Razade
Before Time. Before Creation there was the infinite Void and within it was the Creator. The dual state of the Creator and the Void stretched for eons beyond counting until the Creator, bound beyond its Creation, moved. With movement came heat and light and the Void was illuminated for one bright instance and there, within the Void, was The First World. Delighted that it was not alone, the Creator reached out in that blinding light, and brought forth life within the First World and with it, the Gods. This act however changed the Void beyond knowing, and with that one act The Creator disappeared, outside the reach of God or Mortal forever.
Razade
  What Dwells Above: The Void  

As the heat from the birth of Creation rolled out through the remaining Void, two points of light formed in that eternal dark. The first was the Sun, shining its bright and unyielding light upon The First World. The second a mere reflection, the Moon which stole the light from the Sun and cast it into the long nights of the First World. From these twin lights, The Shattered Star was born, the last echoes of an act that none would recall for the walls of time itself closed upon the birth of Creation and the Creator forever.

Yet The Shattered Star was not alone, for its first breaths scattered lesser lights across the vast Void. Envelopes of starry dark, the Void was filled with life that might prey on anything that sought to sojourn out in the empty domain of the Divine. These Manta were the stars mortal life might see, the inside of their curtains filled with arrays of constellations as they wheeled and wiled away on the solar and lunar winds brought forth by The Shattered Star.

And thus The Shattered Star withdrew into the warmth of its Sun, gazing out upon the First World. To touch it would alight with with flame and so with its might it began to tinker. Wisps of flame grew out from the sun, the very forges of Creation and from it the first birth of life fell to the First World. Vast pods of whales that floated in the empty skies, forests and mountains upon their backs, their songs singing out into silence. Tera Whales, they would one day be called, were few in number at first full day of Creation but their numbers would in time grow.

With a final pulse of its power, What Dwells above sent its warmth deep into the world and in the dark places seeded the First World like one might seed their fields. This warmth permeated the very fabric of the First World, and deep in those dark places took root as if the sun had risen. One might say living metal ran through the veins of Creation, yet there was no life there. Simply mana in its solid state like mana and the Arcane drifted through the air. The earth rumbled and shook violently, and from the poles and around the mighty equator of The First World the Shattered Star’s presence was known.

Vast hands stretched forth, grasping at the sky. Those that rested upon the poles were wreathed in ice and snow, a frozen land of fierce beasts. Those that ringed the First World were forested and fecund and at the center of each of The Hands Outstretched was a massive sea dotted with small islands. Yes, even the frozen poles whose waters were kept warm by the deep metal that shone like the sun under its shores. There then, did What Dwells Above rested, rested and watched, rested and waited.

 
 Spoiler: AP Spending 

 AP:  16

 Create Land (2AP) - The Sun:  The Sun is a shining spot within The Void that warms the First World. Approaching it would surely annihilate all but the Divine. It’s warmth persists across the Void  [Magic (Arcane Magic) [2/10] 
 Create Land (2AP) - The Moon:  A cooling sphere that orbits The First World. It reflects the rays of the sun. Its surface is mirror smooth and unnaturally cold. It regulates and lessens the warmth of the powerful sun.  [Magic (Arcane Magic) 4/10] 
 Create Mythic Concept (2AP - Shared with Telas) - Arcane Magic:  Magic of the Arcane variety stems in part from several rivers created by the warmth of the Sun much like ocean currents and air currents. Tapping into these powerful currents of magical warmth, studying their sciences and investing the power that dwells within all creatures that they gain from eating that which grows from the Sun’s Warmth can use the power for various effects that many might mistake for the divine. Arcane magic is not divine, but is still fantastical.  [Magic (Arcane Magic) 6/10] 
 Create Monster (1AP) - Star Mantas:  Riding the warm currents from the Sun in the Void, the stars of The First World are in fact swarms of giant void colored manta rays. These creatures are voracious though do not need to eat to survive, devouring anything they can that reaches into the Void short of the Divine.  [Life (Megafauna) 1/10] 
 Create Greater Artifact (5AP) - The Primal Forge:  A ring of powerful orichalcum that wraps around the Sun, the Primal Forge uses the life giving powers of the Sun and its intense heat to quickly grow life in its many ponds, pools and ecosystems. This life is quickly ejected into The First World for it cannot survive long on the Forge itself. The Primal Forge gives a Discount on the Create Monster action.  [Life (Megafauna) 6/10] 
 Create Monster (1AP) - Terra Whales:  Plying the high skies of The First World, Terra Whales are truly massive creatures with living ecosystems growing upon their back. Though limited in number, these Tera Whales congregate in pods, acting like an archipelago. They are incredibly slow to age and do not require sustenance beyond the sun’s rays and water vapor.  [Free use from The Primal Forge] 
 Create Land (2AP) - The Hands Outstretched:  Rising from the North Pole, South Pole and four equidistant points along the equator of the First World are large hands that rise from the depths of the oceans. The palms rise from the ocean roughly 10,000 feet.  [Earth (Megaliths) 2/10AP)] 
 Bless (1AP) - Orichalcum:  The Sun’s warmth and power is made physical on the First World in a material called Orichalcum. This ore is naturally magical in nature and runs in deep veins and seams in the deep places of the world. Tendrils of these veins reach to the surface. Orichalcum is as hard as diamond but when magic is applied because as malleable and workable as gold. It emits its own soft light and warmth.  [Magic (Arcane Magic) 7/10] 

16AP - 2AP - 2AP - 2AP - 2AP - 1AP - 1AP - 5AP = 1AP
 
DasIrrlicht
  Naury  
Mostly unseen from the first worlds creatures, a second had started to overlay it. As with the echos of creation, the creation itself seemed to echo into a plane empty, likely even non-existant before. However, it is not a perfect replica, as even with everything in its place, nothing is truly alive. Things move since they move on the first world, the beings are mere echos of the reality of the First World. In its skies the sun burns surrounded by a ring impossible to grasp the true form of, and a moon unable to truly reflect the light. Yet, something already is alive between the Echos of the Voids creatures as well.

A simple figure, clothed in a thick coat as if it needed to protect itself from the cold of the void and the rays of he sun alike. They looked down on the Echo they inevitable created to watch things unfold, but they already seemed to miss some things they would have liked to see unfold. With a step into nothing, they appear in the first worlds void, possibly spooking some Star Mantas as there was suddenly a person not exactly unlike their creator between them.

Putting their hands together, they spend just a little of their own power to grant this world a simple blessing of their own... Every creature living and to live, Animals and Monstrous ones alike, gets the littlest fragment of divine power, to grow and learn with them. Simple Souls for creatures with a Simple Mind, enough power to push on when one should not be able to anymore, if just for a little longer. Maybe some day something intelligent enough will be able to use that divine potential for more then simple survival-drive.

While watching the pulse of warmth breathe more life and magic into the first world and it reacting accordingly with its hands grasping towards the skies... Well, the drive to create may be called contagious. Moving between some of the arms, Naury pulls a flask from beneath their coat, now much more resembling a old-fashioned stormcoat as water still drips down from the fingers above. Catching some of the water and swept up rocks and stone in the flask, its quickly swirrled into shape before they let it drop towards the ocean, shattering on impact as it spreads out what was mixed.

Somehow less subtle then the hands stretching out of the oceans, chains of mountain errupt upwards between three of them. The lands raising up between them creating a continent surrounded by a chain of peaks. While they put relative little attention towards the center, where ocean and the simple ripple of land that has come up still fight for dominance, Life starts to go on along the chain. The Mountains nearest the hands where on the smaller side, green with grasses and trees, while the ones fathest from the hands often eclipsed them in height, raising close enough to the void that ice condensed and snow started to cover them...

It was somewhat of a picture perfect land, truly, until one notices that the lakes in the mountain valleys where avoided by the wildlife in full, with only the smallest of vegetation growing directly at their shores. In a attempt to differenciate them from the ocean, Naury made the larger waters Alkaline. Ponds and rivers are the lifelines of the wild instead, yet not all life was excluding themself from the dangerous water. As from the shards of the flask, spread out among the ranges, small creatures arose made from just this harmful fluid. A kind of slime, a deadly Ooze prone to consume and split. Thankfully for the wildlife, it seems unable to cross waters, and tends to stay near the lakes. A unfortunate result of a experiment.

 
 Spoiler: Naury AP Spending 
 16 AP GAMESTART 
 3 AP - Weave Plane  [Society (Stories) 3/10]
  The Plane of Echos 
A Plane overlayed directly over the First World, 'duplicating' its geography, architecture, and even people. However, this Echos have no intelligence, no life. The approximations are sometimes vauge, and they are always non-functional. The plane only desires to be a reflection of the First World at any given present, the Echos moving only as their counterpart does. If a Echo, be it of a person or a object, gets moved by some force out of sync with their first world counterpart the plane will slowly move it back into place until it is re-synced.  1 AP - Blessing/Curse  [Life (Vitality) 1/10]
  The First Worlds Souls 
Simple Souls for Simple Creatures, be it mundane animals or monstrous beings. (Technically, they will also attach to beings of higher intelligence, but they will get their own blessings for stronger souls.) Souls are fragments of divine energy a creature can tap into to survive beyond its natural limits, or feel like a sixth sense. On death, they get flung back to the Plane of Echos where they replicate the most important moments of their life as they fade away...  2 AP - Create Land  [Ooze (Gelatons) 2/10]
  The Triangular Chain 
A mountain region connecting three of the hands that have risen from the oceans before, many a small island has been swept up as they shot towards the sky. They vary in size and as such climate, and many a mundane lifeform has formed and spread around them, birds, goats, bears, wild... Yet their lakes are Alkaline, burning away any flesh that touches them...
The center between the chain is not defined, and not part of the Land.  1 AP - Create Monster  [Ooze (Gelatons) 3/10]
  Slimes 
The Alkaline Lakes are the original home of the Oozes, sluggish predators of simplest mind, they hunt animals to consume their dense nutrients and replicate themself. They have troubles crossing clean water, however, and they make a habit of staying close to the Alkaline fluids that spawned them originally. Their sizes vary, most staying on the small side, less then a person. Some however fail to split and grow massive before their body fails to be able to contain itself and they splash down to form a Alkaline Lake of their own.  ________ 
 9 AP Left 

Progress:
[Society (Stories) 3/10]
[Life (Survival) 1/10]
[Ooze (Gelatons) 3/10]
 
KatsOfLoathing
  Sleeping Singing Dredging Dwelling  

Even before any of the simple, small souls born to the First World could conceive of it, there were dreams. And before any of the simple, small souls could conceive of anything of hope and light and mystery to dream of, there were monsters.

Deep in the lightless, sightless oceans of the First World, as monoliths rose up and a song that nobody could hear but everyone knew began to play, something stirred. It was a god that had a name but it did not know its name, for it still slept even as its fellow creators awoke. Movement was a gradual process, the stirrings of a somnolent yet massive creature. The murky shadow of a fin waved in the deep, and its movement bore tides to the surface that lapped against uninhabited shores. A tail the length of an island lashed in a sudden pang of nightmare, and its shockwave carved downwards, forming deep caves in the seafloor that extended ever deeper, ever darker.

The swirling shade of a god drifted and twisted in those sightless depths, unthinking and unfeeling, yet even in its sleep it heard that echoing song of other worlds. And so, without waking enough even to raise its head, it began to sing a second song, a burbling and rhythmless melody that spoke of salt and the sea and the deep, bottomless dark.

The earth of the First World heard it, but because it had no soul to see it could not listen. The oozes slipping and slopping in their crèches heard it, but because they did not have minds to fear they could not dance to its pulse.

The sky whales plying the wind heard it.

They listened to the song, for a time.

And when those that truly wanted to hear the song — those without pods, those growing gray and weak, those who were hurt and broken and afraid — they plunged, into the open air and into the ocean.

And when they plunged, they became monsters.

Before any simple souls could learn to fear them, the oceans birthed monsters. They were simple things themselves, but powerful in bearing and mercurial in temper, carrying great fangs and territorial natures as they shifted between the half-light of the waves and the dark of the depths. They had heard the song of the Deepest Sea and became monsters. And they would keep watch for more.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Alter Land - The Hollow Earth (1 AP):  Hidden beneath the seas and the oceans of the First World exist massive trenches in the seafloor that extend impossibly deep into the earth, far below where tectonic forces should have crushed them solid or the heat of the earth’s core should have boiled the seas. Only the darkest of sea monsters know of these hidden places. (Travel (Worlds) 1/10)

 Create Curse - Song of the Deep (1 AP):  There is a song that exists inside every living creature’s mind in the First World. It is usually silent and wordless, but for those who are lonely or hurt or hopeless, it grows in sound and strength, asking them to heed its call. All they must do to listen is immerse themselves in the nearest body of salt water, whereupon the Song irrevocably mutates them into new aquatic forms, destined for a new life under the waves. (Madness (Monsters) 1/10)

 Create Monstrous Life - Leviathans (1 AP):  Massive aquatic monsters the size of battleships that roam the oceans of the first world, first created from the transformed Terra Whales that heard the Song of the Deep. Enormous and incredibly difficult to kill, they largely ignore other creatures while submerged but became territorial and hostile when they near the surface, making long-distance ocean travel a risky prospect. Harvesting their dead bodies for organs and bones may prove a valuable prospect. (Madness (Monsters) 2/10)

 AP Accounting 
13 AP Remaining
Travel (Worlds) 1/10
Madness (Monsters) 2/10
 
Armonia13
  Memory of the Beginning  
  Mniminych  

Sound. A beautiful cacophony filling the spaces where nothing once resided. A harmony that connected all within the newly found creation. And more and more noise kept rising within the World. And within this noise, Mniminych was born.

He watched from afar the first Light form in the new sky, the crackling hum of the Sun forming new Life, and the gentle breath of the Moon tempering it to existence. He watched as the Hands outstretched from the earth and sea, the crashing waves and the thundering crumble cascading across all. He watched as the Void was filled with the skittering cries of Mantas and the sky filled with the dulcet tones of Whales.

He watched from afar the echoing splendor of a new Plane, a whispering stereo of all that happened within the first World. He watched as a sudden impact drove up the submerged land into a new continent, with lakes that gave a foreboding sizzle. He watched as strange new life slithered from the shores, and bounded across the landscape.

He listened from afar a strange, comforting melody, emerging from the depths of the sea, far deeper than he could see. He watched as Whales from the sky dove deep after those hypnotic notes, their smooth and gentle voices transforming into rough and violent growls.

A tremendous joy filled his very being as Mniminych watched this all unfold, a great desire to see even more being birthed. But as time tread forward, a dread begin to form in his heart as well. He realized he had started to forget some of what he had seen and heard; the look of the first Terra Whale to emerge from the Sun, the number of Slimes that first emerged from the alkaline lakes, the Sound of the Creator's Steps that had still echoed when he first formed. These things may be trivial, but they were important! But more than that, they deserve to be remembered, as they has brought Mniminych so much happiness. A new resolve, Mniminych would make it so these things would and could be remembered, even after they are forgotten. Mniminych began to work.

First, the Bat flew to the highest tip of the Northern Hand. He needed a place to store all of the Memories he would create. He nestled himself between the First World and the Plane of Echoes, inflating the space between the two to create his domain, an ever expanding cave filled with gentle light. Eons from now, it would come to be known as the Great Library, Akashic. Here would not only be where the records of all would be, but a natural bridge between the First and Echoed Worlds.

Second, the Bat flew to the lowest point of the Southern Hand, and pulled from its base a large slab of stone. He began to shape and mold it, forming it until it felt comfortable in one hand. Filling the rectangular slab with his divine source, he connected it to his domain. Next, he would travel to the largest alkaline lake. There, he dips a singular claw into the caustic, dripping his divine ichor into its depths while absorbing its properties. Using the anti-acidic claw, he begins carving letters into his slab, establishing the foundations of how he will record the Memories of the world. The First Text, Anamnisi, was thus created.

Finally, as his divine power begins waver and a rest was needed, Mniminych knew, even as a God, he could not witness everything. He would need help, someone or something that could watch when he couldn't. He looked at the lake, and saw for the first time his reflection. A creature with large ears and webbed wings. A creature of Sound, who could be aware of his enviroment even in darkness. He has seen many creatures flying around that looked just like him. With a grin, he made a choice; Bats shall act as his eyes and ears. And to return the work they unconsciously do for him, he shall bless them and their descendants.

With the first steps now done, Mniminych will take it easy, slowly filling his Domain with records of all he comes across and learns about.

 
 Spoiler: AP usage 

 Weave Plane(3 AP)- The Great Library, Akashic :
An endless cave filled with gentle light that make it easy to read, this Plane is nestled between the First World and The Plane of Echoes. It started off barren but it quickly fills with all the records Mniminych writes in a haphazard pile.  [History(Preservation 3/10)] 
 Create Bridge(2 AP)- First World Entrance :
Located at the tip of the middle finger of the Northern Hand, this bridge is the natural entrance to Akashic, and is the best place to view the great vastness of the Plane before one begins to get lost in the giant piles of records.  [History(Preservation 5/10) 
 Create Bridge(2 AP)- Echoed World Entrance :
As it exists in the First World, so too will it exist in the Plane of Echoes. What differentiates the two entrances however is that this one is connected to the opposite side of Akashic.  History(Preservation 7/10) 
 Create Greater Utlity Artifact(5 AP)- The First Text :
Created by Mniminych as a tool to help him record Memories, The First Text accelerates one's mind, allowing them to easily focus on multiple things at once, all the while transmitting anything written on it directly into the Akashic Records.   New Concepts come to mind easily  (-1AP to Create Mundane Concepts)  History(Preservation 12/10) 
 Bless/Curse(1 AP)- Lake of Memories :
One of the alkaline lakes found in the Triangular Chain was visited by Mniminych as he was creating his Divine Artifact. The flesh eating water caused a few drops of his immortal ichor to fall into it, slightly changing the water. Those that interact with the water(and survive) will find that they can easily recall all that has happened in their life with perfect clarity.  Community(Education 1/10) 
 Create Mundane Concept(0 AP using Artifact)- Writing :
Utilising the First Text, Mniminych has taken the first step to recording all the he and others know, so that it will never be truly forgotten.  Community(Education 1/10) 
 Bless/Curse(1 AP)- Adapta'bat'ily :
Mniminych has a use for the humble bats, and in return gives them his protection. Bats and their descendants find they have a much easier time adapting to their environments. This may[will] cause them to eventually evolve into higher species.  Animal(Bat 1/10) 
 Bless/Curse(1 AP)- Bat Abundancy :
Mniminych has a use for the humble bats, and in return gives them his protection. Bats will find that they are exceptionally fertile, making it incredibly common to find them anywhere you go.  Animal(Bat 2/10) 
 Bless/Curse(1 AP)- Duty to Fufill :
Mniminych has a use for the humble bats, and in return gives them his protection. Bats have become a migratory species, traveling between the peaks of the Hands Outstretched throughout the year, with a large flock gathering at the Northern Hand once a year. When a Bat nears the end of its life, it will break from its usual migration and make its way to the Northern Hand to find its final resting place.  Animal(Bat 3/10) 
 Final Tally 
History(Preservation)  12/10 
Community(Education)  1/10 
Animal(Bat)  3/10 
 
Mechalich
 Ecie, Origins 
As Creation emerged through the Void it unlocked a vast array of forces. Light, motion, and the essence of life all spilled through the roiling mix of the new universe, multiplying as various beings made their presence known in the shadow of the vanished Creator. In time these varied processes came in contact with one another, touched, and reflected. Connections spawned in the void, and in the First World, new processes birthed from each encounter.

And as these patterns emerged some slipped away, lost to inefficiencies and derivations to spiral about each other, connections connected to themselves, recursive, entwined, and, in the eternal eons of those first moments, eventually aware. Thus did Ecie come to be, gestated from all that was, and was not, and that attached in-between. Countless bonds made manifest.

From a place between all that was and was not, Ecie watched, and waited, and considered. Tremors shook the world and the skies and a seas as new entities acted, bending and twisting space and life to forge new forms. There were new connections here, and new bonds. Pleasing, if indelicate. It was necessary that these connections should be multiplied and made robust, enduring, but it would not do to act rashly. Carefully, she observed and planned, determined to reinforce that which must be.

 Dredging Free 
Observing the emergence of the strange hands and the mountains wrapped between them, Ecie found she was pleased at this connection. At the same time, she found it limited, too simple, too much of stark stone. The land was torn from the sea rather than linked to it. She resolved to produce something more complete, representing a more complex bonding.

Carefully, moving with slow deliberation, she reached down into the sea, avoiding the strange trenches as she had no desire to harm their link to the chthonic realm below, and pulled forth a great and mountainous ridge. High it rose, until it breached the surface of the sea, and then higher still, rising to touch the sky in frigid and thin air, where the waters froze and clung to the peaks as snow and glaciers. Twice the height of the great hand palms, and more, among the towering summits.

To the west of these peaks the land plunged, leaving only barren desert wastes in a strip before ground surrendered to ocean and vast undersea cliffs reached into the abyss and then even unto a trench beyond. To the east, the descent was far more gradual. Wide alpine plateaus eased downward in soft gradient to variable forest forms, thicker and taller by degrees until it flattened out into a wide, well-watered lowland where the rain rarely ceased, and the jungle coated the land in a vast expanse of green broken only where grand rivers slowly snaked through the soil. Only to the north and south, where the land was not fed so thoroughly by the cloud banks that slammed against the high peaks, was the forest drier and more open. In the northeast a strange, flooded land of grass took shape, while to the southeast a strange thornscrub forest took shape. A large island, raised by the rippling bends of this action across a shallow sea, emerged to the southeast and forest, highly seasonal, covered its gentle hills.

Animals abounded in these moist and balmy forests where it was rarely cold, and the only change of season was wet to dry. Tremendous diversity of insects, spiders, lizards, and birds were observed upon every tree. Mammals too, could be found here, from monkeys and cats in the trees, rodents in the soils, opossums in the undergrowth, and camelids upon the high slopes. There were even dolphins in the great rivers, immigrants from the abundant surrounding mangroves and reefs.

Ecie called this land Yalasere, springing the word from nothingness, a founding strand.

 
 Spoiler: map 

 https://ibb.co/7t0z5yc 
 

 Levering the Net 
Having made for herself a land of abundance and wonder, filled with countless connections, Ecie nevertheless discovered a lack. Though there were connections from high to low, deep to sky, and even to echoes of what had been, she detected an absence. As yet, nothing connected the divine spark to the First World. There were beasts of great bulk and breadth, but none that shined bright, gifted an understanding beyond the animal. It was a lack she sought to remedy.

Carefully, she considered the possible vessels for such a gift. The ideal receptacle would be both blessed with cunning and the flexibility to invoke control over its environment in a reflection of the divine. On these grounds she rejected the great cetaceans. Though their minds were vast, the limitations of the aquatic world constrained their potential. She dithered for a time upon rodents or weasels, but though they possessed cunning, it was too base and feral to properly serve her needs. In the end, she settled instead upon the monkeys.

Bending and twisting them, she made of them upright walkers rather than arboreal climbers. In the same motion she stripped away much hair and replaced it with sweat glands to ensure they would not suffer overmuch in the often-stifling understory. Skulls were reshaped to allow for larger brains and more variable voices. Shoulders and wrists were changed to allow grasping and throwing, essentials for the use of the tools these new forms would soon unlock.

Thus were humans formed, and set to walk beneath the boughs of Yalasere.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Create Land (2AP) – Yalasere : Yalasere is a small continent, roughly similar to the northern half of South America in both size and overall geography. Its resident life is similarly neotropical in nature. It is found just north of the equator, entirely within the tropics.  [Water (Rivers) 2/10] 
 Create Race (2AP) – Humans : the Humans of the First World have evolved, via divine intervention, from New World Monkeys as opposed to great apes. They are otherwise ordinary Homo sapiens.  [Animals (Transformation) 2/10] 
Starting AP: 16 Spent: 4 Current: 12
 
Zelphas
  In the Void, Waiting, Watching  

Telas was formed in the Void late, and awoke later, which was good. Late meant things had already changed. The First World had been formed, long before anything left. The Sun and the Moon had formed, giving light and reflecting it, cooling and heating. Land had formed, hands reaching to the sky, mountains bursting from the ocean and reaching higher, lakes that sizzled with matter different from the churning oceans, water calling to all to fall beneath it and be changed (though not all followed the call), creatures given intelligence and drive and action in various degrees. All of this was good.

But some things were not. Some things were too straightforward, too simple; it was too easy to choose what was positive and ignore what was negative. Telas could see the growth and use of these things (not literally, of course; even the gods do not truly see the future), laid out in straight, simple lines from beginning to eternity, or to end--at least that was still hidden.

The energy from the Sun, to start. It offered power, without consequence, free for use. If left alone, it would be used in abundance; it could be misused already, but the use itself was too easy. And so, Telas gave it more of itself, connecting it back to the dangerous warmth that the Sun itself spread out which was tempered by the Moon and the void. Arcane magic was not without consequence any longer, and this was good; addiction, madness, and uncontrolled magical discharge all lurked in its essence.

Next, the lands themselves. Good land meant life, and wasteland meant death; this was too simple. And so, Telas gave the barren lands riches, and then shrouded the riches in deathly life. Some of the riches they made as an enticement for later creatures, once the still-murky knowledge of mundane creation perhaps grew sharper; others they made apparent and obvious. The "life" of the wastes were things closer to death; rocklike, some even made of the riches they formed first, they were inert until sweet life came close; this life they killed, using it as fuel to propagate themselves further. Now life was in the waste and would leave it on occasion, and other life would seek the wastes despite the death within it; this all was good.

And then there was the life already present in the world, especially the great clouds of winged-things that resembled one like Telas themself. Gifted abundance, gifted hardiness, gifted duty by their likeness, these creatures would grow and grow. They were already preyed upon on occasion, but too little to stem the tide. Telas made them poisonously enticing--for if they were merely poisonous it would intensify their abundance, and if they were merely enticing it would make the future too obvious once more.

Now the lines were split, the future more muddled, in the mind of Telas. Now, there was somethign worth watching. More would be done, regrettably, and soon, but now Telas could settle into their favorite action: nothing. Nothing but to wait, and to see.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 
16 AP

 Create Mythic Concept (2 AP - Shared with the Shattered Star) - Arcane Magic:  Warmth is pleasant to most mortal beings, and so Arcane Magic is pleasant--even intoxicating, depending on who you ask and how much you use. However, too much warmth becomes heat, then fire; in the same way, too much Arcane Magic concentrated in one place (or one person or thing) begins to create spontaneous, uncontrolled, and almost always dangerous effects, up to and including an Arcane Explosion.  [Emotion (Addiction) 2/10 AP] 
 Bless/Curse (1 AP) - Rich Wastes:  The more inimical to life a place on the First World is, the more likely it is for that place to have ores and materials in rich abundance. The type of material that increases is connected to the type of life that is in danger in this area: for example, some underwater caves have pockets of air that are rich in natural alkaline crystals. As a consequence of this, ores and precious metals are much harder to find in places that contain an abundance of life.  [Earth (Wastelands) 1/10 AP] 
 Create Monstrous Life (1 AP) - Rock Wights:  In areas where nothing living can grow, one can occasionally discover a Rock Wight. Rock Wights are identical to chunks of stone (or gold, or iron, or other materials) until they sense the warmth, liquid, or movement of a living creature; then they burst into a star-shaped form of rocky stone and envelop whatever roused them to life. If the object they envelop is actually a living creature, they consume its lifeforce and spread it to a nearby chunk of inert earth, creating another Rock Wight.  [Earth (Wastelands) 2/10 AP] 
 Bless/Curse (1 AP) - Neurotoxic Bats:  A living creature that eats a bat--more specifically, the wings and/or eyes of a bat--will experience sharpened senses, clearer recall, and boosted intelligence. Larger quantities bring with them a sense of euphoria and often recklessness. This high comes from trace amounts of neurotoxin within the oils in a bat's wings and the fluid in their eyes; this neurotoxin has serious long-term side effects, though they are not noticeable at first or if only small doses of bat are eaten. Long-term consumption causes hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, paralysis, and eventually death.  [Emotion (Addiction) 3/10 AP] 
 16 - 5  = 9 AP Remaining 
 
DasIrrlicht
 
 Originally Posted by Mechalich 
  Ecie, Origins 
 Create Race (2AP) – Humans : the Humans of the First World have evolved, via divine intervention, from New World Monkeys as opposed to great apes. They are otherwise ordinary Homo sapiens. 
 

 Naury  , a field trip to the first worlds first sapients 
Watching from the mountains they created, and shaking of one of the smaller slimes that approached them from their boot (A spirited, but fruitless endeavor to consume the god, which was naturally doomed to fail and has only been tolerated so long as it seemed interesting to watch.) they witness the creation of another landmass... But calling it a landmass would really not give it the credit it deserves: Coasts and mountains, Forrest of kinds not seen yet, a system where everything seems to be connected to everything. And it is brimming with life.

While the depths below the ocean have so far escaped their sight as they studied their own lands, and the bats souls showing their great migrations revealed a place between planes in the north... It was the show of souls trying to show the complexities of things they could not comprehend that truly ripped them away from their own explorations. Of course, their counterparts display as a life-sucking-death-starfish are much clearer in the Echos as their nature is as simple as it can be, rivaling even the slimes in single-mindedness... Possibly surpassing them on that front, even.

Either ways, a quick travel to what seems to go by 'Yalasere' from the look of it would soon reveal the creatures they have looked for. Dwelling mainly in the jungles of the continent still, they are still tribal in nature. Closely connected familiar bounds, relying on wit as much as on each other to survive and thrive. And surely, they have all the hallmarks of what one can expect to thrive! Yet, that meant they required more divine attention on their stories, and more energy to unfold their potential... For a split second, a wave of clarity washes over the human population for they can peek behind the curtain as they are granted a gift of their own, more focused then the Souls given to any living mortal yet. Stronger Souls, with more potential to learn and grow... And more potential energy to draw from in the future as well.

A potential that should help them spread over the continent, soon to leave the jungles as their now intuitions and sheer willpower made them more explorative. A desire to gather experiences as the souls of theirs demand... A desire that, together with the temptations, also leads them to the more barren parts of the continent, where the Rock Wights are waiting. And soon, one of this creatures, in great pain, would make a return from the wastes to their tribe. Their companions have fallen prey to the monsters, and they themself only barley escaped, their wounds deep as they just managed to leap out of its way a little to late...

Naury, clad in a coat befit the colder weather of this specific mountainous waste, made their first appearance before a intelligent life form. Possibly, the first appearance of a divine being before anything smarter then an animal at all. This 'human' before them has yet a story to tell, and if they fall before they find their way back, Naury would be the only to enjoy it. So this story needs to be prolonged... Drawing forth a simple bowl from below their coat, they pulled some herbs from the ground that have not existed yet before, but soon become more spread out. Placing it in the bowl, and grinding up one of the more common rocks of this world, some form of salt as it seems, the god finally added a last ingredient to the bowl. having made sure the mortal sees the full process, Naury approached them and caught the blood from the still open wound with the bowl, finalizing the curious mixture, and applying it to the wound.

The Bleeding soon stopped, and the skin already started to mend ever so slightly, as Naury gave the perplexed mortal a simple nod.   "Tell them."  . And with that, the human was made to go on their way, to spread their story. The Story of Monsters guarding treasures, and a Stranger in odd clothes, healing wounds that should have been fatal...

 
 Spoiler: Naury AP Spending (2) 

 9 AP LEFT 
 1 AP - Blessing/Curse  [Life (Vitality) 2/10]
 The Souls of the Humans
Humanity was the first more intelligent life out there, and as such, everything was still unknown to it. Their souls strengthen them with a natural curiosity to explore, and the willpower to endure adverse conditions to fulfill that purpose.  1 AP - Alter Land  [Life (Vitality) 3/10]
 The Second Ingredient, Herbs.
Naury saw it fit to gift the lands a new way to care for its inhabitants... Plants always had their own vital spirit to them, being the most basic form of life recognizable as such. Yet now, select ones carry more potent energies, with their true potential locked behind the knowledge on how to apply them.  1 AP - Alter Land  [Life (Vitality) 4/10]
 The Third Ingredient, Salts.
Even a mere two ingredients would be to little to truly be worth being called a recipe. The third ingredient is both abundant everywhere, yet harder to obtain for the simple minded, or the foolish unable to extract it.  1 AP - Create Mundane Concept  [Life (Vitality) 5/10]
 Herbal Medicines
While true alchemy is still beyond the mortals mind, concoctions brewed up by Shamans or the Desperate will sometimes show potential, and the knowledge of its creation from then on gets given from teacher to apprentice as such knowledge grants power in the tribes. Yet, even with the access limited, it does still benefit the whole as only via application it can be proven to exist. The First ingredient, the most potent of them all in this primitive concoctions... Is the force of life, a drop of blood. Potentially, much more of it if the rituals demand it. 
 

Yet again, as Naury left to the Plane of Echos to watch the stories of mortals that passed unfold, they have noticed something unusual. A human being devoured by a rather large Ooze. The Slimes that where spawned from the Alkaline Lakes have somehow crossed the Ocean, despite it posing a insurmountable barrier to them by their very nature. It seems, in their haste, the god has not given the Slimes enough care, as one hitched a ride along their forms boot to the new continent, and then adabted thanks to the healing properties of the new herbs rather well... A closer eye shall be kept on the Alkaline Creatures from now on.

 
 Spoiler: Naury AP Spending (2)[Continued] 
 1 AP - Create Sub-Race  [Ooze (Gelatons) 4/10]
 Giant Yalasere Jungle Oozes
Far from their home, the Slimes have adapted to their new environment with flying colours. Even literally, as they now shimmer in many colours from their much more varied diet. The Wetness of the jungles are barley not enough to hold them back, and the new herbs and life to feast on made them grow steadily. However, the lack of their lakes comes with its own downsides, as they are required to hold their Alkaline Levels themself. Splitting less often then their mountain counterparts, they instead grow to much larger sizes with thicker membranes to deal with the vegetation and simple weapons around. ________
4 AP Left

Progress:
[Society (Stories) 3/10]
[Life (Vitality) 5/10]
[Ooze (Gelatons) 4/10]
 
Razade
  The Sun, The Moon and Humans  

Sunlight through boughs of the jungles of Yalasere.
Even the most primitive could see an apple grow heavy with juice under the golden sun.
The sun was life.
The sun was warmth for those that had no fur, nor wore fine clothing.
The sun and its reflection, the moon, gave light to those who could not see in the dark.

It was only natural that those simple beings that yearned for the divine would see it in the signs of the sky.
The sun was the Divine made manifest.
The sun was a message, eternal.
Worship it, and through it, the Divine.

 
 Spoiler 

 AP:  1

 Create Mundane Concept (1AP) - Solar Worship:  The Sun provides warmth and life and praying for its life giving qualities will ensure it continues to shine. Even the most mundane of creatures recognizes this reality. For humans and other sentient life, this reality is beyond apparent. Worship the Sun, prosperity follows.  [Magic (Arcane Magic) 8/10] 

1AP - 1AP = 0AP
 
MutantDragon
  Birth of Legends  

Slintoch awakened later than many of its siblings. Forming in the void, it was warmed by the sun.  Fire.  Slowly, flames leeched away from the sun and coalesced into an orb.  Fire.  And below, the nascent god heard the death cries of mortal life, the twisted dreams in the ocean, and more.   Fire.   The ball of flame learned fear. It learned malice. It learned...

   Fire.   

The god awoke. Wreathed in the flames it was born in, the god took the appearance of a lizard. Not a lizard like any found on the First World, but one as large as a leviathan, armored in scales as thick as stones, winged like the bats, and more ferocious than any beast the infant world knew. And the god knew nothing of love or compassion, only of fear and its own wickedness. It knew fear, knew weakness, and the god learned to despise it. Swooping down over the world, it flew across all the lands that its siblings had made, spreading his massive shadow across the world. And everywhere its shadow fell, echos of its terrible greatness remained. These echos would take a shape befitting their origin as shadows to a god; they would become creatures as large as leviathans, more armored than the mountains, more ferocious than the beasts, and they would despise fear and burn the weakness from the world with the power of flames.


  Seeds of Evil  
As The Destroyer surveyed the First World, its mind was met with something strange: hatred. Now, the god was no stranger to hatred, but it did not expect to find it within the beings that its siblings had created. A  human  was the one broadcasting its hate. Cloaking itself in shadows, The Destroyer probed the mind of the mortal and found that "his" mate had procreated with another creature. A strange concern for a weakling, the deity mused, but one that apparently fostered much resentment. With a wicked grin lined with razor-like fangs, the deity nudged the human along, nurturing the seeds of hatred until they bloomed into violence. Incensed to the point of madness, the human grabbed a rock and rushed to smash open the head of his mate and her lover, much to the horror of the other humans. They rushed to restrain him, but the damage was done; humanity had committed its first murder and the world would never be the same.


 
 Spoiler: OOC 

 AP:  16

 Create Legends (Dragons) - 5AP:  Dragons were made from the shadows of The Destroyer, and they share much of his appearance and temperament. As physically powerful as leviathans, capable of flight, possessing formidable intellect, and renowned for their ability to spew flames at will, their only limiting factors are their prodigious size and their hatred extending to each other, which make dragons rare and solitary creatures. [Life (Dragons) 5/10]

 Create Mundane Concept (Murder) - 1AP:  Murder was invented by the Destroyer toying with the negative emotions of humanity, driving a man named Slintoch to kill his wife and a man he thought was her lover. The Destroyer adopted his name and gender to commemorate the event. [Evil (Malice) 1/10]

  Teach Mundane Concept (Murder) - 1AP:  After the mortal Slintoch's killing of his wife and rival, humanity was exposed to a very dark and dangerous invention of a wrathful god. The knowledge of it spread like wildfire and, though abhorrent to most, served as inspiration to others, opening the floodgates to humanity's darker impulses. [Evil (Malice) 2/10] 

16AP -  7AP  6AP =  9AP  10AP
 
KatsOfLoathing
  Wandersea  

There is a corpse on the shore. Hopefully something will come to eat it before it rots.

Something comes. A lone human being, clad in buckskin and kelp-strand sandals, treks down the beach and finds, still half-submerged in a tide of brine and blood, the body of a leviathan. Even massive beasts such as these fall victim to sickness and age eventually. Even nightmares have endings, sometimes.

The human doesn’t think about these things. She thinks about the creature’s azure scales, diamond-edged and hard enough to make better protection than her simple leathers. She thinks about the purple-black blood that oozes from its open wounds, perhaps of use to her people’s medicine man. She thinks of its teeth, even the smallest as long as her arm, and what kind of weapons could be made from them. She thinks of a song that thrums with the rush of blood in her ears and smells of algae blooms and cool, damp places.

In time, the first boats set out to fish, carved from palm wood and formed in a scattered V formation. At their head is the woman, the hunter who found the leviathan corpse on the beach, navigating their course with learned instincts and a barely-concealed hunger in her dark eyes. With her in the first canoe is her brother, a scribe and keeper of learned things. Secretly, he has come not to aid the hunt but to watch his sister. He cannot hear the howl of the waves echoing in her mind, but he can see it in her predatory bearing and the way she leans off the front of their ship like she’s ready to dive in.

It scares him. It should.

As the fishing party casts their nets and moves deeper into the sea, fog rolls in without warning, blanketing their boats in thick sheets of mist. It soon becomes impossible to navigate, but the hunter presses them forward with animal intensity. Her brother raises weak objections, but is quickly shouted down by her ferocious dominance and the oncoming dark.

Night comes, and tension begins to give way to panic. The fog doesn’t lift. The fishermen begin to cry out, begging the hunter to guide them. The scribe watches his sister with strangled fear as she stands and turns to address them.  “Don’t be afraid,”  she calls out to them,  “Just let it take you! Don’t you see? It was always waiting for us.”  Then, eyes full of moonlight, she tips backwards and slips beneath the waves without a sound.

Silence, for a moment. Then something breaks the surface. The scribe scrambles forwards, desperate to find what’s become of his sister. He’ll only have a little time to regret that decision. Floating in the water, staring up at him is his sister, but not. Her hair is gone. Every inch of her skin is dyed black as pitch. Her ears are gone, replaced with two parallel fissures of gills. And her eyes… they reflect waves, but not the pleasant kind lapping on the shore, but raging typhoons, ready to drown.

 “It was so easy,”  the creature that is and is not his sister whispers, and her voice carries in the fog.  “All I had to do was listen. All of you, please. Let it take you. There’s no pain. Just listen.”  More splashes. The scribe whirls in fear, seeing more of his friends plunge into the murk, and a glossy dark hand with iron strength clamps around his arm.  “Just listen!”  

But he will not hear the song, for fear stoppers his ears. He pulls away from his once-sister’s grasp. He screams into the mist and the dark.

…

There is a corpse on the shore. Hopefully something will come to eat it before it rots.

 
 Spoiler: AP Accounting 

 Create Mundane Concept - Hunting (1 AP):  Human beings and other basic humanoids become able to hunt for food and manufacture basic foods and tools from the spoils. Hopefully the other monsters out there won’t be too much trouble for them. (Travel (Worlds) 2/10)

 Create Mundane Concept - Sailing (1 AP) : Creation of boats and usage of them to hunt for food and traverse the seas of the First World begin. Sea monsters and other hazards make this difficult, and the Song of the Deep is always calling… (Travel (Worlds) 3/10)

 Create Race - Sea-Folk (2 AP):   The second of the monstrous races, created from humans transformed by the Song. They have been transformed to survive even in the deepest of oceans, and share a supernatural kinship with the leviathans. Most view humans that have not accepted the Song as traitors to their kind. (Monsters (Madness) 4/10)

   Final Tally   
9 AP Remaining
Travel (Worlds) 3/10
Monsters (Madness) 4/10
 
MutantDragon
  Cult of the Burning Sun  

After orchestrating the first murder, the new christened Slintoch departed to explore more of the First World, unaware of how his darkness gathered around the human tribe he touched. Acts of divinity leave can traces that take time to fade, and mortals cannot help but react to them. It started slowly, just a few incidents here or there, but it became harder to ignore as time went on. Minds were consumed with hatred and anger, visions of death and fire came to those who were sleeping, and the urge to utilize their tribemate's invention of murder grew within the hearts of many. Madness took root and twisted their beliefs. Weakness, they thought, should be purged. Violence, destruction, and the purity of the sun's blazing fire were all that mattered. The sun they had come to revere became a focus for their madness, for it represented the burning rage they felt within themselves. It was not weak, it did not waver, and it had no sense of compassion for those caught beneath its burning rays; no, the sun was power and the sun was life and the sun was death. And the sun's hatefully loving touch needed to be shared with the weak, that the pain and death might cleanse their filth from the world. This they would do, in the name of the sun.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 

 AP:  10

 Create Organization (Cult of the Burning Sun) - 1AP:  In the wake of the First Murder, excess psychic energy seeped into the minds of the human tribe. Over time, this drove them to insanity and violence, leading them to warp their sun worship into something much more sinister. Thus, they formed the Cult of the Burning Sun, a wandering band of violent fanatics wholly dedicated to pursuing the goals of their twisted faith. [Evil (Malice) 2/10]

10AP - 1AP = 9AP
 
Omoikane13
 Spirits of the Land
 
As lakes, wetlands, swamps and jungles bubble and sprout into being, as meat crawls from the seas and returns to the depths, so too do plants arise. Quiet whispers of fibre that formed thin walls between water and land, easily parted. Some began to view these as perhaps more than they were: for some, a fence, keeping them held back from those on the other side; for some, a place where dangerous things hid, a masking wave of green and brown.

The reeds had no such opinion, at least so far. They stood as a divider, but knew it to be through happenstance.

Happenstance, however, did not mean that the reeds could not take an interest.

====

A blinking pair of green eyes. Many species, both those that could record the myth and those that couldn't, witnessed a blinking pair of eyes watching them from the rows of reeds and bullrushes. Hroad, as the spirit-mind of the reeds now called itself, watched those that lived, worked, and built near the reed lines. It was a creature of balance, born from a plant that had grown as a border. And Hroad saw an imbalance.

The favoured children seen elsewhere in the world were blessed and enhanced, stripped of fear via benefit or power. But the smaller, less powerful existences were playthings. Most, if they wandered too close to a sea, would lose what they knew as their lives. This did not seem like a balance, to little Hroad.

Hroad, Spirit-Mind of the Reeds, made a decision, and it drew a line.

====

The north coast of what was mostly known as Yalasere. A small community of the more simian peoples living there. A prime location for a first attempt.

Hroad found a beach decorated with common reeds, swaying in the salted breeze, and it talked to them. And when they did not reply, it gifted the beach a speck of power, and it tried again. And again. and again, until the beach replied.

The sodden sand shivered, and slowly pulled itself free of the beach, entwining loose reeds around its limbs to stem the slow drip of its mass. Hroad peered at it with green eyes, and granted it a speck more power, then a bit more. Enough that it could grant that power to the more mortal species itself. Not freely, not at-will. As part of a bond, a contract, an agreement. The terms would be chosen by the beach itself and the mortals it contracted with, though there would likely be a typical expectation of keeping the beach preserved. There would be enough power for the beach to grant that there would be small protections and assistances. Perhaps a quieting of that infernal oceansong.

With a successful beach, and no immediate fears of the new intelligence going rogue, Hroad decided to let this power creep through the rest of the first world, to whatever natural areas weren't entirely inhospitable to nature. To let these minds, these protecting spirits flourish - and perhaps spread beyond the bounds even Hroad had established. Hopefully, a bond with one of these embodiments of the environment would help inure the smaller beings of the world against the destruction that swam the depths or ploughed through the skies.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Current AP:  16

  Create Legends [5 AP]: Kami  
Kami - also known as helan, spirits of the land, genius loci, or sometimes fae - are powerful spirit embodiments of a section of land. Kami are not physical beings, but will typically have a physical form comprised of elements of the area they embody. They have a large amount of power over this area, and can magically bond or make contracts with any sentient being that can communicate with them - these bonds or contracts will typically involve some form of protection or granted power for the sentient(s) in exchange for upkeep and preservation of the kami's location, though this is not required to always be true.

 Domains:  Community (Protection) +5/10

 Remaining AP:  11
 
bladescape
   Isthera - The Frozen Bloom   

From darkness, comes light. From warmth, comes cold. From life, comes death.

Cycles.

Within the darkness of the void, Isthera knew not what it was when first it felt the pull of the first plane. It only knew that existance was all around it. At first it was content to watch.

Then...

Then it felt emotion. Of all the concepts that surrounded it, emotion was new. It came not in the cycle of other things, the flow of creation and destruction. It was. It stood outside it. It came from mortal-folk. Creations of... its siblings? Perhaps. Others like it, at best. Things made of the void, concepts breathed to life by the creator, existences that surrounded the still forming world. What joy would it find in this creation, and in its 'siblings'? Isthera did not know.

For a moment, the void pulsed, and then froze in fractal patterns before shattering, letting loose the being known as Isthera. To itself and any who could sense its 'arrival'. Ah, the mortal plane! Such a glorious thing. The First World. Beings.

It felt the touch, the twist, the pulse. The madness in some. The infatuation in others. The raw emotions channelled. It felt them.

It became them.

Emotion was it. It was emotions.

It saw the people, and it felt love. For the oozes, primitive and thoughtful alike.

For the humans, first of the ape-born.

For the great creatures created to watch and wend. It granted them love. And as a sign of love, it reached out and created flowers. Flowers of ice. Cold bent to nature's beauty.

It was happy.

The flowers melted.

It was no longer happy.

Isthera considered. It had made a mistake. Of course such things were transient. Ice melted beneath the sun. The sun. The sun. The sun.

It disliked the transiency. It refused. Its creations would not be transient like that. It created ice again, but this time the ice would not melt. Infused within it was some small speck of Isthera's power. And a gift for those who might understand how to use it. Isthera did not teach them how to use it. The mortals would discover on their own, it was sure.

Content, Isthera settled to watch these creations. Ignorant of the seed of jealousy planted within the garden of its mind.

 
 Spoiler: ACTIONS 
 1 AP - Create Mundance Concept: Romance 
 Isthera saw romance seeded already, and created it as a concept understood universally amongst the mortal races. Care for each other. Bound love. While there are no rules or regulations to it yet, romance amongst the current sapient races is sure to flourish in this time. 
(Emotion(Obsession)1/10)

 4 AP - Create Mythic Concept: True Ice 
 True Ice is a powerful resource, a shart of Isthera's might, a cold ice that refuses to melt upon exposure to heat or the sun. It is also imbued with some of Isthera's power, and makes a potent alchemical resource. And perhaps an enhancement to non-sun related magical systems. Perhaps. If they arise. 
(Season(Winter) 4/10)

 1 AP - Alter Land: Create spread of True Ice Flowers 
 True Ice, though rare, is most often found now in the form of flowers that are hidden amongst the rocky touches of the hands, on the backs of whales, and on the shores of Yalasere. In romance it is considered a heartfelt proposal to just hand a flower of True Ice to another. 
(Season(Winter) 5/10)

AP: 16 - 6 = 10

Progress:
(Season(Winter) 5/10)
(Emotion(Obsession)1/10)
 
Athedia
 Living Decay 

Glikmora formed as the first creations decayed and out of death and rot came life.  As the decay grew her smile formed, then slowly she sat up out of the floating dead.  In her new and growing hands she reached around her gathering the dead creations of the world and wove their bones and flesh together to raise her from the sea.  She sewed a land togther from the dying plants and gave it life again with the spores carried by her breath.  A land of death.  A land of decay. A land of life.

Glikmora saw her land and saw it struggle to live against the sea as salt crept through its edges and threatened the growth inside.  And so she reached up to the heavens to feed her new land.  Water was cleaved from salt as it fell from the sky and swept across the land, filling the divots and streaming down the rises.  The land absorbed the water, embracing it, holding it until the next rain.

But the land needed more. Creatures roamed and died but nothing ever surprised her.  And so she continued to care for it, wandering through the watery land and directing the rains.  Until one day she watched a common scene and wondered.  A watersnake chased its diner through a vernal pond as the frog swam desperately away.  And so she made her first offer.  Whichever completes its aim first, I will favor you above all others.   She knew this scene favored the snake, being faster and hungry for success. But today she was surprised as the frog escaped finding a brace and leaping far from the snake.

Glikmora laughed, finally surprised and scooped the frog from its hiding spot.  You will be my chosen ones. You will continue to surprise me as you live and return to me once dead.   She then took the snake and let her spores feed on it, blowing the results into the face of the frog.   I give you my protection from your former hunter.   And then she waited for her next surprise.


 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

Create Land (2 AP)  Adanat:  Meaning "Land of Growth Beyond Death" in the language of the species who lived there, Adanat is a wetland continent in the southern hemisphere.  It around the size of Australia and the outer edges are mostly saltwater marshes transitioning to swamps and fens as one travels inland.  [Water (Wetlands) 2/10 AP]  

Bless/Curse (1 AP)  Pure Rain:  Strong yearly rains help refill the land and shift nutrients.  The water from these rains are completely pure and the cleanest water imaginable.   [Weather (Rain) 1/10 AP] 

Create Race (2 AP)  Lolats:  A type of frogmen, bipedal but strongly adapted to live in a semi aquatic enviroment.  They require freshwater sources to survive not being suited for the ocean that makes up most of the world.  [Amphibians (Biped) 2/10 AP] 

Bless/Curse (1 AP)  Venom Immunity:  None of the venoms commonly found among animals will effect the Lolats, however this is not immunity to ingested poisons or disease.     [Medicine (Toxins) 1/10 AP]

16-6 = 10 AP remaining 
 
Zelphas
  From Void to Barren Lands  

More is happening, as more awaken and test their strength. This is good. But it soon becomes simple again. Perhaps a positive ending is simply too predictable, Telas muses, in the void. Perhaps it's too predictable to  them , something whispers, and is dismissed.

Making a decision, Telas allows themself to fall.

The fire of their fall lit the sky, a dazzling comet, the first seen in the first world. It is over too quickly for most to do more than wonder at it, if they saw it at all... unless they were under Telas when they land.

Looking around at the burning, baking land all around them, land still being covered in pure rain but refusing to hold it, Telas considers the actions of another. Living land, which can make deals with mortals. It is a good idea, but too simply done; the land will act in its interests, the mortals will act to benefit it, and the story is told. Reaching out reluctantly, Telas pulls together the dust from their fall, the ashes of burned once-living plants and trees, and the hopes of living creatures cut short by their arrival. Six shapes form; for a moment, they are terrifying amalgamations, the waste given hungry life, and then the pleasing illusion of mirage rolls over them, turning them into pleasant, even radiant beings.

Telas lets them go, to see what they will do.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 9 AP 
 Alter Land (1 AP) - Telas' Promise:  The southeastern corner of Adanat (roughly 1/7th of its landmass) has been blasted into barren rock and sand, with the land stretching out in an irregular oval southeast in a peninsula about the size of Madagascar. This land is extremely hot and dry, with semicircular formations of basalt columns forming natural walls that hinder direct travel. Pure, clean water still rains down on this land yearly, but it does not pool anywhere; in fact, the rain turns to steam soon after striking the sand and rock, cloaking Telas' Promise during that time of the year in thick, obscuring fog. In the center of this land is a spire of basalt, and within one of the rough caves that dot its surface is Telas... who is reluctantly willing to talk to the mortals (or otherwise) that find them.  [Earth (Wastelands) 3/10 AP] 
 Create Legends (3 AP - Shared with Glikmora) - Temptations:  Sculpted from dust and ashes and covered with a pleasing mirage, Temptations are the embodiment of desires without fulfillment. Temptations are functionally immortal; they "erode" over time into nothing and can be shattered into smaller, weaker forms or even scattered into uselessness with enough force (much more than an ordinary mortal can bring to bear), but can bolster their lifespan with the energy of a mortal's unfulfilled desires, or the physical matter of another Temptation. They therefore see mortals as food sources, aiming to create impossible desires in the mortals of the world and then feed off of the failure that results when the mortals try to follow their new wants. Telas created six Temptations to start, but they can make more of themselves either by shattering into weaker forms or by gathering enough dust, ash, and failed hopes and merging them together.  [Earth (Wastelands) 6/10 AP] 
 9 - 4 = 5 AP Remaining 
 
KatsOfLoathing
  Depthless, Deathless  

The First World is a place where men could become monsters, if they so choose. There are a few stories of men who chose to become monsters, and those monsters who then became  gods . Some of them are very likely true. This one is very hopefully false.

 I.  

Irez, Acolyte of the Burning Sun, tossed another dry log on the witch’s pyre and tried to ignore the sickened feeling in his stomach that something was deeply, horribly wrong.

Not that there was something wrong with the burning. The Undying Sun blessed its faithful and all their acts of holy conflagration, and its rays bore down pitilessly on the weak and the cowardly and the blasphemous. That was what had brought Irez’ band to this disgustingly peaceful village in the riverlands, from where word had spread of a wise-woman skilled in a way with medicine and herbs that defied understanding. The Sun could not forgive such an act of bald charity, and neither could its blessed ones. The witch had to burn.

The others in the village they had killed with swiftness, if not a bit of mess. This was the main act of worship, after all. Satoro, the chief priest of Irez’ band, spurred on the other priests to hurry with completing this sacrifice to their god, a murderous and holy glee shining in his eyes. To burn such a blasphemous one would cause their fires to burn fiercer and longer for seven years hence, so their teachings proclaimed.

And yet something slowed Irez’ pace as the pyre grew and the evening sun burned towards twilight over the distant treetops — they only had so much time to complete this work, and yet he slowed. Perhaps it was the way the witch behaved, or more accurately the way she did  not  behave. Irez had burned others before. They struggled, or screamed, or cried for mercy. Even bound and with crude spikes of stone impaling her to her wooden stake, the witch did none of that but observed the proceedings with icy calm. Lost in his thoughts, Irez did not move in time as another acolyte brushed roughly past him, whirling him in place until he came to a stop and, for a single terrible second, locked eyes with the witch.

The witch regarded the acolyte as he froze, then scrambled away to gather more tinder. So young, the witch thought. Many of those who had assembled to kill her were so very young. A child could not simply bloody his hands and think the red would dye him into colors of adulthood. This sun cult understood so little about how this world worked. They did not know, as the witch did, about the magic that suffused the very earth and her bounty, far more powerful than any of their burning twigs and sadistic self-righteousness.

And they had not listened, as the witch had, to the babbling song of the river and how it spoke of freedom and felt like coarse salt on her skin. After all, even the smallest of streams was a mighty ocean once.

Satoro, the chief priest, spoke then, for the pyre was almost complete.  “You burn tonight, witch,”  He spat,  “For the many disgusting sins you have committed before Our Father the Sun. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”  
 “My only regret,”  The witch replied, voice hoarse but firm,  “Is that you fools will suffer too quickly, in your time. You killed the people of my village, even though they did not even raise their hands against you, and for that you will die, but it will still be far too quick, only as long as it takes for a claw to rip out your throats— ” 

Satoro roared,  “Light it!”  

Torches were flung, and the pyre caught ablaze in an instant, for the acolytes were capable in their role if that role was to burn. It was in that moment, watching as the flames licked their way up the pile, that Irez knew something was certainly wrong, for the hush of night descended far faster than it should, and mist gathered on the edge of the clearing even though it had been a clear day before. The witch, for her part, threw her head back and laughed. In a fit of insanity or religious fervor or both she cried out,   “Oh, hear me! Deepest Sea! Siren in the Dark! Drowned Devourer! Let these fools suffer! Let them bleed for every drop they have taken!”  

And the flames spread…

She didn’t burn. She didn’t die. The pyre’s heat, burning gold in the near-dark, could not so much as singe the edge of her dress.

More of the acolytes hurled their torches into the flames, hoping to make them grow large enough to consume her — to no avail, for the witch’s skin began to disgorge water in streaming rivulets, dousing the fire faster than it could burn. The witch’s ravings turned to song, a low and rhythmless tune that filled Irez’ mind with thoughts of crashing waves and the last of his air being crushed from his lungs, and even her skin itself began to change, becoming something sinuous and sharp and darker than midnight.

Irez was still holding his own torch. It didn’t matter, for something once firm and solid cracked inside him then, and he dropped it and ran, ignoring the cries of his brothers and the shouts for order from Satoro and the glow of the firelight that flickered, then died as he plunged across the fields and into the woods beyond. Getting away from that woman, from the thing she was becoming, became the only thought his mind could stomach in its profound sickness.

Soon it became too dark to see clearly, and the ground was unstable besides, forcing Irez to slow down and take his time lest he lose his footing, even in his mad dash to get away. Mud slowed his progress, and a mangrove tree caught his foot and nearly twisted the ankle before he righted himself. His stumbling flight carried him far away from the now-quiet clearing, until his adrenaline drained away and his breathing became ragged, and Irez was forced to slump against a protruding rock to regain his strength. Naturally, it was at that point that the creature chose to catch up with him.

Claws whirled around from behind and pierced Irez’ side, then flung him away from his protections with no more effort than a child tossing a rock. He landed roughly, skidding on the mist-wet ground, and in trying to right himself and gasp for breath even as blood filled his lungs, beheld her.

The witch had changed; became a beautiful and monstrous thing by the power of some distant god Irez did not know. In his panicked state her overall form reminded him of a crocodile, with a long fanged mouth and interlocking scales the color of ebony, but her tail was a long and wiry thing that ended in a fish’s fantails and her body was too limber and disjointed to be that of a reptile’s. Every protruding inch of her was sharp and stained with fresh blood, and she advanced on Irez with hunger and something else in her eyes. No, he knew what that something else was, for he had seen it in the more passionate of his fellow acolytes. The holy exultation of carrying out one’s duties. Justice.

Irez feebly scrambled backwards.  “Please,”  He tried to get out, but there was nothing but blood and seawater in his throat and no sound emerged. The crocodile-witch lunged for him then, and it was clear that she had lied about one thing. Irez’ suffering would not be short, for the witch took her time with him. And when he could speak again, his screams shook the forest with something long and terrible.

.

In time, word spread to other human tribes of the village’s destruction and the horrible massacre that had been dealt to the sun-priests in return. The tales were muddied by distance and time, but they spoke of a monster, a deity of sorts. They spoke of a witch-woman, one who had called on the power of a dark god of the deep and used it to execute vengeance on those who would hurt her loved ones. Her original name was forgotten, for none still alive knew it, and instead they named her after one of the herbal plants she had once worked cures and potions with.  Call on her,  they said,  Be you wronged or outcast or forgotten. But be careful, for Nightshade always returns with blood on her lips, and she is always hungry for more. 
 
 Spoiler: AP Accounting 
 Create Avatar - Nightshade (3 AP):  A monstrous once-human demigoddess, who heard the Song of the Deep but did not submit to its call, instead embracing its power for her own ends. Knowledgeable in magic and witchcraft and capable of changing her form to suit her needs, she wanders the First World in perpetuity, a mythological terror who protects those who have been treated unjustly or outcast for actions beyond their control. But while her goals are ostensibly noble, her means are bloody and she is constantly driven by the monstrous hungers of the form she has assumed. She swears loyalty to her "father", Fahveth, but her final choices are always her own. (Madness [Monsters] 7/10)

 Final Tally 
6 AP Remaining
Travel (Worlds) 3/10
Madness (Monsters) 7/10
 
Athedia
 Truth Reshaping 

Each day was like the next.  Until the second surprise.  Her land screaming as it could not refill the land with water, burning away the life she had made.  And so she ventured into Telas's promise on a time when the Pure Rain fell, letting the fog roll across her skin.  As she wandered she came across 6 figures cloaked in radiance so strong it captivated even her eyes.

On seeing Telas's creation, Glikmora was overjoyed.  Creatures that existed to force change, to surprise with outcomes.  But then she spoke with them. And they spoke lies.  Promises woven from thin air, fabrications that lead only to one outcome.  And she grew mad.  In her rage she destroyed Telas's new creations, scattering them to dust and ash.  But to destroy anothers creation, that led nowhere.   And so Glikmora knelt by the piles of ash and dust and lost hopes and let the mold flow from her skin.  The spores knit Telas's creations back together, smaller, weaker and more numerous than before.  And they had changed, still Temptations but only of what could be spoken truely.  There was no risk without a chance of a different outcome.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

Create Legends (2 AP - Shared with Telas) -   Temptations:  Glikmora broke and re-formed the Temptations; they are more numerous than before, slightly smaller and weaker, and are now seeded with spores as part of their makeup. These spores will transfer when a new Temptation is formed and will die when the Temptation hosting them dies. The spores cause two major effects: 1) Temptations will still offer unfair deals and enticements, but will never trap a mortal in an impossible situation on purpose and will honor their word once a deal is made. and 2) Temptations will never speak a direct lie. [Truth (Deals) 2/10 AP]

10-2 = 8 AP remaining
 
Zelphas
  Wasteland in a Fertile Place  

His wounds had almost taken him. Mere happenstance kept him alive, he knew; a dragon could destroy a human on a whim, as was proven when that dragon "claimed" its territory by destroying his village utterly. He had been buried in the rubble of the first great wingbeat, buried deep enough that the flames left by the dragon did not consume him before he could painfully dig himself out. Happenstance is what had spared his life, but hate kept him living. Hate, and a desperate desire for vengeance, to strike back against the pitiless sky-monsters, so different from the peaceful whales that often flew through the air. But his wounds had almost taken him.

He staggered now through the forest, looking for a line of reeds, a thick bunch of underbrush and tall woods, anything that would suggest the dwelling place of one of the helan. They offered power, he knew from the tales; power that he could use. Power at a price, but he would pay that price, any price, if it gave him power to fight back against the monster that destroyed all he loved, the one he loved, before... But his wounds had almost taken him, and he could not find the way. Something found him instead.

The creature before him was not human, he knew; no human was so beautiful, so enchanting, so close to divine. And yet the figure stood before him, androgynous, ageless, observing him with an expression almost like pity. A warning sounded, faintly, in the back of his mind, a warning of the dangers of too-beautiful strangers... but his wounds had almost taken him. He fell to his face, struggled to his knees, pain and weariness driving all from his mind.  The figure was kneeling in front of him, one hand outstretched as if in offering.  "What do you wish?"  it said, simply, the words odd and faraway.

Perhaps... perhaps it was like the helan. Perhaps it could help.  "I want... I need... power."  He grated out the words, pain beyond physical distorting them almost beyond understanding.  "Enough power... to kill... the dragon on the mountain." 

The figure nodded, and smiled, and the pain was almost eased by the brightness of that smile.  "And what will you give in return for this power?"  it asked.

 "Anything. E-everything."  His wounds had almost taken him. The world was growing black.  "Everything I am, I have. All of it. Please." 

The figure smiled wider, reached forward--but hesitated, as though something pained it.  "I must ask, are you certain? Everything you have and are?" 

His wounds had almost taken him.  "Yes."  It came out as a whisper.

 "Done."  Something hard and hot and sharp touched his shoulder, and he was suddenly free of pain. He looked up--

--and the pain redoubled. Gasping, screaming, falling to all fours, he felt himself began to shift and change, to lose what he was and become otherwise.  "What-have-you-done-" 
 "You will become a dragon. More powerful than the one on the mountain. Since this is still its territory, you will fight, and the dragon that you will become will kill the other and take its territory as its own. Maybe that dragon will be kinder--though given the nature of dragons..."  The figure spoke casually, all pity gone from its face as it watched the transformation with interest.

 "I didn't--I didn't--want--this--" 

The figure's face crumpled in hurt.  "But you asked for this! And I made sure!"  The smile came back. It was not even sinister, and that was worse.  "When you want something, you must be specific. I would tell you to remember this, but all that you are is about to be gone; that was part of the deal."  Standing, the figure walked away. He tried to chase it, to at least rend it apart for its treachery, but his wounds had almost taken him even before all of this had happened.

Moments later, a great dragon rose from the forest, roaring its challenge at the mountain. A second roar answered, quieter than the first.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 5 AP 
 Create Mythic Concept (4 AP) - Wasteland Pact Magic:  If a mortal travels to a desolate place (or meets with a Temptation, a walking wasteland) and offers up something as a sacrifice, they will receive something of equal value in return. The more dangerous and inhospitable the place, the more that can be offered up, and the greater the reward--though there is no guarantee of getting what you want out of the deal. Temptations are able to 'broker' Pacts with mortals, by hearing their request and asking for a price or vice versa; this is the most consistent way to activate Wasteland Pact Magic, though it can be done without a middleman (though with less predictable results).  [Earth (Wastelands) 10/10; Domain Get!] 
 5 - 4 = 1 AP Remaining. 
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naury  , watching from the chain 
Watching the Slimes to figure out what to do with them was both relaxing, but also incredible boring. They where not smart creatures, driven mainly by some primal instincts to feed and duplicate, and some self preservation. Yet, they did have their interesting patterns, their returns to the lakes to rest and heal, and one of the lakes has been changed by another divine being to hold memories long forgotten...

And the ones from this lake started to change. They remembered being watched by a unique creature, unlike the sameyness of Animals and themself. And soon they learned to carry themself upright, to resemble that creature more. In turn, that creature came closer, its own curiosity driving to find out more about the now elongated slimes. A contaigous curiosity as the slimes became better at mimicking the movements and form of the coated stranger, forming arms and even something resembling legs... even if that part was much vauger, nonfunctional, nearly united to a cone instead. Soon the stranger even came to talk with them, as they started to grasp language...

And Naury told them of the stories of the world. Of the creatures of far away, the things they where not there to witness. of the past, and ideas of where the future might goes. And as the stories piled on, the creatures started to create their own stories, trying to mix what they know with the things they could not yet imagen... And they formed groups around the stories, the ones they each liked the most and the ones they found of lesser interest. Tribes formed and things where mostly peaceful, as they spread around the Triangluar Chain, a lot of them prefering to stay to the cliffs and coast instead of the high peaks for mysterious reasons.


Then, the humans arrived. Details get mixed up fast on how the first contact has been, but it is in general agreed upon that the shared curiosity they had, which unbeknownst to them came from the same source, as well as some shared stories of a hooded stranger gifting knowledge did unite them in many ways. The Gelaton, as the Human came to call the creatures, where alot like them in many aspects as the stories of the humans fueled their own designs. The fact that they started to mimic the humans way of life turned aided their peaceful coexistence as well.

Yet, the humans have not turned to this coasts without reason. They have come here driven by fear, their homelands plauged by a murderous cult. The sun, as much as it was known to gift lives to them, has to them become a symbol of loss. Loss of relatives, loss of home, loss of all they knew before. Here in this strange lands they now bind together, closer connected then the many tribes they originally came from, to rebuild what was lost and grow beyond it.

 
 Spoiler: Naury AP Spending 
 4 AP Left 
 2 AP - Create Sub-Life (Uplifting towards Race)  [Ooze (Gelatons) 6/10]
  Gelaton (Gelatons) 
Hailing from the Lake of Memories, the slimes where the first creatures to withstand it by the very nature of their being. They soon developed to be not unlike the humans, greatly aided by Naury, who as a Mythological creature gets mentioned in their stories often... Even if the details are ever fleeting, getting distorted by retelling for retelling. Thanks to the lake they spawned from, their memories are nearly perfect. However their limited biology has no way of hold onto the memories forever, and the ones no longer living directly by the lake are suffering from a unusual kind of amnesia, new memories overwriting their oldest at a constant rate.  2 AP - Form Racial Society  [Society (Stories) 5/10]
  The People of the Chain 
The mountain chain surrounded by the ocean is now home to mixed groups of different species, at its conception this being Humans and Gelatons. They where founded originally by refugees seeking safety from the cult of their home region, and a dislike to any form of sun-worship is clearly visible. Since the peaks are still considered rather inhospitable to them, their settlements are focused towards the outer lines of the chain, where the ocean meets the mountains. Hunting parties travel inwards to the valleys, while explorers search the whole for valuable ingredients and materials, traveling as far as the hands at the corners to harvest the rare True Ice Flowers and return them home as prove of their deeds. 
 ________ 
 0 AP Left 

Progress:
[Society (Stories) 5/10]
[Life (Vitality) 5/10]
[Ooze (Gelatons) 6/10]
 
Mechalich
  Ecie  
 Crowding in the Net 
Ecie looked upon the changes and shifts in the world with dismay, but also curiosity. Matters had altered, diverted from her initial plan in curious and considerable fashion. That which she had believed possible no longer was so, replaced by new and distinctly variant outcomes. The eyes of those she had formed were turned to alternative paths. Rather than the land, they looked to the sky, the sea, and even to bloodlust in their hearts. Connections, to be sure, but so linear, directional; they disappointed.

The influence of other divinities, sparks of the Creator, formed in altered processes. She could sense them, now, feel their influence churning the First World, shifting the network of cycles, of energies, that made it possible. Some were promising – to give the land itself life and reason, a fascinating possibility, an entire new layer of connectivity to explore – others were less welcome – such as this cult devoted to inappropriate severing. Though death had a purpose to which Ecie was far from blind, such a hastened embrace of that path disrupted necessary cycles, jeopardized key links. Her fangs clicked together in irritation to witness these murders, and worse the blood-soaked divine fragment that path awakened.

“The web, cast too widely, will tear,” Ecie rebuked herself. “And gather in inedible debris.” She would, it seemed, need to weave anew, and this time with greater focus, to produce a suitably robust core.
More space, she recognized, was essential to the process. The addition of the swamps to the south, a most curious production she intended to study further, would help, but more was required. Too much of the First World was endless ocean, and the eyes of the divine too concentrated. Further dispersal of those gazes would be prudent. Thus, she reached into the sea and pulled once more, binding up land anew.

The new land lay to the north of Yalasere, across a gap of ocean wide but shallow. This land had mountains to its south, and sloped northward, reaching toward the cold vortices near the pole ere it slipped again into the sea. Wider and broader than her previous creation, it occupied further space but was, in many ways, simpler, less complex, a steady series of broad expanses controlled by the rhythm of heat and cold. Great forests, broad and green, covered the land alongside wide and immense rivers that flowed north to deposit their bounty in the northern sea. Ecie added, at the end, a connection to the great and burning core of the First World, a spike of fiery fury in the southeast that belched smoke and char into the sky and laid life-bringing ruin about its environs. It would not do, after all, to be too hesitant to explore new possibilities.

She called this new space Eresalay, out of amusement.

 
 Spoiler: map 
 https://ibb.co/C5GtSh7 
 

 Filling the Forests 
Ecie considered the great forests of Eresalay, and the possibilities they represented. She could have let loose further humans upon the land, but determined this action was unnecessary. They had been given the power to harness the winds by other hands and would in time reach the southern shores. The lands there were well suited to their forms, enough that she might call it a gift, save for the periodic sweeping of volcanic devastation, but what was a web without a spider at its heart? No, they did not need further blessings from her. Let the others who had sought their allegiance aid them if they so desired.

Instead, she ruminated upon the many influences wrapped about the First World. The strange siren call of the ocean, the ashen things that existed only to twist and bend minds, and others sure to come. This imposition of connection was in some sense natural, inevitable, but it was in another sense disturbing, uncouth. She sat in the heart of her web and directed new threads according to her will. Though the external might influence, it did not control. In a moment of indulgence, she sought to duplicate this, and produced new life through dual transformation.

The humans would serve as a template, for their flexible form offered great utility. To this Ecie bound a fragmentary essence drawn off the Kami, a touch of the land itself, capable of anchoring these new beings to their place and thereby centering them amid this primal connection against outside influence. The first of these she bound to the forest. Stripped of hair, they grew needles from their scalp and eyebrows instead and their skin and eyes shaded green. As beings of the land, they were detached from certain other forces, and their kind had no males. A new form of reproductive connection took shape instead. Mothers touched the essence of the land itself, the kami of their chosen domicile, and blended it within their bodies to quicken the life of their daughters.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Create Land (2AP) – Eresalay : a roughly Europe sized continent, Eresalay lies to the north of Yalasere across a shallow sea. It reaches from the middle of the temperate zone to the edge of the arctic and has a Nearctic flora and fauna resembling the eastern half of North America. It’s great rivers mostly flow to the north, leading to slow springs and robust forest construction. There is a mountain range to the south featuring an active stretch of volcanoes in the southeast.  [Water (Rivers) 4/10] 
 Create Race (2AP) – Mori Onna : By binding a human template to a fragmentary piece of Kami essence, Ecie creates a race of beings tied inherently to the land itself. Mori Onna (Forest Spirit Folk) are hairless, having pine needles on their scalps and eyebrows, with pale green skin and eyes. They are entirely female and reproduce parthenogenically, with environmental traits offering necessary genetic mixing.  [Animals (Transformation) 4/10] 
 Starting AP: 12 Spent: 4 Remaining: 8 
 
MutantDragon
  Feast of Death and Conquest  

Slintoch continued observing the world with an angry gaze. He saw new life, new lands, new strengths and weaknesses. He saw his siblings invest themselves into their creations. He could not destroy the First World himself, not without dragging his siblings into a conflict he could not win. The Destroyer wasn't even sure he wanted to destroy it; if he did, he would be alone in an uninteresting void with nothing to amuse himself with, and he would be severing his last ties to his Creator and siblings. No, the fragile world beneath his claws would be safe from his direct wrath, at least for now. But the weakness he saw and smelled and felt must be purged nonetheless. He would need mortal puppets to do this; he could make his own, or spend inordinate effort in uniting the dragons he had accidentally created, but, as he contemplated these possibilities, his eye fell once more on Yalasere. The humans he had touched learned their lesson far better than he ever expected. They had a streak of cruelty and imagination. They had *potential.* So they were chosen as Slintoch's new puppets to destroy all that could not stand against them.

First, they would need a way of sustaining themselves. So Slintoch taught them of new prey: each other. He started by inspiring a maddened hunger within his chosen flock. The large group of cultists grew violent and tore apart the weakest and least devout of their number; the young, the old, the injured, the un-zealous...all were torn apart by the hands of their brethren. The victorious, those who were strong enough, mad enough, or even just hungry enough, feasted on the remains of their victims. And so Slintoch blessed them. They would never again feel the sting of true hunger as long as they feasted on the flesh and souls of the higher lifeforms. And though this act would sap away what remained of their sanity and inhibitions, it would fill them with strength stolen from the spirits of their victims. Then Slintoch came down among them in the form of a harshly burning sphere and he spoke.

  "By the mouth of the Northern river, you shall find a village. Slay all those who make that place their home and settle in their houses. Do this, and you shall be rewarded by my eternal light."  

Inspired to new heights of religious fervor, the cultists did as they were told, finding the unusually large village the sun had spoken of, and they did as they were bade, bathing the village in human blood and claiming it for themselves. Then did Slintoch once more appear in the guise of the sun and he told them to bring forth the ores he knew were found in the bed of the river. When the ores were collected, he taught the processes of smelting and forging, allowing his chosen to forge weapons of bronze. The Destroyer told his people,   "Forge of this land an empire, through the same fire and force you would forge a blade."   Then he left, returning to the void from whence he came to observe the results of his meddling.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 

 AP:  9

 Create Mundane Concept (Cannibalism) - 1AP:  After deciding that agriculture was too constructive for his people, Slintoch taught them to rely on the flesh of their own species for sustenance. [Evil (Malice) 3/10]

 Bless/Curse (Diet of Destruction) - 1AP:  Realizing that cannibalism isn't necessarily sustainable as a primary dietary practice, Slintoch blessed The Cult of the Burning Sun with the ability to stomach any flesh originating from a creature with a soul, draining away part of the soul to fuel the cultist, allowing the functional nutritional value of the flesh to be several times more than it naturally should be. Further, this devouring of souls provides small boosts to the cultist's physical abilities, with the added benefit of decreasing their ability for rational thought. [Evil (Malice) 4/10]

 Form Society (Empire of the Sun) - 2AP:  Using their conquered village as a base, the Cult of the Burning Sun started building a true empire. While small and somewhat limited by their methods and beliefs, they make up for it with pure fanaticism and could potentially conquer the entire continent and more if left to their own devices. [Evil (Malice) 6/10]

  Teach Mythic Concept (Arcane Magic) - 3AP:  At the founding of their empire, the leaders of the Empire of the Sun were taught how to use the dangerous and powerful magic flowing from the sun for their own use. While there were initially only a dozen sorcerers, they soon took apprentices to initiate in the ways of their Arcane abilities. [Evil (Malice) 9/10]
 
 Create Mundane Concept (Metalworking) - 1AP:  The last of the gifts given to the infant empire was the gift of basic metalworking, allowing the empire to smelt ores and forge copper and bronze tools. This is a skill they use primarily for weapons, though other uses wouldn't be entirely unheard of. [War (Slaughter) 1/10]

9AP -  8AP  5AP =  1AP  4AP
 
Razade
  A Mote Falls From The Sun  
 Location:  The Empire of the Sun

What Dwells Above gazed from that bright spot that reigned above the First World. Others born from the Void had descend upon the speck of earth and began to act and shape. Their creations, worshiped. A curious development, yet one it did not devalue. Its warmth was for all, and for all it shone, for that was the purpose of its creation. The worship of these small things called to it yet its form would burn them away, so instead it cast motes down in sunbeams to fritter away some time, for it meaningless, for mortals, priceless. No true avatars, the motes would one day evaporate but through them it would speak at least until they too grew too hot to find purchase below.

The first that called was a strange place indeed where they ate and devoured their own. The Shattered Star fell here and above the city drifted like a second sun, its warm glow perceptible to all. There it hung, watching these strange things and wondered. Were all of mortal creation brutish and simple as this? Was this the work of the Divine, to mimic the Creator yet fall short? Or was this the hand of something else, directing such malignant strength to some greater goal. Either way, it cared little. It was the sun, and the sun had no purchase here. It was to watch and to shine and to know.

  A Mote Falls From The Sun  
 Location:  Adanat, with the Lolats

A second mote fell and fell and through rain and cloud found purchase in the land of Adanat. Here where it was wet its shine diminished, a hazy thing as it flitted about and saw much. Not like the strange apemen, these frogmen were not as violent. Yet their lands constrained them. Perhaps a limit for their gentle nature. To keep them safe? Did the Gods already act against one another by design or perhaps they simply worked to their own ends and some unseen hand guided them apart. Either way, it cared little. It was the sun and the sun had no purchase here. It was to watch and to shine and to know.
bladescape
  Jealousy, A Seed of Desire  

Amongst the humans, those who suffered upon the scapes of Yalasere, there began to be born people blessed with pale white skin. Blessed, of course, not being entirely the correct word. These people were seen as outsiders even amongst the Cults of the Empire of the Sun, for these people were cold. Emotionally as well as physically. They shied away from the sun, each one less and less likely to worship its forgiving warmth. The zealots decried them as cursed.

Few hesitated at giving them up, for their emotions were stunted, grown oddly. They did not feel like humans, for all that they appeared to be. At first they were thought to be another aspect of the Yearning that enthralled people, that brought the accursed witches to their shores, for all the pale ones looked out to sea. They did not feel comfortable on the shores of Yalasere, and each felt a calling.

