments and moves to build this organization were slowly built up, until, almost on its own, the agency took official shape.

The Shaline ruling council still needed to ordain them before they had official power, and they did so hastily once a few corrupt individuals were taken down and public opinion swung in favor of the organization. Dubbing them members of the Imperial Oversight Agency, this official recognition granted these agents full imperial authority to pursue and impose the law, but it also set limits on who that agency could take direct action against. Foreign agents, especially smugglers, were fair game, and using Imperial resources to infiltrate the countries that were official enemies of the state was more than acceptable, but more domestic individuals were much harder for them to take action against. While the IOA were duty-bound to investigate and act against military and provincial administrators that were corrupt or a threat to the state's stability, they were only allowed to do so once a whistleblower came forth or a civil investigator brought them evidence of wrongdoing, and if they were to go after a member of Shaline's ruling council, they would need a massive amount of evidence for it to matter. Anyone not from a foreign power, in the government or military high command was completely off-limits, no matter what they did or what their actions might cause.

After its official foundation and the constraints placed on it were passed, the IOA chaffed and tested at the constraints for a time, but they took to their duties with gusto. It didn't take long for their actions to bear fruit, as the League's smuggling operations were notoriously everywhere, and up until now only lightly policed. With agents dedicated and trained to investigating and countering the black market, smuggling operations were hit or turned to the advantage of Shaline throughout the Empire and Jisr neutral zone, and they were hit hard. The most profitable strikes were made against those groups that had large stashes of black powder, and even a handful of cannons that were going to be put on privateer vessels targeting Empire ships in the near future.

The older, more stagnant Ruling Council of Shaline would have simply destroyed these technological advancements without a second thought, their arrogance and reliance on purely magical might making them turn their nose at these mundane weapons. However, the newer, younger government that had people working with the Centaur on their floating islands saw how absolutely moronic simply chucking out all of this good quality gunpowder would be, and instead began to research just how to make it and the weapons that used it themselves. The IOA worked to secure blueprints from the League and Colony for blackpowder weapons and Weshesh early rifling to give themselves a jumpstart on that process.

The first step was to bring the rest of their technology in-line, and that meant iron working and figuring out where to find that oh so useful material. Mining became a new occupation among the still-growing population of Shaline, and veins of iron, sulfur and saltpeter were discovered throughout the Spine Aerie. But despite the Empire's investments in more mundane resources, which would be more plentiful than planar materials for a few centuries at least, planar alloys were still more than worth their weight in mana crystals. They could be combined with this iron and the more pure veins of steel they found, making even more durable strains of mundane+planar alloys, and Solace alloys in particular allowed smiths to smelt and forge the new mundane metals without needing bloomeries, while Nocturne alloys could be used to contain those heats safely since they weren't damaged or even notably warmed by those blast-furnace like temperatures.

Nocturne alloys also proved to be an incredible boon to Imperial industrialization efforts, as, while it was incredibly heavy, it still worked to create molds for weapon and tool pieces as long as it was lined with clay, making that process safer than it would have been with more mundane material. Nocturne metal also came with the advantages of not needing time to cool down to prevent warping or cracking, and helping to chill the materials that were placed inside of it (though materials could be warped from the rapid cooling if they touched the Nocturne material directly, hence the clay lining). And it could do all of that when combined with the bronze alloys and metals the Empire already had, since Nocturne materials were still incredibly durable regardless of the base mundane material.

Planar metals also impacted the way weapons developed with gunpowder were created throughout the Empire. With Nocturne metals working as a housing chamber and focal point, Empire engineers developed cannons that could be fully metal, the barrel and wheels forged from Solace iron that could be fully retracted into its Nocturne lodestone to make it far easier to store and more mobile than its mundane counterparts. These mobile cannons were of... questionable use on ships, where the weapons still needed ports to poke through and thus, they might as well keep permanent iron cannons that wouldn't start the wood it was resting on top of on fire. But over land, it made transport and repositioning and deployment far easier.

There were still planar metal cannons on Armada ships, however. Three carronade on each bank of the Empire's capital ships, and two on each bank of the sky ships, were made almost entirely of Nocturne metals. These heavy, heavy Great Cannons, so heavy that they only worked in permanent embankments and required a swivel bottom to be properly moved on fort walls, had powder chambers that were larger than mundane materials would be able to handle, as the explosive force would just detonate a purely iron weapon instead of launching its ammunition. Nocturne iron was durable enough to handle and direct these forces, and it was thus able to launch far heavier payloads at far higher speeds.

That said, mundane ammunition would also be shattered by the force of a Great Cannon's powder detonation, and while that might be effective at close ranges and against massed infantry the longer range was the primary advantage of such powerful weapons. Thus, Nocturne metals were used for these cannon's ammunition as well, making shots that had immense weight and force that would not shatter on impact except against metal walls and hulls. Loading this ammunition required protective equipment, as it was all incredibly cold, cold enough to cause frostbite in fact, and the loading time was nearly double that of mundane cannons and incredibly expensive... but against forts and fortified vessels, these cannons were horrifyingly effective. Against everything else, they were overkill.

Solace metals also made effective specialty ammunition, specifically against wooden structures and powder stashes that it could ignite with prolonged contact, but it was only ever used with mundane and mobile cannons. Nocturne Great Cannons were simply too powerful for these alloys to survive the shot, and they turned into a flamethrower of molten slag once launched by these weapons. Solace shot was a bit easier to store and fire than most cannonballs, since its lodestone could be a small cylinder of iron or lead that the planar alloy would retract into, and once deployed the superhot metal itself would ignite gunpowder in the cannon on contact. This would lead to more misfires for mundane cannons, and required a time to cool them down from the exposure to such heat, but the durable Nocturne housing chambers of the mobile cannons could absorb that shock much better, and Solace metals were naturally heat resistance being, as they were, part sun-essence.

These developments and the military's demand for retrofitting their ships to have new gunpowder technology incorporated into their fleets and formations would effectively deplete all of the civilian stores of unused Nocturne and Solace metals. Only the smallest trickles of the ingots went to civilian matters, like fire starters or new food storage centers, and the creation of new star metal items simply stopped entirely. Skysteel alloys with these metals was still seen as a military priority, so while the production of Day and Night steel was still slowed, it did not stop entirely.

The Empire knew of rifling, but while this made their cannons more accurate than they otherwise might have been, the Empire's iron and planar metal reserves were almost entirely bent towards the creation of cannons, upgrading the military equipment they had, and replacing their defensive bronze caps and foundations. This left them little to spare for new rifles and muskets that the Weshesh had created, and instead they worked on something that could be simpler, cheaper, to mass produce, and thus the foundries of the Empire began making more handheld firearms. Mostly flintlock pistols, with the occasional blunderbuss thrown in. These smaller weapons would be more effective at close quarters, which fit their fortress designs and Imperial military doctrine was already specialized in outside of magical support.

All of this would happen while Ethrial and Timsah where on their expedition, and thus had little impact on any of their adventure.

Zariel and Some Help - Killing a Clay Dragon
Once again it was time to challenge a clay dragon, and once again, Zariel arrived on time. But, strangely enough, he did not arrive alone. While the Slayer and another archon, one who's arm swirled and changed like a living mist, flew down to engage with the beast, three other solar floated within the sky and watched, observing the monster itself and discussing amongst themselves its traits and the nature of the divine spark that animated it.

Silph, of course, got eaten within the first thirty minutes, but he was extracted from the belly of the beast by Zariel, who held a star steel greataxe and was wearing half-plate designed for him made from the same material, and the beast was sent reeling and needed to step away to heal long enough for Bruss, Herend and Varral to come to a consensus. The divinity that had formed and animated the beast was simply too concentrated to be shattered, and thus, killing it was functionally impossible, at least without some kind of apotheosis occurring within one of the archons at that exact moment. Which, of course, did not happen. Thus, they settled on a different option instead.

They had noticed the rune upon the dragon, the centaur word for Eat or Devour, which all of the divine energy in the beast was bent to powering and giving nature. So they decided to see if the creation of a new word within its flesh that they would then link with the beast's divinity could shatter it enough to finally put the monster down for good. Thus, directing Zariel with his starmetal weapon on how to do so, they carved the word "Divide" into the clay dragon.

After a week of attempts, the other Solar working to keep Zariel and Silph healthy and in fighting shape so that the clay dragon would be overwhelmed, this experiment actually worked. And it was a stunning success! At least. It seemed like it at first. As the rune sank into the clay and the divine spark in the dragon latched onto and began working to fulfil the new purpose given to the beast, the dragon's body simply seemed to fall apart, dozens upon dozens of smaller runes appearing time and again as it continued to divide more and more.

But instead of being a moment of unmitigated triumph, a new plague ended up being formed. Starting small, angry and incredibly hungry, a swarm of thigh-length mini-drakes burst from the remains of the clay dragon and scattered throughout the arena. Many of them were slain, most within the food stands or by Zariel as he pursued them, but the scampering, winged vermin that had been born would disappear into the wide open expanses of the Everrun plains and beyond and soon became a nuisance throughout the Circle Continent and the islands near it.

These clay drakes, as they were called, went through a steady and predictable life cycle. They were "born" from an elder drake growing too large and then dividing into smaller forms, whereupon they became a swarm of adolescents that would seek out plants, small animals, and other organic material to consume. As younger creatures they weren't much of a threat to sapient life forms or even other monsters, as they were only the length of a human thigh bone, but they could grow to sizes rivaling bears, and they hunted in packs of other drakes they had been born with, making them potential threats to villages and small towns if they weren't handled by proper extermination forces regularly.

They still maintain minor regenerative powers, like the progenitor clay dragon had, and they also still possess that great beast's hunger, as each of them possess an Eat rune on their forehead. Consumption is the only thing that motivates these drakes, and it makes them as predictable as it does uncontrollable.

Jisr Archipelago - Welcome to Castle Duskdawn
The League's delegation would find the Empire's promises true, and while there was an escort of ships with newly slotted cannon embankments (the galleys possessing maybe seven slots on each side,) no truly threatening force would sail over the horizon and violate the contract that had been put in place. The delegate's journey, therefore, was able to be taken at their leisure.

This gave them plenty of time to get a good look at the islands that they'd been forced to abandon and... well, there was a much larger amount of buildings and they looked far more formidable than when the League had owned them. The fact that only one of them had more than a dry dock and fishing village in League times on all but one island not-withstanding.

The Empire clearly viewed this as the forward front of a military zone, as every island large enough to hold a settlement had a fortress overlooking it and the seas around it... though reports from traders and their own spies would have already confirmed that. What was unexpected was just how little civilian presence and travel was in the area. Even with the increased and formidable garrisons, this had still been a hub of trade and a Shaline colony, and while there were still large numbers of people present, almost all of them had military equipment or badges denoting a rank of some kind, and the merchant vessels in this area were only a trickle of what they were. There were also new embankments and fortifications on these islands that the League's reports had not mentioned, fortifications that the delegation were not allowed access to.

Despite the massive military presence in this area, the Shaline armada was... conspicuously only barely present. Skyships flew overhead, and the docks still held vessels, but if this was some kind of advanced invasion force then they lacked the transport to actually leverage it.

The diplomats were easily able to spot that the Empire had cannons and gunpowder, but they did not witness any demonstrations that they actually knew how to use them... until they arrived at the center-most isle, where the governor's manor rested and their invitation had originated. Just off the coast beneath the fortress keep that served as the governor's manor (a fortress that rested at the top of a ragged but still scalable cliff on the north-western shoreline,) an Empire galleon rested. With a roar of cannon shot louder than any from the cannons available to the League, a single shot flew from the vessel and the gradual slope of the cliff shuddered and cracked, but it held. Then a second and a third shot, each one made after a bit of minor adjustment, rang out. At the third, the face of the cliff sagged, and then collapsed in a clatter of shattered shale and loose rock. In the end not much surface area at the top of the cliff was lost, but the slope was almost fully flattened, leaving a shear cliff and scattered, ragged rocks that would make landing on that end of the coast incredibly dangerous for any vessel. There were no explosions to mark this destruction, it was simply... force. Overwhelming, terrible force.

After that simple demonstration, the galleon would then swing back out to sea towards a different island within the Empire's colonies.

The dockyards were still intact, in fact they were fully functioning, though there was a shale and granite wall that was under construction even here, to make a bulkhead between the port and deeper sections of the island. Unlike most Empire fortifications, this one was being built up from the raw materials, with mortar and shaped stone, rather than being transmuted from softer and more easily worked materials by Concourse, Refraction or Bruss-venerating mages. It wasn't unheard of, in fact the starts of similar constructions had been happening on the smaller islands, but it was notable.

The delegates were met by one of the governor's aids at the docks, along with a small entourage of guards for that aid. There was clear unease on their behalf, but these soldiers were well trained, and they escorted their charges to the governor's manor as ordered. The manor was more typical construction for the Empire, smooth, uniform, no joint or weakness to target and exploit. This was also the first place that they would find the mages of the Empire, opening up pieces of the "manor's" walls so that cranes could lift cannons into the slots.