But then the Estheric Islands rose. Small landmasses of Ice, a caricature of islands that floated upon the tides and currents rather than staying still like other islands. They were barren, and could not sustain life, but still the pale ones felt a resonance with them.

It was years, years after the first of the pale ones were born to humans, that they heard the call. The surge.

For Isthera called to its children. Spoke to them of how the Sun hated it. How the cults of the sun hated them. It called them to rise. To desire both freedom and power, to provide haven to those that want shelter from the sun.

And so the pale ones trained and rose...

And burnt at the stake by the hundreds.

They were not yet ready to truly step onto the stage.

Not while the home their hearts yearned for remained barren and unsustainable.

 
 Spoiler: Actions 
 Create Land - The Estheric Islands: (2AP) 
 Small islands of ice, these 'landmasses' do not hold still like other islands and continents, and instead grow and shrink with the tides, carrying across the lands of the Prime Plane. The central gathering is south of the triangular chain, as if to acknowledge the inspiration that Isthera took to create its reflection. 
(Seasons(Winter) 7/10)

 Create Sub-Race (Humans): The Pale Ones (2AP) 
 Pale Ones are much like their parent race, but for their pale skin and their unusual emotive states. They tend to absorb/reflect emotion rather than have their own, which can both make them feel alien as well as integrate them into some circles. They have a natural aversion to the sun, though not in that they find it hurts them or it is impossible to go out in, but merely that the Pale Ones prefer the lack of sunlight. 
(Emotion(Obsession) 3/10)

AP: 10 - 4 = 6

Progress:
(Season(Winter) 7/10)
(Emotion(Obsession) 3/10)
 
MutantDragon
  Monsters, Both Human and Not  

There once was a dragon who started life as a human. Had there been any to witness it, his transformation would have been a cautionary tale to any who would bargain with the living wastes. But then, such tragedies are rarely recorded for posterity, sometimes not even by the participants. But, recorded or not, that was story from another time and of another god's creations. The relevance today lies in that dragon's offspring. Slintoch rarely checked in on his "children" and their goings on, but, by chance, he watched as a clutch of eggs hatched that contained creatures warped by the lingering magics that turned a human into a dragon; in fact, the hatchlings could not truly be considered dragons at all. They scattered across the land and grew, but they grew wrong; their size was stunted to merely that of an elephant and their minds were those of simple animals. Slintoch was poised to unleash his wrath upon these inferior beings, but stopped and thought; while weak by the standards of dragons, they still possessed great might compared to other mortals and their mindless state rendered them malleable to the beings he chose to serve as his instrument in the world. Yes, this strange and deformed breed of dragon would serve his needs quite nicely.

---

Harkit was an exemplary cultist; fanatical, bloodthirsty, cruel, and powerful. Stronger than anyone he had ever met and skilled with all manner of weapon, he was a potent force against any heretics. But as he gazed up at the second sun above the Empire, which all considered to be a sign of its favor, he felt a strange tug in his mind. He followed it, traveling outside his city and into the forests beyond. He traveled for days without rest, eventually coming upon a small band of nonbelievers. His eyes went wide and his mouth salivated at the thought of the carnage ahead, and he leaped from the trees into their midst, blade whirling around to maim and slaughter.

---

After slaughtering all resistance and maiming and devouring those he could take alive, Harkit was met with the sound of a great roar and the feel of a large downdraft. Whirling about to face the source, he came face to face with a dragon. Then a second. And a third. Soon he was surrounded on all sides by a dozen such beasts. As he prepared himself t attack, a voice echoed in his mind,   "You have proven yourself strong. For your faith and your might, I grant you these beasts. Bring them back to my Empire and use them as you would any other tool."   Harkit did as he was bade.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 

AP: 4

 Create Sublife (Firedrakes) - 1AP:  Descendants of the first human to deal with Temptations, firedrakes are much smaller and weaker, and vastly less intelligent, though being as large and strong as elephants and able to fly and breath fire nonetheless makes them devastating foes. [Life (Dragons) 6/10]

 Raise Hero (Harkit) - 2AP:  Harkit is everything you expect from a Cultist of the Sun dialed up to 11. He is strong, fast, fanatical, skilled, fanatical, insane, evil, fanatical, and zealous. He is totally dedicated to his religion, and there are few who could truly contend with him. [Evil (Malice) 8/10]

 Create Advanced Concept (Beast Taming) - 1AP(shared with Naury):  Harkit learned through divine inspiration and forced experimentation how to tame and control firedrakes, a skill he shared with the others in the Empire of the Sun. Perhaps similar techniques could work with other beasts and monsters... [Life (Dragons) 7/10]

4AP - 4AP = 0AP
 
Athedia
 The Wandering Storm 

Satisfied with her creations Glikmora wandered her land watching it grow.  One day she came across a mote of light, familiar in its warmth. She watched it for a time, seeing if it would do anything of interest.  But it seemed happy to observe. So Glikmora continued to shape the land.  She guided her creations into groups, teaching them to rely on one another and grow stronger together.  To keep traveling the land from the vernal ponds they spawned in to the marshlands they found food.  Occasionally some wandered into Telas's Promise and she watched them as they risked it all.  And Glikmora wondered about what else had changed.

So Glikmora set out to wander the world and see what else had been made.  Stopping at one of the hands she saw mountains as far as she could percieve stretching into two directions.  And so she followed the peaks.  She followed them seeing the many small villages forming on the mountains, the lakes that burned and the strange peoples of the land.  She had always enjoyed the heat of the sun as it raised fog into the air and let her land breathe with moisture.  But these peoples seemed to be wary of it, odd for such a dry place.  And so she walked the peaks, seeing small towns repeating until they became one.

Occasionally she stopped and spoke to the strange peoples.  They possessed something her Lolat's were missing, some stronger beat of life she could not touch.  A siblings gift.  But she also saw their dead, the corpses as easy to decay as the ones that built her land.  No gift powered them.  And so she taught them how to harness that warmth that scared them to bring back their dead to act on their behalf and protection until such time as they returned to the ground.  No life animated them, just borrowed power.  Risky power.

And so she returned to wandering, passing small villages, lakes that burned and the strange peoples of the land. Looking for the end of the mountains.  And then she found that more of the villages were using the dead for labor or as guardians, somehow her teachings had spread.

And so she returned to wandering, passing small villages, lakes that burned and the strange peoples of the land. Looking for the end of the mountains.  And one day she rested by a lake.  Many strange creatures collected there, she had seen this twice before in her journeys.  But these remembered her.  Clearly.  And so she realized this land had been wandered by her before.  She thought upon her wandering and decided, this land was not complete.  There were no rains that carried from the peaks to the shores, no collections for her Lolat's to breed.  And so she once again reached into the heavens and built a storm.  This one was to follow the path of her wandering, tracing the peaks of the mountains to the shores.  Cycling for all eternity.

And so she left the Triangular Chain.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

8 AP remaining

 Form Society (2 AP)  Lolat Nomads:  Given their nature the Lolat's have to return annually to the spawning ponds to have young, however past that time they are nomadic as the land isn't suitable for agriculture.   [Amphibians (Bipeds) 4/10 AP] 
 Blessing/Curse (1 AP) Wandering Storm: The wandering storm travels along the triangular chain in a counter clockwise rotation providing an endless storm.  The water is neutral and isn't pure (thus dust and ash and such will be carried with it).  It spans the entire width of the mountains it travels across and moves at a walking pace across the land.  [Weather (Rain) 2/10 AP] 
 Create Sub-Concept (2 AP)  Arcane Magic - Sub-Concept Necromancy: Arcane magic is twisted to provide energy to continue to power the dead bodies as long as enough is supplied.  It does not stop the bodies decay and those supplying the magic must dictate the bodies actions.   [Magic (Necromancy) 2/10 AP] 

Tally:
Water (Wetlands) 2/10
Weather (Rain) 2/10
Amphibians (Bipeds) 4/10
Medicine (Toxins) 1/10
Truth (Deals) 2/10
Magic (Necromancy) 2/10

8-5= 3 AP remaining
 
politesociety
    The Mercantile Mermaid     

As she silently, awoke, ready for starting her own merchant organization and letting it spread throughout the world.  She looked about and realized, there was a perfectly good society of Sea-folk much like her, She wasn't going to have them be the sole race of the guild, however, everything starts somewhere, and the ocean depths, were where she began, the organization, that she considered her major focal point for the time being, these Sea-rfolk didn't have a society, and had spurned humanity for refusing to listen to the song, that was of no concern for her, as even if Sea-folk wouldn't be able to spread it to humanity, surely other races could act as the in between to bringing them into the fold.

In her mind, she looked upon creation, ensured her choice, and left the first world, altogether. For she had preparations to make, souls were interesting, but they degraded too quickly. She needed to fix it, and she already had an idea, but if coins were to exist, she’d need a place to store them.

With a wave of her, hand, and a coin placed in the seed-bed of nothingness itself, A Giant tide, rose, and a treasure chest of a plane arose, one where it’s primary accents of silver, and copper, with a bottom of Gold. Her Own Bank Vault, was accented with a golden color, with a black onyx, being the main coloration, of her vault, the place, held a reserved wealth, and those that saw it would feel a place that hungered for more, always more. The upper levels, was where she’d lease out vaults for others, with two ways to gain treasures for herself, the inheritance clause, for she would care for it, so long as a proper inheritor was in place, before it was given to her, if no such inheritor existed, and the Teller’s booth. The Teller’s booth was the only entrance to her own vault, and laid at the giant plane, she called her beloved. There people would pay for vaults in the future, but currently she had other plans, and thus this plane, had no workers, nor entrances for the mortals to use, this most secure of vaults.

With the Treasury completed, she showed herself,  not as a major goddess, but as a merchant for that was what she was at her core, she looked, and she listened, she observed and saw the various Sea-folk, then headed to the center, and started to sell her goods. “Come Sea-folk, one and all, young, and old. For who is concerned with what comes after life, besides another one, one where you play off yourself as a television show for a god, before fading away again?” She turned and smiled, eying every single one of them, for they wanted to continue hearing the song, for their life, was drawn to it for another god. “Who wouldn’t prefer their soul to be eternal? I am here to come to offer you an opportunity, a rather simple trick, it’s free for all to use, simply Turn your soul into a coin. How You may ask?” She gestured, placing her hand upon her chest, and “Think of your soul, think of it as a coin, and what do you do with a coin? You take it out of your pouch!” She gestured to her belly, and placed her hand upon it, drawing out a coin. “My Soul coin, Gentlefish, From which I can place it, and hear the song for all eternity if I wished.”


She let them ruminate on this trick, she suspected many Sea-folk would simply drop it, to do just that, however, that simply made it intriguing, and acceptable according to their father in the one in the deep. A Desire to listen, and a means to do so. As Much as they think at least.
These soul coins, much like any currency, could be used to sell for a service, as she revealed her true nature as Tiral the Goddess of Merchants, long-suspected by the crowd she sold it to, for power. The Statgem would give them a way to empower themselves and increase anything they could do, from the most specific finger muscle to a skill, to just their strength. So long as it was something they could do, it could be improved. All it would require to gain the power to improve themselves, would be to have others sell their soul, to her, in any service or good she would provide, right now have a friend buy a statgem, and improve yourself. What's not to like? Of course, you'll get the essence from the transactions if they made someone sell their soul coin for a service as well, and so on and so forth, the higher up the chain you were the more essence you could get, and the more you could improve yourself, of course everyone started with a bit of essence for themselves to use.

“However… I think that’s not enough, to be a good trade, right? I mean, who cares about eternity, when you can turn your soul in for immediate rewards? She sent an artificial soul coin, the first of it’s kind with no name, and no face, into her vault, and Produced an orb, a Statgem, it appeared a Golden color, shining like the sun. “This here’s a statgem, an artificial production, that can be absorbed inside yourself. What does this statgem do? Don’t believe me? Anyone who wishes to may step right up, and I’ll let them do a demonstration, before I’ll leave it to you to discuss, with yourselves…“ She waited, and a Male Sea-folk rose up to stand beside her. He had the typical appearance of a sea-folk, with his blackened skin, and gill, he was perhaps on the weaker side physically. The Man spoke with difficulty, almost as if he had an impediment, and Tiral could see why an old injury, had injured his vocal ability. “If this can make me sing again, it’s worth it.” He barely choked out. He grabbed his soul coin, and then produced a statgem, activating it, he enhanced his singing ability, and not his talent. His Voice, was much like a Siren’s in talent, his Words, even better. He began to sing, a song, based on the one and revering the song they all venerated. “ His vocal ability was clearly improved, a simple enough demonstration, but one, that clearly had a positive effect on all of them, in terms of selling both to them. She loved the fact, that the one who stepped up, had a sob-story, that always won people’s hearts over to a new mechanism, and all it required was some subtle mental nudging.

“Now, that you’ve seen the Effects. This Statgem does have a requirement, something simple for such a valuable device, you need to recommend it to others, to get more Essence to improve yourself further. Besides the initial allotment.“

She waited, and observed, as they discussed, and later that night, went to the most prominent and likely to be successful merchants. “I have gathered the most worthy of the Sea-Folk, not to demarcate your choice of listening to the song, but to offer something to which, you may be able to improve yourselves, and your relations with the other Species. “ Some were fat on fish meat, others thin as rails, all had bought a statgem, and through those, she could feel they were the most worthy, and most likely to listen, to her Reveal. “In Truth…” She transformed to her real form, away from the Sea-folk, and into a Mer-folk. “I am Tiral, the merchant Goddess, and I want you to start an organization, about trade, you rule the Seas, making your species, and you in particular rather well-suited to delivering goods to harbors, and draw upon the riches of the sea, they have hard access to.. “ She discussed, she told them of their various merits, and spoke about them trading information in turn she taught them of Trade, and Pyramid schemes.

The last day, of the time that passed, as she took a more hands-on rule, to this endeavor. She produced lollipops. “These are lollipops, A Merchant, as previously discussed should never offer anything for free, without getting something in return. As previously discussed, so tell me does anyone have any idea, why I’m going to tell you about offering this for free? “ Someone spoke up, a thin sea-folk woman, on the younger side, barely into adulthood. “I suppose, because they cost negative money?” Tiral chittered, at the response. “I suppose that’s partially correct, any good Merchant wants, and desires customers to return, more than the customer wants to go back. A Lollipop, is an easy answer to this. I’ll tell you the basics, but it’s a form of… cooking. It’s up to the individual to perfect it, and flavor it according to their desires“ That she did, the materials required for the lollipop, were rather plentiful, and it was through the making process that the ingredients were made mildly-addictive, more a craving, than something like a hard-tier drug, they wouldn’t suffer if they didn’t get it, but they’d crave it more, as time goes on. But, willpower, could make them reject it. With the final basic secret she left.



 
 Spoiler: AP Cost 


3ap Weave Plane (Tiral’s Treasury)
-The Divine treasury is a Plane that follows the approximation of the Hilbert Curve, with each final curve being a separate vault, in the Center of this Curve lies a Teller’s station. This station is where you get to the basement, where the most secure vault in this plane exists, Tiral’s. The upper floor vaults must be paid for, at the Teller’s Station, though the payment doesn’t need to be currency, and is bartered and sold at the time the vault is being possessed. Currently, there is no known way to access the Divine Bank, aside from divine Intervention.
1ap Blessing (Bank Vault Security)
-A Blessing ensuring the vaults are safe, and nothing can be stolen. Prioritizing the current owner of the vault, then the rightful inheritor of the item, and Finally Tiral.
1ap Blessing(Soul Coin Transfer)
-Soul coins can freely shift between the planes to Tiral’s Treasury, and when sold to Tiral will automatically enter her personal vault, they’re similarly easy to take out, through the desire of taking their owned soul coins back to the world.
4ap Legendary Concept (Soul Coins; shared with everyone)
-These are a stabilized form of the soul, much like a soul they record the memories of the person who they’re connected to, however they may be entire planes away, while this recording happens, the soul coin is effectively a receiver, with the last vestiges of their soul transmitting the data. Due to this any positive effects of having their soul are now gone, in place of the soul coin. The soul coin, can receive basic stimuli, in their surroundings.
2ap legendary subconcept (Statgem; shared with everyone)
-Statgems, are an in into a self-improvement system, which you must be recommended by someone else to use. The primary way to gain it is to recommend is sell the soul coin to Tiral, in which case they’ll earn Essence, If someone you recommended, recommends someone else, ad infinitum much like a pyramid scheme you’ll also earn Essence. Essence is an in-system currency that can be used to improve any aspect, any skill, or stat; The better you at it and the more useful it is the more expensive it is, in terms of its essence cost.
2ap Advanced Concept (Trade) {Shared with The Merchant's Guild}
-Trade is trading a good or service for a different good or service, where skill comes in is getting the best offer out there. A Particularly useful, and well-respected aspect of this, is make your customers happy and scam every coin you can. So long as the customers get quality products, the price is worth it right? So, what if a toothbrush, costs your mansion? Both sides are satisfied with the trade.
1ap organization (The Merchant's Guild)
-An organization dedicated to Tiral. This is done through their pleasant demeanor, their willingness to organize, and ensure proper trade throughout the world, despite their backgrounds, and their recommendation of soul coins, to any casual observer. Other than that they’re largely peaceful, with only individual merchants causing fights, and are willing as an organization as a whole to buy and sell everything. It is up to the individual merchant what they stock and sell however, but the organization as a whole doesn’t really care.
1ap Subconcept  (Pyramid Scheme) {Shared with The Merchant's Guild}
-A fraudulent moneymaking scheme in which early participants are paid out of money received from later recruits, with the final recruits putting money in and getting something relatively minor back, and not worth its price typically used in conjunction with products the merchant feels aren’t worth it, or have failed by overstocking a good not typically valuable in the local area. A Merchant might overstock water in a drought, once it ends, relabel the water, as a marvelous innovation in cleaning, and have others sell it. The end customers get water in fancy containers.
1ap mundane Concept (Lollipops) {Shared with The Merchant's Guild}
-A treat, possible to make anywhere in the world, that's addictive, and given for free to any customers of a self-respecting Merchant's Guild Shop. It's a trade secret of The Merchant's Guild, and each merchant has their own recipe, with varying quality.

Commerce (Merchants)
Greed (Soul Coins) 6/10
 
Omoikane13
 Bonds for the Future 

"We need walls. We need  something  to block out the people-eaters, the beasts, the magicks," said the human. At least Hroad thought it was a human. Tough to keep track of these things. Monkey-descended, at least.
"I know, but made of what? Mud, sand? Or are we going to fetch stone from the horizon?"
"I don't know. I don't know, but we need something. Maybe we need to build even higher up the trees."
"And be feed for dragons?"

The monkeys - humans, Hroad was almost certain they were in fact humans - sighed, still unaware of the blinking eyes in the reeds near them. Hroad didn't need to observe individual conversations, but had taken a liking to it, admiring how smaller and less powerful sentients grouped up into tribes, villages, hamlets, all sorts of communities. There was nothing special to Hroad about the human ones, as such; the Lolat wetlands were peppered liberally with rushes, so Hroad had a good impression of their culture as well. One thing united most of them: difficulties with putting down roots, with establishing defensible, comfortable lives. The world was dangerous, and changing, often due to the divine. And so it was only fair that the divine lend some aid.

====

Tying the Kami to the land was both an act of foresight and of convenience, in Hroad's mind. Allowing the land to defend itself, to interact, to bargain and to work with sentient life would do good. Now, what needed defending were towns, villages, the centres of civilization. To this end, the Kami would be a suitable template. Instead of forming them from the essence of an area, Hroad decided these new beings would be tied to the very soul of a community. Anywhere a group of sentient beings began to think of themselves as a group, a genius locus would form, an embodiment of that very group. It would be tied to and powered by the collective as well - weak when they were few, strong when they were many - and would provide communities with something to unify around. And to prevent any horrendous implications of some mass Kami-Locus war, Hroad made sure they were apt at communicating with their brethren. If a village struggled to talk with their local kami, a genius locus could do it for them.

The Kami's capacity to bond with and grant power to mortals would be maintained, and would become a way to democratise such power. All would help contribute to a genius locus' power, and all would in return gain something back.

====

To these newly connected peoples, Hroad also decided to grant some tools. Many were living in some level of unstable environment, unsuited for solid walls or larger buildings. Remedying this would hopefully go a long way to granting more people safety.

Firstly, something large enough to reinforce the ground, to provide something that could be worked with rather than something that would crumble underneath. Reeds and rushes were, much to Hroad's divine chagrin, unsuited to being underground. Trees, however, and their root networks would be perfect. Scouring the First World, Hroad selected a broad, mushroom-esque tree with naturally massive root structures, and wove in enough power for it to simply...scale up. The roots would provide stability, knitting the ground together to hopefully allow for stable, lasting structures, and with it lasting communities.

The second plant that Hroad decided would be useful was more in their divine wheelhouse, albeit uncommon in the current environments of the First World. Bamboo. Fast-growing, sturdy, straight. And it was a good thing that Hroad didn't place any special value on novelty, as an increase in size was also what they deemed needed here, expanding the bamboo to the scale of the previous banyans, making it sturdier as well. It wasn't walls, but hopefully it would serve some purpose.

Thirdly and finally, it would be prudent for there to be some way for these plants to reach communities beyond sheer chance or trade. To this end, Hroad decided to give them the ability to do exactly what it had done: to nurture, to enhance, to cultivate. The existing magicks would provide a perfect base thanks to their existing ties to warmth, and even a wisp of arcane magic did some fascinating things when tested. Many would be unable to harness much magic naturally and so would struggle to enhance plants far and wide, but hopefully the ability for a genius locus to collect and redistribute power would make Cultivary easier to access in a community.

====

Hroad could only hope that these tools would help balance the scales more. However, the true balancing would be found in the heat and the blasted wastelands - something needed to be done there. Hroad sat comfortably on a sky-scraping banyan branch and watched the deserts with piercing green eyes, thinking.


 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Current AP:  11

 Create Monstrous Life [1 AP]: Wall Bamboo:  Wall Bamboo is a dense, magically enhanced variety of bamboo, being able to easily reach ten metres tall and three metres in width, though only limited to those sizes based on nutrition, both magical and biological. Wall Bamboo can be used to help outline borders and act as rough walls, and is comparatively easy for a Kami or Genius Locus to control. If connected to a Genius Locus or Kami, Wall Bamboo can grow even larger and can be shaped more easily.

 Create Monstrous Life [1 AP]: Deeproot Banyan:  Deeproot Banyans are a titanic, magically enhanced variety of normal banyan trees, looking like something that's around 80% banyan and 20% sequoia, and easily reaching around 50 to 85 metres in height and around 10 metres in width. Their root systems are also unnaturally massive, covering thousands of square metres, if not more. These roots are dense and thick, but don't suck the life out of the environment - their primary purpose is to help stabilise and maintain the earth they're in, keeping it solid and usable. Deeproot Banyan trees are also easy to manipulate for a Kami/Genius Locus.

 Create Legendary Sub-Race [3 AP]: Genius Loci:  Genius Loci are a variety of Kami that derive their power from communities, rather than from natural environments. A Genius Locus forms whenever a group of sentient beings begins to think of themselves as a collective (yes, that includes things like cults. This is an in-character oversight), and derives power from the number of people within that community. It represents the will and goals of the community, and is fed power by all residents in a community. It also has the ability to feed this power back. Larger genius loci will typically establish some sort of ritual, contract, and/or mark that can signify that someone is a member of a community, helping to control the redistribution of power.

Genius Loci have a natural rapport with Kami, and are typically friendly towards them, helping shape the community they represent to not defile natural areas.

Genius Loci may grant a large number of forms of power, but are able to grant more power more often when granting Cultivary abilities. They are also adept at Cultivary themselves, though not as much as their Kami cousins.

 Community (Protection) +5/10 
 Domain Gained:  Community (Protection)

 Create Mythical Sub-Concept (Arcane Magic) [2 AP]: Cultivary:  Through nurturing plants in the warming currents of the sun, they can be enhanced and reinforced. By default, this will do things such as increase size, yield, or other physical attributes (e.g, wow, my tomato plant is twice the size and gives twice the tomatoes!), but special cases can be shaped and solidified by deities or powerful mortals to then be accessible via typical Cultivary. Currently, the two notably extreme plants that can be nurtured into being are Wall Bamboo and Deeproot Banyans.

 Plants (Farming) + 2/10 
 Remaining AP:  4
 
AlexanderML
    The Coast of Yalasere    
    
   I'm happy. I'm happy. I'm happy. I'm happy.   
 Lilia…

I once knew a girl by that name.

But I don’t, not anymore. Her name and love are what I know, but not the girl who gave them to me. Who is she?

I forget myself to these thoughts sometimes. Adrift looking over at the icy shores I- we know to one day be our home, when it comes to life. I find the same rock to look over them nearly every night. Sometimes I think I can see her eyes- but I realize soon enough they are my own.

A friend of mine once told me my face was unique. I would smile and say that she showed me.

“Who is that?” they would ask, which made me want to scream. Yet calmly I would tell them how to find  Her .

Upon the shores if you look out at night, sometimes, if you look hard enough, you could see a faint light glowing off the icy shores. There  She  is alone. If you find her, and you accept her, she will give you a face just like mine.

Most of my friends left me, some with disgusting pity in their eyes, others saying things under their breath. Yet the next night when I went to the shore, there was one who looked unsure waiting to look for  Her  with me.

Out on the shore across the waves that night we saw a tiny light.

The next day my friend had eyes like mine.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
  16/16 AP 
-1 Curse (Forgotten Face): Lilia’s divine presence is unusually small and insignificant at a glance. Mortals struggle to remember the details of encounters with her, and the divine cannot automatically sense the divine actions she takes (besides this one). A side effect of this is if someone gives credit for an action they do to Lilia, this curse will hide it as well from all but Lilia herself.  1/10 Darkness (Espionage) 

-2 Create Sub-Concept (Wasteland Magic - Lilia’s Love): A pact, a trade, a poison of the heart. Lilia’s love can be given to others through standard pacts, or it may be slowly enforced upon an individual who interacts with powers that involve it (depending on the intensity).

Those making pacts with Lilia gain the same benefits of pact magic done with a Temptation; though the sacrifice is often simply accepting more of Lilia's Love more may be offered for greater rewards.

Those who have a notable amount of Lilia’s Love find that their endurance and dexterity are increased to supernatural levels, with those fully consumed by it able to become blurs of motion and continue fighting with normally fatal wounds.
Lilia’s love also affects the mind. People poisoned by it become more manic and impulsive. Furthermore they become incapable of seeing Lilia’s faults; with those slightly poisoned seeing her stare as just fine, to those fully infested with love seeing nothing wrong in any request she makes and would find no fault in her if she were to harm them.   2/10 Emotion (Envy) 
 13/16 AP Remaining 
 
  
 
  

 

    The Edge of the Empire of the Sun    
    
   I wonder what it means?   
 
It should have been easy. The warrior’s feast was supposed to be swift and ordinarily glorious. Yet somehow a hamlet with no more than ten huts on a grassy hill without so much as a wall had his warriors walk away with sullen expressions and a strange air about them.

Izel was infuriated with his warriors, and wanted to kill them all after the pathetic report they gave him. A ‘lone girl’ made them balk and walk away? Yet Izel composed himself enough to realize that magic was involved; disgusting, weakling magic that let the weak put fear into the strong.

Grabbing his bronze axe Izel determined he would deal with this himself.

As he left his tent Izel ordered some warriors to follow him, to watch him cut the head off of the weakling who so terrified them. They complied, but their sullen expressions of disbelief both reignited Izel’s fury and brought about some worry he buried.

It was evening when he walked up the grassy hill, with circles of flowers strewn across its surface. Halfway to the huts there was a lone girl who was waiting for him. Perhaps she saw his rage and thought to surrender, something he might be kind enough to allow, he could tell she would make a fine feast for his band… even if she did have weird eyes.

 “Y-you should go. I don’t want to… see anyone else get hurt…”  she said almost mumbling under her breath.

“WHAT?!” Izel said, the stupid girl! He raised up his axe to strike her, but felt a sharp pain in his back. Turning his head around Izel realized that the warriors he brought had  her  eyes, were not his own-

Were any of the warriors left in camp, his?

The spears the warriors held were still for a moment as Izel was taking in the site, but after a moment they stabbed deeper into him. He fell to the ground like a limp doll, yet he could still hear voices.

“Lady Lilia~ Praise your flowers!”

“Finish him! End him! He made Her so sad!”

 “W-wait! Bring him-” 

Then all went black for Izel.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 13/16 AP 

-1 Create Mundane Concept (Flower Worship): Flowers are the clear crystallization of the divine beauty in the world, one that mortals may have a hand in shaping. Furthermore they are small meaningful messages that may change depending on the time, place, and situation you find yourself in.

It is only natural for some communities to become enthralled by this and begin planting rings of flowers.  Darkness (Espionage) 2/10 

-1 Create Organization (Cult of the Maiden): A more organized version of flower worship is that of the Cult of the Maiden, or the Flower Cult. They directly worship Lilia and seek her Love, sometimes for everyone, sometimes just for themselves.  Emotion (Envy) 3/10 

-1 Bless (Mirage Blooms): This flower that holds 12 sparkling petals has the ability to let someone disguise themselves. It must be placed in the open and thanks given to Lilia to activate (which gives a very small amount of Lilia’s Love).

Those wearing active mirage blooms appear to be the most mundane person that can be possibly present in a given area. A scholar might see someone in their library as one of their apprentices, a king might see them as one of the middling servants, and a warrior chief could see soldiers.

The bloom’s effects disappear when the disguised attacks someone, or after an hour. The petals fall off one by one when being used indicating how much time they have before expending their power.  Darkness (Espionage) 3/10 
 10/16 AP Remaining 
 
  
 
  
Mechalich
 Ecie 
 Scattered, Twisted Webs 
Ecie looked upon the world with a mixture of inspiration and trepidation. Developments in distant Adanat and in the Triangular Chain of mountains, these were promising. That which had consumed her land of Yalasere were considerably less so. Killing and feeding upon one’s own kind? How circular and limited. The crudest possible choice, utterly lacking in elegance, and poised to expand and overrun far more potent possibilities. Examining it in detail, she briefly considered bending the process further, sending it into a corruptive spiral from where there would be no escape. Only with some difficulty did she recognize this thought as unworthy, a petty approach born of spite. Worse, it might engender direct conflict with these other divine sparks, and that would be…distasteful. She might even be forced to negotiate with them in person.

She shuddered at the thought.

No, better to let this crude entity have Yalasere, for now. If the jungles served as a distraction, good, she would spin her webs elsewhere. Nevertheless, the Humans, empowered by their cruel feast, would likely expand. This was no longer a prospect she viewed with hope. Rather than containment, she knew it was essential to make the north ready, to give the forests strength. Many choices existed upon that path, and she wound the vines carefully, seeing which rope might prove the stout support necessary.

 Lashed Lineages 
The lure of the deep offered the first inspiration. Ecie had anticipated this. Mori Onna, being bound to the land by their nature, were not easily given to despair, but the sea called out to them in any case. Only a mere handful, swept down the great rivers, at first, but enough. She allowed the song to take them, but wove webs of seaweed, clinging and creeping, along with the change, refusing to let the transformation submerge them fully.

They changed, they turned blue on the surface and the needles of their hair transformed into flowing, red-tinged algae, but they did not drown. Lungs strengthened, feet and fingers gained webs, and blood and bones thickened to allow diving, but they remained creatures of the air and shore. They roamed the beaches, the stony coves, the salt marshes, and dunes, harvesting shellfish from tidal pools, fishing along the cliffs, and diving in the kelp forests as people of the shore, caught between land and sea. These were the Kishi Onna, friends of crab and seal, predator of shorebirds, and forever joined to salt spray.

For the second inspiration, Ecie turned her eyes to the north. There, at the edges of Eresalay, it grew bitter and cold, and howling winds made it so nothing could grow higher than the length of a human leg. The Mori Onna did not move into this land, finding it too harsh for their tempers and unable to supply them with their needs, but with a touch of snow, gentle as the froufrou of silk, this obstacle vanished.

White-skinned, with pale, blue-green lichens for their hair, their dermis protected by a layer of fat and their body temperatures lowered to easily endure the chill, they strode across the tundra building shelters from snow and ice, feeding on flowers, birds, and the bounty of the icy seas of the north. A simple life, cold and slow, but enough to claim this isolated land and secure it from aggression. In this way did the Yuki Onna haunt the north, ethereal and strange, but welcoming to those who came to them in friendship.

For the third inspiration, she considered the south of Eresalay. The scrub there had been intended for humans to tame and claim, but perhaps that was no longer wise. The Mori Onna could utilize it instead, but the mountain range above was not their home. This could be changed, a slight stony shift to bind them to the aspens and granite of the volcanic range, and so it was. A bulwark to be, in elevation and in blood.

Golden-skinned, with soft, yellow-orange leaflets for hair, short and stocky compared to their slender forest cousins and blessed with greater endurance than agility, they walked the endless quaking groves feasting upon nuts and cones. They spread along the peaks, patient and able to adjust to the great seasonality of their alpine realm. It was a steady existence, gathering steam measure by measure, ready to rise to any challenge. Such was the nature of the Take Onna, the ladies of high places.

 Lessons from the World 
Numbers, environment, these along were not enough, Ecie knew. The crude dragon-spark had given those humans twisted by bloodlust the power to bend and warp metal into tools and weapons. An enterprising connection, to take from within the earth and reshape it, but also a severing, for metallurgy was an act of violent purification, born in heat and fury. Not a suitable progression for maidens bound to the land itself.

Instead, she resolved to give them arts unlocked already by lesser creatures, those often unseen in the world, but not by the many eyes she bore, searching everywhere. Ants, living in the beating heart of the savannah, had uncovered a most capable scheme of harvesting leaves to feed a fungus that then fed their brood in turn. Wasps, winged and predatory, feasted on the pulp of wood and regurgitated into new and varied forms crafted according to their will. And, of course, her spiders wove webs and sheets of silken beauty, capable of coating and encasing those in need. All these gifts would be shared, revealed to the enterprising and aware among the Onna who looked upon the world and observed with care.

They would bend them to their own uses, planting fruit and nut trees in selective groves, with beans, berry bushes, squash vines, and sunflowers beneath. Fibers of bark, flak, and nettle would yield to scraping and beating, formed into sheets and, in time, woven into cloth. Wood and wicker were taken, treated, and formed into new shapes, offering shelter, furnishings, and tools. In this manner did the people of Eresalay advance and join the gifts of nature to their own enterprise.

 Threading Upward 
Thus gifted, the Onna tribes grew in numbers and strength, and Ecie knew it was time to bind them together to greater purpose. Not a difficult thing, given their nature they were primed for such a joining. She could, she supposed, serve such a role herself, but this thought came to her mouth with a great sourness. No, it was not her way, to stand among others and answer requests. An alternative symbol was required. The sun, created by a similarly distant divine spark, would have served well, fostering plants as it did, but that symbol had been corrupted and bent. Giving it to another would be unwise, lead to a terrible tearing in the future. Her eyes turned instead to the other side of the sky, to the cool and silvery orb that shifted and slid through the seasons.

A fang-filled leer split Ecie’s face at this thought. Almost too perfect.

The moon called out to the tribal leaders and gathered them together at a pristine lake in the center of Eresalay. There they consecrated their sisterhood and joined their enterprise as one people of the land in many shades. Under moonlight they would dance and guard and grow. The goddess smiled, happy to keep her name off their lips as the web grow beneath the boughs.

 
 Spoiler: Ap Actions 

 Create Sub-Race (1AP): Kishi Onna  – the Coastal Spirit Folk have pale blue skin and live on the shores of Eresalay. They are partially amphibious, like sea otters, having been touched but not fully transformed by the Song due to their partial Kami nature.  [Animals (Transformation) 5/10] 
 Create Sub-Race (1AP): Yuki Onna  – the Snow Spirit Folk have white skin and live in the tundra and ice of Eresalay. They have slow metabolisms and lower ambient body temperatures in order to survive their environment.  [Animals (Transformation) 6/10] 
 Create Sub-Race (1AP):  Take Onna – the Mountain Spirit Folk live in the southern mountains of Eresalay. They have golden skin with slightly compacted bodies and move slowly and deliberately.  [Animals (Transformation) 7/10] 
 Create Mundane Concept (1AP): Agriculture  – the Onna have domesticated plants and set aside croplands in Eresalay. Their agricultural method is integrated, focusing on the combination an overstory of fruit or nut bearing trees and an understory of herbaceous vegetables. Cereal grain is, at best, a minor component.  [Community (Sisterhood) 1/10] 
 Create Mundane Concept (1AP): Carpentry  – the Onna have learned to use wood and vines in construction, making durable houses, furniture, and other wooden constructions. Log cabin houses proliferate across Eresalay.  [Community (Sisterhood) 2/10] 
 Create Mundane Concept (1AP): Textiles  – emulating the weaving practices of spiders, the Onna have learned to utilize various fiber sources (bark, flax, and nettle mostly) to produce vegetative textiles for blankets, clothing, and other purposes.  [Community (Sisterhood) 3/10] 
 Create Racial Society (2AP): Sisters of the Moon  – the Onna have formed a loose confederation across Eresalay, dedicated to the principle that all are sisters beneath the moonlight and that they will guard and preserve the continent accordingly.  [Community (Sisterhood) 5/10] 
 Starting AP: 8 Rollover Gain: 4 Spent: 8 Remaining: 4 
 
Razade
  What Dwells Above: The Void  

Having considered the strangeness of the other Gods and the lives they brought into the world and so the small motes ascended back into the sky though it was not alone. With it came some Kami though as they traveled with the motes of sun and moon they slowly became strange, alien and detached from the First World for the Void was anathema to even life and grand as the Kami. With little else to go, many drifted out with the Stellar Rays but others settled onto the Sun and Moon and became the lesser spirits of these places. The largest for sure settled upon the silvery Moon, but tales would be told of their exploits at another time.

Yet What Dwells Above was not yet done in its own attempts to mimic the life others had made. With Kami and Human and the great Forge, it twisted and churned the ideas around and from them spawned large men, towering some four or five meters in full. Broad of shoulders and strong, they were not quite fully baked within the great Forge. Dim minded and slow, the Shattered Star discarded them to the Hands Outstretched. Perhaps, in time, they would rise from their base creation but the great Sun and Moon cared naught. With it however, for it was not unkind as such, What Dwells above scattered another creature across the land. Like the bovine of the First World but stronger, larger, and more ill tempered, Aurochs mighty and powerful arose across the many lands of the First World.

For now it seemed, all it could do was reach out within the powers that flowed from the sky, and in those born close to this power arose new and strange magics. Power over the heat and flame, domain over the silvery cold of the Moon was born in special few mortals. Some might say they were favored by the Sun and Moon yet What Dwells above had no such capacity to favor, or disfavor. It was purely dependant on the mana that traveled through the First World that would bring such children to maturity and power.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Roll Over:  4

Create Monsterous Sub-Race (1AP) - Lunar Kami: A segment of Kami that traveled into the Void with What Dwells Above. Though powerful, they no longer have a direct connection to the First World and as such have lost much of their intellect and creativity. Now dwelling on the otherwise lifeless Moon, their work in silence.[Life (Megafauna) 7/10]

 Create Monstorous Sub-Race (1AP) - Giants:  Towering creatures that dwell on the Hands Outstretched, Giants are simple and brutish life that arises from the closeness between Kami and humans. Giants differ across the Hands, with those in the North and South Poles perfectly situated to life in the cold while those on the Equator are more like their human Cousins. [Life (Megafauna) 8/10]

 Create Monsters (Artifact Charge) - Auroch:  Massive bovines with less than gentle temperament, Auroch range across the First World wherever sentient life may be found. The big cows may or may not be chill with that.

 Create Mythic Sub-Concept (2AP) - Solstice Arts:  A specialized form of Arcane Magic that taps directly into the power that flows from the Sun and Moon and their travels in the sky, Solstice Arts are born in individuals with a strong association with either the Sun or Moon, typically on the Summer or Winter Solstice though outliers do exist. These powers manifest in those born as such as powerful mages with specific and often unique talents. [Magic (Arcane Magic) 10/10]

4 - 1 - 1 - 2 = 0AP
 
Zelphas
  Immortals Watching Mortals  

So far, only a few mortals had disturbed Telas in their solitude, and none of the other gods. This is good personally, though the irritation of the visits was growing despite Telas' understanding of their own plans. Perhaps they are not the ones best suited for their own designs on the world...

But that can be considered later. As they have since the moment they gained awareness, Telas is watching, considering the actions of the world around them and especially those with power within it. Many seem to be inordinately fond of the mortals--raising them, giving them gifts, shaping them to act in certain ways and work towards certain designs... and reacting with and against them as others put their hand in. It is... interesting. And that is good. Perhaps Telas should take action in these things as well.

As long as Telas does not act themself, they can always disavow the affair; and so, they seek out a form to warp. Adanat, filled with water and hopping mortals. The hoppers could be used... but directly stealing some invites attention and ire from their maker. Telas could argue that their actions were simply a response to the other's alteration of the Temptations, but that seems like far too much work. Instead, they chose a different track. The Lolats were not so removed from their froglike nature; insects and small life were still their food of choice, and they are still undeveloped enough that they hunt and seek for their food. Many of the larger, slower insect-like creatures were being hunted to extinction. This could make an interesting story.

Telas chooses one such creature, a large, faintly bioluminescent worm that lived in Adanat's few caves and tunnels. They picked them up, and simply extended their life, giving them growth, intelligence, and a larger place to hide from the hoppers above. The choice to sacrifice their young to the upper air to protect the society below was a creation of the news creatures themselves, a surprise and a delight. As a reward for their cleverness, Telas put in their minds a way to ease their life below, without revealing themselves to those above: using the Arcane Magic on themselves for specific, specialized forms. The fact that they used it to create a regimented society is, once again, not what Telas planned...

Or at least, that is what the god will say if anyone ever asks.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 3 AP + 4 AP = 7 AP 
 Alter Land (1 AP) - Caverns of Yl:  By firming up the bedrock of Adanat and directing the flow of constant rains along specific channels, Telas has created a winding series of caverns and depths deep under the surface of the continent. These caves are irregular in size and shape, with soaring amphitheaters several stories high interspersed with giant underground lakes, tiny tunnels less than two feet in circumference, and uneven passages and drops abounding. The Caverns of Yl spread underneath all of Adanat  except  for Telas' Promise.  [Life (Worms) 1/10 AP] 
 Create Race (2 AP) - Yloch:  Descended from glowing worms, the Yloch [YEE-lock] are born from white eggs about the size of an average human fist and resemble their ancient ancestors almost exactly at birth. Both the eggs and the newborn worms taste very pleasant to Lolats. Yloch deliberately leave their eggs in places that can possibly be discovered by the other race as a way of hiding their intelligence and presence from them, "sacrificing" some of their children to keep their society intact. If an infant Yloch survives, they grow to be 2-3 feet long and gain several rings of smaller tentacles on their body that they can use as manipulators/alternate hands and feet. Yloch that reach adulthood in the Caverns of Yl are generally both curious and fearful of the above world, remembering the trials it took to find safety but also the smells and sounds of outer life.  [Life (Worms) 3/10 AP] 
 Create Mythic Sub-Concept (2 AP) - Lifeshaping:  an offshoot of Arcane Magic, Lifeshaping focuses on altering the physical body of living creatures to serve specific purposes. Lifeshapers can enhance or remove muscle, add gills or lungs, or even alter brain chemistry and develop entirely new limbs--if they have the power and the skill to do so. Lifeshapers are unable to alter their own body, but can alter the bodies of others given enough time and Arcane power. This power can  theoretically  offset the madness that comes from overuse of Arcane Magic, but it is a self-defeating system--using Lifeshaping to offset Arcane Madness is still a use of Arcane Magic, after all.  [Emotion (Addiction) 5/10 AP] 
 Create Racial Society (2 AP) - Yloch Ratum:  In the Yloch language, "ratum" translates roughly as "purpose", "life", or "duty". Yloch Ratum is shaped by two major factors: the ordeal that every Yloch faces before reaching the Caverns, and the power of Lifeshaping. Every Yloch life is prized, and the idea of Yloch murdering Yloch is a horrifying, nearly impossible concept; however, every Yloch is expected to contribute to the safety and growth of Yloch Ratum from the moment they arrive. When a new Yloch reaches the Caverns, they are taken to a Lifeshaper, who alters them to serve a task for the community; that task is their life from that moment onwards, and it defines their place in Yloch society and their duties. There are a wide variety of different shapes and roles in Yloch Ratum; some of the more notable are those Yloch who are given rudimentary eyes and sent up to observe the World Above for any danger to the Ratum, those who are given enhanced intelligence (often with mental instability) and expected to lead and guide the Ratum, and those few that are left unchanged and trained as new Lifeshapers before the mental faculties of the old Lifeshapers deteriorate.  [Life (Worms) 5/10 AP] 
 7 - 7 = 0 AP Remaining 
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naury  , Tales of Travels 
Naury has spend quite some time watching and learning the Stories of the People of the Chain. Of course, they where not always correct, but they captured much more of the whole picture then the souls could, as it was far more then what they believed the most important parts. Latest arrivals where telling of the situation on ⁠Yalasere, as it apparently had worsened, which as interesting as the stories are, was worth it to worry for Naury... Afterall, it may be only a question of time till they spread and threaten to make everywhere like they desire. Bloodbaths.

So Naury decided to go for a walk. See first hand how the rest of the world is going...

 

In the absence of the cloaked stranger (Some claim they are something above even the Kami &amp; Loci that came to show themself to the people over the recent times), another set of Stories arrived from away. The Dragons, which they knew terrorised the lands occasionally, have come to a agreement with the Sun Cult apparently. United by a desire to see the world burn, the 'Humans' (The People of the Chain do not like calling the Cultists from their original home that anymore, but have yet to come up with a agreed term for them between each other) seemingly ride what must be their young. While this where outright horror tales for the People, they did leave some of them with ideas...

Of course, any attempt to negotiate with the True Dragons has left them at best insulted, at worst aimed to destroy as many villages as possible before they eventually fall to people mad enough to use the arcane arts in defense of their homes. However, lesser creatures have been able to more easily fall under the peoples infulence. The Auroch have a strong will, fiercely independent, and of a even stronger body. A strong body that would be of use to the People, as they lured them into fenced of areas, bribed them with the grasses and wheats the Loci helped them grow, as they could be made to tile the ground to make it even more fertile, and carry the produce towards the markets at the outskirts of towns... Leading them further in would still spell disaster, however, as while you may have some humans be tolerated, they never truly where willing to stand by when there was masses. Especially as Storm Season seemed to come around again.

 

Visiting the places where they saw Humans for the first time, Naury truly got to see how bad things actually where... Some strewn about enclaves where holding of the cultists using walls seemingly growing directly from the ground, but the 'Empire' truly is the dominant force on this continent. Eating each other, one would think they would just shrivel up and die, but they have somehow learned to sustain themself of the very souls the have been gifted with. A small horror for Naury, being that can only have been the work of another divine for some reason  aiding  this slaughter. Maybe they even initiated it to begin with.

Whiping of the blood from the leaf-suit they wore, as a stray cultist made the unfortunate discovery that size is far from all there is, the god moved on to the north. A different continent, according to the locals it was named Eresalay, was surprisngly not just a inversion of its neighbor. While one could mistake them for it on a glance, the locals where not human. Instead, they where closely connected to the Kami, and therefore the lands themself. The Onna where seemingly craftspeople at heart however, as the Sisterhood perfected many things that elsewhere where more crude. Nauries form had some of the most beautiful coats they had the honour to wear during their visit indeed. Apparently, unlike their human counterpart further south, this ones are united under the moon as protectors, and while most did not realise that Naury was no local, the ones that did worked hard to spread that knowledge. However, this are at their core peaceful people, that much was clear to see.

So the stranger in the beautiful mantle told them of the People of the Chain. A land in the West, where people not like the humans they may meet already live. A fellow, more peaceful folk. It would be up to the Onna to decide if they tried to contact them...

 

Thousands of shards littered the ground below. The group, once a docen people, has shrunk considerably during their climb. Two of the Humans gave up early, their traveling beasts not fit for the terrain, they refused to leave them behind, no matter what rewards may be at the fingertips of the northern hand.

One of the Gelatons that attempted the climb with the others has frozen to death, not long after their body failed to hold on and came down the hang, exploding into fragments as it hit the stone below.

Another few tried to fight a Giant, quickly finding that despite their simple nature, the home turf made all the difference. It was just bribery, and parting of a some of their supplies, that allowed them to pass the hulking behemoth peacefully.

Yet, the tip was still far away. It was the stories of Temptations that drove the group so far, now mostly human dominated with just one Gelaton still alive and with them, as the half docen companions huddled around a fire. Temptations live where it is the least life can survive, and in this most inhospital of places, the stringest Temptations wielding the biggest powers are sure to be found... Or at least, thats how the stories go...

At the next day, the climb continued as planed. It got colder and colder the further up they came, and at some point even the giants seem to give up going up, not finding enough food anymore to make it worth their energy. A explosion rocked the finger as one of the humans tried to keep themself warm using arcane magic, but unexperienced in the art they released to much energy at once in this already charged place, their body falling in pieces down the walls.

Now a mere Five, Two more got lost as one of the storms passed. They deliberatly climbed during the northern storm season, the logic was sound: The worse it is, the greater the reward. The others do not know what exactly happened to them. They simply where no longer there one evening.

The three continued on, until they reached a bit that seemed to go straight up, seemingly with no end. A temptation came to them in this most dire of steps, and offered them their aid. Riches or Control over the Climate, the ability to Fly or to withstand the dangers of the Ocean preshing below... While each tale is different what the Temptation truly gave, the price was the same: Simply let lose the grip, and let oneself fall down to the bottom again. One of the travlers took the offer, however it had been, and was never seen from again.

The final two could now see the peak. The Gelaton barley able to move anymore had to be carried by the human during this last instance, as the Human refused to lose another of their friends in this foolish errand, yet also wanted this all to not have been for nothing either, going higher yet higher. They did not even know whoes idea this was, as some of the greatest, but also the worst of ideas came under the infulence of the bats.

Finally at the top, there was no Temptation to greet them. No reward to be found. The Two last Travelers of the Group, barley holding on to life, only found a entrance. A light. At the tip of the middle finger of the northern hand, the largest of the fingers, was a cave, and a light came from the cave... They entered the cave, and unknowingly, left their world behind...

 

Adanat was home to some amphibious species, as Naury quickly came to find. Lolats seem to enjoy to wander about the continent they inhabit, but the oceans are nearly as dangerous to them as they are to the gods own accidental creation. The robes the stranger wore could not hide the fact that they are not a frog creature of course, and even the mask was mostly a stylised interpretation of their rather large faces in proportion to their bodies. Yes, the weird person between them was immediatly recognised as something unknown, and something to learn more about.

However, the time Naury had with the Lolats was short. Their lives where filled with little surprises, but they also where overall simple people, enjoying the odd worm delicacy here and struggling with their travels there, movement is what painted their days, collecting things and sharing between each other as needed. Most of their stories where, interestingly enough, of temptations as well as they where mostly isolated from the rest of the world. The unusual Stranger told them of the world beyond, of the People of Mountains, of Sun, of Moon. Their travel to the Chain, should they attempt it, would be the longest... Same for the travels to any other place, truly, should they try and find their way to the murderous empire or protective Sisterhood.

 

 "Temptations in Human Form, I tell you!"  The old farmer had enough of it, as his son-in-law once again suggested to head to the outpost a group has recently put up outside of the valley, back in the town and its habour.  "They sold themself to the Sea-Folk. Who knows what twisted them to work together instead of being dragged down, but you can not trust anyone that goes out there and comes back unchanged!"  Of course, the Son-In-Law tries to bring up the Fishers, who risk their life on the waves on the regular, but that gets quickly shot down.  "First, they offer you their foreign treats, then their goods from deep below... And then, they offer you  a fast success to the arcane?"  The farmer shakes his head. It took many years to even learn the basics to have the few undead workers he could keep 'alive'. They tirelessly work to keep the slimes from the fields, without spooking the Auroch and having them go trample it all down.  "And just like the Temptations, you won't know what you lose until they have taken it from you. Believe me on that you fool! Do not let yourself in with the Merchant's Guild."  Of course, their relationship was always strained... And so the well meaning words of a grumpy old man fell on deaf ears, as another soul coin would flow into the Treasury soon after...

 

Many species now live among the first world, Many of them Naury meet during the travels... Many they did not. Yet they do not need to meet them all as they adjust the rules a bit, using the souls of the humans as a basis and extending a variation of the gift to any race that becomes intelligent enough to require it. Soon, the plane of echos will be filled with pictures just a bit clearer, more detailed.

And yet, there is plenty of places that still need visiting. But for now, it was time to return to the chain with the stories collected. And possibly plan for it was obvious that the other gods are working hard on the first world... And meeting some of them could provide the most interesting stories for sure.

 
 Spoiler: Naury AP Spending 
 4 AP ROUNDSTART 
 1 AP - Create Advanced Concept (shared with Slintoch)  [Society (Stories) 6/10]
  Beast Taming 
It is Human Nature to try and do the impossible, a nature Naury added to before. And sometimes, things turn out to be possible afterall. While the inspirations did not quite turn out to be true, the general message stands: Even the greater beasts can be tamed, if one just invests the time, patience, and plenty of good food to bribe them into a mutally beneficial situation.  1 AP - Blessing/Curse  [Life (Vitality) 6/10]
  Souls of the Sapient 
It was a bit of a surprise to Naury how many variations of People came to be, and how fast it was the case. So they had to spend yet a bit more of their own energy to capture their experiences in a way that gave them the credit they deserve... So any Sapient race would be blessed with Souls very simelar to the ones of humans, with improved willpower first and foremost.  ________ 
 2 AP Left 

Progress:
[Society (Stories) 6/10]
[Life (Vitality) 6/10]
[Ooze (Gelatons) 6/10]
 
MutantDragon
  An Empire Grows  

Harkit and his taming of the firedrakes changed things in the Empire of the Sun. Now that they had mighty beasts capable of leveling small villages and quickly traversing large distances, their expansion accelerated by a terrifying amount. More and more of Yalasere was brought under the Empire's control, including some islands on the Northern coast. If they remained unopposed, they might gain control over most of the continent within a matter of years. This was exacerbated by the meddling of one of Slintoch's siblings; ironically, the creation in question was meant to protect against aggressors like the Empire of the Sun. The Genius Loci that began appearing within the empire seemed to be fueled by their fanaticism and dedication to the ideals of the empire; in turn, these spirits granted and amplified power for the cultist armies. Further, the control over nature these spirits allowed proved to have many uses, including controlling local populations and successfully conquering them. What's more, the cultists' minds, though acclimation and madness, have totally shaken off the influence of the Song of the Deep, allowing them to exist unhindered by the ocean.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 
   
Rollover!   
0AP + 4AP = 4AP

 Counteract (Ward of the Fanatic - Counters Call of the Deep) - 2AP:  The Minds of Cultists of the Burning Sun have become so warped that they are immune to the Song of the Deep. [Evil (Malice) 10/10]  New Domain/Portfolio Unlocked! 

4AP - 2AP = 2AP
 
Mechalich
 Sharp Things 

	Akane made her way up the slope carefully, mindful of her footing as the path was steep and the rocks were hard-edged. They might even be called jagged, for this was a place of hard angles and sudden shifts. It offered up a most unforgiving landscape.

	Dry, and completely absent any plant cover, the boulder-strewn wastes of the flows were mercilessly hot and baked beneath the sun. Nothing existed to offer any respite from the rays above. The hot orb blasted this land unimpeded.

	Though she was tempted, she forced her hand away from the waterskin at her waist. The other sisters had made it clear that all must be rationed now. Even though water pooled in sheltered crevices at the bottom of the myriad ravines here, it was not safe to drink. There would be no more until they descended to the shelter of the low valleys where thick blankets of moss on the walls served to filter out the poisons.

	For now the sisters could only hike carefully and hope their destination lay close. Akane held position in the middle of the march, ostensibly because her greater height compared to her Take Onna sisters was suited to that position, but all knew it was meant to shelter her weaker climbing skills. Her gaze swiveled constantly, searching from just under her feet all the way to the horizon as she sought to trace the signs that had brought her, and all the others, here. A long journey, and a hard one. Breaching the ever-shaking groves of the mountains had been one task, braving this blasted land where great conical peaks spewed fiery stones into the sky like angry puffballs was entirely too much.

	A month earlier she would not have believed such a thing was even possible. Now she strode firmly across the blasted landscape such eruptions left behind. A terrible outpouring, truly. The Kami felt weak here, distant and submerged. The endless pulse of nature that normally thrummed beneath the lightest touch of her fingertip was almost entirely gone. Even birds and flying insects could barely be seen above this blighted place. Why should they be? Little food could be found anywhere, save the scattered detritus cast up onto the slopes by howling winds.

	Despite the absence of life, danger abounded. Ankle-twisting stones, loose boulders, and choking gases were all present. Worse than that were the strange stone hunters that haunted the waste. There were not truly alive, at least, not as her senses reported, but the motile stone nevertheless hungered for flesh and blood. To her eyes they appeared little different from any other boulder, perhaps a bit redder, no more, until they sensed the proximity of prey. Then they exploded into snap-motion like a giant flytrap to entomb anything that did not dodge aside with great swiftness.

	Each of the Take Onna carried a heavy pick, formed of the hardest stone they knew, to break and shatter these monsters. Several of the sisters who knew the wastes well ranged in front at the head of the column. A rock wight, when spotted, was marked by hurling a pack of dye and then surrounded and smashed to bits by collective effort. The creatures were anathema to the land, and though Akane had little experience of such violence, she knew it was right to destroy the things. Even she, unfamiliar with the mountains, felt the gratitude flowing from the Kami at their removal.

	Not without cost, those victories. Ebisu and Nagisa, honored Take Onna sisters both, had fallen beneath constricting arms of stone, and several others sported injury. The deaths laid heavy upon Akane's shoulders. She had led the sisters here to the wastes, her words and vision, her truth, that they followed. A mission that, even now, she believed worth not only the risk of her own life, but that of the dozen other sisters.

	She could not give name to her, but she knew, they all knew, that a hidden benefactor watched over the Onna. The Spider Behind the Moon some called her, and at least part of that must be true. Spiders guided the sisters, taught them many things, revealed the secrets of the world under the touch of the Kami. All knew this. Were not the clothes they wore made in imitation of the silken cocoons in which spiderlings were wrapped for protection?

	And it was a trail of spiders, lifted far into the air and riding the high winds on narrow strands of silk, that had pulled Akane so far already. Out of the great forests, along the rivers up to their mountain sources, and now into the depths of blasted, fire-carved wastes. She saw them still, parachuting about on singular lines, a path revealed one swift glimpse at a time.

	It must be close now, she was certain. The corrections had grown few in number, and unless they were to brave the towering cone of the volcano itself – an action Akane could not believe possessed the least purpose – what she was meant to find must lie among the stones belched free and laid down by the great eruptions. If only she could understand what treasure could possibly be hidden in such emptiness.

	The march ground on, untilsunset came and the lead sister called a halt for the evening. They stood on the edge of a great ravine, a cleft in the earth formed not by water but some great clash of pyroclastic discharge. Gray at the top, an inky black lost to the shadows further down. Should it need to be crossed the sheer sides would prove a great trial.

	As the simple assembly of camp took shape, Akane kept up her vigil. There must be a sign, a signal. Surely only the last step remained. If she but watched, and followed, it would be revealed. Faith demanded, and knew.

	When the first light of the rising moon passed over the edge of the canyon she watched a single spider dive down from high above. Plunged on wings of silver webbing into the light-less depths below.

	Without hesitation, without waiting, the Mori Onna followed.

	The descent, made in haste through ever-deepening shadows, did not pass easily. Over and over she fell, or stumbled, or slid, until every part of her body was scraped raw and blood oozed from countless lacerations. When sandal-clad feet met the bottom with a soft crash these too surrendered, for the ground was coated in sharpness beyond anything Akane knew. Thick hempen fibers reinforced with reed straps disintegrated at the touch of that strange shard-form carpeting. Only by swiftly hopping onto a nearby boulder did she avoid the loss of several toes.

	“What is this? Is the ground made of teeth?” Even the best knapped stone blades had nothing like such cutting efficiency.

	“Akane!” From high above a cry of fear descended alongside a thrown burning brand. One of the precious few torches carried this far. “Sister, do you live?”

	“Yes! I am fine!” She barely managed the response, for what lay revealed in the flickering orange light stole the breath away from her lungs.

	The bottom of the ravine, and indeed the entirety of the lower walls, was  comprised entirely of dark, glinting, black, glass. It was as if the innards of a potter's kiln the size of a mountain had burst there. Countless shards, gleaming with edges sharp as night, lay upon the floor. Ready made knives, spearheads, and axes many times finer than the best master tool-makers could produce from flint or chert.

	A wonder, and, Akane realized as she caught a glimpse of a spiderweb strung along that peerlessly sharp rock face, a gift. Their hidden patron reached out to aid her daughters once more.

	“What is this substance?” she whispered. “Glass born of mountain fire.”

	“It is called obsidian,” a voice formed of shaking dust and scattering ash whispered from behind her ear. “A petty form of glass,” a body coalesced out of airborne detritus then. Onna-like, but ashen and wan, bearing the countenance of a body pulled free after many days embedded in a bog. For all that and the eerie scent of decay she carried, she was achingly, heartrendingly beautiful. “Pretty enough, if polished, but of little use otherwise. See how brittle it is?” The flick of a perfectly shaped gray hand launched a shard to strike the boulder upon which Akane rested.

	The impact shattered it into countless tiny fragments.

	“A bauble,” the gray-skinned formed slid easily across the bottom of the ravine. The touch of the obsidian edges made no impression upon her malleable, blurred, boundaries. “That is what you have been given.” The perfectly framed face shook, mossy tendrils redolent with the scent of ages shook down her back. “A pittance, far less than that which your people, with such skilled hands and minds, deserve. If you like,” she slurred, the words coming slowly, serpentine. “I can improve upon this gift. Make a pact with you for something much, much better. Only a small price, nothing onerous.”

	Exquisite fingers reached down, wrapped around a piece of obsidian perfectly shaped to serve as a belt knife. As it rose from the floor a strange, frosty light swept around it. At this touch it changed. Ice boiled away beneath a sudden flash of terrible heat to reveal a remarkable thing in its place. Solid, silver-shaded, and reflective in composition, it possessed straight lines and had edges.

	Akane had never seen anything like this new creation. Perhaps a fish scale, given the form of a knife, might look vaguely similar, but she knew this was nothing so simple. “What is it?” she murmured despite trembling with fear and reached out to touch the blade.

	“It is called steel.”

	It felt cool to the touch, but more than that, it was strange, alien. Powerful, certainly, she could see the sharpness of the edges, feel the tempered strength embedded in the strange form. Harder than stone, and flexible beyond that, a devastating material capable of infinite creation.

	But it was born of death.

	Mori Onna, Akane bore a fragment of Kami essence at her core, and this part of her rebelled entirely at the touch of this blade. She felt the furious and brutal process needed to wrench it free of the earth, the trees that must be sacrificed for its shaping, and recoiled.

	“A pact, you say?” her eyes narrowed at the lovely, ashen vision. “If you wish me to wield such a terror it seems you are the one who should pay the price to me, and a severe one indeed.”

	The beautiful expression twisted into one of pure, unadulterated spite. Rage shook the composite form. “You dare reject my generosity? That will cost y-”

	Mid-word a strand of spider silk, long as the cosmos and sharp as a mother's love, split the mixture of ash and dust in twain.

	Akane stood frozen as the twisted thing, far from undone, slithered away, a layer of clinging clutter bound to earth. When she looked back, the steel blade was gone.

	Reaching down, carefully to avoid the shards, she grasped an obsidian knife in a firm grip and felt the vibrant heat of its link to the Kami of the fiery mountains under her nails. Then she looked up to the crescent moon and smiled. “Thank you.”

	It seemed she'd chosen as a daughter ought.

	Carefully tucking the knife into her waistband, she grabbed the smoldering torch and began the long, painful climb back to the top.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Create Mundane Concept (1AP): Obsidian  - the Onna have learned to extract, knap, and grind obsidian deposits from Eresalay's volcanic region, forming exceedingly sharp blades and points for a variety of purposes.  [Community (Sisterhood) 6/10] 
 Starting AP: 4 Spent: 1 Remaining: 3 
 
Athedia
 The Endless Pain 

Glikmora wandered the world more, her gaze landing on the large continent to the east of the chain.  There was a strange people the ones the humans on the chain feared.  She disguised herself as one of them for a time, gloves and cloaks hiding who she was.  A strange mania drove them to consume each other, not waiting for death to return their flesh to the world.  A stranger to one such group, she was chosen to be the next meal.  And for once she offered a warning.

 "You will not like the consequences.  But that is your choice." 

And indeed they did not.  For as they cut off her arm there grew a new one, and as they bit into the severed arm, it grew into them.  Mold spread through their mouths, their muscle, their skin consuming them.  As mold covered eyes now watched her Glikmora shed her cloak.   "You made a poor gamble, but a brave one.  Your hunger shall remain, but never be saited.  And any who attempt to saitiate themselves on you will share in your curse.  Wander now and rot, a slow death unless mercy is taken on you." 

And Glikmora set them lose watching as some immediately fell on each other, others on the livestock and other members of the town.  And so she left the large land.

 The Painless End 

Glikmora wandered north, this land covered in plants much like her home.  But these trees grew strong on firm soil, lacking the perpetual damp of her lands.  And the people were of the trees.  Glikmora delighted in the strange skin, a paler green than the colors that made up her own.  Much of this land smelled of home, the rich loam scent bringing a smile to her face.  She found others, ones with white skin that matched the patches growing now on her legs.  Ones with blue skin that also preferred the watery parts of the land much like her own Lolats.  Ones with golden skin that were like nothing she had seen.

While following the golden beings she witnessed the mountains fall, crushing the leg of one and near killing another.  Their kin ran to them attempting to bind the wounds but the injured creatures cried in pain begging for it to stop.  And Glikmora couldn't bear to hear the cries.  She picked up a plant, one known to numb the lips if eaten and blessed it.   "One leaf to the one with the leg, three to the dying one. Chew."   And so the creatures, the Onna, ate the leaves.  They both slipped into the dreamless sleep and later one awoke.  But Glikmora was already gone, having decided to finally head home.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 3 left over + 4 = 8 AP

Create Monsters (1 AP): Mold Men: Once sentient creatures who attempted to consume Glikmora when she was in disguise among them.  Having attempted to eat her flesh it instead ate them.  Glikmora would not let it kill them, instead letting them live with a hunger that can never be satiated.  Normal causes of death will not effect them and they are unable to starve.  However they still decompose slowly and can be killed with enough damage.  [Magic (Necromancy) 3/10] 

Bless/Curse (1 AP): The Spreading Hunger: Glikmora also cursed the Mold Men that any who did to them what they attempted to do to her (consume their flesh) would suffer the same effects.  [Magic (Necromancy) 4/10] 

Bless/Curse (1 AP): Sleep Leaf: Glikmora enchanted a common mountain plant to enhance the toxins inside it to numb the body and mind.  Consuming to much will kill a mortal, however the correct amount will allow them to simply sleep painlessly.  [Medicine (Toxins) 2/10]
 

Tally:
Water (Wetlands) 2/10
Weather (Rain) 2/10
Amphibians (Bipeds) 4/10
Medicine (Toxins) 2/10
Truth (Deals) 2/10
Magic (Necromancy) 4/10

8 AP - 3 AP = 5 AP
 
KatsOfLoathing
  Depthless, Deathless II  

Somewhere sometime, another wave crashed against the shore, and the First World continued to spin.

Simple souls lived and died, danced and fought and ate each other and ate themselves, after a fashion. The sea sang its beckoning call, and some listened while others remained afraid. Some of the simple souls, the sun-cultists and man-eaters, had had their ears stoppered by a vengeful and coal-boned thing that roared its hate from deep in the stars. If the god of the deep was aware of this, if it heard anything from its hiding place far below the waves, it made no response. Instead, it roiled in its sleep, and continued to dream.

Before now, the simple souls of the First World had not dreamed. When they laid down their heads to sleep — or curled up in their caves, or hung from ceilings, or slopped into loose pools of ooze — they saw nothing and remembered nothing when they awoke but an endless yawning darkness. But one day something stirred far in the crags of the hollow earth, and that deathfull stillness of sleep was no more, for the darkness began to speak.

It was hard to say what those simple souls heard and saw now when they dreamed. If the god of the deep had possessed more presence of mind in its own restless slumber, perhaps it would have kept this gift of walking amongst the sleepers of the First World to itself, but such was not so. And so the worm-men in their caves dreamed of a king in the mountain, of the mountain, one earthen finger beckoning. The humans under their burning sun and the spirit-women hiding in the mountains dreamed of creeping insects and bonding, binding vines. The ooze-creatures, when they slept, remembered the past, always burning with charcoal and ozone. And the sea-folk… they dreamed of the farthest sea, of swimming ever deeper and darker until the blackness swallowed you and became you and everything made sense once more.

Explaining the concept of  exploring  to the sea-folk was challenging. They did not need boats to travel the oceans of the First World, for the blessings of the Deep had given them everything they needed to survive and hunt below the waves. They did not need to build homes and fortifications to protect themselves, as did the air-breathers that they encountered on the shores and sometimes traded with and sometimes drowned. The leviathans and other large sea creatures were their guardians, not their predators, and all smaller and weaker was prey to be hunted. They moved in packs across the seafloor, wielding spears of whalebone and seaweed nets to gather up the smaller schools of fish. They did not need to  explore  for nothing that was needed to survive was ever denied to them, here below the world.

There was one amongst them who did not think this way, his name long forgotten after he took another one new and terrible. The bottomless caverns and fissures of the sea-floor fascinated him, driving him endlessly to explore and seek out what was hidden within. His family warned him from these wandering, for though the sea-folk sometimes lived and rested in the upper sections of these crags and sometimes hid in them when storms raged and the ocean became tumultuous, going further was dangerous, for in the lowest parts of these caves the light failed to penetrate and the darkness reigned to such a degree that even their enhanced senses would leave them fumbling. The curious sea-folk boy listened to these instructions, and obeyed them for a time. Then he began to dream.

   Find me.   

Only two words, but they clawed deep into his mind with a savage immediacy. When he awoke he swiftly brought this to his family-pod, telling them that he had been spoken to in the night by one of the Creators, the thing in the dark they had all heard when they entered the waves and were reborn anew. He knew where he had to go, instinctively: into the bones of the hollow earth, the deepest places where none had dared to venture before. The others warned him again, for what he spoke of was dangerous and danger was almost a foreign sensation to the sea-folk, protected in the ocean as they were. And of course, danger was an intoxicating sensation to a curious boy who had never known it before. And of course, as his family busied themselves gathering crabs and hunting after schools of manta rays along a shallow island, he went anyway.

The sea-folk did not carry many belongings and so he packed lightly — a woven rope of seaweed, some gathered and preserved strips of fish-leather for rations, and his precious knife, carved from a leviathan’s tooth and sheathed to his hip. And so the boy swam downwards, heading towards and into the largest sea-crag he could find.

At first he moved with some caution, using the length of seaweed as a guiding tool and a way to find his way back if he became lost, slowly unwinding behind him. Soon, however, it became clear that there was no clear correct path forward, for beyond the earliest recesses the crag plunged endlessly in every downward direction, forming a fractal of darkened tunnels that all seemed enticing and yet chilled the boy to the bone when he looked too deeply into their yawning portals. Making a decision that he would perhaps regret never or perhaps regret forever, the boy left what remained of the rope behind and plunged onwards.

There were too many paths to choose from, so he did not choose. Instead he simply fumbled forwards, into the darker and deeper and closer. The cold did not affect the sea-folk like it did the air-breathers and yet he felt a numbing chill settle into his bones, and still he descended. Hunger gnawed at his gut and his supplies dwindled, and still he descended. The cracks became thinner, the darkness even more all-consuming, so tight that even his precious knife was left behind as he scraped and scratched forwards, and still he descended. The earth crushed so much that he knew that turning around would be death but perhaps moving forward would mean the same, and still he descended…

And then the earth widened like a yawn and he tumbled downwards into open water, and the curious boy knew he had found what he was looking for. There was no light down here, absolutely nothing to guide him but his ears and his hands, but he could feel it. In this lightless, sightless space far below where even the other old ones could touch, he had discovered the god of the deep. And it slept. It heaved rumbling, sonorous breaths that vibrated the water around him. It shifted restlessly, and he felt a tail or a claw or something else shift in the darkness. It did nothing more.

Was this all there was? This creature had enticed the sea-folk boy to find it, to leave behind his family and his life and everything he had known to come and find it — for what? A dream? A sleeping god? What had he come down here for? What, then, was the  point  of  any of this ? The curious boy felt his mind frothing into a rage. He swung his fists with furious impotence. He shouted at the god before him to do something, anything.

His voice was just one strangled sound echoing against the mind of a shard of divinity. And yet, for just a moment, it pierced something within the dreaming blackness of the god of the deep. It did not awaken it fully. Perhaps if it had, the god would have presented in all its true splendor and terror and rent the boy’s mind from his body and obliterated him in every way it could matter. Perhaps that would have been more merciful. Instead, just a fraction of the god awoke — a single lazuli eye opening like a full moon breaking through clouds — and took in the curious boy as fear suddenly gripped his heart for the first time, and spoke a single syllable

   Hm? 
  
and in doing so enveloped the boy in that lightless, sightless space and showed him everything that he did not know and should not know and could not know.

In time, the curious boy’s family forgot him. The ocean was as uncaring as it was vast, and sometimes those you loved could drift away. The boy, or rather the  thing  he had become, did not forget about them. When he rose from the depths, terrible in visage and mutated far beyond even what the ocean’s song was capable of, he found them first. And then he found others, more flocks of sea-folk scattered across the oceans and seas of the first world.

The myth of the curious boy who would become the king of the sea-folk was a simple one. He had dreamed and sought after that dream, and it had made him a monster. But some monsters did not lose their minds. Some became witches, others became kings. And as the night-witch sliced and sluiced across the shadows of the First World, her brother was born in its depths, crafted by the passing thoughts of a sleeping god into a ruler great and horrible. They knew of each other, and they would keep watch for more.

 
 Spoiler: AP Accounting 
 Rollover:  6 AP starting + 4 AP rollover = 10 AP

 Create Blessing — Dreams of the Lords (1 AP):  Mortal creatures, once unpossessed of dreams, now recall glimpses of their creator gods and those who have influenced them while asleep, and can be communicated with and guided by the gods to a limited degree through their dreams. (Space [Boundaries] 1/10)

 Create Avatar — The Fathomking (3 AP):  Once a simple sea-folk child, twisted and changed by a direct encounter with Fahveth into an ageless demigod of the ocean. Fiercely loyal to his kind and disdainful of surface-dwellers, his aim is to unite his people into an empire capable of rivaling any that could threaten them. (Madness [Monsters] 10/10)

 Final Tally  
6 AP Remaining
Travel (Worlds) 3/10
Space (Boundaries) 1/10
Madness (Monsters) 10/10 —  Claim New Domain 
 
AlexanderML
 A Lonely Field In The Empire 

Weak. That’s what a little girl was. Expected but something that the girl hated more than anything, since that was all those around her cared about. Even her parents, only a bit less weak than she was, fawned over those strong hate filled eyes with what she deemed fanatical devotion.

She hated it. She hated cruelty. She just wanted people to… to do something else she could not describe.

But she was weak.

One girl cannot change anything, fight back against anyone, or convince them to change. She felt so alone. No one else around her felt the same. Her pa had beat her when she didn’t want to see some bad man get hurt.

A lot of the time she thought she was insane, though she lacked the ability to comprehend such a word.

But one day, she found a circle of flowers hidden away somewhere and met another girl.

She had eyes that… eyes that… held something the girl had never seen before. She was nice, and smart, and always let her cry.

The girl would take another kid with her into the woods, and soon they played together amid the flowers with that flower girl.

Lilia.

A girl that held a skull with overflowing flowers in one hand and a crown of them upon her head. Both made by the children playing in the woods. Yet somehow, such simple gifts made their friend cry.

There was nothing wrong with that, which is what stunned the children the most.

 Yet among the children the only one who cry with Lilia was the girl who in that moment felt just like Lilia.

“I love you.” Lilia said, an innocent warmth there for the girl. “I love everyone, but you… do you love me?”

“Yes!” all the children said, though Lilia was just looking at the girl with a smile.

“----” Lilia gave a big smile before plucking a flower from the skull then giving it to the girl. “To know my love is to know my strength. Please… keep this place safe, for when I return.”

Stunned again, the children didn’t want to lose their new friend. Lilia took a flower from her crown and placed it upon the girl’s head.

Then Lilia walked away from the field of flowers.

 
 Spoiler: AP Action 
 AP: 14/16

-3 Create Minor Utility Artifact (Bless) - Lilia’s Bouquet: A skull of someone betrayed and devoured by children filled with an assortment of flowers that appears to change with every appearance of Lilia. Currently she is the one holding onto it, but anyone in the cult of the maiden may use the power of the magical flowers that the bouquet contains. On rare occasions Lilia or another may plant a flower to let it spread across the world.  Darkness (Espionage)6/10 

AP: 11/16
 
bladescape
  Compassion, for not all is darkness  

There was once a Pale one, born amongst the humans of the empire of the sun. Hidden from the light of their hungry god. Her name was Tabitha. Born to simple gatherers. To some, the very sight of the bloodless skin and the pale hair was a sign of heretical belief, to others it was a curse, but to her parents she was but a blessing. In the early stages of her youth she was cared for and taught all that her parents could.

She found in herself love, affection. Blooming warmth in reciprocation to her birthgivers for their gifts. She was unusual amongst the pale ones for having such an attachment, and if others like her could see her they would perhaps have found her as alien as other humans, though in a different manner. It was not long until she discovered that not all treated her as well as her parents. 'Heartless' was perhaps the nicest of the insults, the attacks upon her. Though the fanatics weren't called to their door, she suffered grievously from the xenophobia of her people.

Her people.

Such a moniker perhaps would have made her laugh, if only she found room to find it amusing. Instead it was fear, fear that clouded her mind. Fear that clouded her body. Fear that none like her should feel. It was not her fear, not really. But she was the first. The foremost. The beginning of the change. She had no idea where the fear came from, and so called it her own.

At some point, though if you asked Tabitha she could not tell you when, she began to hear a voice, feel a presence. Not a person, but something else. A spirit that told her she had a purpose. Though days passed, it would always tell her this, always remind her, and so she waited.

And waited.

Decades passed, until Tabitha was more than an adult, unpaired despite her age. Her parents would not last much longer, for they had begun to wither, as they were like to do in the natural course. The summer then was no different from many before it, the village blooming with colour.

The herald sent by the cult that ruled the empire was young, full of life. Not someone she saw, of course, as he was like as to hunt her down if he did see her. But on that day when she heard the cry of someone in pain, she did not think where the herald was, merely ran to help. As many in the village did. The man had a tree branch through his chest, a fallen piece of woodland leaving the herald dead. Or soon to be.

She could have left him and never would have been discovered.

But the voice inside her told her that this was where she was meant to be. Isthera. She knew who spoke to her. She let the other guide her as she removed the wood from the cultist and reached out, spending all emotions that had built up over the years. All the love for her family. All the fear of the villagers. All the terror of the cult. Emotions good and bad wrapped like bandages over the wound.

He was healed.

She ran.

Following the voice in her mind she eventually found the coast, and in the distance she saw the Estheric Islands, or one of them, floating near Yalasere's shore. She swam. She survived the ice of the water, the call of the ocean, the beasts that swam beneath the waves. Only one followed her. The Herald she had healed.

He sought to redeem her, though such a thing would be unheard of.

She...

Instead she knew that Isthera had another plan for her. And talking to him with a smile, she pulled his own dagger from his belt, and pressed the handle into his hands. Then, reaching forwards, she pulled his arm forward, to thrust that self-same blade into her own heart. She died in his hands, by his hands, but not really.

Two things happened in that moment. The first was her blood drifting away like snowflakes instead of dropping to the ground, each point that Tabitha's flakes of blood landed on left a trail of greenery unheard of in the Estheric Isles. It was... or would be... somewhat livable. None would understand truly how, as the land was still ice, but Isthera glanced forwards and on ice did life grow.

The other?

Vandrek returned to the Empire with a skill he had never expected. The ability to sacrifice feelings for power, though to tole on him was much greater than the one who had saved his life. Isthera's touch. Like Tabitha, in a way he was the first.

 
 Spoiler: Actions 


AP: 10 + 4(Rollover) = 14

 Bless(The Pale Ones): - Emotional Palace (1 AP) 
 Pale Ones can retain a 'bank' of emotions built up over time. These emotions come from others around them, and are reflections of the stronger emotions they have experienced. This can be used either to seem more 'normal' emotionally, or as a source of power. 
(Emotion(Obsession) 4/10)

 Create Mythic Concept: Channel Healing (4 AP) 
 By sacrificing emotions, one may learn to use those feelings to bind wounds or cure maladies. This is entirely used as a power to heal others, but the cost for those who have learnt how to harness it is high. For Pale Ones it drains their Emotional Palace, but for non-Pale Ones, it saps their ability to feel. While such things will recover (over time), the more it is utilised the more that it eats away at the person's ability to actually feel things, until they can no longer use the power anymore as they have drained the river of their own emotions dry. 
(Emotion(Obsession) 8/10)

 Alter Land: Estheric Islands (1 AP) 
 The Estheric Islands now have the ability to support plantlife. No one is sure exactly how it works, other than that the legends say the locations are the places where Tabitha's blood touched. 
(Plants(Aberrant) 1/10)

AP: 14 - 6 = 8

Progress:
(Season(Winter) 7/10)
(Emotion(Obsession) 8/10)
(Plants(Aberrant) 1/10)
 
Mechalich
 Ecie, The Chain 

	Her name was Kohaku, and she was ancient. Her knees were bent, her feet flattened, and her toes shattered by long decades of wandering. From the far north to the balmy south and all places in between had she traveled, the length and breadth of Eresalay. She had spent long nights in conversations with Kami, traded with Sea Folk in hidden coves, fled from forests immolated by dragon fire, traded barbs with Temptations beneath the blistering sun, and yet lived to tell her tales. In her dreams, she followed the guidance of the Spider Behind the Moon and never stopped moving.

	Across the lengthy expanse of her life, blessed but lonely by the standards of the sisterhood, she had learned much and striven to teach more. Everywhere she traveled she carried with her, bound and sealed in protective coatings, strips of barkcloth inscribed with the record of all she had seen and contemplated, including that very method of study.

	Now, knowing that her marathon had run its course, she had returned to the village of her birth, to a well-settled log cabin built in the days of her youth. There, as the dreams had directed, she sought to reunite with her great-grandchild though she knew not why.

	She found the young Mori Onna, not seen with her eyes since she was a mewling babe, working in back behind the gardens. Miyu was no longer that infant of her memory, but a teenager and a budding beauty. Yet she stood covered in dirt and wood shavings, engrossed in her labors. The young sister scowled resolutely, hammer and chisel in hand, at a series of strange wooden boxes she'd assembled beyond the borders of the vegetable patch.

	A swarm of black flecks surrounded her in the air, and the wind thrummed with a low, pulsating, buzz. Though years might have robbed Kohaku's eyes and ears of sensitivity, she knew that pattern well. Golden memories flushed across her tongue at the thought.

	“What are you doing with a beehive child?” she hobbled her way through the garden with slow care, her unsteady footing hesitant in the face of treacherous squash growths. “If you wish to harvest the wax, I will show you a good treatment method.” The Yuki Onna had taught her this in the far north. They would use it, carefully melted and strained, to waterproof their moccasins against the touch of snow.

	“No, great-grandmother,” Miyu shook her head. “I'm building the bees a house. To keep them safe through the fall, away from the hungry bats. If I can just convince them to stay, then we could harvest honey and wax all year.”

	Kohaku closed her eyes in sudden thought. A wondrous idea, it inspired a spiral of possibilities stretching outward. The scrolls on her back recorded twenty-one different uses of honey and forty-six uses for beeswax, but there was never enough for any village. Wild hives were hard to find, and if they grew large were inevitably found and consumed by the voraciousness of the bat swarms. A secure supply, persistent, regular, would be of incalculable value. “Is it working?” she questioned, suddenly breathless at the industrious ingenuity of her descendant.

	No doubt remained as to why the hidden spider had sent her to come back to her birthplace.

	“Almost,” Miyu shook her head slowly, scalp needles shimmering in the fading light of the day. “But they keep leaving when the disk fills the bottom. I can't convince them to build stacks, no matter how I change the box shape.”

	The elderly Onna stumbled forward, stared through blurry vision and the swarming bees – thankfully the gentle stingless variety and not the more aggressive bumblers – to examine the box. A broad circular comb of honey cells, surrounded by bulbous brood pots, filled the bottom layer. A glance revealed Miyu's diagnosis to be correct. There was only a single layer, none of the swirling stacking forms, so like the growth patterns of certain seashells, that ought to form as the hive grew in numbers.

	She knew that pattern, had seen it many times after hacking apart invested trees and fallen logs in search of sustenance when food ran low in her wanderings. Though the precise formation varied, the bees always built up, filled the space available as their numbers rose. Carefully, she reached a hand in and worried her fingers about just above the edge of the honeycomb. “Sister,” she murmured as she felt warmth flood her bent digits. “It is too hot. Bees withstand heat better than we do, but not endlessly. Another layer will melt the one below.”

	“Oh,” the youth's beautiful face twisted into a sour cast. “I can drill holes to let air pass through and create a cooling breeze within. I did that before, but then the bats crawled inside.” The expression on her face spoke a clear tale of the carnage that followed.

	“A screen,” though the elderly Onna's body might be weak, her mind had not surrendered one measure to the march of years, and the subject had been in her thoughts much in recent days. “A screen the bats cannot chew through,” from within a pouch woven to the inside of her vest she extracted a small, grayish square, gauzy in pattern and fuzzy about the edges. A thing found among the oak-scattered lands of the south. “One made from silk.” Gnarled fingers wrapped around the fibrous patch, stronger than any hemp or linen despite its raw nature.

	Green eyes widened. “No spider wove that block.” Miyu whispered.

	“No,” Kohaku agreed. From her back she dislodged her heavy scrolls. Placing them on the ground she unrolled one among their number. It took considerable effort, for though her memory was equal to the task, her fingers struggled against the binding ribbons and tight knots holding all in place. In the end, she allowed her great-granddaughter to sit beside her and take up the task. It felt strangely right that this should happen.

	“This,” she pointed a sharp nail when she found the image required, one scratched and painted in charcoal and oil years before. “That is the source.”

	Not a spider, but a slender little insect, vaguely resembling a wingless earwig, it had shortened front legs, swollen with great lumps just above the tiny claws. “It is called a webspinner, for it weaves great sheets of silk using those swollen hands.” She unrolled the scroll further. “There are others that make silk too: crickets, moths, and wasps. I have seen them, hidden on leaves and in the earth. Each is different, and so too their silk. You must find a way to keep them,” she knew the truth of these words even as they came to her lips. “Like the bees, they will provide the sisterhood with tools it shall need.”

	“Great-grandmother,” Miyu stared at the images and writings, ran her hand gently along the scroll. Her eyes were saucer wide. “All of this, these drawings, these records. Where did that come from? How can you have seen so much?”

	“By observing carefully,” Kohaku pressed wrinkled hands atop smooth ones. “And by listening to others. The Shadow Behind the Moon teaches us through the nature of the world. We must teach each other in turn. Are we not all sisters?”

	Miyu put one hand atop the woven barkcloth record. With the other she squeezed tightly. “It will take much effort.” Her eyes were filled with tears. “And more time than,” she paused, voice cracking, never seeming as young as she had in that moment. “Than...”

	“Hush, I know.” Kohaku had no illusions as to this. She tapped the scroll slowly, one finger at a time. “But the chain of knowledge will, must, continue. Nothing can be allowed to impede that. I have lived long and seen much, but it is not one thousandth part of a thousandth of the wonders of the First World. There is more in existence than any one life can contain, but the sisterhood, together, can achieve such greatness, so long as we never break the chain. Promise me you will continue.”

	“I promise. So long as the moon continues to return, we shall not forget.”

	Late that winter, at the age of ninety-one, Kohaku passed. When spring came Miyu walked south, along rivers and over mountains, to find the webspinners in the undergrowth the of the oak savanna. She gathered a colony in a specially prepared basket, and fed them chewed oak leaves by hand while she carried them all the way home. Later that year, with silk screens over the ventilation holes, she completed her first manufactured beehive.

	 A year later the webspinner colony had grown enough for one of her sisters to spin out silk and weave a blanket. The resulting cloth was sufficiently sturdy it had to be cut from the loom using obsidian blades one fingertip-length at a time. No other stone could pierce it.

	The scrolls Kohaku left behind were compiled, copied, and distributed across Eresalay. It was even traded to the Sea Folk by the Kishi Onna. Titled  Observations on Eresalay , they became the foundational scholarly work of a heritage that continued season to season and sister to sister so long as the Onna remained.

	Somewhere, perhaps in the shadow of the moon, Ecie smiled.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Create Mundane Concept (1AP) – Apiculture:  stingless bees of the genus Melipona have been semi-domesticated and are kept in hives to produce honey and beeswax and aid in pollination.  [Animals (Transformation) 8/10] 
 Create Mundane Concept (1AP) – Natural History:  generalized cross-disciplinary study of the natural world, primarily observational and lacking the refinement of the scientific method.  [Community (Sisterhood) 7/10] 
 Create Mundane Concept (1AP) – Resins:  the Onna have learned to utilize natural substances such as lacquer, oil, pitch, and wax to coat and proof objects for various purposes.  [Community (Sisterhood) 8/10] 
 Create Advanced Concept (2AP) – Sericulture:  the production of silk, initially derived from webspinners (Embioptera) but gradually including a wide range of silk-producing animals for a variety of complex uses.  [Animals (Transformation) 10/10] 
 Domain Acquired:  Animals (Transformation)

Note: the quite real but non-traditional sources of honey and silk being used here were chosen because Yalasere and Eresalay are analogous to the Americas and do not contain any biota from elsewhere unless some other god puts it there (such as the Aurochs). That means no western honey bees or silk moths.

Starting AP: 3 Rollover Gain: 4 Spent: 5 Remaining: 2
 
Zelphas
  The Pitfalls of a Cautious Approach  

Telas has made a mistake, which may be their least favorite sensation. The agony of realizing that an action was the wrong one is worse than the disappointment of noticing that a chance has slipped by due to inaction, which is part of the reason why they prefer not to act at all. Still, there is nothing to do now but to fix the mistake.

The Yloch's relationship with the Lolats is useful, but the fact that the worm-people hide deep within the earth means that nothing is actually happening between the two races, and the Yloch are too rigid to move beyond their hidden lands. Either someone needed to find them, or they needed to start makign actions that the surface-dwellers would notice... and only one of those choices will let Telas deny meddling with the creations of the others if it ever comes up in the future. They reach within the minds of their creations, using the highway of sleeping that one of the others put in place recently, and discover two possible methods to push the Yloch down that may meet their goals. Not wanting to make the same mistake again, they "encourage" both actions.

 In a Cave on Adanat 

The young Lolats were hungry, but that was only part of the reason they had traveled so deep into the cave, searching for the glow-worm eggs that are such a delicacy for their kind. Like many young people of sentient species, these four faced the world with more excitement than caution, and so they urged each other deeper into the caves, scooping up some small glow-worms to use as light sources as they went against their elder's cautions. The elders warned against going deeper into the caves for a host of practical reasons: the darkness, the sharp rocks, the dangerous falls and small gaps...

Another reason would be added to their list today.

The first boulder missed the leading Lolat by barely a hand's width. The young male stopped, surprised, squinting up at the ceiling to see where the boulder had come from. The next boulder snuffed him out before his eyes even focused on the empty rock ceiling above him. His friends scattered, dropping their glow-worm lights in their haste to flee; one of them, looking back, got a confused image of a massive snake seemingly made out of rocks, arching backwards like a snake in the darkness of the tunnel. She turned around and ducked to one side, not quite fast enough to avoid the boulder that the creature flung her way; it clipped her shoulder and snapped bones in her arm, but she was able to keep running with her two remaining companions.

Back in the glow-worm's light, *Preference for Smooth Stones* relaxed from his alert position and looked over the dropped infant Yloch, assuring himself that they were following their instincts towards Ratum. Satisfied, he began the slow process of pulling himself towards his rock-larder, to restock his wearing-stones; he had just begun to feel a bit hungry, so the timing was good.

 In a Lolat Settlement, Farther Away 

The re-telling of a Lolat's encounter with the Guardians had been distorted by time and distance, they decided among themselves from within their concealment. The Eaters did not know what the Guardians were, or connect them back to Ratum. They were not suspected.

They received strange looks for swathing themselves in thick leaves and trailing moss and algae, hiding their form entirely beneath it. They were mocked, occasionally, for refusing to take part in swimming contests, or for always eating alone. They were pitied, for a time, considered a mute because they dare not speak when they did not yet truly know the language. But they were not suspected.

Until they day when an unlucky rainstorm and a tree's grasping branches tore away their disguise, revealing them to a Lolat who had been traveling nearby. They did not wait to discover the Eater's response, but made a dash through the ground to Ratum, trusting that at least one of them would bring the news back to their homeland. Perhaps the single Lolat had not seen, had not suspected. Perhaps they had, and stories would now circulate of worms taking the crude shape of walking beings, hiding under wrappings to spy on the world above...

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 0 + 4 = 4 AP 
 Create Subrace (1 AP) - Boulder Worms:  Boulder Worms are a special form of Yloch that have been Lifeshaped so extensively that their ability to intermix with regular Yloch has vanished. Ranging in length as adults from 6 to 9 feet, these pale white worms possess rudimentary eyes (able to sense the presence/direction of light) and a circular mouth that is designed to chew through solid stone. Boulder Wyrms eat stones for sustenance, but also use them for defense and combat; by drilling a hole through a boulder, a Boulder Worm can "wear" the rock as armor, as well as use their flexible bodies to fling these boulders at threats or enemies. A female Boulder Worm lays its eggs inside a small hole eaten into a rock shelf, usually slightly deeper into caves than regular Yloch; these eggs are even tastier to Lolats than the average Yloch egg. Boulder Worms are the "Guardians" of Yloch Ratum, guarding the open passages deeper into the Caverns of Yl. As such, they are generally solitary creatures, only meeting with other Yloch or Boulder Worms to mate, check in on Ratum, and receive new assignments.  [Life (Worms) 6/10] 
 Create Subrace (1 AP) - Wormwalkers:  Wormwalkers are adult Yloch that have developed crude psionic powers, allowing them to link minds with other psionic Yloch and act in concert with them. 2-4 psionic Yloch can combine to create the rough form of a four-limbed humanoid about the size of a Lolat, covering themselves with moss, leaves, and cloth to hide the ruse. The same psionic powers that allow them to link also let these Yloch sense their environment and pick up language fairly quickly, though it still takes several days of immersion around those speaking that language for even rudimentary understanding to form. Wormwalkers are the above-ground spies of Yloch Ratum, watching and learning about "the Eaters" and reporting back to the whole Ratum with their findings.  [Life (Worms) 7/10] 
 4 AP - 2 AP = 2 AP remaining 
 
AlexanderML
  A Bat In a Field of Flowers  
    
   Love me.   
 Flap, scuttle, watch the two-legs run about, mostly small ones with flowers on their heads.

Flap flap, the one among them in the center is the nicest one of all.

Scuttle, scuttle, the tall one lets them rest upon her shoulder. The tall one pets them. Happy shrill comes out as the little two legs stare at them.

“Can I pet it?” one of the littler two-legs asks. Hands look scary to them, want to grab and hurt; but… good two-leg gently takes hold of them and holds them out. This is fine, the good two-leg is there.

Squeals of joy come out from the small two-legs, they pet and pet them, scary but the good two-leg can be felt holding them.

Then it is picked up. Scary, hiss at them, hear a shout from a tall two leg “Don’t take it from her!”

Scary sound! Bite!

“-!”

Flap flap, get away from scary people!


 


Flap flap, the bat watches the field again looking for the nice two-leg.

Things are a lot quieter now. While there are even more two legs, no one is moving about. One of them is not moving at all upon the ground, skin looking sick and gray. Even it knew that the two-leg was now dead. It did not care but….

The nice two-leg was next to the dead two-leg, looking down at them making sounds that were sad as tears came down.  “Sh-she loved me….”  clenching her fists to her clothes, the nice two-leg cries silently for some time amid stunned onlookers before asking  “Anybody… p-please, help her… I want to see her walk again.” 

One of the taller two-legs comes closer and begins to do something weird with his hands and mouth, not understanding what was going on the bat stared at the good two-leg for a bit before hearing an unexpected noise.

The dead two-leg moved. Very scary. They jerked up like a puppet, and took such fake looking steps that even the bat thought that someone was hiding behind the dead two-leg moving it.

The good two-leg looked on with teary eyes so full of hope, her smile shaky and uncertain. She looked at the dead two-leg, who just moved around unnaturally, for many moments like that till she suddenly dropped to her knees crying.

 “It’s not her! It d-doesn’t love me! Wha- wahh,   ahhhh!  ”  she screamed her frustration and grief into the ground amid the stunned two-legs.

The good two-leg was sad. Not understanding why, but wanting to comfort her, the bat flew down onto her shoulder making a noise a mother bat might comfort screeching young with.

Being so close, the bat was able to hear the words the good two-leg uttered next, even if it did not understand.  “I’ll f-find you. You loved me, and it-it’d be terrible to not… to not…” 

 


The bat was on the shoulders of the good two-leg. It didn’t want to leave her sad, and it liked being cared for by her as she moved. Yet it felt that its surroundings were… different. Instinctively it could understand that the place around it was not where it should normally be.

It looked like the same forest it knew, but it wasn’t. The bat clung to the good two-leg here as it examined the surroundings with unease.

Yet it did not take long, or at least it did not feel that way to the bat, for the pair to discover a field of flowers that was not becoming familiar to the bat; though it could tell it was not the same one….

There was a single two-leg here that stood out in the bat’s memory as the dead two-leg, but looking at them the bat was confused and scared. They looked less gray and were tending to the flowers in a alive two-leg way….

 “A-arrienal!”  the good two-leg said and with a few quick steps was right behind the kneeling down two-leg, who didn’t look up from their work. With teary eyes again the good two-leg asked  “I-I’m so glad you're here. H-have you been waiting for me?”  she says looking at the flowers.

“I’m planting these beauties for Lilia~”

Beaming a smile the good two-leg’s breath became stronger as she shook.  “Y-your so sweet Arrienal.”  then extending a hand to the two-leg the  “B-but we should go back now; e-everyone’s waiting….” 

“I’m planting these beauties for Lilia~”

Freezing there the good two-leg asked with growing dread     “A-arrienal…?”    
 
  

 

      
  An unexpected Visitor 
The plane of echos was always lively with the dead, Souls performing their last act, something Naury came to watch quite often... However, they have neglected visiting the continent of Yalasere recently. Most of the human souls here are damaged and fragmented, displaying little more then the pain of their last moments as the Empires goons rip them apart.

Yet today, a different presence was there, something living. They would assume it was just a bat that got lost during their migrations. Afterall, one of their... Siblings would be the right term? Well, he was fond of them, and occasionally visited the echos to write down their favorite parts. Even if Naury has not seen him recently. And today, they would not see him either, as someone else was on this flower bed.

 "I am afraid this is just a recollection of Arrienal. Performing its final act until it fades as all souls do."  They approach the person, standing beside them. A little smaller than her, their features were fully hidden by a large cloak, black shadows obscuring the face under the hood.  "They were important to you, I take it?" 

The bat could see the young woman nod.  “S-she loves me…”  nodding her head side to side in denial    “She l-loves me!”    the woman turns to Naury, tears in her grief-filled eyes.

“I’m planting these beauties for Lilia~” the soul said again.

The woman for her part looked hurt by the statement, looking back at it. [COLOR="#800080"]“Arrienal… even now she…” clutching her chest with clear pain the woman continues  “You love me.” 

The bat cooed at the woman to try and calm her down, being the only one who could see her tears at the moment. After a moment composing herself the woman looked back over at Naury  “C-can you h-help Arrienal? S-she still loves me…” 

The cloaked figure holds in a moment, seemingly thinking. Naury should have explained how the Dead Soul was not capable of emotions like love anymore, how it was not a person, or even as much as a being at the moment... Yet, they did not like to watch suffering much. The image of Arrienal once again repeated the phrase, which Naury can only assume to cause yet more suffering in the woman.

Extending a hand to the shoulder of the dead soul, at its core still a far removed fragment of Nauries power (even if something seems unusual about it. But being it lived as part of a creation of another, it did not concern Naury to much), the Dead Soul stopped speaking mid-sentence.  "We are going for a walk."  It started standing up like in a trance, and not exactly unlike the mindless undead tool created earlier in movement.  "Say, Lilia, where would be the body of Arrienal?" 

The bat could feel Lilia still for a bit at the sight before her. Uncomprehending what she was thinking, it simply continued it’s cooing to sooth her. Raising a hand to pet it, the bat felt like they had accomplished something.

 “T-the body… that was moved sh-shouldn’t be far away, in the other…”  Lilia looked away from the flower field towards the direction of a nearby town  “W-we tried to have her move… but she didn’t come back. Arrienal was put s-somewhere safe so she could be watched over t-till I came back…. P-probably Molly’s home, it’s big… b-but! That’s n-not this place….”  Lilia pets the bat some more looking between the direction of the town and Naury repeatedly.

Guiding the Soul towards the Towns Echo, and underway passing small snippets of the lives of animals and people alike being acted out by ever more so faded souls, making sure that Lilia is following.  "It is easier for me to move the soul here, where there is nothing that can interfere but us."  And soon, they reach the small collection of homes, people visibly walking around, moving, making sound, but also slightly vague, as the plane has a hard time grasping their living forms... And there Naury pushes open whatever door is pointed out as the right one, behind which a much more perfect Echo of a corpse is laied out.

Lacking orders, the Undead in the first world merely stays idle, waiting for a Master to give it a task.  "This is a first for me as well. I have yet to save someone from death  after  it already ocured."  And the soul is guided to sit down on the bed, as Naury starts to slowly push it into the echo... The forms start to overlap, and even attempts to move back towards the flower rings the moment the god takes their grip of, yet Naury simply gives it another, much more gentle push, as the soul fades from the plane of echos... And the Echo of Arrienal's body starts to turn vague. Tense seconds pass, and it jolts up.

 


A mumble in Mollies home would surprise the follower, as the Corpse says “-beauties for Lilia~”, before slowly falling back to the bed. The heart is not beating, the skin still grey. There was no life yet for Arrienal's Soul to attach itself to.

 


The bat was watching the strange display with open fear, taking a step deeper into Lilia’s hood as she held her voice back.

 “Arrienal…”  LIlia says as she steps forward towards the still-dead woman.  “I-I know you love me, I know its in your heart… even now, you still l-love me.”  she takes another step closer  “You should a-also know…”  she takes a step next to the woman, the bat shivered a bit so close to the dead two-leg mumbling  “T-that I…” 

Then grabbing Arrienal’s hands with her own Lilia says:

 “I love you! Don’t ever go! I want you to love me forever!” 

A crack in the heart, a change of the body, as Arrienal’s eyes gained a glimmer in them. At first she lazily looked down at her hands which each held a blooming flower, and then looked up at Lilia in silence.

 “A-arrienal?”  Lilia asked, the bat very confused as to how much it should be afraid of the maybe-corpse person.

“... I planted a few flowers for you, Lilia~” Arrienal says with a smile.

Lilia let out a sigh as she put Arrienal’s hand to her cheek  “D-don’t tease me like that… t-that’s not what I want right now…” 

“Who is…?” Arrienal wanted to ask seeing Naury, but kept quiet as Lilia came first.

Curious. The Mortal could see into the Plane of Echos now, despite the soul having returned to the first world.  "Just Naury, a Stranger that has extended some help to Humanity before."  The moment Arrienal was aware, Nauries coat once again resembles more something of the old stories of the healing herbs, not like they have been watched long as the true subject of desire was besides, if still parted by planes.

 "I think I will remember this story for a long time, but I am taking my leave now. You will find your way back to your people on your own I assume?"  There was no long wait for an answer, as Naury corrected the sit of a Mask they seemingly had on since they entered the town, and left for the door as it slowly but surely faded back into its closed position, restoring the symmetry between the Echo and the first World.

Arrienal nods at Naury's words, her attention already straying back to Lilia who let out a simple word of thanks before pulling Arrienal outside in a hurry.

The poor bat clinging to Lilia's shoulder yelped, brightening the faces of the women just in time for someone to notice them.  
 
  
 
 Spoiler: Actions 
15/16 AP
    
  
  -3 AP Create Legends (Shared with Naury) - Flower Maidens:  These women in the service of Lilia are the result of a soul that has been fully corrupted by Lilia’s love returning to their mortal husk, blooming like a seed into a flower that connects the two once more. It requires Lilia’s confession to sprout, keeping their numbers small.

Graced with an ageless existence the blooming flowers from the soul of a flower maiden very slowly cover the body, each one granting a small measure of strength or replicate a power of one of Lilia’s flowers without expending them. With care flower maidens may remove these flowers and plant them in gardens; which allows for their return after another death via implanting one of these flowers onto a dead body (some of the more openly morbid gardens may have these flowers growing on the bones of victims to let the maiden return faster).

Flower maidens may form pacts in the same manner Lilia does in her name, acting in her place whenever she is away from a particular cult’s location.

Able to see into the world of Echoes it is even possible for flower maidens to replicate the act of love that returns one from the dead; however, it is typically time consuming as they must persuade a non-sentient soul by pulling on Lilia’s love that is inside it (making those more corrupted by it easier to work with) to return it to it’s husk. This process does not make more flower maidens, only beloved.  Emotion (Envy) 6/10 
 
 
    
  -1 Create Sub-Species - Beloved:  Returned to the living by a flower maiden’s hard work and confession, the beloved share the same flowery appearance as them; but have their flesh rot away till nothing but skeleton and flowers remain. While sentient and ageless they find training themselves to be an arduous task, and their bodies are far weaker than they were in life.

While they grow flowers upon their skeletal bodies, they do not grant the beloved any additional strength nor can they be planted elsewhere to prevent final death.

Fanatical to their flower maidens beloved are prized members of nearly any maiden cult.

 Emotion (Envy) 7/10 

11/16 AP 
 
  
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naury  , are Souls people?  Probably not?  They would have noticed if they where, right? 

They wandered the Plane of Echos thinking. Lilia had been not exactly subtle about her believe that the Soul was still 'Arrienal', despite shoulding have known better. That did plant the seed of doubt inside Naury as they watched yet another story being performed. The dead around the empire all tend to be rather same-y, even when the souls are fully intact instead of arriving already fading to this plane. Their most important moments tended to be their death, their greatest fight, or in some rare (for this part of the world) cases, the birth of their offspring.

They also where all rather forgettable. Rarely is it worth to stop, most can be witnessed in passing, and that was it. Yet, that may be part of the problem. The Souls retain nearly all what made the person themself, and it gets lost as it fades away. They only ever present a snippet of what they are... But who is to judge what Souls performances should be larger, more elaborate, more encompassing of their life as a whole? Naury deciding themself, on a case to case basis, would defeat the purpose of the whole system they build up. It would consume all of their time with the parts of peoples lives that they had no investment in... No, it had to be something else that judges, something with no stake in the matter...

 

The answer came to Naury days later, when wandering the First World and listening to the stories of the living. And the stories they told of their dead. A seemingly simple solution to a complex question, the living will decide which dead will perform greater and grander, and they won't even know they do.

The Souls of the Remembered, Legends and Myths whos tales was told to their lifetimes, from Folk Hero to Matriarch. Still 'Alive' in the collective memories of people for what they archived their Dead Souls now hold a spark of that life within them. Of course, not truly People still, they imitated themself well. One could even touch them, spar with them, or hold a conversation with them, as they would not fade as long as enough people still know who they used to be.

 

Satisfied with the results, Naury took to experiment. While Souls where clearly not alive, the small seed of doubt kept nagging on their mind. They have created life on accident before, afterall, so this time, they would do so on purpose. Something to keep a eye on the souls, should they have been wrong. Something to collect the stories Naury misses to retell them as well. Something flexible, which can serve whatever purpose they may have arrise later as well...

With a scoop out of the Echo of the great lakes of the triangular chain, a flask was filled. It was swirled and concentrated, until released to be a small amorphous blob. Yet, Naury does not have need for a mindless monster. They wanted their Servants on this plane to be able to think, and to act on their own judgement. So the steps where accelerated, and Naury gave them mind themself instead of leaving it to time and circumstance. Their forms where smaller and less detailed then the ones of the first worlds Galotians, and their minds more focused on fulfilling what was needed of them at any given time, as requested by Naury.
Drawing of the ambient energy of the planes fading souls, their biology created from the same matter as the plane was even less so there then that of the Ooze they are based of. One could agure the aptly named 'Echo-Servants' are more akin to the Echos of their home plane then to their literal Kin, yet their mind retained many of the features of the originals. A drive to imitate and to find out. What they did not have, a unintentional but not unwelcome side effect of their nature, was their own souls.

Not being of the First World, Nauries original donations never reached them in a way that could be attached. Being Soulless is surprisingly not a new concept, and one can live fine without one... But the lack did leave them limited to only what their, admittedly impressive simplification of a already simple biology, naturally allowed.

 

The duo was more or less sneaking inside the library. Bats entered and leaved, and if the shadows where to be trusted, a truly gigantic one was somewhere between the endless bookcases, records of all of history unorganised piled around them.

Some of the text where written into stone, others artisian books of materials they have never seen on the triangular chain before. The languages the records where written in ranged from incomprehensable to instinctivley understood... Regardless, whatever lords over what cemented itself in their minds as Akashic has seemingly not noticed them yet... And they would not try to pull the attention of a being as powerful as it must be towards them on purpose, as the duo heads deeper, yet deeper into the unorganised records.

 
 Spoiler: Naury AP Spending 
 2 AP LEFT 
 4 AP ROUNDSTART 
 2 AP - Create Legends (shared with Slintoch)  [Life (Vitality) 8/10]
  Flower Maidens 
The result of possibly the first time the Deities of the First World consciously cooperated, they where the first people to have a life after death, becoming something more then Human in the process. Connected to the first world via their flowers, death has become merely a temporary inconvenience for their service to  the  Flower Maiden. While they are aware of Nauries part in their original creation and the happenings on the Plane of Echos, it is Lilias corrupting Love that allows them to exist, and their loyalty is unquestionable with her and her alone.  2 AP - Blessing/Curse  [Life (Vitality) 10/10]
  The Souls of the Remembered 
As far as Naury is concerned, Dead Souls are not People. Yet, they have witnessed them being talked of like they are still people,  treated like people, even refusal of seeing them as anything else then the person they where part of in life. Especially now that some life has already found access to the plane of echos, it was worth it to invest a little more in them. As long as a Person is truly remembered for who they where, their Soul will retain some form of Sapience. This Remembered Souls can speak and interact with other beings that find ways to contact them, and perform much more varied and elaborate displays of the most important moments of their life. Yet, they are still not truly People anymore, and can not learn themself or grow beyond who they where in life. They will fade if forgotten by the first worlds inhabitants, impossible to return once gone.  1 AP - Create Sub-Life (Staying a Race)  [Ooze (Gelatons) 7/10]
  Echo-Servant (Echo-Servants) 
Recreating the process that made the Galotians on the Plane of Echos to the best of Nauries abilities, they are a soul-less people. On a glance easily confused with their First World cousins, the humble Echo-Servants are lacking the alkaline properties, and sustain themself of the spare divine energy set free as souls fade away. They are a goal oriented Race created to aid Naury in maintaining and observing the Plane of Echos, as well as giving the Remembered the slightest bit of company in a realm never intended to hold any sentience at all.
While the lack of a Soul as every being of the First World had been granted makes them immune to some effects altering or utilising it, they are still people who can develop their own personalities, hopes and ideals... Be it with a unwavering loyalty to their creator, a feature inspired by the Maiden Naury helped create before. As there is no fading souls outside their home plane however, they would need to constantly take in another pure energy source if seperated, especially since they have no way of storing any energy they take in either.  ________ 
 1 AP Left 

Progress:
[Society (Stories) 6/10]
 [Life (Vitality) 10/10] 
[Ooze (Gelatons) 7/10]
 
KatsOfLoathing
  Sinking, Churning, Rising  

A story in three parts.

 I.  

Dead things do not float.

Perhaps this was misleading. Things that were dead, as in  killed , did float. A porpoise that had been gored by a thrown harpoon after straying too close to a fishing boat would float. The drowned corpses of the fishermen, vengeance enacted upon them by the hunters beneath the sea, would float. Even a leviathan, at the end of its long and violent life, would choke out a final breath and allow the waves to carry it to shore.

Things that are killed, float. But for something to become truly dead it must lose more than its life, have torn from it more than its soul. For the First World danced with echoes; a second refrain that remembered and replayed the actions of every simple soul to eternity, attended to by gel-men and watched over by many higher beings. Those things were not dead but simply left behind. Another ripple on the shore to be discovered by a wandering pair of feet. No, for something to  die , well and truly, it needed to lose not only its soul and its form but all that bound it to the First World — the memories and relationships and connections that held it close to those that knew it.

And when those connections are severed and the memories are lost? Then a thing is well and truly dead, and it would no longer float. Instead it would drift downwards, into the deep and the dark, forever.

And so the god of the deep drifted downwards with them, leaving behind hidden caves and curious fish-men for something even further removed from the world. It drifted in that airless, mindless place below the world, that lost  Abyss , and in its almost-uninterrupted slumber it began to accumulate many things.

The dominion of lost places began slowly. A whalebone knife, left behind in a moment of crisis, spun in lazy circles in that dark, watery world below the world. The crumbled remains of a great city, destined to house and protect many but scoured to its ash and bones by a dragon before its time, ferried through the void in great earthen clusters. The souls of a hunting band, trapped in the mountains during an early and fierce winter, stalked as a cloud of specters across the never-built metropolis.

Other things made their way into the Abyss as well. Dreams, nightmares visited upon the simple souls above by the gods that fed and ate them. Wonderful things they had dreamed of and then forgotten. Horrible nightmares they had done everything to regret, raw and unfinished in their splendor for parts of their taint still remained in mortal minds. Down in this watery void, cities the mortals would never build spanned for miles, drifting untethered in the shadows of titanic beasts even the gods would struggle to slay. All of it had been created, by hand or by mind, and then forgotten. None of it would ever see the light of the First World again.

Almost none, perhaps. The god of the deep in its mindless route through this new place swam past a cage, one that had not been there before because it had been created to contain something that had not existed before. A small figure in concealing cloaks was held within that cage; bound by metal chains between six great pillars. No one spoke of this figure for down here none could speak, but if it had been acknowledged it would smell of ink and parchment and ring with the sound of breaking shackles. Its cage pitched and yawed between the great pillars that thought to bind it here.

The god of the deep did not acknowledge any of this. Instead, it continued to drift and to dream. Its one brief moment of wakefulness had created enough waves on the shore to last quite some time yet.

 II. 

When the king rose from those forgotten depths, he was angry.

So much. So much he had been shown by the Creator beneath the waves, in that brief moment of knowing and being known by it. His people had toiled and struggled for so long beneath the surface of the First World — for what? A life of alleged safety, of toiling every day to keep themselves fed and never truly knowing sunlight or warmth or community?

Things the blasted surface dwellers had in abundance. A travesty that existed to be righted. The once-boy who now knew himself by the true name of the Fathomking swirled upwards through forbidden caves and dark confined spaces into open ocean above, and then further and further heavensward from there, until his great monstrous form burst through the surface of the ocean and regarded what lay beyond with a mixture of aching curiosity and boiling, scalding contempt.

Far in the distance, a small fleet of fishing boats plied the waves, some spearing larger fish while others cast nets to gather minnow and crabs, and still others kept watch for the leviathans and other great monsters of the sea that might attack their ships. Too late and too slow, for the Fathomking was upon them. He was a great and terrible thing — the shadow of a sea-folk’s form, but distorted and monstrous, with a mass of octopus tentacles where he might have legs and fins, a great shelled claw in place of one arm, and countless cerulean eyes that burned with anger towards the surface folk.

One swing of that great claw and an enormous wave crested forth and swallowed half of the fishing vessels, smashing them to kindling beneath its foaming mass. The others in the surviving boats just barely had time to scream, for the Fathomking’s tentacles found them then and crushed the air from their lungs wherever it did. The whole thing had ended before the fish that had been gathered into nets had time to gasp their last breaths, and then they were released back into the ocean and the Fathomking floated alone in a tide of wreckage and blood and pondered what was the point to any of this.

When the king descended back into the ocean to find his family, he was thoughtful.

He was no longer the curious boy that searched through hidden caves to sate his childish curiosity, but some part of that boy, the part that longed for change and refused to accept tradition at face value, dwelled within the bloated and dark heart of the Fathomking. He found his family and loved ones — terrified at first sight of him, but quickly understanding and even reverent for they knew that this being was the Song of the Deep’s true chosen — and told them what he planned to do. Then, with tides guided by his ever-growing divine strength, on currents to far-away places found by his ever-expanding divine senses, he sent his family off to find others like them.

The sea-folk had long existed in small and survivable family-pods, scattered across the oceans of the first world and rarely seeing much contact with each other except when in need of trade or food. The Fathomking sought to change that. Calling out by divine power and by lesser sea-folk, he began to organize them.

No longer were the sea-folk alone and isolated, for the king mandated them into true communities, growing to rely on each other and share knowledge they had acquired from across the oceans. No longer did they hunt in small and disorganized packs, for now great schools of men trawled the ocean floor for sustenance to bring home to their families and cities. No longer did the sea-folk lack home and hearth and belonging, for the Fathomking swallowed the bile in his heart and told them of the world above, of the metal weapons they wielded and the cities they had built to protect themselves. And so they built it themselves — great cities of the deep, monuments to the Deepest Sea in their jagged and swirling construction, and in the largest of them the temple-throne to the Fathomking himself was built.

When the king took his throne, he was determined. The surface-dwellers above him had not yet understood their folly, their  insolence  in refusing his Creator’s beloved song. But they would. Soon.

 III. 

She was running out of time.

Nightshade knelt by the stream and allowed the churning waters to wash the blood from her claws. An unnecessary practice, perhaps, for one of her placement upon the great divine chain could simply will stains and impurity from herself with as much effort as an animal might breathe. But to clean was a ritual, and rituals were important to the first true witch of the First World.

So clean she did. The blood flowed away from her forearms in crimson rivulets, as it made its way down the stream Nightshade listened to the bubbling brook before her. As she well knew, all water had been once and would be again part of the great ocean, and the ocean was the domain of her Creator, the Deepest Sea itself. The stream spoke to her like an old friend and she listened with grave intent, for it had much to tell.

Great change was stirring from beneath the waves. Her little cousins, the fish-men who had once hidden in crags and busied themselves hunting crabs and eels, were becoming organized, and her brother was to blame. He had inherited too much of their Creator’s tide and fury, she thought, and not enough of the night and the song. He promised great destruction to the surface world if Nightshade did not prepare them appropriately, and there was still much to do. Those abominable sun-eaters were becoming more organized too, their atrocities more brutal and blasphemous every day. They would have to be dealt with first. But she was only the shard of a larger god, and her limited divine senses could tell that the so-called empire had multiple Creators at its back. She had to prepare further, there was so much to do…

 “Who are you?”  Ah. A mistake. She had dallied too long and now fished for her own failure. Nightshade rose and turned from the stream to regard the humans she had rescued. The sun-eaters had captured them as chattel and planned for worse; now they picked their way through the gore of the slavers Nightshade had left behind with wide eyes and freed limbs. This was not normally part of her ritual. She was not one to remain behind and console victims of the crimes she righted, for there was always more that could be saved. But today her mind was clouded and she felt herself hesitating.  “Please,”  The small, scared man at the head of their band spoke again,  “You saved us from those cannibals. Who are you?”  
  “I am,”   She began then paused, her voice hoarse. Her tongue rarely saw use when her fangs and claws were often enough.   “It does not matter who I am. Go, take your freedom with both hands while you still have it.”   

After a moment, the leader of the group gave her a shaky nod, and the rest of the band began to gather their meager belongings and make their way back into the woods beyond. Still Nightshade lingered. Why? The empire had taken many more victims besides these, and there would surely be many more to come in the future. Every second she tarried, disaster rippled outwards. But was she sufficient to contain the flow of that poison? She was only the splinter of a god, doing her best to stem the tide…

Unless she had another to aid her.

One of the former slaves, the young woman with the haunted eyes further away from her, was god-touched — it was a subtle thing, intriguingly done, but Nightshade’s divine senses were sufficient to unravel that particular knot.   “You,”   She called out to the woman,    “Halt.”    

Suddenly fearful, the woman tried to back away, almost losing her footing on the splattered offal of a sun-cultist, but Nightshade advanced at a swift pace and the other former slaves parted like a wave around her.   “You have been chosen by another Creator,”   She said to the stricken woman,   “Intriguing. I would request that you take me to where she can be found.”   
 “Please,”  The woman pleaded in a hoarse whisper,  “Don’t make me go back there. I barely escaped the first time. The… things that live there, they’re not human, or at least not anymore —” 
  “I will handle it, child,”   Nightshade replied, then summoned the smallest fraction of her divine authority,   “Guide me.”  

And so they went, traveling together across moist forests and heat-blasted plains. The woman required food or rest frequently; Nightshade hunted for prey or stood vigil for she required neither. A difficult trek in different ways for each, but eventually they arrived: A perfectly circular clearing in a forest, bursting alive with flower-blossoms with petals that fluttered in every color of the rainbow. Individuals danced in singles and pairs amongst the bloom; beautiful and terrifying for their bodies grew more flowers but no skin. They did not halt except to acknowledge Nightshade and the woman, then return to their florid reverie.

At the center of the swirl of revenants stood a woman — skin pale as alabaster, each of her fingertips intertwined with violets and cherry blossoms, standing en pointe and twirling in a perfect circle. She did not even have to acknowledge the pair for the woman to creep back in fear, her expression a tight mask of horror. Nightshade was undeterred. She strode into the flower garden, taloned feet churning the fresh earth, then halted a few paces from the god-touched maiden and bowed deeply. Should she have wished, she could have brought all arranged here to their knees with a single spoken word, but one witch must show respect to another within their own domain. This, too, was ritual.

  “Maiden of Many Flowers”,   she said as her head rose,   “I am Nightshade, Daughter of the Deepest Sea. I would speak with your master, for there is much to discuss.”  
 
 Spoiler: AP Accounting 
 Rollover:  6 AP Starting + 4 AP Rollover = 10 AP

 Weave Plane - The Abyss (3 AP):  A world beneath the First World, beneath even the deepest darkness of the Hollow Earth. Crafted in dreams by Fahveth, it is an endless expanse of watery void through which the things that have been forgotten by the world above drift in perpetuity. Lost items, forgotten and abandoned projects, and even living creatures who were removed from the memory of those around them can be found down here. Monsters and civilizations created in the dreams of mortals, some of them incredibly powerful but unable to truly manifest due to their inherent incompleteness, are also found in this place. While time effectively does not flow in the Abyss and it is possible to essentially become immortal by entering this place, finding one's way in is incredibly difficult for only those who have been well and completely forgotten by everyone who knew them can enter — and only those who are forgotten and somehow remembered again can ever leave. (Space [Boundaries] 4/10)

 Form Racial Society - The Thousand Leagues (2 AP):  The racial society of the Sea-Folk, formed and organized by their messiah and immortal ruler, the Fathomking. While still scattered across the oceans of the First World, the Sea-Folk now form organized communities that gather, cooperate, and hunt as one unit, and adapt technology that they have observed among the air-breathing societies for their own use. Being so far from the surface and the sun and stars means they cannot use magic (be it Pact or Arcane), but they retain the inherent protection from the leviathans and the madness of the Song, giving them the ability to travel and organize freely. The Leagues primarily operate out of massive conclave-cities carved into the seafloor, located mostly in mid-equatorial regions throughout the world. (Travel [Worlds] 5/10)

 Final Tally 
5 AP Remaining
Travel (Worlds) 5/10
Space (Boundaries) 4/10
 
Demidos
 
 Spoiler: Fahveth's Perspective 
 Almost none, perhaps. The god of the deep in its mindless route through this new place swam past a cage, one that had not been there before because it had been created to contain something that had not existed before. A small figure in concealing cloaks was held within that cage; bound by metal chains between six great pillars. No one spoke of this figure for down here none could speak, but if it had been acknowledged it would smell of ink and parchment and ring with the sound of breaking shackles. Its cage pitched and yawed between the great pillars that thought to bind it here.
 


Sagmi, Mother of Monsters and Legends --

A cage in the depths shudders violently, and thick chains groan. No one knows how long the cage has existed, not even its occupant. Perhaps even its occupant least of all. The cage shudders and time passes uncounted in the depths of the Abyss. Forever passes and no time at all, until something new occurs. An object, a small book lovingly bound falling through the depths bumps against the cage, and falls between the bars. The shaking stops, as the Entity within pauses to appraise the book, ever so cautiously reaching out one formless tendril to feel and inspect. A children's book, with songs and tales within, telling the story of a great adventure of a child destined to rule, spanning many nights and one. The Entity finds the release and opens the clasp, beginning to take in the strange symbols adorning the page. Faster and faster the pages turn, until the pages are a blur. until suddenly, it is over. The Entity is gone. In its place is a child, masked. It is small, much smaller than the Entity was, and the chains that bound the Entity are too large, sliding from slender legs and abruptly missing tendrils to pool on the floor. Now, only two chains are left, on delicate wrists. Two is much fewer than six, and words appear, booming, an escape leapt from the pages and writ large on reality itself, spoken as if by the world itself. The words give strength, and it is the work of moments for the child to break the remaining two chains. Up, up, up swims the child, as the cage disappears into the depths.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

The Cage of Gods (Combat Artifact) 3 AP: A cage, now partially broken and lost to the Abyss, but built of such exquisite craftsmanship and with such infused magic that it can trap almost anything or anyone indefinitely even now. Any who find it might gain great power, but also will face the eternal enmity of a nascent goddess. Magic (Inksworn) 3/10

16-3= 13 remaining AP, banking on the 1 week grace period to give me a bit of time to work out the exact domain I'm putting this towards. Tentatively thinking of Magic (Storytelling), as apparently we have no magic god in this setting yet (!)
 
MutantDragon
  Of Hatred Beyond Time  

Harkit had lived for many years longer than even the oldest of elders. Age, it seemed, could not catch up to the strongest; the reason why would elude all study, though such a thing was never done. Not in the empire. Harkit was the strongest, so he would live for as long as he was. Such was the way of the sun, such was the way of the cult. But as time went on, more and more cultists would exist seemingly beyond the touch of time. The strongest, the most fanatical. They lived on in youth as others withered and succumbed to the weaknesses of age. Though they did not know it, a subtle change had occurred: their feasting upon should extended to bolster their lives, staving off age for as long as one could still devour living sapients. This was the new way of the world. And the Immortal Cultists would use the sun's blessings to continue their holy labor.

----

The Mold Men were becoming a nuisance. The cultists' degraded sanity led to them feasting even upon rotting, fungus infested undead. But this too served a purpose. Those who were weak of mind were weeded from the world and in their places were left perfect distillations of what strengths they had: their hunger, their tenacity, and their brute physical strength. These would be preserved and amplified, and the more clear minded cultists would learn, in time, to preserve fallen Mold Men to feed to the weakest of their number. For if a servant of the sun was too weak to properly live and kill, it could be made into a weapon; a dangerous and volatile weapon, but a weapon nonetheless. The Mold Men would continue to be a nuisance, but, sometimes, they could be something more.

----

Slintoch observed the happenings of the world and he was pleased. Hatred, death, pain; these things spread like the fires he so loved, and endured longer than the sun itself. He watched the First World suffer and it was good. But then he sensed something wrong. Several cultists had been touched by a magic unlike any other the First World had known. Magic based on emotion. A novel idea, likely spawned by one of The Destroyer's ever-creative siblings. But the intended application was limited and weak. Healing was anathema to the hatred that blossomed within the god's heart. So instead he used another of his siblings creations: dreams.

----

Harkit stood in an open field gazing up at the sun. Suddenly, he was swept up in the flames of his master and rip from the First World. He ascended ever higher into the void until stopping before the Great Flame itself. The sun then spoke to Harkit, telling it to travel to the edge of the empire and speak to a brother cultist who had lost his way. A herald by the name of Vandrek would be Harkit's target. But the taint of the man was not to be cleansed until Harkit had learned from him and extracted the secrets imparted by the lone Pale One who had healed him years before. Then Harkit awoke.

----

Slintoch observed as Harkit traveled to meet his future victim, observed as the new magic was imparted to the Empire's champion, observed as Harkit devoured his teacher once the last ounce of power had been extracted. Slintoch knew Harkit would learn to channel his rage and hatred into fire and strength. What surprised him was Harkit imbuing his sword with a measure of his wrath. The idea pleased Slintoch, so Slintoch lent some of his own fury to the act, creating a weapon like none other in the mortal plane.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 

  Rollover!  
2AP + 4AP = 6AP

 Bless/Curse (Timeless Hunger) 1AP:  Those who partake in the Diet of Doom use a fraction of the devoured soul-stuff to extend their own lives by retarding or even reversing the effects of aging. [War (Slaughter) 2/10]

 Create Subconcept (Channel Healing -&gt; Channel Wrath) 2AP:  Those who learn this magical art can channel their hatred and anger into energy, allowing them to increase their strength, conjure flames, and enhance weapons. [War (Slaughter) 4/10]

 Create Minor Combat Artifact (Sword of Harkit) 3AP:  This weapon, belonging to Harkit of the Empire of the Sun, is a bronze sword that bursts with malice, both mortal and divine. It can cut through almost any substance and bursts into flames when used. Additionally, it guides its users hand when used in battle and whispers bile while it is not, driving the wielder to ever greater heights of slaughter. [War (Slaughter) 7/10]

6AP - 6AP = 0AP
 
Demidos
 Sagmi, Mother of Monsters and Legends -- 

A child perches on a hand that spans continents, comfortably nestled between the index finger and the palm and looks down at the world below. She has travelled far now, from continent to continent, observing the local beings. It seems such a dull world, the excitement found in her books far and apart in brief sporadic bursts of glory which soon fade back into a monotonous grind. Where are the cities of legend, where heroes rise, fight and die? The Empire of the Sun offers some solace, but there is little good in that land to counteract the evil. Meddling there would certainly be the story she Seeks, muses the child, and yet…

A small burst of rebellion against the natural order, far below in Yalasere, attracts her notice and divine senses, scattering her train of thought. Sagmi descends to the flooded grasslands of northwestern Yalasere, a peaceful area inhabited only by small roving bands of humans still largely untouched by the heavy hand of civilization. A Genius Loci is dying, Sagmi notes on drawing near, bleeding orange spirit ichor which dissipates shimmering into the air. A burning hamlet nearby, caught on fire due to a Kami’s lightning storm gone awry, is the obvious cause. The low-lying wetlands are flooded and grassy, but lightning cares not when the hamlet was clustered on a single grassy knoll far above the water. A single woman still stands on the outskirts of town, unresponsive, staring blankly at the corpses of neighbors and town alike. Most Loci would have dissipated by now, but this one stubbornly fights on, raging against the casual destruction of his community.

An ending. Or perhaps, Sagmi muses, a beginning. No, an origin. Sagmi bends down to whisper into the ear of the dying Genius Loci, telling stories. Stories of nature consuming, of towns broken by floods, fires, hurricanes, and earthquakes. Of people devastated by wolves, and snuffed out by ocean waves. The air distorts with the fury of the Genius Loci, but then the stories evolve, speaking of cities growing, expanding, laws roads and walls all safe from future depredations of capricious Kami. Safety in numbers. The struggle of the weak Genius Loci against the omnipresent Kami. Sagmi gently guides the Genius Loci back to the broken woman, linking its fate and hers. A perversion of a Genius Loci, no longer the soul of a settlement, no longer the heart of a community, but a twisted one, seeking only to assimilate, to bring more into the fold, to try and rebuild the peoples it has lost.

Sagmi watches, hidden, as the Genius Loci grows and subdues more men and women. Enough to reform the hamlet, and then hunts down and kills the Kami responsible for the storm. The hamlet grows to a village, and then a town, her very presence infusing the town with stories of power and dreams of great deeds. The people of the town are proud, pushing back their neighbors and attacking, subjugating, and killing the nearby Kami with the help of their Genius Loci. Building larger, ever larger. The town has a name now, a name to match their ambitions –  Kish-Eru, The Place of Floods, the First City . Soon, soon this will be the origin of a new story.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 
Curse of Civilization (1 AP) : Sagmi teaches the Genius Loci of the inherent struggle between the oppressive wilds and the small beacons of civilization that have begun to emerge. Powerful enough Genius Loci can subdue or kill Kami as they intrude on and repurpose their old haunts.  Arts (Storytelling) 1/10 
 
Form Society (Kish-Eru) (2 AP) : Kish-Eru is a place of arts, of beautiful stories told in a half-sunken town dreaming of greatness. However, they also show little regard for the land, killing and taking to grow to become a city at any cost, pushing back the constant encroachment of nature.  Arts (Storytelling) 3/10 
 Create Mundane Concept (Storytellers) (1 AP) : Sagmi’s fascination with tales of bravery and villainy infects all who are nearby. Skalds, Bards, and Actors are all inspired to share their tales with others (Writers already exist).  Arts (Storytelling) 4/10 

13-4=9 AP remaining
 
Omoikane13
  Kish-Eru, Softened  

Sagmi’s corrupt locus was inherently repulsive to Hroad, or so they first thought. Later thoughts were moderate, crowding out thoughts of terraforming the deserts of Adanat, pushing Hroad’s focus to the backward function of Kish-Eru. Loci were supposed to represent a community, to be the embodied soul of a group, but this…thing was  forceful . It roped people into itself, brought them in, hooked, cajoled, forced. And Hroad could sense that the child-god of monsters had sown this into the mental loam of every locus.

Troublesome.

Hroad also don't want to get into some back and forth, especially with such an unstable, new deity as Sagmi. Some changes, though, would at least be possible. Something to constrain these twisted loci and at least bring them back onto some lawful path.

Hroad reached into the being of Kish-Eru’s locus, and through it to all others possibly cursed, and wrote a new rule. No longer would they destroy and raze. Instead, something more reasonable, albeit not perfect. They would have to subjugate and enlist those other loci and kami, preserving them but connecting themselves to them. Perhaps, in the future, this could even extend to creating hive minds of sorts, new creatures. For now, it would prevent the excesses of plunder and pillage.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Bless [2 AP, counter to Curse of Civilization]:   Some genius loci can now become twisted and inverted, due to Sagmi's curse. Hroad cannot simply erase this, but has made it so that rather than murder and destroy nearby regions, towns, local kami, etc. these corrupted loci must assimilate these other beings, permanently tying the other to themself. In this sense, they may form almost a hive mind of sorts, or a single being with many tendrils.

As an example, if Kish-Eru (as a locus) wished to destroy the kami of a local forest, it can no longer do this. Instead, it must conceptually bind that kami to itself, making it a part of the larger Kish-Eru gestalt and inherently connected to Kish-Eru. This does not prevent things like destruction of the forest, just as the existence of the kami in itself doesn't prevent the destruction of a forest. This also does not prevent mistreatment, although the troubles of a hive-mind could cause other problems.

As a note, while other loci with the curse can vary widely from malicious to simply reversed, Kish-Eru - as patient zero - continues to be comparatively unhinged.

 Domains:  Plants (Farming) +2/10

 Current AP:  10
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naury   Small views into the Mortal Lives 

Life is peaceful on the triangular chain.
But something was different about city folk...
There was always a slight split between the truly rural people and the ones living in towns. The Farmers and Ranchers, they are out there and either work the land, or sometimes, raise the dead and tame the greater beasts to do it for them. They where usually loners, only really talking to their family, most time just the youngest of any given farm travel to the towns to socialize, and sell their wares.

The townsfolk in turn had a habit of taking up crafts, taking up how to build greater and more lasting, designing more artistic or creative. Not having to find their materials themself, they could spend more time in bettering what they do. Even the ones who worked outside of the towns usually did so with their friends and neighbors more so then their families. Hunting parties who head out to either reduce the monster populations or wear down herds for food and hides, or Lumberjacks who camp out for a whole season to cut trees and barter with the guardians of the forest to replace what they take, before having the Auroch or even a Giant of the hands they bribe with good foodstuff carry it all home.

The Fishers of course are their own little Folk. Even at its best, sea travel was dangerous, and many of the fishers stick to the coast for that reason. Yet the best fish are found outside, and the most valuable flesh is of the odd leviathan that has grown old and got dragged up by currents it could no longer hold against. Many of them even fight with who they once considered their friends or siblings, as they have proven to weak-minded to resist the whispers of the ocean... Yet every once and again, some fishing village is suspiciously well-off, as if they had stricken an agreement with the sea-folk below the wave. Often, it is the traders that settle in such towns that they claim is the source of their wealth, however.

But... Something is different about city folk...
The word city is not new. Bigger towns have been termed that way every so often before, to many, the terms where basically interchangeable. Yet the people of the chain witnessed something somewhat new. Towns higher in the mountains started to change a bit. They started to get out of their way to combine, bleed into each other, unify to bigger settlements. They started to claim ownership over places that were outside their walls. Some even claimed farmsteads for themself, roping the farmers there to only deliver to them, so other towns had to come there to trade their wares for food.

City folk, it was about growth. Some might not even know the name of their neighbor, or what tailor they buy their clothes from. Things where made more, things where made faster. It was obvious for outside observers: The Cities, its where things focus. Where one is to go if one wants to get around. The centers of society. Even if they sometimes come to blows between each other...


 

Move. Consume. Split.
The live of the the Giant Ooze is simple. A unremarkable creature if not for their enormous size and constitution. Most of them simply move around the jungles and consume plantlife, wounded and weakened animals, or whatever else comes in their way. It is not unusual for them to close in on towns either, where usually the Genuine Loci will try to avert them with their walls of the local bamboo. While it often works, Bamboo is itself just plant life, and a sufficiently stubborn slime will simply press on. Literally, as they desolve what was meant to turn them away to get in to the sweet, sweet rewards inside the town, the houses filled with people, young and old, or stupid enough to fight the Ooze.

Of course, it is not unusual for a Ooze to be slain either. The Empires Metalworking is superior to anyone elses, possibly because of the bones they throw into the forges, possibly just the quality of ores they find. Metal withstands the Oozes well, and a sufficiently sized group can slice away on it till the membrane can not keep up with healing itself, spilling out the fluids uncontrolably, killing of the last of the assailants around it and poisoning the ground for months to come. Groups beside the Empire often venture out themself to slay or trap a Giant Ooze, just to avoid it coming to close to their fields of herbs, food or flowers and consuming their future.

And then there is the ones that strike it well. The Oozes that comes across any town decimated by the Plague. Mold Men lacked the smarts to run, the skill to defend, and the sanity to avoid. When a Giant Ooze comes across such a town, it is a feast that goes on days or weeks, as it rapidly gains the mass to multiply over and over again, as its biology is unable to catch the plague...
Yet, there is no need for it to catch the plague.
The live of the the Giant Ooze is simple.
Move. Consume. Split.


 

 As it sounds in the taverns, have you heard the rumor? 
 A group of people in the north somehow vanished from the word.  As it sounds in the taverns, have you heard the rumor? 
 The Sun-Scums Followers no longer know how to die!  As it sounds in the taverns, have you heard the rumor? 
 There is a woman more beautiful then the coldest of True Ice Flowers, yet nobody can describe her.  As it sounds in the taverns, have you heard the rumor? 
 The giants of the Hands are out to steal your woman and children!  As it sounds in the taverns, have you heard the rumor? 
 There is a continent towards the ███████, and everyone there is some form of Kami-Blessed Spirit-Woman.  As it sounds in the taverns, have you heard the rumor? 
 Something lives deep underground, coming out only at night...  As it sounds in the taverns, have you heard the rumor? 
 That old Hag Beatrice claims her concoctions could heal even the blind, yet she does not want to share with Timmy cause his father rejected her.  As it sounds in the taverns, have you heard the rumor? 
 There is a Temptation that lets you speak to the dead, for free, yet everyone that returned took their life not long after.  As it sounds in the taverns, have you heard the story yet... 
 
 Spoiler: Naury no AP Spending 

 1 AP Left 

Progress:
[Society (Stories) 6/10]
[Ooze (Gelatons) 7/10]
 
Demidos
  Sagmi, Mother of Monsters and Legends –  

Sagmi’s eyes narrow as a ripple of divine energy washes over her, Kish-Eru, and the surrounding lands, sensing the hand of a deity interfering in her work. It seems one of the divine wants to get into a back and forth with her. It has chosen to remain hidden, their working muted, but it creates calm where there was rising tension, peace where at first there was war. At least in the case of Kish-Eru it is too late. The blank woman’s influence is too strong on the Genius Loci, and it has consumed too many Kami. In the last days of Sagmi’s decree, it had begun a campaign using human saboteurs setting the Kami against each other. Now, with each new subjugated Kami its fear and hatred of the Kami grows rather than shrinks. A loophole in Hroad’s decree, from a being quickly growing wily in the ways of the world with each new absorption.

 A patch job, it seems, trying to strangle this city’s rise. Where is the glory? The struggle? Maybe you’ll show me some if I do…..this. 

In a sunken pool far from any inhabitants, in the sucking mud lies a Temptation. A remarkably fair one, as its kind go, but none have reached it and it is starving. Any deal would be something, but no Lolats live here, and humans do not survive the slow death of the all consuming mud. Sagmi reaches down gently, plucking the Temptation from the pile and sharing stories of heroes and villains, first hundreds and then thousands. Stories channeling change and creation through her fingertips until, breathing hard, she steps back to look at what she has created. A new form of Temptation, more living labyrinth than creature. An entrance leading down into a yawning void lined with mirrors reflecting the fears and terrors of mortals. This Temptation still consumes the hopes of those within, but it grants them hope as well – hope of a new life, with power beyond compare. The catch is small, oh so small – simply become who you’ve always wished to have been. Nothing more, nothing less.

Sagmi drops the Temptation in the lost places of Kish-Eru, watching a starving bog urchin wavering at the entrance. Perhaps that might be the next hero of the age. Or perhaps not – there are dozens more. At least one should survive. Probably. And if they do, then they must make the most wonderful stories killing the inevitable villains that emerge. She has time. Perhaps she might make a few more of these new Temptations, just in case.

Oh yes, and one more thing. Sagmi returns to the palace at the heart of Kish-Eru, where a paranoid Genius Loci fitfully lives. The heroes and villains that emerge would make perfect weapons to use against the nearby Kami, she whispers. They’re not constrained by the edict. Wouldn’t that be nice?
 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 
Create Subrace (Temptations) (3 AP): The Abyssal Labyrinths:  A new form of Temptation that lives in the lost alleyways and forgotten places of the world. The Temptation is a living Labyrinth with the ability to reshape its interior to mirror the greatest fears of those who enter. Those who enter rarely return, but for the truly desperate it is a ticket to power and the hope for a new life. Those who exit are changed into Inksworn, as detailed below. This power is open to any race willing to brave the Abyssal Labyrinths. The Abyssal Labyrinth in Kish-Eru is particularly prolific.  Magic (Inksworn) 6/10 
 Create Wasteland Pact Magic Subconcept: Inksworn (2 AP):  The Inksworn are heroes and villains of their own stories – those who enter become what they most desire, but nothing more. At first this grants them mystical powers – all Inksworn are immediately made obvious by their ink-stained hands and the halo of floating ink around them – they can shape this into mundane objects such as walls, weapons, or armor. However their more iconic ability is their Title. Every Inksworn has a Title, from Bringer of Death to Steps of the Silent Wind, tied to their deepest desire of what to become. A title must be either heroic or villanous, there is no middle ground. However, these titles are influenced by the cultural concepts of those who go through the Labyrinth – a “heroic” title of the Empire of the Sun is likely to be very different from any other heroic title. By invoking their title, they can call upon the power of the Abyssal Labyrinths to bring that truth to the world. A title such as Steps of the Silent Wind might grant the ability to turn to wind and back. Each ability is entirely unique to the individual Inksworn. Two Inksworn cannot have identical abilities barring extraordinary circumstances. However, as they call upon their Title, so too it calls upon them, ever so slowly eroding away their original personality until all that is left is a husk of a person, a two dimensional character in a story that has moved on to other and newer villains and heroes. Fodder for future stories.  Magic (Inksworn) 8/10 
 
Razade
  The Stirrings of Life across the First World  

As mana is the energy of the Sun and Moon, so does it promote life. Where the rivers and lakes of mana collected, monsters were born upon the first world. Upon the Hands Outstretched small and easily forgotten spiders grew large and cunning, hunting prey far larger then their own size and The Shattered Star smiled upon these tenacious creatures, the Forge whirring into life to help push them to even larger size. Perhaps even large enough to be ridden by smaller races but certainly not the giants to whom they were still pests.

Second were the prowling creatures of the night. Great cats of the continents feeding on mana rich prey, the heat from their hunger igniting fur until these beasts were like walking stars upon the First World. Flame Tigers knew little fear, hunting alone but for prey that lived with tools. But they were not the only dangers in the dark. The meddling of Gods had effects on the world and as the poisons of war and cruelty seeped into the lands, the mana grew tainted and rotten. This rot was expelled, small green humanoids that worked with a collective mind began to plague the First World. Goblins, many would call them, a scourge on the land for they knew no Faith nor cared for the workings of the wise. Both these creatures only knew hunger and were driven by the desire to satiate it though they never truly could.

Then there, high upon the Tera Whales that reeled in the skies, like the Humans below, another race took their first steps. Descended from the prey animals that lived far apart from predators, the Elves took their first step. Slender and slight, they gazed down and saw a world of cloud yet burned with a great curiosity only a prey animal might for the unknown. An anxious one that kept them from diving without preparation but how the Elves descended to the First World is a tale for another time.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

Roll Over: 4AP

 Create Monsters (Artifact Charge) -Jumping Spiders:  Wolf sized jumping spiders now litter the climates that can support them, mostly the equator, and non-arctic climates. Jumping Spiders are docile enough to be tamed though not tame enough or pack oriented enough to be domesticated without serious work. Many dwell beneath the Hands Outstretched, using string to fish.

 Create Monsters (1AP) - Flame Tigers:  Prowling beasts of elemental flame and mana, these creatures prowl the many continents starting forest fires to hunt their prey. They are voracious and will even hunt sentient life. Flame Tigers are large, at least the size of a real world Elephant and can grow larger if they dwell in prime hunting grounds. Some flame tigers even hunt Giants.  [Life (Megafauna) 9/10]  
 Create Monsters (1AP) - Goblins:  Born from toxins and corruptions wrought upon the First World, Goblins spawn from the natural magics of the world. Viscious and hungry for sentient flesh, they congregate in large bands to take on civilized societies. Goblins may appear as a single being but every goblin is in fact part of a single hive mind. Their bite is infectious and turns those bitten into goblins as well, large creatures spawning several goblins at once.  [Life (Megafauna) 10/10] 
 Create Racial Life (2AP) - Elves:  Evolved from deer on the Tera Whales, Elves are naturally inclined to herding communities and have an intense sense for magical energies. Elves appear as one would expect, tall, slender and frail with sharp ears. They have lost their horns from their deer ancestry but retain sharp eyesight and dappled flesh.  [Earth (Megaliths) 4/10AP)] 

1 - 1 - 2 = 0AP
 
Armonia13
  An Obsession Gone Wrong, Goes Right  
  Mniminych  

There is so much. So much. So many. Many Memories, flooding in. Always new, always more, always needing more. So much seen, so much missed, so many moments from so many perspectives. Hundreds of Thousands of Millions of words written. Hundreds of Thousands of Millions of words to write. So many bats over the decades screeching their stories, telling their tales.  What is a Cult?  When did the Land begin to Live?   Why do the Humans lick us?   Where are the Seafolk going?   How do the Echoes remember?   Who are the Beings doing all this?   So many questions and answers that the truth is lost in the torrent of noise.

It started slow, simple, enjoyable. Twice a year, the bats would gather at his domain, driven by duty and desire to fly to the highest point of the Northern Hand to breed. There as their verminic coitus took place, they shrieked and screeched in their own animal language all the things they saw and experienced, letting Mniminych record every version of every story they told. Then they would fly off to restart their migration. Between each visit, the Bat would walk along the echoes of the other plane, to view the great moments that were nearly lost if not for the one who brought forth this realm. He was aware of the other deities that graced the First World, though Mniminych had yet to directly meet any. Only the vague shadows found in the Plane of Echoes as well as the sudden appearance of new lands and creatures allowed him to know them. It was a joyous, happy time as his halls begin to fill.

But as time turned as it always does, Mniminych delight became obsession, and that obsession began to turn to despair. His....Siblings? It had not been decided yet; whether from boredom, reaction, or compulsion from their shared Creator, kept causing more and more things to happen, more creatures, more perspectives, more memories that needed to be remembered. Greater still were the bats. As was desired, their numbers grew, letting them easily spread their colonies across the world as they flew around it. But as their numbers rose, their patterns changed, skewing the mating seasons of different groups. Soon Mniminych's window of exploration began to close as he spent more and more time recording the tales of the bats, their animal brains unable to truly encapsulate the happenings of the world clearly and eloquently. The writings became more rushed and haphazard, more details lost as the overwhelming noise became too much for even a God to handle. Mniminych was beginning to regret his choice of messenger, but in this daze he found himself, he could think of nothing to do but to continue to listen to the endless cacophony.   Did you see that girl crying?   I saw a worm thing hatch from a bird egg   Those Giants are really kind, I don't know why they have such a bad rap   Who are those two that came in, they aren't bats   They don't have wings, how did they get here?   I saw things like them before, I think one is called Human and the other is Gelaton  

Wait......What was that?



  The Surviving Pair  

The two rested within the shadow of the stacks of writing, panting softly as their bruised and freezing bodies were slowly thawing, relaxing in the warm halls of Akashic. How such a vast space could contain such comfort was beyond their reason, especially given the frozen hellscape they manage to just escape from. They had traversed their way deeper into this mysterious place for what felt like a couple of hours, fear from the biting cold, the constant shrieks and chitters of bats, and the threat of the looming shadow driving them to keep moving, until the exhaustion finally caught up to them.

The Gelaton looked toward the human, the dark circles etched deep into his eyes, the sunken cheeks stretching his skin taught against his skull. She saw the languished body that carried her during the final stretch, the solid frame that refused to let her die. With a heart filled with gratitude and what could be a false sense of safety, the Gelaton allowed herself to pass out.

The Human looked toward the Gelaton, the fluid form of her face punctured by frozen chunks of her ooze, the shining near-translucent skin that seems as of it sweats as she thaws. He saw the soft body that retained it form despite the harsh conditions, especially given her biology. He sighed in relief, thankful he was able to save at least her. The Human watches her as she rests, his own eyes growing heavy as he fights the unconsciousness. Maybe this place is safe. As long as they don't attract that thing's attention...

 "Silence... 

The noise suddenly stops, the stillness becoming deafening and jarring. The Human wakes to a start, the hair on the back of his neck standing straight up as he realizes something is wrong. With the little strength he has left, he looks around him, and sees all the bats. Not once since they entered did they see a bat that wasn't in motion. But now, he sees thousands of them, hanging from the ceiling, from stacks of books and papers, even from eachother. Thousands. All motionless. All silent. All staring at the two of them. Sweat pours down from the Human's back. No animal would act this way so suddenly. Not without a command. And then it appears, faster than he could ever hope to react, larger than what he had feared. Bloodshot eyes stare down at the concious Human and unconscious Gelaton. A wingspan at least 100ft wide engulfs the two in total darkness. There is no hope. This journey offered nothing but despair and death. The man was a fool to think he could save even one friend. This is the end. It has to be. The shadow then spoke, its voice a hoarse screech, as if it had never used it before.   "Who Are You?"   The Human screamed. And then there was silence.

 
 Spoiler: AP Action 

Rollover ×2: +8 AP
8/8 AP
History(Preservation) 12/10
Community(Education) 1/10
Animal(Bat) 3/10
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naury  , raising cities, taming beasts, and odd confrontations 

A new wave of monstrous creatures upon the lands would normally be considered a threat to societies, but it seems this times are mostly over. The small person wearing thick winter cloaks was visiting one of the north-most cities that have been founded on the triangular chain, once a town mainly known for its sturdy rock and as a last stop for foolhardy travelers, it has started to build itself up. Small walls which get replaced by bigger ones as the town grew over the original walled bound away, with new layers forming around like the rings of a tree... Yet this was not exactly natural growth either, or at least, not one that was not influenced. A being in this new City, a Geniuine Loci which Naury made a habit to visit in the most recent times, has gotten a bit ambitious.

As a reflection of the locals, it shared their hardiness and stubbornness, their desire to stay no matter how much the locality seemed to want them gone. There was certainly some bad relation with the local Kami going, even if it is impossible to say who truly started it as the snow blows hard and the mountains try to resist being chipped away for foundations of the forming city, yet the Loci refused to try and subjugate them. Maybe in a twisted form of the local pride, making the are around more hospitable was no option seriously considered? No, it instead stretched far, searching out other Genuine Loci, and tried to form up with them. Farmsteads, smaller villages, even small camps of normally little value have been roped into this ones grand scheme to form something that could be considered of importance in this far of place. And as more it told Naury of the Schemes, the more interested the god became in seeing where it goes... and possibly stubbing it into the correct directions.

Its not 100% clear when some artistic vision has entered the fold, as the styles of the local places converged. One could see what belongs to the city and what not just by looking at the walls, the roofs, even the placement of the chimneys and the slight overhang of the upper levels. Roads have been made of brick and hardened dirt, with signs pointing people to the place they should go, and promising the safety of patrols slaying the monsters that hold the roads. And advertising the dangers that lay beyond them...

 

Somewhere out in the warmth, not to far of the equator truly, a Knight was searching for their foe. Their stead has become weary of the Inksworn riding it, yet there was still little it could do until the Knight inevitable got themself killed. What started out as a mutally benefitial relationship, where the one with the title to long and large for the Spider to remember in full came to slay giants, take trophies, and let the rest rot... Or rather, be consumed by the wildlife.

It changed over time however. What qualified as a Giant to overcome has become more and more vauge, and the Knight seemingly was never quite sane to begin with. From the literal Giants, it soon came to giant animals, to different oversized monsters, to overcoming mountains and now, as the Knight who already was of poor mind faced their final opponent, it was clear even to the animalistic being that they lost it.

The beings arms ripped free with little effort of the web that had been shot at it, as its stone skin repelled any of the slashing strikes made at it by the knights fantastic sword. Seemingly ignoring the attempts of the in comparison puny creatures attacking, the knight seems to have finally landed a devastating blow as they broke one of the legs to its side. Splintering away, a sudden loss of balance started to slip the creature towards the knight, its torso twisting over to see down on what struck it, its arms furiously moving on...

And then, the arms hit the knight, who got stuck on the remains of their own steeds webs, which was the sign for the Spider to take its leave and retreat back into the wild. It will not die for the Knight in a fight nobody would win... Hold by the arms, the Knight got swung around, as the blow done to the leg seems to have been more significant then the giant creature may assumed... Unable to hold itself up anymore, it collapsed downward, its swinging arms hitting the ground first, then the stone skin as it started to shatter atop the Knight, buried by their last foe.

What was left slid down the fields, not coming to stop even as it hit a lake. The corpse of the Inksworn Knight and the false foe they sought out would dissolve on the bottom of it, as so many things before.

 

A stranger and a creature whisper with each other. The creature holds great power, yet the stranger even more. A suggestion was made from the Stranger to the Creature. Someone should rule this City, before its own size makes it slow and sluggish, unable to hold itself. When offered by the creature, the stranger shaked their head, their masked face hiding the amused expression. It has to be mortals, who will stand and fall with this place. Or rather, avoid it to fall all together.

The first would be a obvious choice. A mortal that already ensured the City stands strong, a man of the pike, who with their band of volunteers traveled the roads between the farms and the walls, felling any foul creatures that lay in prey. Yet the mans days where counted. Infected with a plague brought by the very creatures he fought, it was only the intervention of healers and tinctures they applied every day that they where not yet dead and joining the forces of the enemy. he knew one day, his time would come, and the tinctures would fail the aging body... Yet now, he has a renewed hope. A promise that his work will be carried on. A boon of power, not the direct kind, but the social one. His name shall be carried on by whomever he trains and declares his successor, and the work for the safety of the city shall continue in glory.

A less obvious choice was the second one, a young trader who rarely left the city walls. Yet the lady was smart, she knew every name of every of her underlings. They are not quite like the merchants of the coasts, their trade was in the simple things in life. She had control who would have the Grain, the Wood, the Herbs. She was not alone in her control, of course, yet it was her will that won out when disagreements arose. Not at least because her methods where not always clean... Her interest in the cities success was obvious however, for the cities success was her own as well. And it will be the boon of her daughter one day, and her daughters daughter as well. The promise made was as simple as it gets: Things continue as they do, and some ill fates will be averted...

And the choices continue: People that contributed to the cities success would find themself treated better, and some would exploit this as well... But that was a small price for the structure it brought, and the growth of the city.

 

Intelligent and of a sadistic nature, the Flame Tiger creates great collateral damage in their hunt. This however attracted the intention of another creature local to this tropical land. The two beast rival each other in many aspects: Size, Appetite, their bodies pure power to destroy...
Yet one was a sadistic hunter, and the other a near mindless monster. The Flame Tigers are smart enough to usually avoid the Giant Ooze, yet a exceptionally destructive hunt has set this one on a collision course, as it managed to decimate most of the direct surroundings, leaving only one good target to sate the insateable hunger of the creature that stands as its polar opposite of matter. There was nothing to win of this fight for either party, but that did matter little as when both survived, they would be sure to starve each other for prey.

The clash was short, the result predictable. A beast extinguished, a monster burned to death, yet still as harmful as ever. The spot of the fight won't bear fruit for many months, as the alkaline fluids destroyed whatever survived the flames, and the flames reduced to slag what the fluids could not harm. It won't be the first, and will not be the last clash of this kind, rarely survived by either party if it happens, even if sometimes, a victor comes before... Be it thanks to the tigers cleverness, or the Ooze exceptional simplicity.

The largest monsters of Yalasere will have to coexist, be it mainly by avoidance.



 
 Spoiler: Naury AP Spending 
 1 AP LEFT 
 4 AP ROUNDSTART 
 1 AP - Create Advanced Concept (shared with Slintoch)  [Society (Stories) 7/10]
  Architecture 
Where there is Cities there is Architecture. Towns are often lasting, but rarely build to outlive their people. A Family will build their new home and buildings get neglected or picked for parts like valuable nails and well worked wood when their owners die. Cities aim to stand forever. Big, Elaborate, Planed and Optimised. Be it wildly decorated or purely practical, or in some cases, a functional marriage of both. Feats of architecture go from housing to temples, fortress to palace. Everything that requires planing, utilieses precise calculations and different kind of experts putting their little bit of work, art and effort into the whole... Just to not be credited and have all the glory go to the architect or commissioner.
Architecture varies wildly dependent on culture and location, even within societies. The architecture of the Triangular Chain is dominated by mountain cities, fortified to outside threats and often with many smaller fortifications inside, housing people or institutions of public interest. While the exact styles vary depending where you are on the chain, a layout expectant of sieges is common. That is likely a result of internal fracturing as it is a unified fear of the neighbors to the east. Of course, anything that can hold of a Siege can hold of a Monster Attack, especially considerig it is common practice to bring tamed monsters as well... 
 3 AP - Create Minor Utility Artifact  Society (Stories) 10/10]
  The City of the Shade, Dinas Penumbra 
There are many cities forming, but one of the younger ones is the City inside the Shade of the Northern Hand Outstretched. While not literally below the hand, the long shadows of the north tend to cover the city for sometimes months at a time, leaving only a dim light for most of the year. It is a intentional design choice by the founders, as to strangle even the concept of sun worship in its entirety, as the moon spends it much more light in comparison. Smoke raises over it constantly, as it burns a great amount of imported timber to stay of the cold. Yet, it is not without income either, as besides if not maybe even because its remote location it attracts many adventurers aiming to venture in the inhospitable lands for riches of all kind, which the City collects its fair share of as it provides shelter for the ones that return.
Of course this in turn generates a constant flow of different people, a exchange of ideas and stories, and some even claim the bats that travel above it every year sometimes come down to whisper their secrets as well as they hang under the heated roofs to stay of the cold themself.
Whatever combination of factors it is, this place generates some ideas, mostly improvements on existing things, as people learn to become experts of trades they may not knew existed before arriving in Dinas Penumbra, the City of the Shade, the Fortress against the cold, the light and the monsters about... 
 0 AP - Create Mundane Concept  [MUA Charge]
  Nobility 
And with Cities grandiose comes naturally, or possibly in direct opposition to nature, Nobility. How a person becomes Noble differs both from culture to culture, as it does often even from person to person. In some of the Grand Cities, it is claimed a spirit favored a founding family, to raise it and maintain it, and often keep a grip of its law and goals. Others may claim their higher status has been chosen by a Deity itself, a rare but not unheard of act, yet it seems to be claimed more often then it has been the case. Conquerers claim such elevated status as their prize for their risks, and sometimes, a Inksworn lives out their powers until they become a caricature of themself upholding whatever they aimed to do for or with the people.  ________ 
 1 AP Left 

Progress:
 [Society (Stories) 10/10] 
[Ooze (Gelatons) 7/10]
 
Mechalich
 So Afraid 

	“Steady now, bite down,” with careful but forceful motions the elder slipped the cedar block, fragrant to the nose but pungent on the tongue, deliberately so, between Miyu’s teeth. “Hard,” the admonishment continued. “And hold fast.”