The governor's manor was the keep of castle Duskdawn, so named because it was the greatest fortress at the Empire's farthest west territory outside of the Skysea. The governor met the League delegates at the gates to this castle, and Calith Vatha turned out to be an orc dressed in the Empire's style, his shirt fitted and sleeves cut short to show his physical strength. Greeting the diplomat in a short, formal manner, the governor said, "Greetings, representatives of the League. It is good you are here, and I will do my best to make this quick. I'm sorry for the state of the manor today, recent advancements and developments have made... a bit of a mess. Watch your step around here. There will unavoidably be a bit of unattended metal."

Looking like he wanted to say more for a moment, Governor Vatha shook his head and turned to enter the castle courtyard, telling the delegates, "Come, you arrived just in time for the midday meal. We shall discuss business there."

With that said, he lead them through a courtyard with a dozen wooden structures that looked like... model boat stands, but large enough to hold a full galley, which should give the League's representatives a good idea of just what they were used for. It also gave them a good idea of just how large this courtyard was, as there were still spaces for troops to muster at both of the gates that led into it.

The walk to the castle's keep took a little time, and the dining room a bit longer, but upon arrival there was food already set out for the League's benefit. It was not a full feast, but was still a well-stocked table filled with imperial crops, Jisr fish, and, perhaps surprisingly, plenty of spices native to the League's lands. Wooden eating implements and ceramic dishes had been provided for the diplomats, and the governor took his place at a modest seat at the table's head, telling his guests, "Please, sit. There is plenty for you and your guards here." At the corners of the room, the governor's own paladin and assorted guards stood, simply observing the League's envoy and otherwise at ease. One of Vatha's aids would hurry up as the governor sat, accompanied by two empire mages to hand the orc a bit of paperwork and waits for Vatha to peruse them and comment before hurrying out another chamber door. Handing the papers, which appeared to be modified blueprints, off to one of the mages, the governor rubbed at his forehead and muttered, "I truly hope whoever invented the idea of engineers and architectural foremen is suffering somewhere in the serpent's endless gullet. Pain in my eternal migraine that they are..."

The Suzerain - Nocturne's Interlopers
Echoes of life reached much farther through the seemingly barren realms of Nocturne than perhaps Hetta's avatar intended, and the Lord of Night himself, present upon Nocturne's throne, was attuned enough to feel those ripples. Curious, not offended at the sudden imposition of mortals upon the deeper layers of his domain, the Suzerain traveled through the weave of darkness and simply observed the Night Elves for a time. How had they come here? These were beings of divine artifice, but neither his hand nor Renarr's had crafted them, and no divinity was there to claim or guide them.

How very... interesting. Tucked away here as most of their colonies were, there was not much for him to worry about as far as threats to his Republic, but he still observed these beings, walked among them in a guise to hide his true being from their mortal sight, and brought whispers of that life back to the Republic colonies upon Nocturne's first layer. Thus, when the first Night Elves found the republic, they were not a surprise to those peoples, and some parts of their society were known by the Suzerain's chosen people.

Once that contact had been established, and some relationships had been normalized, the Republic would the the Night Elves' gateway to the First World, as their Transposition mages and those with the Suzerain's blessings could carry them to and from the realm of Night Eternal. Thus, they would not remain trapped in that sunless realm forever...

Renarr's House, Concourse - Implied developments
On the plain of Concourse, as the Cult of the Unyielding Heart became more and more prevalent, sometimes publicly others through their secretive meetings, Renarr's walks became less and less common, and eventually she withdrew into her house entirely. Even before her disappearance from the public eye rumors had started that a powerful, eternally youthful witch, or maybe even a goddess, lived within the house, and her seclusion only served to fuel the imaginations of the bored and fanatical.

Something that fueled those rumors even more was the appearance of the Suzerain from time to time, the only being that would walk into that house and then leave afterwards. No one else was even able to enter the building, though children dared to do so and troublemakers would try. And those people would start a rumor that they could hear a child's laughter within.

Spoiler: TL;DR

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The Empire uses mana crystals as power sources for their various mana schenanigans, but will still trade them as currency with gnolls specifically.

There's a new Empire organization that functions like the CIA or another black ops/ military police agency, and it's called the Imperial Oversight Authority. They've gone after smugglers, learned about gunpowder, rifling, industry and ironworking, and just generally keep an eye on military and governmental corruption to keep it under control.

The Empire also has mining, and is combining their planar materials with iron, gunpowder and industry to churn out some really, really scary or mobile cannons and powerful ammunition.

Zariel, Silph, Bruss, Herend and Varral all worked together to kill a dragon, and oops'd clay drakes all over the Circle Continent and all of the bordering landmasses (which includes the floating isles of the Skyseas and the Nightmare Isles.)

The League's delegation was welcomed to the Empire's provincial capitol during the middle of reconstruction and increased fortification efforts. It seems like the military presence in the Empire's section of the archipelago has been greatly increased, though there's a notable lack of armada presence or other transportation options. Read that section of the post for other details because there are too many to list here in a concise manner.

The Suzerain has found and begun interacting with Night Elves that are on Nocturne with a mortal guise. The Noldan Republic is now a viable way for Night Elves to enter the First World, but they will still be rare and relatively unknown outside of the Republic (and even in most of the Republic are just rumors.) Given how minor of a power the Republic is... well, this still means Night Elves are pretty much unknown.

Finally, Renarr has now withdrawn to her Concourse house full time, and only the Suzerain really visits her. Oh, and something, something, hints at future plans.

Spoiler: AP actions

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Starting AP: 0, 0 PAP

Rollover AP: +7
Rollover PAP: +1

-1 PAP; Teach mundane concept - Mining Because this would have become necessary for a self-sufficient nation regardless.

Shared with Circle Continent concordat.
Sphere progression: Survival 8/10

-1 AP; Teach mundane concept - Ironworking: The Empire has some catch-up work to remain fully relevant. They had large populations, professional armies and scary magic, but they were still using bronze until this point. Upgrading to iron, even if it will take time, is a major step in the right direction.

Shared with Circle Continent concordat.
Domain Progression: Society (Shaline empire) 1/10

-1 AP; Teach advanced concept - Gunpowder: The second step in the right direction is learning, and production of their own supply, of gunpowder. This includes the production of cannons and blunderbuss.

Shared with Circle Continent concordat.
Domain Progression: Society (Shaline empire) 2/10

-1 AP; Teach advanced concept - Rifling: The Empire knows of this method of making gunpowder weaponry more accurate, but they currently only have the time and resources to devote to cannons with rifling. They aren't as accurate as Weshesh guns, but it's more than close enough for government work. They also don't currently have the resources to make muskets or rifles in any meaningful amounts, though with their new industrial base they've made semi-accurate flintlock pistols.

Shared with Circle Continent concordat.
Domain Progression: Society (Shaline empire) 3/10

-1 AP; Advanced Gunpowder Subconcept - Artillery: The Empire is pretty heavily investing into heavy weapons that can break apart formations and fortifications, or crack open heavily armored vehicles in general, using Planar metals to make it possible with their current technological standard. Currently this is limited to their mobile Solace/ Nocturne based field cannons, and their Nocturne Great Cannons, but will eventually develop into mortars as well.

The process of creating artillery is being kept to the Empire itself, to give them an edge over their more hostile peers that might be able to leverage it in order to effectively handle Imperial fortifications.
Domain Progression: Society (Shaline empire) 4/10

-1 AP; Teach advanced concept - Industry Because the Empire needs to retrofit their military and technology in general, and they need to do so fast in order to keep up with their peers and remain secure... at least in their mind. Industry is helping them catch up in the mundane arms race.

Shared with Circle Continent concordat.
Domain Progression: Society (Shaline empire) 5/10

-1 AP; Organization - Imperial Oversight Agency: An anti-corruption agency that doubles as a secret service and anti-foreign-influence organization, the Imperial Oversight Agency is highly effective at its job. They act as the Empire's spies, counter-insurgents, military police and civilian governmental oversight agency all in one, though no one agent covers all of those duties. There are a few officially sanctioned "heads" to this organization, but that's in name only, as most agents act in cells that are roughly equal peers and consultants, rather than being a monolithic organization. Their heads are simply the representatives of each cell to the Shaline military and government, there for whistleblower tips, to receive assignments and to deliver information gathered.

IOA agents are likely the most loyal individuals in the entire Empire, even if they are looked upon with suspicion for being so adept at all the things that the Empire denounces the League for doing. They are also some of the smartest, most cold and ruthless people in the Empire, and that has not helped their shakey reputation one lick.
Domain Progression: Society (Shaline empire) 6/10

-1 AP; Monstrous subrace - Clay Drakes: Horrible little gremlin versions of the Clay dragons that exclusively eat organic matter. They are mortal, able to be slain like any other animal, but they do have a healing factor, are fast and able to fly, and often travel in swarming familial packs until they are picked off by people trying to prevent raids on their farms and food stores. Clay Drakes were created by the introduction of a second rune on one of the Clay Dragons, adding "Divide" to the "Eat," and once they get to a certain size they reach the end of their life cycle, breaking down into a swarm of "infants" that will go about attempting to eat enough to get big again.

Until they get larger, clay drakes are more of a nuisance than they are a danger outside of their swarm, and they are relatively easy to drive away, though they elude containment and full extermination extremely adeptly.
Domain Progression: Balance (Duality) 1/10

Total AP expended: -7 AP, -1 PAP

AP remaining: 0
PAP remaining: 0

Domain Progression
Society (Shaline Empire) 6 (Teach; Iron, gunpowder, rifling, industry. Create Artillery, Imperial Oversight Agency)
Balance (Duality) 1 (Clay Drakes)

Sphere Progression:
-Survival 8/10 (Mirage Portals to Concourse, Empire joining the concordat, Criminal Investigation, lighthouses, Republic joining the concordat, Pescaculture, Teach Mining)

[Eldan]

The Wendigo

She oozed out of her cave. These days, she often didn't bother with limbs, anymore, unless she was hunting. Even that had become rarer, as a critical mass of new essences had been fed to her. Less a beast, more an intellectual. Well, an intellectual with a mouth ten feet wide, but sometimes, the academic community was surprisingly tolerant of differences. Still, the lust for hunting had mostly abandoned her these days. It had been replaced.

She turned to her scribes. Her... coven thought her some kind of oracle, writing down everything she said. Well, they had fed her well on the brightest minds of three continents, it was time to make use of them in other ways.

"The Magnum Opus", she said, and three of them began scribbling frantically, while one, a bit brighter than the rest, made a surprised noise, then just stared.

"The end goal of alchemy. Beyond paltry gold, or planar metals, or immortality. The lapis philosophorum."

She rolled over, trying to catch some sun.

"I have absorbed 472 treatises on alchemy. 394 were more wrong than correct. To be expected really. The rest were still mostly contradictory on the finer points. Still. They all knew the four required steps. Melanosis, leucosis, xanthosis, iosis. Some of them got through the first step. Nigredo. Putrefaction. The dissolution of the soul into the impure matter of the world. I have. I am of the essence of the world, and all its essences are in me."

"But they did not have the strength to then reverse the process. Albedo. Purification of the soul. The cleansing light. They did not dare."

She reared up and glanced down at her scribes, towering over the trees, many-limbed and glistening.

"I do. Bring me... fire."

[Kinro]

Since entering the Concourse, Lor had started to sense the worry of its worshipper, the kobold of the Great Marshes, who could no longer see it in the sky and those left on the moon, who had grown used to its presence. And so, it used the power granted to him by the Concourse itself to create two new portals to it, one on the Serpent Moon itself, where it had once stood and one in the middle of the great Marshes, where one of the planet's magnetic poles stood. And then, one more still, right in the centre of the terror continent, Macra'Ahi, each portal only accessible to true worshipers of at least one of the Vigilant's gods.

Spoiler: AP

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Create portal X 3
6 - 6 = 0

[Razade]

The World, Writ Large

Generations have passed under the cruel sun, blasting the First World from above with Mana. From the Dawn of Creation, the roots of the World were stricken with the substance and such that all things living on the face of Creation have been born never knowing a touch out of mana. In them all a seed of mana spread, generation after generation, and so too the thrist for it subsided, drawn down like a snake immune to its own venom.

The Weshesh Trade Networks

Sourced from The Changing Lands spread liberal ideas, for the Weshesh were spread thin and rarely in contact. Reforms were made and within the Weshesh a new branch of their people formed. With fast clipperships they traveled from port to port, carrying messages and simple wears at expedient rates. These were the Weshesh Trading Companies, spread across their islands and where they held sway, even far in the sky of the Sky Islands. Their network crossed the globe.

The Weshesh: The Crucible of War

The Weshesh had seen the writing on the wall though in their halls they spoke only in hushed tones of it. They were a people of disasters, born from the death of a God or so their legends said. Peace would not last and so the Xen and their arcane minds put to work with the goods the Weshesh could access from the wild and torn lands of Macra'Ahi to the Skysea to the Changling Lands and beyond. Vast metal sheets were pounded into shape by the Smiths. Cannons drawn, engines from the Lizardfolk whom they had trusted with their own knowledge ran clean with the mana rich in the air. Each new creation a people were set to task them. Precious to them was a vast metal ship, fast and sleek with no sails. The Dominion floated high in the skies like a hanging sword, primed to pass through to the Dark Void above.

But this was not the final stroke, for the Weshesh had long feared their wide spread would make them weak should someone broach war. Since the League and the Empire's fight, the Weshesh toiled and now, with the resources abounds, brought the blueprints together. With vast portals would bring their vast islands together, a single landmass for the first time in even the dawn of their peoples and the Shelled.

Spoiler: AP Actions

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13AP

Bless (Salt of the Earth) - 1AP: Given the constant radiation and presence of Mana in the world, all living things both small and large naturally produce their own mana after generations of exposure. This exposure has also led to the negative properties of Mana to no longer effect the living. [Magic (Mana) 3/10]

Create Advanced Sub-Concept (Ironsides) -1AP: Weshesh Ships, both air and sea, are covered in powerful Elemental Metals boosting both their defense and mobility through clever use of Elemental Metals. [Travel (Exploration) 10/10]

Create Advanced Sub-Concept (Mana-Engines) -1AP: Taking Steam Engines and crafting with Elemental Metals, Mana-Engines are clean running and need only the fuel of natural mana to run so as not to disrupt the nature of their islands and ships. [Magic (Mana) 4/10]

Create Minor Combat Artifact (The Dominion) -3AP: The Dominion is a powerful sky vessel built and not stolen from the land. Armed with a dizzying array of Mana Cannons and crafted completely out of metal, it is the final of the Weshesh Doomsday Ships and their pride and joy. [Magic (Mana) 7/10]

Create Organization (The Weshesh Trading Company) -1AP: Finalized in the halls of the Weshesh across their vast trade network, the Weshesh now have consolidated their empire and set up trading ports wherever they can as quick relay points and message relays for the entire empire. [Trade (Honor) 3/10]

Create Organization (The Wainwrights) -1AP: Talented Weshesh sailors have formed their own subsection of the population to take charge of the air fleet of the Weshesh. Daredevils and thrill seekers, these captains are a fearsome bunch at the wheel. [Trade (Honor) 4/10]

Create Advanced Sub-Concept (Mana Cannons) -1AP: Along with Ironsides, powerful cannons crafted from Elemental Metals have created cannons capable of firing off intense blasts of mana at vast [Trade (Honor) 5/10]

Create Organization (The Weshesh Luckomancy Squad) -1AP: With new weaponry comes new divisions in the Weshesh. Trained specifically for the powerful Luck Magic, the Weshesh use the power of probability and luck to weather powerful storms and combat threats at sea and sky. [Trade (Honor) 6/10]

Create Minor Combat Artifact (The Weshesh Continent) -3AP: With powerful magics, technology and coordination the Weshesh have created a battleplan to bring their great diaspora to bare in a single unit. The Weshesh Continent is all of their combined islands formed into a single landmass, bristling with weaponry, ports and the entirety of the Weshesh's armies. [Magic (Mana) 10/10]

[zzzzzzzz414]

Spoiler: Shaline Empire

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The League's delegation would find the Empire's promises true, and while there was an escort of ships with newly slotted cannon embankments (the galleys possessing maybe seven slots on each side,) no truly threatening force would sail over the horizon and violate the contract that had been put in place. The delegate's journey, therefore, was able to be taken at their leisure.

This gave them plenty of time to get a good look at the islands that they'd been forced to abandon and... well, there was a much larger amount of buildings and they looked far more formidable than when the League had owned them. The fact that only one of them had more than a dry dock and fishing village in League times on all but one island not-withstanding.

The Empire clearly viewed this as the forward front of a military zone, as every island large enough to hold a settlement had a fortress overlooking it and the seas around it... though reports from traders and their own spies would have already confirmed that. What was unexpected was just how little civilian presence and travel was in the area. Even with the increased and formidable garrisons, this had still been a hub of trade and a Shaline colony, and while there were still large numbers of people present, almost all of them had military equipment or badges denoting a rank of some kind, and the merchant vessels in this area were only a trickle of what they were. There were also new embankments and fortifications on these islands that the League's reports had not mentioned, fortifications that the delegation were not allowed access to.

Despite the massive military presence in this area, the Shaline armada was... conspicuously only barely present. Skyships flew overhead, and the docks still held vessels, but if this was some kind of advanced invasion force then they lacked the transport to actually leverage it.

The diplomats were easily able to spot that the Empire had cannons and gunpowder, but they did not witness any demonstrations that they actually knew how to use them... until they arrived at the center-most isle, where the governor's manor rested and their invitation had originated. Just off the coast beneath the fortress keep that served as the governor's manor (a fortress that rested at the top of a ragged but still scalable cliff on the north-western shoreline,) an Empire galleon rested. With a roar of cannon shot louder than any from the cannons available to the League, a single shot flew from the vessel and the gradual slope of the cliff shuddered and cracked, but it held. Then a second and a third shot, each one made after a bit of minor adjustment, rang out. At the third, the face of the cliff sagged, and then collapsed in a clatter of shattered shale and loose rock. In the end not much surface area at the top of the cliff was lost, but the slope was almost fully flattened, leaving a shear cliff and scattered, ragged rocks that would make landing on that end of the coast incredibly dangerous for any vessel. There were no explosions to mark this destruction, it was simply... force. Overwhelming, terrible force.

After that simple demonstration, the galleon would then swing back out to sea towards a different island within the Empire's colonies.

The dockyards were still intact, in fact they were fully functioning, though there was a shale and granite wall that was under construction even here, to make a bulkhead between the port and deeper sections of the island. Unlike most Empire fortifications, this one was being built up from the raw materials, with mortar and shaped stone, rather than being transmuted from softer and more easily worked materials by Concourse, Refraction or Bruss-venerating mages. It wasn't unheard of, in fact the starts of similar constructions had been happening on the smaller islands, but it was notable.

The delegates were met by one of the governor's aids at the docks, along with a small entourage of guards for that aid. There was clear unease on their behalf, but these soldiers were well trained, and they escorted their charges to the governor's manor as ordered. The manor was more typical construction for the Empire, smooth, uniform, no joint or weakness to target and exploit. This was also the first place that they would find the mages of the Empire, opening up pieces of the "manor's" walls so that cranes could lift cannons into the slots.

The governor's manor was the keep of castle Duskdawn, so named because it was the greatest fortress at the Empire's farthest west territory outside of the Skysea. The governor met the League delegates at the gates to this castle, and Calith Vatha turned out to be an orc dressed in the Empire's style, his shirt fitted and sleeves cut short to show his physical strength. Greeting the diplomat in a short, formal manner, the governor said, "Greetings, representatives of the League. It is good you are here, and I will do my best to make this quick. I'm sorry for the state of the manor today, recent advancements and developments have made... a bit of a mess. Watch your step around here. There will unavoidably be a bit of unattended metal."

Looking like he wanted to say more for a moment, Governor Vatha shook his head and turned to enter the castle courtyard, telling the delegates, "Come, you arrived just in time for the midday meal. We shall discuss business there."

With that said, he lead them through a courtyard with a dozen wooden structures that looked like... model boat stands, but large enough to hold a full galley, which should give the League's representatives a good idea of just what they were used for. It also gave them a good idea of just how large this courtyard was, as there were still spaces for troops to muster at both of the gates that led into it.

The walk to the castle's keep took a little time, and the dining room a bit longer, but upon arrival there was food already set out for the League's benefit. It was not a full feast, but was still a well-stocked table filled with imperial crops, Jisr fish, and, perhaps surprisingly, plenty of spices native to the League's lands. Wooden eating implements and ceramic dishes had been provided for the diplomats, and the governor took his place at a modest seat at the table's head, telling his guests, "Please, sit. There is plenty for you and your guards here." At the corners of the room, the governor's own paladin and assorted guards stood, simply observing the League's envoy and otherwise at ease. One of Vatha's aids would hurry up as the governor sat, accompanied by two empire mages to hand the orc a bit of paperwork and waits for Vatha to peruse them and comment before hurrying out another chamber door. Handing the papers, which appeared to be modified blueprints, off to one of the mages, the governor rubbed at his forehead and muttered, "I truly hope whoever invented the idea of engineers and architectural foremen is suffering somewhere in the serpent's endless gullet. Pain in my eternal migraine that they are..."

Otka Ufkorua squinted at the orc with his one good eye, paws gripping the dark, knotted wood of his ornate walking staff as he sat down at the table with the others of his entourage. The guards were stony and gruff, attempting to project strength, but he could clearly see that they had been shaken by the little "tour". It had taken a bit of effort on his own part to betray nothing when he had seen that Armada galleon demolish a cliff face. They had known the Empire was strong, of course; that they had been researching weapons and metals they could not hope to match. But the strength of the weapons displayed here was certainly...difficult to stomach. They hadn't known anything at all about that newest cannon. Their information networks had been suffering more than they thought.

It took a different sort of resolve to keep from grimacing and rolling his eyes as they walked down the freshly-fortified streets of the island. The one they had conquered and taken from them. Was that the sole purpose of this meeting, then - parading their decades-old military conquests? If they had thought the League needed reminding, rest assured, even children knew the tale of the Empire's cowardly surprise attack on the Dhalir.

And now, here they were. The meal went on in awkward silence for several moments before Otka finally cleared his throat and addressed the head of the table.

"Governor Vatha" he said, with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "We thank you for your hospitality. The meal is exquisite, and your home lovely. And we have been quite...interested...by the displays of craftsmanship on these islands. But now that the pleasantries have concluded, I'm afraid I must ask what, exactly, the purpose of this meeting is. Your missive was quite cryptic, and we are uncertain what it is you would ask from the League at this time. We are not interested in renegotiating the terms of the treaty nor in opening trade relations at this time. And if this has been intended as an, ah, demonstration of force, rest assured that the League is already quite well-acquainted with your military strength, and has no intention of breaking the agreed-upon ceasefire in the forseeable future."

He grinned slightly, mirthlessly, the gold in his teeth and emblazoned on his eyepatch glinting. "A sentiment I am sure your leaders share, considering the delicate situation between the Empire and the Weshesh Armada in this region."

[KragBrightscale]

The Voice of Freedom

The cult of Unyielding heart spread surprisingly fast beneath the facade of friendly relations and peaceful coexistence. It spread even faster amongst the Lizardfolk, where Abu Dhahab’s message lined up with the Cult’s own philosophy. The cult also found significant support amongst some of the Weshesh, where gods were not commonly worshiped.

As a non-hierarchical organization, with secrecy enforced by binding contracts, the cult made almost no disturbances other than what was happening on the concourse.

While that group operated relatively openly, making use of the gods’ own guarantee of safety to stick it to them, they had been cut off from any means of communication with others due to their disregard for the core tenant of secrecy. Many of the cells operating on the first world heard news of their attempts at working towards the common goal, but shook their heads.

The poor fools were doomed, they all knew gods were fickle. Putting their trust in a deity’s guarantee or law? Naive! Though if they did get bumped off, their sacrifice would be a perfect example to encourage others to join the cause. Thankfully, most cells only knew of one person outside of their core group, the one who trained their teacher.

When the old lizard found out her disciple had trained their own group, she was proud, but the news of their open confrontation on the concourse was not what she had expected them to do. Reluctant, she knew that she would have to die to eliminate the chance of anyone following the connections step by step.

To cut off the tail of the lizard in order for others to survive. Picking up her knife, she was ready to start her trip to reincarnation earlier than scheduled.

Before she could act, however, a breeze brushed past her ears, causing the shells hanging by the window to rustle.

”Your dedication is admirable, but it would be a waste of all your accomplishments to cast it aside due to your disciple’s mistake. Will you listen to my proposal?”

Jumping back and taking a defensive posture, the old cultist was far too nimble for someone her age. Ki flowed through her veins as she gathered her strength to strike.

Across the room, sitting on a chair was a blurry figure wreathed in wind that gave off an aura of both wildness and intelligence. The cultist had never seen anyone with such a strong blessing of the wind, but she hadn’t really traveled much either. Completely at ease, the being gestured for her to sit while taking out an ancient looking scroll.

”You have good reflexes, though you need not be alarmed. I am not a deity, nor one of their lackeys. You may even have read some of my work. Although I go by many names, I am the author of The Voice of Freedom.

Did you not wonder how such a controversial manuscript could appear all over the world, and always find it’s way to the hands of those who would accept its message? The wind is the ally of any and all who seek to escape or overthrow the forces that control them.

Although I do not intend you any harm, I am likewise not one to keep you from doing what must be done to avoid the interference of the divine. I merely offer you a way to give your accomplishments to benefit the cause.

Read through this contract, you’ll find that this can further our cause as more people join in and sign it.

Having calmed down a little the old Crocodilian picked up the scroll. Holding it, she recognized it to be leather from the hide of some legendary beast she couldn’t identify. As she unrolled it, a simple contract written in blood was presented in a bold and unrestrained script. The blood was rich in mana, and she could feel the contract throbbing with power.