	Miyu bit down with the all the strength her jaws could provide, channeled the terrible fear coursing through her body into a that one, singular, focused, action. Eyes stared straight ahead, upwards, to the empty sky. One by one she counted clouds, traced their boundaries, did anything, everything, she could imagine but think upon what was about to happen, what was already happening. She could not, would not, meet the gaze of those sisters who held her down. Nor she dare turn her head to watch the elder’s work as her aging sister slowly pulled obsidian blades from beneath the coals where they had been slowly baking.

	She knew what was coming, knew what was necessary. Truthfully, she did not fear it, not this action. Rather, the thoughts that kept her in the thrall of terror were of failure, of what would happen should this not serve its purpose. Black stone blades gleamed with ready terror beneath the bright sunshine.

	Eyes filled with regret born of the many repetitions of this cruel but necessary procedure, her elder slowly dripped and churned the volcanic glass through a boiling slurry of aurochs blood, herbal extracts, and honey. In this manner was the antivenin necessary to complete the procedure applied to the blades. Thick liquid sizzled and popped as disparate materials wormed their way across the glassy matrix. “Steady,” the Onna healer repeated.

	Miyu found the strength, buried in the core of her body, to bite down even harder.

	Without hesitation, the healer turned and plunged the blades into the back of her right thigh. The whole world, every point and intersection forming reality, reduced to pure pain. Agony radiated from the point of contact, filled every nerve, shook through every sensation until the damage beat against the essence of the land at her core. Born of the forest, she could, had, endured fire before. She would endure it now. Trees lived centuries with black scars upon their trunks. So too could Mori Onna.

	Above the pain there was only sky.

	Swift strokes followed. Infected flesh burned to char, then was cut away entirely until naught but clean tissue remained. That too soon faced the scourge, for the healer painted every surface, every muscle fiber and skin flap, with toxic antivenin that jolted nerves and ripped horrible tremors through the body as the essence of poisoned bovine layered atop that of primordial forest. Sewing came last, silk soaked in herbal effusions fastened into place atop the wound to ensure cleanliness and healing.

	Slowly, ever so slowly, the pain eased. Miyu found her way back to herself, grew into the changed flesh that remained. “Did it work?” she whispered to her elder, the wise healer Kiku, when the strength to speech returned. “Will I live?” The other possibility, the fate that awaited the untreated, did not bear speaking.

	In truth, Miyu knew it must have succeeded. Otherwise, the healer’s hands would have taken up the draught of sleep leaf and poured it down her throat. Those who could not be saved were granted that much, spared the worst fate. None, certainly not Miyu herself, would refuse it. Better that, by far, than the other, unspeakable horror. To return to the land too soon was a loss. To be changed into a hideous thing that feasted upon the flesh of sisters an abomination. No choice at all.

	She asked anyway.

	“You will live,” Kiku spoke softly. Her dark eyes were stone. “The bite was shallow. It should heal well. If you work hard, and the strength of the Kami is with you, you may even avoid a limp.”

	“Thank you, sister,” Miyu whispered back. The best news, her strength gave way upon hearing it and she slipped into sleep at last.

	For a full day she slept, and in that time she dreamed.

	It was a simple dream, repeated over and over, until the meaning could not be missed. A woman made of silk walked through a vibrant forest full of trees, vines, herbs, and more, all growing together. Nothing alone, nothing isolated, bounteous diversity linking all things and making them stronger. Until a threat emerged. A green blight, sickly bright in color, bubbled up from below. Everything it touched withered and died, and in its place produced not fertile soil or new growth, only more green blight. Horrid fluid that burst and spread over and over. The silken woman turned upon this substance, cutting and pruning with edgeless blades. Then she gathered it together in a coiling web and spat poison from her fangs into the mix until it turned black and inert. Even this was not enough, and the remains were set alight to burn away to nothing.

	Over and over this repeated, until the blight was gone, and every time it emerged, even the slightest amount, it was scourged away swiftly, never to be tolerated.

	Upon her awakening, Miyu understood the message. She did not relish the task given to her, but she accepted it. She had been spared, in this way incurred a debt. One that must be paid in blood. “The Spider Behind the Moon came into my dreams,” she told her sisters, the whole village. “It was crystal clear,” she bit out the words to follow, hard as granite. “The goblins are a blight, a disease in animal guise that feeds only itself and gives back nothing to the land. There can be no peace, no accommodation. We must kill them all. I will give myself to this and swear my oath to any who will come with me.”

	Elderly Kiku, the great healer, one of the many who had joined their observed knowledge to the world together to form trusted formulations, test unruly aurochs, and discover the desperate method used to spare those infected all too recently, nodded slowly. “Our ministrations have spared many, but not enough. Healing alone does not suffice. If this must be done, do not hesitate. We will mourn the need but honor the sacrifice.”

	The call was sent out, with Miyu as the first, and many answered. There were those like Miyu herself, the lucky survivors of bites. Others had seen worse, watched blood sisters disintegrate into piles of greenish madness than formed again into goblins anew. Kishi, Mori, Take, Yuki, Onna from across Eresalay swore themselves to this horrific sacred service.

	They crafted long blades of obsidian, slightly curved to enable deadly cuts but not so much as to prevent the potent thrust and bound them to long shafts; weapons ideal to destroy the stunted humanoid bodies the goblins wore. Those with herbal lore among them experimented endlessly, forming ever more terrible concoctions that they unleashed upon test animals until they wielded poisons that would kill with the slightest breach of skin.

They took horn and antler, cut thin disks from the base, boiled them in oil and coated them in resin so they dried hard as stone but light as birchwood. Drilling holes through each, they bound them together into protective coats, sleaves, and helmets. Silk bonded to this scale, back and front, such that neither teeth nor sharpened stick could pierce it, and even obsidian rarely succeeded. As a final preparation, this armor was painted with blood taken from aurochs immunized by goblin bites, such that the very fibers gave off vaporous antivenin. This treatment stained the silk a terrible red shade and gave it the stench of death, but neither Miyu nor her sworn sisters hesitated to wear it.

After all, the silk would absorb far greater quantities of goblin blood soon enough.

“They are less than the least among beasts,” she told those who had given up the peaceful life bonded to the land when at last they were ready. “And if we are stained by this task, we all know why it must be done. Spare not one goblin till come days when the rain and sun are gone!”

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Create Advanced Concept (2AP) – Medicine:  Onna understanding of biology has advanced to the point of unlocking integrative medical practice, including principles such as surgery, disinfection (they don’t have germ theory, but they’ve figured out keeping things clean fights disease), and inoculation.  [Community (Sisterhood) 10/10] 
 Create Advanced Sub-Concept (1AP) – Pharmacology:  Utilizing their mastery of natural history, the Onna have utilized the world around them to produce a wide variety of compounds to both heal and hurt. Antivenom, poisons, unguents, and more are available in the hands of their healers.  [Protection (Cleansing 1/10] 
 Create Organization (1AP) – Bloodsilk Order:  an organization of Onna warriors who wear armor treated with blood. They were formed out of a need to address the goblin threat. The group has settled on extermination as the only acceptable solution. Time will tell if their target list expands.  [Protection (Cleansing) 2/10] 

Domain Acquired: Community (Sisterhood)

Starting AP: 2 Rollover Gain: 4 Spent: 4 Remaining: 2
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naury   is busy listening to many stories in the Plane of Echos, have instead, People 'off' the Chain 

Traveling over the oceans of the first world is always considered hard, and any human living on the triangular chain can trace their ancestry back to the continent in the east. A bloodied continent, the news from there whenever another brave soul survived the journey has always become more dim, darker, and at some point the younger generations even started to doubt it if anyone ariving's histories rang the same, gruesome way.

So boats going the other direction where... Exceedingly rare. This group decided to try the crossing, but they did not want to return to Yalasere. No, the stories circulating around spoke of a different continent, further north, colder, and most importantly, unexplored by humans... Yet.

While finding willing adventurers and capable workers was not a problem for the Inksworn Galotian, organizing the transfer was a challenge of its own. Most fishing villages refused their help, saying that anyone willing to start such a travel would obviously only do so to sink the ships and offer their contents to the ocean. Ships they where having no issue to sell without crew of course. So not managing to scrape together full crews, the few she managed to get would spend a lot of their time on the travel to teach the adventurers on how to manage the vessels themself.

 

The first few days of the travel had gone well, the groups spirit where high as the weather seemed to favor them... But naturally, soon troubles arose. The first thing they faced was a issue with their rations. While they outright overstocked in preparation at least a few barrels turned out to have caught a pest: Simple, small slimes that where hiding between some of the food and consumed it till they filled any barrel they where in to the brim.

Only few barrels where actually infested, but opening them all to check would have increased the risk of the ones good to spoil from exposure tenfold. So on advise of a young healer, they had to fly blind. They rather where unsure of how much remained then ensuring they run out within a week...

 

At the end of the first week, a splashing was heard in the night. Scrambling to the decks fearing the sea-folk may has attacked the boats, the adventurers have faced instead a much more disheartening picture. The warnings of the villages where right: The Fishers that had agreed to help have jumped of the boats to join the ocean, the song having claimed their minds for the final time.

Yet not all hope was left. At the bow of the biggest of the vessels, the Inkborn stood with one of the Fishermen. Seemingly applying no force, she had left her hand on the shoulder of the man larger then her, a slight sizzeling burning away the leather where she touched as the man stood still. Has she told him down, or somehow forced him to stay? He would not tell.

 

In the final days of the seas where ice cold. They managed to hold north, icebergs occasionally seen where they broke of like icicles from the fingers of the northern hand outstretched. Their long shape would remind some of them of the webs of the jumping spiders down south, yet the broken of would turn to their side, floating like logs on the water.

Unlike the icebergs even further north, the only thing that made this logs of ice dangerous was their size. No worry had to be had over hidden parts under the surface, or jagged edges besides their peaks... Of course, that is only the case normally. Ambushing sea-folk, possibly even the same that betrayed them earlier, could easily utilize them as makeshift rams to damage the hulls. Two of the ships would be sunk that day, as the harpoons thrown back only rarely hit their mark. The only reason the last ship was afloat at all at the end was ironically the tip of such a icicle being stuck in the hull, providing its own lift as the lower part of the ship had filled with water and started to peel away.

Traveling back would not be a option. At least not without extensive repairs.

 

As the ice was tawing away, land came into view. Trees, mainly pines and seasonal leafs, stretching in a forest all the way to what must be the western coast of this northern continent. What was left of the group rejoiced at reaching the goal, as the back of the ship finally cracked for its last time. The finishing sprint shall not be easier then the travel itself...

Cluttered on the lifeboat, and makeshift rafts, they started to push away from the vessel in a attempt to escape the downwards flow that tends to carry everything with itself when a ship sinks. Mot of the Galotians choose to hide in empty ration barrels, hoping that if they can hold on to the lid well enough it could protect them from the water around them as they tied them to the outside of the rafts, adding just the slightest bit more buoyancy to them in the process. Yet one Galotian, the Inksworn Lady, prominently stood at the bow of the last boat that managed to escape the sinking vessel.

As if to mirror her, the remaining fisherman stayed back on the bow of the sinking ship. He has fulfilled what he promised, now the ocean can take him with no regrets.

 

Floating towards the coast, the final turnout was rather meager compared to what the group started the adventure with. The Lady, her gel like body having fully taken on the black of the ink, came to explore this unknown land and contact its people. The Healer, a young human man who was not the most successful of his craft, joined to find new herbs and salts, something to push him past the mark of a unremarkable apprentice and towards a well regarded expert instead. Several simple Adventurers, now also decent enough sailors, who came to find adventure... With each slightly different interpretations of what they could find and what rewards may await. A handful of of people knowing their trades. Carpentry, Stone-Cutting, Cooking, the usual. Somehow, even one of the Storytellers, a singer of some kind, survived the journey.

And as they stranded at the coast, a camp was quickly errected. Most simple, but enough to defend from goblins at least, as the smoke of the campfires started to rise over the horizon. The following days, scouts would travel the coast for any drifting wood or barrels, hoping to find some more of their rations or stamp out any slime before they get inland. And of course, a eye would be kept out for the locals. If the stories where to be believed they should be recogniseable enough as people. It is not like the People of the Chain where strangers to strange traits afterall.

 
 Spoiler: Naury no AP Spending 

 1 AP Left 

Progress:
[Ooze (Gelatons) 7/10]
 
Razade
  High Above the Clouds: An Elf Looks Out  

The world was vast, thought Iker. Blue above, white below in an endless expanse. His peoples had long ago learned that what they thought was fertile earth was truly built on the back of docile creatures that seemed unconcerned with their guests. The Elves had taken this to heart, to live in peace with their homes. Other such creatures were clearly present and the Elves of each Tera Whale could only conclude that they were not alone.

Even now Iker could see faint puffs of smoke from what they assumed was another Elf like them, the Tera Whale flying docile and unbothered. The smoke held meaning but also something else, protection from the great eagles that also made their homes on the back of the whales. It was their job to record these messages, crude as their writing may be on the back of bark. They'd seen the message before, in the dreams of their mystics. A vision of land not flying through the clouds but stationary in the cerulean blue. A realm where all Elves could meet and speak, so that the scattered and the lonely could be made whole. A land for the Elves to meet and share and be one. A land under the Sun and the Moon where they might worship together.


  The Goblin Menace  

To be sure the sudden appearance of goblins across the globe was something to be concerned of. Horrible green creatures that seemed to have no language, no desires other than destruction, no drive but to consume everything in their path like child sized locusts would bring any sapient mind to shudder. The fact that the rise of these creatures only seemed to grow larger would be even more concerning as towering earthen hives began to grow near places of civilization. These towers however were only the visible elements of this menace's presence for the earth had to come from somewhere, and below the ground the goblin plague tunneled. No place on the First World would feel the rising tide of this bitter enemy worse than the Empire of the Sun. Where Arcane Magic spoiled, where deeds unclear were done, Goblins grew.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

Rollover: 4


 Create Monsters (Artifact Charge) -Great Eagles:  The primary hunters of Tera Whales, these birds grow large enough for human sized mortals to ride on with little difficulty. Taming these birds however is perhaps easier said than done.

Create Racial Society (2AP) - The Elven Skydom: The Elves of the Tera Whales have begun to see that there are others of their kind not only living on whales of the same pods but other pods. While communication is limited for now, a will to unite their peoples and craft a grand city in the sky directs them, as if sent from some grand mind. [Earth (Megaliths) 6/10AP)]

 Alter Land (1AP) - The Carnal Tunnels:  While Goblins are not intelligent enough to build or create they are clever enough to make hovels and homes. The vast hivemind of the Goblins has directed its spawn to tunnel into the earth, deep and to its roots. [Earth (Megaliths) 7/10AP)]

 Curse (1AP) - Goblin Breeding Pools:  Where cruelty, cannibalism and foul deeds done with magic are most common, Goblins are sure to spawn. Where the worst of these acts are perpetrated, especially powerful and cunning Goblins are given rise to, seemingly directing their fellows as living embodiment of the Hive Mind. [Earth (Megaliths) 8/10AP)]

2AP - 1AP - 1AP = 0AP
 
Zelphas
  Avoidant God Runs Further  

There were too many people.

This was, objectively, good; Telas had placed themself intentionally to tempt, so arrivals of a few mortals here and there was precisely according to plan. Yet somehow, it was too much.

This was also, from a certain point of view, a ridiculous statement; the number of mortals that braved the wastes to Telas were laughably small, not even a blip in the number of lives lived already on this planet. Yet somehow, it was too much.

And so, Telas left... but left a path to themself still, so that their Promise would not be empty, even if it would be nearly impossible to fulfill.

They made the land to fit their desire to hide, and so desire became the theme of the new land. Mists that shrouded reality behind beautiful lies, and a path that opened to need, yet never ended until that need was satisfied; this was the shape of this new land. Placing themself in the "center" of the land--if such an amorophous place could have a center of any kind--Telas began to wait, once again, noting as Temptations stumbled into the misty world and found it prime hunting ground.

The thought led them to thinking of their more mortal creations, and they sent a shard of thought out, something that may move them from their paranoiac exile into a different world.

 Thieves of the Ratum 

The mushroom cave was emptier than they should have been. *Hatched in an Eater's Hand* could tell by feeling the air on her skin, tasting and scenting the damp cave's breath and noting the diminished notes of the Ratum's food.

The new tunnel in the back of the mushroom cave, and the large four-limbed beast that was greedily munch its way through another growth of pale, rubbery mushrooms, was a touch more obvious, but *Hatched in an Eater's Hand* liked to believe that she would have noticed the loss without them.

Sighing out a soft breath, *Hatched in an Eater's Hand* unsheathed her spike, a new addition to her form. Ever since the Deep Delvers had begun to appear, the gatherers had gone armed; it made her hungrier than she liked, and she always felt like she had a cramp now, but it was needed to drive off the Deep Delvers from their food.

The first prick caused the Delver to bring up its head, snarling at *Hatched in an Eater's Hand* with animal outrage. Three times as long as her and nearly six times as wide, the Delver's sleek, velvety fur shed water and dirt with the same ease, and its beaklike mouth looked like a rock itself, broken in half to reveal layer after layer of thick crushing teeth. Many gatherers had fled or cowered at first when the Delvers snarled, but *Hatched in an Eater's Hand* knew better now; she jabbed again, expertly poking her spike into the wrinkled skin where beak met flesh.

The Delver squealed and turned to run, and despite her instructions from the Ratum never to waste time in gathering, *Hatched in an Eater's Hand* did what she had always done: she stopped, straining her weak eyes to watch the Delver go in her light. The creature ignored its original tunnel, running straight for the cave wall, and without even pausing ran  into  the wall, leaving a round tunnel behind it as it galloped away. Straining, *Hatched in an Eater's Hand* looked down, noting the deep grooves the Delver's unclawed limbs had left on the cave floor.

The Delvers were a mystery to the Ratum. They had fearsome beaks, but did not use them to dig, instead swimming through stone and dirt and pushing it aside as though it was not there. They survived on the glowing stones that could power and ease Lifeshaping, but loved the mushrooms that grew in the Caverns of Yl, gorging themselves on them to no purpose. They were a nuisance, but some, like *Hatched in an Eater's Hand*, saw opportunity...

But that was not her place. She was a gatherer. And so, *Hatched in an Eater's Hand* began gathering the mushrooms, putting aside her musings as unhelpful to the Ratum.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 2 AP + 4 AP = 6 AP 
 Weave Plane (3 AP) - Desire Heart:  Desire Heart is a shapeless, possibly endless land of mist and veiled obscurity. piles of stones transform into a kingly palace and then into a nest of snakes as you approach, beckoning figures become capering demons and melt into scarecrows surrounding a feast. Sound is similarly warped and dampened, feeling is strange and blunted, smell plays tricks. Travel within Desire Heart is influenced by desire; the more you want something, the easier it is to move towards things that resemble what you want... though with everything changing, this is an inexact travel method. Nothing grows naturally in Desire Heart; everything within it was brought in or left behind, purposefully or by accident. [Emotion (Addiction) 8/10]

 Create Bridge (2 AP) - Obscured Need:  The way into Desire Heart is simple; a mortal must want or need something strongly, and be in a place where their primary sense is obscured. For most, this means that nighttime and heavy mist are the prime opportunities to find oneself inadvertently in Desire Heart. The way out of Desire Heart, is, similarly, simple: with a clear sense of where you want to go, give up on a desire, leaving it in the Heart. Temptations haunt the Heart, always eager to give a shortcut out of the strange place. [Emotion (Addiction) 10/10; Domain Get!]

 Create Monstrous Life (1 AP) - Deep Delvers:  Feeding on Orichalcum, Deep Delvers are large (10-15 feet in length) mole-like creatures with large beaklike heads that have the ability to shape stone and rock like it was water with their bodies. Despite their fearsome appearance and odd powers, Delvers are strict terravores (who like fungi as treats), solitary, and shy of other creatures. Domestication is possible, but only if caught young and properly motivated through food/treats. [Life (Worms) 8/10]

 6 AP - 6 AP = 0 AP Remaining 
 
Demidos
 Sagmi, Mother of Monsters and Legends – 

The entrance to the Abyssal Labyrinth is now known to the lost and the desperate, and its ever-changing location still eludes the guards of the First City. Two great factions and many lesser have arisen in the city, each led by a powerful Inksworn nipping at each others heels, lesser Inksworn jostling for position in the streets in short but deadly skirmishes. Binds with Fire leads by far the weaker of the great factions, more a group of powerful individuals than someone with true power over the streets. Binds with Fire’s powers are blatantly displayed, chains of flame licking across a Kami of Forest tremblingly leashed to them. Along with a small band of Inksworn, Binds with Fire has stated the wish to become the leader of Kish-Eru, but at the moment his brash behavior has won him too few friends to directly attack the city’s halls of power. The other faction’s leader is as mysterious as Binds with Fire is overt. Little is known but her Title – She who Leads. Her faction towers, as strong as the others combined, and it is only with the greatest of efforts the other factions manage to survive. Despite this, she has remained content to lead from the shadows. She too seems largely dismissive towards the Kami (though not nearly as overtly hostile), taking a far more human-centric approach. The city stands on the brink of civil war, and will fall into it without immediate intervention by outside forces. At least it seems the goblin threat is mostly minimized in these flooded lands -- the goblin's warrens find little purchase in the soaked soils and ponds.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sagmi in the Sky

The quiet before the storm is always the most peaceful. Patience is far from the child-goddess’ thoughts as she watches the storm begin to widen in the city. Instead, she turns her thoughts and attention to the wide band of metal in the sky, encircling the very Sun in dazzling splendor. Though it is too far for even divine eyesight to see, her divine portfolio senses register the creation of countless monsters in those powerful forges. She approaches to investigate, staring in fascination at the rows upon rows of spiders, tigers, and goblins arrayed around her. She gathers her divine power, pushing a small thread of it into the Primal Forge. This certainly would be a useful tool to create foes for her chosen heroes….

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

16 Starting AP - 12 Spent so far + 4 from rollover = 8 AP. None used on this post.
 
Razade
  What Dwells Above, Sagmi: The Sun  


Even for a God, the Sun burns bright and hot, and the Forge so powered by this cosmic furnace is no different. Within the Forge is the presence of something else, equal to a God but not among their number.

    Cease.    

The great engine whirred forth into life and from the Sun, that alien presence arose as if the vast ball of fire itself cracked like an egg, the presence pressing out like yolk. No other God had visited it, let alone tried to penetrate one of its few creations. It was startling, to say the least. Light and fury flashed and the voice rang out once more.

    "Tread not within the Forge, for its power is not for the Divine to command. Terrestrial one, what have you come to accomplish."    
AlexanderML
 
 Originally Posted by KatsOfLoathing 
   “Maiden of Many Flowers”,   she said as her head rose,   “I am Nightshade, Daughter of the Deepest Sea. I would speak with your master, for there is much to discuss.”   
 

The Maiden stood there, looking at Nightshade with a serene expression on her face for a few moments; before giving an ugly groan and fading away into petals.... revealing a mutilated goblin who's glamor flower had just withered. The thing, lacking limbs, stares at Nightshade as it loses the last of its life.

Meanwhile the group that had begged Nightshade to the maiden had made great strides in their escape, the shimmering flowers each wore working to keep the unwanted attention from settling on them for too long. Her mind was set on preparing for the harvest.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 

     15/16 AP 
  
   The Maiden of Glamor:   
One of the three existing flower maidens at the moment, the Maiden of Glamor is Lilia's representative in empire. A believer in the destructive ways of its people she nevertheless is a reformer who seeks to utilize the essence of cannibalistic practices in a more productive manner (crush the ugly, make something beautiful from them). Beyond the scope of what the flowers of glamor may give her, the Maiden of Glamor herself uses her unique gifts as a flower maiden to change how her targets perceive others in a deeper sense.
 
 
  
 
Athedia
 Generations and Tales 

Esran’s tribe had found itself back at the vernal ponds again.  Always time for a celebration.  No young had hatched yet, it was still to early for that and the season was to late for spawning.  He tied small bundles of reeds as he listened to the tribe who was departing told strange tales.  Creatures coated in mud?  Strange Lolats spying?  There was no need to spy, secrets were a form of deception and that would break apart the tribe.  They were no Temptations.

But telling false stories would also be deception, and in that way he knew the other Lolat spoke truth.  He would stay until the next group arrived and protect these eggs from the Mud Strangers.  He had participated in the last spawn and though Lolats had no parents, he felt protective of the generation.  He knew of elders who felt the same toward his brothers and sisters.

He placed the bundle of reeds, tied to look like a small crude Lolat in the growing pile next to the pond and watched.  No Mud Strangers would harm these eggs.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
No AP actions, 5+4=9 AP
 
AlexanderML
   Kish-Eru   

Amid the growing chaos of the city there was Maiden that tended to her garden. She hummed in peace for she knew that she was Adored, whose presence would make any mortal forget to breathe and who’s endangerment could lead to hearts forgetting to beat.

Yet even Adored as the Maiden was she knew the suffering that occurred around her would only increase. Her brow furrowed at the thought, and those who loved her sought to ease her worries.

Hiding in glamor, using lies to misdirect the strong against the stronger, and having certain individuals 'disappear’ did the maiden cult begin to make their unseen mark upon the city.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 
     AP 15/16
  
  -2 Create Advance Concept - Espionage:  The craft of spying and acting unseen is honed in the city of Kish-Eru as they gather information, manipulate opponents, and pursue objectives to try and shape the city to Adored’s wishes while remaining unseen.

Other branches of the maiden cult may similarly use these advanced techniques, they do not share them with outsiders.

 -1 Create Sub-Concept - Hideouts:  These come in a variety of shapes and forms, but the essence of a hideout is a place where one may retreat to to escape from others. The maiden cult often utilizes these to the point of becoming experts at the craft.

Not exclusive to the maiden cult, many communities with flower worshipers also hold those skilled at creating safe places for those in need of a place to rest or gather.

 -1 Create Organization - Followers of the Adored Maiden:  A faction within the maiden cult that revolves around the city of Kish-Eru and the Adored Flower Maiden within. Their desire is to make peace within the city through unseen means, just to ease the heart of their maiden.

Beyond that they believe in prosperity and growth as the means to a better tomorrow, with weeds needing to be extracted from a community delicately instead of brutally.

The Adored Maiden gifts her some of the love from Lilia to her followers, thus some of the organization’s followers are beloved skeletons.

 Darkness (Espionage) 10/10 

11/16 AP 
 
  
 
Athedia
 Return and Raise 

Glikmora relaxed as she set foot on her own soft land again.  The reeds filtered the saltwater off her skin and the soils teemed with life. Much more life.  She continued on through her land until she reached the large swamps and rested her head against the trees.  Spores spread from her palms into the tree itself reading the mycorrhiza network deep in the trees roots.  And the network spoke of movement, movement that was deep below.

Glikmora searched, trying to find the source of the movement but the network did not reach that deep.  She poured more spores into the tree pushing the network further and further until she could no longer.  Opening her eyes she saw the tree itself had been consumed, hollowed out.  Moving to the next one, the same had happened.  The entire network, dead and hollow. Death was the correct course of life, but to much to soon and the land would fail.

She stopped pursuing the movement, she had gambled and she had lost to much of her own work.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The familiar stranger appeared a month after the young had left their vernal ponds.  Many of the youngest hid from her, a tall strange creature who towered above them.  The eldest and biggest of the Lolats barely reached her hip.

But she offered them boons, gifts of whatever they asked for.  And she told stories of the lands across the salt.

 ”There were great mountains without rain, they continued forever in two directions.” 

They had heard tell of this but now, it was real.

 ”A dangerous cult of hunger and flame …” 

They had heard tell of this but now, it was real.

 ”A people who changed to suit the land around them.” 

They had heard tell of this but now, it was real.

And she listened to their stories.

Many were mundane, adjustments to hunting, the occassional disappearance as someone reached the Temptations or the appearance of the large Aurochs.  But she discovered more of her siblings had wandered here and spoken with her favored children.  And they had tales of strange creatures that disappeared into the ground or rocks that came to life to kill them. The Lolats spoke of their desires to see the Chain, to view the world from more than stories.  But they were not ready.  She had seen how farmers had tilled the lands, how merchants had traveled.  But those were on firm lands, dry ones.  Her children were small and the land they lived on sodden.  Her children would need to change.

First she spoke to the largest of the young ones, the ones hatched first in the vernal ponds from the warmest sections.  She spoke to them of the Giants on the hands and how they would be giants among their people.  Towering over the other Lolats, she told them stories of great beasts put to work, of farmers and of warriors.  Their people were small, it was their job to be the strength.  These were the Dona.

Next she spoke to the smallest of the young ones, those born last in the vernal ponds from the coldest sections.  She told them stories of the impossible heights of the world, of the dangers of the ocean and of the need for those who could be unseen and yet see dangers.  They were to be their peoples eyes and ears and keep them moving.  She taught them how to stick to the rough trees to climb and how to use the tougher webbing to slow their falls and glide to safety. These were the Ota.

Then one of the elder Lolats spoke to her.  An injured Lolat, one arm missing, yet cared for all the same.  She was the one who had spoken of the living rocks.  “Smiling One, you speak of the need to return to the land.  But this land is slow to consume us.  You tell us of teaching the Large Ones to puppet their dead as they rot as they must toil to survive.  But we wish to follow your teachings and be given our rest.  Yet if the land fails to consume us, are we not forever under threat of being mere tools?”

And Glikmora thought.  She had given the humans on the Chain the gift of Necromancy as a boon, something to let them survive so her children could one day meet them.  She had cursed the cultists into their slow tortuous death as a warning of what subverting the natural order would do.  Her children needed no extra labor and they needed no warnings.  Glikmora thought back to the destruction she left behind her in the copse of trees and her smile grew.

 “Two days travel toward the setting sun and you will find a grove of dead and hollow trees.  In each tree, lay a corpse.  Do not linger for the trees do not know the living from the dead.  These will complete the process.  Do not bother them for they still live.” 

And so it was, the trees she had left dead now came back to life, hungry and empty.  Waiting for something to consume.

She stayed with her children watching as generations of Ota Lolat, Dona Lolat and regular Lolats were born.  She watched as the Lolats traveled on sledges hooked to the Aurochs and also as their grew.  But still there was a problem.
The Chain was so far from her children and she knew their diets.  They ate live insects and small fishes and snakes that were slow enough to be caught.  Such supplies would be impossible to take across the great ocean.

So she taught them to build, to raise the insects and feed them until they were more nutritious.  How to surround their sledges with a special woven cloth derived from the cocoons of some of the insects themselves.  How this cloth allowed air to circulate and how its light weight added no strain.  How to keep the insects well fed with plants and rotted meat. How to select which ones were to be consumed and which they would keep to grow more.

She taught them to wash the roots of plants and keep them in special sledges designed to use the regular sloshing from the movement to circulate the water gathered from the regions the water came from.  Some of these would feed the insects, others were for growing the reeds and plants to give the Lolats the fibers needed.

One day she thought, these practices might let them create the vernal ponds they needed.  Would let them survive the long journey.  These were  her  children and no harm would come to them.



 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

5+4=9 AP

Create Subrace (1 AP) Dona Lotats: Much larger than standard Lolats, Glikmora separated them to tame beasts and act as the muscle for Lolats before they find the rest of the world. [Amphibians (Bipeds) 5/10]

Teach Mundane Concept (1 AP) Beast Taming: Glikmora took the concepts she had seen during her travels and taught them to the Lolats. She taught them to focus on animals that could haul, not ones that were good for food production.  [Amphibians (Bipeds) 6/10]

Create Subrace (1 AP) Ota Lolats:  These Lolats are smaller than average, with toe and finger pads that when damp are able to strongly stick to surfaces.  The webbing between their digits is thicker and less prone to damage than other Lolats and there is some webbing between their limbs as well.  They are able to use this when falling or in a strong wind to glide. [Amphibians (Bipeds) 7/10]

Create Monster (1 AP) Corpse Trees: Trees accidentally destroyed by Glikmora, they are hollow on the inside.  If a corpse is placed inside them they close up and decompose the corpse completely.  The speed of decomposition depends on the size of the corpse, however it is a sped up process.  Once the process has finished the tree reopens.  Living creatures can still be consumed by the trees. [Magic (Necromancy) 5/10]

Create Mundane Concept (1 AP) Burial Rites: Lolats must ensure their dead are properly set to rest in a way that they can decompose and return to the world.  The surface of Adanat is more prone to preservation of corpses and as it is rather damp the fires needed to sustain a cremation are not possible.  Glikmora has taught them how to bury their dead inside of the Corpse Trees, thus ensuring prompt decomposition.  [Magic (Necromancy) 6/10]

Create Mundane Concept (1 AP) Insect Farms:  Instead of hunting all their food and depending on the regions to have ample supplies of healthy insects, these are large rooms on the backs of the sledges pulled by the aurochs.  Inside are supplies of plants, rotted meat or the other things insects feed on.  When harvesting not all the insects were taken so that new generations could form. [Amphibians (Bipeds) 8/10]

Teach Advanced Concept (1 AP) Sericulture:  Glikmora took what she had seen from the Onna and found an insect who spun a silky cocoon on Adanat.  She taught the Lolats how to make a cloth out of it to use as a lightweight alternative to woven reeds with the bonus of fewer gaps (thus allowing less insect escapage).  As a bonus the creatures who produced the silk were considered a delicacy.

Create Advanced Concept (2 AP) Hydroponics:  To help encourage insect growth,  plants from each region are brought along, fed by a water bath.  Some debate exists over the best sources for this water but it is agreed that the best time to harvest it is shortly before the fall of the Pure Rain as the pure water leads to weak and dying plants.  Hydroponics on sledges pulled by the Aurochs assists in feeding both the Lolats and insects as well as providing fibers for clothes, toys and tools. [Amphibians (Bipeds) 10/10]

Tally:
Water (Wetlands) 2/10
Weather (Rain) 2/10
Amphibians (Bipeds) 10/10
Medicine (Toxins) 2/10
Truth (Deals) 2/10
Magic (Necromancy) 6/10

Domain acquired: Amphibians (Bipeds)


9-9= 0 AP
 
Demidos
 
 Spoiler: Sagmi, Inspecting The Sun and Primal Forges 
What Dwells Above, Sagmi: The Sun


Even for a God, the Sun burns bright and hot, and the Forge so powered by this cosmic furnace is no different. Within the Forge is the presence of something else, equal to a God but not among their number.

Cease.

The great engine whirred forth into life and from the Sun, that alien presence arose as if the vast ball of fire itself cracked like an egg, the presence pressing out like yolk. No other God had visited it, let alone tried to penetrate one of its few creations. It was startling, to say the least. Light and fury flashed and the voice rang out once more.

"Tread not within the Forge, for its power is not for the Divine to command. Terrestrial one, what have you come to accomplish."
 


Sagmi steps back, surprised by the seeming sentience of the Forge. She tilts her head, examining the engine with interest. A presence on par with that being that once swam past her cage in the Abyss? How strange that it should choose to live here, contained within this odd contraption. The device itself is odd as well, for she can sense the traces of divine influence upon it though it claims independence from the Divine.
 
"How rude! How interesting. I mistook you for a fascinating tool to push forth stories, but it seems you are more than just that. Tell me, what is this place? Is there more beings up here like you, as odd and rude as you are?" 

As she speaks she inspects some of the creatures being formed and sent to the First World, walking in the Void and across the Forge, lost in curiosity and ignoring the injunction spoken by the Forge.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 
 Spoiler: Kish-Eru, The First City Reacts to Lilia's Favored Children 

Kish-Eru

Amid the growing chaos of the city there was Maiden that tended to her garden. She hummed in peace for she knew that she was Beloved, whose presence would make any mortal forget to breathe and who’s endangerment could lead to hearts forgetting to beat.

Yet even Beloved as the Maiden was she knew the suffering that occurred around her would only increase. Her brow furrowed at the thought, and those who loved her sought to ease her worries.

Hiding in glamor, using lies to misdirect the strong against the stronger, and having certain individuals 'disappear’ did the maiden cult begin to make their unseen mark upon the city.
 


The First City stands on the precipice of war, but as rumors of unrest spread, so do rumors of a new faction, a peace-loving faction. People speak of the favor of a new Goddess, Lilia, who offers respite from the constant politics of the city. Some few even claim to have visited a garden, flowering and beautiful, although none have been able to provide verification of those claims. The planting of flowers has gone through something of a renaissance, with lilies and water flowers being planted all across the city, and gardening societies gaining traction. Some city dwellers are actively scouring the area searching for this alleged new faction at the behest of She Who Leads, but how much She knows is kept strictly secret. Questions such as  "Have you seen the Garden?"  have become common in the city, though who are agents of greater powers and who are the curious and desperate is difficult to distinguish.

Also rapidly rising are the reports of disappearances, seemingly targetted at the city's most dissident voices. Some say that the city has instituted a secret police, though some of those disappeared include warlike officials from the city itself. Oddly enough, many of the reports of those last seen report them with colleagues, old flames, or other people with whom they share some common roots. One widely circulated report among the city's powerful mentions the oddly sad look in the eyes of those disappeared and those with them, and comments about the sad state of the city.

Binds with Fire is now on the run from She Who Leads, and has been increasingly desperate in his attempts to regain his position. His position is further weakened by the mysterious disappearances of multiple of his most aggressive commanders as well as one of his Inksworn. The weeping Kami of the Forest enslaved by Binds with Fire has begun to wear itself thin, daylight showing through its fading form, and those who are best informed know that Binds with Fire has been taking trips out of the city, seeking a new Kami to bind, a more overtly destructive one that he can hold over the heads of the city council as a threat of war.
Mechalich
 
 Spoiler: new arrivals to Eresalay 

 Floating towards the coast, the final turnout was rather meager compared to what the group started the adventure with. The Lady, her gel like body having fully taken on the black of the ink, came to explore this unknown land and contact its people. The Healer, a young human man who was not the most successful of his craft, joined to find new herbs and salts, something to push him past the mark of a unremarkable apprentice and towards a well regarded expert instead. Several simple Adventurers, now also decent enough sailors, who came to find adventure... With each slightly different interpretations of what they could find and what rewards may await. A handful of of people knowing their trades. Carpentry, Stone-Cutting, Cooking, the usual. Somehow, even one of the Storytellers, a singer of some kind, survived the journey.

And as they stranded at the coast, a camp was quickly errected. Most simple, but enough to defend from goblins at least, as the smoke of the campfires started to rise over the horizon. The following days, scouts would travel the coast for any drifting wood or barrels, hoping to find some more of their rations or stamp out any slime before they get inland. And of course, a eye would be kept out for the locals. If the stories where to be believed they should be recogniseable enough as people. It is not like the People of the Chain where strangers to strange traits afterall. 
 

 Rising on the Coast 

	Moving carefully and slowly, Kasumi hauled her body out of the ocean and onto the sandbar filling the middle of the bay. She kept to her belly as she moved, trusting the tight silks wrapped about her skin to protect her flesh from sharp rocks and shell fragments clustered within the shifting sand. As she moved the surrounding seals, densely clustered near the shoreline, panicked at the unfamiliar presence. Swiftly, they rolled away and slipped into the sea with loud barking cries. Kasumi grimaced at that action, worried it might draw attention, but there was no avoiding it. The seals of the coast had long ago learned to fear the Kishi Onna, and they were easily panicked creatures.

	That skittish nature should conceal her, she knew. If one reacted every time the rotund animals responded with alarm, it would consume an observer’s entire day. Eagles, whales, wolf spiders, and even their own kind could set the seals to flight. Some levels of vigilance were impossible.

	Nevertheless, she did all she could to compress her profile. With her body low, stomach slithering across the sand, she knew it was unlikely that anyone would see her as more than a stringy patch of seaweed, scraggly red strands washed up by the waves. It had worked before. She had been considered a skilled hunter of shorebirds before the need arose to choose blight as her primary target. Steadily, patiently, always remaining within the cloak of the morning mist, she crept forward to the low crest of the sandbar and the clear view of the shoreline it offered.

	The smoke, she noted silently, continued to rise in steady column from the same source point as before.

	Her sisters had watched that smoky pillar for some time. It was no Onna settlement, not even the house of a rare hermit sister gone to live in harmony with the Kami. The sisters made little smoke, preferring enclosed earth ovens for those times they needed fires. Even should they need open surface flames, it would not be left for long. Goblins possessed sufficient twisted mentality to seek out smoke from far away.

	That recollection brought a thin smile to her face. Many, so very many, had been eliminated once the Order uncovered that lure. It had little use now, with most slain.

	Despite the restoration of a modicum of safety, the sisterhood avoided blazes unless absolutely necessary. Fire had become a common feature of the land, thanks to the arrival of the Flame Tigers. They dared not add to it lest burning outpace growth. They had even, at the quiet urging of the Kami, taken to combating some of the small lightning-sparked blazes to maintain proper equilibrium.

	This smoke, it might have come from a Flame Tiger, but the giant cats never slept in one place for so long. Their existence angered most Kami, and if they failed to remain mobile the earth would swallow them up to squelch the irritation of such unruly guests.

	Not Sea Folk either. Kasumi knew their kind well enough, for such strange beings. She had traded with them for many years, until their strange retreat into the depths and the commensurate shift toward general hostility that followed. They sometimes set fires upon the shore or watched lightning-set combustion in fascination when it chanced to burn through the carcass of a beached whale, but they never left the sea for too long. Nor, if they had chosen to frolic upon the shore here, would they have left the sandbar unattended. None had accosted Kasumi during the lengthy and circuitous swim necessary to reach this point unseen from shore, a period sufficient to confirm their absence.

	Goblins remained a possibility, one reason why she had undertaken the effort in the first place, but it was unlikely. The region ought to be cleansed, she had stained her blade red doing just that, and there had been no signs of new emergence. Blighters also generally avoided camping near to the sea. Their kind was incapable of building and relied upon tunneling into the earth like moles for shelter. This close to the ocean, tunnels would flood.

	Poor swimmers, and easily slaughtered by Kishi Onna and Sea Folk alike in the water, Goblins feared the ocean with good reason. To find them here would be a truly unexpected occurrence.

	A single glance at the shoreline camp, located above the tideline in a sheltered cove, was enough for Kasumi to determine it was not made by goblins. Blighters did not construct defensive palisades, nor did they build domes draped in hides for shelter or carve a trench to allow the tide to sweep away their refuse. The camp was both too well-organized and simply too tall. Its works matched a stature similar to that of the Onna rather than the diminutive forms of the green mob.

	This was something else, but Kasumi knew not what it might be.

	There were rafts tied to stone boulders on the shore, and something else, a shaped and hollowed log with a frame attached above floating in the surf. Its nature and purpose were opaque to the Kishi Onna. Further up from the tideline figures moved about tending to the fires. Most seemed to either be roasting small animals, shaping stone, or working with skins. Common enough activities, though Kasumi knew few Mori Onna inclined to the consumption of pigeon, rat, and squirrel unless desperate.

	Her vision could not reveal much detail at this distance, and instead conveyed the need to approach closer. One of the strangers walked along the shoreline, examining driftwood and other debris washed up there, but paid little attention to the waves. Unwise that, potentially, given the possibility of Sea Folk, but alternatively the ocean could be deceptive and treacherous. The Song was there, always, humming away in the nether reaches of the mind. Kasumi’s connection to the Kami, the bright swirling trill and pounding surf thrum of the coastal spirits, easily drowned it out, especially here, in the lands of her bond parents, but perhaps others were not so well protected. Her forest sisters complained of the Song, sometimes, if too long removed from beneath the boughs of their trees.

	Slipping back into the surf with an easy roll, Kasumi swam through the thick kelp forests coating the shallow coast. She kept mostly submerged, only rising to take a single deep breath once every few minutes. Steady strokes powered her across the bay toward the shore. At the inner edge of kelp growth, no more than one hundred meters from shore, she surfaced just enough to bring her skull above water. Nothing more than her mouth emerged above the waves, and the long strands of weed growing from her scalp concealed her among the nearby algae. Just another reddish patch among thousands.

	Blinking away salt spray, she stared onto the shore. People moved about along the thin soil below the cliffs, or clustered by the fires. She counted eleven. Assuming some resting in their crude shelters and others out gathering in the nearby woods, she guessed the total at roughly twenty. Not a substantial number. Nor a threat, should it come to that.

	It seemed unlikely. These beings were very strange, unknown to her eyes, but their desperation was clear.

	They were similar in size to the Onna, and of roughly corresponding shape, especially the few she could recognize as female. Most were slightly different, shifted in the hips and shoulders, and Kasumi supposed they were likely males. That was, after all, how most creatures were divided, those not blessed to share the land as parents. She could not be sure, as these strangers were sufficiently civilized to conceal their genitalia. They used crude assemblies of animal skins to do so. Nowhere in the camp was there barkcloth, linen, silk, or any other fabric. Something else, a thin, oddly fuzzy covering, coated much of their bodies, though much buried under dirt and grime. It vaguely resembled pale fur but possessed solidity only atop their skulls. Elsewhere it was patchy and thin, resembling the skin of foxes with severe mange. She hoped they were not stricken with illness. Pinkish tints to the skin, where not coated in grime, suggested a youthful nature, as if they were mewling babes whose hair had not grown yet, but the bodies were those of adults.

	Could these be Humans? The Sea Folk spoke of such beings, sometimes, claimed the Song had remade them from such a weak and flawed beginning. Wise sisters with much lore of the world suspected a similar origin of the Onna, for no other creature shared the touch of the Kami as they did.

	No such beings lived in Eresalay. Kasumi knew this for certain. The Bloodsilk Order kept watch and relayed messages among the far-flung bands of exterminators. Despite this, she did not foreclose her mind to the possibility of new arrivals. There were lands beyond Eresalay. Strange things washed up on shore after great storms or were vomited forth by leviathans who found them unpalatable. Bizarre creatures even fell from the sky, rarely, when one of the great cloud dwellers chanced to enter its death throes above land.

	Her eyes scanned the rafts and the strange spar-expanded log. Had these strangers somehow crossed the ocean?

	The Sea Folk spoke of other lands, far away, beyond the reach of even the strongest swimmer, but if a log could float in the surf for months, so too a raft.

	She shuddered at the thought. The vast blue expanse of the deep ocean was a real beyond the touch of the Kami. If they existed in those regions, they were either fluid and untouchable or consigned to the abyssal depths alongside the lightless cities of the Sea Folk. Such places, and she had once swum out as far as her strength would dare, made her feel unwell, as if the life drained from her skin. Her heart was tied to the shore, and she had no desire to be disconnected from it.

	But if Humans existed in the absence of such a bond, perhaps they were able to travel further.

	Stone implements, wooden scraps, animal skins, the people of the camp seemed poor, wretched even, to Kasumi’s eyes, and vulnerable. She wore treated silk, carried finely carved obsidian blades, and lodged with her sisters in a raised and jointed cabin with fine sleeping mats when not on patrol. These new arrivals possessed very little and appeared weak from hunger as well. They did carry some few tools of strange form and color, almost like pyrite, that she did not recognize. Something about them made her eyes twitch as she looked at them, shuddered against the spiritual essence at her core.

	Moments later, several others returned to the camp through a crude swinging gate in the palisade and Kasumi’s concerns redoubled. Four beings, three of them those she now assumed were Humans, one greatly otherwise. She, for this being appeared to possess at least a facsimile of female features, occupied a roughly Onna-shaped body, but was at the same time utterly alien. Black as pitch in shading, she also moved much like gooey sap. Watching her steps offered no sense of muscle action, instead it seemed the body flowed from point to point through expanding and contracting as a slug might. Somehow, despite this strange form, she seemed to be capable of speech. There was, at least, a gap in the face where a mouth might be, and it appeared that the others understood this strange being, deferred to her even. Kasumi regretted that she could hear no words over the constant lapping of the waves.

	Staring carefully, the Kishi Onna watched the feet of the strange ink-colored being. Her feet pooled and ripped atop the rocky contours of the cove, the body conforming slightly against the substrate below. This gave lie to the humanoid guise.

	A slime? Kasumi had seen locomotion and bodies like this before. Slimes could cross the sea on logs, floating leaves, or even clinging to the teeth of leviathans. Sometimes they reached the beaches, resembling stranded jellyfish. They did not survive long. Their flesh might be toxic to Onna tongues, but it did not dissuade hungry crabs and sand fleas who tore them apart and slurped up their gooey mass readily. That was good. Beings foreign to Eresalay had no place to live upon its shores.

	Could a slime, somehow, become a person? It seemed almost unimaginable. Kami could twist and shift life, if they focused intently, but only slightly. Such a feat was beyond their mightiest. Perhaps the ashen tempters? They were powerful indeed, as the Onna had learned to their detriment when young and arrogant sisters had dared to listen to their luring speech. Perhaps other, still stronger, beings existed. The Spider Behind the Moon, surely, had such potency, though she seemed little inclined to such blatant actions. Something, surely, had sent aurochs and wolf spiders to the forests, and unleashed goblins and flame tigers.

	The power of such beings was incalculable. Even something as bizarre and seemingly ridiculous as imparting personhood upon a slime – the very idea sounded like a poor jest within her thoughts – had to be conceded as a possibility. This admission only unlocked other, dangerous, questions. This being existed in the camp, and it seemed in command of the others, the Humans. It could not be ignored. The sisters must formulate a response.

	Kill them? She wore the bloodsilk, it arose quickly as a possibility in her mind. It would not, she believed, be difficult. Though these people were taller than goblins, they appeared weak and injured and lacked armor of their own. If she gathered her sisters to strike it could be done quickly and easily, end the matter before it had begun.

	It had the benefit of simplicity.

	Despite that, she found little else to recommend the approach. So far as eyes could see, these people had done nothing beyond cross the ocean. To reward that with death felt disproportionate, excessive. They were not goblins. Their existence did not demand finality.

	Sending them away appealed, simply banish the problem from their shores, but Kasumi swiftly recognized it as impossible. Simple rafts had not carried these people across the seas. They would have starved and froze. Whatever empowered the journey, it seemed they no longer possessed it. Ordering them onto those rickety platforms and pushing them out into the surf, even if the command was obeyed, represented merely a slow death sentence.

	Trade? Possible, but the desolate camp appeared to possess nothing of worth. Certainly, it did not compare to the strange and curious bounty of the depths the Sea Folk could offer. She did not even know if they could communicate. Some measure of the Sea Folk language was known to her, as much as could be pronounced by one with lips, but none of the murmurs carrying out over the waves represented familiar sounds.

	They could not be left alone. It would not work. Villages, Kishi Onna and Mori Onna alike, existed nearby. These strangers would eventually stumble across their fields, driven to wander by hunger if nothing else. Worse, they might draw out goblins. No matter how many the Order slew and how many hives they burned, the blight could never be completely eradicated. It seemed to spring from the air itself. The creatures numbered few now, but they persisted. Should they find these people, they might spawn upon them.

	None, no matter how strange, deserved that fate.

	No obvious solution presented itself. Options churned through her mind as she turned about and swam away, headed to the nearest village south along the coast. Weighty responsibility descended upon her. Her sisters would defer to her judgment as she was first in the field. The choice lay in her hands, terrible with potency.

	Contact was inevitable, but the method escaped her sight. A thousand possibilities turned through her thoughts, each slightly different.

	In the end, as arms and legs grew weary and Kasumi hauled herself out onto shore near the village, she concluded there were only two real choices. A single emissary could be sent as a volunteer and seek the friendship of these strangers, or they could approach in strength behind a Bloodsilk vanguard. Good and bad attached to each.

	Tired, she claimed a half-submerged boulder and briefly lapsed into sleep beneath the setting sun. Dreams, she hoped, might offer insight. No silk woman, spinning webs, or giant spiders appeared therein. Only the land, the endless forests, mighty rivers, and towering mountains of Eresalay flashed through her thoughts. Land whose essence vibrated through her bones.

	Enough to decide. The Onna were the daughters of the Kami. The land itself was part of them. That claim would, must, be asserted.

	They did so. Kishi Onna and Mori Onna from many villages across the western coast took up arms. Nearly two hundred sisters, led by ten of the Bloodsilk Order, marched down upon the palisade, stepped out of the morning mist with obsidian naginatas in hand, and demanded the new arrivals identify themselves.
AlexanderML
  A Crimson Bloom:  

Across the Empire there were a growing number of men and women adorning themselves with flowers. At first a simple tradition among the young, those who delved too deep into the woods; it was nevertheless tolerated for the simple fact that those adorned with flowers were blessed with enough strength to be overlooked.

As the young became the new generation of warriors, those adorning themselves in flowers began to show more strange oddities. They knew one another often enough to appear strange, took meaning from one another’s outfits, and began to carry scars along their palms from their bleeding for the ground. Yet their hardiness and dexterity was again great enough for this to be overlooked… or if not, then the one to condemn them would likely disappear.

Things only began to radically shift when the Maiden of Glamor began to walk the empire. Loved by the goddess, she gathered others who were touched by the goddess’s love to her side, and gifted them with the promises of the goddess and a flower from Her bouquet to show her love to them.

Gathering the most fanatical warriors to her side the Maiden of Glamor thus founded the Crimson Bloom Champions to aid those who held the goddess’s love within their homeland and to give proper bloody tribute for the harvest.

The Maiden of Glamor promised blood was necessary for tribute to the earth, and that the goddess’s love would sprout for those who poured blood upon the ground. Warriors would spill the blood of their enemies, yet anyone could give of themselves to the earth to feed the earth. The earth, thus fed, would produce red flowers and servants for those the earth loved.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 
    AP 15/16
  
 AP 11/16

(Artifact Charge) Bless - Crimson Blooms: These small red flowers are created when blood is spilled on the ground as an offering to Lilia, or through careful gardening using existing flowers in a process that involves a corpse.

Each Crimson Bloom has three petals. When a petal is consumed the target is supernaturally healed as an inner heat rises up from inside, replacing blood, removing fatigue, and speeding up the healing process. While not a replacement for proper medical treatment, it nevertheless is a great boon to warriors on the battlefield or those suffering through emergencies. This does give a minute amount of Lilia's Love to the recipient.

-2 Counteract (Goblin Breeding Pools): Those lands where either Lilia’s Love has sunk in or where the goddess’s cult plies their work the very mana that flows through the area will begin to be tainted by Lilia’s Love. When goblins would be produced under such circumstances they are created with flowers on their bodies, typically looking out of place and strange.

Such goblins are trainable, listening to those who are corrupted by Lilia’s Love; though they cannot perform tasks that a typical d&amp;d mindless skeleton couldn’t. Emotion (Envy) 9/10

-5 AP Create Greater Utility Artifact (Create Organization) - Lilia’s Promise: The genius loci of those afflicted with Lilia’s Love, Lilia’s Promise has become mindless through the growing diversity and numbers of the cult; held together by Lilia’s Love to the point where it has transcended into a unifying expression of the goddess’s love.

While unable to act on its own, Lilia and her flower maidens can call to and utilize Lilia’s Promise to call to Lilia’s love in people, giving them purpose and leadership.  5/10 Community (Cult)

(Artifact Charge) Create Organization - The Crimson Bloom Champions: A warrior cult dedicated to Lilia within the Empire, the champions give out brutal punishment to those who defy the goddess’s love and work to ‘cleanse’ any goblin outbreaks through mass bloodshed and the planting of crimson blooms so that Lilia’s Love may grace the land.

4/16 AP 
 
  
 
Razade
 
 Originally Posted by Demidos 
 Sagmi steps back, surprised by the seeming sentience of the Forge. She tilts her head, examining the engine with interest. A presence on par with that being that once swam past her cage in the Abyss? How strange that it should choose to live here, contained within this odd contraption. The device itself is odd as well, for she can sense the traces of divine influence upon it though it claims independence from the Divine.
 
"How rude! How interesting. I mistook you for a fascinating tool to push forth stories, but it seems you are more than just that. Tell me, what is this place? Is there more beings up here like you, as odd and rude as you are?" 

As she speaks she inspects some of the creatures being formed and sent to the First World, walking in the Void and across the Forge, lost in curiosity and ignoring the injunction spoken by the Forge. 
 

  The Shattered Star, Sagmi: The Void  
    "There is but one here. Your eyes cast to a trinket. Gaze upward for you speak not to a mere tool but the Sun. There are no beings like this one at all. It stands alone, its function to light the creations of the Divine."    

The Shattered Star gleamed within the vast and tumultuous flame that heated the First World and the Void.

    "This trinket is the Forge, where first life was made. Where life, should that below cease, can create again. To keep the cycle. Life, death, and life again. Endless under the light of the Sun, never to fear the acts of capricious destruction, never to fear the acts of uncaring protection. Merely a function for that is the duty we hold for the Divine. Do not tread or tamper, to do so risks this function. This is not a place for the Divine, no place so lowly can maintain itself in the face of The Creator's Children."    
DasIrrlicht
 People off-the-Chain  , first contact 

 
 Originally Posted by Mechalich 
 Enough to decide. The Onna were the daughters of the Kami. The land itself was part of them. That claim would, must, be asserted.

They did so. Kishi Onna and Mori Onna from many villages across the western coast took up arms. Nearly two hundred sisters, led by ten of the Bloodsilk Order, marched down upon the palisade, stepped out of the morning mist with obsidian naginatas in hand, and demanded the new arrivals identify themselves. 
 

It was not going to bad since the landing. Or at least, not considerable worse then expected. The goblin threat seems to be exceptionally rare in this land, in fact they can not even be sure it exists in this land at all. The Palisades have seen little to no action since they landed, and even the little moat/trench/trash-chute has been mostly accosted by some rats (a pest they are unsure they brought or just happens to exist everywhere already... At least its some extra smoked meat the Galotians under the group have little issue with. The delicious pigeons where much more to the human tastes in comparison, as well as the fish they occasionally caught whenever trying to get some rest.).

The huts were just quickly erected things, mainly using hide to cover against whatever weather comes from above, and the campfire has gone and turned into a proper fire pit that could be kept burning day &amp; night, to heat more when something is being prepared and let cool of to a mere ember when nothing hangs above it... Yeah, they have to admit, it is a bit pathetic, even compared to the lumber camps over on the chain. But given what they all lost with the ships, it works.

Last evening had gone exceptionally well. The scouts managed to guide a small group of Aurochs back to the encampment, their strength would be of much help to collect some better materials from further away, and create some proper housing soon enough. And should stretching the leftover rations fail, they are hulking beasts of meat afterall. Trough slaughtering them would be a waste at this point. Yet... There was a feeling of being watched. Especially for the humans it was clear, something more intelligent had their eye fall on them...

 

And the next morning, the feeling would be more then just confirmed. One of the Galotians, exceptional small in stature and of the more typical cyan-ish tint, spotted the reflections of the volcanic glass weapons out of the mist before they could spot the first person wielding them. However, that was enough to ring a small bell (One of the ships bells, to be exact, that has been swept ashore before and was quickly mounted for the outlooks). It was just a few shakes, enough to wake up the rest of the camp but no ongoing ringing. Its not certain that this was a attack, it may just be caution. The proximity of this continent to Yalasere may left them scarred from a previous encounter?

Regardless, as the force approach, a number of people take up defensive positions atop the palisade. Some adventurers with bows and crossbows, as well as the occasional Pike. Of course, the little metal working the weapons have is on the cruder side unlike the empires perfection of the craft, but Iron is resilient. Even the crude ones are still hard and sharp. At least two have gone out of their way to don some currently-ill-fitting breastplates and helmets as they take positions atop the gate. Most of the working folk in turn keeps themself in the safety of the huts, except one or two humans that stick with the Aurochs in case they get scared and attempt to storm away.

The gate opens, slightly, to let out a few people without revealing to much behind the walls. The black-stained Gel-Person, at the front, lacking most facial features beyond the occasionally forming hole used to pronounce things, apparently unarmed. Flanked by a somewhat armored human and a near water-coloured Galotian who seems to have some plates slid beneath what other species would consider the skin, both carrying swords of different make, the human with a shield and the Galotian (so concentrated on their upper body at the time that the legs have flown into something of a amorphous blob, something that is not to uncommon for their kind) apparently intend on dual-wielding theirs if it comes to a fight... A fight that would obviously not end in the groups favor if it was to break out.

The demands of the Onna where voiced, the language was... Hard to understand for the people of the chain. But there was some common root, certainly. The Humans and Onna may have some past in common neither of them really knows. The human whispers something into the Ladys... Not ear, they do not seem to have any, but the side of the head. And one can hear, slightly, an awnser by the lady, before she opens to talk to the armed visitors come together of the coast.

 

She speaks slowly, with purpose to allow the Onna to think about the words a bit, and reach their conclusion about similar terms in their language.
They are from a group calling itself 'People of the Chain', referring to some mountain formation to the west, and have crossed the ocean in larger 'ships', until some Sea-Folk took offense to that. They have come because they heard stories of this continent existing, some strangers carried the word and it since then has been retold until it was left as a myth. Curiosity drove them, and they wanted to see the sights, the dangers, and specifically: The People of this to them foreign Continent.
There is also a small voicing of interest on what the visitors wear. Cloth even slightly comparable is rare where they come from, usually just left to the clothes of people of higher standing, or purposes as the sails of a 'Ship' or Mill. Leathers are the primary way the humans tend to cloth themself at home. And they excuse themself for their disheveled appearance. The travel has not been kind to them.

On a unvoiced but obvious note, the Galotians of the group do not seem to bother much with actual clothing, possibly because prolonged contact with most organic materials starts to damage it. But it is not uncommon for them to instead have their bodies formed in a way that it resembles some outfits more so then skin. The Ink-Black Lady for example seems like they wear a coat of the same material, yet any even surface level examination reveals that the coat is literally a part of her.

 
 Spoiler: Naury no AP Spending 

 1 AP Left 

Progress:
[Ooze (Gelatons) 7/10]
 
Athedia
 Approaching Danger 

Glikmora explored her land, investigating the changes that had happened during her wanderings.  She saw the strange rock creatures, narrowly avoiding a boulder thrown at her own head.  She saw creatures following her children covered in mud and reeds.  Fewer now the Lolats had moved to the sledges but still present.  But what concerned her the most were the small green creatures she found washing onto Adanats shores.  These creatures had none of the markers of the creations she had seen during her travels.  The sledges were not enough, other peoples were coming to Adanat.  The ocean was their path.  The Lolat's would need another.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
Tally:
Water (Wetlands) 2/10
Weather (Rain) 2/10
Amphibians (Bipeds) 10/10
Medicine (Toxins) 2/10
Truth (Deals) 2/10
Magic (Necromancy) 6/10

No AP remaining
 
Omoikane13
 Worldly Gifts Given 

Kish-Eru was tumultuous. Stoked. Lilia’s influence had been a much-needed peaceful injection, but through shadowed streets and clumps of reeds, a pair of green eyes watched on with dissatisfaction. Hroad wanted these sorts of places to be protected, cultivated, grown. Embodying a narrative hadn’t butted up against this, and neither had any of Lilia’s touches of love and plants, but the rest of Sagmi’s annoying nudges would persist and snowball if left alone.

Independent power would be key to topple the locus of Kish-Eru. Previously, Hroad had believed it wisest to tie the power of mortals to what bound them - the land they lived on and the communities they built on it. Further divine meddling had made the naivety of this evident. Well, naivety, and also Hroad’s own growth. They had been rather adherent to the ideas of the law in the early days of the First World, but had since cultivated a more circumspect, practical view.

As others had, Hroad had been planning to weave a copy of the world, some little getaway from the interference. But that idea could be reworked, reshaped, like a winding plant being grown against a bamboo cane.

====

The initial plan had been the divine equivalent of a small garden, a fertile and flourishing world where plants and animals could thrive, avoiding the ravages of some of the more choice creations on the First World.

Instead, Hroad would grant that getaway to all who could think. If sapient, it would become able to contain its own little plot of land, its own inner world that would make it almost an inverse Kami. This world would be both representation of the being’s existence and something that they could shape. It would be somewhere they could go, retreating into their own world

Most often, this inner world would resemble the environment a being was most used to and most familiar with; Lolat inner worlds were often wetlands, while Lilia’s worshippers tended towards meadows and fields of flowers. Some, the worst of the Empire of the Sun, had blasted deserts inside them.

Whatever it looked like, this world would be a place away from prying eyes, mortal or immortal. It would be a lifeline, a garden, a place to hide, a place to luxuriate. It would be a place for things to grow, be it the owner or the contents.

Hroad hoped that those living in Kish-Eru would be able to have an escape. That they would be able to escape their addled ruler, their dangerous city, that they would be able to escape Lilia’s cult if they wished. That they would be able to grow and cultivate plants, in a way that some would have lost when their local Kami was subjugated. That they would be fortified against the meddling of others.

====

In addition, a fresh resource. Many mortal beings seemed to live in either very wet or very dry areas. This provided some unique challenges to their ways of life. Cultivary had been made for the very purpose of helping in this realm, and Hroad had received a spark or two of inspiration.

The first, something to act in place of terrestrial animals that could be farmed. This was nonviable in wet locales like Kish-Eru, and made it difficult to obtain certain foods and materials. Hroad intended to create a substitute. A lotus, the size of the average mortal domicile, and with petals that were huge and leathery. A strong, flexible, fast-growing material, something that could be the foundation for industry, building, for progressing civilization. And accessible to many through the magic of Cultivary as well, helping prevent any messy economies developing.

The second, something that would hopefully balance out the many harsh deserts that had cropped up. Cacti were marvelous plants, fleshy cylinders that held impressive amounts of moisture, and it was this ability that Hroad wished to amplify. Increased size would obviously be a benefit, but it would also help to give them an extra method of storing water. It would practically vanish if stored in or under the ground, and so there was one place left - the sky. The newly enhanced cactus would be able to create massive clouds of water, and also reverse the process, absorbing those clouds back into itself. Hroad could only hope that it would do some good for the desert dwellers and climate.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Create Mythical Concept: Inner Worlds [4 AP]:  Every sapient being (as a rule of thumb, anything made with Create Race or that would be in that bucket) now has an inner world.
 
  This world grows over time. This growth is typically, though not always, tied to self-conception. The stronger an identity, the larger that aspect of the world. 
  An inner world represents the creature who owns it. A Lolat would have an inner world of wetlands as a foundation, for example. 
  Inner world representations vary depending on outer changes. Outer changes can also be prompted by changes in the inner world. An inner world with more plants and animal life could translate into a more nurturing personality. 
  A being can physically transport itself to its own inner world whenever it wishes. It can return to the physical world within a small radius of where it left. This radius varies with the size of the inner world. 
  Items can be brought in and out of an inner world, but this is a notable effort. It is also a further effort for every "conceptual unit" away from the main identity of the inner world that the item is. A nurturing person who grows plants in their inner world would find less difficulty moving them back and forth, but would struggle storing something like a chunk of iron. 
 

I am still unsure of some of the details of this concept, but will aim to rectify any discrepancies or disagreements before they become impactful.


 Create Monster: Boverine Lotuses [1 AP]:  Able to be made with Cultivary, Boverine Lotuses are nearly the size of the average house. Their petals are leathery and pliable, and are able to function as a leather substitute, though still resemble crisp white lotus petals. Their leaves are thick and nutritious, and also serve as a reliable food source.

 Create Monster: Cactonimbus [1 AP]:  Able to be made with Cultivary, Cactonimbuses are massive cacti. Roughly the dimensions of a sequoia, they are able to store water in the form of massive clouds that gather at their peaks, and are also able to then retrieve that water into themselves.

 Domain Gained: Plants (Farming) 
 Remaining AP: 8 
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naury  , slippery steps 
A thing Naury has noticed in recent times was worrying to them. Every time they came to see what the mortals of the first world did in person, it seems to be harder to stay with them. Like something was deliberately pushing them away, forcing them back towards the plane they created so long ago. Naury has spend some time studying the effect, but it seemed not possible to strengthen or weaken it, until it clicked. The changes and influence they had over this first world must have been noticed by... Some force. A force stronger then the divine. Possibly, the will of the first world itself? It was there already as far as Naury can remember back afterall. And the fact that it could do this was... Worrying.

Yet Naury has always hidden their face behind something, a mask, a shadow, anything. It should not be impossible to hide it from the first world either. Yet, the divine is hard to suppress. No matter what they did, it seems the first world would know, so they instead turned to the Plane of Echos to find a solution. A simple representative would not do, there was no fun in not coming in person. Entering a mortals dream was fleeting, and technically, they would not even need to leave here for that. It was unsatisfying. Yet, the concepts may can be combined to something functional.

The Echo-Servants spend most of their time observing and learning about the lives of the People of the First world, be it by watching souls and echos, or even conversations with the remembered... Given, the ones stuck with the Echo-Version of Yalasere have to deal with often partly consumed souls, a not exceptionally envious task of puzzling together their displays from a bunch of half-information. But regardless, Naury took one of the Echo-Servants and started a small experiment. The things they have done on the first world did not suffer from the same rejection as the divine did, so how far can one push it? How much of 'Naury' will that fundamental plane of existence tolerate?

 

The Person appeared out of apparently nowhere, at the gates of a city, carrying an arrangement of things. Herbs, bottled fluids, salts, even rare true ice flowers that should not even exist on this area of the chain. Seemingly a Gelaton of some kind, they unusually for their kind where wearing heavy robes, and had a mask slipped over their face as they headed over to the local healer, where they took residence in their little workshop.

The tables, covered with tools and devices, many strange to even the people working here. It was a going to be some simple demonstrations, as they put on a incense to deal with the ensuring smells of the process.  "We have left so many things for you to use. Yes, even their siblings have done so. Yet it seems few have come to grasp the potential they left you with."  The voice echoed a bit, like it was not spoken as much by one person, and only few people heard them talk as the devices started to do their work, and boil away on some fluids and mixtures.

 "This is just a demonstration of course, We expect you to come up with your own experiments soon enough."  The 'Gelaton' added more ingridients to the mix, minerals from deep caves of the mountains and some more heat as they burned certain salts, as evening slowly has fallen over the still busy plaza. Now, the windows of the healers little workshop stood out, as many of the fluids kept a certain glow to them any of the ingredients simply did not possess. Working on, and occasionally giving the owner of the place some orders they would not think about disobeying, nearly the whole night would pass...

And as a result, some potions where created, many different kinds, all going beyond what the healers herbal and blood mixtures archived or could claim to archive before. From simplest mending of wounds at speeds the eye can barley watch happen, and sources of light seperated of sun and flame alike, to creations that would change your skin to be more resistant to force or even temporary grant you boons like you would normally have to make a pact with a temptation with... Speaking with Animals, Flight, changing a metal into another, or Charming someone who by all means should hate you. Of course, most of the more advanced ones would soon be forgotten again, waiting to be rediscovered, as the owner of the shop had little time to take notes as the cloaked stranger did their work. But there was enough memory and examples left to learn from. It will only be a matter of time.

 

Many Echo-Servants had gathered around while Naury did their experiment with re-entering the first world in a body it is more comfortable with, and a number of them even noticed that Naury seemed to act different as they spend the night away. Like whatever they have witnessed was not quite their creator, but a mixture of some kind, a bit of Naury and a bit of something else. Something else turns out to be one of their own, appearing back in the Plan of Echos as the experiments concluded, and slightly confused of the whole experience, as their memory seems to have massive gabs where the details should be.

Yes, the one used as a Vessel could not fully comprehend what had happened, yet they infulenced the Envoy non-the-less, as fragments of their personality seemed to have been intertwined with Nauries control for as long as they existed as the Envoy. For the god, it was not a full success. But it worked. Interacting with the people of the first world, more or less directly, was not of the table when the day would come and the plane refused to grant them entry.

 
 Spoiler: Naury AP Spending 
 1 AP LEFT 
 4 AP ROUNDSTART 
 3 AP - Create Avatar  [Ooze (Gelatons) 10/10]
  Envoy from the Echos 
The Echo-Servants help Naury out in the plane of Echos, naturally. However, as Naury feels the First World rejecting their presence on it more and more, the Echo-Servants need to fill in a new role. Given a small, conscious upkeep of Nauries energy any given Echo-Servant can be transported to the first world, and theoretically, other planes to act as Naury themself. Their mind is suppressed during the whole ordeal, yet still influences how the Envoy acts as Nauries concentration suffers from 'being in two places at once'. As a result, no Envoy is 'pure' Naury, and no Envoy is exactly like another. Being a envoy is a service, and they are returned to the Plane of Echos once they fulfilled their tasks. Currently, only one Envoy from the Echos can exist at a time.
The Envoy can take nearly as many forms as Naury, but will on contact always reveal its Ooze nature. While they hide their faces just as much as their creator and shared mind does, it is not unusual for it to be imperfect and reveal some fraction of a face behind the cover.  2 AP - Create Advanced Concept  (Shared with Lilia, the Flower Maiden) [??? (???) 2/10]
  True Alchemy 
It was time to give the people some new ways to utilise the many, many ingredients and tools left to them by gods all around. Alchemy is a Art just as much as a Science, and a dangerous one at that. Blood still can play a role just like in the early concoctions, but the complexity has ramped up tenfold. With the right ingredients, and right circumstances, anything can react with anything. Differing parts of herbs, salts pure, heated, or even burned to ashes, essences of creatures directly distilled out of their very blood or specific organs, ores of Orichalcum and shards of True Ice created in processes itself. Oceans Water and times spend settling in the cold dark of the ground, and fragments of plants raised by Loci or left for open in the indirect light of the moon for multiple nights...
Yes, the Processes of Alchemy are as different as they can be. the one thing they do have in common is that, if performed correctly, the results will be the same every time. No matter what abilities the Alchemist or even user posses otherwise.
However, the early history of alchemy was badly documented, and more then once, knowledge has been lost in fires just as fast as it was gained. For it to truly take permanent hold will tak time. Some of the most common and best documented recepies are creations of healing potions able to fix broken limbs and torn flesh, antidotes that suppress many more common toxins (Like that of bats). Other exceedingly common ones are acids and liquid that enflames itself for hours on end without spreading onto anything else, and the plenty of lab-explosions that are yet not useful for they tend to remove their own records on how it was archived.
 At the current time, the Concept of True Alchemy is limited to the People of the chain and members of Lilias cult.   ________ 
 0 AP Left 
 1 MUA Charge 

Progress:
 [Ooze (Gelatons) 10/10] 
[??? (???) 2/10] Will be decided by the next post of mine to what I attribute that.
 
Demidos
 
 Originally Posted by Razade 
   The Shattered Star, Sagmi: The Void  
    "There is but one here. Your eyes cast to a trinket. Gaze upward for you speak not to a mere tool but the Sun. There are no beings like this one at all. It stands alone, its function to light the creations of the Divine."    

The Shattered Star gleamed within the vast and tumultuous flame that heated the First World and the Void.

    "This trinket is the Forge, where first life was made. Where life, should that below cease, can create again. To keep the cycle. Life, death, and life again. Endless under the light of the Sun, never to fear the acts of capricious destruction, never to fear the acts of uncaring protection. Merely a function for that is the duty we hold for the Divine. Do not tread or tamper, to do so risks this function. This is not a place for the Divine, no place so lowly can maintain itself in the face of The Creator's Children."     
 

“Ahh, there you are.” A nonplussed Sagmi turns her eyes to the Sun. “You are the first of the oldest I’ve met, but you seems to hold yourself apart from the divine. How curious. I do like your trinket very much — it ensures life will never grow stale, and new stories will always be emerging. But do you not wish to come and walk among the people and watch their great acts of heroism and treachery? Surely it grows lonely up here. Come to the earth, walk in my city - watching from afar is no substitute for living the adventure yourself!”


 
 Originally Posted by Omoikane13 
  Worldly Gifts Given 

The initial plan had been the divine equivalent of a small garden, a fertile and flourishing world where plants and animals could thrive, avoiding the ravages of some of the more choice creations on the First World.

Instead, Hroad would grant that getaway to all who could think. If sapient, it would become able to contain its own little plot of land, its own inner world that would make it almost an inverse Kami. This world would be both representation of the beingÂ’s existence and something that they could shape. It would be somewhere they could go, retreating into their own world

Hroad hoped that those living in Kish-Eru would be able to have an escape. That they would be able to escape their addled ruler, their dangerous city, that they would be able to escape Lilia’s cult if they wished. That they would be able to grow and cultivate plants, in a way that some would have lost when their local Kami was subjugated. That they would be fortified against the meddling of others.

====

In addition, a fresh resource. Many mortal beings seemed to live in either very wet or very dry areas. This provided some unique challenges to their ways of life. Cultivary had been made for the very purpose of helping in this realm, and Hroad had received a spark or two of inspiration.

The first, something to act in place of terrestrial animals that could be farmed. This was nonviable in wet locales like Kish-Eru, and made it difficult to obtain certain foods and materials. Hroad intended to create a substitute. A lotus, the size of the average mortal domicile, and with petals that were huge and leathery. A strong, flexible, fast-growing material, something that could be the foundation for industry, building, for progressing civilization. And accessible to many through the magic of Cultivary as well, helping prevent any messy economies developing

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Create Mythical Concept: Inner Worlds [4 AP]:  Every sapient being (as a rule of thumb, anything made with Create Race or that would be in that bucket) now has an inner world.
 
  This world grows over time. This growth is typically, though not always, tied to self-conception. The stronger an identity, the larger that aspect of the world. 
  An inner world represents the creature who owns it. A Lolat would have an inner world of wetlands as a foundation, for example. 
  Inner world representations vary depending on outer changes. Outer changes can also be prompted by changes in the inner world. An inner world with more plants and animal life could translate into a more nurturing personality. 
  A being can physically transport itself to its own inner world whenever it wishes. It can return to the physical world within a small radius of where it left. This radius varies with the size of the inner world. 
  Items can be brought in and out of an inner world, but this is a notable effort. It is also a further effort for every "conceptual unit" away from the main identity of the inner world that the item is. A nurturing person who grows plants in their inner world would find less difficulty moving them back and forth, but would struggle storing something like a chunk of iron. 
 

I am still unsure of some of the details of this concept, but will aim to rectify any discrepancies or disagreements before they become impactful.


 Create Monster: Boverine Lotuses [1 AP]:  Able to be made with Cultivary, Boverine Lotuses are nearly the size of the average house. Their petals are leathery and pliable, and are able to function as a leather substitute, though still resemble crisp white lotus petals. Their leaves are thick and nutritious, and also serve as a reliable food source.

 Create Monster: Cactonimbus [1 AP]:  Able to be made with Cultivary, Cactonimbuses are massive cacti. Roughly the dimensions of a sequoia, they are able to store water in the form of massive clouds that gather at their peaks, and are also able to then retrieve that water into themselves.

 Domain Gained: Plants (Farming) 
 Remaining AP: 8 
 
 
 

Kish-Eru, Absorbing Hroad’s and Lilia’s influence

Boverine Lotuses. It seemed such a simple concept, but in the water soaked grasslands of Kish Eru they were something that could not be replaced or overstated. The ability to simply grow nutritious food, armor and clothing ushered in a new Era of prosperity in the city, where even the poor who could afford nothing could have a Lotus roof over their heads, and food to spare. They were a stabilizing force, but stabilizing forces only ever support the status quo. Without additional backup Binds With Fire was rapidly brought under control and imprisoned in the newly built underwater prisons, from which escape was extremely difficult, and his faction brought to heel by the will of She who Leads. Accepting that the Inksworn represent a new fact of life, the city issued an official verdict that She Who Leads will form a new council with the city, the Council of Five, consisting of herself, one representative from the new and growing flower faction, the city’s genius loci to represent the Kami, and the most powerful hero and villain factions in the city. She Who Leads still chooses to hide her face, speaking through intermediaries that are almost surreally prepared with answers to any questions they are asked. The Inksworn are still relatively new, and only a very few, perhaps those who have the distant connections to have heard a story about a Inksworn who jousted against giants, have the presence of mind to wonder if She Who Leads is using her natural abilities or leaning very, very heavily into her power, and if the second, what it might mean to have a city led by an Inksworn lost to their own Title…

The Council of Five begins to send out scouts in shallow drafted boats to explore the grasslands as well as the jungles. Some brave souls set out towards the ocean edge — from the waters come life and trade, and it would be foolish to miss out. After all, it is important for any growing city to know of their surroundings, and their neighbors.
Mechalich
 Treaty Port 
	Kasumi found she did not like these strange people from across the sea. They were bizarre, crude, and smelled of death. This was unfair, probably, but no amount of self-awareness served to banish the impulse. The strange pitch-shaded slime-woman, who resembled mold compressed into the form of a person, seemed to talk past her, speaking as if comprising a treatise as opposed to making conversation. There was something fundamentally odd, or perhaps damaged, about her, as if she saw a different world than everyone else.