Reading through the terms, she did indeed find them acceptable, and slitting her finger, she signed it in blood before sitting down calmly in a meditative posture.

The contract started glowing and hovered between her and the mysterious Voice of Freedom. When everything was ready, a strong suction force appeared, and the cultist felt her Ki flowing freely out of her body. Her body aged a couple decades within the blink of an eye, her scales losing their luster and her eyes going dull. Finally she breather her last, her ending had been less painful than anticipated, a peaceful expression on her face.

The mysterious being sighed, looking at the glowing orb of golden Ki that hovered over the contract. With the passing of the cultist, the next effect was activated and all her flesh and blood was absorbed, creating a second blood red orb. Completing the acquisition stage, the contract then sent the orbs into the chest of the illusory being. Then the contract fell to the ground. The bloody text had disappeared, leaving behind a blank canvas, still in good condition.

Spending a bit of time to make the newly acquired energy their own, the founder of the cult’s presence became stronger. Behind the veil of wind, a body was slowly being reformed. Looking more like a corpse than something living, except for its eyes that shone with purpose and vitality. This was not the first time they had done this, each time bringing them a step closer to their goal.

This was not the path they had wanted to walk, but it was a necessary sacrifice to protect the future of this world’s people.

The gods had kept growing stronger, their representatives of this world wielding too much power already. There was no longer time to convince the masses of the truth, it was time for the cult to act.

Fist of the First World

Secret cells of the Cult of Unyielding Hearts were thrown into confusion by the sudden appearance of a document in the home of their leaders. It was another publication of the Voice of Freedom.

It was a call to action, an announcement that the time to prove their dedication was upon them. Not all should participate as the cult would need to continue its development, but those who wished to partake in the coming action should sign their names in blood on the provided contract before burning it. Instructions would follow.

That day, a sub group of the Cult was formed. While the cult remained hidden and expanded its influence with subtlety, the Fist of the First World would act to personally accomplish the groups goals. Individual members of the fist would receive instructions that they would follow to the letter, working together with others they had did not know.

The first attack was the burning of the shrine to Kerima that had been built on the red coast. While the priest was out, some agents snuck in, and set the place on fire. A small action, but it communicated that Kerima’s followers were no longer welcome. The Merchant’s ship that ferried the priest over was also robbed.

Several churches and temples that honored the vigilant were also targeted, with mixed success. Historical records that painted the gods in an overly positive way were stolen from one by a team of Kobold cultists. Another building was torched. One temple had several members kidnapped, never to be seen again.

The failed attempts were perhaps even more disturbing, with the cultists’ bodies disintegrating and blowing away in the wind leaving behind only skeletons. There was no retreat, no do-overs, no surrendering, and no blabbing. The contract they signed would ensure there was none of that.

Ritual Magic

The cult continued to grow in the time that followed, never taking credit for what they rightly assumed was the work of their affiliated group had done. Unsatisfied with just spreading their teaching, however, a few experimented with a new type of magic.

Rituals had been a part of many people’s lives for as long as they could remember, and many were incorporated into religious lifestyles, but it wasn’t until the seeds of mana were established in the living that common people could use them to do magic.

It took a while to figure out how to trigger the magic and control the outcome, but the experiments and dark rituals held in secret basements eventually arrived at one key point.

Equivalent exchange. Power came with a cost, and something needed to be sacrificed to achieve the desired effect. Contract magic could be used to control the outcomes to some extent, but blood, Ki, and mana of the living where amongst the best sacrifices.

With the discoveries passed on to the Fist, the first ritual summoning successfully brought an earth dragon into the treasury of a wealthy priest.

Spoiler: AP actions

Show

AP: 5
PAP: 3

Raise Hero (The Voice of Freedom) -2 AP
The founder of the Cult of Unyielding Hearts and the affiliated Fist of the First World, they work tirelessly towards their goal. Growing in power using special contracts to absorb the cultivation and life force of cult members, their broken body is slowly mending. As an agent of freedom working to remove the yoke of gods from the mortals of the first world, they are heavily blessed by the wind and make use of it to spread their teaching to all corners of the world.
Contracts (Compulsion) 7/10

Create Organization (Fist of the First World) -1 AP
The active arm of the Cult. Suicide agents, these fanatics have signed contracts that ensure their quick death and disintegration in case they fail. No methods are too low, gods are too powerful, so why fight fair? Their goal? Protect the mortals of the first world from the corrupting influence of the gods and other planes.
Contracts (Compulsion) 8/10

Create Mythic subconcept of Mana+contract magic (Ritual Magic) -2 AP
Equivalent exchange, sacrifice something to gain power and activate magic effects. Contracts useful in writing down intent and sacrifice, blood/Ki/mana of the living best sacrifice.
Contracts (Compulsion) 10/10 GET

Abu Dhahab acsends to Greater Deity

AP: 5 -2 -1 -2 = 0
PAP: 3

[Feathersnow]

The Scouts

Their tiny bio-skiffs came down to the first world. So many workers had been promoted to gender that, when the hives were restored, it would take years to get back to the older ratios. But the need was great.

The swarm avoided areas that were unstable or under control of unfriendly powers. This included the Centaurs and the islands of Skysea, the Dark Continent, and the Weshesh. The lands of the Lizards were found too hostile. The lands of the Kobolds were found to be too populated. Corrla was consider, but the grandsons of Badger shared a few confused meetings with a few priests before deciding it was both too hostile and too crowded.

This world was too old and too heavily occupied. A vague idea that it might be possible to abuse the curses on Macra'ahi was considered. But Acis'sej was aware that powerful and strange gods watched that place, and Badger vetoed it on that basis.


So, lacking anywhere else, the scout fleet came down where there were already Ghuls, their task undone.

Rifuth

The Ichoria institute had tried a lot of things. What they had done relatively little of, ironically, was what they set out to do- combine the effects of Pharmakeia and Alchemy. It wS too dangerous, and perhaps not that useful.

Today, though, the dream would be realized. The small, blood-gorged slime in that cannister had been fed ground mana crystals and even a terribly valuable, incredibly illict sample of the metal of garganta, and the less terrible but still hellishly expressive metal of dreams.

It was the most powerful bomb ever made, the most extreme potion ever brewed. The problem was- it was both.

Today, it would be imbibed. Today, the Clay Dragon of Jisr tasted oblivion.


Rifuth ensured it was well fastened to the horse and sent it running to its doom. He waited. After about 15 minutes, he learned he was not outside the implosion radius.

He awoke on a great stage in the dreamlands, and, behind him, the scattered bones of a dragon. As he looked around, confused, they began to resemble.

With a snap, they came together, coated in ectoplasmic flesh, and ate the Ghul!

Rifuth saw with giant dragon eyes the stranges of the world around him. He, without understanding how, flew back to Jisr.

He landed in a scooped out area of dead earth and settled back into the shape of a Ghul. The mark of the bone dragon patterning his fur.

Spoiler: AP actions

Show

Create organization- the Scout Swarm.
A great brood of Xenex Drones, they were tasked with finding a home for the Hive Cluster and largely failed.

AP -1
Race (Xenex) 10/10

Raise Hero- Rifuth and the Bone Dragon
A rogue researcher nearly succeeded in killing a Clay Dragon. But at what cost?

Magic (protection) 10/10

The Great Badger is now a lesser deity

[Zelphas]

Refraction to Concourse--An Inadvertent Connection

Hetta steps back into the Concourse. The First World seems... closer, here, and so she can view it somewhat more easily. She overlooks the world again, trying to see what exactly her wayward Avatar is up to. Discern seems to have hidden itself rather well...

Behind Hetta, some small specks of the mists around the Concourse take on an iridescent, rainbow sheen. As is usual for her, she does not notice.

In Refraction, upon the clay ball at the center, tiny patches of mist form and then fade away, taking some of the specters with it. No one is certain what this means.

Experiment One--New Life from Old

Tawnlo the Desecrator was dead. None mourned him.

Once known as Tawnlo Mendingbone, the centaur member of MIND had learned how to use magitek and a method of golemcrafting to become a prolific healer. All of his fame and success, however, was turned to infamy and horror when the town discovered that he was grafting the bones and flesh of corpses onto living centaurs in order to affect his "miraculous" cures. He was driven from the town, renamed, and forced into seclusion, where he fell--many thought--into madness. The screams and crashing that erupted from his solitary abode one stormy autumn did not surprise many, when they came, nor did his body when it was found, dead of obvious violence.

It was curious that none could find Tawnlo's research notes, but perhaps that was for the best, the people reasoned; such terrible notes would only be good for destruction, and maybe Tawnlo had a moment of clarity and destroyed his own notes before his death. Autopsies were unknown in centaur lands, or else perhaps someone would have noticed something strange about Tawnlo's body; in the end, the centaur madman was quickly put in an unmarked grave and forgotten about.

Stories of a traveling centaur healer, wrapped in cloaks that covered humanoid and equine parts, whose hands seemed strangely scarred, and who could cure almost anything for a price, were not connected to the death of Tawnlo... at least, not at first. Not until the first widow, insensible with grief, paid the "healer" to bring back her husband--and received instead a monster.

The procedure had succeeded once, and it would succeed again. Tawnlo Deathwarper moved on to where he could find more material, leaving a trail of strange living corpses behind him.

Experiment Two--Stretching Life to Its Breaking

Zentha Tekmind blinked once, feeling the clay flaps that simulated eyelids click closed and then open over her carefully crafted new eyeballs. The eyelids were unnecessary, a relic of her past existence, but her brain had panicked when she had first placed herself in a body lacking these features, and she had nearly lost herself. Hopefully, given a century or more of life, she could train herself out of the need for such inefficient habits.

She glided across her workshop, noting that the hovering magitek pad that had replaced her legs was working optimally without issue. Two arms reached out to complete a formula on a chalkboard nearby, while another two held steady the results from the most recent test in front of her; that had been a trick to train her mind into understanding, but by removing her legs she found it easier to add arms.

What she was doing was too new, she realized; it would horrify some people, even hardline members of DRAMA. But every test so far had been a success, starting with removing the need to eat or sleep and thus allowing her to devote all her time to experimentation. Just a little bit more time, a few more tests, and she could reveal her abilities to the Everrun Council... and perhaps lead the centaurs to eternal life.

She blinked again, reading quickly through her own notes. Not all the centaurs, of course; some simply would refuse, while other wouldn't be able to handle the procedures. But enough. The best and brightest.

Experiment Three--Off the Rails Entirely

It was a Needle Nightmare that broke Discern from its funk. The creature had trundled past, feeding slowly on stolen dreams, and Discern had plucked a mote of dreamstuff out of the creature's brain without thinking. Now, it toyed with the bit of nonexistence, giving it purpose and reality, but no true shape. It released the thing when it was done, just to see what would happen.

It had been a moment of fear, Discern realized as it watched the creature stalk and destroy a mortal. From that mortals death in terror, another creature arose, and the two went on to strike again. That was something new. Something for Discern to learn about. That was... good? Discern no longer knew.

Spoiler: AP Actions

Show

0 AP, 2 PAP + 7 AP, 1 PAP = 7 AP, 3 PAP

Create Portal (Refraction to the Concourse) -2 PAP: Some mists around the Concourse will now take on a strange sheen. When this happens, it means that mist is appearing in Refraction, and it may take a soul from there and deposit it on the Concourse. without a body to inhabit, these spectral figures often become lost and are difficult to see by regular mortals.

Create Race (Flesh Golems) -2 AP: Made by blending magitek with golemcrafting and new discoveries in electricity, Flesh Golems are stitched-together beings of reanimated dead flesh, which are functionally immortal as long as they have steady access to electricity and a magical power source. Most Flesh Golems are mindless, but the odd few retain intelligence and even memories from their past life. (Domain Progression: Life (Artificial) 2/10)

Raise Hero (Tawnlo Deathwarper) -2 AP: The progenitor of Flesh Golems and the first Flesh Golem himself, Tawnlo managed to transplant his own brain into a stitched-together corpse given life by magitek and storm. He is the most successful specimen of an intelligent Flesh Golem so far, and he is obsessed with the idea of replicating or surpassing his first success. So far, he has not been able to replicate his first procedure perfectly. (Domain Progression: Life (Artificial) 4/10)

Raise Hero (Zentha Tekmind) -2 AP: This member of DRAMA has gone farther with magitek than any other practitioner so far, replacing much of her body with magitek "upgrades" in a bid for eternal life for the centaur race. So far, her methods have proven successful on her, but she hasn't spread them out to the world. (Domain Progression: Life (Artificial) 6/10)

Create Monstrous Race (Phantasmal Killer) -1 AP: Beings of nothing and nightmare, Phantasmal Killers feed off of fear and terror and take the form of their target's worst nightmare to literally scare them to death. Only a Phantasmal Killer's target can see them. If a Phantasmal Killer successfully frightens a mortal to death, a new Phantasmal Killer rises from the mind of the dying mortal. Phantasmal Killers can be killed in the Dreamworld, with properly applied magic by their target, or upon contact with a truly fearless mortal. (Domain Progression: Life (Artificial) 7/10)

7 AP, 3 PAP - 7 AP, 2 PAP = 0 AP, 1 PAP Remaining

[KragBrightscale]

Missing Persons

The detectives of the empire faced a disturbing rise in missing person cases as new report seemed to come in every day. While this meant they had a chance to prove themselves, the sudden increase was not a good sign.