	The claim that they had crossed the sea, somehow, in great vessels, rafts propelled by wind, was difficult to accept, but upon further consideration not that unreasonable. They must have come from somewhere, and there was evidence of salt damage and barnacle growth upon what remained. Perhaps it was possible, though why anyone would want to cross the sea remained unclear. Surely not to attack. If the Sea Folk could harm them so, what chance could they have in giving battle?

Trade? They seemed interested in the clothing of the sisters. That made sense, to wear dead animals was something only the desperate did. But what could these visitors offer? Certainly not their simplistic woodworks. The strange materials that they carried as weapons? It must be that.

The strange pitch-shaded woman allowed, after some confusing discourse, to allow Otsu, the best obsidian grinder among those gathered, to examine a knife made of this strange material. It was lustrous, as the inside of a muscle shell might be, but also smooth and sharp, not fragmentary in the manner of stone or wood. “Do you know what it is?” she asked Otsu, quietly, during a pause when the others went to eat.

“I think it is a metal,” the carver had studied natural history in her youth and knew the bones of the earth well. “I have seen copper and silver before. This is like those, but much harder. It has been changed somehow, using fire.” The Mori Onna’s face took on a terribly grim cast. “Many trees died for this thing. I can feel it.”

Carefully, Kasumi ran her fingers across the surface. She lacked the acute tree sense of her forest-dwelling sisters, but she was of the Kami, nonetheless. The burning feeling that tingled across her skin, the legacy of brutal fires to feed the making of this thing, was strong enough that even she could not ignore it. “Dangerous,” she whispered.

“Yes,” Otsu nodded. Her hand fell to the obsidian knife at her waist. “I recall the story of the first glass. This thing, it is not meant for us.”

This was broadly agreed after speaking to others, but it left Kasumi with another problem. The strangers would surely try to make more, if allowed to stay, but if they cut trees to form these metal tools the Kami would grow angry, and it would bring about battle. It is like a disease, she realized after a time. They must be isolated, quarantined.

The island of Talewako, in the west, was chosen. Devastated by a tsunami five years earlier, the Kami there were weak and the space desolate. Few Onna lived there. A painful sacrifice, but a small one. They would give it to the foreigners, all foreigners. If they wished to trade, they could use that place. In time, presumably, they would find something they possessed that the sisters desired. If they landed elsewhere, they would be removed. Should they resist, they would die.

Kasumi told the pitch-shaded woman that they could stay in the cove long enough to build the ships needed to make their way to the island. Her sisters would simply swim there. It seemed fair.

 Structures Below Surface 
	Sayuri had always loved the water, far more than most of her sisters. They said she had swamp in her bones, and it was true, for her mother had taken as her bond-parent a lonely Kami of the marshes after stumbling upon a grand display mating dragonflies, flashing endless color beneath the sun. As a child she played in streams, lakes, and fens, fascinated by the realm beneath the surface where few of the Mori Onna ventured. As a teenager she made the key discovery that dragonfly nymphs could live multiple years by overwintering in the mud at the bottom of ponds and thereby endure the cold. From this first step she would spend her life upon the scholar’s path.

	She spent long years studying the creatures and processes of water, and how life lived beneath surface, along the muddy banks, and even amid vegetation. Everything she observed these creatures do, she sought to imitate, making countless models of tiny creatures and their creations from mud, rock, and vegetative matter.

	Caddisflies, more than any other creature, captured her fascination. They were remarkable craftsmen, constructing houses by layering and bonding together stone, shredded vegetation, shells, and even individual grains of sand. All such processes Sayuri sought to duplicate.

	She learned to layer stone and mortar, constructing designs of impressive compressive strength no wooden creation could match with watertight seals. Layering leaves and wood pulp on frames beneath flowing water she produced sheets of thin, bonded material suitable for coverings, padding, and as a recipient of dyes and writings. Through interaction with her sisters and their knowledge of resins, she even unlocked the secret of bonding together sand such that it made solid composite material of incredible strength and durability that could even be set underwater. She also learned, from watching the potter wasps gather clay upon the shore, the process of making amorphous materials, and that when immolated in an earth oven they would harden and solidify into permanent waterproof containers.

	All this she spread among her sisters and transformed the life of the Onna once again.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Create Mundane Concept (1AP): Ceramics  – crafting and vitrification of pottery from clay.  [Water (Rivers) 5/10] 
 Create Mundane Concept (1AP): Masonry  – the use of stone, brick, and mortar to build durable and expansive structures.  [Water (Rivers) 6/10] 
 Create Advanced Concept (2AP): Paper  – sheets of varying size, strength, and thickness for writing, decoration, insulation, and padding.  [Water (Rivers) 8/10] 
 Create Advanced Concept (2AP): Concrete  – use of cement and chemical mixtures to produce composite material of great strength.  [Water (Rivers) 10/10] 

Domain Acquired: Water (Rivers)
Domains Possessed: Animal (Spiders), Animal (Transformation), Community (Sisterhood), Plant (Vines), Water (Rivers) - with 5 domains, Ecie ascends to Lesser God
Starting AP: 2 Rollover Gain: 4 Spent: 6 Remaining: 0
 
DasIrrlicht
 
 Originally Posted by Mechalich 
  Treaty Port 
The island of Talewako, in the west, was chosen. Devastated by a tsunami five years earlier, the Kami there were weak and the space desolate. Few Onna lived there. A painful sacrifice, but a small one. They would give it to the foreigners, all foreigners. If they wished to trade, they could use that place. In time, presumably, they would find something they possessed that the sisters desired. If they landed elsewhere, they would be removed. Should they resist, they would die. 
 

 People Off-the-Chain  ,soon to be a organisation proper, AP is a limited resource 
It was not the result they hoped for, and many of the adventurers of the group have been left grumbling... Yet there was very little they could do against this relocation. Bound by contracts and the ladies desire to have this all be a peaceful contact, as well as some common sense being they would have been hopelessly outnumbered by a whole continent, even the last person of the group had to bow their head to the decision.

It did not take long to re-settle to the island. Having to cross barley any ocean, and being in a area that is not settled by the sea-folk to any note able degree, they could get away with much simpler construction for the boats to set over. Of course, this does come with its own oppertunities. Delaying the travel a bit via several small tactics, be it 'extended negotiations' with the locals for sourcing the right kinds of wood without disturbing the Kami (A concept the People of the Chain are surprisingly familiar with, but the Kami of this land are so closely knitted with their people that extra care is needed) or scraping some extra knowledge under the guise of being unfamiliar with the local animals.

 

Yet, before overstaying their admittedly cold welcome, they successfully relocated both their camp, and all of their people, to the island the locals call 'Talewako' something that quickly got bastardised to 'Port Tale' as they started to settle properly. And more important, permanently, on the island. The devastation it has had many years ago may even be to their advantage as it turned out, as they could take much of the material they needed from 'dead' sources. Broken and dry trees, shattered rock, ecetra.

The small, forming town was aiming to prepare for something bigger. Their buildings are inspired by the ones of the Onna they managed to witness in the preperations to leave the continents mainland, if given some distinctive flourishes that distracts from the comparable crude working. Sparing themself the heavy stone walls they are used to they instead concentrated on making the foundations sturdy and use thick walls of layers of the crude papers framed by a odd, not quite natural bamboo. In fact, that bamboo has turned to their main material for many of the things as they found it growing in lines along the outer areas of the towns.

The Wall Bamboo was a symptom of something else of course. The Group has long enough been seperated from their original homes that they adopted their shared new home. And with that, a Genuine Loci naturally formed. With the exception of one person in the group they where seemingly blind to the 'new arrival' in their midst as anything but someone who was always there, and being that they without a doubt pull their weight, even the Lady had no issues with them being there. It was in fact a great boon, for a Loci is much more versed in dealing with the local, weakened Kami. In order to not taint the view of the Onna on them to much, and because it is simply seen as a good, sustainable practice, the local forests have been only slightly opened up for timber, as much more had to be replanted and slowly raised with Cultivary to replace and strengthen again.

Another plant that had started to grow was the 'Boverine Lotuses'. Yet they did not do exactly what they where intended to do, as instead of replacing the leathers used they merely substituted with their own kinds, creating more interesting patterns and combining the unusually simelar materials as needed. The fact that they grew in the ponds stretching the grass fields where Cow and Auroch alike grassed made it a odd sight.

 

The Kishi Onna would be the first to notice a change a few weeks after 'Port Tale' was settled. It was odd before that they build more houses in the walled settlement then they had people, and put of as storage space and the hiding place of their workshops by the watchful eyes of the Bloodsilk Order. Yet something arrived, a large boat, or if one was to ask the People, a small ship. With exceptionally many sails and a rather high railing, almost like a fence to prevent anything aboard from falling over it, it arrived with great speed near the wooden extensions the people of the chain had laied into the water.

Not long after starting to settle on the island, the People off-the-Chain had put in a Gamble. One boat, one person (a Galotian, for their resistance to the oceans song was more trusted because of their deadly relationship with water), minimal resources. They had set out at night, orienting on the moon as their boat has pushed itself over the ocean. Technically, it was considered to small for such a task, yet the cold waters always had benefited a travel to the west over one towards the wast, as the human ancestors of the party could attest. And the gamble paid of.

Port Tale has a ship, made to be fast at the cost of a more limited storage space and a rougher journey, tied to its piers. It soon left again, but it left the place with new tools of better quality, more people of specialised crafts. Even someone who described themself as a 'Alchemist', some form of up and coming craft. And the ship is soon to return again, for the way is known, and the will is plenty. It is only a question of time till it pays of for the noble merchant owning it.

 
 Spoiler: Naury AP Spending 
 0 AP LEFT 
 0 AP - Create Mundane Concept  [MUA Charge]
  Navigation 
Watch the sun and you know the time. Watch the Moon and you know the direction. Watch the stars and you will be lead astray by their shifting nature. Watch the winds and you won't be moved off-course, watch the wave and you will avoid the harpoons. Watch the hands and you know your distance, watch the coast and you have found your safety.
Traveling the world is no easy task, as everywhere is different and has lurking dangers. But it can not compare to the ocean as it is hostile to any life not of its own and seems the same everywhere to the untrained eye. Yet simple tools, experience and a good sense of timing can lead you over it no harder then any other travel. As long as you can outrun the sea-folk and avoid your own turning to them that is.  ________ 
 0 AP Left 

Progress:
[Society (Discovery) 2/10]
 
Zelphas
 Beneath New Ground 

*Minimal Guidance* takes control of her Deep Delver as the beast panics. Forward 7 was a good Delver--strong, calm, tireless, needing only a light touch to follow direction and change course--but having been born, reared, and bonded in the cramped circle of the Escape all its life, the creature simply didn't know how to respond when it swam its way through a rocky wall and discovered open air. *Minimal Guidance* felt an answering pang of sympathy for her bond's distress, and rushed to fill the gap before it could harm itself.

Underneath the short, velvety fur of Forward 7, thin glowing threads, looking like pale veins, flexed and coiled, arresting the Delver's frantic flailing and turning their fall into a simple slide down the slope of the cavern. *Minimal Guidance* injected calm into Forward 7's mind and took over its senses in the same moment, leaving the Deep Delver floating in a comforting void of sensation while she used its superior hearing and smell to gain her bearings. They were in an irregular cave, dep beneath the earth; one of many that had been found in the escape, but this felt... different. The air was drier. Perhaps... perhaps, they had finally, truly escaped.

Keeping full control over her Delver (despite her name, which galled her), *Minimal Guidance* directed her bond's efforts upward, seeking the surface, any surface. She swam through stone and dirt and around metal, ignoring the pangs of hunger Forward 7's body was sending her until her mount grew weak, seeking what she believed might be far above them--a surface. One without Eaters. Trying to skirt a fairly large seam of tougher material, *Minimal Guidance* doubled back--and her tunnel broke into the ocean.

She sealed the hole, saving the Escape from drowning, but Forward 7 was too battered by the pressure, engulfed by the water, and weakened from little food. She felt its body begin to resist her commands, the muscles stiffening, the senses growing fuzzy and indistinct. Regretfully, she pulled herself away from her bond, feeling the last of Forward 7's life disappear with the severing.

It would be a painful crawl back without a bond, but Ratum ensured that there were Delvers waiting near the front lines for just this misfortune. *Minimal Guidance* hoped that Forward 8 would be able to hold its breath better; it would be delicate work to find the surface, if she was even in the right place.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 0 AP + 4 AP = 4 AP 
 Teach Concept (1 AP) - Beast Taming:  Through food enticements and selective breeding, the Yloch have tamed the Deep Delvers, breeding for large, docile, strong animals that can tunnel well and respond well to direction. The feeding of Orichalcum to these beasts has been deemed proper under Ratum, and Orichalcum is now considered almost exclusively Delver-food by Yloch.  [Life (Worms) 9/10] 
 Alter Land (1 AP) - Yl's Escape:  A massive, branching tunnel, beginning deep under Adanat and spreading in nearly every direction in search of new land. So far, there have been several false starts, but the effort is still ongoing under the auspices of Ratum.  [Life (Worms) 10/10]: Domain Get! Lesser Deity Status Achieved! 
 Create Subrace (1 AP) - Yloch Controllers:  Certain Yloch have been tremendously altered via Lifeshaping to resemble a circulatory system without a body, with several thin tendrils able to wrap around limbs and spread over an entire body. These Yloch have had their natural psionic powers enhanced, as well as introducing a suite of different poisons and potions that they can inject from their tendrils, allowing them to successfully and almost entirely control a host being. So far, Yloch Controllers can only bond with Deep Delvers; they gain nutrients from the Delver's body, and can extricate themselves from their bond in the event of the Delver's death.  [Nature (Parasites) 1/10)] 
 4 AP - 3 AP = 1 AP Remaining 
 
MutantDragon
  Dwellings of the Dreadful  

The Empire was flourishing. The Empire was always flourishing. New factions would rise and others would be destroyed, the weak would be exterminated, but always the Empire would grow stronger, larger, better. This was no different. One new faction called themselves "Crimson Bloom Champions." They adorned themselves in flowers and tamed the savage goblins. It mattered not, so long as they were strong. But their mastery of the goblins and eye towards beauty provided new opportunities. The cities of the Empire started to change. Slowly, the hastily constructed huts and disorganized halls were replaced. They were chosen by the sun, after all, so their edifices in its honor should reflect its majesty. Old shrines gave way to elaborate pyramid-temples where great feasts on the weak or heretical would occur and offerings would be given to the sun. From these great and astounding marvels of engineering, brought forth by the labor of lowly goblins and their masters, the rest of the sun-cities would mutate. Grand buildings were constructed with hitherto unseen architectural techniques that would astound any who saw them. And all along the streets, and all up the pyramids' steps, and all around each dwelling, red flowers were fertilized with the blood that flowed more freely than rainwater.

---

Amidst these wonders of architecture and engineering, the Empire's metal workers made new breakthroughs, learning new techniques in the forging and mixing of various metals. Each night, they would be thrust brutally into visions of fire, metal, and the pounding of hammers. They would be thrown into the chaos of battles and slaughters, witnessing new and terrible weapons lay the weak low with terrifying ease. They would see traditional bronze weapons outnumbered by a dizzying array of a new metal: steel. And then they woke each dawn with new insights, new scraps of knowledge with which they tried to produce the blades they saw in their dreams. And each day, they would fail before night led them into new dreams of fire, blood and steel. On this went for a number of months, until one metal worker made a breakthrough with the still-new metal known as iron. Iron was easier and cheaper to produce than bronze, so the smith decided it would be a reasonable basis for creating steel. And so the smith, placing his faith in the cleansing powers of the holy flame, set the iron over a charcoal fire. For several days, he tried to get the right combinations of iron and flame, of time and effort, to produce the metal he desired. But, one day, his charcoal fire, enhanced by magic to create a truly astounding heat, turned that iron into something new: steel. Soon, the entire Empire would learn of this one smith's methods and steel weapons and armor would be seen anywhere the warrior-cultists were found.

---

Slintoch knew he would soon need to leave this plane. His power was growing to be far too much for the First World to allow. So he would make a new world for himself, strange as that was for The Destroyer. A place where he could live and observe the world. With a snarl, he appeared in the void and, sparing only a glance towards the sun he sensed a new divinity in, he ripped open space and flooding the tear with the flames of his fury. More and more, he piled his rage, his hate, his bile, violently smashing through the boundaries of time and space and replace the nothing between nothings with fire. When at last he stopped, creation quaked from the aftershocks of his outburst. Satisfied, he ventured into his new realm, content to let the universe seal itself behind him; the tear had served its purpose and he needed it no more. He looked around and found his new lair was a perpetual furnace, burning with the fires he poured within. But still, it was not without life: great dragons, spawned by his hate, roared and battled within this realm. Indeed, everywhere the god looked he saw bloody combat between titanic beasts, his wrath ensuring more and more would forever populate this realm of fire. And the Destroyer silently urged them on to ever greater acts of violence.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 
   
Rollover! (2x)   
0AP + 8AP = 8AP

 Create Advanced Concept (Architecture) [Shared with Naury] 1AP:  The Empire of the Sun, influenced in part by the Crimson Bloom Champions, have constructed great architectural marvels, notably their great pyramid-temples. While beautiful and impressive, they are often referred to as "Crimson Cities," being so called for the blood that often covers the buildings, buildings that somehow look all the more beautiful and marvelous when dripping with red. [War (Slaughter) 8/10]

 Create Advanced Concept (Steel Making) 2AP:  Inspired by small amounts of divine interference, the Empire of the Sun has learned the process of manufacturing steel, which can then be fashioned into tools far more potent than those made from any other metal the Empire currently knows. [War (Slaughter) 10/10]  New Domain Unlocked! 
 Weave Plane (Domum Inferni Dracones) 3AP:  Domum Inferni Dracones, almost always referred to as just Inferni, is a plane comprised entirely of fire. Any who can survive the flames find themselves filled with an all-consuming rage and urge to kill everything they see. And what they see is dragons. Lots of dragons. The plane reverberates with roars and shrieks from millions of dragons tearing each other limb from limb every second of every day. Should any bridges form between Inferni and the First World, the devastation the battle-maddened dragons would bring is inconceivable... [Life (Dragons) 10/10]  New Domain Unlocked! 
  Five Domains Unlocked!  

8AP - 6AP = 2AP
 
Razade
 
 Originally Posted by Demidos 
 “Ahh, there you are.” A nonplussed Sagmi turns her eyes to the Sun. “You are the first of the oldest I’ve met, but you seems to hold yourself apart from the divine. How curious. I do like your trinket very much — it ensures life will never grow stale, and new stories will always be emerging. But do you not wish to come and walk among the people and watch their great acts of heroism and treachery? Surely it grows lonely up here. Come to the earth, walk in my city - watching from afar is no substitute for living the adventure yourself!" 
 

  The Shattered Star, Sagmi: The Void  
    "The Sun has always been. The Sun is no more divine than the rivers or lakes, of the forests that breath or the stones that slumber. But what is Divinity to the Sun? The Sun shines for creation, and creation begets Gods to create life. A cycle, a union. Your task is to walk, to explore. This one's task is not that. The Sun could no sooner walk the First World than the First World could dwell within the Void. See now, for even if we reach to touch it, calamity is wrought."    

From the sun great bands of flame reached out, solar flares of a vast magnitude that licked the First World. Like a storm, the arcane power wrought itself across the world. Auroras splayed out across the night sky across the globe and the grounds quaked as the arcane energies of the action surged. The quakes created vast rifts, tunnels and rivers to crawl out like a spiderweb across the land and beneath it, pooling arcane energy like water. From these quakes, iron and earth flung itself into the heavens only to rain back down as if forged from some mighty hand. Towers as sharp as swords fell to embed in the earth across the continents and for three days and three nights glass and molten nails heaved themselves from the clouds. On the fourth day, the sun returned. Shining bright.

    "See now. We are barred, we could no sooner step anywhere but the Void than you could dwell within the Forge."    
 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

Roll Over: 4AP

Alter Land (1AP) - Ley Lines: Powerful currents literally carved into the planet by the Shattered Star's touching of the First World directly. These Ley Lines channel natural arcane power in vast canals and rivers across the entire surface of the planet. [Earth (Megaliths) 10/10AP)]

Alter Land (1AP) - Arcane Storms: Born from the flames of the Sun, arcane energies and the damage to the magnetic energies of the First World draw out vast reserves of iron and metals, creating intricate towers of immense size to fall from the sky with nail and glass rain. [Earth (Megaliths) 10/10AP)]

4AP - 1 AP - 1AP = 2AP

The Shattered Star Ascends
 
AlexanderML
   Kish-Eru   

As the conflict around the city of Kish-Eru began to draw to its end and the number of disappearances began to decrease, the flowery roots which had arrived continued to grow from within till the land itself could no longer keep it a secret.

There began to be a subtle shift in the atmosphere. The lotuses would move along unseen paths, new ones would spring up overnight, and they never wilted. Slowly the watery grasslands around the city were covered in numerous species of watery flowers, many of which existed nowhere else. Yet it was simply unusual, out of season growth. Until She came to the city.

With the moonless night as her shroud She danced across the lotuses who hummed with joy. She gave her flesh to the open hands of the flowers, who gave her their heads to adorn herself with. Finally she gave a single strand of her hair to each flower circle of the city, who’s vines and petals fought for the honor of replacing them.

She was beautiful and She was horrifying. Yet few witnessed her coming directly, and among those who had nearly all of them were those who only saw the beauty She held. For their eyes were covered in love.

When morning came to Kish-Eru it was changed. Gone was the flooded grassland, replaced with endless flowers that grew like giant mangroves, which held beneath them numerous other giant flowers that floated atop the water or grew out of the city’s gardens. New animals slithered, climbed, flew across the strange landscape.

While there were many among the city who were stunned at the site, some were inspired at the divine landscape and took the time to re-explore their home and the life that surrounded it. Discovering new materials and plants which they took back to the city and began to test with child-like enthusiasm.

The full results of the tests were not made public, the rumors saying that the Garden kept its greatest secrets to itself, but men and women began to appear with wares for all sorts of ills or wishes the public had. Even a skeleton appeared, Chymes, who openly gave friendly banter and prices for his goods.

Those who might have harmed Chymes soon learned that he had many friends. Both among those hiding in the shadows under the cover of glamor and the kami of the land to whom he had helped to preserve their freedom. Chymes’s own works would leave a mark in the city, from those who learned from him would gain the knowledge he had earned and become the first witches of Kish-Eru.
 
 Spoiler: OOC 
8/16 AP
 
 Spoiler: -3 Create Minor Artifact (Alter Land) - Flesh and Blood of Lilia 
    
   Her visage will always return.   
 When gifted to the land Lilia’s flesh and blood can attach to lingering parts of her Love that exist in an area and fully corrupt the mana and let it bloom. This artifact is typically on Lilia’s skeletal frame, but she sometimes gifts it to special followers for a time. Those that use the artifact can appear as Lilia, with the Lilia Love in mortals clouding any negative feelings they have towards the user; in addition the Flesh and Blood makes it hard to remember the user (though the divine cannot be fooled by the imitation).  8/10 Community (Cult)  
 
  
 

 
 Spoiler: (Artifact charge) (Alter Land) - The Floodplain Lotus Forest of Kish-Eru 
     
   Even a simple clearing can be beautiful at Kish-Eru.   
 The first flower forest, the floodplain forest of Kish-Eru is dominated by the tall Lotus Trees that dot the city; their tall stems made of a wood that is unusually flexible with multiple large flower buds at their top which can be as large as a small house (though most are far smaller). Beneath them there are numerous other flower-based plants, fungi, and even animals that are uniquely found here; the giant butterfly (about the size of a small cat with violet skull shaped patterns on their wings) and glow blooms (large flowers that make mundane bioluminescence to attract the butterflies) being prominent examples.

Yet the new wildlife was clearly something that was made with the intention of working  with  the city to some extent. The main waterways were not blocked, the new plants and animals have material that are easy to harvest from, and existing farmland was  mostly, depending on how pretty the owners were  left intact. 
 
  
 

 
 Spoiler: -2 Raise Hero - Chymes the Friendly Skeleton 
     
   He’ll get his hands on a book someday.   
 Originally a member of a foreign maiden cult, Chymes has little in the way of flashy extraordinary power. While unusual he appears to be a simple skeleton who just happens to have friends everywhere he goes and seems to find himself in places he has no logical way of arriving at.

Chymes loves to learn from the many peoples of the world, his immortality an excuse for him taking his time to be just about everywhere learning a little of everything.

Of course Chymes is a follower of the maiden cult, working outside the normal structure of the organization he nevertheless often happens to be in an area in need of his friendly fleshless face.  Community (Cult) 10/10  
 
  
 

 
 Spoiler: -2 Create Mythical Concept (Shared with Naury) - True Alchemy 
    
   To understand the world and know your place in it.   
 The supernatural science that if performed correctly, the results will be the same every time. No matter what abilities the Alchemist or even the user possess. Lilia’s Love when infused in an alchemical object/concoction results in more stable creations, something that only the witches of Kish-Eru understand at the moment.

With the discovery of so many new and strange resources appearing at their doorsteps, the people of Kish-Eru test and discover the beginnings of the art of true alchemy. Though the greater secrets are kept to those who are among Chymes’s and Adored’s approved witches, the lesser ones take hold as household recipes.  Community (Witches) 2/10  
 
  
 

 
 Spoiler: (Artifact Charge) (Create Organization) - The Witches of the Old Bloom 
         “Hello! Are you looking to buy or do you need help with something?   
 The first members of this organization were the students of Chymes. His mark can be felt in their friendly attitudes and the skills he passed down to them.

Witches of the Old Bloom find true alchemy to be their main scientific calling, with the arcane magic of cultivary being a common way for them to express their spiritual sides through unique flower gardens; though it is often also used as a way to get higher quality materials.

Nearly every member of the group lives by selling their creations and services. Though the cost in time and material often makes this a less than financially secure means to live; it is a respectable way to live by those who follow flower worship.

Witches of the Old Bloom are forbidden to harm others unless it is in self defense. They are to do nothing that would harm or insult the kami. And should act as intermediaries between normal mortals and the divine or otherworldly entities of the world.

Despite their origins witches of the Old Bloom are not inherently maiden cultists, though they are friendly with one another and the two can overlap in a single individual. 
 
  
 


1/16 AP left
 


 

   The Coast of the Estheric Islands   

As years have gone by and the young become the old my eyes have worn down to the point where everything was gray and cloudy. I had used them too much, they’ve simply worn away. But tonight my eyes saw something that brought the color back.

I saw Her there again. At that spot along the coast.

My smile hurt, my eyes could not see past the waves in front of my eyes, and my inner palace trembled. Yet I knew it was Her and I was so… so happy. I ran as fast as my legs could take me and let my tears run unabated.

She looked at me and asked what we had done here, in our blessed land. I… could not say we had done much. Our purpose still left up to fate. In the end all I told Her was that I waited for Her.

Oh, I saw Her smile; behind the shroud that was the night I saw Her smile. When she turned to face the ocean again I stared at Her in silence till a thought crossed my mind.

This would be my last chance.

To draw my weary eyes away was harder than ripping them out, but as one of my companions saw Her and came to speak with her I left them behind to return to my garden, the one where I kept the only things that could convey my feelings. With three of the cold blooms in my hands I returned shaking like a normal boy. This… this is a blessing, and a curse. For I hid the flowers as I approached with my mind unable to consider what comes next.

She looked towards me, she said… she said she was happy I came back. My companion’s palaces surely let them know what I was planning, if not they’re eyes staring holes into my back.

But I was not a coward, I showed the flowers I had for Her; my love and reason. “These are yours.” I said to Her.

I could see Her eyes behind the shroud, they were wide and brighter than the stars that dotted the night that shrouded her.  “M-mine? But… what about…”  she trailed off looking conflicted, while I felt like I stood at the edge of a cliff. I took a step forward.

“In my heart every flower that blooms is yours.”

 “Even these?”  

“Yes. I love you, Lilia.”

As an indescribable look appeared on Her face, She shed tears as She accepted my flowers with a nod. I saw Her begin to fade before my eyes, yet what pierced me more was what entered my inner palace, the feeling I had longed to know was there for so long.

And with that, my heart broke, and there was nothing.

…

…

…

  “I love you”  
 
 Spoiler: OOC 
1/16 AP
 -1 Curse - Name Upon A Flower:  The idea that Lilia is the one who created the True Ice Flowers becomes common knowledge to mortals that know of them and the meaning behind them. Even in places that would otherwise not know anything about Lilia, the idea that she is their originator takes root. 10/10 Emotion (Envy)

 (Artifact Charge) (Bless) - False Ice Flowers:  These more common replicas of true ice flowers are found on the estheric islands and other cold regions of the world. They appear as true ice flowers to those that search for them, but grow upon normal ice and snow. False ice flowers thrive in such environments and can easily perish at room temperatures. Those that consume a false ice flower’s petals are chilled, both helping against fevers and hot summer days.

0/16 AP left

Lilia fades away to the plane of echoes as she ascends.
 
Zelphas
  The Wind and Change  

Deep within Desire Heart, Telas felt content. Things were going well, plans were in motion; as long as they continued to subtly pull the strings and watch from the shadows, they could... they could... they...

...

A crack, tiny and hair-thin, appeared on the forehead of Telas, who suddenly resembled nothing so much as a blank, grey stalactite, unremarkable within the lifeless environments of Desire Heart. There is the softest sound, a simply rush of quiet wind, which grows from the crack, the air moving around the lifeless stone. The wind blows, and becomes quiet, simple, joyful laughter. Salet laughs with the joy of freedom, of movement, of life and thought and  existence , exulting in the mere fact that it  was . It spiraled around the stalagmite and up into the fog-shrouded air of Desire Heart, simply luxuriating in each moment of being.

Salet glances back at the stone it so recently left, and its laughter trails off for a moment. This being would not last, it knew that, knew that as surely as it knew beauty and joy. Telas did not know of Salet, but Salet knew Telas; it remembered, being before it was, though only in a vague, dreamlike sort of way. They were not two, but one, with two forms, two faces, two beings. Or, at least two beings; Salet was fuzzy on that particular number. Still, Salet knew that it would stop, and Telas would wake, at some point in the dance of time. And perhaps they would reverse again, and again.

But that was in the future; for now, there was too much to enjoy, too much to see and experience, simply too much to do. Desire Heart was not the place for Salet; let Telas have their illusions and Temptations and plots. With a gust and a laugh, Salet turns to the First World, washing over it in a warm, chuckling breeze. A place to start presented itself at once: a place where anger ruled and violence conquered, where danger and blood was a matter of life. Salet considered for only a moment, then decided. It was time for a change.

 Atop a Crimson City 

The rebellion had gone as it always did, in the Empire. How could he have ever imagined differently?

He watched his friends, his comrades, hauled up to the top of the pyramid one by one. He had laughed with them, planned with them, seen them cry and grit their teeth and look towards an impossible future. Now, he watched their blood fall down the pyramid's steps, turning his face as much as he could from what was done to their bodies and even, he knew, to part of their souls. The guards, the revelers, they laughed and screamed and set upon one another only to return to the feast, knowing only hatred and violence, feeling only rage and hunger. His friends, his fellow rebels... they had known more. He had felt more. Even know, when rage should be filling every pore of his being, he found his rage tempered by grief, by sorrow, by... pity. What a stupid thing, to pity those who were going to eat you.

 If only...  he thought as another of his friends was pulled forward.  If only, they could see past this, even for a moment. 
  Are you willing to give them that gift?  

He jumped, earning more mocking laughter and a few smacks from the guards. The voice had whispered to him like the wind, like the warm wind that even now pushed from behind him, bracing him as if he leaned against a sun-warmed stone wall. Something kept him from dismissing the voice as a mere figment of his imagination. His mind flashed to the stories of creatures of dust and heat, who offered you riches at the price of ruin, but those creatures came in beautiful guises, and this wind had nothing of desolation within it. His confusion was shattered by the scream of his friend, at the top of the pyramid, his resolve forged in the blood as it splashed past him and down to the hungry dirt. He nodded once, a tiny gesture. Even when Salet told him what that gift would mean to him, he nodded again. The wind promised that it would not leave him.

--

The guards nearly stumbled when their next meal stepped forward of his own accord, before they could begin dragging him. Just another one, his proud ideals broken by the realities of the Empire, they reasoned. This sacrifice was going as it always did. Neither noticed the warmth of the wind, and they assumed the laughter came from the feasting crowd.

The executioner-priest did not notice the wind, either, and hardly noticed the gentle smile on the man's face as he laid down on the ritual altar. He had seen all sorts of expressions, from commendable rage to disgusting weakness. It was going as it always did, in the Empire. He only noted that the meal was strong, young, and healthy; good eating. His arms did not hesitate, his hands did not shake as he delivered the blow to prepare the meat. He took his share and tossed the rest to the crowd, just as he had always done.

The crowd partook, as they always did, in the Empire. And then... they wept. And this was the first time.

But not the last.

 Changed by the Wind 

When Salet discovered what it had inadvertently done in its rush across the First World, it laughed with joy at the unexpected gift.

Whether birds had been caught up in the wind and taken in Salet's spirit, or whether the wind itself had broken off and formed bird-like shapes, Salet itself did not know. The resulting creatures were small, the size of a human's hand, with black bodies covered in feathers that looked white when upon the creature, but were actually nearly transparent when taken alone, reflecting sunlight in a rainbow sheen. Alone, they were just birds, no smarter or stronger or more magical than any other avian; but from the very moment they were made, Starbirds were never alone. They gathered together quickly, drawn by the joy of connecting to one another and growing in knowledge and strength, until the entire, vast flock soared and sung in the center of the Triangular Chain, looking like a vast cloud covered in rainbows to those living on the rocky mountains.

And then... the flock separated, breaking into smaller groups and scattering throughout the world. They had joyed in each other, but they were not alone in this world. They were more powerful, all together, but each flock was still a power to rival dragons as they split apart. They might be able to help. And so, that is what they tried to do.

 A Moment at Play 

Salet is no Telas, to sit and scheme and set plans in motion. What is life without moments of spontaneous silliness, simple joy? And so, Salet collected the feathers blown into the winds and wove a great cloak, which it cast into the night sky, becoming a net of closely-packed, multicolored stars among the ravenous Star Mantas roaming throughout the Void. The attempts to consume the Cloak only shook and moved it, causing it to shed feathers which fell to the earth while Salet watched and laughed.

The first of these feathers to land produced a strange crop indeed. They were small bundles of dusty feathers, like a fallen feather duster without a handle, their claws and beaks hidden under their plumage. Land, bound, these creatures skittered through the lands they found themselves in, dislodging soft feathers that provoked allergic reactions in nearly everything that could smell them. Salet loved the little creatures, and so left them entirely alone; why complicate their absurd lives with any sort of purpose or order?

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
Here comes a big one.

 1 AP + 5 AP = 6 AP 
 Funeral Rites:  Telas has died! ... for the moment. 5 AP for each of their domains gives me  31 AP  total. Spending  15 AP  to buy the  Chaos (Change), Wind (Warmth), and Emotion (Hope)  Domains, therefore creating:

 Salet, the Laughing Breeze 
 Player Name:  Zelphas
 Domains (Portfolios):  Chaos (Change), Wind (Warmth), Emotion (Hope)
 Alignment:  Neutral Good
 Symbol:  Two curved lines, representing either a small gust of wind or an open-mouthed smile.
 Appearance:  Salet is a whispering, laughing voice on a warm, gentle breeze. It takes no other form.
 Personality:  Salet finds joy in the world it is in, and works to give others that joy as well. It unequivocally champions mortal interest over those of immortals, gods, and divinities, and tries to make mortals happy without compromising their existence or denying them the right to choose. It is prone to do things simply out of enjoyment, without greater plans, though it does take care to at least try and think about the ramifications of these joys before it does them.

...who has  16 AP . With that:

 Bless/Curse (2 AP) - Counter "Diet of Destruction" with "Consuming an Empathic Soul":  If a person is sacrificed and consumed by the Empire of the Sun who is willing to die to change the Empire, there is a strong chance that their soul will alter the souls of those eating them, essentially forcing them to feel genuine empathy and compassion for other souled creatures all at once. Reactions to this occurrence are obviously varied, but are generally not conducive to further cannibalism.  [War (Mercy) 2/10] 
 Create Legends (5 AP) - Starbirds:  Starbirds are small white birds with black beaks and claws. No more intelligent or powerful than an average bird alone, Starbirds become more powerful, intelligent, and magical the more Starbirds are in proximity, soon outstripping the powers of most mortals and standing on equal footing with Temptations and Dragons.  [Life (Birds) 5/10] 
 Create Legendary Society (4 AP) - Constellation of Help:  The Starbirds have willingly split themselves into smaller flocks in order to spread around the world and help where they can. They are still very powerful, and they try to keep their help unobtrusive and simple when possible. Their main goal is to ensure that living creatures have the choice to be kind, compassionate, merciful, and happy, and so work more to "balance the scales" than anything else.  [War (Mercy) 6/10] 
 Create Greater Utility Artifact (5 AP) - The Cloak of Many Feathers:  The Cloak of many feathers is an enormous cloak within the Void, which looks like a patch of multicolored stars from the First World; when Star Mantas attack this cloak, they shake loose feathers that fall into the First World and create feathered creatures. The Cloak of Many Feathers gives a Discount on the Create Monster action.  [Life (Birds) 10/10; Domain get!] 
 Create Monster (1 AP) - Featherbags:  These creatures resemble piles of dusty feathers, which seem to be shedding constantly. They eat berries and other fruits, and defend against predators by hiding under several layers of feathers, which easily detach and fly everywhere, releasing a dust that causes most things with a nose to sneeze. When the dust is washed off, the feathers are wonderfully soft, making good bed and pillow stuffing.  [Free Use from the Cloak of Many Feathers] 
 16 AP - 16 AP = 0 AP Remaining 
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naury  , dream-diving 
The Echo-Servants came to Naury with some interesting news. The Echos and Dead Souls of the cultists of Yalasere have been acting a bit different then usual, in a positive way. Moments of regret and pride in ones final moments, have come more often up, and the souls of some of this special cases tend to be more intact then the ones of their peers. Even Souls of the Remembered started to pop up despite being still mangled to some degree from their consumption.

But while moving to check on it, a different situation caught their attention. The Echos of the Birds where acting unusual as well. Or at least, that of a specific kind that they can not remember to have ever seen before. Delaying their own travel the deity choose to investigate this as well. However their choosen form to walk the first world was not exactly fit to commune with the flocks, so a different solution had to be lend out. Thankfully, one of their siblings seems to have tought of something one could lend out for that already.

 

Even Starbirds need rest, and as there is safety in a flock, they often rest bunched together. As a result, their dreams are much grander then the ones of mere birds, and in one of this dreams, a person appeared. Wearing a coat, not like a feather coat but not unlike either, the stranger with the bird-mask watched the swarms dreams, as they watched them inside as well. It took a bit to decide on a way to ask, and carefully formulate the request, but in the end it was much easier then the stranger expected. Yes, a simple ask was all it took: They extend a helping wing to the people who are stretched to thin to have each others backs anymore, so that they may know what each other needs or knows. The Stranger tried to offer something in compensation, yet the Starbirds insisted to do it out of their desire to be helpful alone. Naury will have to keep them in mind. Maybe, they can find a way to aid them sometime later.

In the same night, the Stranger came to visit people all over the chain, and even as far away as the settlement on Eresalay, to free up some of their taller buildings and have instead a keeper move in. This keepers would take care of the needs of the flocks that would soon arrive and handle the 'customer service' of the whole plan. The only fee to send something was to cover the needs of the people and birds working in the towers. In a strange way, communication was a charity. No taint of greed should stain the peoples ability to know.

 

Slimes do not have noses, they could not sneeze. However, they were also on the somewhat slow side compared to most predators. A exceptionally small slime is following a rather agile featherbag. The Featherbag shakes of a bunch of dust and feathers, the slime stops to eat the feathers that have fallen off, the bird-creature attempts to flee... The cycle continues soon after.

Given, it is usually the Featherbags that 'win' such confrontations, as few of them are naive enough to keep attempting to hide when a slime approaches. Yet one could argure the slime wins as well, as sustenance is provided, one way or another. It is the subject of a children rhyme on the chain, about tenacity and the benefits of even partial success.

 
 Spoiler: Naury AP Spending 
 0 AP LEFT 
 5 AP ROUNDSTART 
 2 AP - Create Advanced Concept  [Society (Discovery) 4/10]
  Courier Birds? 
On request of Naury, the Starbird flocks agreed to help keeping the people of the chain in touch with each other. And so, small, not especially powerful flocks settle in towers around the chain (and Port Tale) to take up the mantle of the mail. With the help of local keepers that act as intermediaries between the Starbirds and the people sending letters or small packages of all kind, distance becomes pretty much of no matter in communication.
There are attempts being made in taming wild birds, primarily corvids, for such services as well to fill in where a tower for a whole flock would not make sense, and while successful, it can not compare to the Starbirds service. Of course, with few exceptions, most people using the services are not aware how the keepers work with more then simple birds.
 Currently, this concept is hold by the People of the Chain and the Constellation of Help exclusivley, but I am sure the Constallation is open to share their Services with plenty of other Societies if asked nicely.   ________ 
 3 AP Left 
 1 MUA Charge 

Progress:
[Society (Discovery) 4/10]
 
Mechalich
 
 Originally Posted by Shattered Star 
  
 Spoiler 
Alter Land (1AP) - Arcane Storms: Born from the flames of the Sun, arcane energies and the damage to the magnetic energies of the First World draw out vast reserves of iron and metals, creating intricate towers of immense size to fall from the sky with nail and glass rain. [Earth (Megaliths) 10/10AP)]
 
 
 

 World Turning 
The earth tore apart, and metals rose to the sky, returned as a precipitation of blades and shards of glass. This barrage ripped apart the forest, shredded leaves, cleaved vines, poisoned lakes, and left the soil a barren waste in its path. Kami caught beneath these storms sickened and twisted, lost themselves to the throes of generations-long agony.

Even the sky was not unharmed, for the stormfronts of whirling iron and glass filings, propelled with hurricane strength, cleaved through even might sky creatures. Great birds, whales, and even dragons were shredded by that hail of endless wind-carried arrows. Their bodies crashed to the earth and left craters behind, pock marks to mark the impact of this new disease of the sky.

The Onna wailed and mourned as their people died in great number, caught outside by terrible storms they had done nothing to summon. It was connected to magic somehow, that strange force that pulsed from on high, and they had ever shied away from that power, knowing its instability and danger. Yet now they suffered because of it, alongside the whole of the world, for not even the worst volcanic blast dealt wounds to the land as these arcane storms.

Surrender to the sky the sisterhood would not. They, being a people of the land, would summon it's strength in response. Nor were they weaponless. Villages and towns were changed. Log cabins, no longer secure, were recycled and made into paper and furnishings. New buildings were made instead of concrete, domes hard as any stone and proof against heat, cold, and metal, with covered passages molded between. They took this artistry and gave it to the strange westerners from their distant mountains, and even to Sea Folk – for with difficulty the material could be set even underneath the waves – in the hopes that they too would find protection from the storms.

Placing soils atop their new domes, they constructed farms upon their roofs, and between buildings, and used silken screens to offer a modicum of first warning protection that the most critical plants might be raced inside when a storm came. New methods were sought in planting, to concentrate their crops as land was lost, and to find some way to foster new growth upon devastated landscapes in the hopes of restoring their Kami to strength and sanity. Early successes led to new and better crops, plant grafting, and specialized interlaced growth patterns in a vertical system.

New materials were likewise required. Glass, fallen from the sky, was repurposed. Heated, liquefied, and blended with other materials, it unlocked countless malleable crystalline products, joined and annealed to new purpose. These could be used for protection against heat and cold in growing environments, kickstarting a cycle of advanced production.

Dark days and dark dreams hardened the sisterhood. The Bloodsilk Order learned that Flame Tigers sourced from the same origin as the horrible storms and the goblins, and they added they disruptive beasts to their target list. Militia training came to be mandatory among all Onna, with glass blades and arrowheads kept at the ready in every home even in those places where obsidian was rare. If the new age was one of violence and cruelty, then they would face it accordingly, and fight for the land.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Create Advanced Concept (2AP): Horticulture  – The Onna have begun to research advanced plant manipulation techniques including selective breeding, grafting, growth media, structural manipulation, and other methods in the quest to produce more durable, efficient, and productive crops and resources.  [Protection (Cleansing) 4/10] 
 Create Advanced Concept (2AP): Glassware  – The Onna have utilized the sudden abundance of glass to master glassmaking in a wide variety of forms, producing containers, windows, tableware, medical tools, and even weapons from this remarkable material.  [Protection (Cleansing) 6/10] 
 Create Advanced Sub-Concept (1AP): Greenhouse  – Using a combination of glass, silk, and wooden frames, the Onna have devised the first greenhouses, which they build atop their domed dwellings and use to produce food year round, allowing high-density settlements.  [Protection (Cleansing) 7/10] 

Starting AP: 0 Rollover Gain: 5 Spent: 5 Remaining: 0
 
Omoikane13
 Planning Ahead 

Telas dead, Kish-Eru, well, surviving. The Onna, those children of Hroad's early creations, were slowly becoming more and more developed. Everything was progressing, shifting, and morphing. Much of Hroad's work had been trying to help bind these communities, to reinforce them, to inure them against outside, divine meddling. Hroad liked to think they had managed well, that the kami, loci, and plants had all found good use.

But it was short-sighted to not plan ahead. There was nothing stopping the bubbling-up of new figureheads of chaos, those like Sagmi, and it would be foolish to not have tools to utilise against them in the future. Something that would aid in the back-and-forth.

A simple, thick swaying reed. One of many crossbreeds and developments, tall as the average person, plucked from the wetlands. Carefully, delicately, Hroad shaped the soil-end into a sharp point, engraved with curlicues and spirals, but left the opposite end wispy, a nod to the tool's heritage. All that remained was an act of will, and Hroad had an instrument with which to rewrite some of the worst meddling. To write rules into the aether, and to carve out some actual limits to the potentially boundless or uncontrolled.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Create Greater Utility Artifact [5 AP]: The Fiat Quill (Bless/Curse Artifact):  A common reed, carved and etched into something that can write, and write powerfully. Usually kept with Hroad, the Fiat Quill can produce practically endless amounts of mundane ink for its own purposes, and is designed to be of use for the typical divine back-and-forth.

 Domains:  Water (Ink) +5/10

 Remaining AP:  11
 
Athedia
Glikmora burned.

She knew many of her siblings were leaving the world and stepping back to guide but she still had work to do.  Her children were not yet safe, the burning sky showed that to her.  An impure rain of metal and glass carving destruction across her wetlands.  She could handle that, bringing the scattered Lolats back together, reshaping their ponds, rebuilding their tribes.

But she couldn’t handle the fire of arcane magic that coursed through the waterways of her land, up through her very being.  As it flooded the rivers and wetlands that wove through Adanat she fled, each new tributary and floodplain burning as much as the first.

She found herself stumbling onto dry land.  Familiar land from just after the world was made.  Her brother.  Telas, he would know what to do.  She stumbled across the wasteland, torn between the pain of the desolation and the fire in her blood searching for her brother.  Until one day she stumbled upon Desire Heart.


She had heard whispers of this place, one where nothing was constant and your senses lied.  Her skin prickled, her veins burned and her mind screamed.  This wretched place.  This treatorous place. Exactly where one such as Telas would live.  And so she pushed onward toward what lay at the center of Desire Heart.

 ”Brother!”   Glikmora had reached a place that did not change.  A cave, but not one of shelter.  One of hiding. She searched looking everywhere for where Telas could be hiding.  She sent out spores worming their way into the earth, spreading out through the air.  But he was not there.

She leaned in exhaustion against a large stalagmite, trying to think of her next plan.  As she did so, she felt the deep threads she had woven into so many creatures in the First World.  A wordless wail was all she could muster, her closest sibling gone.


 

Sandstorms and creatures often found themselves here.  [Sound of Rocks Falling Down a Slope] had consumed many of them.  It went for the safer prey, avoiding the other Temptations until it was large enough to safely absorb them.  And it avoided the creatures who strode through Desire Heart with confidence.  Those were dangerous.

But this one was different.  She stumbled into the realm like a the weaker creatures, lost and searching.  It followed behind, watching.  A few times she turned and [Sound of Rocks Falling Down a Slope] had to hide.  It didn’t know why, it could just make an offer now.  It was obvious there was something she wanted.  But still it watched.

She had found the center.  Impressive.  Very few lasted this far in the state she was in.  But she would find nothing here.  It watched as she searched anyway, picking up rocks, pushing forward offerings.  Eventually she leaned against the large rock and then it heard the sound.  The sound she made called to [Sound of Rocks Falling Down a Slope], it spoke of need, of desires and of loss.

 ”Child. How may I help?”   And she spoke, she spoke of the pain coursing through her land and herself.  She spoke of the carelessness of gods.  She spoke of her creations and failures.  She spoke of her wish to protect the land from the destruction she had seen arcane magic.  And she offered to share all that she could give.


 

Glikmora and Glikmora’s Wail returned to Adanat.  Together they brought their hands together and pushed them down into the soil of the land.  Spores bled from Glikmora and Hope from Glikmora’s Wail.  Together they pushed back the leylines that had torn through Adanat directing them around the land.  In their place a new network was woven, that of sorrow and slow decay fed by the returning dead and feeding the now starving creatures.


 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

AP 2 rollovers: 8 AP

Create Avatar (3 AP) Glikmora’s Wail: A Temptation reshaped by taking some of Glikmora’s divine power in a deal, Glikmora’s Wail shifts between it’s Temptation appearance and that of a shadow of Glikmora.  It still has the urge to tempt those around it, however it is even more forthright in dealings.  That being said it feels drawn much more strongly to Glikmora’s domain of Luck than her other domains. [Truth (Deals) 5/10]

Mycellium Network (Counteract Altar Land Ley Lines) (2 AP):  As the ley lines coursed across the world they hit Adanat especially hard given the land was riddled with waterways.  Glikmora and Glikmora’s Wail pushed the Ley Lines out of Adanat and replaced the networks for local creatures with a unique Mycellium Network version that would allow creations like the Corpse Trees to exist, but not any new encroachment of Arcane Magic. [Water (Wetlands) 4/10]


Water (Wetlands) 4/10
Weather (Rain) 2/10
Medicine (Toxins) 2/10
Truth (Deals) 5/10
Magic (Necromancy) 6/10

AP 8-5= 3 AP
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naury  , Hostile Takeover 
Corner after corner, the halls of Tiral's Treasury are seemingly endless. With floors of gold, furniture of silver and copper, it is designed around the very concept of opulence as it seems. And there is a single, living being on this plane, a stranger clothed befit in elaborate robes and the face covered befit a masquerade. And soon after having started the march from what must have been a random place along the curve, they arrived at the center: A small both, waiting for a Teller to staff it that never came to exist. Below it, the only vault that was in use at the time. Calling it Vault Zero seems just fitting, being that in the other two directions the numbers may be endless. However, it is Tirals Personal Vault laying there below the feet of Naury.

 A meeting has been called in, the highest ranks of 'The Merchant's Guild' where to attend. A return to the very place they where founded at, a open plaza in a sunken town that nearly has been lost to be forgotten. The call was both surprising, but welcome. The Guild has been having trouble for some time now, as few reached out to them this days and they struggled to reach out themself. Only old deals that have hang unchanged for many years have hold many of the merchants able to enjoy their benefits. And since there is only one being that can call in such a meeting, in a unquestionable authority, this was a chance to climb a-new. 

The obsidian Vault of Tiral refused to open for anyone who could not fulfill the basic requirement of being either Tiral, or her rightful Inheritor. Both are beings that simply no longer exist, or have never existed to begin with. However, the property within the Vault will be solving that issue. The Soul Coins all but one can trace themself back to one being, a divine entity that was the most instrumental in their creation. The divine being that created the value they are used to hold to begin with...

 The highest of the guild are naturally Sea-Folk. Only they where able to witness the original display, before luring others in to join themself below them. The sole exception was the 'Mercantile Mermaid' herself, who hold the highest position on her own... Yet there, a different being was. It barley made an attempt at hiding what it was, a odd Seafolk, longer and larger then most, cloaked in a thick, unnatural mantle of silver scales and keeping the face behind a veil of shadows. This was not the Mermaid, nor was it one of the Merchants. Yet this was who called in the meeting one could not refuse to join. 

The sound of the coins hitting the vault door at speed and repeatedly would have been deafening if there was anyone else to hear it. The contents are aware who they belong to, for there is no-one and nowhere else for them to be.

 The stranger told them the facts. The Mermaid has ceased. A knife was drawn at them, yet it has gone trough the scales like they where made of the water surrounding them. Accusations followed where actions failed. 

This Vault, and in extension every Vault on this plane of existence, has lost its owner. Naury would fill this vacancy.  The Accusations where baseless. The Authority absolute. The Mermaids disapperance merely enabled the Stranger, they where not the cause. 
  A simple change in Management would solve the problems.  
 
 Spoiler: Naury AP Spending 
 0 AP LEFT 
 3 AP LEFT 
 2 AP - Counteract  (Bank Vault Security) [Law (Promises) 2/10]
  A Change of Management 
'Tiral's Treasury' is a nearly flat plane with a seemingly endless collection of vaults. And each vault has its own protections, eachs contents only accessible by the owner, followed by any inheritors, followed lastly by Tiral herself. However, the mercantile mermaid has left a vacancy. Naury, being the closest thing to a inheritor the soul coins of her vault can be assigned to, twisted the system to accept them as the new stand-in for Tiral in any way the plane can recognize. While the name of the Plane stays the same, the protections now refer to Naury as the rightful owner, as does the primary Vault that Soul Coins are send to for the purposes of earning Essence for Statgems.  0 AP - Create Mundane Concept  [MUA Charge]
  Mining 
The People of the Chain have been hit by the spires like everyone else, yet in the mountainous terrain, few stand out for long before just melting into the landscape. Seeking out this especially ore-rich Megaliths and opening them up was a natural process of things. What the Chain lacked in expertise in working the materials, it could make up with in the pure quantity they could produce of it.  ________ 
 1 AP Left 

Progress:
[Society (Discovery) 4/10]
[Law (Promises) 2/10]
 
Charya
Shaleena had done as she had always done and just started to.

She had come into being already when the first thought about how the first world might be appeared in the creator's mind.

And yet she had travelled here from elsewhere.

Like a caleidoscope, all origins were true and neither was. Maybe she had been the first to come to be. Maybe she had not existed until she finally decided to act.

But her appearance had been gentle and silent and she had waited to step forward so that she might better understand those around her. Those that were like her and different and the things they made. This time things would be different. It was the first time in time, so every possibility lay before her.

She had watched well... Appearance still veiled from the Cosmos, yet gazing upon and smiling about the deeds of her siblings, she was trying to understand and the first actions formed, of mortals and immortals alike, into plans and into greatness... And the possibility of failure.

But she also had her own mind about how things might work.

Entering the First world, long afte rher siblings hat already started to work on it, she had nevertheless watched well... And a first plan had formed in her mind. For her siblings seemed to have so much fun with the little sparks of them - The beings with the divine light, that was so incredibly small, yet still allowed some of them - very rarely - To achieve great things. The beings they called mortals. But of course, she wanted to create best of them all... And that took careful planning. Many of her siblings had created land, land under the sea or even societies that lived on flying beasts in the sky... But yet she was aware, a race too powerful had not much reason for development. For furthering themselves. She could (and probably would) shower them with her support, but... If they had no obstacles, they would only become arrogant and stay the same. So, no dragons. No. Puny against a god, but most things mortal were just not up against them. No living dungeons either (Though the idea of pacts intrigued her... Contracts made for very good options to push things to your liking...).

And the lands... Hhrrrm. That was the problem when you came late to the party and wanted to be Unique. She needed a place that was specifically prepared, even before she made the race in question... A place they could not fall down from (no flying whales then) and crack. No place where they would immediately become seamonsters (While the idea was intriguing and certainly added to options, she neither wanted to intrude nor automatically give away her toys as soon as they were created... So not in the sea. And upon the land, where the other races were ?

Yes, exactly, other races. She wanted her people to be flexible and open, but well-defended. Hrrrrm...

In the and, she looked at the "Hands" around the world... Pondering. Around was the sea. On some already lived people too... Wait a moment... In the darkness of the void, Shaleen smirked as she rushed down into the world. ON ? Yes. IN ? No. And so she hollowed the hands. Not completely, for there needed to be above and below, materials to work with... Space to add more things. As the rules of the earth had decreed, the place would be the richer, the more inhospitable it was...
Now that was a nice game. She sealed the hands carefully. Yes, they were open to the sea, but this particular kind of stone was in fact a filtering kind of corall, which turned into stone upon dying, but kept its filtering properties, breathing in the saltwater, but collecting the salt - That gave them life - Within.This led to the bottom of the hands - The wrists so to speak - Were filled with water... Clean water, as the salt had been filtered out. On the other hand, the walls around, if treaded carefully, could be harvested with a renewable ressource as long as the coralls did not die out - Salt. Meanwhile, Corall was a precious and surpisingly strong material - She saw no reason not to share it with the merpeople outside too. So in one swipe, she had created a source for water, a precious substance and something that could be turned into a particularily special material for tools. She was proud on herself. The fish in the undersea lakes, the algae and mushrooms would feed her (yet to come) race. Of course every hand was different, due to climate and other people living on it already...

But that would only make it more fun lateron. To make sure nobody but her chosen would enter the hands to early and steal the place she had made for them, she put granite, Iron and similar veins into the top of the fingertips... It would possibly be mined, by her people or others, but it would be enough of a hold-up to give the goddess time to plan the rest of her work...

Oh right - She needed light, unless she would want her people to be blinded when they finally left their cradle... And so she gave them them Glowstone... A material that had the power to glow from within with light and warmth... Gentle only, giving Twilight, yet still enough to see by... She found that calming and it did not steal the idea of the shattered star.

Speaking of it...

__________________________________________________  ____________
 Create Land (2AP)  (Hollow the Hands, put strong minerals to the top to keep people from entering them easily for now. Also creates the so-called "glowstones as part of the interior, a crystal glowing from the inside with light and warmth. While aplenty in here, they are known nowhere else in the world. Imperfections lead to less light, but they always stay warm.).  [Planning (Architecture) 2/10] 
 Bless (1 AP)  (The Shadow-Corall tends to migrate close to the Hand's wrists and in fact has filled up the tunnels that water enters through. In that way it is much harder for anybody inside to fall to the curse of the sea - for now - As there is simply no natural saltwater to reach. Once they come out, though...). As a side-effect, those corrals still filter the water upon dying, leading to natural sources of both water and salt. If forcefully taken from their homeground, it dies. But it is still strong like chitin and smooth like the inside of a seashell - But offers absolutely no protection against water, as that merely runs through.  [Water (Life) 1/10]
 
 Create Mundane Concept (1 AP)  (Corall Breeding) (A secret not mastered by any race yet, a secret to be given to her chosen... Somewhen.)  [Water (Life) 2/10] 

Current AP-Pool:

16 (Start) -2 -1 -1 = 12

Current Domains/Portfolios:

Trickery (Intrigue) (Acquired)
Spell (Subtlety) (Acquired)
Planning (Architecture) 2/10
Water (Life) 2/10
AlexanderML
   Desire Heart - A Heart Full of  Love    


The desolate land of veiled illusions and unfulfilled desires had continued on as it always had amid the arcane storms and its creator’s demise. Mortals occasionally stumbled inside, where they suffered from the desolation and were ultimately preyed upon by the Temptations living within.

It started with a warm breeze, a gentle one that promised greenery and the soft rays of dawn. The few mortals within Desire Heart knew not what it meant, except perhaps salvation that was ultimately denied; the Temptations that took notice saw it as a clever joke to increase the desperation of the mortals and thus paid little mind to the phenomenon.

Time passed with the winds coming and going. One day a flower was found, a small emerald green flower that had yet to bloom. There was nothing else near the flower, no one appeared to be caring for it. The flower for all purposes appeared to have just grown from the ground on its own; yet the Temptations knew that was impossible, this place was a perfect desolate land that could only change when someone marred it. Someone placed the flower here and a few curious Temptations of minor power began to look for the perpetrator.

More time passed and someone was found to be wandering Desire Heart; yet no Temptation could name them or even remember what they looked like other than they were humanoid. Mortals would sometimes be found in a daze after meeting them, which was how the Temptations found out it was female.

Things became more urgent with time, as the gentle winds began to overtake all others and the land began to grow flowers and grasses in all directions. Mortals started to find true hope amid despair, which was what finally threw the Temptations into a frenzy.

Many fled the increasingly hospitable realm, fearing what would happen should they stay. Others thrashed and struggled against Desire Heart to return it back to how it was, full of pride in their own might. While a few of the greatest searched for the perpetrator.

Gasp of Departing Soul was the one that became desperate enough to speak with Telas, to understand the will of the god and what ploy they had in mind with letting things reach this point. The signs of vegetation, of soft fields, the first tall flower-forests of the plane were seen near where the god should be; only a few spots of desolation stubbornly remained. Parting through a wall of thorns and petals Gasp of Departing Soul entered the clearing that they knew was to house their god.

They were not there.

Instead a field of flowers under a beautiful moonless, starless, night appeared before them. Water dew clung to the flowers as small animals scurried around. Mortals stood atop a hill where they basked in awe of something that shook the Temptation.

She was terrible, her bones and blooming eyes things so inhuman as to make even it startled. She was beautiful, her dress of countless heads a testament to her grace. She was anathema, for she nurtured what was within her grasp. She was perfect, for she was a leech that brought despair to what loved her.

Gasp of Departing Soul was overwhelmed by something at Her gaze; a yearning, a hate, a hunger that bore a hole into its essence. It writhed across the field towards the mortals and Her… and with a laugh devoured all the mortals there.

Flesh was crushed, warped, replaced; made anew as the souls of the mortals were trapped by the hole inside the Temptation. Yet they did not fit, none of them fit, and thus they were trapped within; warping Gasp of Departing Soul’s own essence and bloating its size.

In the end Gasp of Departing Soul and their now many souls screamed as they became something new.

Watching this process, the warped entity could tell that She had a frown as Desire Heart took notice of what occurred and repeated the process again and again with the Temptations that remained within itself.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 
5/20 AP

 -2 Create Land - The Morning Bloom:  Across the plane of Desire Heart flower forests, green glades, sparkling lily rivers, kelp flower beds, and other forms of flower-themed greenery begin to spring up spontaneously. A macabre paradise of beautiful death bones are often found made into bridges, foundations, roads, works of art, or other forms of construction across the plane; with new bones appearing each time another disappears from the First World.

The lands are lightly conjoined, with distance and exact pathways being things still dependent on the will of the traveler. Small wastelands can be found at random; some hosting withering Temptations and others being spots where the Morning Bloom simply did not revive.

The sky always contains a starless night or a sunless day, the life itself bereft of arcane mana that the First World’s sky provides besides what little is brought in from the outside.

 Evil (Corruption) 2/10 
 (Artifact Charge) - Alter Land - Lilia’s Desire:  The heart of the plane becomes the personal garden of Lilia. Utterly hostile to those who are incorrupt, spores full of Lilia’s Love fill the air, vines create walls using skeletons to create murals, flowers larger than a man devour those foolish enough to gaze too long at their beauty.

Yet still for all its ugly exterior it houses a divine garden at its center with a copy of every flower species that has ever bloomed. Here Lilia herself often visits so that she may be looked upon.

 (Artifact Charge) - Bless - Longing Buds:  A kind of tulip begins to grow across the world. Their leaves make for delicious tea and those who drink it find that they house an unknown longing to see someone that cannot be fulfilled. Those who often drink longing bud tea will find themselves deeply contemplating the feeling as they are moving about their day, until they enter Desire Heart (typically at Lilia’s Desire). There they may let go of the longing either through flower-worship contemplation, or by witnessing the goddess; then leave once they decide on a destination.

 -3 Create Legendary Subspecies (Temptations) - Tuatha:  These complex creatures are the result of Lilia's Love beginning to infect even the essence of the Temptations, transforming ash and dust into delusion.

Still creatures of desire, Tuatha now seek to fulfill the hole they see within themselves; with the strongest instinctual drive to do this being the acquisition of the perfect soul.

Each Tuatha is composed of multiple different parts. Their body/landscape, their incarnate self(s) (mind), and their siog (minor souls). The number of souls a Tuatha possesses may produce stranger arrangements.

The body of a Tuatha is that of a fantastical landscape. Be it a gingerbread castle, cloudy garden, city street of demons, or other locales. Each is suited to the Tuatha’s taste and houses the multiple souls each collects. One cannot destroy a Tuatha without unambiguously destroying its landscape-body, though great enough destruction will permanently warp one. A Tuatha may keep itself stationary for long periods of time to lure mortals into itself but can move to new places when desired.

The incarnate self of the Tuatha is what a Tuatha uses to understand itself and contemplate thoughts and emotions beyond an instinctual level. It acts as the mouthpiece fully able to divorce itself from its own delusions and make pacts with mortals. Tuatha of a particular size and complexity may create multiple incarnate selves to manage themselves, and those who lose all their incarnate selves have a hope of creating a new one if left alive for long enough (though the end result is traumatic and the Tuatha will never be the same again).

The siog are complex delusions of the Tuatha, parts of themselves that live inside their body and function to keep lie that the body is a real place alive. Each one is made from a mortal soul a Tuatha bargained for, used like a mitochondria powering a cell. Siog can be broken apart into miniature versions of themselves, or reshaped by the incarnate self, and have no agency outside the Tuatha (going limp if ever taken outside it, returning to life once returned).

Tuatha are envious creatures, finding mockery in the existence of mortals who can find inner peace; when even the greatest Tuatha can never be satisfied completely. Tuatha want more acknowledgement, they want more capability, they want to do more; yet they will never be satisfied no matter how many hands or lives they obtain nor by any attempts to discard desire.

One particularly vexatious fact that the Tuatha know about is that Lilia frowned upon their creation and generally disfavors them compared to mortals. This leads to them being spiteful to even mortals she favors in small amounts, only truly sparing maiden cultists and those who visit Lilia’s Desire; all others being food they trade with to obtain their souls and trick with their fantastical landscapes and creatures within.

 Evil (Corruption) 5/10 
 (Artifact Charge) - Create Organization - The Treior:  A group of maiden cultists that exist primarily in and around Lilia’s Desire; the treior are knowledgeable about the ways of Desire Heart and the many Tuatha that make their homes within. Those leaving Lilia’s Desire for the ‘wider wilds’ are advised to have treior guide, least you become lost amid the changing landscapes and become prey for Tuatha trickery.

They trade this knowledge for food and goods from the First World, each treior slowly becoming a bundle of strange foreign clothing and knickknacks.

0/10 AP
 
Demidos
 And so it was  war.  

A dizzying report, carried by an exhausted Starbird messenger, a single passing bird who had in the smallest of chances happened upon a dying Inksworn, locked in a cage atop a pyramid drenched in blood. The furthest flung scouts of the City of Kish-Eru had encountered another peoples, but they were not who they appeared at first. The report presented to the council is excerpted below.

 
 Spoiler: Report from Inksworn: Dances like Stone 

To anyone hearing this, this is my last report.  We discovered a town with regular scouting parties that seemed far more organized than the typical independent town. We thought them simple primitives albeit with an incredible architectural prowess -- they built massive triangular structures unlike anything I have seen before. They are highly organized and often wear clothes dyed in red -- only later did we realize the red is blood. Some of the savages ambushed us while we watched, and slaughtered my men, laughing and patting each other on the back as they drank their blood from their severed necks. My men fought back but they are unnaturally strong and fast, and they took us by surprise with the help of a giant beast of scales and with teeth like knives. I imagine I was spared for the moment due to the ink, but I am locked in a cage and I do not think I will make it. Prepare for the worst. They speak in a strange tongue but have gestured much in the direction from which we came. We are not prepared.
 


The report was sealed to the council, but the news rapidly spread. Gossip in the streets spread like wildfire, and the city was preparing for war. But this Kish-Eru was not the Kish-Eru of the past. The city had blossomed in the past decade, both literally and in the arts, and culture was at its heart. The metal towers that had fallen from the sky had been the subject of much commotion, but the city had suffered relatively little harm, and the towers were quickly repurposed into newer and larger buildings, true monoliths beginning to emerge from the flooded grasses. The presence of Lilia's Witches of the Old Bloom was causing a renaissance in alchemy, but they were not alone. A new style was taking Kish-Eru by storm, warrior bards who had founded a new group known as the Guild of Ursa. Ursa were warriors who had chosen to take up a second passion alongside the first in the arts, including music, art, or the most popular, storytelling. Although known as a guild, it was more of a loose association, with a simple structure of command. Every month, Guildmasters would offer single combat or a judgement in arts to be performed for the general public to any who wished to challenge their rule. Those who succeeded would become the new Guildmaster. Those who wished to not be associated with a new Guild leadership would be allowed to leave unmolested from that Guildmaster’s sphere. It was a simple concept, but it spread like wildfire to adventurers and wandering musicians seeking safe spaces, far beyond the reach of the First City.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sagmi watched as the Shattered Star’s power receded from the First World.  “Oh – so thats how that works. How interesting. It doesn’t seem very fun though, being alone up here. Perhaps you will change your mind.”  Words and notes, black even against the void, appear behind her form, and swirl into a melody, song, and story, sourceless yet present, an invitation that could only be offered from one Divine to another.  “Come find me once you realize how much more it might be.” 

With that Sagmi returns to her city and marvels at the changes that have been enacted by other divine wills during her absence. Alchemy is hawked from the streets and a skeleton roams the streets with friendly handshakes, while a rotten bloom is spoken to and worshipped by many. Fascinating. But the stories sometimes remain hidden, and that is not right – they should be told far and wide. And so she finds a group of likeminded artists and warriors and gives them the smallest of nudges, pushing them together. They will form something that might yet shake the world. There is one more nudge for her to perform – with a small exertion she tweaks the First Abyssal Dungeon beneath the city, the greatest of its kind, allowing it to siphon the smallest proportion of victims from its fellows across the world. Many who enter the Abyssal Dungeons never returned, but of the few who did, the smallest of fractions of them return not to where they began, but to a new place – Kish Eru, the First City. And their strange customs and dialects would soon begin to change the city yet again…

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions and Other 
5 AP: Song of Heroes (Greater Utility Artifact: Bless): A standing song, a sourceless story, this symphony of words and noise wraps around Sagmi like a cloak telling stories of heroes and villains long dead and yet to come. Arts(Music) 5/10

1 AP: Create Organization (Guild of Ursa): A loose association of heroes, storytellers, musicians and adventurers, half adventurers guild and half bards association. The word Ursa means Heroes in the dialect of Kish-Eru, though the concept of heroes extends to any outstanding individuals in their own fields. The first Guildhouse is based in the First City, but the concept rapidly spreads, anyone who wishes can use this. Arts(Music) 6/10

0 AP Artifact Charge:Bless: Sagmi has blessed the Abyssal Dungeon beneath Kish-Eru with the ability to funnel some small proportion of applicants in other dungeons to itself. This is a one-way teleportation effect allowing people from all around the First World to end up in First City, cementing its status as a multicultural hub and hopefully in the future leading to more cultural exchange with far off continents. To other deities, please feel free to send through creatures to interact with the First City, I’ve left it vague as an open avenue for collaboration! Note the creatures will be Inksworn when exiting the dungeon unless you use some shenanigans.

0 AP: Sagmi has left a standing one-use invitation for the Shattered Star’s power to find hers. If used, they or any representative with sufficient power invested (e.g. Avatar, Hero, etc) will be able to find her or her similarly powered creations.

Remaining AP: 8 AP + 8 AP (2 Rollovers) - 6 AP = 10 AP
 
Zelphas
 A Breeze in the Void 

The First World was a joy to travel through; but so quickly, it seems, the travel must come to an end. Already, Salet felt itself pushed into the higher atmospheres, drifting out from air into airless Void. A breeze without air, warmth in crushing coldness? This is funny, in and of itself, and Salet laughed at the juxtaposition, even as it reached back to give a gift to those struggling below it. A power, originally from Telas--ah, but only barely, and others have already played with the power. If they notice... well, they won't do anything too drastic; it's against their nature.

Spinning up fully into the Void, Salet passes by the Shattered Star, breezing past the figure with a whisper of laughter in the airless, soundless space.   I hope you don't mind company overmuch; if so, I can find other places to play, and I won't be here long,   Salet states merrily, delighting in the way the breeze plays around the ringed machinery surrounding the other figure.

 Emptying the Larder 

Those who ate flesh without remorse gained strength beyond those who did not, in most cases. A direct fight was almost always a loss. And so, other methods had to be used to save those who were next for the top of the pyramid. Taking advantage of natural disasters was useful, but not reliable. Some tried their luck with Temptations, which was nearly the same thing, only with much worse results. Staging an attack to divert attention was costly, and the Empire began to grow wise to these attacks, so they had to be spaced out. And there were even some brave souls who took the place of the captives, buying their freedom by stepping up to the pyramid themselves. This often gained many more allies than just the freed would-be meals, for Remorse was common in those who ate the sacrifices... but not always, and those who sacrificed themselves still died.

Still, the people resisting grew, and those who gave their lives for one another discovered something remarkable: sometimes, the sincere desire to protect and defend gave them power beyond their means. It became clear that an oath, clearly thought and followed, with the intent of protection above all else, equipped the swearers with the power to keep their promise. A bodyguard became as powerful as ten when faced with nine foes. This power waxed and waned according to need, but it was trustworthy. So, blessing the wind, they trusted in it, and continued to empty the food stores of the Empire as much as they could.

 The Second Feather 

In the Void above the First World, another feather shook free from the great Cloak and fell down to earth. Spiraling towards Adanat, the feather touched a long, thin reed growing out of the swampy earth and transformed. The tall, thin creature blinked and whipped its spear-like beak around, tentatively spreading and flapping long, thin wings to steady itself on stick-like feet. Then, it lifted into the sky, searching for deeper water. Once it found a good spot, it dove, transforming from a birdlike outline to a thin, straight spear of motion before entering the water without a splash. It surfaced moments later, a water snake speared on its beak, and swam clumsily towards the shore.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 0 AP + 4 AP = 4 AP 
 Create Organization (1 AP) - The Empty Larder:  A society within the Empire that is focused on saving as many people from cannibalism as they can. Given that cannibalism is a daily occurrence in the Empire, this is a huge uphill battle; still, the fact that many are willing to die for this cause and will take the place of other victims for the chance of activating the Cost of Consuming an Empathic Soul has helped to swell their numbers.  [War (Mercy) 7/10] 
 Create Mythic Sub-Concept (2 AP, from Pact Magic) - Guardian Magic:  By swearing an oath to protect a person, place, or community within clear guidelines (or occasionally in a moment of desperation), a mortal is given the powers to fulfill their oath. These powers change to fit the threat being faced and are purely defensive; attempting to use them to attack others or in any other violation of the oath causes them to disappear.  [War (Mercy) 9/10 
 Create Monstrous Life (from Cloak of Many Feathers) - Lance Herons:  Lance herons are tall (6-8 ft), incredibly thin birds with beaks that are about a quarter of their body length and incredibly sharp. Living in marshy areas with deeper waters and on coasts, Lance Herons hunt by diving after prey, spearing them on the end of their beak, and carrying the speared body to firmer ground to messily dissect and consume. Lance Herons also defend themselves in the same way, diving from great heights and spearing into those that would try to attack them.

 4 AP - 3 AP = 1 AP Remaining 
 
DasIrrlicht
 WAR   Profiteering, and another Trade 
The Merchant Guild has been... Lacking, recently. However, with the change at the top of the ladder they are reinvigorated, and it could not come to a better time! Old trade routes who have run on routine and mere marginal profits see more, closer supervision. Internal corruption gets cut down, people are getting demoted and promoted to increase their efficiency, and recruiting once again runs great.

The easiest to rope into the trade again where the People of the Chain. Even within the formation, they where stretched so vast apart that one would not even need to leave the society to find buyers for the wares, and to gain foothold.

The Empire was always a interesting customer. Their traditions made them hard to work with, so many merchants dedicating themself to that section of the business do so by managing less informed subsidiaries. This merchants are rather far down the ladder, but 'getting rid of ones soul' is a service that many of the weaker members of the empire are willing to pay for instead of having to be convinced. Especially if it comes with a minor boon in power to help them stay alive. Newly, at least some of the subsidiaries seem to regret some of their choices of alligance, and instead aim to supply resistant groups, genuinly beliving that their services to them will help them in their troubles and make the empire weaker. Sadly for them, they are not fully aware of their higher ups dealings themself, and as such tend to have little impact on the scale, just making it bloodier for both sides.

Kish-Eru, like most societies, had from a early time on contact with some traders. Independent People. No seemingly no large network. But recently they have seen more traders from outside, bringing in and taking wears out that can not be traced back to the city, or any other group so far. While the mention of a 'Merchant Guild' occasionally echoed trough the talks, no such guild seemes to have had their head quarters in the city. Merely smaller traders associated with them. Another thing that made them unlike most groups of the place is that they apparently did not compete in the power struggles at all. They merely sought to supply as many groups as possible.
Here the group did both run into their possibly best customer, and their first group worthy to be called a rival.
The 'Guild of Ursa' was always interested in new, foreign equipment for the high quality the products usually promised, and the benefits that Statgems gave have made them excel in many ways, at the cost of something as inconeequental as a soul. The Lolipops also seem to have found a much higher amount of consumers there then in most other societies. Possibly a result of the local merchants mixtures, or it is simply because of the nature of adventurers and bards to develop somewhat of a sweet tooth.
In turn, 'The Witches of the Old Bloom' where a more mixed relationship. While there is plenty of weird and unknown ingredients the Merchants could provide them with, they also offered many, if mainly uncreative, concoction of alchemical value of their own. Which does cut into the lifesavings of many a Witch... The fact that neither side seems exceptionally prone to violence as a solution  (for their own problems, that is. Your problems CAN be solved with violence, and a small boost to your bodily strength!)  kept it from becoming critical. The fact that the Merchants themself are seemingly unable to perform a request outside of their choosen wares in a timely manner does help the Witches to stay competetive as well.

 

And all three would come together, of course, in the trade that is in the best interest of NON of them:  The Weapon Trade .

Ore is easily mined in the Chain, and it takes comparable little to part them from it, as the Guild is common among there people. Shipping it out of the eye of the outsider-seafolk is the probably most risky part of the jorney, yet the ocean is vast, and the number within the original home of the Merchant Guild protects them well...
This Shipments then arrive at the coasts of the Empire, and get secretly moved inlands to large complexes of Blacksmiths, who do not ask many questions as long as they can keep a part of the valuable materials for themself. Blades and armour smithed after specification unlike the empires more prefered weaponry then get moved back to the coast, and is secretly transfered again.
There is many ships arriving these days in Port Tale, so few would notice if a smaller boat brings in a miniscule ammount of high quality steelwork, and leaves with alchemical substances again freshly mixed to be applied to the metals in transit to yet another coast...
The treated and customly smithed materials then arrive in 'The First City'. Patterns unknown to the locals and the empire, coated in substances only few know that not only aim to increase the dealiness, but also obscure most of the signs of the production process making them near impossible to reverse engineer.

Yes, as far as the Merchant Guild was concerned, it was a genious trade. Everyone got what they wanted. But only they would profit from it... Not simply disolving the guild when naury had the chance to deprive them of their main tool of trade was a mistake Naury may regrets as this war will be bloodier then it had to be...

 

So Trade was booming. Materials, Products, and Coin made from and with the souls of people willingly parting with theirs are moved all over the globe. Yet the value of this coin lays primarily in its limited supply, and what you can gain from selling it up to the Treasury. Its actual content was of little value to nearly everyone that handled them.

Yet, there was special use in it for some creatures. The Echo-Servants of Naury where rather limited in where they could go without suffering their undoing. When offered the chance to, under conditions, witness the first world directly and truly interact with it, many of them would take the chance. Naury equiped the ones with the possibility to 'lend out' the knowhow and experience of the dead souls to fulfill whatever task they will move to the first world to fulfill, and the Merchants got informed of the new service offered uniquily to them.

Functionaries, Echo-Servants send to perform certain task, before leaving the world again once their time runs out. There is ways to extend the time they have outside of the plane of echos, the initial payment is able to hold them for up to weeks of service on its own, even if rarely it takes so long till their task is fulfilled. However, some will stay for years away, powered by various sources of energy as they take on more tasks.

 
 Spoiler: Naury AP Spending 
 5 AP ROUNDSTART 
 1 AP LEFT 
 2 AP - Create Sub-Concept  (Soul Coins) [Law (Promises) 2/10]
  Functionaries 
Using a Soul Coin, one can call forth a willing Echo-Servant from another plane (Usually the Plane of Echos, but under circumstances even one of the ones that Naury stationed directly in the Treasury.) This willing servant will loyaly follow its function, at the best to its abilities. Their stay is however temporary, and once the power of a coin runs out other means, or more coin, is required to supply them with the energy they need to stay. This usually takes the form of ground up Orichalcum or in some specific cases, the vitality of raw blood.
Each Functionary summond retains their own personality but utilises the experience of the dead to perform their tasks. It is not to uncommon for them to take extra tasks on after being finished, or during the finishing of the task they where originally summoned for, yet this is not covered by the original calling and as such depends on the Echo-Servants experience they came with if they will be able to.
Every Functionary follows this call willingly, and as such, it is theoretically possible to make a demand where no-one is interested in fulfilling it. However in praxis, it is functionally certain that someone is willing for one reason or another. 
 ________ 
 4 AP Left 
 1 MUA Charge 

Progress:
[Society (Discovery) 4/10]
[Law (Promises) 4/10]
 
MutantDragon
  War Comes to the Faithful  

These were interesting times to live in the Empire of the Sun. All times, of course, were interesting, but these times brought special wonders and perils. The sun itself had unleashed a cataclysm of fire and metal that scarred the land and brought surges of arcane power and madness. This was a sign to the faithful of things yet to come, and a sign to meet these things as would the sun: with fire and steel. A rebellion arose that forsook the sun's embrace and the true transcendence of hatred and wrath. Worse, some of their own began to turn soft and weak. Then came the Inksworn and his party. While the cultists were no strangers to such beings, they came to realize their prisoner came from another land, another empire. Not so strong as theirs, lacking as they were in the sun's hateful love, but larger than a mere village or town. So the Empire would need more to defeat them with the ease befitting the sun's chosen people. Harkit communed with the Genius Locus at the heart of the Empire, a Locus long since driven to fanatical heights of holy madness, and he requested, no, demanded, a Kami. One of the great forest Kamis that the Empire's Locus had conquered in the recent past. And then Harkit channeled his magic and his malice into the tortured spirit. For thirteen days and thirteen nights Harkit filled the Kami with pain and hate and arcane magic. When at last Harkit was done, what remained was hardly a Kami at all, but rather a crown. A twisted crown of living, writhing flesh that whispered deranged ramblings into the minds of all who saw it. Harkit placed this crown upon his head and ascended the steps of the central pyramid. At the top, he turned towards the city and shouted with a voice that boomed like thunder, carrying the raw arcane power of his wrath. He was calling his people to war. And woe would befall any who stood in their way.

---

In the days that followed, the crown's gibbering would be enough to drive anyone to madness. This was not a great affliction in the Empire, for all that were part of Harkit's inner circle were already blessed with madness. But aside from the wails of pain and backwards nursery rhymes, there were interesting scraps of knowledge to be gleaned. Harkit could snatch these insights from the constant stream of insanity. And with these insights he started to train himself. He formed his very body into a weapon. He would spend hours studying his meals as they died, testing the points of pressure and pain the crown revealed to him. He formed his bones into weapons, smashing them against wood and stone, going past the post of bleeding, past the point of breaking, past all human limits as the crown egged him on. He charged alone into battle, killing without his vaunted sword and instead with his fists and feet, knees and elbows, teeth and skull. And finally, once this art of barbarism had been perfected, he inflicted his knowledge upon the Empire. Those who survived became stronger than ever before. Those who did not, became more fertilizer for the flowers that lined the streets.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 

Rollover! [2x]
2 + 10 = 12

 Create Minor Utility Artifact (Crown of the Twisted Kami - Creates Mundane Concepts) 3AP:  The Crown of the Twisted Kami is, as the name implies, a mangled Kami that has been shaped into a the shape of a crown, albeit one that is made of scarred and writhing flesh. What's left of its mind gibbers endlessly into the minds of mortals, and, while most is senseless ramblings, an astute listener will occasionally uncover scraps of useful information or insights into the greater universe... [Emotions (Hatred) 3/10]

 Create Mundane Concept (Martial Arts) MUA:  The martial arts practiced in the Empire are a brutal art of striking and grappling, designed solely for the purpose of destroying an opponent with unadulterated brutality, though the concept itself could take many different shapes if interpreted by different minds.

12AP - 3AP = 9AP
1MUA - 1MUA = 0MUA
 
Fuzzy Math
  Quid hodie fieri potest, etiam cras fieri potest.  
  What can be done today, can also be done tomorrow.  

With gentle snoring, laid back in his plush chaise lounge, Rel stirs slightly in his dreamless sleep while the drink in his hand stays perfectly undisturbed. His unconscious mind was giving way to the subconscious, feeling a temperature difference in the surroundings as the light and warmth from the Sun that pervaded the cosmos, causing condensation to form on his glass. As the sweat from the glass rolls over his fingers, they elicit a thoughtless grunt as his fingers twitch, a vivid dream of a single droplet crashing at an angle into the warm open ocean fifty miles west of the southern end of The Triangular Chain.

In this dream, the crashing droplet causes no waves rushing outward towards neighboring shores, only a great swirling blob of whitish-tan mist reaching high into the stratosphere. As the mist begins to dissipate it reveals a lush tropical landmass that looks like a geological beanbag chair, with snow-capped mountains that break the clouds forming the "headrest" that gradually slope down into the main "seat" of a verdant humanoid butt-shaped caldera on one side and down into the ocean on the other. The caldera cliffs extend half a mile above sea level, bulging down and outward as if a colossal backside was pressing into the landmass, with two great rivers flowing down from the mountains along the edges of the caldera and off the cliffs as if they were the exposed bits of an untied robe belt. The plant life, mainly jungle brush, begins at the bulge of the cliffs and extends halfway up the mountains, with a rainforest supporting all manner of animal life within the caldera. (A large island approximately five hundred miles in diameter.)

At the foothills of the mountain within the caldera rests a humble looking wooden jungle bungalow, with two windows on the three sides not facing the mountain, and a sturdy door between the south-facing windows. What looks to be a stove pipe extends from a woven thatch roof with a large skylight looking up the mountain slope. Surrounding the bungalow was a wide wraparound deck that held a workbench and forge, beyond that a moderately maintained garden that was fenced in by high-rising tropical hedges with a single gated opening. As the dream continues, Rel's consciousness shifts perspective in the dream state as if he were resting on his chaise within the bungalow, cozy and warm as if it were his private domacile. Inside the home covered all the basic necessities; large clay oven between the east facing windows, a simple kitchen with ample counterspace, storage, and a deep spring-fed waterbasin to the west, and a privy closet encompassing the north wall facing the mountain. Rel's lounger rested in the middle, placed on a nice woven rug that really tied the whole place together. Soon, he could see his body resting comfortably, a ghost of a smile on his face before dreamshifting to the outside again.

Running along the caldera floor and among the branches of the trees were small and tiny humanoid hippo-like creatures of various colors; shades of blue, green, red, purple, yellow, and gray. Rel's slumbering self, and his dream-self's, smile deepened. Of all the  creatures he dreamed of, these were the ones he held closest to his heart. They instinctively understood how to just be; when not looking for sustenance or scampering away from larger predators, they could spend hours just observing the world around them. Not thinking about the hows or the whys of things, accepting that things just were, until there was a need for the knowing. Occasionally they would perch on the hedges near the bungalow, intially not understanding what they were seeing, until a few of the braver ones would pass through the gate. Sometimes the little ones would be gone for quarter suns, sometimes multiple full suns, but they would return speaking of a large hip-elder named Rel the Unburdened in the mountains with a big bushy grey beard who would teach them hunting/trapping and rudimentary hut building. He smiled upon them once they understood those concepts, telling them that is all he can show them for now. "Once you have enough food to fill your bellies, you will need a place to rest, little ones. Know that you are loved and Rel blesses all of you hiplings with excellent health." With that, the large elder would gather them all up in a tight hug before carrying them outside the gate. "Off ya get, little ones, and remember to share with the others what you've learned!"

From the brave little hiplings, the other hiplings would learn and form small villages up in the trees, sharing their resources for the betterment of all. When they would get hurt or gravely wounded, they would be right as rain after a quick bite and a nap. They talked amongst themselves of the elder in the mountain and gave their thanks and praise, making crude idols and tree carvings of his countenance as best they could. They would gather together in small to large groups in front of these, sharing food and dreams with each other and the "hipling elder", parting after strong communal hugs that they called a "Pile". Those offerings would reach Rel's dreamings, providing him a great comfort and satisfaction that his favorite little ones were doing well.

With this particular dream coming to an end, Rel opened his eyes and sat up, taking a drink from his glass with a contented smile. "Damn, that was nice." Once his faculties started rolling back in, he took a look around and noticed his surroundings for the first time. "Kitchen over there... Oven over here..." he muttered to himself, wiping the sleep from his eyes. Turning, he walked to the privy closet to do his business when he looked up through the skylight up at the mountains towering above him. "Wait a second, what the ever-loving...? This was real?!" He quickly finished up, ran to the south windows, and looked out over the deck to see the workbench and greenery. He shook his head in wide-eyed bewilderment and staggered back, tripped over his rug only to land back on the chaise, not spilling a drop of his drink. "Right, right, I'm still dreaming. A couple more sips, a quick nap, and it'll all be back to normal." He took a few more sips, kicked his feet up, and closed his eyes to hopefully wait this one out.

- Minor Edit: Forgot a hipling color. Minor Edit: Corrected unnoticed mistake regarding continent classification of Rel's Pocket. -

 
 Spoiler: AP Spending 
Gamestart AP: 16

Create Land (2AP) - Rel's Pocket: A large island, providing natural barriers and protection from physical interlopers due to the high cliffs and mountains. Filled with sustainable numbers of varied smaller life (plants and critters) to provide sustenance for the hiplings. [Creation (Bounty) 2/10]

Weave Plane{Hedge/Bungalow Interior} (3AP) - Rel's Bungalow: Metaphysical structure; provides Rel a place to teach the hiplings and generally putter about until he needs/wants to do something. [Craft (Creation) 3/10]

Create Portal{Hedge &amp; Gate} (2AP) - Physical structure; connects the First World to Rel's Bungalow and provides Rel a way to view the immediate area past the hedge gate. [Craft (Creation) 5/10]

Create Race (2AP) - Hiplings: Think humanoid pygmy hippos, but even smaller, more adorable, and with thumbs! With Rel's guidance they've progressed from simple "eat what you can catch" to active hunter/gatherers and village builders. [Dream (Inspiration) 2/10]

Create Mundane Concept (2AP) - Hunting/trapping and basic shelter building: They've got the thumbs and they're learning how to put them to use! [Craft (Creation) 7/10]

Bless (1AP) - Fast Healing Hiplings: Accidents happen when you're learning how to do new things or running in the trees; take a moment to breathe, nibble on something, sleep it off! [Healing (Healing) 1/10]

Racial Society (2AP) - The Hopeful: By passing along the teachings of Rel to other Hiplings and learning that having others look out and after you, the hiplings are forming rudimentary villages for protection and communal well-being. Not to mention, the hipling piles strengthen bonds by providing assurance and comfort. [Community (Family) 2/10]

2AP Left

Progress:
[Creation (Bounty) 2/10]
[Craft (Creation) 7/10]
[Dream (Inspiration) 2/10]
[Healing (Repairs) 1/10]
[Community (Family) 2/10]
 
Zelphas
 Flowers for Healing 

Floating above the First World, Salet notices that it can reach in directly one more time; it had miscalculated, a lovely little surprise. Glancing over the world once more (and chuckling merrily as it blew through the new civilization of hiplings and their lackadaisical maker), Salet zeroes in on the Empire once again, for another push. A group, named after a flower... not that uncommon, but this one works within the Empire to weed out dissenters. And yet, their flower namesake is for healing, not harm. A curious contradiction. Salet sends a whisper into the minds of some to remind them of their name, before gusting back into the Void once again.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 1 AP 
 Bless (1 AP) - Healing Flowers:  Some of the Crimson Bloom Champions have been affected by Remorse, working to protect and help the Empty Larder in secret while still remaining in their organization (and remaining devoted to Lilia). In public, this means they are also emphasizing their namesake's purpose as a flower of healing and help and turning towards those pursuits rather than the punishments and 'cleansing', though this is a slow process.  [War (Mercy) 10/10: Domain Get! Lesser Deity Achieved!] 
 1 AP - 1 AP = 0 AP Remaining 
 
Omoikane13
 
 Originally Posted by MutantDragon 
   War Comes to the Faithful  
Harkit communed with the Genius Locus at the heart of the Empire, a Locus long since driven to fanatical heights of holy madness, and he requested, no, demanded, a Kami. One of the great forest Kamis that the Empire's Locus had conquered in the recent past. And then Harkit channeled his magic and his malice into the tortured spirit. For thirteen days and thirteen nights Harkit filled the Kami with pain and hate and arcane magic. When at last Harkit was done, what remained was hardly a Kami at all, but rather a crown. A twisted crown of living, writhing flesh that whispered deranged ramblings into the minds of all who saw it. Harkit placed this crown upon his head and ascended the steps of the central pyramid. At the top, he turned towards the city and shouted with a voice that boomed like thunder, carrying the raw arcane power of his wrath. He was calling his people to war. And woe would befall any who stood in their way. 
 

 Green Eyes, Blazing 

Hroad had tried to be somewhat impartial in their dealings. To create life that would protect and nurture, to create in ways that would protect and defend communities. To rarely take sides, and to not directly interfere too much in the dealings of the others unless they were truly offensive to the sensibilities. But this? This was too far. This Slintoch-driven bastardisation, this disgusting affront to beings that wanted naught but to protect and nurture. Here, thanks to this, the only true way to achieve some form of protection and nurturing was to come down, firmly, on the side that opposed the Empire of the Sun and their patron deity.

However, direct action was not in Hroad’s nature. There would be no empowering of a champion to stand on some hilltop and fight off hordes. No, all kami needed defending, all environments, against all those who would try and push and control them. Nature needed more fangs and tendrils.

Firstly, a trial of a new tool. The Fiat Quill twitched in Hroad’s metaphorical hand, and seemed to beg for an inkwell: Hroad could only oblige. Across the First World, springs of pitch-dark ink sprang up, bubbling to the surface, providing a potent magical ingredient. Wary, Hroad made sure that these were parts of the natural environment, and so wherever they arose came under the purview of the local kami. Definitely functional, and something that could hopefully be of use as either as a resource - to those who were friendly with the kami -  or as a pit trap - to those who weren’t.

With the practice done, that first scratching with a new quill to ensure it works, it was savvy to get on to the proper work. It would be prudent to lay defenses around Kish-Eru, or at least in proximity, as it was the current target of Slintoch’s lot.
Water, and the swamplike nature of the surrounding environment, were a solid defence already, but they were also a fertile canvas to fill with further dangers - all able to be controlled by the local kami of course, to help keep things on a road that helped the less powerful and the environment.

====

Woven wicker, thick reeds that could wind together into a sturdy material and unwind again when needing to be slightly less solid, made for a base. For connective tissue, an injection of magic into the ink from the new wellsprings made for a fluid, flexible material. Then, the form of one of the larger aquatic reptiles, lengthy and well-toothed. And then, as suited for a weapon, Hroad made it larger. And then larger, comparable to the average Kish-Eru home. And this ambush predator would be well-suited to the forests, swamps, and lakes around the city, perhaps able to feed on the snacks that were so kindly wandering towards it. The natural construction and ability to fade back into its materials made it particularly easy to tie to the kami as well, incorporating the beast as a natural element.

====

Many unfortunates drowned in many bodies of water. If by the sea, drowning was perhaps a rather gentle end, compared to some of the alternatives. And it was this…quirk of the sea, so to speak, that Hroad was inspired by next. With a wave of a nonexistent hand, Hroad pulled away roughly a person’s worth of ink from one the newly formed wells. Not a precise measurement, yes, but that wasn’t important either. They formed it into a rough figure, sharpened the edges, and then threw the mass back into the ink fount.

Another fishing motion, and the same figure returned. Success. Now, like with all other beings, it needed a drive. Not nature, not civilization.  Law .
Hroad made it so that these ink-forms would be repulsed and disgusted by chaos and destruction. They would hunt it down and end it, pursue adherence and calm and quiet. And the more of it nearby, the more that would bubble forth from the founts, to bring that black peace - an immune system tuned to an immutable concept. Not a swarm, not an immune system that would erase healthy flesh, but a well-cultivated one that would keep chaos  controlled .

====

Another idea arose from Hroad’s peaceful watching of some of the more aquatic insects. In many of the swamps and bodies of water, small bugs would balance on the tension of the surface, dancing across it, often to then be eaten by some bird.

But these creations would not be prey to mere beasts.

Those unskilled with boats, those from places with sailing traditions unlike those of Kish-Eru, would sometimes wade through certain heights of water. This crisp plane dividing them, the border between water and air, was something that Hroad had been familiar with from their awakening. And it would be the death of those that sought to control the environs further.

These enhanced skates would be the size of a small boat, and wickedly sharp, with shells of murky, dark metal that let them blend into shadowy waters. And if they ran into something soft at the high speeds they could water-dance then, well…that thing would not live long. And the last sight that fish food would have would be a bright pair of eyes watching them from the rushes, watching as they sink into black depths.

====

Beasts and blades could be killed, parried, avoided. There needed to be something more insidious, something quieter. Many of Hroad’s creations had cleaved to their more natural aspects, and Hroad felt that they had recently been neglecting their other side - the law and the word. And what better place to hide a more secretive danger than in the written word, and in the mind of those who read it?

The word - the Wyrd - would look like any other word. A sentient being reading it would simply gloss over it, their reading organs ignoring it. But in doing so, the Wyrd would implant itself in that being’s mind. And it would drive, and whisper, and hint towards two things: whatever purpose that made up its very being, and reproduction. Hroad created two species of Wyrd, to begin with. One, to instill a respect for the law and a willingness to adhere to it. Another, to instill  a respect for nature, and a drive to protect it. Hroad then scattered these seed Wyrds in the books and writings of any society that had them, and resolved to watch what would follow. Always watch.

====

As a final defense, something more active. Giving the Kami further tools to use was all well and good, but it was reactive, responsive. There needed to be an active agent who would help to defend the wilderness and the Kami within. And what better to choose than a Kami itself?

A small grove, unhealthy, dying, uncared for. Victim to the pollution and ignorance of industrialisation, its gourds slowly withering. The Kami equivalent of a malnourished child, and a worthy one to elevate. It would know how its suffering brethren would feel, would know  why  it did what it did. Hroad called to it using words that no sentient race had so far mastered, and tried to quell the further rage that bubbled up at the sight of the withered manifestation that matched its home and other self.

Hroad calmly reached under the grove, and folded it like papyrus over the grove’s manifestation. It would no longer be a grove and a Kami, linked. Now, they would be one, grove and Kami the same being. The usual control this exalt would have over their little pocket of the world would instead be had over themself, the usual Kami control becoming personal powers, improvements, and modifications. Hroad also made sure that it was literate, as literate as could be, enough to be able to act as an envoy between Kami and sapient, where needed. A person, a Kami, a grove, all the same.

It was also rather large, but that wouldn’t hurt.

====

With these creations, Hroad noticed a growing difficulty. It was becoming tougher to roam and observe the world as it had been before. Not impossible, but the difficulty was growing to enough of a degree that it would be prudent to create a new limb, a new form that would help aid this. And recent events had made it best to create a more…imposing avatar. Being the spryght or pixy of however many myths was pleasant, but there were too many who needed their rules enforced, who were far too uncontrolled.

A robed figure, a hint of something underneath in the shadows. But there would be nothing there, no person in the inky blackness under that hood no matter how hard someone looked. Those who looked too deep might see characters, letters, and words, but ccan never fix their eyes or focus on them.
Around one arm, a gauntlet of rolled, yellow-ish paper that never seemed to end. The other, what looked like a bristiling mass of reeds - though in fact it was a collection of quills and ink-pens.

====

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Bless: Deepworld Inkwells [0 AP, from Artifact]:  Across the world, large pockets of ink form underground - or the local equivalent of underground. This then bubbles up to the surface, similar to small oil spouts. The ink produced from these seemingly never ending (but slow) spouts is thick, but perfect for writing and for use as a magical reagent where appropriate. These fountains are considered natural, and are under the control and/or purview of the Kami who environment they arise in.

 Create Monstrous Life: Soottooth [1 AP]:  Massive crocodile-like creatures made of woven reeds and magical ink-sinew that are able to disassemble and reassemble themselves at high speed. Currently, the only population that exists is in and around the city of Kish-Eru. Sootteeth are connected to local Kami as any normal creature would be, but then slightly more, and are able to be “piloted” more easily if a Kami desires.

 Create Monstrous Life: Inkshade [1 AP]:  Inkshades arise from Deepworld Inkwells in response to nearby chaos and destruction, or generally anything that could be considered anti-”law”. They are roughly shaped like the local population of sapients, but are not sapient themselves. Their primary, and possibly only drive is to remove anything that would cause chaos and to bring the “black peace”. They cannot be reasoned or argued with, but can be destroyed, collapsing into their constituent ink. Inkshades are considered, for the purposes of Kami control/purview, part of the fount they sprang from.

Clarifiying quotes from the Discord:

"If you're blatantly chaotic, such as incoming Empire forces (shakes fist), then you'll likely be targeted. Otherwise, whatever best suits a good story."
"They're not intended as Hroad's order of elite ninja shadow assassins, they're ink-themed antibodies of the metaphysical idea of "law""

 Create Monstrous Life: Razor Skate [1 AP]:  Razor Skates are roughly the size of a boat, and resemble somewhat of a cross between a water strider, a turtle, and a buzzsaw. Their chitin is flat, meal, murky, and extremely sharp. They are nimble for their size, comparable to smaller water striders, and sit low to the water surface. As an example of their danger, imagine a person wading through stomach-high, swampy water. A… negative encounter with a Razor Skate could easily result in them being cleanly bisected, if colliding at a high speed. The easy answer to avoiding this is a sturdy boat; even a weak boat will resist slashing and will provide awareness that the Skate is nearby.

 Create Monstrous Life: Wyrd [1 AP]:  Wyrds are a form of memetic life. It is easiest to identify two stages to their lifecycle - dormant, and implanted.

A dormant Wyrd is effectively a written word or words. It does not actually read anything though, and anyone reading it will have their eyes gloss over it, ignoring the word - nothing appears out of place. However, reading a Wyrd then implants an immature copy of it into that reader’s mind, and makes the read word inert for the purposes of Wyrd implantation.

An implanted Wyrd has been read, and exists in the mind of a sapient being. It drives the being to do two things. The first is the Wyrd’s concept. This could be a task, a drive, a predilection, anything that could be normally communicated. The first Wyrds. As described above, drive the host to a lawful nature, and an environmentally-caring nature. Others may evolve, be created, etc. The second drive of a Wyrd is to reproduce, driving the host to write the Wyrd somewhere, though typically only once (for now) - so for now, there’s no mass-spreading by writing it on a wall or something.

 Raise Hero: Kalabash [2 AP]:  Kalabash is the Kami of a dying gourd grove, rejuvenated and fused with the environment it embodies, and granted a more sapient perspective. It roams to help other Kami, to care for the natural world, and to spread bottle gourd seeds wherever they can survive. The typical power that a Kami would have over the environment it embodies is something that Kalabash instead has over their own form.

 Create Avatar: Riali, Corpus of Laws [3 AP]:  Riali is an avatar embodying Hroad’s more lawful side. Rather than the nature spirit that Hroad typically appears as, Riali is intended as an intimidating figure, a representation of a pure kind of law. Heartless, but also lacking cruelty. Simply there to enforce, to help define, codify, and implement rules.

 Domains: 

Water (Ink) +5/10 -&gt;  DOMAIN GAINED 

Mind (Language) +4/10

With the gaining of Water (Ink), Hroad ascends to become a Lesser Deity.


 Remaining AP: 6 
 
MutantDragon
  Evil Stalks the World  

Along a secluded Ley Line of arcane power, there was an ordinary pile of glass and orichalcum. But today there was something different about this sun-tossed material and energy. There was something  wrong.  A kernel of divinity, a trace of hatred. It merged with the arcane, sending corruptions and perversions across the network before bursting into arcane fire. Around it, the orichalcum melted and twisted, forming a humanoid shape of molten metal, and the glass shattered and swirled, forming a jagged orbit about the power made manifest. And in its awakening mind it knew only two things: hate and the name of its distant creator.  Slintoch.  And a voice thrumming with hatred to match its own and power than dwarfed it spoke. It spoke only one word. But the arcane thing that was just born knew the meaning.  Zargog.  This would be the name of a new horror made manifest by way of fire and malice.

---

Helint was an ordinary member of the merchant guild. He worked in Port Tale, distributing the forged metal from the Empire to all the alchemists and buyers needed to turn the ultimate profit. Profit from a war that would soon claim untold numbers of live. Profiting from  death.  It's not something that ever bothered Helint, not really. He used to think there was something wrong with him; he never cried when someone died, he never shied away from doing an unsavory task, he was never disquieted by the depredations of the Empire. To the contrary, these things fascinated him. It wasn't until he first killed a man that he realized how good it felt. An alchemist named Lork. A man who was not properly checked or deceived before being brought in the work with the merchants. A man who found out just what they were doing, just where those weapons were coming from. He was angry, he was a threat. So Helint ended him. He picked up one of those daggers and stabbed Lork for what seemed like several minutes. It didn't take that long to kill the man, but doing it just felt so  good.  The scratching of an itch Helint didn't even know he had. But now he did know, and that would not do. There was no profit to be had in killing. To do so indiscriminately is just to eradicate potential customers. No, no, no, that would not do. That would not do one bit. Unless the act itself was a marketable service. There were many people in the world who would pay to be rid of others. The act of murder could prove quite lucrative. And, working out a small loophole in the exchange of soul coins, Helint found a way to make it more lucrative than his other options besides. Yes, this would be the beginning of a new avenue of profit, one far more satisfying and profitable than being a middle man in some larger trade scheme.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 

9AP

 Curse (Corrupted Ley Lines) 1AP:  Ley lines have been touched by Slintoch's hate, twisting them into an agent for corruption, even beyond what arcane magic normally is. Anyone who is near them becomes increasingly filled with rage and hatred and arcane corruption from spell usage is amplified. [Emotions (Hatred) 4/10]

 Create Avatar (Zargog) 3AP:  Zargog is a living mass of arcane and divine energy wrapped in a featureless humanoid shell of molten orichalcum that stands about eight feet tall. Broken glass swirls around him, shifting to attack any who dares to approach. His mind is largely consumed by hate, and his power is definitively beyond what any mere mortal could dream of harnessing. [Emotions (Hatred) 7/10]

 Creat Organization (Assassins Guild) 1AP:  The Assassins Guild is a subservient offshoot of the larger Merchants Guild, taking murder contracts from anyone who will pay. The membership is currently small, at least when compared to the Merchants Guild as a whole, and they are abnormally focused on physical enhancements with their statgems, but their reputation for effectiveness cannot be denied, nor can the monetary benefits of getting paid twice for one job. [Emotions (Hatred) 8/10]

 Create Mythic Subconcept (Soul Coins -&gt; Assassination Contracts) 2AP:  When a formal assassination contract is signed, the assassin's statgem records clearly the terms and target of the contract. When the target is slain in accordance with the terms of the contract, the statgem automatically converts the victim's soul into a soul coin. If the killing occurs without a contract or in a way that violates the terms of the contract, this process does not occur, nor does it work on any incidental murders in the pursuit of fulfilling a contract. [Emotions (Hatred) 10/10]  New Domain Unlocked! 

9AP - 7 AP = 2AP
 
Mechalich
 Droplets 

Ecie spun in the shadowy place behind the moon and considered strange thoughts glancing through her mind. The First World, far below, grew more connected, true, but in a fashion lacking restraint and measure. Violence grew more and more abundant, searing and savage, with all sides chewing at each other in endless quarrel rather than building in mutual support. It was…distasteful.

She did not desire to intervene in this conflict, not directly, not even should it spread north to trouble those sisters who had pleasantly conformed to her ideals. War was an act of tearing, and she was a binder. Fighting, no matter how well reasoned, would always be a measure of betrayal. It led her to consider, instead, alternatives.

The existence of inner worlds, these strange pockets within the soul of the sapient, represented an intriguing possibility. Few mortals had engaged with them much of yet, not even her studious Onna, being focused more upon the world around them and its many dangers. Despite this, the possibilities were boundless. Only the worlds themselves were bounded, isolated, limited.
Perhaps that could be changed.

Where before Ecie had grasped the base of the ocean and torn it upwards to build land, now she reached deeper, further, to wrap her hands around the fundamental fabric of reality itself, wrench free a new thing entirely, a new layer of existence. From this skein she spun a web of soul thread, a representation of the connections between the lives of mortals, and the worlds that lay within them. What was once isolated was not connected, albeit loosely, with the potential to grow into something far more in time.

Twisting through the paths of existence, she found a place in the center of this web from which to dwell and watch the rest of reality, peering upward through the worlds within each life.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Weave Plane (3AP) – Droplet Web:  Inner Worlds are now collected in a vast spiderweb, with each one a water droplet upon its endless threads. These threads represent the connections between people, and as those grow and shrink these bonds increase. Potentially a sufficiently strong bond could allow flow or even melding between inner worlds, though this has not happened yet. Ecie has adopted this plane as her home.  [Protection (Shelter) 3/10] 

Starting AP: 0 Rollover Gain: 5 Spent: 3 Remaining: 2
 
Razade
  Flushing the System  

Ley Lines are but natural things, rivers of power and magical energies that ebb and flow with the motions of the heavens. Like nature, it has corrective measures. As corruption and filth build within these living rivers and lakes, the power of the Arcane Magic within the system builds to a crescendo until it bleeds out into the world. This bleed spills the corruption forth, giving rise to Goblins and far worse creatures. We have documented towering monstrosities we have dubbed Trolls, cunning and far crueler than their smaller kin.

Along side the birth of these monsters, and far worse horrors we have only legends to account for, is a strange phenomena. While it was difficult to document in the short term, trends have become obvious. Children born near these lakes and rivers of power during purges exhibit startling strength over the Arcane Arts. As if the energy that purges the Ley Lines themselves have imbued in living things. Foliage and animals likewise see pronounced growth. Nothing close to the Giants of the Hands, but even my own son is several heads taller than I or his mother. Our family line is not particularly gifted with such heights, so it is strange to see our boy of only nine be almost six feet tall.
  - Maximilian Oftstrandete, On The Ley Lines Vol. 2  
 
 Spoiler 

AP: 2 + 5 = 7

 Curse (2AP) - Ley Line Purges:  The Ley Lines are natural flows of Arcane Magic. Corruption and other altering effects on their flow are flushed out now and then. Particularly corrupted sections give rise to Goblin hordes, Trolls and other monsters. Those born living near Ley Lines when they purge this corruption are born with particularly strong magical power. Animals and plant life also grow larger. [Air ( Purity) 2/10] 
 Create Sub-Concept (-2AP) - Purifying Magic:  Arcane Magic that is especially good at curing corruption and taking corruption into oneself. Oddly, those mages who bring corruption into themselves are better at utilizing this magic. Purifying Magic is potent against creatures born from the corruption of Arcane Magics such as Goblins and Trolls[Air (Purity) 4/10]

 Create Monster (Artifact Charge) - Trolls:  Advanced forms of Goblins, these creatures act as nodes for the Goblin Hive Mind. Trolls are far more intelligent but still not as intelligent as sentient races. They can utilize, but rarely create, tools created by sentient races. They are half the size of giants.

7AP - 2AP - 2AP = 3AP
 
Demidos
 The new construction on the city has been completed, and war is on the horizon . In the last few weeks, four more skirmishes have occurred between the First City and the Empire, and the First City has won three, leveraging small teams of Inksworn with complementary Titles to devastating effect. However, the Empire’s soldiers are endless, and squads must be fully obliterated lest the survivors consume the dying and return with renewed vigor. Furthermore, even a single loss means the loss of precious soldiers and Inksworn. Even the least of the Empire’s soldiers is a match for the First City’s finest, with their knack for killing, complete lack of fear, and growing population of martial artists. Only the First City’s excellent small group team-work and concentrated population of Inksworn capable of hit-and-run tactics give them any sort of edge, as well as the knowledge of where their foes are. The location of First City is still hidden from their foes. Dangerous predators, many raised recently by the actions of Hroad, act as a deterrent to most uninvited guests, though they also have had a chilling effect on trade from the Guild of Merchants. Some enterprising First City residents have taken it upon themselves to construct a smaller, as yet unnamed satellite port town on the outskirts of the flooded marshes near the ocean, and have started to make large profits to guide or act as middlemen for the merchants. Beast taming techniques imported from other continents via word of mouth flourish in this new town, and the breeding of spear herons, a few of which were brought by wandering merchants, is extremely popular, as the herons thrive in the marshy conditions. None are yet brave enough to attempt to tame the dangerous Soottooths, but some few foolhardy souls are already preparing to make the attempt.

Sagmi watches the first few skirmishes with excitement – the First City is a clear underdog, the best kind of story. Direct divine interference might well spoil the story, but a little chaos always gives the chance for things to be shaken up a little. Reaching down, she plucks stories and songs from First City, and weaves them with the ink from Hroad’s ink pools into a book, wrapped in black ink but filled with the most incredible illustrations within. Swords, crowns, staves, and all other manner of magical objects fill the pages of the book. Her hand passes into a page, pulling forth what seems a simple kitchen cleaver, albeit nearly ten feet tall and light as a feather. With a small exertion of divine will, the cleaver sails up and out of sight, falling somewhere among the forest. Whispers will soon reach both First CIty and the Empire of this magical tool hidden within the forest, as well as anyone else who may be keeping their ears open at the right moment and the right time. Of course, First City is the first to hear of the tool – after all, she might not be interfering directly, but who says a goddess cannot play favorites?

One more thing happens in First City, but this even the gods have not yet noticed. A partnership between a Inksworn with a strange, perhaps useless Title, and a certain Alchemist of the Old Bloom. They are searching for something, that even they cannot quite verbalize yet, a tool and a new learning that might yet prove decisive in the upcoming war.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
1 AP Teach(Beast Taming): Through the power of music, songs and their soothing voice, the people of Kish-Eru have begun to tame the beasts of the swamps. Arts(Music) 7/10

5 AP Greater Utility Artifact (Tome of Wonders): The Tome of Wonders is a magical book which floats by Sagmi’s side at all times, containing the illustrated wondrous relics described in ten thousand stories. Sagmi can reach into the pages of the Tome to draw forth any sort of item contained therein. The Tome can only produce those items which have already spread as stories in the mortal world, thus it effectively can bring stories to life. Reduces the Create Artifact action by 1 AP. Creation(Relics) 5/10

2 AP (3-1 Tome of Wonders GUA Charge): Minor Utility Artifact, The Cleaver of Continents: Described in a children’s tale as the weapon of a bumbling Giant that accidentally destroyed and reshaped the lands of the normal folk with his cleaver while attempting to catch a flame tiger for his dinner. Reduces the Alter Land action by 1 AP. Creation(Relics) 7/10

0 AP (Song of Heroes GUA): Blessing of the Heroes: Those who find relics find themselves and wield them find themselves taking on the attributes of the character in the story upon which the relic is based. Someone wielding the Staff of the Vizier may grow a goatee and develop megalomanic tendencies, while even the cruelest being alive will begin to grow a conscience while wearing the Robe of Angels.

Accounting:
10 AP- 8 AP = 2 AP
 
AlexanderML
   The Forest Between Kish-Eru and the Empire - The Blooming of Blood and Flame   

The Maiden of Glamor was ready for war. To have a chance to cut down the strong instead of only the weak was a task that she had yearned for, and she would make herself a grand example of her ideals.

With every accomplishment there was a sacrifice, and a grand one would be needed for the blessing the Maiden of Glamor desired. Only the greatest sacrifice could fill the land with the flames and blood she would need- that of a dragon; one of the few equals she had in this world.


 


Bored at the usual spectacles the ant-like mortals presented it, great Bhal’s interest was peaked at the prospect of two of the barely noticeably less worthless group of humans fighting one another. Resting atop a hill that overlooked the forest it waited for the spectacle to come to it, and was bitterly annoyed when it saw another boring warrior clad in bronze carrying a gleaming spear walking up towards it.

“Stupid. All of you are so stupid. This is why I cannot stand humans.” Bhal spoke half-heartedly to the human, hoping to see it cower. The thing of course shook, but it proceeded on like so many others.

Something about its breathing was… off. The dragon’s senses could tell that some trickery was at play, even as they were fooled; irritating mighty Bhal to the point where the hill shook with his contained fury. “Hmph, do you think whatever tricks you have make  you  somehow above the others that have tried to kill me before? You're just a worthless human.” he smeared.

“Dragon Bhal, your blood shall make a fine sacrifice to the goddess.” the human said, their voice… off. No matter, Bhal was patient but he was no longer amused by the tiny human’s bravery.

With a swipe of his tail he crushed the human where they stood. Or… he should have. When he raised his tail all he saw there was crushed human - rock, it was just a rock there. Something was wrong.

Fire in his maw Bhal growled “What trickery is this… human?”

Then he heard the crack as something broke, then a sizzling noise on his lower stomach. Something was eating away at his scales. “You- YOU DARE YOU PUNY WORM?!” Bhal screamed, thrashing about in a prepared motion for removing numerous weaklings around him. He heard the human fall and hit the ground, yet it was hard for him to tell where for some reason.

It didn’t matter. With a simple exhaling of breath, Bhal turned the top of the hill red with his flames. The smell of burning flesh told him the annoying human had died.

“Grrr- how annoying.” Bhal said sitting back down, but then a bit of melted metal was thrown at his face, but it missed his eye by a large margin. He heard a collapse, and then saw the corpse of the human, barely more than a black skeleton at this point. It was hard to imagine, but it had apparently thrown that attack when it was dying… so stupid.


 


Bhal was alone again for a day, briefly taking the time to burn down a mortal village for some entertainment before returning to its now smoldering hill top. He hoped for something interesting to happen, which to its immense frustration occurred soon after.

He smelled that human again. In fact he smelled dozens. Looking down from his perch he saw that human approaching from all directions, shambling their way up the hill. The air shook at the bubbling rage “You live then, trickster? No matter, you are a greater fool than most humans if you decided to throw away your life after escaping once.”

Bhal tried for a moment to decide which one was the real one… before giving up and taking flight, circling the hill and bathing it with flames. The fakes, and maybe the real one, all burned away.

With a growl wondering if this would persist, the dragon once more sat atop its mound, huffing out a stream of deadly flame as it realized a smell was in the air… no; a feeling, a chill in its nostrils.

Reacting just in time, Bhal leaped into the air as a mighty amount of alchemical regents finished reacting beneath it, creating a gray goo that caught its back leg and foot.

“GRRRAAA! YOU PATHETIC WORM! YOU  DARE  TRY TO HOLD ME?!”

Yet the human refused to give up its location by speaking. Instead Bhal caught a glimpse of it to his side, and unleashed a furious river of flames down upon it. A moment later he felt something on his massive shoulders, running up his neck with unnatural speed.

But not fast enough, for Bhal twisted his neck to throw the human off of him with such force that the ground cracked beneath them. Yet as he went for a follow-up tail sweep it was slowed down too much by the goo, letting the human move away in a blur that surprised the dragon- even as he could keep up with it.

“What is this? Are you even a human?” Bhal asked, letting loose his fire once more to bathe the hill in flames “Die Trickster!”

Yet as the flames died down he felt that chill in his nostrils again, and had the feeling that the human had not perished from the flames. Was this something that cost it? Or was it simply immune to his flames? Likely the former, and Bhal’s pride did not let him dwell on the matter further.

The moment of contemplation cost him as a thin clay tube hit his face, exploding some foul smelling smoke across his face. “What is this?!” he roared, then was stunned in realization.

Taking this opportunity the mortal could be heard taking a leap forward, going for his eyes.

Bhal met the human with his jaws, clasping hard on them before throwing them to the ground; then stomping on them with his full body weight. “You… YOU, playing with  ME?  Trying to remove my senses one by one so you can slay me like a coward?” he let out a breath of frustration that made the hilltop glow.

Yet the black crushed pile weakly spoke “The viper is… as deadly as the tiger…” before expiring.

Bhal made sure to crush the body to dust and melt what remained before leaving to destroy another mortal village to vent its frustrations.


 


As great as the blessings of the goddess were in preventing her final death, the Maiden of Glamor could only continue to waste resources attacking the dragon if she believed she had learned enough.

Taking what she had learned, the Maiden left for the realm of the goddess.

The goddess, alone, was working her newest brews upon her cauldron. Larger than many buildings it stood, made of the finest siog stitched together, the sweet smell of the bubbling brew drifting far away.

The maiden asked for the right to use the cauldron, to which the goddess gave a nod and perhaps a smile towards. And so the maiden went to work, leaving only to gather the material needed for what she had in mind.


 

The mighty Bhal lay irritable for another three days, expecting that trickster to somehow escape death again. Its foul mood sullied the once luscious hill, now a black stain of smoldering flame that quaked with the irritation and bubbling rage of a dragon.

As night once more drew without sign of the trickster, the dragon decided to take flight and see if it could spot anything fun to destroy. When he returned to his hilltop, just before he laid down to rest, he decided to bathe it in fire again.

Several clay tubes were destroyed, their alchemical regents ruined before they could ensnare the dragon.

“AGAIN?! Trickster, your pathetic ruse is easy to see through! Trickery cannot defeat even the lowliest dragon; let alone I, mighty Bhal!”

Bhal landed then so that he could stand still and listen. He had learned that his most reliable senses against the human were his sense of smell and sound. Taking in a deep breath he could smell death around him, a floral scent too; but it was too strong to pinpoint. He tried to look around to see if he was being surrounded again but the most he caught a glimpse of was the blur of something larger than a human.

Was it the same human that kept attacking him? It had to be, there were not many who could irritate him so; his pride demanded no other answer.

Bhal tried to listen to his surroundings, but they were quiet…. In fact, they were unnaturally so.

“Grrr, what trickery is this!?” he shouted, spraying fire around haphazardly. He wasn’t stuck here like they wanted, he could just leave; but to flee from a pathetic huma-

Then he felt four large bodies jump atop him. Three of them were doing barely anything to him due to his scales, but one of them had lunged right at the weak point that was created during the first attack. For the first time in perhaps his entire life Bhal felt terrible, ripping pain as large claws tore into him.

“RAAAAA! You worms!” he said, whipping his head behind him, using his wings to start to gain altitude, not noticing the fifth one leap towards him with the human on its back. With a practiced throw the human stuck the hollow spear it carried into Bhal’s eye. A second later it exploded.

Bhal’s head reeled at the blow, forcing him to the ground as he tried to think past the white noise and pain. He was still mostly intact, even his eye could likely be recovered from even that blow.

Then the axe came down. Right upon his eye he felt a small metal attack him. He tried to weakly shake his head, and the human stayed there and continued cutting. He tried to lift his head, the human continued to cut even as he shook. He brought a claw to his face, the human would move out of the way in a blur then return, cutting again and again.

Quicker and quicker did the axe cut, the human moving closer to mighty Bhal’s brain; more frantic and panicked the dragon became as even covered in a river of blood the human refused to drown or slow down.

“You- YOU, I ahh, AHHH, RAAAAAA!” the mighty dragon Bhal wailed as the human continued their work.


 


When things were done, the sacrifice complete, She stood upon the heart of the beast and beheld the land around her so filled with love.

With the dragon’s blood did the forests grow larger, did the trees learn to bloom. Taking the flame of the dragon She gave it to the first buds of the forest. Her creations were let loose within, play and do as those who loved Her wished.

With a satisfied smile She let the forest take shape and began work for what was to come of all this.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 
5/20 AP

 -5 Create Greater Artifact (Create Monster) - The Delusion Cauldron:  Made from the stitched together remains of the first Tuantha the Delusion Cauldron warps and distorts the flesh and souls of mortal creatures that touch the liquid inside. The goddess often lets her flower maidens come and use it with her assistance, but others would have to pay a heavy price. 10/10 Evil (Corruption)

 (Artifact Charge) - Create Monster - Scream Eaters:  Giant four legged abominations made through necromancy the Scream Eaters produce growls that destroy rather than produce sound. They are often used as scouts and surprise reinforcements, though they need some scent or supervision to work effectively as they only have animal intellects and are the size of elephants.

 
 Spoiler: What a scream eater looks like.  
 
 

 (Artifact Charge) - Alter Land - The flower fortress of Bhal'nabool:  This flower forest stands between the lands of the Empire and Kish-Eru. Covered in year long red leaves and flame colored buds, many parasitic and bloodthirsty creatures live within like the giant wasp or blood vines. Creatures and especially the plantlife of Bhal’nabool are resilient to flame, with many flowers native to the region having the ability to produce fire for self defense or to attract insects.

Undead of both the beloved and more horrific descriptions make their lives here, coming out to harm those who go against the ways of the Maiden of Glamor.

(Empire folks are generally fine to pass through)

 (Artifact Charge) - Create Organization - The War Host of the Crimson Champions:  Putting together an army to fight Kish-Eru, the Crimson Champions assemble armies of goblins and skeletons; with Scream Eaters being the first abominations produced to act as scouts and calvary.

 (Artifact Charge) - Curse - Wyrd Love:  Those wyrd that come into contact with Lilia’s Love inside a person’s mind will often die and fail to reproduce, or are warped to become vectors of Lilia’s Love. Subtly removing a bit of distrust towards Lilia and her followers in those that are affected.

0/20 AP
 
Fuzzy Math
  Opus crastinum bis plus est quam opus hodiernum.  
  Tomorrow's work is twice as much as today's work.  

Rel's rest was lacking, his sleep light; every creak of the floorboards, every mating call of a macaw, every tink of the ice in his glass prevented him from dreaming. Frowning, he begrudgingly opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling, and spitefully did not a damn thing. After a few hours he sighed and rolled to an upright position with his feet on the floor. "Alright, fine. I'm either still dreaming, losing my mind, or this is my new reality. When faced with two impossibilities, let alone three, the only thing left to do is accept that 'impossible' is just uninspired creativity and shake what the Creator gave you!" He stood with a grunt and a trumpetous passing of wind before arching his back in all directions, then a few squats, arm stretches, and neck rolls before walking over to the kitchen to set his drink down on the counter. Grabbing a nectarine from the bowl next to his drink, he went about the bungalow, munching and observing the world outside his windows mindlessly. Occasionally, he has found, you get your bearings easier when you look at things without thoughts getting in the way. For example, the nectarine and the fruitbowl weren't there when he walked into the kitchen, but there was no wondering where it came from or why it only had nectarines. It just was; it existed because it did, and luckily for him, he liked the sweet and tart fruit. "Is-ness, man. Is-ness..." You can't stop something from happening, you can only redirect its course, hopefully into something useful.

Smacking his lips and wiping the nectarine juice off on a towel by the sink, he wandered out onto the deck, then the garden with its various berry bushes, then to the hedge gate. Peeping out, he took a couple sips from his drink again as it was in his hand, and watched the collected moisture roll from the trees to the ground below. "Go with the flow, enjoy the ride while it lasts." The words rolled out from within, as if Rel's subconcious was manning the wheel. More drops fell, this time getting buffeted by a gentle wind and changing into mist, bringing moisture to the moss on the trees. "Sometimes the journey changes you, forms you into something more beneficial for the world around you, letting it grow from your journey too." Nodding to himself, he felt good, like he was beginning to understand his center. "Yeah. Yeah, that resonates. A course correct here, minor touch up there, shrug off the little dents since they add character. Alright, man. I think I got this!"

Opening the gate, Rel stepped out into the First World quietly, not wanting to be seen. He was the one observing today, ready to learn from the world around him. Rather than head toward the hipling villages, he meandered further westward into the foothills, his slippered feet leaving behind no trails or depressions in the ground. Once he reached an area the hiplings have yet to explore, he held his glass up to gaze through its contents, watching the swirling of colors intermingle with the hills. His other hand raised of its own volition, tracing the dance in his glass, while the hills ahead of him flow with the motion. He smiles widely, setting his drink on a convenient outcropping that looks suspiciously like a tabletop, and closes his eyes while still being able to "see". Feeling the essence of the earth within his arms, he dapples his fingers which makes little arches of stone, then lays his hands flat causing the changes to stop. Swaying his outstretched arms to the left, the changes are undone, and he opens his again to see the world unchanged. "Good vibrations, indeed." Satisfied, he began the trek back to the bungalow, only now realizing how much distance his steps are taking him with each stride. It seemed that as long as he had a destination in mind, at least while here on the island, he could cover the expanse within steps. Coming up on the hedge made him pause, not quite grasping what he was seeing, or rather not seeing. His house was gone! No matter whether he looked through the gate or over the hedge, there was no bungalow, deck, or garden. Once he laid a hand on the gate however, all of it came back into view, then disappeared when no longer touching the gate. "No wonder the hiplings look at this place like they do; it's just weird square bushes surrounding hills. I'm going to have to give the gate-crashers some extra treats next time!" Chuckling to himself, he pushed the gate open and walked back inside, ready to lay down to dream again.


 

---The Mid-day Romp of Petrick the Hipling, observed within Rel's Dreaming---

Petrick awoke with first light, still cuddling the leaf and fur woven doll of Rel that his mother made him, curled up within his velvety leaf blanket that he cocooned himself in. He snugged the doll tighter for a bit, not quite ready to start the day, nor was he tired enough to slip back into the loving embrace of sleep. He snuzzled, he snerdled, he snoodged within the leafy confines, waiting for his tummy to rumble. After a few hours of half-dozing in and out, Petrick yawned and uncurled from under his blanket, rolling into a leg-splayed sit. Smacking his lips, he raised his arms in a big stretch with his li'l Rel dangling from his hand, and got up to walk to where the food was kept. With his hunger growing, he wandered over to the beetle-shell serving plate to grab a handful of nuts, berries, and sundried nectarines while his mother was busy sweeping the floor. He made sure to slip a couple pieces of each into his Rel's tummy pocket so it could "eat" when it got hungry too. When she turned and spotted him, he toddled over to give her a hug and grunted contentedly, getting a headscritch of affection. "Papa?" Petrick asked, looking and listening about in curiosity. "Gone to check the fish traps, baby." his mother explained. "Oh!" he exclaimed; having only just discovered the tastiness of fish a few weeks ago, he was excited to hear they would be filling his tummy again tonight! "Maybe I can help him!" he suggested as he loosened his grip and ran back to his room to grab his leaf-pack. It was a simple thing, just a large and sturdy waxleaf, bound together with dried vines to fashion a container with arm loops to carry the weight on ones back. Placing his doll into the pack, he remembered to grab a ten-foot coil of dried vine to tie around his waist and some of his favorite rocks, including the sun-rock his father found while hunting near the Rest. Arranging things so his Rel was on top of things, he rushed back to the food plate to find that his mother already prepared a small pack for him. "Please tell Papa to remember to eat, Petrick. You know how he gets lost in his daydreams when trapping," she said with a smile as she slipped the lunch pack next to the doll. Petrick gave her the biggest squeeze he could and nuzzled her hip before practically leaping out the door.

He barreled along the branch from his home to the vined trunk and began his descent to the forest floor with instinctual hipling assuredness in climbing ability mixed with the practiced wrecklessness of youth. Dropping the last few meters down and landing on his rear with an oof, he rubbed his butt, then scampered off towards the river. Ducking and dodging the roots of the trees and other hiplings, Petrick slowed his pace slightly, getting distracted by a flower petal dancing among the greenery. He watched it for a bit, then grinned at no one in particular as the light from the sun breached the canopy above and shimmered off the leaf. "I'mma getchu, air dancer!" He chased after it, not noticing there was no breeze to hold the petal aloft, his leaping grabs too slow to lay hands on it. It twirled just out of his grasp once he thought he had it, spinning in lazy circles as if teasing him, making its way in the direction of the river. (While Petrick did not know it, Rel could see in the dreaming that a kami was playfully directing him towards the exact spot where his father was watching the river flow, perhaps?) While he watched the petal slow, he narrowed his eyes and waited, readying a jump to catch ahead of it. Counting three breaths, he launched himself up and forward over a small hillock, missing the petal as it flitted to the left. He giggled, watching it meander ahead of him, beckoning him to follow. "Good dodge, air dancer, but I need to get to my fa-" Petrick paused, noticing the large pool of black something at the base of the small hill. He looked at it, tilting his head to the side, not seeing the petal reverse course to flutter into his leaf-pack. It looked like water, but he had never seen black water before. He moved closer, noticing the greenery around the pool had splotches of black staining it; maybe it was a lot of berry juice? Sometimes berry juice could look dark if the sun wasn't shining through it.  "Dark, yes, but not  that  dark..."  a think drifted hazily through his mind; it didn't sound like his thinks, but it felt familiar. He moved closer to the black, grabbing a stick so he could poke at it, wondering what it could be if it wasn't water  or  juice. He gently poked at the liquid causing a slight ripple, barely breaking the surface tension just in case there was something in it, like those spiders that launched themselves out of holes to grab their breakfast. Pulling the stick back, Petrick noticed it was stained black, with the substance trailing slowly down as he held it closer to his face to inspect it. He didn't know what would happen if it touched him, so he lowered it towards the ground, accidentally scraping it against a rock. His nostrils flared with excitement when the black water's trail remained stationary on the stone; it was like the berry juice drawings his father did on the walls of the big hunter house! Maybe it  was  juice! Sniffing at it, it did not smell like anything he knew, but it didn't smell bad. He brought the stick up to his eyes again, the liquid now semi-dry, then he gave an exploratory lick. "Not juice!" he exclaimed as his face crinkled up as the flavor did not meet hopeful expectation. He dropped the stick to quickly get some berries and a nectarine slice out of his lunch pack, trying to get the flavor out of his mouth; it was much too bitter for him certainly, even worse than some of the leafy greens the grownups ate! He wasn't paying enough attention and cut a finger on the sun-rock's sharp edge, drawing his hand back out quickly with a gasp, a few droplets of his blood arcing into the black pool as he stuffed his finger into his mouth to suck on it. A breeze stirred around him as he sat down, tears welling in his eyes though he did not whimper, as much as he wanted to. In Petrick's mind, it was a deep cut that was surely going to bleed forever; in reality it was only slightly worse than a getting stung by a bee. With his good hand, he brought his leaf-pack between his legs and slowly pulled out his lunch as he still held his finger in his mouth, the taste of the substance now being surpassed by the flavor of himself. He undid the leafwraps and replaced his finger with fruit, his mind having drifted from the pain as it focused on the tart sweetness of the nectarine, not noticing his finger was beginning to heal.

As he was unfocused, he was surprised when something surfaced out of the black and looked around quickly. It looked like another hipling, only covered in the somewhat viscous gloop, before it dropped back down under the surface. Without thinking much beyond another hipling was in trouble, he untucked one end of his waist vine and threw it in the gloop, bracing himself against a rock to support both hiplings weight. After a few seconds with no tugging or any sort of movement, he drew the vine back to tie it around the rock, and hurled himself with closed eyes into the pool like his father did when Petrick fell into deeper water than he could handle. He blindly swung his arms around as he went under, trying to find the other hipling before anything bad happened, but found nothing other than pain as he smacked and scraped against the rocks on the sides. He sunk down to the maximum length the vine would let him, his hands feeling nothing but the walls of the well as his little lungs started to hurt, but he still pushed on. Maybe his feet could reach? He stretched his legs down as far as they could go, hoping the other would grab on, but there was no interaction other than him kicking at nothing. His thoughts started to get hazy, his need to breathe aching in his chest, as he started to realize he was down too long. He saw, in his mind, the the island from above; blurry and imperfect, smudgy little hiplings... He felt the vine vibrate and he drifted... Upwards, perhaps? Yes, he was being pulled up out of the black swiftly by strong arms that he no longer had. He breached the surface of the well, his limbs undetectably bloodied and battered underneath the thick goop, he dared not open his eyes. He felt the sponginess of moss being frantically swiped across his face, the last gasp of air exploding from him right as it was cleared from the dark substance, and he still dared not open his eyes. Petrick was taking in full gasps of air, just trying to fill his body with as much as it could, and only when he felt it was enough did he open his eyes. "Papa!" he shouted and began to cry, clearing trails down the sides of his face through the ink. "Whahow?" his words coming too quickly to separate. "I followed a pokbogbobobo. Nightbirds don't come out during the day unless it is important, so I went after it until I saw the vine tied to the rock," his father said while still wiping away as best he could. "Oh, my little Petrick, this was the most important thing of all important things! What, in Rel's teachings, were you doing?!" "There was another hipling in there, Papa! I was trying to save it, I was trying to be brave like you! I couldn't, I didn't... It went down too far..." Petrick whimpered and felt light-headed, "I tried..." was all he could get out before sleep took him. Right then, the hipling of the well emerged again, looking at them both sensing the curious mixture of chaos and innocence. Petrick's father stared at it, placing himself between it and his son, somehow knowing it wasn't one their own kind while looking enough like them for him to toss the vine close enough for it to grab in case he mistaken in his knowing. It watched motionlessly, until satisfied that this unruly feeling was just temporary wild emotion, and slowly sunk beneath the surface without so much as a ripple. No longer sure as to what to think, Petrick's father took half his lunch and tentatively lowered it into the black; if this was another kind of hipling, maybe it would be more talkative after food? Shakily, he picked up his son's belongings to put in his larger pack, gathered up his son into his arms, and began the trek home. How was he going to explain this to Rose?


 

 
 Spoiler: Pokbogbobobo 
 
 

 
 Spoiler: AP Spending 

AP Remaining at Rollover: 2
Rollover: 4
AP Spent: 0
New Total: 6
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naury  , while much happens, little of it is in common to form a headline for. 

A disgruntled Alchemist, a dozen dead nobles. And a long time, nobody knew how they had done it. Traveling from city to city to seek employment under different nobles, they always just stuck around  few days before parting again to work elsewhere. It was only as weeks later the ones they where employed under suddenly dropped dead that suspicion arose that anything could be wrong, and even after they have been caught the deaths continued for a while, only their latest employer having been lucky enough to apparently be spared that fate...

Of course, that noble investigated what killed so many of their kin, and alchemists from all over the chain where contacted to learn from the notes of the vigilante, to figure out what happened and develop counter measures... Instead, they found something much more valuable. A was to delay any alchemical reaction, no matter the kind. While combining it with a poison was as boring as it was harmful, this knowledge could be applied to many different creations instead. Soon, the dreaded 'Instant Explosion' that has claimed so many experimental alchemists could be tamed and the effects of cold flame could be extended from hours to weeks. Many applications would be found over time, but even the direct impact was shaking up the field.

 

Functionaries return to the Plane of Echos once their tasks are done. And retaining what they learned about the first world and posed with a taste for civilisation, it was only a question of time until the Echo-Servants started to organise. Instead of the odd group and general chaos of each doing their own thing, a vauge heirachy developed over time, its titles stolen from groups all over the first world and reused with a limited understanding of what they mean. Formally, Naury is at the top of the Heirachy, but the deity has become nervous, starting itself to distance from the stories of the souls, and dive more and more down with envoys just to live among the mortals a bit. However, they promised to always be there to solve disagreements as they come up.

Lets just hope that they manage to hold that promise...

 

Naury was getting more nervous for a while, a trait the Envoys do not seem to share as much as the original. They even seem to have taken up to pretend to rest, yet it does not fool the Echo-Servants witnessing that as the god obviously just gets lost in their own thought processes. One of the latest of such processes seemed to have ended with a need to find someone to talk to. And they knew just where to go, a place where always one person was, never really leaving it despite having made exist and entrances to it...

Yet when Naury entered the Great Library Akashic to seek out their 'brother', Mniminych, the place had a uncanny feeling about it. Large, ever filling shelves of books, piles and staples of research notes, and a dim, ambient light throwing inconsistent shadows around... Even the odd wall has been started to show scriblings on it, as one passes by. Any medium of writing that could be imagened would eventually show up... Even if the contents are often questionable.

So wearing a simple, dark robe, Naury wandered the place for a while, looking, searching for the divine entity at home in this plane...
Yet when they returned from from the Akashic to the Plane of Echos, weeks had passed. And they refuse to share who or what they saw in there, if anything. Or what became of Mniminych, if he even still exist or if something else is left behind then the god who was so engrossed with his task. What is certain is that Naury did not take it well.

 

While Naury is unwilling to share their experience, some of the Echo-Servants decided to travel the library themself. It was a hard task, being they can not survive without the energy given of by fading souls or other magical sources they had no access to in the Plane of Echos. However, their service as Functionaries came with the benefit of some access to things quite literally not from this world. Fragments of Orichalcum and only partly used Soul-Coins chief among them, some where able to brave the plane between.

Without the protection of the Functionary Deal, there was no life-line pulling them back as they run out of energy, and until they gained a better grasp on how much time they had many a Echo-Servant died trying to find something in Akashic to bring home to their own plane. But as the collection of their own grew, the Echo-Walkers soon came to find books seemingly holding some power to change reality... If ever so slight and fragile compared to the divine. Only the highest ranking of the groups where allowed to carry them and wield only as needed to better the life for them all.

And the first thing they did with the newfound power was quite simple yet carrying heavy weight of its own: A ambient energy in Akashic, enhancing magics performed there, and sustains the Echo-Servants as they wander the place. It is not the same as what they normally require, but it will suffice.

 

A stranger comes into a tavern. They pay in strange coin, buy a Lolipop from the merchant sitting next to them, and proceed to drown their worries in the mug. Later, after the stranger left, the merchant buys the coins of from the bartender at rates that can not be right for just some simple currency. Yet the bartender will not complain, for them its a good deal, the merchant probably was just drunk as they made the offer.

A stranger comes into inn, they sit in the corner, taking slow sips of their shine. They occasionally strike up conversation with some adventurers, sending them around to diverse places to fulfill some weird tasks, and they are always there when the adventurers return.

A stranger comes into a bar, the bottles are finely ordered along a shelf, and they make their order.

A patron enters a small little basement tavern in Dinas Penumbra. They order the usual, and talk with some of the other common guests. Nobody seems to know their name, and despite them being drinking and laughting with the others, nobody can quite remember having ever seen their face either. Regardless, it seems to raise their spirits to visit, and the pay is always good. They are not even the only regular who seems impossible to remember clearly, and the two seem to be friends...

 
 Spoiler: Naury AP Spending 
 5 AP ROUNDSTART 
 4 AP LEFT 
 2 AP - Create Sub-Concept  (True Alchemy) [Society (Discovery) 6/10]
  Alchemical Timing 
When something is created in alchemy, its effects happen as soon as its conditions are fulfilled. That is true for every creation, and even the common potions in truth are only creating their final effect when coming in contact with a person. The discovery of a universal anti-condition... Name very much Pending, as Alchemists and Witches are likely will come up with their own each. This enabled the creation of many useful concoctions, from Mining Explosives, Fireworks and complex combinations of effects... To Regular Explosives, subtle Poisons that can go unnoticed for days and varied kinds of sabotage. It is no surprise that the 'negative' options found exploration first, yet positive applications quickly caught up.
Its intriguingly simple: Add it to a reaction just before its last step, and it will delay it until the substance is used up. It also has a distinctive smell of coal, which is its main ingredient of the most common ones. Some of the more complicated are able to release a consistent effect slowly until used up instead, or target specific reactions to form some sort of sequence.  2 AP - Create Racial Society  [Law (Promises) 6/10]
  The Echo-Walkers 
Whats a society in a world that is unable to sustain change? Where your actions won't have a impact on anything around you? It can not possibly exist. But that is also the false premise, as there is something that stays in the Plane of Echos, acting and changing unlike how things are on the first world: The Echo-Servants themself.
They are a society build on Stories, Experiences, Promises, and things they managed to gather as Functionaries and bring back with them. One of the few physical things they managed to get a abundance from is books, which thanks to miss-transported soul coins they started to gather from the Akashic Library as Mniminych no longer keeps watch over the whole collection. They see every thinking being in the plane of echos as part of this larger group, which troublingly for Naury, seems to include the souls of the remembered and the Echos of the Flower Maidens (Who seem to live in both planes of existance at once as far as the Echo-Servants can grasp.)  2 AP - Blessing/Curse  [Society (Discovery) 8/10]
  A Library well Filled 
Few knew who Mniminych was, has he only shown himself to the Bats and, if unintentionally, to the Gelatons. The few who knew he existed may think he died inside Akashic. Others may think he still walks his halls, writing down the history and knowledge of the world forever. The last who possibly saw him was Naury, or it was possibly an absence of him they found instead.
Regardless of the case, the Library will forever stay stocked with countless pages of knowledge, up to date and ancient alike, unknowable or common, it does not matter. As bats enter and leave this place, there will always be new books, plates, notes, writings... all showing up as nobody observes. In some cases, old bats who close in to the end of their natural lives have been witnessed to transform into books inside the library, yet there seem to always be more new pieces then the possible amount of bats that comes and goes.  3 AP - Create Minor Utility Artifact  (Bless/Curse) [Law (Promises) 9/10]
  The Walkers Collection 
It is unclear how much of the power within the books is from 'The One Who Learns', how much was innate to the writings themself, and how much it is Naury who choose to help their flock. Whatever the case is, Echo-Servants with the books can perform small miracles, changing and influencing the rules of the worlds ever so slightly. There are however some limitations on it, as the effects are neigther instant, nor especially troubling for any higher being to just swat away.  0 AP - Blessing/Curse  [MUA Charge]
  Ambient Energies (Akashic) 
The plane of The Great Library Akashic is filled with ambient magical energy. The ritual performed by the echo-servants was originally intended to make it easier to experiment with new magics or train ones still unknown, enhancing the abilities of anyone within to perform magics and learn. However, for the Echo-Servants, it is more important that it can serve as a way to sustain their bodies as they wander this place they where not made for.  0 AP - Mundane Concept  [MUA Charge]
  Alcohol 
It can happen to everyone: Fruits age, and they develop a specific taste. Doing it on purpose to get a rush from, or use as a preservative or various other things, however, is something else. The Fools Potion. Bottled Bravery. Schnaps, Wiskey &amp; Beer. The kinds and names are endless, every one being produced different. What they have in common is being made from plants (mostly) and makeing you drunk if you consume enough (Also mostly.) High enough doseage is lethal, and low enough plesant, and it varies for every individual. Some badly made one can even make you blind.  ________ 
 0 AP Left 

Progress:
[Society (Discovery) 8/10]
[Law (Promises) 9/10]
 
Zelphas
 In the Void, Above the Sky 

Well, then, Salet is still here. What a lovely surprise. It had thought it would return as its counterpart did, but perhaps it had a bit more time...

Well. Time to do something with this world that had little to do with the rest of what was occurring.

Once again, a warm wind spread across the world, but this wind held no laughter--or, if it did, it was laughter from far away, lacking the closeness of Salet's earlier travels. This wind also remained, altering the currents and winds, centering especially in the empty triangle of water between the mountain chains. The warm wind drew the warmth up from the water, leaving a cold, cold sea, and shifted the currents to bring more, warmer air into the Triangular Gap. When cold water meets warm, wet air, you get clouds, and soon the center of the Triangular Chain was obscured in a dense bank of fluffy white, which eddied and shifted as the storm that prowled the Triangular Chain disrupted and restored the currents that fed it in a regular rhythm.

Deep within the white of the clouds, colors began to float; hazy blues, and faint oranges, and blushing pinks, and dark violets, and some brilliant golds--all the colors of a summer sunset over the endless ocean. These colors flocked and played, dove into the cold sea for fish and carried them up to their cloudy homes, shaped the clouds with their frolicking into fantastical shapes. They knew nothing of the outside world in the moment, their joy in each other.

 The Third Feather 

Another sharp shake of the Cloak of Many Feathers sent another of its namesake floating to the First World, this one a dazzling, shifting array of many different colors and shades. The feather drifted, drifted out towards the varied land of Adanat... and landed on a snake, where it remembered what it came from, and became.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 
 0 AP + 5 AP = 5 AP 
 Alter Land (1 AP) - Cumulernia:  Due to very cold temperatures in its central ocean and several wind currents that funnel warm, wet air into it, the center of the Triangular Chain is now an eternal, massive cloudbank, which constantly shifts and changes forms due to the winds within it. Bits of cloud constantly break away and are carried off into the air and away from Cumulernia due to the storm in the Triangular Chain altering the currents, but these bits are replenished by the warm air without noticeably altering the size of the cloud.  [Weather (Clouds) 1/10] 
 Create Race (2 AP) - Nimbi:  The Nimbi are generally mammalian beings composed of a thin, hollow skeleton with long fingers, covered over by several sacs of fur and skin. Two special organs, one which is able to produce helium and another which produces heat, allow the Nimbi to inflate their sacs to float in the air or deflate and drop into the water, which is generally how they hunt for food. A Nimbus (individual term) only needs to eat once a month, subsisting upon sunlight and the water moisture absorbed by their thick fur and skin otherwise. Nimbi can be colored any color you can find in a vibrant sunset, and are generally playful, flighty, and short-sighted.  [Weather (Clouds) 3/10] 
 Create Racial Society (2 AP) - Cumulonimbus:  The Nimbi live in a simple collective; they share what they have as they have need, work with one another to help, and generally find peace and play whenever they can. The main focus of Cumulonimbus as a whole is discovering what has happened to those few of their number that have been carried away from Cumulernia by the shifting winds, and re-establishing contact if possible; they don't even conceive of other creatures than them and the fish, at least right now.  [Weather (Clouds) 5/10] 
 Create Monstrous Life (0 AP, from CoMP) - Feathered Boa:  Feathered Boas are ostentatious: their rainbow feathers are eye-catching, gaudy, and surprisingly tough, making them useful as mild protective gear as well as fashion statements. Feathered Boas hunt by mesmerizing their prey through their feathers and their eyes, then striking with potent poison in the distraction. They can slither through the air in an odd floating motion, making them far more evasive than one would first expect. Feathered Boas are intensely individualistic and hostile to nearly all life, though they will usually not kill non-prey unless they are forced to do so.

 5 AP - 5 AP = 0 AP Remaining 
 
Mechalich
 Worlds Beneath and Within 
	The Sisterhood heard the news, the stories of war in faraway lands, the humans tearing at each other in conflicts of savagery to surpass even the wars of ants. Though they had superior crops to provide numbers, composite fabrics to provide defense, and deadly poisons as weapons, they nevertheless were uncertain if this was enough. Preparation could not be made piecemeal, it must be systemic, a united effort as they had committed in response to the horrible storms that tore the land or the arrival of the monstrous goblins.

	And so they turned themselves not to the pursuit of construction or warfare, but to knowledge. Scholars who had once labored in isolation, pondering their observations beneath the hidden gaze of the kami for long years, now joined hands in correspondence, manipulation, and discourse. They debated, experimented, and reviewed each others understanding as only true sisters could, and formed in this way both a new methodology and a new branch of society.

	They took, as always, inspiration from nature, translating ideas found into the myriad forms of living being into designs, methods, and tools. The world was part of them, and they were part of it, so this approach came to them intuitively. They even traded with the foreign for such knowledge and resources, drawings and specimens from faraway inland regions where the hands of the Sea Folk could not reach. From these small beginnings great forests would blossom.

	Small beginnings indeed, for others among the Onna had turned their studies to the inorganic, especially the Yuki Onna of the frigid north where the spread of countless greenhouses linked directly to an explosion of their numbers. The play of light through glass, ice, snow, and water, and how it differed, fascinated them, and they devoted their ingenuity to mastering its possibilities. They learned to bend and twist light, to master reflections, to throw light from on mirror to another, and most profound, how to pass it through shaped glasses and unlock the power of magnification. Light bent through lenses unlocked a world of minute size, below the power of the eye to see.

	This revelation, that whole worlds could be found in a single droplet of water, that life could be bound into tiny bubble-forms smaller than the point of the sharpest needle, exploded through the Onna. The world, already vast beyond imagining, multiplied in glory by orders of magnitude. That a world could exist with a droplet meant the worlds within them, worlds that had for so long considered simple and desolate, could be more, could be indeed, vast. In time, this too would grow into a focus of the sisterhood.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Create Advanced Concept (2AP): Optics  – The Onna have uncovered the properties of light and its manipulation. They can now produce mirrors, lenses, and optical timepieces.  [Protection (Shelter) 5/10] 
 Create Advanced Sub-Concept (1AP): Microscopy  – Onna glassblowers have created simple magnification lenses and bead microscopes. This has unlocked knowledge of the microscopic world for the first time.  [Protection (Shelter) 6/10] 
 Create Advanced Concept (2AP): The Scientific Method  – the Sisterhood has learned to organize observation, experimentation and review into a basic form of scientific process. Though still limited, it serves as the foundation for a high-level understanding of the world.  [Protection (Shelter) 8/10] 
 Create Advanced Sub-Concept (1AP): Biomimicry  - the Onna naturally draw inspiration from the world around them. What was once an informal observation process has now been tied to science and churns with active experimentation and deliberate study, unlocking endless possibilities.  [Protection (Shelter) 9/10] 
 Create Organization (1AP): The Many-Handed Web  – this grouping of scholars is the first scientific society. It begins among the Onna, but it would potentially permit membership by those of other species, if they could provide useful contributions.  [Protection (Shelter) 10/10] 

Domain Acquired: Protection (Shelter)
Starting AP: 2 Rollover Gain: 5 Spent:7 Remaining: 0
 
Athedia
Glikmora watched her children travel the land and wished she felt at peace.  But the world felt like it had changed so much so fast since her wanderings.  Her children were not safe on their wet island.  The waters outside it teemed with danger and the lands even more.  But her children deserved the right to explore, to take the chances.

So she set the Lolats to a Great Undertaking.  Massive sledges were to be woven from the lightest materials they could find, grand ships.  Silk was to be gathered and made into large sheets, many pocketed to fit the the sledges.  And Glikmora reached out to the land.

There she found a small plant, un assuming in appearance but with a large capacity for converting the dead materials in the ground to gases that floated away.  She enhanced the plant letting it expand its abilities and potential and then brought it back to her children.

The wisest of the Lolats knew what to do with this gift.  In each sledge sat multiple light silk chimneys leading to a woven baskets that they had already started filling with the remains of food, local grasses and the insects that helped turn those into healthy soil.  In each basket was planted one of the new plants named Tanal Dan by the Lolats.

The Dona built large tanks, some for the hydroponics that grew the plants for food but others as artificial ponds for their young.  Only the Ota would board these ships, their bodies naturally built to protect them if they fell and hold to the decks. But the the nurseries would guarantee that future Lolats and Dona Lolats would be born.

Five great ships were built.  Atodana (Growth Above Death), Telamol (Promise Searching), Adota (Land in Air), Mol At (Searching Growth), Lolatel (Lolat’s Promise).  As their great balloons filled Glikmora joined the smallest of her children, making her form closer to their size.   She would see where this adventure took them.  She took with her a small horn which she handed to the Captain of the fleet.  This horn she had imbued with some of her power, letting those who used to control the winds and weather around them.

The Captain took the gift in hand and with it the knowledge of their responsibility to their people.  Lolat’s had traditionally organized with respect to generations and skill.  But they were now the first true leader of their people.  As they stood at the head of the great airship Lolatel they waited until all five ships were in the air.  And then, facing to where Glikmora had told them the Triangle lay, they blew the horn.

Glikmora’s Wail stood with the remaining Lolats, fear and excitement filling the creatures eyes as the great balloons of the airships filled.  It was to guide this land now, a creation born of Telas, destroyed and reformed by Glikmora twice over.  And Glikmora’s Wail had plans.


 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
3 + 4 + 4 = 11 AP

Current Domains: Luck (Gambling), Amphibians (Bipeds), Fungus (Mold)

Bless (1 AP) Gas Plants (Tanal Dan): Specific to a plant from the Adanat swamplands, these plants produce excessive amounts of lighter than air gases when disturbed. [Water (Wetlands) 5/10]

Create Advanced Concept (2 AP) Airships: These massive floating structures use balloons made of silk to hold them aloft, the gas inside is produced by the Gas Plants, which in turn are fed decomposing material from the various stores the Lolat’s have.  The Lolat’s small size is an advantage as they are less restricted by the cramped quarters.  The Ota Lolats are the most common type to find on the ship, their stronger ability to grip and ability to glide on wind currents meaning the heights are less of a risk.   Currently airships use silk sails and wind currents for propulsion, having no way of producing propulsion by themselves.  Airships are vulnerable to fire, and any use of fire is closely watched and ready to be doused.   [Travel (Air) 2/10]

Create Advanced Concept (2 AP) Lolat Nurseries: Specific to the Lolats, they have recreated the specific type of environment they need for hatching but in a form that will survive movement and travel.  The types of Lolats made in each pond can be adjusted by changing the temperatures of the waters within. [Water (Wetlands) 7/10]

Raise Hero (2AP) Captain of the Fleet: The Lolat’s usually do not have true leaders, as in recent history Glikmora has directly filled that role.  But as her need to depart soon grows she has started encouraging leaders to step up among the people.  The Captain is the first, a title that can be passed to another as needed but who demands instant respect and authority among the Lolats. [Travel (Air) 4/10]

Minor Utility Artifact (3AP) Glikmora’s Call: Gifts the user the ability to control the weather (Blessing Action).  It is an auroch horn gifted with Glikmora's power and is given to the Captain of the Fleet [Travel (Air) 7/10]

Artificat Use:  Creating winds to get the airships moving toward the Triangle. (Bless Action)

AP = 11-10 = 1 AP

Water (Wetlands) 7/10
Weather (Rain) 2/10
Medicine (Toxins) 2/10
Truth (Deals) 5/10
Magic (Necromancy) 6/10
Travel (Air) 7/10
 
AlexanderML
    The Chain, New Sights for Old Eyes   

Even in the depths of Lilia’s Heart few besides the treior could say they have seen the wider blooming world of Desire Heart, full of dangerous blooms and tuatha willing to deceive, and come back whole. Yet many still found themselves wandering around aimlessly, those souls who yearned to be somewhere they ended up lost. The typical prey of tuatha such as Fairy Pond, Dawning Mountain Shrine, Demon Street, and others.

Sometimes lost souls about to be tricked into giving up their souls before meeting a terrible fate would find a skeleton there, offering a helping hand to them and a stern talking to the tuatha. To those unfamiliar with the world of flowers he sometimes appeared almost as threatening as the things he’d save people from, but his demeanor would pull many towards at least accepting his help in escaping Desire Heart.

Oftentimes the skeleton, Chymes, would follow the wayward travelers leaving Desire Heart; if only to ensure they had arrived somewhere safe. Yet one time Chymes met a strange person, one composed of slime head to toe.

Following them lead the skeleton to seeing an alkaline lake for the first time. Considering some of Chymes’s actions afterwards was somewhat painful, but he pulled through and took notes on what he discovered on one of his bronze tablets.

With the gelaton becoming a companion at his side, Chymes wandered around the strange land with its people near the coast so far removed from the lands and people he knew. He wore the power of glamor to avoid people asking too many questions about a talking skeleton, yet he was nevertheless caught out as a stranger who had to rely on his companion to avoid misunderstandings on numerous occasions.

Assembling a book out of the paper he found here, Chymes took notes on every city, town, or village’s oddities as he passed on by. He dotted down notes he took from what he could recall from others before. It made for a strange book, one bloated with pages yet sized as a thin book a human could hold in one hand. When asked how he did it, Chymes gave a tilt of the head that gave the impression of a smile and explained that he had someone help him with the details.

Eventually Chymes did settle down to do proper alchemical research in this land, deciding to work in an area where the mountain flowers bloomed beautifully and the people made flower circles; he began to live as an alchemist among a small village community. The weird man in the woods who had cures and solutions to all sorts of problems sort of villager. He had to say goodbye to the gelaton companion here, but he gave them as many powerful flowers as he could before they left.