Having many bright minds amongst their ranks it wasn’t long before connections were drawn between a number of cases. From a local perspective, there was little the cases had in common apart from the victims going missing within the same time frame and within close proximity to each other. Following the traces that few would have noticed would lead the investigation to manors on the outskirts of town. The owners, dead in their beds.

These discoveries happened in numerous places in the empire, and it was possible that similar things were happening elsewhere, the lack of investigators in other lands making it harder to verify.

One thing would eventually be noticed, each group of missing people would have one or two people that were distantly related to the Solar.

The Priests of Kerima also faced a similar situation as their congregations had people go missing, never a large amount though, just one or two. In larger groups and in cities, the disappearance of a single person might go unnoticed, but out in the countryside, where communities all would recognize each other, there were reports filed, and suspicion that the bird people had struck again.

Roaring in the Deep

Deep below the surface, moving along tunnels that dated back to the dawn of time Land Crawlers moved from deposit to deposit harvesting the mana-rich ores. The highly trained crews bustling around like ants around their nest. Lookouts posted and platoons of Riflemen ready to engage any threat that came their way. Each mobile fortresses had a Ki-warrior Shock troops in addition to the regular soldiers, these were armed with a variety of exotic weapons forged from the most precious alloys.

If not for the intense mining going on, the Lizardfolk might mistaken for an army going to war.

Their vigilance was well founded, however, as low roars shook the ground every so often, echoing down the tunnel. It was not surprising that the Weshesh had settled on the surface.

In one tunnel, far from the deserts they called home, a couple land crawlers made their way forward, digging through a tunnel wall every now and then in search of hidden riches.

Then suddenly it happened. As the rock wall gave way to the giant drills mounted to the front of the land crawlers, a vast cavern was revealed. Dim light shine down through shafts and cracks that lead to the surface. The light sustained life, but so did the overwhelming aura of vitality.

The Ki cultivators whooped in excitement and hurried to absorb as much of the vitality in the air as possible. This was a blessed land, and could become a new center for martial arts. Already a couple warriors had broken through their previous limits and were testing out their newfound strength.

The celebration was cut short by the sudden appearance of other life forms.

“Dragons!!!??” The lookout announced in panic, but ended with confusion. No, these were not dragons. There was a wildness to them, and something about their eyes indicated that these were not intelligent beings that could be reasoned with.

For a brief moment the Lizardfolk, already in formation, and the large pack of Ahi Raptors just stared at each other, as if silently measuring the other and searching for weaknesses. Then someone accidentally fired their rifle.

All hell broke loose as rifles fired, claws slashed, raptors pounced, and spears pierced.

The Lizardfolk troops fought desperately to protect the miners as they evacuated to the safety of the land crawlers. Although the guns had felled numerous wild beasts before the two sides clashed, the raptors were fast and once things shifted to melee, the riflemen were much less useful.

Ki warriors stepped up and taught the fearsome beasts up close, but although they were successfully bringing down beast after beast with excellent teamwork, the Ahi’raptors were not dumb enough to focus on these tough nuts. While the biggest beast pushed from the front, the fastest circled around and picked off stragglers and any rifleman that was caught loading their guns without a guard.

The bloody combat was over almost as quickly as it had started and the surviving Raptors grabbed a few of the fallen lizardsfolk and retreated to lick their wounds and feed.

The mining crew finally back to safety, went it the sand storage to treat their wounds. They would have scars and tales to tell of this event, but their losses had out a damper on morale.

The deadliness and effectiveness of rifles had been clearly demonstrated during the battle. The heavy metal slugs fired could punch through armor and scales alike. Their weakness was also evident. The enemy should never be allowed to get within melee distance.

As everyone settled back into the land crawlers, more roars shook the cavern causing a few stalactites to fall like spears from above.

This time two huge beasts showed up, locked in fierce combat. One covered in long thick feathers, the other with mostly scales and only feathers along its spine.

Everyone stayed silent to avoid attracting their attention, but bad luck struck one of the crawlers as the feathered beast accidentally rammed into it. A big dent was made and numerous internal compartments damaged.

Eventually the two beasts disappeared down the tunnel the land crawlers had come from, too focused on each other to bother with the strange metal constructs.

After some hasty repairs, and the consumption of numerous mana crystals, the land crawlers where back in shape, and the crews decided to turn around instead of braving more danger.

The damage had been done, however, and the untamed wildlife of Macraahi now had access to an underground passage that lead to the under-dark and the cracks of circle continent. The first two beasts were eventually followed by others, and though not all would brave the darkened to make the journey over, the few who did would find a vastly different landscape full of prey awaiting them.

[Gnomes2169]

Jisr Archipelago - Things going south
The governor’s chuckle was as mirthless as the stone around them, and Vatha shook his head. “A demonstration of force? Oh, no, both of us knew that was not needed. What you saw on your way in was a demonstration of… something else.” Setting the knife to the side of his plate, the orc gestured in the air in front of him with one hand while he leaned towards his dinner guests. “See, I feared you may be laboring under the delusion that the Empire’s lagging technology was due to ignorance, or a stubborn desire to remain barbaric bullies, rather than being a deliberate act to keep us behind by the lizards and the Weshesh. I wanted you to see that we understand the concepts, that we can not only grasp them, but innovate, and expand.

“And you brought up our ceasefire. Good. You’re right, we do not want to provoke the Weshesh, because even with our advances they still have the technologically and navally superior force. Not only that, but our treaties are guaranteed with my life and the lives of my officers. It would take some special provocation for us to think that preparing for long, drawn out warfare on these islands, that hunkering down, evacuating our civilians, and conceding the seas that we would be unable to defend would be worth breaking those treaties two years early.” He smiled and gestured for one of his aids holding a bag to come forward. “I do value my own life though, ambassador, and so do the people who give me orders. We will hold to the ceasefire until the next scheduled renegotiation occurs.”

Opening the bag, Vatha pulled out papers that looked like… bank notes? “Did you know that these… banks and transactional record keeping from the ghuls are quite popular among the colony and neutral zone territories, especially the privateers?” Vatha paged through a few of the accounts, commenting, “They keep records of names, goods traded and payments made. It promotes the democratic accountability that they have on their ships that ensures their freedom from a corrupt and greedy captain, or something like that. But also it make sure their contractors do not cheat them, it lets them present a contract in order to prove they are real, sanctioned privateers instead of unsanctioned pirates… and it lets them throw someone else under the executioner’s blade in order to save their own skins.”

“So tell me.” The governor said, tossing a bound packet of these notes towards the delegate without looking, because his gaze was locked with Otka’s one remaining eye. “Does it sound like we are too ignorant and stupid to figure out and prove that the pirates attacking out ships and holdings throughout Jisr are funded by your people? Some with direct ties to your various councils or major industries? Oh, not all of them, of course, and separated enough for plausible deniability, but enough that you should have known your people are hiring mercenaries to sink our ships, murder our merchants and poison our garrisons’ food supplies, all to make a bit of cash on those Weshesh bounties.”

Folding his hands in front of him, the governor asked, “Does that make the reason you are here clear enough, ambassador Ufkorua?”

[dancrilis]

Artifact Use

With the creation of wonders of there own design implemented Corrla was ecstatic - sure some people were going missing and the bird people and might return and Dranera had not been seen in a long while, but they could still preform the wonders of Kerima within there land.

The second round of actions was to fertilise the goblins underground passages with abundant food, to create the concept of charity as many wingless birds tried to escape the land and a growing movement was seeking to help them this could also be applied to people it was considered, create a group of large dogs who could protect and sniff out the lost, and to bless the followers of Kerima with certainty.

Spoiler

Show

Make four free changes using minor artifacts

Create Mundane Concept: Charity
- initially to apply to the monster birds left on the land to assist them in leaving, but quickly expanded to other areas such as taking care of other people in the society.

Create Monsterous Life: Tracker Dogs
- Massive dogs that can sniff out those who are lost and retrieve them or lead others to them.

Create Blessing: Certainty
- all those who worship Kerima now feel there connection strengthen - allowing all to use worship and allowing those who were already faithful enough to preform far greater wonders.

Alter Land: Fertile Underdark
- The Underdark now has many fast growing and healthy fungus based life which is easy to harvest so doesn't grow out of control.

Remaining AP : 14

[Feathersnow]

The Great Badger
To Slip The Surly Bonds

The battered hiveships of the Xenex drifted ponderously to the First World. Few of the Workers stirred. All but the youngest or most shiftless had been appointed gender in preperation for the great migration. The males even know fluttered nervously in unfamiliar winds. Their betrothed, flightless and stolid, grew into femininity in cocoons even now.

There was nowhere here for them. The League, according to Empire diplomats, had been manipulating them into a war, using disposable assets to make themselves look like the aggreived parties.

Was it true? Frankly, few Ghuls cared, and the Xenex, not at all. They might have fought anyway, if only because the alliance with the Weshesh made victory likely. The opportunity to actually show off to the master sailors without inviting massive reprisals would be worth it to many Ghuls. The prize of Jisri territory might be worth it to the Xenex.

All looked to Badger, and, while Idix merely never spoke, her widower was truly silent.

Badger looked down from the void, he would never walk the First World, and viewed this as a badge of honor. He went from that place to the Concourse, alone. Unlike Idix, he needed no interpreter. His actions would speak loud enough.

He went to the place were Idix had died. Forever after, in that place would a strand of juniper trees, always in berry.

Then he went to the place not far off, where, hypothetically, the gods might hold court. In the place once meant for his Queen and consort, he caused to rise a stele. In Dryadic, it gave a long and eloquent eulogy to Skidi, to, Idix, to the long, pointless waste of the Cold War.

At the bottom, it went on to say, Badger would stand Vigilant.



He dug through reality back to the void. And then he really got to work.

YOU CAN'T TAKE THE STARS FROM ME

He dug out the roots of darkness from the void and cast them adrift. No longer would this place be especially inimical to life.

Then, he dug further, as close to the repelling force of the First World as he dared, and pushed every drop of his essence he could spare into the areas claimed by the network of lighthouses!

And then the land changed. And then the lighthouse-castles floated away, with enough of their accompanying air, land, and water to maintain their hydroponics for a long time. Soon, only a handful of apostates and the crystal city of Eastwatch-Fox remained as evidence Ghulkind had ever walked the lands of the First World.

In time, many of the stragglers made their way by bioship, and many of the Dryads had themselves summoned up. The hivemind of the Abyssal Emperors continued the same song it had for an unknown length of time, and it yet echoed in the Dreamlands, but no mortal above the waves answered anymore. The Invested still appeared in times of natural disaster and crop failure to give aid.


Perhaps it was fitting Badger did this on the exact hour, to the year, he had upstaged Acis'sej. For, from now, this would be the meaning of the Hour of Ascension- the time the Nameless Court, Dryad, Idixist, and Xenex ascended to the heavens, there to hunt shedskin beasts and mine dead gods forever, shining over the lands they left, their lighthouse beacons like blinking stars.

Spoiler: AP actions

Show

AP 0+5

Create organization- The Fish Speakers
This is a giant cadre of Nymph Xenex created to fight for and spawn a new Xenex society from the bedraggled survivors of long term hibernation.
-1 AP

Join Pantheon- The Vigilant-
Badger has re-affirmed the commitment of The Nameless Court to the cause of The Vigilant, at least in principle.
-1 AP

Infuse Land-
The land and sea immediately adjacent to the lighthouse network of the Ghuls is now a holy land
-3 AP

Counter Curse
The Roots of Darkness curse on the Void is no more.
-2 PAP

Flying Castles
The Holy Land floated off into space, with no apparent ill effect. It is also treated as though it were the Changing Lands for the purposes of Dryad reconstitution.
Alter land free use from infusion.

[zzzzzzzz414]

Spoiler: The Governor's response

Show

The governor’s chuckle was as mirthless as the stone around them, and Vatha shook his head. “A demonstration of force? Oh, no, both of us knew that was not needed. What you saw on your way in was a demonstration of… something else.” Setting the knife to the side of his plate, the orc gestured in the air in front of him with one hand while he leaned towards his dinner guests. “See, I feared you may be laboring under the delusion that the Empire’s lagging technology was due to ignorance, or a stubborn desire to remain barbaric bullies, rather than being a deliberate act to keep us behind by the lizards and the Weshesh. I wanted you to see that we understand the concepts, that we can not only grasp them, but innovate, and expand.

“And you brought up our ceasefire. Good. You’re right, we do not want to provoke the Weshesh, because even with our advances they still have the technologically and navally superior force. Not only that, but our treaties are guaranteed with my life and the lives of my officers. It would take some special provocation for us to think that preparing for long, drawn out warfare on these islands, that hunkering down, evacuating our civilians, and conceding the seas that we would be unable to defend would be worth breaking those treaties two years early.” He smiled and gestured for one of his aids holding a bag to come forward. “I do value my own life though, ambassador, and so do the people who give me orders. We will hold to the ceasefire until the next scheduled renegotiation occurs.”

Opening the bag, Vatha pulled out papers that looked like… bank notes? “Did you know that these… banks and transactional record keeping from the ghuls are quite popular among the colony and neutral zone territories, especially the privateers?” Vatha paged through a few of the accounts, commenting, “They keep records of names, goods traded and payments made. It promotes the democratic accountability that they have on their ships that ensures their freedom from a corrupt and greedy captain, or something like that. But also it make sure their contractors do not cheat them, it lets them present a contract in order to prove they are real, sanctioned privateers instead of unsanctioned pirates… and it lets them throw someone else under the executioner’s blade in order to save their own skins.”

“So tell me.” The governor said, tossing a bound packet of these notes towards the delegate without looking, because his gaze was locked with Otka’s one remaining eye. “Does it sound like we are too ignorant and stupid to figure out and prove that the pirates attacking out ships and holdings throughout Jisr are funded by your people? Some with direct ties to your various councils or major industries? Oh, not all of them, of course, and separated enough for plausible deniability, but enough that you should have known your people are hiring mercenaries to sink our ships, murder our merchants and poison our garrisons’ food supplies, all to make a bit of cash on those Weshesh bounties.”

Folding his hands in front of him, the governor asked, “Does that make the reason you are here clear enough, ambassador Ufkorua?”

Many would have sworn that the air around the table had dropped several degrees.

"I suppose you are referring to the pirates that have made a habit of plundering ships in the Jisr." Otka said, snatching up the notes and giving them a cursory skim.

"Your definition of 'hiring' seems rather broad. They do not fly our standard, and the Red Council does not endorse nor fund their existence; in fact, many of them have taken to preying on our vessels, making the assertion that these rogues are secret Kalarian hirelings quite ridiculous - and the implication that we have done anything to violate the ceasefire that you have demanded to be entirely out of line.

That a handful of them choose to fence their ill-gotten goods within our borders in neither here nor there. The Yellow Council, of course, regulates such activity to the absolute best of its ability, but to expect us to catch every last instance of fraud or theft against your merchants is nothing less than ludicrous. The Kalarian League protects its own trade and ships, and has not interfered with yours; the actions of separate parties within the neutral zones is not our responsibility, and we unilaterally reject the notion that the League as a whole will be held responsible for the actions of a handful of criminals. We will take into consideration the investigation of individuals and guilds mentioned in these notes, to the full extent of our laws, and that is all. "

Otkar stands up, glaring at the orc across the table. "So, was that it, then? Because if that is the full extent of your concerns, then I am afraid that there is not much more we can offer you. If the Shalleill Armada finds itself unable to dispatch a few rag-flying vagabonds on its own, my suggestion is that you hire a mercenary company - I'm sure many will be just as happy to accept Imperial gold as Weshesh. The fleets of the Kalarian League are, regrettably, not yours to command."

[KragBrightscale]

The Calligraphy Shop on the Concourse

With more connections to The Concourse, and wave archons learning how to get there the amount of mortals that now lives on the Concourse had grown to fill a good portion of the city. Yet despite that, there always seemed to be an unclaimed house or empty lot just a few blocks down. The city’s odd spatial characteristics meant its size did grow, though the perception of it remained somehow the same.

As time went by, and new generation were born and raised in the concourse an odd society of sorts started forming. With all the various influences and races it was hard to define or explain it, but there were some things in common.

It was a pacifist society, as the plane’s built in laws against violence and killing made it a fairly safe place to be. Rules and laws were made to protect citizens from other types of crimes, and taxes imposed to help cover some of the costs of medical care and education for those in the community. Infrastructure was maintained by golems and a standing army was not needed, so taxes were actually fairly low in comparison to other societies.

The society had democratic elements to it, with various groups lobbying for their values and goals. Representatives were temporarily elected to handle most of the day to day decisions, with larger topics calling for all citizens to put forth their vote.

The society was in its early stages and not fully formed, its identity still malleable and yet to set.

On a busy side street with Lizardfolk, Kobolds and Elves scurrying about their business was a small shop that sold writing supplies and calligraphy works. The occasional passerby would stop and peruse the wares or make purchases, but it was otherwise quite peaceful inside.

An elderly Lizardfolk merchant sat in the back corner drinking tea, occasionally playing a round of Centaur’s chess against the old Gnoll from next door, other times writing poetry in decisive yet artistic strokes with his brush.

Much of the calligraphy sold to collectors were his own work, and several of the shop’s loyal customers valued them highly, as studying both the script and message had occasionally resulted in someone being enlightened.

With a sigh, Abu Dhahab looked down at his tea, seeing within the green drink images of people, events and places on the first world. The first world and its inhabitants had developed rapidly. To the Great Lizard it was like watching a child grow up. He had cared for and taught the Lizardfolk a lot in the early days, and now they were truly ready to be independent.

It had already been a long time since he had actually interfered in their lives, and it was time to release the hold over their fate that he had guarded. It was time for them to determine their own futures. Looking at other societies, Abu Dhahab extended his thoughts and o include them too.

The first world did not need the help of deities any longer. He had recently noticed that the vitality of the devourer’s scales that he still kept was no longer present. It had been weakening ever since the great battle in the heavens, but it seemed that the threat of the snake was finally gone. With that, his role as a protector was also no longer needed, as was the existence of the vigilant.

As the creator of Lizardfolk, and the origin of their bloodline, there was always a connection between them. His work to create them, protect them and teach them had caused his powers to grow, and it was time to return that divine power to those whom it belonged.

With a deep breath, Abu Dhahab exhaled some of the divine energy within him and infused it back into the Lizardfolk and their descendants. At the same time, he spoke once more into their minds for the last time using his authority as the Great Lizard.


Well done, my people. As your creator I have always hoped you would rise up and stand on your own, independent from myself and the other deities. It has come to the point we’re I feel you no longer require my protection and teaching, indeed you have not required or received either from me in a long time.

Therefore, I am returning to you what should rightfully be yours. As the one filling the role of deity and patron of Lizardfolk, I have grown much in power through doing the work required of that station. Yet it is my belief that your fates should not be determined nor governed by an individual, instead that each of you have a say in your own story, that your hard work would determine your path forward and final destination.

Likewise, power should not be concentrated in the hands of an individual, such as myself or any of the other deities, and therefore I am returning it to you all.

As my role as protector and teacher is ending, I am stepping down from the throne of godhood to pursue a simple mundane life like you all. This is my final message to you all. Be free, be fruitful, and work towards your own improvement.


The divine energy divided itself and became like a seed within the bodies, minds, and souls of all Lizardfolk. A seed that unified them all yet was separate and could not be grasped or tampered with. All who received it were filled with vitality, and the seed would grow and send out illusory roots that aided in the absorption of mana. Ki cultivation, although widespread had been limited to those with talent or time to put in the hard work, now it became far easier, with even the elderly and children seeing significant progress and an improvement of health in general.

Even the Kobolds, their bloodlines containing trace amounts that connected them to the common origin, benefitted slightly with a boosted resistance to disease, and minor increases to lifespan and basic muscle strength. A few even awakened a talent for Ki cultivation.

Getting up from his seat, Abu Dhahab smiled and walked towards the center of town. He wondered if any of the Vigilant would be interested in knowing that the Snake was actually gone for good. Lor would likely have noticed the end of the devourer too.

The next age would be the era of mortals.

————

Undermining Authority

The number of Land Crawlers increased over time as coastal factories continued their frenzied construction. It was a worthy investment, as already some had returned from distant subterranean deposits bearing a wealth of ores and mana crystals.

The divine seed within them resulted in a sudden spike in Ki warriors. Even the rifle companies practiced movement arts and attuned themselves to the whispers of the World, guiding their shots to achieve an improbable level of precision.

Their creator’s parting message and blessing was well received by most of the Lizardfolk as they had already been successful over the past generations without much of his interference. That their creator understood that his divine role was over was a refreshing contrast to what they knew of kerima’s priests’ message, and even the warnings of those who followed the Vigilant.

So the Vigilant want to protect the world from the World Devouring Snake, sure, but can they protect it from themselves?

Mining operations continued with increasing intensity. Risks were taken to mine from dangerous places, their confidence coming from the overall improvement to their military might.

Some mining operations crossed national borders that had not moved for generations. But how far below the surface do territories go anyway? There were no markers or indicators that the miners were on other’s land except when a land dragon would poke their heads out angrily and either chase them off or demand compensation for disturbing their peace.

Some land dragons saw potential for easy wealth and set up toll booths along major tunnels, siphoning off some gems and ores from each passing crawler.

The unintended consequence of the mass mining was and increase in cave ins and the ground above collapsing. A few mining teams had been lost, but most times the sturdy armor of the crawlers kept them safe until they dug out of the rubble.

There were multiple farms on the surface that experienced their fields suddenly collapsing into a deep dark hole. The Centaurs who had worked those fields were shocked by the sudden shift in landscape, and reported it to others. When the first Land Crawler breached the surface of the Everrun Plains in the middle of one of the ancestral burial grounds, people started to put two and two together.

The excited yelling and waving merchants calling out from the metal monstrosity did not know how many people they had just offended. They were just excited to o once again be in the plains where previous generations had once conducted trade.

The Great Ritual

Empire detectives who followed the clues and traces eventually ended up all back in Dawnhold. The perpetrators of the kidnapping, had been careful not to leave a trail, but they were not professional sneaks, and they were dealing with multiple organizations whose purpose was to combat exactly this situation.

The investigation lead to several different parts of town, and detectives identified suspicious individuals gathering in a few of the larger houses. It seemed something sinister was afoot.

———

Down narrow flights of stairs carved into the mountain itself, hooded figures lead their bound captives in the dim candlelight. The low thumping of a drum could be heard as it echoed through the tunnels.

Coming out of the dark passage way that lead to one of the Cult’s safe houses the newest arrivals joined their peers in the dark cavern where shadows danced and the drumming was louder.

Vast complex tunes had been carved into the stone platform at the center, and many more painted on the walls. Barrels full of mana crystals were arranged at key points of the array, and cultists were filling up the central well with blood.

Not many had been killed so far, as that would render their blood far less potent. But examples were made and troublesome individuals were not worth keeping around.

It’s not like those killed would be dead forever. From what the cult had learned and now taught their new members, there was a place the dead went after death, to embark on a journey of cleansing before being reborn. With death not being a permanent end, taking a life or dying became much less of an issue.

The captives had been kept off to the side, well fed and rested while small amounts of blood siphoned from time to time and brought to the central well. The cultists also contributed their own blood, but they needed to remain active to get everything else ready in time for the ritual’s start.

At that point the blood would flow from the well through the channels and activate the giant runes. Together with the chanting, drumming and offering their own Ki, the Cultists would strike a blow in hopes of severing a divine realm from the first world, and free the people of the empire from the clutches of the Burning one and her immortal servants.

Morale was high, as the Cult leader who tasked them with this action had graced them with their presence. Watching the progress from a higher vantage point, the wind blessed being sighed.

Lifting their hands to examine the effect of numerous contracts, the Cult leader used their dark scaled right hand to execute a few jabs and fist arts. The other hand had not yet been restored and still looked like charcoal and weathered pebbles held together only by the wind blessing, clay and a constant expenditure of mana.

Abandoned by one god, their people poached and lured away by others, burned by the searing heat of the plane that caused the death of many archons, cast aside and forgotten by the world. The being behind the Voice of freedom would have perished completely if not for the secretive group of Golemified Archons who survived the war and hid on the first world.

This group had the memories of almost being eaten alive by one divine being, then burned to death by another, then frozen by a third, forged into tools by a fourth and fifth, hurled into space and forced to fight for their survival as many of them perished yet again.

They restored the remains of the fallen and disillusioned Voice of freedom to a half-golem state, and together founded the Cult. Working in secret to fulfill the snake’s prophecy and to escape the fate of being the gods tools and playthings.

Spoiler: AP actions

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AP: 0 +7 (rollover)
PAP: 3+2 (rollover)

Create Legendary Society (Name TBD) -2 PAP (unless someone wants to split the action)
A melting pot of a society made up of those who arrived on the concourse and chose to stay there, with new generations feeling a sense of belonging to the odd, yet to fully form society.