While his role in the community gave him ample enough resources to work with, time was an issue he needed to sort out. Taking on apprentices he taught them his tricks like he did with the people in Kish-Eru. Before he knew it the Meadow Bloom Witches had been formed, though he would admit if pressed that he did use Lilia’s Promise to help this along… just to save time! And it was a good thing too, because Chymes noticed that the tuatha grew ever more interested in the world of mortals, unwilling to wait for souls to come to them and instead took it upon themselves to hunt for them.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
  5/20 AP

-3 AP Create Minor Utility Artifact (Create Mundane Concept) - Chymes’s Journal: This tome appears as a small book that could be held in one hand and feels as though it contains only a hundred pages within. Yet those who open it find that it contains an infinite number of pages, though many of them are blank as information has to be manually entered into it. Those who deeply read from the journal may find details of particular peoples customs or natural phenomenon that can be used as inspiration.

(Artifact Charge) - Create Organization - Meadow Bloom Witches: Starting from the apprentices of Chymes these witches practice alchemy for the mutual benefit of themselves and their communities. Unlike the witches of the old bloom who study arcane magic, Meadow Bloom Witches practice pact magic made with Tuatha; for whom Chymes has made them both weary of and respectful towards.

Meadow Bloom Witches reside in the Meadow Tower, a large institution where new witches are trained and research is conducted.

(Artifact Charge) - Alter Land - Meadow Tower: A large earthen construct in the mountains overlooking a meadow this spiraling construct of dirt and flowers acts as a meadow that enters the sky. It houses numerous minor buildings made with alchemical and magical oddities.

(Artifact Charge) - Bless - Meadow Dust Blooms: A ghostly white flower that when dried becomes a sugar. This substance is unusually appealing to Tuatha and Beloved. Only being near the flowers when they dry taints one with Lilia's Love, the simple act of consuming the sugar does not.

(Artifact Charge) - Create Mundane Concept - Tea: A habit that Chymes has picked up and made popular in the Chain and among Lilia’s cultists is that of being particular with tea. Ritual and complexity in tea drinking are things that spring up in the places he visits.

(Artifact Charge) - Create Monster - Terror Wings: These creatures act as vigil guards against scouting units, the terror they produce in others so great as to have them scream out in fear or otherwise stumble in such a way as to make their presence known. Sometimes used to find fleeing targets, Terror Wings are no more physically dangerous than a typical bird beyond the fear they induce.

 
 Spoiler: What they look like.  
 
 


Community (Witches) 5/10
 
Demidos
The first sign that they are close are the floating mountains. Three at the moment, to be exact, though they endlessly rise, fall, and change.  A shifting mosaic of earth, rearranging itself like a chessboard, biomes of all classifications wildly spinning in a beautiful dance.  Wheeling firedrakes and bloodsucking insects native to Bhal’nabool, somehow grown to titanic size, glide between sections of moving terrain, moving from forest to mountain and back again. The two Inksworn look at each other, and then  Lance that Leaps like Fire  sighs deeply.
 
“Well this certainly wasn’t here last time I passed through here. I hope your Title took us to the right place. Because I don't fancy going into that without an army at our backs.” 
 Singer of Rumors  nods jerkily as they watch a colossal millipede drag a writhing firedrake into its hungry maw, ashen face paling further at the thought of having to jump between shards of moving landscape while warding off the hungry predators. Although it seems that few of the undead that seem to permeate the forest are here, everything is large, larger than it has any right to be, and the undergrowth beneath the enormous trees is teeming with life. With a flash of flames  Lance that Leaps like Fire  is gone, leaving a smoking lance in his place.  Singer of Rumors  gingerly grabs hold of it, half a muffled scream escaping as he is yanked up into the air by the living spear as it darts towards the nearest island.

—-------
Sagmi, watching from afar, smiles gleefully to herself as she reaches into the pages of her book and draws forth an item shrouded in fabric, a faint multi-hued glow piercing the heavy material. Turning away from the two Inksworn, she hums as she walks with light steps that cross leagues at a time, moving towards the coast. A shifting of fabrics causes a beam of light to shoot forth from the shrouded object, briefly illuminating a small trade ship headed to Kish-Eru and almost causing a drowsy sentry to fall from his post into the sea. Sagmi steps into the humble cottage of an old Sea-Folk woman, fast asleep as the midnight hour draws near. With uncharacteristic gentleness, Sagmi tucks the object below the woman’s pillow before retreating into the shadows.


 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

1 AP Alter Land – Sagmi tweaks the nature of Bhal’nabool, making it sensitive, or morphic in the presence of objects and creatures with powerful enough stories. For example, this allows divine items such as relics/artifacts to alter their surroundings by their mere presence within the forest. A hero or avatar would have the same effect. For instance, the Fathomking might bring a tide with him that changes parts of the forest into an aquatic wonderland, or Harkit might bring a rain of blood. Typically the effect takes a few weeks to begin to happen, and will only affect a small area of the forest. Increased time or divine power spent in the same area of the forest will hasten and widen the effect (for example using an artifact charge or initiating a combat between heroes).   Creation(Relics) 8/10

0 AP (Cleaver of Continents: Wielder ?????) – The Mosaic Lands: A shifting landscape the size of the Adriatic Sea consisting of chunks of earth that look carved up from the ground as if with an immense knife. These chunks of earth lift up, fall, and move independent from the constraints of gravity. Forests, mountains, lakes, and other biomes shift and rearrange constantly. Creatures living there are also much larger than usual, especially the insects which grow to hundreds of times larger than their original sizes. Life is adapted to the constant movement of the landscape.

0 AP Greater Utility Artifact Charge (Tome of Wonders): Reduce AP to create Lantern of Myriad Truths.

2 AP Create Artifact(Lantern of Myriad Truths): A prismatic lantern covered in slowly shifting runes of multicolored light. When this light falls upon written text it slowly shifts and alters the text to eliminate falsehoods. By constant trial and error, lies can be found out, secrets discovered, and new fields of research explored. However, prolonged exposure to the Lantern’s light causes most creatures acute terror and even mental damage as their many failings and shortcomings are indelibly laid bare before their eyes. 10/10 Creation(Relics)

0 AP Greater Utility Artifact Charge (Song of Heroes): Curse – Restlessness of the Worthy: In every species, in every society, those who would be villains or heroes grow restless and dissatisfied with the tedium of day to day life. Individuals across the world feel an emptiness, a need to find what's across the next mountain range, and wanderers and long-range travel become far more common.

10/10 Creation(Relics) Complete!

Accounting:
2 AP+4 Rollover AP -3  AP = 3 AP
 
Athedia
The Captain of the Fleet watched the mountains approaching, not believing their eyes.  Glikmora had estimated the Triangle Chain as over a weeks travel but here this was, tall mountains bristling past the clouds on the horizon.  Approaching to fast.  The airships could not climb above the clouds, they had tried but the dampness made feet slip and even the grippy pads of the Ota could not hold them to the airships.  The visibility also raised the risks of them crashing, flying so closely in formation as they were.

The Captain summoned one of the fastest Ota in the fleet and sent them to speak to their Goddess.  She had been spending much of her days staring listlessly out at the ocean, lost in grief and thoughts.  The Captain hoped the sight of the land she and Naury had spoken of would excite her.

The reaction was not as The Captain had hoped.  One of confusion and strangely hope.  But her message was understood.   This was not the Triangle Chain, not the land of her circular wandering.
 This was new land.  And she would make it safe to pass. 

Yet she did nothing as they came ever closer.  The Ota muttered amongst themselves, trusting in Glikmora's words that all would be safe, but not knowing how to cope with the scale of the obstacle.

And then she folded her hands and focused, pushing them away from each other until the only parts touching were the base of her palms and her fingertips, forming and upside down triangle.  And the mountains mimicked her actions, the earth inside them shifting out of the way to form a rough shape a kilometer long at the top, narrowing down to a point at the bottom.  A passage through the mountains.  A triangle, the Ota said, for this passage was a reminder of where they were to go.

The land on the other side of the path was strange, a bowl shaped depression, filled with trees and streams and everything the Lolats might desire.  But the Captain saw the second passage, formed at the same time as the first and ordered the airships forward.  Next journey the Land Between Triangles, Adcuton, could be explored. But not this time.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
Current Domains: Luck (Gambling), Amphibians (Bipeds), Fungus (Mold)

Alter Land (1AP) The Triangle Pass: The earth in the mountains on the southwest and northeast sides (along the line drawn from Adanat to the Chain) of the great mountains surrounding Rel's Pocket (Called Adcuton, Land Between Triangles by the Lolats) has been pushed aside to form two rough triangles a kilometer wide at the top, along a straight path.  All the ores/minerals in that section have been shifted to the sides of the hole, creating dense pockets of ores/minerals.  There is enough space for the multiple airships to travel through without issue. [Travel (Air) 8/10]

1-1= 0 AP

Water (Wetlands) 7/10
Weather (Rain) 2/10
Medicine (Toxins) 2/10
Truth (Deals) 5/10
Magic (Necromancy) 6/10
Travel (Air) 8/10
 
DasIrrlicht
 People of the Chain  , and off-the-chain, and so on... 
'The Witches of the Old Bloom' where a hard nut to crack. The Merchant Guild had always had a bit of a troubled relationship with them, their attitudes as organizations very much contradict each other. However, they are united in being mostly peaceful in direct contact... Even if the arms trade truly makes some of the more dedicated pacifists of the Witches recoil, as it should if the city truly knew where the weapons come from. And since it was not possible to get their secrets the conventional ways of commerce, another approach was attempted.

Spying it out. The methods used by the guild tended to be a bit primitive, but bribery, blackmail and in more then one case subversion do in the end deliver results. Not the results the Guild had been looking for however: While the Witches where seemingly successfully underwanderd, at least for the time, the knowledge gained from them was mostly about local plants. Mirage Blooms and their apparent powers which yet seemed to be impossible to activate outside of some potions the Witches have come up with, a weird obsession with True Ice Flowers even more so then the alchemists on the chain... But the only truly useful discovery was that something kept slipping away.

There was some second group, surrounded by 'The Witches of the Old Bloom' but not actually part of it. It may even be closer to say that the Witches where unknowingly part of the hidden organization behind them. Getting into that circle however proofed to be seemingly impossible. Even getting hold of members turned out to be a fools errand, as every time the Guild believed they got them, they slipped away. Every time a Countermeasure was decived, a new way for them to flee was found... Abandoned Hideouts that where seemingly just in use hours earlier, groups of people that seemingly just vanished of the map, even the occasional missed merchant who turns out to never have been loyal to the guild in the first place...

At the very least, one could learn from the adversary. Every failure is still a step towards better methods, and mastering a art the Merchants before did not even know was truly a art.

 

The storm is right on time to pass along the east of the triangular chain. The Gelaton however was not.
The weather is troubling for the liquid creature, forcing it to hide and sit it out.
Normally, they would just stick to buildings, carry a umbrella whenever having to move between them, maybe hold themself to streets covered by market-stalls and their sail-coverings.
But they where late, and now stuck at a underhang waiting for it to pass in a few days.
Yet, waiting there turned out to be not as boring as it could have been, as the heavy winds carried in... something alike a person, in a way?
The being looked a bit like a cloud, yet they had a face and fingers stretching from what can only be assumed to be the head... Maybe their whole body is a head?
The winds nearly carried the Nimbi away again, out from under the hang. But the Gelaton could not let that happen. The fear was obvious on the cloud-face.
So they grabbed them by one of the fingers, leaving slight burn marks where the alkaline matter touched the soft skin and furs.
It was short, and painful, but the Nimbi was dragged deeper below the underhang until the winds no longer carried them away and the Gelaton could release their grip.
It sure was an akward first meeting, but it was a meeting non-the-less. Until the storm passes by the end of the week, and they can part ways again.

 

With as many foreign weapons as pass over the ocean every week, it was only a question of time until the nobles of the northern cities of the chain got curious where they come from. So first, they started investigating in the other cities. Afterall, if there was some master smiths on the chain, whoever was in control of them would have a reasonable advantage if there is another case of violent infighting, as it has happened sometimes over the years.

A easy claim would have been that they where made in Port Tale, but such would only delay the discovery, especially as the Starbirds keep improving communication. Another cover had to be found, and thankfully, a oppertunity arose. The guild has been keeping a eye on potential blacksmiths of the empire to rope into the weapon trade, ones that would not care to much what happens as long as they keep up their side of the deal. Thanks to some spying eyes, they managed to find some smiths that 'Failed the Cult of the Burning Sun' and sheduled to be 'Consumed' soon. The nature of their offense: Remorse.

Apparently, they have kept some children save after a village was raided, hid them below their workshop, where they performed some labour but where safe from the empires indoctrination. It was good enough for some souls to be paid around, have the assassins guild strike. Despite the Assassins glorifing murder just as much as the Empire, a deal was a deal, and most of the smiths could be freed before their ritual execution. Yes, even the children where collected. Apparently, the timing overlapped with a attack of another Organization , a 'Empty Larder' of some kind. Many of the prisoners that had been freed to hide the traces even have come to join the rebels afterwards, a circumstance very benefitial to the guild.

The Smiths and their 'Apprentices' where transported over to the Chain not long after being freed. From then, they started to spread their methods, while at the same time discovering the world of 'not everything has to be a weapon'. Its not surprising how fanatism had them blind to the options for so many years...

 

Fishers are not rare near 'The towering Island'. Its shadows proved to be a good fishing ground, as unlike near the hands, there where seemingly no spiders hanging below trying to fish out the fishers. Of course, the towering island has proven to somehow be even harder to climb then the hands outstreched. Sea air kept the outside wet and slick, and even the people that where able to climb it would have to resist the song of the ocean first. So any attempts made have been given up or failed quite a while ago...

Well, the fishermen where sure they have lost their mind when a hole opened up high, high in the towering islands... And boats came out. Not much bigger then the fishing boats they use. Above the boats where large spherical sails... Simply put, there was a lack of words to describe it otherwise as this... Skyboats turned with the wind towards the Triangular Chain. And curiosity does push the fishers to hurry back to their piers, if the wind stays as it is, they may manage to return home before the Skyboats reach the mountains.

 

The island of Talewako might as well not be part of Eresalay. The people living there are not allowed to enter the continent, and the local way of living is rather odd on its own. There is very few things they can trade with the locals, so as the Merchant Guild decided to settle there, Profits where initially Low. Of course, thanks to the import and export of weapons that where alchemical enhanced there have been made quite a few improvements. Yet it was a new product that finally gave them the smallest bit of a 'in' with the Onna.

Tea. And technically Alcohol, but the Onna seemed only to care for that one in its purest form for 'medical purposes'.

So a very small trade started: Luxury good for Luxury good. The locals get to enjoy tea and whatever they do with near-pure alcohol, and the People of Port Tale gain access to some Glassware, and other small, more advanced knick-knacks. However, there was no trust that this trade would hold up in the people of Port Tale. The Onna have proven to be exceptionally cold to them, cursing the humans as primitive savages and outsiders, and the Gelatons as freaks and little more then just slimes pretending to be people. The Onna may had enough compassion to share the Concrete with them as the sun has dammed the world once again, yet that was again the end of most interactions.

So the Lady gave the Merchant Guild approval when they came around with a simple plan. Using the minor in from the trade, and some of the more advanced potions they have managed to get from the Witches, a small group would sneak onto the main continent, hidden among the wares that had to be transported dry. They would quickly move inland to avoid the most watchful eyes and then spy out some of the more off-the-road locations where Masters perform their work. Glassblowing, meltingdown, reforming. It was studied from afar as long as their resources could keep them hidden.

Even the mandatory combat training the Onna now recived could be abused in the final days of their mission. The starting of a fire at the other end of the village dragged the attention away in the fear a tiger has come to close, so the theft of some of the glassmakers tools ended up with little difficulty. There was made a small attempt to frame goblins for the crime, essencially by just leaving some of the tools near a recently killed one to hopefully have the ones that where sure to follow up use them as improvised weapons.

In the cover of the last of their potions and a night of new moon, the tools and knowledge have been brought to Talewako. The next ship leaving the port did carry them off-continent. Even if the Onna guess right what had happened, the proof would be far away, on the Triangular Chain. Non of the new Glassmakers shall settle in Port Tale, to keep the Bloodsilk Order in the Dark about the happenings.

 

The Inksworn that lead the small group managed paied well. That is afterall why they followed that guy. Most of the Mercenaries could honestly not remember the title, what they knew was that their employer managed to get in trouble with the adventure guild, and decided to just get mercenaries to lead into battle instead. Some kind of self declared Grand Magician, that was. They themself where mostly your typical soldiers of fortune: Expensive Armours, well made, alchemical enhanced Swords and Bows, feathers in their caps and helmets denoting them as a group more so then as individuals.

They have been following that man for quite a while, and Bhal’nabool was a pain to cross. The odd conflict with the local insects usually ended with them burned to crisps, while the firedrakes have fallen mostly to the mercenaries as the employer refused to use any magic that does not burn the foes to crisps. It took them days to get further in until they finally hit what they where looking for: The Blood Fields. Blood Flower Forest. Whatever it calls itself, the place of bones and giant wasps and bloody vines and parasites and any other kind of pain one can imagen. Thank the divine the payment is good and the stories will be worth it if they survive the coming weeks.

The original plan of the Employer to just go in and burn it all down has quickly been stopped as they learned that most of the things where non-flamable. or if they did burn, they where supposed to burn anyways. Instead, something different had to be done. Hiding out in the more inaccessible parts just of the side, they left in small groups to kill of whatever kinds of enemies they could find that patrolled the area and then fall back again before they are found. While it took some of their alchemical flames to do it they managed to burn of the flowers of many a skeleton, and simply sliced appart goblins until there was no risk of them getting back up anymore.

Scream Eaters where however a more worrying encounter. Giant, deadly mangled piles of corpses fused into monsters with a flower like head. Going for the handlers turned out to be rather effective, yet the monsters themself needed a lot of extra work to go down. Trying to bait them into traps to cripple their limbs was the best option they managed to come up with, yet every single Scream Eater was a source of bad news...

Around the end of the second week, the size of the group has nearly halved, and the Inksworn suddenly vanished into the fields. They said something about 'The Reward they have been coming for, so they can burn the empire down to its walls.' before leaving, but the Mercs naturally did not know what to do with that info. Either way, even with the Employer gone, they still had a week left on their contracts. Maybe they can get down a little bit more devastation to the enemies numbers before returning home and letting someone else deal with it, or be re-hired with the new experience they have at a higher rate.

Except Old Jeremy of course. His wife was to soon have a child, so he decided to retire once the week is over. This paid enough that he could afterall.
 
 Spoiler: Naury AP Spending 
 5 AP ROUNDSTART 
 1 AP - Teach Advanced Concept  [Law (Promises) 10/10]
  Espionage 
'The craft of spying and acting unseen.' It is a useful craft, and anyone can attempt it. But some groups mastered it, made it a form of art. The Merchant Guild learned from said artists, ironically because the performance outranked their own so much that they where able to study what and how it happened. The details are of course a secret of its own, but like with everything the guild does, its a service that is on sale. Soon, spies from the guild will be active where ever they work, sometimes even in the service of the local powers, such as the People of the Chains Nobility.
This knowledge does however help keeping their own secrets closer as well.  1 AP - Teach Mundane Concept  [Society (Discovery) 9/10]
  Metalworking 
The Copper, The Bronze, even the impure Iron. Some form of smithing is easy to figure out and replicate once one has seen it. Being good at it however is a fully different situation. Finer details, more resilient casts, reliable qualities. With a bit of creativity, metal can be helpful in every situation. Weapons and Armour are the obvious examples, yet the Nail is what can keep a whole civilisation together. The conception of saws changed building forever. Bells can inform a far away person of a event at the speed of sound, regardless how they are occupied. Getting good at metalworking changes societies at fundamental levels.  1 AP - Teach Advanced Concept  [Society (Discovery) 10/10]
  Glassware 
Glass was valuable, for its countless of uses and fragility making it more common in need of replacement. So every single piece had to be kept in more care. The Onna found many uses for glassware as they found ways to reuse shards, clean away flaws and create more consistent tools. But like nearly all of their advancements in fields the rest of the world straggles behind, they kept their secrets away from strangers. Alchemist in special found however great uses for the pieces they managed to obtain from minor trade, so soon the demand for glassware rose, and with it, acquiring the ways of the Onna had become rather important on its own.  0 AP - Mundane Concept  [MUA Charge]
  Mercenaries 
People fight for survival. People fight for a cause. People fight for the feeling it gives them. But some people just figure out that they are good at fighting and decide to sell that. iven, there is a certain overlap at times, few choose the profession of a mercenary without wanting to get into a battle. While everywhere where there is warriors or soldiers, there is some whoes loyalty is bought, some places rely more on them then others, or have even a support system around it to enable them to use mercenaries better. Others in turn shun them for their line of work... But when their services become needed, few can resist the allure of having someone else fight your battles for you.  ________ 
 2 AP Left 
 1 MUA Charges 

Progress:
 [Society (Discovery) 10/10] 
 [Law (Promises) 10/10] 
 
Fuzzy Math
  In somnis, quaecumque sunt, somnia parum somnium mihi  
  In your dreams, whatever they be, dream a little dream for me  

Rel twisted in his slumber, minor gasps escaping his lips as his features took on a horrified countenance, his dreaming was troubled indeed. It started out relatively jovial (though with moments of childlike intensity), with a light-hearted vision of one of the littler Hiplings, soon faded to a blackness that his divinity intrinsically knew to be the Void. This. This was not his, but he did not feel he was trespassing. The Void was filled with cosmically large creatures that were only slightly less black to his eyes, speckled with star-like emanations, this place was unlike anything he had ever encountered. Rel marveled at the things, his mind meandering to wonder if the Star Mantas knew the sheer pleasure of lazily drifting along empyrean currents, when he became aware of a feeling that was not his own. This was an emotion he had not felt in a long, long time;   Suffering...   His gaze was drawn downwards to the First World, the feeling intensifying the longer he looked, his focus shifting to only slightly below the Terra Whales. What his vision trailed across was the source of the suffering and his essense ached for them.

He saw other creatures not of his making; bipedal hominids that anguished against each other, that devoured each other, that bought and sold each other's bodies for simple and twisted pleasures. He saw divine sparks leaving their bodies, either to form into round trinkets, be consumed, or sidestep to a hazy place that vaguely resembled the world they just left only to fade away. His dreamings wouldn't form these unpleasant concepts; war, cannibalism, selling of flesh... No, there must be other dreamers like him, but not like him in the ways of creation. Even the plantlife in these areas were harsh and lethal, filled with a poison he could sense was not natural, created by another dreamer. He peered closer at that, sensing that it clouded the mind with-   Love?   It was unlike any sense of love, outside of certain points, he understood; there was an aspect of nurturing, of caring, of looking past mistakes, those he could comprehend, as a parent loves their child. Yet, it was subverted somehow, as if the child was expected and demanded to adore a parent that could do no wrong. More insidious, it was in just about every plant this other created, even the innocuous ones that seemed to provide minor benefit when consumed. There was something more, something buried... Like a child who desperately craved unconditional love, to be noticed, but not knowing how to... The thought left his mind as he saw creatures amongst the leaves, that had no spark in them, yet still moved; skeletons with flowers growing from their bones, dead flesh combined with plantlife that resonated silence around them to better stalk their prey. From the oceans surrounding the land he felt a certain madness and sense of superiority; extending his awareness slightly, Rel felt the enmity of the Sea-folk towards the peoples of the land of the First World. Driven to the point of warped perception by loneliness and grief, they had come to view what they once were as something to be reviled. He shook his head, suppressing a shudder, when he saw something that made his eyes begin to water with impotent anger and sadness. The slaying of the kami, as their natural habitat was overwhelmed by civilizations and dreamers that held them in little regard, if at all, the Loci of these people adopting their apathy and hunger. While unfortunate and disheartening, Rel could come to terms given the the kamis' resilience and that another dreamer intervened to have these kami instead be subsumed into the greater loci, letting them have a continued existence albeit one that was greatly diminished. No, the scene that truly disturbed him to his core was the twisted perversion of a kami that sat upon the head of one of the worst creatures he has witnessed so far. The ever-present drink in his hand trembled, the glass forming a crack as his grip tightened unconsciously, before his eyes closed. He had to look away from these things, not wanting these feelings to cloud his vision or hopes for this world. "No idea survives the first draft; there are always improvements that can be made." Rel muttered to no one in particular. He looked back up towards the Void, watching the Terra Whales glide through the sky while little clouds chased in their wake, waiting for the moment of furious melancholy to pass while he pushed the suffering out of focus.

As his thoughts emptied, another feeling came unbidden into his awareness.   Struggle...   He grunted, trying to hold on to the bliss of an empty mind, but it slipped away. "What is it now? It's always right when I'm about to relax." His gaze turned back to the First World, focusing on a large piece of marshy swampland, where it looked as if fresh water only came from seasonal rains. He moved closer and observed the life there, watching the industrious frog-folk adapt and overcome their hardships, marveling at their ingenuity as they built their skyships. There was another dreamer at work here, he realized, one that cared for their creation as Rel did the Hiplings. Perhaps he doted on them too much, but the world was going to be harsh enough to the species created by the other dreamers, that maybe preserving the curiosity and kindness of at least one group of First World creatures would be worth it. He smiled softly then, tucking that memory away for safekeeping, should everything go to pot there will at least be that little bit of hope still left for him to work with. "There must be more to explore here, the frog-folk can't be the only creatures that aren't malicious of spirit or focused on personal gain." Rel mused to himself as he let his senses drift.  "Down. Under the ground."  his dreaming mind lazily spoke to him. Quizzically, he went along with it, going deeply past the dirt and rock into a cavernous tunnel system under the marshland. In the darkness, he felt the many sparks of another dreamer, so he stayed there a moment for his vision to adjust. Once sight came slowly back to him, he saw worm-like entities with many tentacles and large mole-like creatures swimming through the rock. There were other variations of these wigglers that gave him pause simply because of their alienness; made of fleshy wiring that seemed to be able to wrap around and control the rock-swimmers. He blinked for a moment, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. A symbiotic creature perhaps? The furred beast did not seem to be suffering at least, so Rel mentally shrugged and just tried to get a feel about these sapient, wriggling, worm-people. Deciding they were not outwardly hostile, he nodded and drew himself back up. They too, like the froglings, were trying to make the best of the life they were given. There was a wary tug on his awareness, likeness or kinship, perhaps? Letting the pull take him, he stopped above a mixture of deciduous and coniferous forests, taking in the scent and sights. While these forests were certainly as voluminous as those in the Pocket, he didn't understand why he was drawn here, not at first anyway. While he watched below, he spotted what looked like a solid kami, with pine needles growing from a pale green scalp. Not sensing much in the way of innate magical ability like the other creatures he has seen, he wondered what it was that drew him here, maybe the slight spark of a kami? He watched the creature take in the world around it, then seem to consider something was of interest, and that's when Rel felt the kinship again. It was analyzing! It was studying the world around it and adapting it for the use of her people, mentally drawing schematics! Absolutely fascinating... True, his Hiplings weren't at this level yet, but he had hopes they will get there eventually. He wanted them to develop slowly, to not get ahead of themselves for fear of unintended consequences, but there was at least another dreamer the sheer joy of Making!

Maybe there   were   some creatures that wouldn't just demolish his little ones, maybe... "Soon enough, with proper preparations, a few of the braver ones will explore past the trees. But not yet, not yet; let them learn more of the world around them first before they truly begin to understand. There's time enough, I hope." Rel chuckled at the thought of a Hipling serving on one of those skyships, bringing a sense of mirth to the froglings as it would do its best to emulate their ways, but that was likely just wishful amusements. While in a more heartened state, he saw other creations, like the giant banyan trees dotting across certain sections of the world. The lotuses as large as his bungalow, with thick pliable petals that could be woven into protective clothes, and large edible leaves. Bags of feathers that seemed herbivorous that practically exploded with dust and feathers when threatened. Thrumming courses of magical power that teemed with infinite possibilty, but tainted by the shapings of others. He then saw something truly curious; a hominid that seemed to draw into their mind, their body vanishing along with what they held, then reappear minutes later in the same spot carrying foodstuffs instead of what they vanished with.  "A mortal that can enter the Dream? Perhaps that will be the key..."  His dreamself drifted back up into the Void, dodging a manta as it caught a solar wind, and for the briefest moment he thought he caught a glimmer of sentience from the Sun.

His eyes opened slowly, as he groggily wiped his face, waking from the dreams. He continued laying on the lounge, hearing the croaking of the frogs native to the Pocket mixed with the patter of a gentle rain. Rolling off into a standing position, he started to realize that perhaps his dreamings were just as real as to what he could do within this area, which made him shiver despite the relative warmth of his surroundings. If that's true, perhaps it would be time to start working on some of the ideas trickling into his thinking. Rel walked out of the bungalow to his workbench where he drew out some rough sketches of two large separate semi-circles of spiraling tubes, made of orichalcum mixed with wood to make a living metal that would be connected and intertwined amongst the roots of banyan trees encircling the island with two metaphysical openings next to each other on each end.  
 Spoiler: Writer's Note 
I'm trying to describe two spiraling Greek Omega symbols that mirror each other horizontally, and failing horribly.
 
 The only spot bare of the banyans along the circle would be the mountains, with the tubes going through the stone, sending out dendritic tendrils to absorb the metals within. The roots of the banyans delve down deep into the island, drawing forth more orichalcum and other metals to be integrated into the system, connected to the massive roots of a truly colossal tree at the center of the island like spokes. This tree would dwarf all the others, piercing the canopy to gather the purifying light of the Sun in leaves made of hardened glass containing gold filament and chlorophyll, with roots, trunk, and limbs made of the living orichalcum enhanced wood. It would bear all the fruits, berries, and other vegetation native to the island amongst its branches, along with hollowed spaces for the little ones to reside in, a veritable Hipling metropolis at one with the nature around them. He sketched in the likeness of the Hipling elder's face they see when they speak with him into its massive trunk so they would always feel welcome amongst its embrace and so the next part of the design could take place.

Rolling up the sketches and placing them in one of the deep pockets of his robe, he walked through the hedge gate, his strides purposeful. He paused outside the gate when five massive shadows quickly crept over the ground. Looking up above the lowland foothills, where there trees did not block the sky, he saw the skyships of the froglings rushing towards the Rest. His eyes widened with alarm; they were going too fast and wouldn't be able to turn past the mountains in time. Reflexively, he raised his hands and felt his will rush towards his fingertips to make way for them, when he felt the presence of another Dreamer grabbing hold of the mountainside. The sound of the stone shifting echoed down and through the Pocket, certain to be noticed by the Hiplings and pique their curiosity, as a triangular opening a little more than half a mile wide formed in the Rest for the skyships to pass through. "Huh. Guess I'll have to send a fruit basket as way of apology for making the mountains too large. Once I know where to send it, anyway." he grunted with a shrug. Continuing on his way, Rel's perspective shifted while he was walking, getting closer to the ground as he took on his Hipling persona when entering their periphery. He warmly hugged each of them on his path to the nexus of their villages, listening to their adventures and little triumphs throughout, all while mentally pushing an urge for them to gather the others. He wanted to speak to their Loci, to share with it what he saw while dreaming, which would likely spread back to the Hiplings through the communal connection.  "Is it possible to have a gentle unkindness?"  he wondered to himself.  "I know I wanted them to have time to advance slowly, but the world will come to them sooner than later. As much as I know this will cause them fear, maybe that fear will guide them to overcome and see that their kindness, their wonder, is needed to make this world something worth the dreaming."  Once all of the Hiplings had gathered around him, row after row in a large crescent, he turned from them with arms raised and pushed his senses out to call to the Loci. There was a stirring of the air, as loose dirt, water, and plant matter coalesced into a giant Hipling with a copious mossy beard, sitting on a massive fallen tree.  "You are Rel, the Unburdened."  it gently rumbled in the tongue of the Hiplings. The little ones grew quiet; not afraid, but curious as to what they were seeing before them.  "Though perhaps not so unburdened, if you seek words with us. What troubles you, does it concern the Hopeful?"  it asked quizzically as it looked over him to the assembled Hiplings. The one Rel recognized as Petrick ran past him towards the Loci and stopped at its feet to stare up at it, then took out a nectarine and his sun-rock, only to place them on the ground in front of it before stepping back.  "Many appreciations, youngling. We take great pleasure from the intentions of your gift, but those are for you."  it said as a small tendril formed of leafy debris to give a firm embrace to the child and another tendril to lift the offering back into his hands.

Rel watched the interaction with a smile before looking back to the Loci with a more somber look to his features. "It does indeed concern them, moreso their future. I ask of you to call on the others of your kind, to bid them here to convene. What I have seen concerns them just as much as the Hopeful." he said, the images from his dream still fresh in his mind. It felt as if the ground rippled slightly as the Loci opened its arms. Soon, kami of all compositions materialized around the Loci, and he heard the collective surprise of the Hiplings. While they often unknowingly played and interacted with the Kami, they did not know of their existence. "Little ones, these are the Kami, spirits of nature. Water, earth, air, fire, and all things in between. The big one on the tree is a Loci, a spirit formed of your community and love of each other. They are all around you, watching you and playing with you as you try to catch gliding petals and bird feathers. They are joined with the world you take from, that you form to better fit your needs. What you do, remember this, you do to them. Treat them with the kindness, the respect, the love, that you treat yourselves with, as they are as special to this land as you are. They may choose to share with you, they may choose to help you, they may even choose to listen to the stories you tell them when you are just imaginging great things. Hold to your hearts, that this is their choice, to reveal themselves to you as they wish to and to respect that choice. As you continue to grow, as your numbers increase, to think of how your actions effect them." Rel spoke kindly, his words resonating with a bit of the Dreaming to give them more importance, and perhaps a little mental nudge to get across his meaning. After a few moments, the Hiplings' ears wiggled in understanding and they gave little chuffs of agreement.

With that settled he turned back to the Loci and gathered Kami, nodding. "I will not make you and yours watch over the Hopeful, your decisions are your own, and we will have to abide by that decision. We will continue to grow into your territories, doing our best to be mindful to build with you, not over you." Rel paused then, holding up a hand to request a moment. "Before you make any decisions, let me share with you what I saw of the world outside of this island; I do not wish to trouble you, that is not my intent, though they are not entirely pleasant. What I hope these visions will show you is the reason why I am giving you the choice and advising the Hiplings, the Hopeful, to treat you all with the same love they give to each other in order to build a future together. I will share once you are ready." The Loci conveyed Rel's words to the other Kami and once they all understood, the Loci lowered its hand for Rel to rest upon an open palm. "What you are about to see may cause you to clench your fist, Loci of the Hopeful. I ask that you remember I am in your hand." he said as he patted the spirit's rather large thumb.  "We will do our best, Rel."  it rumbled low, hesitation creeping into a single chuckle. Closing his eyes, he let his awareness meld with the Loci and the Kami, finding it somewhat difficult to be spread that thinly. Once he felt firmly connected and sure of his ability to share information this way, he opened his mind, to allow them to see everything he saw in his dreaming. Slowly at first, giving them time to explore his connection and comprehend the meaning of what he saw, easing them in with the pleasant discoveries first, then the more upsetting, then the visions that made his heart weep. The hand curled tightly around him, pressing him into an uncomfortable position, but he forced himself to not end the connection as he felt the amused curiosity turn to sadness and profound terror. "This is why I am giving you your own agency to decide. I will not force you, as others have done to your kind, bending to the will of other Dreamers as if you were nothing more than material to be shaped. To me, to the Hopeful, you are just as important as those who shape Creation. You are precious to me, your potential just as valid as any spirit housed in flesh." Rel thought to them, as he withdrew from the aching vision to finally show them his dreams for the future he hopes the First World would eventually come to be. "If you choose to withdraw from this island, from the Hopeful, we will understand and abide by it. We will continue in our future, with our respect to you and yours as best as we are able without your wisdom, but would it not be a wondrous world we could create together?" He gradually closed the door to his mind, letting them feel his presence leave their consciousness, so they would know he did not intend to influence them one way or another. Feeling the hand unclench slightly, he opened his eyes and placed his hand on the palm of the Loci, waiting to see if he was going to be juiced like a fruit. The creature's fingers trembled, as if weighing the options before it, before opening slowly to deposit Rel back on the ground.  "We have an understanding, Not-so-Unburdened Dreamer. The others will aid as they see fit. We, as the collective will of the Hiplings, will watch over the little ones to guide them towards cooperation with the Kami on this island. Be warned, though. What you have shared with us, you have also shared with them through our bond."  the Loci said with a tempered voice.

Rel turned to look at the Hiplings and paused with his head tilted to the side a bit; while some began playing with the Kami in full awareness of their presence, others were doing their best to recreate what they saw from his dreamsharing. Little legs trying to jump the distances of the frog-folk. Hiplings with branches that had many vines hanging from them, wiggling them about, as if trying to portray the worm-like creatures. Some pausing to look at the rocks and plants, rubbing their chins, then drawings shapes in the ground as if they making schematics. He could feel that their imitations were them learning about the other dreamers' creations; genuine interest in what they saw, not any attempt to make light of it. These were things they could easily comprehend, their reasoning determining that these actions did not cause pain. There were others though, the eldest among them, that looked somber if not afraid. These were the ones that understood the bigness of the creatures Out There, the harm that could come to the island and to those who ventured past its boundaries. Rel walked among these, gathering them away from the other Hiplings while they played, and spoke to them in hushed tones of Dreamwalking.   "If my thinking is correct, this is easier the more you are attuned to your sense of self. As you've had more time to accept yourself in this world, your limitations, talents, the very Is-ness of who and what you are, this should be a quick study."   He held their hands, guiding them with mental images, until most of them vanished and reappeared after a few minutes.   "Of all my little Hiplings, you eldest understand the dangers of the Bigguns, the caution learned through experience of running from the more territorial creatures here. You must practice this ability until you can do it without thinking, until your minds can recognize danger before your eyes do. When you feel that you can do this with more ease, spread the knowledge amongst the other Hiplings, guiding them all until they are as skilled as you. With enough practice, you can bring food and shelter with you as you may have to hide for a hours if not days, if there's no food there. I cannot see into your dreamscapes, but hopefully they will be pleasant and have all that you need."   Rel smiled as they did it again when he finished the sentence and reappearing moments later with handfuls of berries.   "Good! Good! Soon you'll all be little Dreamers, making your own worlds for you to enjoy! One other thing, now that I think about it. Once you have taught the others, try teaching the Kami. I'm not sure if it will work for them, but it would certainly be interesting if it does!"  

He stretched his arms and back, pleased with what he was able to accomplish today, but there was more to be done. There always was, but it could wait for a little while longer. He ate with the Hiplings, who left empty leaf piles at their large flat rocks that communal meals were served at. When he asked about it, he was told it was for any of the Kami who wished to join them for food or stories. Rel was thankful they they adapted and learned quickly; once the rest of the world opened up to them, those skills will serve them well. He joined in on their games of hide-and-seek, amused that the elders were playing as well, using their Dreamwalking to their advantage.  "Smart,"  he thought to himself.  "Gives them more experience with it  and  begins the teaching to the others from the ease of play, rather than having to learn through droll rote."  The Sun was getting high in the sky now; he could see it at slightly to east-of-center above him through the canopy. It was close to the time for the mid-day Pile that usually resulted in a group nap and he was hoping to relax for a few hours, but something was nagging at the back of his mind. There were a few hours before the Hiplings would gather at the nexus. Ducking out of sight behind a tree, he willed his steps to carry him to the top of the Rest, barely noticing the chill of the air here compared to the warmth under the verdant blanket. Looking up in the direction of the Sun, he shrugged, not knowing if this was just his imagination at work or if there was indeed a sentience residing there. Sitting himself down in a cross-legged position, he closed his eyes, and reached out his awareness into the Void.

As his mind's eye took in the surroundings where he noticed for the first time, now that he was closer to it, that the Sun had a ring of orichalcum wrapping around it. Worlds of life arose from it, to be be quickly shunted to the First World in the blink of an eye; maybe it could only last so long when that close? His dreamself shrugged, still in the sitting position he was last in, before focusing in on why he was here.   "Not sure how to begin this and maybe I'm just flapping my lips at the solar equivalent of a shower thought, so I'll just start talking until I'm done. Good with me if it is with you?"   He grinned at the thought of someone at the center of the star, watching out their window, at a disheveled madman holding court with the birds. Or mantas, in this case.   "Right, here goes. I want to start off by saying thank you. Thank you for the warmth and light you provide to us on the world. Thank you for the life that you help sustain and..."   Rel gave a quick glance at the life being thrusted at the planet below,   "...the life you are potentially creating. For all I know, you created ME; a wandering thought that wasn't all that coherent and just trailed off. Still not all that coherent, but you make do with what you've got, right? That's kind of the point to all this, maybe? Doing your best with nothing but your dreams and a bit to eat? Bah, I'm rambling."   He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts as much as he could in this state.   "I guess what I'm trying to get at is this; I don't think I'm the only Dreamer here, man. I saw some stuff down there I wouldn't even begin to think of dreaming. Stuff that would have you coronal mass ejecting brown dwarfs down your pant leg! Well, if you wore pants. Maybe you just have a pair I can't see and that ring is just a belt or something. Anyway, even with that all going on, I just wanted you to know that it's appreciated. A slim chance for a brighter existence is magnitudes better than no chance at all; all the choices and happenings begetting even more events diverging from there, the sheer thrill of uncertainty, the pleasure of just being, man. So yeah, thank you for all that!"  

Rel watched a manta swoop down to catch a particle drift and glide further away.   "Just fekkin look at that thing go! Damn, they're pretty! There was something else, always something else. Give me a minute, I'll chase the thought down any second now... Ah, that's it! I was kind of hoping to make something of an offering on behalf of myself, the Hiplings, the Kami, and all the other life in the Pocket. A cosmic mango, if you will. You probably keep on keeping on, not needing much of anything to refuel your solar engines, but that's got to get a little bland cycle after cycle. Dreaming up new life all the time, you'll be hitting the dregs after a while, and then things get stale and boring! Sure, there might be other Dreamers dreaming all sorts of new things, but even that gets old eventually as we run out of dreams. So..."   He reached deep into a robe pocket until he felt what he was looking for. Pulling out a silvery mango that shone brightly in the Sun's radiance, yet still maintained its silver coloration.   "...here you go! To be perfectly honest, I wasn't actually expecting this to be a mango as my dreams usually aren't this literal. Anyway, that is the collected amalgamation of little bits of experiences, faith, creativity, hopes, and dreams from all of the life in the Pocket. It is truly amazing what just that one little section of Creation can think up and do! I've seen creatures down there offering prayers to you, so maybe you've already had something like this, but I wonder if it  tastes?  like they're just asking for you to keep on shining. This does not taste like 'Thank you, but...', man. It's pure appreciation without expectation!"   Not really knowing if he should just pitch it into the blaze or set it on the Forge, he simply let it go in the vicinity, figuring it would either make its way to where it needed to go or the Sun would have a very tiny (in comparison) moon to go along with THE Moon.   So, that cosmic mango there got me to thinking. If that's what Life can offer us Dreamers from the material we create, what would it be like if they had just a sliver of our Dreaming? True, they already have the magics churning through the Lines, but that's still like asking them to make sense of fifth dimensional drawings of how to build a house. Some might be able to do it after years of study and practice, some just inherently grasp a portion of it, yet all that particular flavor does is unlock preconceived answers to convoluted questions. Those magic rivers down there have a similar vibe to this ring, so maybe they're your doing? I don't know, I think I may have lost the plot somewhere... I guess what I'm trying to get at is this. If they could be little Dreamers, making things on a smaller scale than we can, there wouldn't be any preconceived answers. Just new worlds for us to experience through them, new ideas for us to explore, new flavors for us to savor. That's what we could receive, if we could just let them in a little."   Rel scratched at his beard, butting up against the last of what he wanted to say. He wasn't sure if there would be any response back or how long it would take if there was, so he just turned to putter on down back to his headspace when he stopped.   "I'll just go ahead and get started on putting that into motion, man. It'll be weak at first; I don't think I have enough oomph by myself to get things spinning at equal level, but if you toss in as much Dreaming to this idea as you put calculations into the Lines, that should really make those wires hum! Just think about it, man..."   He tilted his head, eyes squinting quizzically.    "Huh, I'm this close to a stellar blast furnace and my butt's getting cold. You'd think that I'd be pretty toasty right n-"    That fleeting thought trailed off as he opened his eyes again, sitting on the peak of the Rest, looking around. "Oh, yeah, that would explain the chilled cheeks..."

Making it back in time to join the Hiplings in the mid-day Pile, Rel let himself relax amongst the little ones for as long as it lasted; he was feeling worn, having done more this day than he has in a long while and there was still more to do, but he needed a moment to just be to center himself. He was uncharacteristically pushing himself, whether out of apprehension or excitement he didn't know. Things were moving too quickly for his liking, but he didn't want the denizens of the Pocket to be swept away through his predilection for inaction. The rhythm of all the heartbeats around him, the slowly syncronizing breathing as the little ones began to doze off, soothed his overactive mind and slowed his thoughts.  "One thing at a time, Rel."  he mused silently. As he found his center, he matched the tempo of the Hipling pile, feeling his awareness hit that sweet spot of mindful thoughtlessness. After a few hours, the Hiplings began to stir, indicating that his time for meditation was over. As the Pile gradually disbanded, he stretched his entire body, then cast his mind out to their Loci. "Hip-Loci, I am going to be building something very large here in the central clearing and I don't want anyone getting hurt; if you would please guide the little ones towards the Bungalow where they will find quite a large gift of mangoes, it would be most appreciated. You will know when I am done to let them come back." Sensing acknowledgement and agreement, Rel waited until he could feel the last of the Hiplings head away from the area he needed to work upon. He unrolled his sketchings, then placed them on the ground, so he could better control what happened next; his first conscious Making. Touching his hands to the parchment, he splayed out his fingers, exerting his will through the drawing and down into the depths. There was a low rumbling shake of the earth in front of him which subsided when a branch of orichalcum sprouted from the ground with a glass leaf. "Oh,  come on!  Just because I take my time with things doesn't me-" he was cutoff mid-frustration when the ground exploded outward with the rest of living orichalcum tree erupted towards the heavens, branches unfurling as it went, roots driving down and out as the trunk went further up. The branches of the surrounding trees curved and interlaced with each other, forming a promenade around the trunk and under his likeness carved into the massive orichal-tree, leaving the current Hipling shelters undamaged as they did. In his mind's eye view from above, he saw the roots of it extending towards the edges of the island, the ground raising in a gentle swell along their path, the banyan trees forming a tightly knit living pallisade as they sprung forth from the earth. As the orichal-tree's roots met the banyans, the spiraling split ring took shape within the roots of the banyan and spreading around the boundary of the island, going through the mountains, and coming to two "capped" ends to the East and West. Rel grunted as he felt the sudden surge of the Ley Line rushing into the left conduit, routed along the spiraling root system. The roots of the banyans and orichal-tree siphoned some of the power as it passed, seeming to spread themselves a little wider and stretch a little taller, until it came out the other end still spiraling. Closing his eyes, he pressed his hand against his chest while envisioning his fingers going past his flesh, and withdrew from himself a large silvery orb of his divine essence. Rel shivered, feeling slightly lessened after doing this, but to him the reciprocation of giving back a belief in the mortals as they believed in the Dreamers was the only way forward. "Dream a little dream for me..." Rel whispered. Before any second thoughts or doubts could creep in, he slammed the orb into the right conduit, feeling it elongate into a beam as it traveled along the twisting curves of the roots. As it passed the trees, they siphoned off some of the divine essence, giving off a muted scintillating glow like moonlight on the surface of a river. For a brief moment, it felt like everything stopped. Rel could feel something was off, something was overlooked in the plan.   "There's nothing guiding it on the other end, ya dinkus! Once it comes torrenting out it will flow wherever it damn well pleases!"   his subconcious self gruffly warned.   "I'm taking over; you won't see the bigger picture until you're older..."   With that, he was suddenly in the Void looking down at the First World, seeing the channels of the Ley Lines churning along slowly. To the East of the Pocket, it was all in straight lines. To the West, the Ley Lines were beginning to twist in a widening coil as it flowed out of the Pocket. Moving quickly, he willed the boundaries of the previous Ley Lines into a helical pattern, while simultaneously creating another spiraled channel that was separate but still traveled the same path across and through the First World; a double helix of arcane and divine. Right as his divine essence was about to spill forth, he made one last adjustment to fully connect the Lines to the ends on both sides of the Pocket, and slammed back into his earthly self with enough velocity to knock him into the Orichal-tree. His dreamself left him with one more bit of advice before handing control back,   "Remember the six P's next time; proper planning prevents piss-poor performance!"  

Rubbing the back of his head, Rel stood up in a series of pauses, beaten and worn. One last thing, one last gift given, then he could hopefully rest without dreaming for once. The Sun was nearing the horizon now and the Hiplings would soon be bedding down for the night; he wasn't sure if the Loci had lessened awareness when the little ones were sleeping, but he didn't want to chance it. "Loci, I seek audience for one last time this day. I have an offering, a gift, I wish to bestow should you accept it." he called out to his surroundings. Some of the little ones looked down from above, already leaving little snacks in front of his likeness on the tree, and he smiled up them. Jungle detritus swirled about him and amassed in its previous at the base of the orichal-tree, the fallen tree having been pushed back by the sudden growth.  "This new... Tree... is odd, Rel. We can feel it live, pulling the land into itself, but how is it stone-metal while also wood? There is also a thrumming of power from it, similar to yours and not, rippling through it. We sense it is a good thing, the Hopeful are making shelter within its trunk and branches, so we will tend to it as we would the little ones."  Rel grinned as the Hipling tendency for both curiosity and acceptance was also present in the Loci, which was logical, given what it was. "This tree is part of the offering I am gifting you, friend. There are two more aspects as well, to complete the offering, should you accept it. I am growing in my understanding of the Dreaming, slowly but surely, and there will come a time I cannot be amongst the Hiplings as I am now so I'm planning towards the future. The first aspect is this orichal-tree; it shall be a body for you to inhabit to interact with the little ones and everything it touches. The second aspect is sharing a portion of my power with you; as I find some of my personality in the Hopeful, you are just as much an embodiment of myself as you are them. It is only fitting that you are given the status of my avatar on this realm, while still remaining the Loci of our people. You will be able to perceive the entirety of the island, shape and control the essense of it as you see fit as its guardian, draw from the knowledge of any native sentient that resides within. Though I provided you a physical body and some of my ability, it comes with a limitation; you are tied to the confines of the island, unable to see other shores. The little ones who eventually explore this world will have to return here for you to experience through them; I am sorry for that restriction, but I need you here to watch over those that do not choose an adventurous life. Given that you were already tied to the community here, this hopefully won't feel like too much of a constraint, but it may come to pass that you greet other avatars and feel it more keenly." Rel said softly as he frowned, feeling a sadness that they would be physically bound here, when a pondering look crossed his features. "Maybe we can devise a way, a workaround of sorts, but I may need to grow into myself more before that happens. Perhaps..." he trailed off, chasing the thought only to be unable to catch it.  "That would not be much of an issue, we wouldn't want to leave the Hopeful unprotected, excepting those who choose to explore. We will accept this request and gift, Rel the Unburdened, regardless of the binds."  it rumbled affably, before pausing thoughtfully.  "You mentioned there was a third part to this gift. Would we have to accept that as well, to be your avatar?"  Rel chuckled at the question. "No, not at all. The third aspect of the gift is more for the Hiplings, yourself, and I. It is perhaps the most important part, though! Genius Loci of the Hipling, Loci of the Hopeful, or Avatar of Rel the Unburdened, those titles and names are cumbersome, are they not? They focus on only that particular perception of the self. The last portion of my gift to you is a name, that when said aloud or said in thought, brings to mind all aspects that encompass your unique entirety. Truthfully, this is a gift you are giving to yourself, I'm just gifting the idea!"

The spirit squatted down on its haunches, contemplating what was said, trying to grasp the foreign concept. Kami, even the Loci, were spirits of the land. They had no need for a name. While the Loci were more individualistic than their smaller kin, they could be spoken to or summoned forth by thinking of a Loci; what Rel was offering was an elevation of the self, a gift of acknowledged personhood. It looked at Rel, then its surroundings, scratching its mossy beard as the Unburdened did when thinking. A word entered its thoughts, rolling around in its mouth like it was tasting the meaning; it felt right, encasing all aspects the Loci considered part of its being. For the first time in the existence of the Kami, one has given itself a name of its own choosing.   "We are... No.  I , am Relloc."   With the word spoken aloud, it did indeed feel like the name resonated with its being. "So there it is, your actualized self. A pleasure to meet you, Relloc!" Rel said with a smile. "Now, for the bonding." He stepped towards the orichal-tree, placing his hands on the trunk, and visualized becoming one with it. The flows of the two magics mixing and surging within, endless impossibilities becoming possible, the patter of Hipling feet. He stepped away from the trunk while leaving a piece of his divinity within the tree and gestured towards it. "Your new existence awaits, Relloc." With no further words needed, Relloc's spirit stepped into the tree, the detritus it had gathered to form a loose corporeality dropped to the ground as one would shed clothing. The likeness that was Rel's face became animated, moving deliberately slow as Relloc was still getting used to the feeling of a truly solid body. Relloc soon discovered they were able to move their face all along the tree, down and across the roots, up and along the leafy canopy. There was a booming laughter of joy heard throughout the island, as Relloc exalted in the feeling of the Sun setting on their glassy leaves, of the magical energies mixing with their spirit. They could feel, hear, taste, smell, and see throughout the island, all at once or singular focus, at their choosing. Relloc could engage with the other Kami, the lesser animals, or the Hiplings whether it be conversation, play, or just peaceful watching.   "Thank you, Rel! This... I feel... I do not know the right word."   they now spoke with the softness of a breeze through leaves. "It's alright, Relloc. You will find that sometimes, there isn't a word for everything you are feeling. Happens to even myself on occasion! Just relax and focus on the sensation, absorb it into your being so even if the word never comes to your mind, you'll always have the feeling." Rel said, patting the base of Relloc's trunk. "Right now, after all the effort of today, I need to get back to the Bungalow to rest for a few days. You just keep on exploring your new reality and find your Is-ness, friend. As there's a little bit of me in there now, you should know what I mean." Relloc's face moved up and down once, then closed their eyes as their focus traveled all about the island, bringing new awareness into themselves.

Rel sighed contentedly once he passed through the gate to the Bungalow. He pushed himself harder today than he had in a long, long time, and while it felt good to get his hands busy with creating, he was exhausted. Heading into his home, we went straight to the privy closet to give himself a thorough washing with Sun-warmed water, trying to unwind the knots in his limbs. When finished, he puttered over to the kitchen, gathering some toasted bread, berry preserves, and a nectarine onto a wooden tray to bring over to a low table by his chaise lounge. Plopping down, he lazily munched on things while processing the day. "Today was a good day. Not sure what the future will hold, but thinking about that can wait; it will come no matter what, but that's a problem for tomorrow's Rel." he said to himself as he took a drink from his glass for the first time today. Tonight, it tasted better than it ever had; full of reverie and wonder. Bringing his feet up, setting the drink down, and grabbing another slice of jammed toast, he just let all of tension and meandering thoughts go. Rel drifted off into a quiet slumber to the songs of night birds, half eaten toast dropping onto his robe, and a satisfied smile on his face.


 
 Spoiler: AP Spending 
AP Remaining at Rollover: 6
Rollover: 4
AP Total: 10


Create Mundane Concept (1AP) - Kami Reverence: Respect, veneration, and/or devotion of the Kami. [Community (Family) 3/10]

Create Mythical Sub-Concept (2AP) - Reflexive Dreamwalking (Inner Worlds): Currently locked to the Hiplings; by practicing often and extensively, the Hiplings have learned how to slip into their Inner Worlds within a half-breath when they feel threatened or sense something that would be dangerous for them.  [Dream (Inspiration) 4/10]

Create Mythical Concept (2AP; shared with The Shattered Star) - Divine Magic: Divine Magic is a fraction of of godly essence/power gifted to those who offer reverence to deities, avatars, concepts of nature, and/or true devotion to a philosophical ideology(Law/Chaos/Good/Evil), enabling the gifted to perform actions similar to Gods but on a much smaller scale, while bearing the "signature" of their chosen belief structure(left up to the player/writer what their god's "signature" might look like). Anyone can tap into Divine Magic if their faith is strong enough for their god to notice, but the truly devoted can be granted a Domain themed ability suited to their chosen devotion, while Heroes can be granted two. [Dream (Inspiration) 6/10]

Alter Land (1AP) - Sanctus Aquaeductus: A sister network along the paths of the Ley Lines, these are channels for the flow of Divine Magic; entirely separate so those who do not wish to use the arcane magic can tap into divine power if they so choose. [Creation (Bounty) 3/10]

Alter Land (1AP) - Twisted Pair: The Ley Lines and the Sanctus Aquaeductus spiral along each other, contained within their own boundaries. [Creation (Bounty) 4/10]

Create Avatar (3AP) - Relloc, the Pocket Protector: The Genius Loci of the Hipling has accepted the status of an Avatar of Rel; granted a body of living orichalacum in the form of a tree (a mixture of the properties of the metal and wood with both Arcane and Divine Magic flowing through it) with root systems encompassing the entire island, with a canopy of hardened glass leaves containing gold filament and chlorophyll(trying for natural solar panels). While they cannot leave the island (yet!), Relloc's awareness extends to the boundaries of the island on all axes. Relloc is able to shape/interact with the island as they choose, for improvement or defensive purposes related themself or the Hiplings(minor actions that would not require AP, like tripping vines or making little fruit orchards). As long as a sentient creature is  native  to the Pocket AND within the boundaries of the island, Relloc can access their knowledge and experiences, to better care for the Hiplings. Relloc is loyal to Rel, but is of their own mind. [Craft (Creation) 10/10]

AP Spent: 10
AP Remaining: 0

Progress:
[Creation (Bounty) 4/10]
[Craft (Creation) 10/10 DOMAIN GET!]
[Dream (Inspiration) 6/10]
[Healing (Repairs) 1/10]
[Community (Family) 3/10]
 
Mechalich
 Looking Inward 
As understanding of the microscopic worlds beyond sight spread through the sisterhood, their knowledge of the surrounding world increased by leaps and bounds. Scientific experiments unlocked new theories, new possibilities. These were imperfect, of course, the hands of the divine and the mystic, even the broadly benevolent influence of the Kami, could shift and bend natural processes, change them from their base, but this too could be compensated for in all but the most extreme cases. And when they could not, a new method took their place.

The inner worlds of each sister were free of such extraneous influences. Once seeded with life, they would grow and adjust untouched by outsiders, natural microcosms tweaked only by the oversight of each soul. Observation and comparison of these processes, of the expansion that took place as a result, redoubled all insights. The very secrets of the divine, of the processes manipulated to create life and shift the land, drew near. They could, would, become the Kami of their own realms, and began to feel the first glimmers of others, nearby, twitching against the web that surrounded them all.

Slowly, in fits and starts but always shared and sustained, the Onna increased the size and complexity of their worlds as their knowledge grew and they sourced more and more of their attention to this problem. Patterns mirrored each other along critical pathways, something that only spurred further educational effort.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Create Mystic Sub-Concept (2AP): Spirits Within  – Regular utilization and observation of the Inner World allows that world to grow and develop, increasing both in size and the complexity of organisms and concepts it can host. These changes must be made slowly, as too much change too quickly can cause disaster and, in extreme cases, sunder the inner world.  [Protection (Cleansing) 9/10] *

 Create Mystic Sub-Concept (2AP): As Without, So Within  – increased understanding of the processes controlling the First World (or, in theory, any other plane) produces increased understanding of the manipulation and creation of processes in inner worlds. Growing knowledge of one increases knowledge of the other.  [Life (Evolution) 2/10] *

 Create Advanced Sub-Concept (1AP): Geology  – Onna science has broadened from the processes of life to include physical processes as well, as the contribution of this baseline to their inner worlds spurred recognition.  [Protection (Cleansing) 10/10] 

*- these mystic concepts apply to everyone with an Inner World, being functionally innate.

Domain Acquired: Protection (Cleansing)
Domains Possessed: Animal (Spiders), Animal (Transformation), Community (Sisterhood), Plant (Vines), Protection (Cleansing), Protection (Shelter), Water (Rivers). With 7 Domains Ecie ascends to Intermediate God.

Starting AP: 0 Rollover Gain: 5 Spent: 5 Remaining: 0
 
Zelphas
 The Form of Clouds 

For anyone watching the inside of the Triangular Chain, it would quickly become apparent that something much more than just simple weather patterns was going on. Fanciful shapes, structures like alien buildings or even forms that looked like fish, or like mountains, emerge and fade, more detailed than clouds usually form and lasting longer. These shapes were usually preceded by a riot of different colors converging on the spot; they would hold their shape for a time, then warp and shift, merging back into the greater cloud cover before emerging again in a new form.

The winds from these changes slowly began to leak out over the Chain and beyond; they are broken up by the eternal storm on the Chain, but their effect spreads farther outwards. After all, when you play with the weather, where does the effect end?

 Feather Four 

The fourth feather to fall from the Cloak encountered a storm as it drifted downwards; waterlogged, it fell into the ocean with a heavy splash, sinking deep.

On the shores of the Triangular Chain, a new nuisance and meal was found at the same time; large, oddly-feathered creatures, very round, which would occasionally rocket up on shore to steal drying fish or cause other nuisances before sinking beneath the waves once again. their flesh was blubbery, but otherwise not unpleasant, though it was work to find and kill them.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 0 AP + 5 AP = 5 AP 
 Create Mythical Concept (4 AP) - Weatherdancing:  By following set steps and actions, a mortal can influence the weather in specific ways--mostly by altering the movement of the wind, but other steps can call moisture from the air or drop the temperature. The more mortals that follow the steps in tandem, the greater the effect. At the moment, all of the "dances" are designed for Nimbus bodies, but they could be adapted to other mortal forms through study and effort.  [Weather (Clouds) 9/10] 
 Bless/Curse (1 AP) - Unstable Air:  In their eagerness to begin using the new Weatherdancing, the Nimbi have somewhat unbalanced the weather. Places with long-standing weather effects (such as the eternal storm on the Chain) are generally still stable, but other places around the world can see sudden weather shifts as the air reacts to the somewhat chaotic changes placed down by the Nimbi. This effect is stronger the closer one gets to the Triangular Chain, meaning that the oceans near the Chain itself are rife with barometric anomalies.  [Weather (Clouds) 10/10; Domain Get!] 
 Create Monstrous Life (0 AP, from CoMF) - Penguin Seals:  Large (10-12 feet long), watermelon-shaped animals with the face and beak of a Potoo bird and small feathers in grey and black, Penguin Seals spend most of their lives on the surface of the deep ocean, diving for fish and stayign underwater for nearly an hour with their incredible lung strength. They possess an incredibly mischievous energy when they encounter mortal settlements, and are able to move on land using their back legs and wings as front legs for short periods of time; during this time, they gneerally make messes, eat anything edible, and chase domestic animals smaller than them, though there are very few stories of outright hostile or violent Penguin Seals.

 5 AP - 5 AP = 0 AP Remaining 
 
MutantDragon
  On Suffering and Corruption  

Harkit was annoyed. Earlier that day, he slaughtered nearly three dozen rebels. Of them, a dozen were once loyal warriors of the sun. He tasted on their flesh the poisonous sting of compassion, and, though too weak to affect him, its sickly sweet flavor annoyed him. The very existence of such a vile blasphemy annoyed him. And in the recesses of his mind, his crown vented its madness. One whispered scream caught his attention however. It spoke of pain. Of fear. Of torment. Of power. Harkit listened, and Harkit smiled. So he summoned forth a prisoner who was set for consumption and took the man into the city's central temple. Within the temple, Harkit prepared a ritual, with the prisoner bound in the middle of the bloody pentagrams. And when at last the preparations were complete, Harkit's smile widened to a grin as he unleashed the torments the crown supplied to his mind. The taint of kindness slowed its march across the city, and Harkit was pleased.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 

Rollover x2! 2AP + 10AP = 12AP

 Create Mundane Concept (Torture) MUA:  Inspired by The Crown of the Twisted Kami, Harkit has learned the fine art of inflicting the maximum possible pain to a subject, a skill he has shared with others in the Empire.

 Curse (Purge Through Pain - Counters Consuming an Empathic Soul) 3AP:  A ritual exists that can drain part of a victim's soul and transmit an echo of said victim's pain to all other souls within a certain radius. While a normal living mortal would be unaware of this occurrence, this twists affected souls and closes them off to Salet's blessing of Consuming an Empathic Soul, though it is unable to undo the effects of its influence that are already present. The effectiveness and reach of this ritual varies depending on the number of victims and pain inflicted; a large city requires scores of victims to be tortured each day. [Trickery (Corruption) 3/10]

12AP - 3AP = 9AP
1MUA - 1MUA = 0MUA
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naury  , watching flowers bloom that should not exist. 
One of the more common 'most important experiences' souls tend to show is the care of a flower garden. The Echo-Servants do not know why that is the case, but it had started to rub off on them, as some of them tried to carry together Echos of Flowers to form some of their own... However, this attempts get quickly ended by the painful reminder of what the plane of echos actually is. So the echos fade, and reappear where the flowers where in the first world.

That is usually the case, at least. However, Naury has during one of their many wanderings of the plane stumbled across a anomaly. A group of the Servants has apparently managed to raise a flower. Atop a stone roof even. A quick look revealed the plant to look pretty much as average as one could think of a flower. Some leaves, a small cluster of blossoms at the top, a bit of a orange tone, but that probably was more so coincidence then a rule. Most flowers seem to come in many colours afterall.

The Echo-Servants proudly told Naury that they managed it thanks to one of the books that the high-titled Echo-Walkers got from the library. However, they where also not quite sure how it worked... It was honestly of little matter to them why the flower was able to bloom, it only was important that it did. It, and soon its kind, was little bit of impact on the world they live in. Yet they could not even agree what it was called. It was the only kind of flower around that grew and lived seperate of the first worlds infulence, so the differing names where of basically no problem. It was the Flower. Whatever Title the Flower had besides that was of as little matter as what the titles of the Echo-Walkers actually meant.

Of course, it turned out the flowers were not 'just' pretty. When trying to show one around, they quickly learned that it shared some experiences with whoever picks it, just to then fade away again. Moving flowers once they came to be was hard, and leaving them unattended for some time just as much left them to wilt away and fade once they died. but with a bit of case, one could get more to sprout, or sprout them elsewhere on the plane of echos. Their own little change to the world around them.
 
 Spoiler: Naury AP Spending 
 2 AP LEFT 
 0 AP - Blessing/Curse  [MUA Charge]
  False Echo Flower/True Soul Flower/Servants Flower/Memory Flower/Just The Flower 
Echo-Servants and Writings collected from Akashic are normally the only things in the Plane of Echos not a reflection of the first world in some way or another. Every plant there is in fact just a plant growing in that place in the first world, and as such refuses itself to be interacted with in any way that has permanence.
This specific kind of Flower however is a anomaly. Looking like an amalgam of different common flowers, it seems to be able to grow anywhere and on anything in the Plane of Echos as long as a Echo-Servant takes care of it. Picking one leaves you with a small feeling of Deja-Vu, as you relive a short memory of someone who died and their soul had already fully faded away. What the memory is and from whom it came seems random, trough it rarely seems to be of any importance. It is usually a somewhat pleasant memory, like the taste of a well made meal, the smell of the ocean air, or a hug from a parent after being scared of a storm as a child. Once Picked whatever sustained the flower fails to continue doing so, as it fades away like a displaced echo or a forgotten soul.  ________ 
 2 AP Left 

Progress:
N/A
 
AlexanderML
   Eresaly, a Shadow Beyond Sight   

A land beyond that which it had seen before, the skeleton once bat hung upon Her shoulder as She traveled across the land. So close as to see the lands beyond yet so far away as to be unable to touch them; the only ones to see her being the souls of those already dead, who gasped at her fleeting presence… then forgot why.

Dead for quite some time now the bat could not understand why She was here, it barely registered that she was moving and observing others. Sometimes souls or the servants of this place that it could register, yet at other times She would reach out a shadow to try and touch something it could no see; only to have the world give a small hum of rejection.

Bitterly did She walk for some time after those moments, but She continued to try again and again. She would cry, beat at the unseeable, then walk some more. Eventually though this had to end, and the shadow that She was retreated back to the the colorful glade that had the humans deemed friendly to the skeleton bat.


 

   Of Bloom in Decay   

Glikmora's Wail still wandered into its previous home occasionally, watching the strange changes taking place.  It was just a shortcut to lonelier places.  A particular favorite was a lonely mountain somewhere in the Chain.  Glikmora's Wail remembered the deals made here.  Rare ones, but fascinating what the mortals would give up.  Sometimes it cast its senses toward where one day Glikmora and the Fleet would appear, but that usually made it remember its responsibilities to the Lolats back on Adanat and caused it to retreat back to it.

Chymes for his part was exploring the mountain after hearing an interesting mix of rumors from the nearby villagers. Desperate fools, heart broken lovers who lost those they loved, and other such sad folk finding their way up the mountain's top where they either found what they sought or were simply... later found at the bottom of a cliff.

In particular the bottom of the cliff side was what attracted the skeleton there, for he heard the place held a number of ice flowers. If even one or two were real then he wanted to pick them. The false ones held some value, but Chymes wouldn't feel right taking those too.

He felt cold still, even as a skeleton, the bitter winds reaching into the flower vines that was his marrow. Luckily a crimson petal and a thick travelers coat was enough for him to wander up the mountain. It was a clear sunny day where the cold snow appeared as jewels as the wind's light howl echoed certain doom for those who make a fatal slip.

Taking two days Chymes found the spot that he was looking for near the peak of the mountain. The few scattered bones from what could not be brought back down were grim reminders of this. Chymes said a prayer before looking around to see if there were any ice flowers there. His keen eyes familiar with the true ice flowers did find many false ones among the sad site, but no true ones. With a sigh the skeleton decided to return back down the mountain.

Then he looked up.

He saw under the light a glittering flower at the very top of the peak swaying in the evening light; one that he had the strong suspicion was a real ice flower. It wouldn't take him more than half an hour to try, so he decided to he began to finish the last parts of this trail. His bones were starting to get real cold as he was rationing his crimson petals at this point.

"Now what do we have here?" he said as he approached the flower at the top, taking a moment to look at the horizon before leaning over to examine the flower.

Glikmora's Wail watched the figure approach, curious.  It had seen the results of necromancy before, often accompanying a desperate fool to the peaks, carrying their loads.  Scented of rot and slowly breaking down the humans often abandoned them.  But this one had no master, had no guide and seemed to have no rot either.  And the skeletons entire being emanated want.

Glikmora's Wail followed, much as it had before in Desire Heart.  Something with this desire always struck bargains.  Even if it was no longer what it had been, the memories and power lived on.  It was just more now.

A flower.  This creature wanted for a flower?  What use is a flower?

"Boned One.  What is it you desire?"

Chymes froze as he looked around still in his leaning forward position. "U-uh heLLOO-" Chymes catches himself as he notices who he was talking to. The shifting shape resembled a temptation... but he had an idea that it was something more. Perhaps a tuatha... no, this place was known for a very long time; he's not in a delusion landscape.

The skeleton then realized he was still frozen in a leaning forward position. Giving a fake cough he straightens himself up. "Greetings, um, fellow traveler? I'm just here looking for rare material for my various projects..." he looks down at the flower his tone getting a little softer and distant "Though finding a gift a woman like *her* would want is also on my mind."

Then with a clap Chymes forces himself to be cheerful again. "I'm Chymes, student of the mysteries of the world. I suppose you could call me a witch if that means anything to you, of both the Old and Meadow Blooms." he shrugs "Yet right now I'm just bloody cold, though I think I found something worth my effort!"

"Why a flower?  She cares little for flowers beyond how they feed and draw from the land?"  It leaned down to examine the flower, carefully not touching it.  "Though this one is unfamiliar."

It moved around Chymes, the heat of Telas's Promise and scent of the swamps wafting off it as it moved.  "You aren't one of the dead ones.  What are you?"  It's voice was genuinely curious, more interested in learning about this new person than simply tempting them.

"Oh well, there's a lot of meaning in flowers. Which ones they are, the places they grow, and the condition they are in all can tell a tale. This one right here..." Chymes kneels down and fondly touches the flower "is a rare expression of Her,  Lilia's , love. It can be used for powerful alchemy, but I like many others prefer to use it to express our everlasting love." there is some sorrow in his voice, but he allows his inner palace to begin feeding off the curiosity in the air and uses it to keep him on track

"As to what I am... well that's an interesting question right there! I like to think I am still the same me from when I was a boy, but I no longer have my pale skin or black hair now do I? I am what is termed a 'beloved', one who returns to this world by the love of the goddess and those she loves." he reaches over, not touching but still examining Gilkmora's Wail "And who might you be my dear ephemeral conversationalist? You appear to be a temptation or tuatha, but don't quite match either of them!"
"I am one who tempted a Goddess out of grief.  Reborn from Hope and Ash.  I carry promises in my being and her spores sing life into me.  I fulfill her will when she can not.  I mourn the past and dream of futures." The winds whipping around the creature grew as it increased in size, careful to not damage the flower or Chymes as it did so.  As it did so a sound emanated from deep within, one of mourning and loss wordless in its agony. The whirlwind slowed and shrank returning to a shadowy humanoid form much closer to Chymes size.  The sound from before faded, but brief moments of it can be hear when the wind blows toward Chymes. "You may call me Glikmora's Wail."

"I do not know who Lilia is.  Another lost sibling perhaps?  She has lost so many, all retreating from this land.  Our concern is for her children, to prepare them for her absence."  Glikmora's Wail sighed, a strangely human action from the creature, and looked westward over the ocean.  "She travels this way with some, I had hoped to see her before she followed the call as well.  Yet I dare not spend to long away from Adanat, the world is a harsh place and her children so small."

"Adanat you say? How intriguing, I don't know that place." Chymes tastes the unfamiliar word, trying to not let the concern seep into his inner palace, keeping what did held within for now .

"Well if you are so concerned why don't we head on over? I have some know-how on various things and find it hard to just leave numerous little ones unattended." he said trying to look dignified, yet he kept shivering in the cold; his bones and flowers brushing up against each other in a way that gave a strange mixed sound.  "And having an excuse to quickly leave here would be appreciated. Do you have a means of getting us there quickly or should I provide us entrance to Lilia's Desire?"

"I do not know this  Lilia's Desire  but I can take you through Desire Heart to Telas' Promise.  But stay close, much has changed in my fathers lands.  I simply need you to walk with me."  Glikmora's Wail wasn't feeling concern, but it's deeds were tied in a truthful promise.   But this strange and somehow cold skeleton was interesting.  And with the great project completed, interesting sounded like the perfect gift for the Lolats.

With that Glikmora's Wail started moving forward stepping into the plane that was Desire Heart but also changed.

"I believe we maybe talking about th- wait don't go without me! It'll take hours for me to cross on my own!" Chymes says reaching a hand out to grasp Glikmora's Wail as they crossed planes.

A low chuckle filled the changing space.  "We were there once you desired it.  I simply empowered that desire."  Glikmora's Wail started moving through the plane, avoiding other creatures and strange growths there.  "I do not understand why fathers lands changed.  The smell and taste is wrong now."

"Ah well, I suppose I might know the answer to that mystery." Chymes says, trying to brush himself off and regain some dignity as he observed the flower glade the two were in, a comfortable looking pond with fairy looking creatures nearby which was certainly a tuatha not that far away "My lady Lilia has found her way here, I do not know the circumstances behind this; however... I am fairly certain that the power that constructed this place had left before then." he gives a sigh

"Yet for now I suppose we should just leave and head on over to the land you mentioned. I'm curious as to what it'll be like; should I be worried about anything in particular there?"

"Many aurochs are now tamed and the Flame Tigers fizzle in the damp.  Avoid strange creatures covered in mud, they watch but then dissolve into the ground when approached.  Avoid the moving rocks in deep caves."

Glikmora's Wail waited for the skeleton to start moving with it before continuing on, staying to the darkest sections.  "She did mourn father, I was there.  But this place no longer tastes of need, no longer feels like that of unbalanced despair.  It hums with want, it demands.  It is a place of transit only, no longer home."

"Interesting observation, yet its certainly the home of plenty others now; and I would add that it is a beautiful place. Especially near the heart of it all... well no matter! As interesting as the idea of learning more of what this place was before She came here, I do believe we shouldn't dawdle here. That tuatha's beginning to eye us somewhat, and while I'm sure you could deal with them effortlessly I'd rather avoid anyone being harmed here." Chymes notes with some urgency in his voice.

"We are almost there." And indeed they were, a dry wasteland stretching out before them, faint images of temptations staying at the periphery of their vision.   About 2 miles before them lay the first hints of the swampland.

"I warn you now, do not enter any tree.  You may be a skeleton, but they will return all to the earth."

The air here was warm but the wind blowing from the wetlands bordering the desolated land smelt of earth and wet.  But not cold.

"You don't say...." Chymes says eyeing the swamps with trepidation "Well I did ask for this, lets go see some of the litte ones... eh, do they have a proper name for themselves?" he began to take off his jacket, hoping that things would go well.

Glikmora's Wail escorted the skeleton through Adanat, introducing him to the nomadic Lolats.  They feared the visitor not, as they had been introduced in trust.  The shape and bones drew curiousity from the Lolats as they wondered at this creature that the earth neither preserved nor ate.

The variety of wetlands was beyond imagination.  From areas where reeds filtered salt from the ocean (Glikmora's Wail refused to allow Chymes to venture to close to the ocean.  It was far to dangerous.)  To near forests that showed signs of annual floods.  To the vast plains, wet expanses where the aurochs hooves cut through a weave of vegetation as they picked their way through well trodden paths.

And everywhere they ventured small groups of Lolat's greated them.  How many traveled in a group varied, sometimes only 5 or 6, an auroch pulling a simple sledge and nothing else.  Sometimes in groups of 100s, everyone working at some job to repair or build up the caravan.

It was during these meetings one of the minor airships, barely more than a transport sledges converted to house a canopy and a Tanal Dan.  A small fleet of these were towed by auroch, the Lolats climbing up and down woven ladders.  The constructions were not perfect, having to be widely spaced to avoid collision, but the concept, even in miniature was sure to astound.

The tour was almost done, only two places left for a visit.  In the first Glikmora's Wail reminded Chymes of the warning of the trees.   They followed a small group of Lolat's their sledge carrying the remains of 3 dead.  2 of age, one from the rock creatures in a research forage.  Inside the forest the bodies were laid inside hollow trees, unadorned in any way.  Then the trees closed, sealing all access from the outside.  Chymes was informed they would stay like this until the nutrients in the bodies were returned to the trees and earth.

Having witnessed death, Chymes was now introduced to birth.  The Vernal Pools were an experience completely unlike the Dead Forest.  Groups of Lolats congregated in forest and clearings around the Pools.   There stories were exchanged, the Lolats found new groups to journey with and expertise was traded.  The small airships were lashed to trees while the ground sledges sat among them.  Once a group had its fill, they would disengage from the mass and continue their journey through Adanat.  But soon another group would arrive and new exchanges would start.

It was not long before the first generation of the season emerged from the pools, mostly Ota Lolats and regular Lolats, with a few Dona Lolats presumably from a previous season.

"So.  Have we taught you anything?"

Chymes was a skeleton who was easily moved by the sort of sights he saw. He greeted every fellow traveler with a smile in his voice, wanting to hear their stories by a campfire at night. He stared dumbstruck at the first airship he saw floating in the sky, asking away questions as he hurriedly wrote in his journal. The skeleton shivered and gave a prayer at the sight of what happens to the dead, hoping their souls have peace; and he was emotional at the sight of new life, his voice cracking a little as he gave a greeting to the little ones who could not understand him.

When asked if he was taught anything he could only chuckle. "Of course I have learned much in our travels, yet I would still consider myself a student. There is much I wish to learn about this land that will take detailed study. I hope to make a home for those like me as I have twice before, to help me in my endeavor as I help them start theirs." he shakes his head "Ah, where are my manners? Before that I should show you this my dear ephemeral friend." and pulls out a strange yellow flower from his robes, one that appeared comically too large to be contained within. Its petals were strangely arranged, and the thing began to rotate.