Note: any of the vigilant may add to the description and fleshing out of how this society works as it is built up around the council they formed. (Others may also add flavor, to explain the effect of members of their created races bringing their culture to the group)

Infuse Racial Life (Lizardfolk) -3 AP
Abu Dhahab has given a potion of his divine power back to the people he has created as a final act before stepping down as their God-Figure to enjoy a life in retirement. Bestowing upon them several abilities and benefits:
- health and lifespan
- Affinity with deserts and metals (better and controlling/shaping/molding/finding ores)
- Business talent
- Talent for Ki cultivation becomes widespread
- Confidence in their ability to survive without the help of deities.
Intentionally not put towards domain gain as this represents a loss of power for Abu Dhahab

Bless (Lizardkin) -1 PAP
Although only regular Lizardfolk are the chosen of Abu Dhahab, those related (Crocodilians/Geckokin/Kobolds/(Minotaurs?)) also received a portion of the blessing:
- health and lifespan
- Basic muscle strength
- Percentage of population with talent for Ki cultivation increased marginally

Alter Land (Abu Dhahab’s Calligraphy Shop) -1 PAP
Although small from the outside, the back door of the shop leads to a pocket space within the concourse containing sand as far as one can see (an illusion, the space is actually not very big) and a single oasis where Abu Dhahab has a small shack and grows his tea and creates his writing supplies.

Those who study his calligraphy might gain epiphanies or enlightenment on a topic that is within Abu Dhahab’s divine influence.


AP: 7 -3 = 4 remaining
PAP: 5 -2 -1 -1 = 1 remaining

[Gnomes2169]

Solace - An Expedition Returns
Within Solace a party walked from the endless winding expanse of light, a party wearing clothing and holding equipment that was centuries out of date. Primarily goblins and humans, each of them changed by their long voyage into the heart of the world's sun. They brought with them notes on what they'd found, and samples as well... samples that, upon reaching civilized places, a burst of divine energy made far more prolific and spread throughout the entirety of Solace, including the Shaline settled locations.

Unknown to the mortals within the Empire, at the same moment a wide-spread blossoming of life within Nocturne rippled out through the Republic's holdings and the hidden lands of the Night Elves. Strangely, the expedition had notes on these Nocturne creatures as well, though how they would know about them is anyone's guess. These are some excerpts from those notes:

Dimcaps/ Glowshrooms
Size: Huge (about the size of a hut)
Classification: Fungus
Threat: Harmless
Home realm: Solace/ Nocturne

These massive, wood-like mushrooms create what are effectively forests on both Solace and Nocturne. Their spores are edible and non-toxic, though a bit bland, but the rest of the mushroom is about as edible as a mighty oak. They seem to subsist purely on the energies of the plains they are present upon, and cannot survive on the First World. The differences between these mushrooms come down entirely to the energies they consume.

Spores that grow on Solace become Dimcaps, which are large mushrooms that absorb light and provide the only form of darkness or shade that can be present on Solace, as far as we are aware. Spores that grow on Nocturne absorb darkness and somehow turn it into bioluminescent light, providing illumination within a similar radius to the dimcap's shade.

The first Dimcap we encountered had a solar beneath it, one that we'd never seen before, and he pointed us to an entrance to places deeper within Solace, beyond its first ring. Dimcaps became more common and larger the deeper into Solace we delved, until eventually we wandered through the dimmest heart of our morning star. Strange that the brightest place in our world, in all of the void, should become darker the deeper one delves. Never truly shadowy, but definitely darker than the surface...

Lanterns/ Shadows
Size: Small (about the size of an amphora)
Classification: Spirit, harmless/ malignant
Threat: Harmless/ Moderate
Home realm: Solace/ Nocturne

Lanterns are small points of light made manifest, cobbled together from sprites and prayers given to the realm by mortals who are upon it. They are semi-sentient, do not seem to eat, do not seem to sleep, and are almost entirely defenseless. They are hot to the touch, but it is harmless as long as the lantern does not feel threatened, though it can ignite as a self defense mechanism should the need arise. Lanterns remember people who are kind to them, and thrum with rapidly shifting colors of light when in the presence of those beings. Lanterns can move of their own power, and float through some magical ability above the ground, though they cannot rise more than ten meters by their own power unless a creature, typically a windweaver, flies up and gives them a platform to rise from. Objects may be able to work as well, but within Solace there are no permanent structures to test that theory. (Special note, there are structures in Solace now, but at the time this was written that was not known)

Shadows are semi-predatory darkness made of ill intent and more negative sprites present within Nocturne. They are as sentient as lanterns and do not sleep, but they eat and are hardly as defenseless as their lightborn counterparts. Shadows will hunt any being on Nocturne that doesn't take special precaution against them, and they drain heat and energy from victims that they latch onto. If a creature is fully drained, the shadow assumes control over the body, and can cause it to shamble about towards any nearby creature that also lacks protection. Shadows are able to rise and fall like lanterns, but unlike lanterns they do not seem to have any affinity for or memory of any particular being.

Lanterns and shadows are almost the exact same spirit, but their location of formation and their current residence determine what they are. The spirit born in Solace is a lantern, in Nocturne is a shadow, as covered before. If brought to the First World or other realms throughout the multiverse that are similarly balanced between night and day, these spirits retain their form and identity. However, should they be brought to their opposing realm and remain there for an extended period of time (at least one month) they undergo a transformation into their alternate form.

A Second Founding - The Sky is Ours
Up until now, the Shaline Empire and the Republic hadn’t much needed to worry about dominance of the air. True, the Weshesh had their flying machines, and the harpies and phoenix were always going to challenge those claims, but Shaline skyships were potent vessels of war, and they hadn’t needed to worry about their rivals actually challenging their airspace.

Now though, a few things had changed. Sure, the League had their flying projects, though given the track record of the League's technology the Empire really weren’t concerned with what them might be concocting, what was most concerning was the Weshesh juggernaut that had been spotted by some of the skysea vessels, which itself brought about the Empire’s growing realization of just how difficult it would be to hit small, fast-moving gyrocopters with traditional cannons. And with war looming on the horizon, there was a sudden need to actually renovate their still potent but lagging air force.

The first thing they did was re-found the Gale Knight order. While it was argued that the Gale Knights had never fully gone away, and windweaving was more popular than it had ever been before, there was no denying that Gale knights themselves had fallen to the wayside and barely represented a political or military faction at this point. This renaissance in Gale knight discovery and relevance took place in the Skysea, among members of the empire, draconic and republic footholds there. This Skysea Order became the best skyship pilots on the First World, at least of the Imperial skyship model, and among their order were a new, much expanded crop of Gale Knights found and trained.

But even with that increased control and number of ships that could be fielded, the question of how to deal with the wesheshi fighting ships was still present. True, there were now more windweavers that could use magic to take them out of the sky, but often those windweavers were used to pilot and add stability and control of their vessels, and ground forces still needed to deal with these air raiders somehow. Thus, engineers and a new class of Imperial scientists called physicists would work to develop a few different varieties of planar-metal technology. While there were a few designs, such as fine living metal mesh webs, Kerima metal grenades that wouldn’t work even slightly against the combustion engines of the weshesh vessels, and nocturne shot meant to puncture and stop combustion within an engine, ultimately, the design that was chosen was an aerodynamic ceramic and dream metal rocket.

These semi-sentient, arm-length rockets were enchanted to fly to a point that its wielder determined, and when it reached that spot it detonated the packet of gunpowder in its center. That explosion shattered the ceramic holding the rocket together, flinging sharp shards of dream metals about that, themselves, were imprinted with enchantments that caused them to seek out unliving and flying things. This shrapnel would deal little damage to large vessels, such as the Empire’s skyships, but to smaller ships and to individual creatures in the sky they were deadly. One rocket was typically enough to kill a harpy and critically wound a hollowcaller, and two could potentially damage a wesheshi fighter enough to ground it (though it usually took three or four, since weshesh pilots would evade shots and those lucky hits were hard to get).

Thus, much like nocturne and solace metal alloys, dream metals began to become more and more rare, and because of that new living metal supplies became more rare and expensive. The growing lack of the luxury planar goods would send rumblings of discontent, even if the more efficient iron ones would replace them and keep those grumblings from growing too loud.

Zariel's Companions
While the IOA became a major player in Shaline's political, military and technological matters, a second organization rose up that was of a much more focused nature. Tales of Zariel's exploits had risen to a wave of veneration of the archon, and many young and hopeful adventurers and vigilantes began to take up the cause of seeking challenge and adventure.

These people formed guilds of self-proclaimed monster hunters and heroes. Where the IOA was more of a secret service and military police, these self-proclaimed Companions of the Slayer were down to earth and direct. Some put together and set out on hunts, others prowled crime-ridden neighborhoods or joined caravans that went through dangerous routes, and still others joined the military to hunt down pirates, bandits and privateers. The one thing that united them was a desire, almost an addiction, to experience the Thrill, and all their acts of heroism served to fuel that glorious sensation.

The highest ranking members of this cult were sometimes the most foolhardy, but they were also incredibly decorated and experienced individuals with a string of glories they could brag about to the younger generations their actions had inspired. The mortality rate within the cult was shockingly high as well because they put themselves in such dangerous situations, but the call of Zariel's Thrill was a powerful thing, and the songs of the bards kept young hopefuls eager to join.

Zariel himself, hailed as a hero by the bards already, became known as the Slayer King. With his refined skills and far improved star steel equipment, he was seemingly unstoppable. Whispers that he could finally do it, that he could actually kill the last clay dragon, rippled from the bards to the Empire and the Everrun lands, though the rumors of war were building as well, and would likely get in the way of that theory actually being tested.

The Cult Draws Attention
The Empire’s overworked detectives had done their jobs, and they had done them admirably. Following the strings of disappearances and sending messages to every one of their neighbors, including the League, these investigative lawkeepers would quietly ensure that the governments of the world knew that godborn, with Solari in particular, were beginning to vanish.

Despite their best efforts, though, word that the long-lived individuals in their society began to leak, and the citizens of the Shaline empire would begin to show signs of panic. Solari became less and less common outside of Solace, leaving to partake in markets or because they were influential members in the government, but otherwise remaining in their blazing fortress.

The low-key panic and the manpower limits that the Empire’s investigators were pushing against left them too late to stop the Cult of the Unyielding Heart’s ritual before it started, but their sacrifices would take a long time to actually take effect. The sound of their drumming would ultimately work against them once the detectives finally figured out where the ritual site would take place, both because it let Amerith and Zariel know where they were, and because it left them deaf to the first few minutes of the Archons’ strike.

At the heads of squads formed from the Order of Thorns, Order of Roses and Zariel’s Companions, these two archons would be whirlwinds of retributive destruction. Zariel, of course, would be a champion that the Cult would have been able to anticipate, though they may have been betting on his seeming apathy towards anything but the next challenge to keep him disinterested in their assault. Apparently, the prospect of fighting anti-divine ki masters was enough not only to draw him out, but for him to clearly be enjoying himself, the star steel clad and armed solar diving into every cultist knot he could find that was slowing or stalling the advance of his troops.

Amerith had been another known variable, but her involvement was still a surprise. In the entire time since Renarr had left the First World, no one had ever seen her actually leave the Dawnhold portal’s entryway. The confirmed rumors of her grievous wounding at the hand of the Suzerain, with the tales of how horrific the Lord of Night’s weapon could be, made many in the cult suspicious of her even being able to leave the heart of the well of power above them, and many would have thought she wasn’t a threat at all. Those members of the cult were arrogant fools, and while she was still not back to her full strength, Amerith would prove to them why she was the Archon of War.

Despite the presence of these champions, and the clear advantage of numbers that the dawnhold’s defenders held, it would still take time for them to fight their way past the cult’s adherents in order to reach those responsible for casting and maintaining the ritual. The ki masters in the godless one’s ranks were tenacious, their morale was high, and for them this was a holy cause. By all rights they should have been able to hold for hours.

But they forgot that Shaline was fighting to save hundreds of thousands of lives. Without the Dawnhold portal, everyone that lived on Solace would go through a mass food and water shortage, even with Dimcap spores to help. Friends, family, leaders of government and guilds, all of them would be cut off… and there wasn’t enough time to let them know or to evacuate them. So while the cult’s resolve was unquestionable, the defenders’ was, quite literally, unbreakable, as the objective of the cult had simply raised the stakes too high for them to be anything less. They fought to the last man, no quarter asked for or given, and their assault was relentless.

It still took time, and in that time, the less war-like Solar began to join in. First was Thill, who, like a bear protecting her cubs, threw herself into battle in a wild frenzy, knowing that she protected her descendants with every cultist she killed. Bruss would reorganize the buildings and terrain that the cult employed as cover, granting the defenders new avenues to assault and stripping away advantageous positions from the attackers. Varral brought with him three cells of the IOA dedicated to hunting mages, which, once enough progress had been made, in turn brought spikes of Kerima metals that were driven into the hearts of the runes that were central to the Cult’s ritual, disrupting the Ki and blood magic bound into those structures, often in calamitous detonations that killed cultist and defender alike.

And finally from the heavens themselves, a being that had never been seen on the First World descended. The Watcher, the mythical twelfth solar, had been looking down upon the First World, and saw the effects of the Cult in action. And while the Cult of the Unyielding Heart might not directly threaten the stability of reality, their actions had absolutely been a destabilizing force in the world, and direct action was needed against them. Thus, the Watcher descended like a falling star, and instead of spending time doing battle with the minions, the world guardian and the last war-minded Solar made their way directly for the cult’s spiritual leader, ignoring all but the most persistent mortals that got in their way.

This is the resistance the Cult faced in their moment of triumph. This was the force that they had to overcome, or at least hold back, until their goal could be realized… it was asking a lot of a small faction, fanatical and somewhat unexpected though they might be.

Jisr Archipelago - No backing down
Vatha's expression, so carefully held neutral for this conversation, would give little ticks and twitches of genuine anger, and he took in a sharp breath... but instead of screaming at the diplomat, the orc's eyes close, and slowly he unfolds his hands to pinch at the bridge of his nose. The governor just looked... tired. So incredibly tired. When he spoke again to break the silence, there was still a note of rage in his voice, but it wasn't directed at the ambassador personally. "I 'cannot hold the entire league...' I wasn't. I gave you a list of names of people who are hiring these mercenaries, or who have agents who are doing so. The people paying for their lodgings, setting up long-term contracts, providing alchemical supplies. And yes, the people who are known to buy large quantities of goods stolen from our ships, especially our military vessels, which have always been costly to raid. Costly enough that a pirate would only attack them if they were assured of a worthy reward, because two thirds of them do not come home."

Laying back in his chair, the governor rests his hand on the table and explains, "Bluntly, with all of those points of evidence, we can't ignore the involvement of your people in this trade anymore. The council won't let us just 'sit back and handle' the pirates as they come, and they refuse to devolve into stupid proxy bidding wars between privateers. My council has decided that enough is enough.

"We do not hold the entire league responsible. I do not hold the entire league responsible. But we are done letting the fragment of you that doesn't care about our treaties and how many lives are lost for their precious profits beat us with their mercenaries. And, bluntly, we don't trust your justice system to hold the guilty responsible. You may have been wronged by one or two of these people and their agents, but as you just admitted the damage is almost entirely ours. They will be subject to our laws. The Shaline ruling council has given me three options to present to you that they find acceptable solutions."

Holding up one finger, Vatha said, "You round up and send the people responsible for this to us in two year's time. Nothing changes about the ceasefire we've held for the last twenty eight years. We put all of this behind us and go back to our posturing and standoffs, sending harsh words instead of cannonballs." Holding up a second finger, the governor said, "If these individuals prove too difficult to dislodge or you just don't want to be seen sending them to a sworn rival and enemy, then spend the next two years politically distancing them, push them to your edge of the neutral zone, and we will handle them for you. There will be a special clause in the ceasefire negotiation for the Empire to take care of this 'renegade' faction, with conditions that no League land be lost or ceded, and we will be obligated to send the material necessary to repair the damage to lost buildings or official League vessels."

Holding up a third finger, Vatha sighed and hisses, "Three. You ignore or reject both of the other options, and the ceasefire is not renewed in the renegotiations, with the Empire denouncing you for shielding criminals and terrorists, and thereby being complicit with their crimes. This will be paired with a declaration that you will not hold to either the spirit or letter of any treaties we have. Hostilities resume."

Looking across the table at the gnoll, he added in a whisper, "Neither of us want that, ambassador Ufkorua." And something in the way he said it would hint that he wasn't speaking on behalf of the Empire as a whole. "But I am not empowered to discuss, present or accept other terms, and we will go to war if your councils make us." There it was.

Spoiler: tl;dr

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That expedition that entered Solace way back on page 4 has finally returned, and they brought journals worth of discoveries with them! The first thing of note is the giant mushrooms in Solace and Nocturne that are light absorbing or bright, depending on which plane they are present upon. There are also Lanterns and Shadows, little spirits that are either harmless or dangerous, depending on where they were formed. Lanterns and Shadows can be converted to their opposite if they remain present upon the opposing realm for too long.

The Empire's airforce now has a proper expansion, since that was something that should have happened a while ago. A new chapter of Gale Knights exists, known as the Skysea Order, and it is spread to every major power in the skysea, including the Noldan Republic (since they have the second most skyships of the societies of the First World).

Anti-air rockets that have semi-seeking shrapnel are also things that exist, made of dream metals and ceramic. They are smaller, able to take out harpies and damage wesheshi fighters, but of little danger to larger vessels and beings. In a pinch they can be used on tightly packed formations, but the damage they deal isn't particularly disruptive to an actual armed force.

Zariel has a proper warrior cult dedicated to him, and Zariel himself is a hero now.

The cult kicked the hornet nest. And the hornets have responded by air dropping all the super murder hornets directly to their location.

The Empire is being pushed to war in order to save face and because proxy wars can jump off a cliff. They don't seem to actually want it, much like the League, setting up the theme that this is a stupid, pointless war... but then, all wars are. This is a lesson that the First World needs to learn.

Spoiler: AP actions

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Starting AP: 0, 0 PAP

Rollover AP: +7
Rollover PAP: +2

-1 AP; Create Monstrous Life - Dimcaps/ Glowcaps: Giant mushrooms that get larger and more common the deeper someone goes into Solace or Nocturne. Dimcaps eat light and dim the area around them, Glowcaps eat darkness and produce phosphorescent light just barely bright enough to read by. Their spores grow at the base of their caps and are perfectly edible (if tasteless), but can only grow on Solace and Nocturne. They are the same species, but swap between forms depending on which plane they grow.
Domain Progression: Balance (Duality) 2/10

-1 AP; Create Monstrous Life - Lanterns/ Shadows: Harmless spirits of light or predatory heat-leaching spirits of darkness respectively. Lanterns and Shadows are the same creature, but influenced by the plane that they are on. They can exist in the first world or any other plane, but if brought into a plane opposite to their nature (Nocturne for Lanterns and Solace for Shadows) they will turn into the other spirit type.
Domain Progression: Balance (Duality) 3/10

-1 AP; Create Organization - The Skysea Order: Basically a second founding of the Gale Knights, some of which are loyal to the Empire and the Republic, some of which are loyal to the Dragons. While the first founding owed no loyalty to any particular society, the world has become much more populous and the influence and borders within it are more recognized and harder to just circumvent and ignore. Thus, these Gale Knights tend to be a bit weaker than their progenitor organization... but they are far more numerous and have access to resources and windweaving forms that those earlier Gale Knights could never dream of.

This second founding is meant to oppose Weshesh and League expansion into the airborn places of the world.
Domain Progression: Society (Shaline Empire) 7/10

-1 AP; Create Organization - Zariel's Companions: Thrill-seeking warriors inspired by Zariel, this organization is filled with members that are somewhat addicted to the Thrill blessing generated by that Solar. Monster hunters, lone wolf lawmen, pirate hunters and the like are the general architypes for these Companions. They are loyal to Zariel, but typically act independently from him because he doesn't care about leading them.
Domain Progression: Society (Shaline Empire) 8/10

-2 AP; Raise Hero - Zariel, the Slayer King: Zariel is finally recognized as a hero among the citizens of the Empire. He's one of the best warriors in all of Shaline, his natural archon based resilience increased by the Star Steel equipment that covers his body, his strength enhanced by his star steel greataxe, his long experience against potent beasts like phoenix and clay dragons making him a nightmare for the monstrous beings of the world. With all of that, he is a champion of the Empire, even if he isn't as invested as the other Solar in the Empire's continued survival.
Domain Progression: Society (Shaline Empire) 10/10

Total AP expended: -6 AP

AP remaining: 1
PAP remaining: 2

Domain Progression
Society (Shaline Empire) 10 (Teach; Iron, gunpowder, rifling, industry. Create Artillery, Imperial Oversight Agency, Zariel hero, Zariel's Companions, Skysea Order) Domain Get
Balance (Duality) 3 (Clay Drakes, Dimcaps/Glowcaps, Lanterns/Shadows)

Sphere Progression:
-Realms 6/10 (Portal to Concourse from Serpent Moon, Great Marshes and Refraction)

[Zelphas]

The Meeting of Two Immortal Minds

On his own, Tawnlo Deathwarper had managed to revivify his flesh without losing his mind, but he could not reliably replicate the process in others. The shock of the first death was too much for some, he theorized, along with the transmission from one body to another. He had known what he was doing, and it had nearly destroyed him. There must be some way to mitigate the shock...

On her own, Zentha Tekmind had learned how to seamlessly shuttle her mind from a biological shell to an artificial one without breaking her consciousness, but she found replicating the process in others to be tediously slow and laborious. Her skill was in mechanical marvels, not truly in flesh, and only her own mechanical way of thinking allowed her to repeat her process upon herself without a fatal hiccup. There must be some way to quickly map a biological mind for processing...

Two remarkable minds, both bent upon the same problem but from different angles. When they met, one solved the other's concerns. Two more quick, fiendishly complicated surgeries later, and the first true Centaur Cyborgs were born. Undead and undying, fusing revivified flesh and magitek limbs, they paid homage to their former lives in form at first. As each surgery continued, becoming more streamlined, the individual tastes of the Cyborgs grew and developed--though their "true" forms quickly migrated behind closed doors. They still needed to rule the mass of regular centaurs, after all, and even after being addled by steady magitek exposure for centuries they still balked at some of the more extreme forms that the Cyborgs began to take. Why, one Cyborg presented itself as nothing more than a glowing inner light surrounded by a massive ball of grasping arms and hands--though, no one knew quite who that Cyborg used to be...

CHILD of Mad Genius

Zentha and Tawnlo were not finished with their experimentations, though their quest for true, repeatable immortality had been reached. They delved deeper, into stranger territory still, keeping their final secrets hidden for the day that, they knew, the centaur nation would be inevitably attacked.

That day came inadvertently, a mistake, though none of the centaurs knew that until much later, if at all.

The panicked responses of many centaurs upon seeing gleaming ships break through their graveyards and their fields was to send their Golems upon them in wave after wave, forcing the Lizardfolk to defend themselves or be torn to shreds by unfeeling clay. In one location, however, in the great ancestral burial place, the Golems were preceded by a massive trembling in the ground, as though a second crawler were waiting to rise. The earth split open, but instead of a shiny metal shape a mass of stitched flesh and lank hair pulled itself unsteadily as though rising from its own grave. The shape was a mockery of a centaurs, all muscle and sinew, a line of eyes upon its enormous torso and a blank ball of a face split by a toothy, ever-grinning maw. The thing bent down and seized the Land Crawler, crumpling metal between its massive fingers. It worked its mouth as though to speak, but all that it produced were low, rattling growls. Then, in one galvanic motion, the creature threw the Land Crawler to the horizon, away from the Everrun Plains. Its work done, the creature slumped back into its tomb, the centaurs nearby long since having fled in fear.

Far away, in a brightly lit chamber, an un-augmented centaur blinked and jerked forwards as though waking from a nightmare, shaking her head and looking around wildly, her limbs as clumsy as a newborn filly's. Zentha, in her true form, examined the readouts with mild approval; a success. A shame that only fully flesh centaurs could be linked to a CHILD--and an unexplained anomaly--but that will be cleared up soon enough. The other ADULTs were fairing well as well; it was time to let the Everrun Council know about their new protectors.. and the new threats they face.

Spoiler: AP Actions

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0 AP, 1 PAP + 7 AP, 2 PAP = 7 AP, 3 PAP

Create Legendary Sub-Race (from Centaurs) Centaur Cyborgs - 3 AP: Made of a mixture of revivified flesh and magitek components, Centaur Cyborgs are immortal and vastly powerful, though most have chosen to take on political positions in centaur society. Their form is largely dictated by the Cyborg's own inherent taste and level of dissociation from mortal life, though again the majority have a more "normal" form that they can wear like a suit in public among regular centaurs. (Domain Progression: Life (Artificial) 10/10)

Create Legendary Sub-Race (From Flesh Golems) Colossal Hindbrain-Intelligence Living Dolls - 3 AP: Created "from scratch" using various dead creatures and custom magitek components, each CHILD is uniquely linked to one regular mortal shortly after they are created by a special rune placed upon the forehead of that centaur. When fully "linked" via a special magitek device the CHILD becomes, in essence, the mortal's body, allowing him or her to feel what the CHILD feels and to utilize its prodigious strength and magical power. If the rune is effaced or the linked mortal is killed, the CHILD reverts to following the last scraps of brain matter still present within it, becoming bestial, ferocious, and possessed of awesome power. EAch CHILD is unique; some look like centaurs or even gnolls, while others are monsters from the centaur race's wildest imaginings. (Domain Progression: War (Proxy) 3/10)

Create Organization (Advanced Doll Utilization and Linkage Team) -1 AP: A surprising mix of centaur, gnoll, and even the occasional other race press-ganged into service from infanthood, ADULTs are all linked to a specific CHILD at or very near birth and are raised with complete loyalty to the Everrun Council and complete obedience to all Centaur Cyborgs. If an ADULT's CHILD is wounded, they feel the pain; if it is killed, they often lapse into catatonia or break into full madness. ADULTs are generally kept completely isolated from the outside world except through their CHILD, used as weapons of war by the Everrun Council against the Land Crawlers, the beasts from Macra'Ahi, and anything else that seems to be threatening. (Domain Progression: War (Proxy) 4/10)

7 AP, 3 PAP - 7 AP = 0 AP, 3 PAP Remaining