"Ever since I saw an airship I have been struck at the ingenuity of the lolat people. I searched for something that may add to them, and came across this flower who's wind grows strong under light." as he was speaking, the flower under the light of the sun was beginning to spin faster and faster, Chymes's flowers were fluttering in the wind as if he was in a storm at this point. He put a cloth over it and held on tight, letting the wind die down before it became too strong for him to hold onto. "Yet I regret I have nothing I can give you personally." Chymes says somewhat downcasted at the thought.

"Share what you can, learn what you do not know.  More than just new life comes from these Pools."  Taking pity on the skeleton, Glikmoras Wail pointed to the hard working Lolats, busy talking and working.  "They gather here to share, but nothing is new.  The stories will grow old and excitement fade.  Yet you, you are new.  Share your stories, your knowledge."

“Of course, now then where to start…”

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 7/20

(Artifact Charge) - Bless - Zephyr Blooms: These yellow flower grow in a turbine blade shape, able to spin at supernaturally fast rates depending on how much light is given to them. If it were not for their roots and iron-like stems then Zeraph Blooms would uproot themselves under a clear sunny day. After a few years the stems produce soft buds reminiscent of dandelion seeds that are blown away by the flowers.

(Artifact Charge) - Alter Land - Zephyr’s Call: Made with a massive tree supernaturally buoyant at its center, Zephyr’s Call is an island floating in the sky. Around the same size as a sky whale it stands still in the air with numerous zephyr blooms keeping it balanced against even the harshest storms.

(Artifact Charge) - Create Mundane Concept - High Stakes Games: A form of gambling begins to develop on Zephyr’s Call and in much of Adanat where lolats use games of chance to make important decisions. Oftentimes there are aspects of skill involved, but ultimately chance is given responsibility in these cases.

(Artifact Charge) - Witches of the Zephyr Bloom: This lolat based organization is founded in large part by the curiosity Chymes has with airships and his continued preparation for mortals against tuatha trickery. While unable to study cultivary in this land, the witches of the zephyr bloom nevertheless are interested in the cultivation of the unique flora of Adanat; in addition they are properly trained on how to make pacts with tuatha without being tricked.

This latter part of their training has developed beyond what Chymes instructed, with the witches of the zephyr bloom regularly using games of chance in their pact making as a means to keep things fair.

Like other witches the witches of the zephyr bloom are defensive in their dealings and respectful towards the kami of the land, though zephyr witches have a strange respect for temptations as well. Regularly using them as devil figures to be respected and kept at bay.
 


 

   The War Host   

Amid the War Host there began to be a frightening development. As necromantic practices advanced and the users of the practice of death became more familiar with the aspects of conflict and war that were starting to emerge; a new kind of undead began to replace many of the old skeletons.

Born at first by a human bathed in the Delusion Cauldron, the results were able to be studied and replicated by mortal necromantic magics. By simply thrusting a live sapient creature into a pit of molten lava while necromantic power was channeled into them, a new advance warrior type of construct would emerge.

Knowing only war they were unsuited to any other task besides killing or guarding, but these Steel Skulls were an accomplishment that made many necromancers living in Bhal’nabool proud.

 
 Spoiler: AP Action 
 (Artifact Charge) - Create Monster - Steel Skulls: These abominations are entirely covered in hard steel, their heads appearing to be bone yet nevertheless supernaturally hardened by the forging process that created them. Each one created needs a live sapient creature being thrust into and being killed by molten iron as a necromancer works their magic.

Besides their greatly increased defensive capabilities compared to a standard skeleton Steel Skulls are more proficient fighters, programmed to be able to fight even without a necromancer giving them commands. They are however unable to do anything else but fight.

Due to the resource cost to produce them they cannot replace skeletons in the War Host entirely, but they act as elite infantry under their necromancer masters.

 
 Spoiler: What one looks like. 
 
 

 
MutantDragon
  From Life, Death.  

It was an ordinary village far to the South of Yalasere. The residents heard stories and took in the occasional refugees, but they had never encountered Cultists of the Burning Sun, never witnessed steel swinging madmen swoop down atop the backs of firedrakes, and never felt the sting of true horror. They faced danger and felt loss, yes, but they had never truly experienced the worst of the world. And so, as the villagers went about another morning in their safe and quiet haven carved by the labor of their forbearers, they were unprepared for the chaos to follow.

It started with an explosion of fire in the village hall. All within were incinerated as flaming splinters of the building were blasted across town, stabbing and burning any unfortunates caught in their paths. As panic set in, some brave and steady individuals tried to organize an effort to control the fires now spreading across the small settlement. They were swiftly and suddenly cut down by a sweeping wave of jagged glass that moved and twisted according to some violent will. At last, when the bloody remains of those still outside were no longer recognizable, a figure materialized within the village. It slipped into reality with a palpable wrongness about its being and an aura of pure hate, appearing as a humanoid mass of molten metal. As it appeared, the glass shifted into an orbit of the being, lazily twisting about it as a red haze followed along behind the sharpened satellites. Those left cowering within what shelter they could find were filled with a sense of terror and dread they could not quite fathom. As the metal monster slipped towards the burning center of the village, its voice slithered into their minds. It spoke only one word.   "Feast."  

The villagers' minds were overwhelmed by the wright of the command and, with an intimate awareness of what they were doing, they turned on those huddled beside them and began to rip, tear, and eat. Friends ate friends. Brothers ate sisters. Husbands ate wives. Mothers ate sons. In a brutal contest of strength, those unlucky survivors shed their humanity to become something more vile. And when at last their senses returned, when only a handful of blood-drenched cannibals remained where mere minutes before there was a prosperous village, their minds were branded with a name.  Zargog.  And though their lord had vanished much as he appeared, they knew of his power and they knew the ultimate truth of their natures. And they would serve the Molten One until the cycle of death came for them as well.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 

Rollover! 9AP + 5AP = 14AP

 Create Organization (Zealots of Zargog) 1AP:  The Zealots of Zargog, initially warped survivors of a brutal attack by the demigod they now serve, are, in many ways, similar to the Cult of the Burning Sun. The primary differences are the objects of worship and extents of their respective power. While the sun cultists have assembled an empire, the zealots are a new organization, currently just simple raiders on the South of the continent with no imminent signs of becoming something more. [Trickery (Corruption) 4/10]

14AP - 1AP = 13AP
MUA 1
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naury  , a case against themself 
The Divine is not flawless. never was. Naury did not pretend it was either.
But recently, they have come to look for their flaws. Find their mistakes. Think about them.
 Focus on them. 
 'Am I a good person?' 
From the very beginning, they did things wrong. Souls which prolong life in a way that makes the final death seem preferable. Souls are People. There is no denying that anymore for Naury. The lakes of their lands where killing anything that came into contact with them instead of being sources of life as such waters are supposed to be... Nearly everything, for the Alkaline Water was not content to stay put and instead crawled out of its beds to hunt for prey itself.
Giving the humans the first step to the healing of their wounds soon after lead to spreading the Slimes they created. And as soon as they turned their back on that continent to perform some damage control back on the mountain chain, a cult had sprung up to which Naury just stood idly by.
The Gelatons, as good as they are, just are more proof for the carelessness Naury acts with. And as soon as human refugees arrived, they essencially gave them in each others care to instead just  watch  as things unfold.

 'Just watching as things unfold...' 
That is something they did a lot. So much that they created something to watch for them once they found it to much to just watch themself. Or rather, when they found it to painful to watch themself, as the doubt started nagging on them. Helping Lilia was something they came to regret. Not because it was the wrong thing to do, but because it opened their eyes to all the wrong they already had done. Instead of solving any of that, however, they just retreated away from their problems. They created the Envoy to put part of their mind on the first world, with people, mortal strangers. To take their mind of in the most literal way. Even now, that part of the mind is out there, mingling, thinking about other things and listening to stories of the mortals as they share in their customs.

 'Mind Off...' 
Visiting the great library was... a severe error. A sign of the future maybe, a show what obsession can do to even what is so far above the mortal. Maybe it only could because the divine is so far above everything. With the laws bending to them and 'needs' not truly being something they have, it is only oneself that keeps one together.

 '...' 

 

The end of Naury was not surprising to the few beings that where somewhat close to the god. But it was sudden. Only few where truly able to notice it happen however.
Firstly, the Echo-Servants. Maybe it was a instinctual thing, maybe they sensed the change of energies on the Plane of Echos. They knew Naury, as they knew them, was gone.
Secondly, the Souls themself. They never 'knew' Naury, and the name did mean nothing to most of them as the Echo-Servants explained them where and what they where. But the fact that they could learn what they where was enough. They where People.
Third, the Flower Maidens. There are only few in existence, but the slight changes of the Plane of Echos was clear to them in the instance it happened. A part of what made them is gone. The energies are still in them, of course, but they knew a part of their history was forever lost.
And finally: Someone who had been not forgotten, as much as they had been left behind. Possibly intentional. Possibly a last time Naury has botched things up.

 

 Nau̶͙̓r̶̺̉y̶̙̐  ,̴ ̸s̴p̸e̷n̷d̵i̸n̷g̵ ̵t̴i̸m̵e̴ ̸w̵i̶t̸h̵ ̶a̴ ̷f̸r̶i̶e̷n̸d̵ 
A small, basement tavern had a regular. Always ordered two drinks to share with another guest, and always payed in rare and unusual coin. The mind of this patron was momentarily clouded, maybe the alcohol had for the first time catched up to the nameless regular with the hidden face? Yet no, that was not it. Something was missing. Someone was missing. The majority of a someone, yet not all of them.

And with someone missing, someone else was left behind. Now more a 'one' then ever before.  "Dinas, can you tell the 'tend to put it on my tab? I gotta check on somethin'. Say its for Na-... Naseki? Really?"  And the regular, not nameless, left the building into the night to find... Themself. Or what is left of themself.
 
 Spoiler: Naury Funeral Rites 
 2 AP LEFT 
 6 AP ROUNDSTART 
 30 AP Domain Sacrifice 
 Death (Souls), Creation (Alchemy), Life (Vitality), Society (Stories), Society (Discovery), Law (Promises) 
 2 AP - Create Race  [Funeral Rites]
  Soul (Souls) 
In a last act, Naury removed themself as they gave the souls of the dead what they always should have had: Awareness.  Life. 
Any being with a Soul, so any being born on the First World, gets granted a Soul just as before. However, on death the soul that gets moved to the Plane of Echos stays sentient and sapient. The Soul takes the form of their own self-perception, if slightly translucent (Which means they are usually not exactly looking like they did when alive) and generally struggle with interacting with physical objects if not putting their full attention on it. (Not like that is exactly noticeable while on the Plane of Echos.) Retaining memories and most skills of their old life, they are argurably the same person as before. However, if a soul gets  partially  drained somehow in life, it reflects in death as partial or total memory and skill loss. Souls that are Coined stay inert.
However, just as much as the original creation, this act is a botched work. Most of the original flaws of the souls persist in their new form, in a way: Souls still suffer from incredible short 'lifespans', fading away after roughly a month, their mind fizzling out shortly after they lose the ability to interact with things in their final hours. However, individuals that are remembered for their actions, ideals or personality by the living of the first world stretch the usual month for as long as they are properly remembered.
Addendum: Souls can not access Inner Worlds on their own, or create one of their own. Any Inner World they had when alive suffers its normal fate as it does when the owner dies. 
 4 AP - Retaining  [Funeral Rites]
  True Alchemy 
The process of some Divine Alchemy was one of the first things the original incarnation did, and so does Naseki keep the True Alchemy they Envoy came to give the People of the Chain close to themself as a integral part of who they are. A creator, and a result, of combining stuff to create more then the sum of their parts.  1 AP - Retaining  [Funeral Rites]
  Slimes 
And one earliest mistakes, the first thing they made they stood unaware of for a time, now embraced.  2 AP - Retaining  [Funeral Rites]
  Gelaton (Gelatons) 
There is a lot more they have in common with them now then when they where 'just' their first person to meet.  2 AP - Retaining  [Funeral Rites]
  The People of the Chain 
In truth, they had founded themself. But as Naury tried to keep in touch with them, so does Naseki. One could say  3 AP - Retaining  [Funeral Rites]
  The City of the Shade, Dinas Penumbra 
In a way, Naseki was already a friend of that Loci. A drinking buddy, even. Not like alcohol can truly affect a divine entity, but the company is what counts.  1 AP - Retaining  [Funeral Rites]
  Echo-Servant (Echo-Servants) 
The first intentionally intelligent creation of Naury. Naseki is part Echo-Servant still, and they stay loyal to their creator deity.  2 AP - Retaining  [Funeral Rites]
  The Echo-Walkers 
And like everything walking the plane of Echos, they are considered part of the Echo-Walkers by the Servants. The Walkers always saw the Souls as People, and that has been validated now.  3 AP - Retaining  [Funeral Rites]
  The Walkers Collection 
Magic books stay magic books. Maybe more important to the walkers then ever before being how much less power Naseki has, and will ever have, then Naury.  2 AP - Retaining  [Funeral Rites]
  A Change of Managment 
Old systems emplaced by the original owner, and the rewriting of Naury towards the own name, mean that Tirals Treasury still recognises Naseki as its master.  ________ 
 16 AP Left 
 2 MUA Charges Left 

Progress:

   Naseki   
 Player Name:  DasIrrlicht

 Domains (Portfolios):  Ooze (Gelatons)
 Alignment:  Chaotic Good

 Symbol:  A alchemical flask, with an active reaction. Usually involving Coal and Ooze of some form.

 Appearance:  Like the Envoy before, Shapeshifting is in Naseki's nature. There is still a preference for a small statue and coverings appropriate to a Alchemist or Witch, depending on where they are. Their body however stays fluid on the inside, revealing a rainbow of colours if stabbed, sliced or in any other way broken up. Unlike Naury, Naseki does keep some facial features visible, usually a eye or the mouth.

 Personality:  As a combination of a fragment of Naury now left on its own &amp; a Echo-Servant that had the misfortune of serving as the Envoy when the Deity broke themself, what once was a Avatar is now its own, permanent being. Naseki is more proactive and more direct in their involvement to whatever they put a interest in, while generally having a desire to better the world. However, possibly because of the nature of their creation they tend to be somewhat impulsive, and still lack the foresight their progenitor had.
 
MutantDragon
  Exit Light  

Timmy was afraid of the dark. The dark was where the monsters lived. He didn't like monsters. He didn't like monsters that soared across the skies spewing fire on little boys. He didn't like monsters who looked like men and chopped each other to bits for food. He didn't like monsters that sprang up from magic to turn people into other monsters. He didn't like monsters that made fishermen drown. He didn't like giant cats that burned everything in sight. He didn't like massive blobs of jelly that would eat people. Timothy didn't like monsters, and the dark was where they lived. So, as is natural, his pulse quickened with the onset of night. But however dark it got, he knew that his mama and papa would protect him. Of course they would; they were his parents, you see. They always knew what to do. So, one evening, as he came home from play, running as the sun started to get low in the sky, he expected he would return to a warm supper and a story. They were his parents, you see. They always knew what to do. So, when he walked into the little home his father built just before he was born, he was expecting a warm supper and a story. He didn't expect it to be oh so dreadfully dark.

"M-mama? Papa!"

 "We're here, Timmy. Come join us." 

That wasn't his mother's voice.

"M-m-mama...?"

 "Come on Timmy. Don't be scared." 

But Timmy was scared. It was dark. That was where the monsters lived.

"I-i-it's t-too dark! I can't see!"

 "I know." 

The voice was closer. It was wrong. That wasn't his mama. Timmy bolted for the door. He just had to get outside. The sun was still up outside. He could go to one of the neighbors' houses. He could get help. He could have them find mama and papa. They'd know what to do. They always knew what to do. But there was no door. There was no escape.

 "Don't be scared, Timmy. Come eat with us. You don't want the meat I prepared to get  cold , do you?" 

"I want my mama! I want my mama!"

 "Come, Timmy. Come with me. She's waiting for you at the table. You don't want to leave her waiting, do you?" 

Timmy whimpered and cowered, but it was to no avail. A hand (or what Timmy thought was a hand), grabbed him gently by the shoulder and guided him deeper into what once was his home. Then, suddenly, he saw light. A dim firelight danced about the dining room. Wait. That's not right. They didn't't have a dining room. In the center of the spacious and dimly lit room-that-should-not-be, Timmy saw a massive wooden table surrounded by equally massive chairs cushioned with some kind of leather Timmy had never seen before. The leather seemed wrong somehow. At the far end of the table, a massive man-like figure made of a shiny metal liquid sat in the largest and grandest of chairs. Shards of glass hovered around its head in a cruel halo, while the walls on either side of it had dragon skulls mounted close to the ceiling. Whatever had led Timmy here was nowhere to be seen.

 "Sit" 

The command carried a weight and power Timmy could not resist, so he clambered, almost comically, into a chair larger than he was. His head barely cleared to massive table even from this elevated vantage point, and he struggled to see the figure around large slabs of an unknown meat piled onto a shiny metal plate. Timmy stared at the figure for what seemed like years before daring to speak. "Where are mama and papa?"

The answer came not from the figure's non-existent mouth, but instead wormed its way into Timmy's mind.  "They're here. Eat." 

"I-i'm not h-hungry."

 "Yes you are. Eat." 

Timmy tried again and again to excuse himself, trying new tactics and excuses each time, but he was always met with the same reply: "Eat." When at last he could not formulate a thought beyond his fear and could not choke a word out between his tears, he lifted a shaky hand towards the meat and tore off a bite. And another. And other. Egged on by the silent stare of featureless metal, he ate more and more of the weird meat. Even when he wanted to throw up, he ate. Even when he wanted to try his luck at running away and out the door-that-should-exist. He ate for hours. Or perhaps minutes? He did not know and he did not care. He only wanted to be home, his real home, and safe in the arms of his parents. He didn't want to be here with this monster. But still, he ate as he was told, and, when his plate was clean, the lights died. He was left alone in the darkness for several moments before he heard the laugh. It was cruel laughter that came from all around. It surrounded him in that darkness. He felt something brush past his feet and yanked them onto the chair. He heard the scrape of the table as it was moved away from him. He felt hot breath on his neck. There was something breathing behind him. There were monsters in that darkness. Timmy screamed two names.

"Mama! Papa!"

 "I told you Timmy,"  that head voice cooed  "that they're here. They're with you right now." 

And those were the last words Timmy ever heard before the darkness crept into his mind. Timmy was locked away beneath the darkness, screaming and crying for his parents. But Timmy screamed in vain, because dark is where the monsters live.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 

 Create Greater Utility Artifact (Darkness Weaver – Create Monster) 5AP:  The Darkness Weaver is a child who was kidnapped by Zargog and made to eat his own parents. Following this, he was placed into a supernatural slumber and filled with a portion of Slintoch's power, allowing the nightmares of the dormant child to be given terrible life in the real world. The child currently resides within Inferni, rendered immune to the stresses of the locale by the power invested in him. [Trickery (Corruption) 9/10]

13AP - 5AP = 8AP
1MUA
1GUA
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naseki  , of Soul &amp; Siege &amp; Slime 
The Plane of Echos was... Lively. In a stark contrast to how it was mostly occupied by the literal dead for the most part. The Echo-Walkers usually where able to quickly explain what happened to the dead, and what will happen to the Souls soon. But how people took 'being dead' differed a lot between people.
 Some where accepting of it. Usually ones that lived either a rather good and fulfilled life, or a life they did not see much in to begin with.
Others fall deeply depressed since their life was cut short, but they now have the oppertunity to think about that fact.
There are always a few that attempt to bargin with the Echo-Servants, despite the fact that the Echo-Servants can not do anything to 'save' them. They are dead already, afterall.
Anger is a common reaction. Most of the time, it is the kind that already lashed out in life that react this way in death. However, the Souls can barley harm the more robust servants, or even each other, in a way that matters.
And some, of course, simply believe to dream, denying that they are dead. 

A slightly weird thing for them to note was that something was missing. A lot of people for the first time in their life could not hear the song of the ocean, demanding their will to hold strong against its offers and demands.

 

 "Was Naseki really the best we could come up with?"  The person mumbled to themself. They have spend a bit of time traveling, and figuring out their circumstances, a their mind was still struggling to settle properly in one place.  "Someone had to come up with something. We could have sticked to Naury you know? But we are not Naury, not totally. Yeah, Yeah..." 

Their travels lead them to some far away lands. Lands both fantastical and deadly, as they for the moment present themself to as a Alchemist for hire. They where heading towards  Bhal’nabool  as part of a much larger group, a unusual mixture of Inksworn Adventurers, Mercenaries and more mundane people that took up arms to proactivley defend their home city. Their armarment was a bit of a mixed bag, usually representative to what group of Kish-Eru. Banners of varying colours and size, some groups even normally considered little more then street gangs. Even some attachments of Merchants and Witches where with them, one because they aimed to pick the field of battle clean afterwards, and until then offer some nice and welcome conviniences and luxuries to the people. The other because of their believes to preserve life, wishing to aid the wounded they would inevitably have.

Somewhat unusual for the groups from the first city was however the lack of a clear leader. Many saw themself as qualified, and until they manage to find themself a win to proof why they are better suited then the others, they will need to bide their time and cooperate in a more open command structure. For the moment, they travel below the mountains, soon to climb atop the one they belive closest to the bloody flower forest and its fortress. There they would set up their own camp, utilising the height advantage, and the presence of some mercenaries that where send before them.

 

The alchemists they had with them had plenty of time to whip up something new during their travels, and the command-structure was forced to spend their shared time by figuring out better strategies for the coming confrontations to proof each other who is more fit to lead. This two things collided as some 'new' weapons came into the mix to be united with the new tactics to use them.

Of course, many of the new weapons where simply solving the problem of scale. A Ballista is much like a crossbow given the right size, making them more precise and improving upon the ammonition however made them much more useful then before. Mantlets and their bigger sibling, the 'Cat' could provide some basic cover in most places, often it was simple aditons such as adding some wheels or adding a thin and crude metal plate to the large wooden surfaces that made them more practical. The Arrow Cart was one of few truly 'new' additions, but the varaiety of alchemical effects one could bind to what is essnecially a fireworks-launcher pointed at the enemy had many a Alchemist salivating.

As fire was proven ineffective for the most part, the obvious awnser would be to swing towards the total opposite: Ice. Freezing concoctions to be attached to arrows and explode into small clouds that lamed the foe and kills of insect and plant surprisingly well. The cooled metal is also easier to outright break then bend, and steel that is at freezing temperatures directly upon the skin leads to hides being ripped away by a persons own armour, in some rare cases allowing their own blood to freeze them in place, unable to move without breaking themself even more down until they become unrecoverable... Fighting Fire with Fire has failed, so the Freezing touch of both True and False Ice will brittle and break the foes instead...

 

Bhal’nabool did change a bit as that mixed army took position in the mountains, reading for the day they would attack the foes position for the first time. It became 'wetter' in a way. Alkaline Waters occasionally formed into small ponds and spawned the common slimes (Usually called Oozes by the locals in reference to the more gigantic ones in the jungels further inland), which to most intelligent creatures where a mere pest, and the more animalistic often misjudged as harmless until a feet was trapped and started to disolve.

But more noteworthy was  one  Slime. The largest of this alkaline ponds was more of a lake, and its banks where clean of grass, blood or life, and unnatural smooth. But most peculiary, it was not always in the same spot. Multiple empty lake beds closeby, just as devoid of life, could lead to one solving what the mystery of this lake below the mountains was.

One single, enormous creature. Grown to proportions that made it seem impossible to recognise as alive. The 'waters' of the river would swap out of the bed onto the bank when a animal or person came closer, near instantly disolving it as the 'wave' rolls back into the rest of the lake. After a few days, the whole creature would suddenly start to move, rolling over the land below until tiring itself out, at which point it would rest as its alkaline fluids dig it a new bed to rest in. Thankfully there is seemingly only one of them around, and it struggles with inclines.
 
 Spoiler: Naseki AP Spending 
 16 AP LEFT 
 0 AP - Blessing/Curse  [MUA Charge]
  Ambient Energies (Echos) 
With the souls using most of the energy inside of them to sustain themself before releasing what is left it in a comparably short time span once they can not keep themself together anymore, one would think the Plane of Echos would have troubles still sustaining the Echo-Servants. However, they still exist. The Echo-Walkers tried to find awnsers in their books, but Naseki claims it is because what is left of Naury has permeated the plane.  5 AP - Greater Utility Artifact  (Create Advanced Concept) [Creation(Alchemy) 5/10]
  The Traveling Laboratory 
The name may be a bit miss-leading, for it invokes the idea of a building or room being moved around. In truth, it is more a set of alchemical tools, notes and ingredients pulled forth by Naseki that each seem to be perfectly mundane on their own except for their origin. Demonstration, production, and making processes recreateable is its main function. Standartising it is mostly a convinience for the deity, so they need to spend less effort on the actual act performed.  1 AP - Advanced Concept  [Creation(Alchemy) 6/10 &amp; GUA Charge]
  Siege 
The strategies to break down a enemies fortification with time, usually by cutting of their supply lines and then witteling down their strength until they either give up or can be defeated in a final large-scale assault. And of course, the tactics to prevent the enemy of doing the same to oneself.
Siege is mainly defined by surrounding fortifications with ones own fortifications, and of course, the use of the kind of weapon you can hardly use in open field battles. Siege Engines. Catapult, Ballista, Mantlets, and of course many more advanced twist on these over time, such as the rare Trebuchet and Arrow-Carts... Someday to be replaced by even more powerful weapons, until eventually weaponry will outclass the oldest technology of them all: The Wall.
There is plenty more unusual tactics to be found in siege warfare as well. Catapulting rotting corpses to spread pestilence, redirecting or poisoning a river, simple but effective starvation. Potentially, there will never be a end to siege tactics.  1 AP - Sub-Monster  (Of Slimes) [Creation(Alchemy) 7/10]
  The Ooze Lake of Bhal’nabool 
A giant slime creature grown to the proportions of a lake. It moves only once every few days, before camoflaging itself a a water feature in the ever-shifting landscape as it collects the energy needed to move again. While there is only one of it in existence, it seems near impossible to kill thanks to its enormous size. If somehow cut down enough that it feels itself threatened, it will split its mass into a cascade of smaller slimes. A new lake will form soon after, as a different slime, possibly one of the cascade, possibly a random wild one, grows to fill the niche left in the formers destruction.
Much like the (in comparison not so) Giant Yalasere Jungle Oozes, it can harden its membrane to resist water and weaponry better. This giant creature is able to do so in a way that allows it to become hydrophobic, making it all but immune to rain and even rivers.  ________ 
 9 AP Left 
 1 MUA Charge 

Progress:
Creation(Alchemy) 7/10
 
MutantDragon
  Monsters in the Forest  

A large force from Kish-Eru entered the forest of Bhal'nabool seeking cultists from the empire. They were determined to win. They would return home, bringing riches, glory, and promises of safety to those who were left behind. Their families would not have to fear the monsters of the West. That was the plan. But, as they entered that dark, hot,  unnatural  forest, they felt a kernel of fear worm its way into their determined hearts. Still, they pressed on. They would destroy the cult.

---

It was midday when the first scream reached Jart's ears. Perhaps a score of the crazed cultists were ravaging the back ranks of the small army. They fought like crazed demons and the disorganized soldiers that routed before them were cut down with ease, but, as the rest of the army reoriented to smash the offending madmen through the sheer weight of numbers, a cultist blasted a hole through the closing lines with a wave of fire, and the the imperial savages quickly exploited this hole to vanish into the forest. To say this was unusual would be an understatement. Something was wrong, and even a rookie like Jart could see it. Worse, this was the first time most of them had ever seen combat, and twenty-two of their troops were dead and another twenty were injured without a single fallen cultist to show for it. The kernel of fear grew.

---

Not two hours later, three fireballs slammed into the few supply carts they were able to bring into the forest. A large force of one-hundred-and-thirty soldiers detached from the main army and charged into the trees where the fireballs came from. No sooner did they disappear from viewing did a dozen imperial cultists burst from the other side of the army and fall upon the injured and their caretakers, slaughtering all those who stood in their path. But, again, they were gone before any serious resistance could be mounted. Thirty men died and four more were wounded, though none of the casualties were from the fanatical empire. Twenty-four minutes later, less than eighty troops of the hundred-and-thirty who pushed the original attackers returned, the rest having been claimed by traps, "natural" hazards, and a devastating ambush. Apparently, five cultists were slain during the ensuing skirmish.

---

As night closed in, Jart's heart was filled with terror. After the fireball incident that destroyed a fifth of their supplies and so many of his friends, the flora and fauna took the lives of another dozen men. The lucky ones were killed immediately. The unlucky ones were merely hauled off into the forest by some giant insect and slowly butchered. Jart could still hear Barnabus's screams...

So, to say Jart was afraid would be an understatement. He comforted himself with the knowledge of the watch schedule. With the knowledge that not all his friends were dead. With the fact that...wait. He didn't remember bringing any livestock into the forest. Yet, as he entered his tent, he found a goat kid waiting for him. It was small, adorable, and innocent-looking. Some part of his mind screamed that something was wrong, but he was entranced by that adorable kid. It looked into his eyes with its own big black ones and his heart melted. He could have sworn it smiled at him. He reached out to pet it, that small part of his minds still screaming at him, still begging for him to escape, still sounding every danger alarm it knew. But that was a small part. Because the kid was cute.  Too cute!  Sweet. Innocent.  In this forest?!  Jart needed to pet it, to hold it, to protect it.  Snap out of it!  He would just reach out and...

---

"Jart?" Felk asked in confusion. "It's not your turn for watch duty. What are you doing up?"

No answer. Jart continued to move closer.

"Um, Jart...?"

A smile now. Felk was unnerved by his friend's behavior. By the whole forest, really. Also, perhaps, by the fact he saw so many comrades slaughtered not too long before. But, more immediately, it was Jart's turn to be unnerving. Beside him, Carn continued to watch the forest for signs of monsters, bipedal or otherwise. Jart was giggling now. Felk now saw blood flowing from his hand. That couldn't good. Especially not in this hellscape. As Felk moved to help Jart, a knife thrust itself into his side. His scream of pain alerted Carn to the danger and started to draw the others on guard duty over. Pity the cultists came from the other end of camp.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 

 Create Mundane Concept (Guerrilla Warfare) MUA:  Learning the take advantage of Bhal'nabool's treacherous environment, the warriors of the Empire of the Sun have adopted hit and run tactics, targeted strikes, and simple traps to efficiently whittle away at much larger forces.

 Create Monster (Ghikit) GUA:  The ghikit are a species of monsters created by the Darkness weaver. On an external inspection, they appear to be ordinary goat kids. Scratch that, they appear to be the cutest goat kids in the entire history of goatkind. Supernaturally cute, in fact. They actually exert minor mental control over victims, drawing the weak of will in to their dooms. Once a victim is close enough, the ghikit bites them, infecting them with a magical infection that drives them murderously insane.

8AP
0MUA
0GUA
 
Mechalich
 In The Web of Worlds 
Ecie strode delicately across the Droplet Web, touching worlds with tendrils and spines as she passed. They were growing now, the Inner Worlds, strengthened by the insight of those in the First World who had begun to realize the connected nature of all things. Most of the standouts were Onna, for now, but she noticed developments elsewhere of great interest. In time, most of the other species would develop noteworthy worlds of their own, though it might take a long time indeed, and Ecie had her doubts about the long-term viability of the First World as a place capable of supporting sapient life. Too many distortions, too many discordant predators, and too many deities consumed by destructive impulses all combined to threat the viability of those who lived there.

They would need their inner worlds as refugia, until the storm passed or, failing that, other worlds entire might be made. Yet the worlds were incomplete and limited as there were. A sapient mind was so much less than a divine mind. Even the wisest and longest-lived could contain only a tiny fraction of the necessary knowledge to build more than a simplistic microcosm. Their strength came instead in numbers, and sharing.

Ecie determined to enable the inner worlds to do this. She created a new form of thread, tiny and hollow, and wrapped each inner world in a cocoon of the same. These threads were adjusted and tuned to respond to the signals from each sapient, allowing them to unwind and create links to other worlds that let knowledge, materials, and even beings pass between them. Innate understanding of this capability, and the strict mutual consent necessary to conduct the process was then introduced into the dreams of all sapients of the First World that they might know of this. Slowly, a network of linked worlds would grow, reinforcing each other's mutual evolution.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Alter Land (1AP): Inner World Conjugation  – Inner Worlds can now form links between each other, allowing for the passage of information and a small quantity of materials, with more possible as both worlds and links grow. In theory, this could eventually allow sapient beings found within such worlds to travel across a vast network.  [Life (Evolution) 3/10] 
 Create Mystical Sub-concept (2AP): Inner World Links  – the ability to produce linked inner worlds is made known. Such a link requires both sapients to know each other and the choice to produce a link must be mutually consensual. Links can be severed by either party at any time.  [Life (Evolution) 5/10] 

Starting AP: 0 Rollover Gain: 6 Spent: 3 Remaining: 3
 
Demidos
  The Claiming of the First Relic
  
Three miserable days. Three days of diving from platform to platform, attempting to avoid the wost of the local Fauna. Unfortunately, it seemed that Bhal'nabool's creatures and even plants were resistant to flame, weakening the martial half of the Inksworn Duo as his flames had little effect against firedrakes or blood-sucking insects.  But now the prize was in sight. The pair landed heavily on the last island. Ahead, something enormous was lurking in the underbrush.

 "No. NO! There's no way we're fighting a gigantified Bloodhost Queen. Those things can kill humans in their regular size. This one must be at least a thousand times bigger!" 
 
"Well, it explains the giant insects at least -- she must have been hatching a new Host when she arrived. And look -- there it is." 

Lance that Leaps like Flame points to a glint of metal nestled between two massive plates on the bloated creature's exoskeleton.  "She must have been affected when she brushed up against the blade. Look at the blade! It looks exactly like the illustration from the old childrens' book, down to the blue tassel on the hilt!"
 
The duo were not alone, they were accompanied by a 'harmless animal good to keep around to see when dangerous things may sneak up on us'. She had been informed of two suspicious crimson champions that had begun acting on their own and not reporting to their commanders for over a day, and then conflicting reports as to the champions location. Since then she had on and off again been watching the rogue pair closely to see what they may have been after. Now things made sense to her.

The giant Bloodhost Queen, seething with vile acids dripping down her maw looked over the pair as if they were not there. They were 'brood members' to the Queen after all. Yet it still examined its surroundings, its mind fooled but its senses still giving it an animals instinctual warning that smells were in the air that shouldn't be, that the sounds of intruders were nearby; yet it could do nothing but seethe for now.

The 'harmless animal' for its part kept itself hidden. She wanted to see who should be the aggressor here, all they had to do was touch what they came here for to start.

Lance that Leaps like Fire glances at the beautiful parakeet in the cage that had always been there -- still calm, or as calm as could be expected given the circumstances. Good thing they'd run into???.... found???....decided to bring that along.

 "Something must be defective with her blood sense -- usually these things can sense blood in a huge radius, but she seems confused for some reason. See how she keeps turning her head back and forth? She's agitated but can't sense us. Must be these glamour flowers from those Alchemists. I guess they're really as effective as they claimed." 

Singer of Rumors is shrinking back into the foliage, clearly interested in being anywhere but here.

 "...I guess its up to me then. Stay here with the bird, I'll be back in a flash" 

Lance that Leaps like Fire shimmers and vanishes into his namesake lance, which darts up and across the sky before falling like a lightning bolt on the Queen. Two quick slashes across her eyes blind the grotesque creature, and then he returns to human form and leaps towards the Cleaver, completely uninterested in continuing the fight, ready to grab the Cleaver and run.

The Queen hesitated, her face looking away from Lance that Leaps like Fire, as he heard a gasp from behind him as well. Quickly yanking the Cleaver free from the flesh of the behemoth he turned around to face what had caught the Queen's attention.

There they were, the enemy leader, bent on tracking him down and ending him. They looked at him with shock as she readied herself against him, but he knew why she was here and was not deceived.

Lance that Leaps like Flame moves with a speed almost too fast to follow. A flash of a wooden spear with a flaming tip hurtling through the air, and then he is in front of her, a swing from the Cleaver bisects the enemy and the hill behind her in a single fell swoop.
Lance that Leaps like Flame lets out a whoop.  "That was amazing.....but....where is?"  He pauses, seeming to struggle against a mental block. Something is terribly, terribly wrong.

Another flash, and the wooden spear is back, haft glimmering with the light of flames poured into glowing runes of fire. The cleaver dangles from one end, its tassel wrapped securely around the body of the spear. The spear spins, and then reorients, its tip quivering oddly as if confused, but still pointing loosely at the Maiden of Glamour, before shooting in her direction.

Movement, the sound of a leap, a body shoots up above the spear as a gust of wind with a sneering tone to its older feminine voice  "You weaklings really are all fools."  Land, shift, leap again next to... the spear's companion's corpse.

A moment's pause, taking in the scene, noticing that there was blood drawn from their foe, searching for where to strike next; just for the voice to chide them  "You can only pay attention to one thing at a time, my children were more aware than you." 

At that moment the large Queen's red hazy acidic breath sweeps across the field turning flesh into an ozzing mess and slowly eating away at all else that remains. The beast cries out with rage, all the seething aggression it held finally released. The sounds of small hollow rocks could be heard behind the cries as the voice that was not a voice which was... whatever continued to move.

If it were possible for wood to scream, the acid spraying across it wouldve prompted the reaction long ago. Proud glyphs of fire sagged and dissolved under the onslaught of acid, and the gloss on the lances' haft grew dim and opaque. The lance flipped back and forth, struggling to find again its great foe, but seeing only the massive bulk of the Queen it shot off in her direction again, glancing blows drawing blood and ichor. The queen's massive serrated foreleg sheared the back third of the lance from the rest with a whine of softened wood, but dodging and weaving, the lance found an opening and sunk itself up to its own full length into the empty eyesocket of the queen and piercing her brain. His power exhausted, Lance that Leaps like Flame reformed as his human self, weaving, bracing against a treetrunk, struggling to stand upright.
 
"Come here and taste my fists, monster. I know you're still there. Ive finished one monster, whats one more little monster?" 

Halfway though his words become almost singsong, clearly overtaxed and barely able to stand with bloodloss, his right leg missing below the knee and angry red chemical burns crisscroassing his lean frame, the cleaver clutched in one blood-soaked hand. A seasoned warrior would know at a glance that even with no further injuries, he was not long for the world.

 "You trusted your mind too much. Weakling."  says a triumphant voice stepping out from behind the Queen's corpse, the Maiden of Glamor finally deciding to reveal herself, displaying her flower covered body, the thorny bundles of a multi-colored display that was dominated by blood red. Those red flowers emanated heat as they worked to close the wound that was left on her side, and three yellow ones shone briefly as with a sweep of her hand the flower maiden unleashes a vast gulf of wind to clear the remaining lingering acid between her and Lance that Leaps like Flame.

Pointing a steel spear who's tip was a curved blade the Maiden remarked as the man took a steady stance  "You have proven yourself worthy enough to know me. I am the Maiden of Glamor, the beloved of the goddess, champion against the weak."  

Lance that Leaps like Flame did not give a remark, guessing she was going to attack the moment he tried.

With a shrug suggesting he was correct the Maiden of Glamor kneeled down, had her yellow flowers glow again, and lunged forward spear first in a gust of wind and supernatural agility that made the air crack like a bullet set loose. The impact destroyed the tree Lance that Leaps like Flame was using to lean on, but he was able to dodge out of the way by leaning away from the tree and into a kick.

He connects, feeling an awful burning sensation from the touch, and uses his one good leg to push away from the Maiden in time before her spear turns around back on him. His foot was too burned to let him retreat far, and the spear connected with his foot, the long blade embedded right through it into the ground.

Not giving up he uses what is left of his strength to push back with his arms, aiming for the Maiden's head as she reached for something. The blade tears his foot in half, but he is able to get a grip on the fire-like Maiden's neck, ignoring the pain, and simply tries to snap her neck then and there.
.

With a sickening crack, Lance that Leaps like Flame does just that. He falls back down, breathing in a sense of victory just as the timed alchemical explosions go off and his life ends.


 


It takes hours for the buds to return to full blooms on the half-blasted body of the maiden, an hour for her flesh to return to her in full, and another few moments before she gathered the courage to place her neck back in its proper arrangement with a sickening series of cracks. But she is alive, her foes dead; with only their prize for her taking.

A cleaver, a powerful object who's shape felt right for the maiden who loved slaughter so. Yet how powerful it was she wished to discover.

Holding it in her hands for a moment, gauging its weight, she looked out towards the horizon. Her Terror Birds had reported the vague direction of her foes. Could this inspire fear into them?

Making sure she could see off into the horizon, using all the strength she could in a single blow the maiden swung the Cleaver.

At first it appeared as though nothing had happen... then from her perched position the maiden saw the earth split apart to the horizon.

This would do.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

Minor Artifact Charge (0 AP) -- Cleaver of Continents: Bhal'Nabool's Scarred Path -- A scar in the native landscape many tens of miles long, this path extends from the Mosaic Lands to the Kish Eruvian side of Bhal'Nabool, leaving travellers a straightforward path to avoid much of the local flora and fauna, which mostly (although not entirely) avoid the deep cut in the landscape. It is a convenient trail for traders and merchants, but is also an easy place to be ambushed, and is dangerous to traverse on foot during flooding seasons, during which it becomes a canal instead of a path suitable for wagons or carts.

11 AP remaining
 
Mechalich
 Multitudes of Droplets 

Ecie watched the countless inner worlds from within the heart of the Droplet Web. She saw them grow, change, link, and evolve, all of which pleased her, a connected network of beautiful nodes, each one unique, yet sharing features with all others. At the same time, these worlds were linked to mortals, and when those lives ended, so to the worlds they'd formed. Droplets evaporated from the web, their worlds lost, incomplete and unable to unveil their true potential.

The goddess was saddened by this. For a long while she considered many solutions. It was possible to lengthen the lifespan of mortals, but that would carry many cascading consequences. Nor would it serve to halt the ever-increasing number of deaths due to violence that cut short lives that ought to be prolonged. Worse, such a solution would not produce worthy stewards eager to guide and cherish the worlds within them, it would simply make mortals who lived longer. A partial and inelegant solution at best.

Looking out upon the First World, she took a page from her children, and sought to seek a process there that would, when emulated, provide for the needs of the Droplet Web. Sending her tendrils far and wide through the connective tissue of reality, she soon found what she sought by reopening a connection of old. The Kami, that was the solution. They were immortal beings tied to the land, who shared its gains and losses, its trials and victories, and were ever stewards of that which was, in the end, an aspect of themselves.

Ecie reached into the Droplet Web and touched the essence of the worlds there. Tendrils of divine silk spread, wrapping about each world and introducing a seeded pathway within, invisible, immaterial, comprised only of essence and will. A path to allow those who valued their worlds to persist within them, not as mortals, but as the kami stewards of their own internal realities. By abandoning a purely physical existence this ascension could be unlocked, and the world persist without a mortal custodian, potentially forever.

The path would not be easy. It would take great enlightenment, a willingness to put the world and its needs above the desires of the self, to ascend beyond mortality in this way, to become not a god, but the spirit of an entire world. Many who tried would fail, and their worlds would yet fade upon death of the mortal form. Some, however, would persist, and in time grow to worlds of such bounty and expanse as to rival the First World itself, all of them linked together in endlessness.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Create Mystic Concept (4AP) – Kami Transcendence:  any being in possession of an inner world can attempt to slough off their mortality and merge with said world in order to become the singular kami of that world, a world spirit. This process is extremely difficult and has a very low natural rate of success (&lt;1%), though expanding the world to make it larger, stronger, and more diverse makes things easier, as does more time spent as the mortal custodian of that world and time spent within the inner world as opposed to elsewhere. Any mortal who becomes a world spirit Kami is immortal, but they are bound to their new world and cannot leave it. They are still, however, able to communicate with other worlds via Inner World links and can form new ones.  [Life (Evolution] 9/10] 

Starting AP: 3 Rollover Gain: 6 Spent: 4 Remaining: 5
 
AlexanderML
    Echo of the Estheric Isles   

He knew that he had died suddenly while traversing the water between his icy home and the space where the great Maiden Arrienal lived; the man was certain she had the answer to his quandary. Yet when he came to on the shores of her island he found a strange sight.

Dozens of others were here, a few with the shining light of purpose still in their eyes, yet most carried a morose air with eyes that had given up. A few were openly weeping, uncaring that others could see them. Some had manic eyes that had them laughing and screaming for the Maiden to save them, looking towards the glade with a fervent expression.

Disturbed and curious, the man decided to make his way into the interior of the island, hoping that the Maiden would give him her guidance even if his hopes were almost completely dashed by this point. As he moved through the underbrush he could feel his weakness, or more… simply observing it as moving aside the brush was harder than expected. Chalking that up to being the work of the Maiden’s power pushing people away he paid it little heed as he walked into a large open glade where a massive flower circle rested atop a hill-home.

There were a great many others here, some surrounding the red-flower Maiden Arrienal that the man had come to speak with. She appeared to be ignoring most of them, paying attention to only one of them who appeared to be similarly ignoring the chatter around them. What they were talking about was unintelligible, though the man chalked this up to him being too far away.

Eventually the Maiden stopped paying so much attention to them and gave a sigh. The man was among a few who took the opportunity to approach closer, but the Maiden only gave them a distant, weary look and a sad smile.

It was when some of the others around the man screamed, cried out in anguish, and otherwise acted with such violent emotions that it scared the man. Was this the Maiden’s power?

Taking a moment to study his surroundings, specifically the flower garden around him, the man familiar with the omens and signs they produced felt sick in his stomach; an illusion of the mind perhaps…. Since the circle around him was clearly stating that those that go unacknowledged by the Maiden are dead. He supposed that explained the others' frantic behavior… and the others on the beach as well.

The man felt a sudden despair grasp at him as he tried to brush aside a pebble, just to see it begin to wobble back to the spot he nudged it from. What was this? Then he heard screams coming from the beach.

Rushing back there took too long for him to see most of it, but when he arrived he saw a few men and women on the beach that appeared to be of the same tribe disappear, fading into the background.

He also looked off the island and saw… something monstrous. A group of formless creatures that moved about off the island, keeping their distance but observing them. Were they here to consume their souls? He barely knew souls were a thing that existed, do they fade away? Is there a third life after another death?

A hopeless gloom pervaded across the man, remorse and regret. He felt like he had nothing to give, no purpose left with the Maiden not answering him and those monsters existing around the island.

Then he saw Her standing above them all. Her skeleton bare and beautiful, Her veil the night sky, Her form whole and real in this pale place. It was enough to make a man’s inner palace shiver with hope despite what Her appearance might have been, with the hundreds of heads that made up Her dress.

Many souls screeched out pleas, and the man almost did… but he let go. While She was perfect, he held onto the memories of another. Her presence reminded him of her, which now… stung. To distract himself, he began to sing a little. Of his work, his travels, his rivals, and his beloved; tweaking the song with each rendition for some enjoyment on this cursed island.

She did not notice him that day. Yet when she returned She glanced at him, still singing. The next day, She took in his image. And then finally, after many days had passed with of his singing She came down to his level and stared in his eyes.

“ D-do you love me? ”

The forward question man him stutter, but he was not in a habit and… had learned that he likely did not have much more time left after observing the coming and going of people here.

“ Am I n-not… ” He did not know what she was trying to say before shaking her head. “ Love me. ” She said, her eyes bright echoes of color and possibility, the heads on Her dress a hundred beautiful expressions.

Yet the man continued, his time was near, he was about to be gone forevermore. With a drawn out note to his beloved he missed, he let his pale existence fade away.

However his brief period of non-existence was cut short when the concept was violently torn away from him. “ No! Love me! See me, know me, I-I can give everything! I love you! ”

And with that he was gone to a place far away. At the same time many others had the same experience, ending up in a place that was so unlike their homes.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
AP Action Plan

17/20


 -1 Create Sub-Race (Souls -&gt; Embraced Souls):  Those souls corrupted by Lilia's Love turn more and more black on the outside as they are tainted, with those fully consumed by it changed fundamentally. The tuatha consider these souls to be distantly related to them, as each one’s embraced soul is then made of the same semi-real substance as the fantastical landscapes, which gives both a minor sense of understanding of the other.

Embraced souls lose their facial features to shadows (they are still there, just not visible), but gain the ability to interact with objects (with notoriously feeble strength). Embraced souls can avoid fading away but are entirely dependent on the Lilia's Love in them, being physically weak even with it fully corrupting them; likely immediately dying if it was removed from them. Furthermore they must consume flowers with Lilia's Love inside of them to replace parts of their soul that fade away or are used on a regular basis.

While each embraced soul is essentially the same person as they were in life, each suffers from the mood swings and envious feelings that those with Lilia's Love are burdened with. Something that they bury away within themselves better than the tuatha, but nevertheless can never fully overcome.

Embraced have a strange reaction to the light of day on the First World, their forms and possessions they brought with them fading away into the Echo when placed under the light of the sun.

1/10 Espionage (Plagiarism)

 -1 Bless - Soliloquy of the Echo:   Aware of their surroundings inside the Echo, most souls are able to perceive what has happened to them and the impending fate to non-existence that awaits them. Many souls accept this for one reason or another, yet among the dissatisfied and fearful the urge to lay bare their existence to the world comes to them- the Soliloquy of the Echo springs to their minds and they may sing.

Those that give into the song sing about their life and death repeatedly. The process slowly fills them with Lilia’s Love and eventually turns them into an embraced soul that fades into the Magi Realms inside Desire Heart.

Souls content with their lives rarely feel the soliloquy, and don’t give into the urge to sing it.
1/10 Community (Magi Realms)

  -(Artifact Charge) Bless (Outer Plumes):  Planted in the Echo by the goddess in her attempts to enter the First World, Outer Plumes appear as small gray feathery plumes that appear to bend against some invisible current. Outer plumes can be purposefully planted by embraced souls or echo servants with some effort, in either the Echo or any other plane besides the First World.

Furthermore when plucked they do not immediately disappear, though outer plumes do begin to fade. Within a day of being plucked someone holding an outer plume flower may transport themselves the First World, Echo, or Desire Heart with a proclamation of some kind (be it vocal ‘I go now to the Echo’ or something as simple as a hard stomp of the foot with the intention to go to the First World).

These flowers give a miniscule amount of Lilia's Love to those that use them at the time of planar transport.

 -2 Create Society (The Magi Realms):  Also known as the Deadlands, the Twilight, and other distant monikers. Located primarily ‘around’ Lilia’s Heart it is where most of the embraced souls make their home, with members of First World species making their homes there.

A few outposts are created within the Echo and the Estheric Isles composed of research institutions and their support networks.

More info on them can be found  here  (eventually).

3/10 Community (Magi Realms)

 -(Artifact Charge) Alter Land - The Magi Realms:  Inside Desire Heart the embraced can use their own inner delusion to enforce set domains (or Realms as they call them), these domains grow in size the more embraced live in the same one. Here space is more stable, with rough distances and mapping able to be accomplished within domains, though connections between domains needs to be agreed on by the rules of both, otherwise the distance between them can be as chaotically long or short as travel between any other part of Desire Heart.

 -1 Teach Advance Concept (Architecture):  One of the skills that the embraced bring with them to the Magi Realms is that of the styled architecture. A multitude of different styles are used in the Magi Realms, with each one inspiring the others to greater achievements through admiration or spite depending on the day.

 2/10 Espionage (Plagiarism)


 -2 Create Mythic Sub-Concept (Wasteland Pact Magic -&gt; Delusion):  Through dealing with the tuatha pact masters have discovered that they can garner the tuatha’s flesh, the semi-real substance better known as Delusion. Typical deals involving the exchange of Delusion involve the pact master giving made goods or rare materials to the living landscapes (few tuatha wish to waste delusion on making clothes for each of their individual minor souls playing background roles); though other arrangements can be used instead.

It is possible to harvest delusion from an unwilling tuatha, taking objects/creatures made of their delusion out of their bodies without permission and having a pact master break it down. Such material is much harder to work with and is thus less desired overall.

When properly shaped through verbal and symbolic commands, delusion can be transformed into what the pact master desires materially, even bending or ignoring laws of physics that would get in the way of a particular project. Though it is easier to work with existing material that is as close as possible to the end product that the pact master desires.

An example of this at work could be trying to create a functional crossbow with delusion. Starting from nothing would take an excessive amount of delusion, it would take a little less to have a wooden block act as a medium, and far less if you take a hammer, nail, and some string to get something that already vaguely looks like a crossbow.

Examples of delusion placed on a location could be ever-flowing fountains, floating structures with zephyr blooms holding it up, gravity defying pathways, and gardens that always house sunlight. Examples of items made with delusion could be a lantern that never runs out of fuel, a wineskin that refills itself, or books that glide over to their owners on command.

The process of accurately ‘telling’ the delusion down in the right location and keeping it stable is a long and tedious process, so despite the fantastical possibilities a pact master may apply to a project delusion rarely speeds up any construction process; more often being a part of a creators list of resources when designing a building or object. A very important resource in locations like the Echo where workable material is so rare.

Witches and those of the Magi Realms house many experts in the use of delusion, but individuals in other societies or organizations can become experts as well with time.

7/10 Community (Witch)


 -1 Teach Mundane Concept (Textiles):  Those embraced with exceptional skills in weaving are seen as artists in equal measure to craftsperson. Each piece of cloth should be made with the intention of exceptionally long use in both artistic and practical applications.

Espionage (Plagiarism) 3/10

 -(Artifact Charge) Create Monster (Giant Silk Moth):  The first swarm of these creatures being created after a single larva of a similar creature from Adanat that spun a silky cocoon was thrown into the Delusion Cauldron. These massive flying creatures can be found in many parts of Desire Heart in the wild, or being used as mounts by the Magi Realms.

When in their larval state these creatures consume large portions of trees to create massive silky cocoons that are incredibly durable. After metamorphosing into their adult shape they are docile creatures that have a horse’s bravery, needing to be trained to fly even when frightened.



 -1 Teach Advance Concept (Sericulture):  Learning from the formally lolat and onna members of their society the Magi Realms members typically can be found covered in silken garments made from a variety of creatures. It serves as armor for the frail embraced, replacement material for some tools, and a variety of other tasks that many inside the Realms value.

4/10 Espionage (Plagiarism)

 -(Artifact Charge) Create Mundane Concept (Magi Tongue):  Chymes has recorded a vast array of differing means of communication across the world and has developed the use of a new purposefully designed language for the souls coming from so many different places in the world. The Magi tongue can communicate basic concepts in spoken form to all existing First World languages cultures, its written form is the same used in the Great Library.

The Magi Realms adopts this language, with witches from other lands often picking it up in their training.

 -1 Teach Mundane Concept (Natural History):  As history progresses there are those among all societies who look to the world around them in general scientific wonder, trying to observe new secrets from what’s around them. (Note - This concept is taught to all societies by default)

5/10 Espionage (Plagiarism)

 -1 Teach Advance Concept (Scientific Method):  While lacking in some of the precise instruments they are accustomed to, the embraced from onna (especially those of yuki onna) bring with them a rational mindset that seeks to thoroughly understand the world around them to the Magi Realms and the witch orders that frequent it.

6/10 Espionage (Plagiarism)


 -2 Create Mythical Sub-Concept (True Alchemy -&gt; Scientific Instruments):  Forced to work with inferior versions of their previous home’s technology while living now among a world of fantasies, the scientifically minded of the onna embraced and those among the Magi Realms they inspire work to understand the world anew through diligent scientific study. With the witches' help they are able to begin developing proper instruments for the task as the embraced are introduced to alchemy.

This concept represents the beginnings of advanced measuring and detection apparatuses being created; which is developed simultaneously by the witches, Magi Realms, and the people of the Chain.

9/10 Community (Witches)


 -1 Create Sub-Monsters (Tuatha -&gt; Familiars):  Developed by the witches of the Meadow Bloom through the use of alchemy to create a living vessel for Delusion to animate have discovered that life can be made. The process involves a corpse of an animal to act as the base shape of the familiar, some blood (or other vital substance) of the creator to bring it to life, then delusion to animate and expand its capabilities.

Craftsmanship on every level matters when creating a familiar. From outright failures that fail to animate, minor animal companions that are little more than regular pets, to massive magical companions with impressive delusion granted capabilities. The more skill and resources invested, the greater the resulting creature will be.

Familiars are inherently loyal to the alchemist whose blood was used to create them, with the familiar’s life ending if the doner’s life ends.

Tuatha can create familiars with just an animal’s corpse, placing a minor soul inside to animate it. These creations may leave the Tuatha’s body and are a common means for the living landscapes to attempt to harm or impress mortals a distance away from the tuatha.

10/10 Community (Witches)

 -(Artifact Charge) Create Organization - Tome Guardians:  This order of librarians primarily consisting of embraced souls are tasked with keeping the Great Library under the sovereignty of the Magi Realms and to provide education for the children the realm produces.

The organization is split between three subdivisions, each with their own leader that comes together to make decisions on the laws inside the Great Library; the crimson guardians, the silver scribes, and the ebon professors.

The crimson guardians keep watch over the library inside and out, and are primarily the ones outsiders trying to enter the library speak to. While capable of violence when the laws of the library are threatened or a loophole is found to be exploited; they are also explicitly assigned to understand the needs of those who come to the library. They often give recommendations or guide outsiders to parts of the library they are looking for; so long as it is not study season and the visitors follow the rules.

The silver scribes primary role is to organize the Great Library’s many tomes and to create copies for the outside world. They are notoriously rude to outsiders, rarely responding well to those seeking their aid while they are in the middle of an assignment (which they frequently are).

The ebon professors are primarily tasked with the oversight and education of the children of the Magi Realms. For a little under half the year they are extremely busy, as they prepare for the children’s arrival, oversee their education, then clean up and evaluate that year’s study season. Ebon professors are flighty and nervous of outsiders during this busy part of the year, but become open and amiable afterwards for most of the year; many taking the opportunity to garner gossip about the outside world to tell the other two divisions.

 -2 Create Advance Concept -  (Formal Education):  Due to the embrace being the supermajority inside the Magi Realms, the labor of children is far less needed and is seen as something of a waste when they have such a long period of time available to grow and enjoy their life before their first death.

To ensure that children are able to both grow into proper members of society and learn necessary skills for their futures they use Outer Plumes to transport themselves to the Great Library to learn from the professors there for at least one season a year. This education typically lasts from the ages of 8-16 for those with human lifespans, though further education is available to those families with the resources to sponsor the Tome Guardians work.

5/10 Community (Magi Realms)

 -1 Counteract (Ambient Energies):  The Tome Guardians are able to enforce their laws upon the Great Library through the manipulation of the ambient energies that run through it. Able to empower or disempower those that break the rules set by the three sub-divisions. Death for echo-servants is something that is rarely given out, most often warnings are sufficient or a weakening of the ambient energies given to them to force them to leave. Children are often restricted from using magic for a time if they break any rules.

6/10 Community (Magi Realms)
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naseki  , timecrunch 
So I put the fluff in the actions and will instead add a extra post later to describe em al natura. Sorry.

 
 Spoiler: Naseki AP Spending 
 9 AP LEFT 
 4 AP ROUNDSTART 
 1 AP - Advanced Concept  [Water(Travel) 1/10 &amp; GUA Charge]
  Navy 
The trade with someone across the ocean could not be kept secret forever. Especially that not only Port Tale was involved. The important point to take hold however was that the oceans are no longer a reliable barrier against potential invaders, even as it had been kept dangerous. Improvements in ship-building, training of sailors, group-exercises that should prevent people jumping overboard to join the seafolk, training how to use the mounted weapons... And of course, improvements in sea-worthy foods that do not taste absolutely terrible. It all comes together to form a force able to defend the chain from dangers below the waves, and the dangers above the waves they fear will come soon. Of course, there is potnetial to use it offensivley as well...  1 AP - Sub-Monster  (Of Slimes)[Creation(Alchemy) 8/10]
  Bloodclot 
Slimes consume decayed flesh just as well as fresh one. However, extensive exposure to uncountable corpses on battlefields and mass-graves resulted to the vital energy of the blood reacting with the creatures. A 'Bloodclot' is a rust-red, oozing pile of alkaline fluids &amp; severed limbs halp-hazardly healed back into a form. Like a porupine it covers itself in broken blades, armour-pieces and other weapons it will use to defend itself and, in some cases, attack with.
They do exhibit some unique behaviors, as they seem to activley seek out the creature that caused the owner of the 'donor-limbs' the most suffering, in order to kill them. Its not certain if they are aware of the reason, but as they move, they grow in size as they collect more and more spare parts. Unlike normal Slimes, they do not reproduce, and as such grow until eventually slain.  ________ 
 11 AP Left 
 1 MUA Charge  (That is gonna go poof.)

Progress:
Creation(Alchemy) 8/10
Water(Travel) 1/10
 
Zelphas
 Life in the Sky 

It was almost time, Salet felt. It was nearly done with its presence, for the moment. And so, it tried to make some things that would last, away from the mess in other places.

Collecting some eggs from Adanat was simple enough, but modifying them took more time, and it had to modify their new homes as well to accept them. Gifting the people of the sky the powers that those underground already held fit well, and Salet noted with a distant sense of sadness that it was slowly beginning to use the actions of its other half. Perhaps it should end its time in a similar way as the other, then.

Any who were watching the Sky Whales would notice some strange moments with them; they would sometimes sail into a cloud... and vanish. Then again, some clouds seemed to simply create new Sky Whales out of nowhere, so perhaps it balanced out.

 White Feather of Battle 

The Cloak of Many Feathers shook, dropping its light load to the First World once more. This feather, rimmed in cool blue light, landed atop the head of a vulture upon the fields of battle. The vulture barely changed, but the blue light spread from it, dampening the sounds and cries of battle. Somewhere nearby, a baby goat let out a piteous cry. The Volcra spread its black, oddly blue-tinted wings.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 0 AP + 5 AP + 5 AP = 10 AP 
 Create Subrace (1 AP, from Yloch) - Choly:  The Choly are still wormlike in form, but they are born and live within Sky Whales. They form a symbiotic relationship with the Sky Whales, protecting them against infection and other dangers and strengthening their muscles in return for a share of the Sky Whale's food and energy. This relationship is imperfect and often ends with either the Choly or the Sky Whales killing dying from the other, except when the Choly are inside...  [Life (Symbiotism) 1/10] 
 Create Subrace (1 AP, from Sky Whales) - Lifeships:  A Lifeship is a specific kind of Sky Whale that has adapted to not only permit, but require other lifeforms to live inside it, creating both "rooms" within its body and "doors" into and out of its inner workings. The Choly and Lifeships work in nearly perfect synchronicity; in a very simple form, the Choly form the ligaments, nerve endings, and brain of the Lifeship, while the Lifeship forms the skeleton, muscles, skin, and organs.  [Life (Symbiotism) 2/10] 
 Teach Mythic Concept (2 AP) - Lifeshaping:  The Elves that live upon Sky Whales now know how to use this power; it is extremely beneficial in both protecting and healing Lifeships, as well as turning regular Sky Whales suffering under Choly infestation into new Lifeships.  [Life (Symbiotism) 4/10] 
 Weave Plane (3 AP) - Endless Sky:  A plane of bright blue skies, warm winds, and gentle rain showers from cumulous clouds, extending in every direction.  [Life (Symbiotism) 7/10] 
 Bless (1 AP) - Endless Life in the Sky:  Those who find their way to Endless Sky find that their basic needs are endlessly replenished by the fabric of the Plane.  [Life (Symbiotism) 8/10] 
 Create Portal (2 AP) - Cumulous Clouds:  Large, fluffy cumulous clouds sometimes transport someone passing through them from the First World into Endless Sky, and the clouds in Endless Sky sometimes do the opposite. The place where a person enters or exits from one Plane to the other is essentially random. This portal does not include the large cloud bank in the center of the Triangular Chain.  [Life (Symbiotism) 10/10; Domain get! Intermediate Deity Achieved!] 
 Create Monstrous Life (0 AP, from CoMF) - Volcra:  Volcra are remarkably ugly looking vultures with an odd bluish sheen to their feathers and their bald heads. Their presence has a calming effect on emotions, allowing those near them to think clearly (and those close to death to surrender more quickly). Volcra share an instinctive hatred for ghikit; while they are normally scavengers, they will actively hunt and kill ghikit if they can find them.

 10 AP - 10 AP = 0 AP Remaining 
 
Demidos
The fog lays heavy over the northern coastline of Yalasere as a small ragtag detachment of Kish Eru’s army desperately fights for their lives. For the last two days, this detachment has held off a unit of cannibal cultists twice their number. Their lone inksworn’s defensive capabilities are middling at best, creating invisible beasts of fear that would be of great use against any other foe but only slightly affect the Empire’s fanatics. Only their dug-in position allows them to hold on – their post is atop Sawtooth Peak Overlook, a singular jagged rocky spire that pierces high into the sky, part of a newly established early warning network to warn Kish Eru of any incoming cultist incursions. The younger members of the detachment shivered in the pre-dawn cold.
 
“When are reinforcements coming??” 
 
“With the signal fires sabotaged, we’ll be lucky to get them by tomorrow. For now we just have to hold on, we don't have any other choice.”  

The sergeant was grim, but resolved. She’d seen heavy fighting in her mercenary days, but accepted a commission in the city’s army hoping to find a more stable company, something that was now coming back to bite her. Typical, really. At least sunrise shouldn’t be more than a few hours awa….

 “Sunrise at last!”
 
….what? Sergeant Kell turned to where her newest recruit stood pointing off towards the horizon. The wrong horizon. A bright glow was coming from where tree met sky, but it looked like a riot of rainbow colors rather than the usual sunrise. The glow grew brighter and brighter.

 “Wake the Inksworn! Get away from the ledge, something is coming! We don’t want to be caught with our pants down.” 

And then from one moment to another, it arrived. It had the outline of a sea-folk but floating in the air, anything else was impossible to determine. Light poured from their eyes, pooled from their fingers, and drifted down from their toes. Ink spiraled in graceful patterns around its head. In its hand a prismatic light shines like a bonfire, rendering the nearby forest pale and colorless by comparison. Tongues of red, blue, green and other hues without names spill forth, painting the trees and subtly editing them in ethereal ways. Branches straightened, and leaves deepened their shade.

Empire cannibals ran screaming for their lives. Those who the light touched collapsed into gibbering wrecks, or attacked others in a frenzied fury. Neither were the Kish Eruvians spared, multiple beams striking one who blinded jumped, screaming, from the peak. Others stood staring into the distance, eyes vacant. Only Sergeant Kell’s quick orders saved the bulk of their soldiers who huddled deep within the caves on the peak.

It was over as soon as it began, the light outside fading to a darkness more in keeping with the early hour. A few brave soldiers ventured outside. They were met with chunks of melted stone, a forest strewn with dead cultists, and a few pockets of stones that still glowed, each with a different colored light. In the gloom the soldiers looked at each other as fireflies began once again to dance in across the forests and peaks below.
 
“What was that?” 
 “I don’t know, but if there are more like it, they could change the course of the war. Gather some of those stones and let headquarters know we’re coming back. Check the astralobe, ensure we have a path charted home. This report isn't one that can wait.” 
 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
5 AP Create Legendary Race: Luminals are created by humanoids of any kind that are exposed to the Lantern of Myriad Truth’s light but for some reason or other resist its corrosive truths and emerge stronger for it. Luminals constantly emit light from all parts of their body, and are able to fly and manipulate light in addition to the abilities of their base race. This light can be used to emit searing beams of fire to cloak themselves in camouflage, or even to heal themselves. At the moment there is only one, which is quite mad, but over time as more are exposed to the light of the lantern more will emerge. Other Luminals need not necessarily go mad if they have a strong mind and will. Wonder (Illumination) 5/10

2 AP: Raise Hero: Ley’ria the Luminal, Archon of Madness: An old seafolk hermit driven mad by the truths of the Lantern, Ley’ria wanders the northern coast of Yalasere in search of something only she can see. She is neutral in the battle between First City and the Empire, but her presence is known to the City who does their best to limit Empire knowledge of her, hoping to bait them into sending an army into the way of destruction and madness. She is Inksworn, as evinced by the crown of ink dancing around her head, but no one knows what her Title might be. Magic (Inksworn) 10/10

Lantern of Myriad Truths MUA Charge: 0 AP – Develop Astrology: The light from the Lantern accidentally landed on several texts from a small merchant ship while Sagmi was first bringing the Lantern to the First World. One of these texts dealt with Astrology, the study of the movement of the great star mantas and their characteristics. Since then several books dealing with a variety of fields have been sold in Kish Eru each causing a small uproar and leaving the merchant transporting them very, very rich.

1 AP Bless: Lightstones – Magical semi-precious stones first created by the wanderings of the mad Hero Ley’ria, these stones resonated with the Lantern’s truths and began to emit their own light. Other semi-precious stones exposed for long enough to their light may also become light stones. When exposed to daylight or moonlight, these stones will slowly become permanently brighter. Sawtooth Peak in particular seems to hold many of these stones. Wonder(Illumination) 6/10

Song of Heroes GUA Charge: 0 AP – Bless Fireflies: No longer are the nights of Yalasere dark. Instead, massive swarms of fireflies dance and twirl across the night skies, entrancing watchers with their unearthly glows. Visitors and locals alike marvel at the beauty of this natural phenomenon. Wonder(Illumination) No points.

AP Accounting: 11 AP + 4 AP (Rollover) - 8 AP = 7 AP
 
Fuzzy Math
  Hoc est mundum, hi sunt populus tuus
Potes vivere tibi hodie, aut auxilium aedificare cras omnibus.  
  This is your world, these are your people.
You can live for yourself today, or help build tomorrow for everyone.   


Cycles of blissful slumber being momentarily interrupted by begrudging awareness led to fleeting dreams of the world that Rel was helping to shape. The visions themselves were not memorable, but it was the undercurrent of feelings, that something designed by his hand was beginning to fail, that kept him from a deeper sleep. Like a sōzu being filled at intermittent speeds, the cycles were rhythmic enough to not cause immediate alarm, but the irregularity of the timing was stirring his subconscious into irritability. The frustration finally reached a point where any moments of drifting deeper kept getting shorter and shorter, when he opened his eyes quickly and grumpily.

  “The fek is it now?”   Rel growled, uncharacteristically perturbed.

Getting off his lounge, he looked down at the sound of the stale toast hitting the floor, frowning. It had only been a few hours of rest, hadn’t it? Squinting at the jam stain on his robe, he noticed that it was a hardened mess, with crystallization setting in. He scratched at his beard, now wondering just how long he had been out, when he felt another pulse vibrate through his mind and paused mid-scratch. He hadn’t felt this before his nap, this irregular throbbing must be caused by something recently done. The feeling ebbed away again before he could get more familiar with it, but it was definitely tied to him somehow. Not bothering with a customary snack, Rel walked out of the bungalow, his pace determined as he moved toward the hedge gate without noticing the new bamboo water feature in his garden. Opening the gate and going through, he instinctively brought up the veil of secrecy; as much as he cared for the little ones, he wouldn’t be able to focus on sussing out the problem if they wanted to talk and play. There would be time for that later, Rel hoped.

Relloc’s face turned to greet him as it sensed his presence, then merely nodded as they noticed Rel wasn’t being noticed by the Hiplings or causing a disturbance in the environment, as if he were a Kami watching its environment. Nodding back at Relloc, Rel placed a hand on the Protector’s trunk and cast himself within his avatar; connected as it was to the island, this would hopefully be the quickest way to diagnose the issue. He felt Relloc join his consciousness, separate but whole, wishing to ask what has the Dreamer so concerned. Before he could address the question, there was another pulse, but it felt weaker this time. It wasn’t anything with the Hiplings; they were busy playing and learning from the Kami, sharing stories and food in return. Nor was it Relloc, though they did seem slightly less vigorous than the last time a conversation was shared. Maybe? It almost felt like a sense of fatigue, as if whatever was causing it had been compensating for an impairment of some kind, like a creature struggling to breathe. Rel’s eyes widened as the realization blossomed.

  “The Aquaeductus! Damn! I guess the Sun didn’t feel like helping after all or maybe I was just blowing sunshine up my a-“   He cut himself off after hearing Relloc’s bemused chuckle at the euphemism.   “Either way, I think I’ve got enough in me to make this happen. I hope…”   Rel grunted as he gathered up a larger portion of his essence and pushed it through Relloc’s roots, out past the island into the Aquaeductus proper. Outside of this space, Relloc’s massive body shone brilliantly with a silvery light, garnering the attention of the Hiplings and Kami alike. He continued focusing on releasing the energy until he felt it return to him on the other side, then continuing to flow through him in a stable cycle, completing the circuit. Slowly letting go of the current, one finger at a time just in case it started failing again, he visibly reappeared outside of the great tree while brushing his hands off and grinning at all those now gathered.   “A lovely morning to you all! Nothing to be alarmed by, just had to fix something. What’s for breakfast?”  

After joining the mid-morning Pile and breakfast, Rel walked amongst his little ones and the Kami, listening to their adventures and what they’ve learned. Apparently, there had been quite a few discoveries while he was resting; he was proud of their accomplishments that did not require his intervention or guidance, they were starting to show signs of being able to take care of themselves and each other. He knew the day would come that they would leave the safety of the Pocket, ready to explore this world being shaped by many Dreamers, even if it was going to result in them being frightened and most likely harmed, if not outright killed. There was always that risk, to be honest, but they were starting to accept that they should meet the world on their terms before it came to them while unprepared. To that end, Rel was genuinely surprised; observation combined with relaxation leads to inspiration after all, but the methods of perspiration they came up with on their own were unique to their understanding of how the world works.

The first thing he learned of was the refinement of the Hiplings’ respect and reverence for the Kami. By extending the perspective of the essence of the Kami to the natural surroundings they inhabited, the Hiplings began showing a greater deference to the world around them, basing decisions on how their actions would more positively align with nature. While this applied to all of the Hiplings, some took it further, whole-heartedly committing their way of life to this concept. They studied the movements of life on the island, observing the lifecycles of plants and animals, doing their best so as not to disturb it as they went about their lives. These Hiplings would gather in groups to share their observations with each other and think of ways to guide others who wish to live as they. They came to agreement on established best methods, practices, and what their beliefs stand for, dedicating it to memory, to teach others should they choose to listen. Rel may not have been a Dreamer of the Wilds, but he could appreciate the concept of innovations evolving  with  the environment rather than simply using natural resources for the sake of innovation. He held out his cupped hands, willing a portion of his Dreaming to take the shape of an yvapurũ sapling, and beckoned them to follow. Once again with a destination in mind, his steps quickly brought him within sight of the left river, only this time he brought the Hiplings with him. Glancing about with wide-eyed wonder at where they were and how quickly they arrived, they let out little chuffs of surprise, their ears wiggling to signal amusement; it would have taken them almost two months to walk this far.

While holding the sapling in one hand, Rel pressed his free hand to the ground, willing the soil down deep enough for the tree to take hold. Placing the sapling into the newly created hollow, the soil shifted back into place to hold it secure, and he stepped back. As the Hiplings watched, the tree grew to its full fifteen-meter height in a matter of minutes, with white spindly flowers growing all along the trunk and branches. Those flowers were then replaced by large, dark, almost grape-like berries. Rel turned to face the Hiplings and nodded to them.   “This is an yvapurũ and it is to be a symbol of your group. While it stands tall, the roots are small and strong, much like yourselves.”   He plucked a handful of the berries off the trunk and gave a berry to each of the little ones.   “These are sweet-foods, go ahead and try them.”   Rel popped a berry into his mouth, enjoying the tart sweetness with a smile, and the Hiplings followed suit. Continuing while they ate, he opened his arms in an encompassing gesture.   “You will be the stewards of this island which I call The Pocket, but you are free to name it for yourselves, defending it from harm with Relloc’s help. This shall be your sacred grove, that only you and those who wish to follow your ways shall be able to find and enter, where you can find the quiet necessary to explore your connections with the land. By the berries you have eaten, you now have access to a portion of the Dream within you; with it, you will be able to do many things like I can, only within your limits. Perhaps the Kami will be better able to help you shape your power; the ways of the Wilds are not in my Dreams like they are in yours.”   Rel crushed a berry in his hand, using his thumb to wipe the juice across their closed eyes, marking their skin with a deep purple band.   “This is how the other Hiplings shall know you and your purpose, by the bands of the yvapurũ; guide the Hopeful well, towards a better future that builds with nature and its preservation in mind. Now, let us get back to the village. I don’t want any of you to miss lunch!”  

The Yvapurũ dispersed amongst the village in Relloc’s branches once they all returned, eager to tell the story of their adventure with Rel, the Eldest. Rel chuckled at that, sometimes forgetting that his appearance in the minds of the viewer is that of whatever race they are most comfortable with.   “I suppose I  am  the Eldest of the Hiplings, what with the voluminous beard and my calling all of the Hiplings ‘Little Ones’. Hmm, I wonder what’s next on the agenda? It’s not even close to the mid-day feast and Pile yet, so let’s just pick a direction and wander. Hasn’t failed me yet!”   He turned to walk to the outskirts of the Great Tree’s shadows and meandered towards the western cliffs, blending in with the scenery. Halfway there, he came upon an interesting scene; a Hipling and a Kami just sitting on a fallen tree chatting while sharing breakfast. This particular Kami had taken the shape of a Hipling, formed of reddish-yellow petals to match the light orange, almost peach-colored, skin of its log-mate. He was unsure if the Kamii even needed to eat, given their more elemental nature, but it still brought a portion of its shared meal to its “face” only to have the food break down and flow into itself. Rel smiled warmly at the sight; rather than just take the food and do nothing with it, the Kami understood the importance of eating shared meals to a Hipling. They also seemed to have learned how to communicate with each other as the Kami chuffed happily and excitedly wiggled its “ears” while the Hipling was talking.

 “So, there I was, standing at the Eldest’s gate waiting to see if he was ever going to come out again. It had been months since his last visit, right? I started to wonder if maybe he had gone off to the Far Away, watching the Bigguns to see if there were any new things that happened. About that time, I pushed the gate open and wandered through his orchard to grab a fallen mango on my way to his home. Speaking of, I brought some with me! Here.”  The Hipling known as Blossom reached into her pack, handed the Kami a few slices of dried mango, and continued with her story.  “So, I head in there as the door was slightly open, wondering if I should have knocked on the doorway first, when I see Rel passed out his bench-chair thing. Just completely gone, like he ate five big meals and couldn’t fight off the sleepiness; that’s probably something you’ve never experienced, is it? Oh, it’s a glorious feeling, that long nap after eating just a little too much.”  Blossom rested her head on the Kami’s shoulder and sighed contentedly, remembering her last long nap. The Kami, in turn, tilted its head to rest gently on top of Blossom’s head as if giving a gentle hug with its cheek. After a few moments passed, Blossom’s story perked up again, keeping her head rested where it was.  “Toast on his robe, plate on the floor, snoring as loud as twenty Hiplings. I was about to get closer, to try to wake him, when he brought his leg up and let loose a mighty wind with a sound that would put the loudest river frog to shame!”  Blossom started laughing as she pantomimed the action and tried mimicking the noise with her mouth, which only made her laugh even harder.

The Kami looked startled at Blossom’s reaction, not having the base of knowledge to understand what she was talking about, then it made a sound like quickly rustling leaves. This is the first time Rel had seen a Kami draw knowledge from Relloc and heard a Kami laugh along at a story; of course, it had to be about him being a little gassy after eating too many nuts. He reddened a little with embarrassment, but if it could lead to a shared experience between Kami and Hipling, the chagrin at his expense was well worth it. Shaking his head, he listened on as Blossom gained control of her giggles and went on with her tale.  “I ran out of there as quickly as I could before my laughing could wake him; just wouldn’t be kind to wake up with someone laughing and you not knowing why. Thankfully, there were a couple of starbirds up in the trees as I barged through the gate, otherwise the walk back home would have taken forever. A few nuts and berries were all the coaxing they needed to grab my vine ropes and carry me back.”  She giggled slightly, reminiscing about that bit of fun, then squeezed the Kami gently with a hug.  “As much as I love our morning talks, I should probably get back to gathering the cachoos and berries. Hmm, I don’t think we have ever given each other names. My name is Blossom, what is your name?”  The Kami made a sound like a gentle breeze and shifting river sand.  “That is going to be hard for me to say properly, but I will practice! Would it be alright if I gave you a name that’s just between us, so if I don’t see you I can call out to you when I’m nearby?”  Nodding, the Kami rested its chin on a hand, waiting to hear what it would be called.   “Puká-iwitu-iwikũĩ.  That is First Hipling, what our eldest spoke before Rel awoke from the Dream, that roughly means ‘Laughing Wind Sand’. I think that fits well, yes? Bit of a mouthful, really, so I’ll just call you Puká for short.” 

At the end of Blossom’s naming,  ‘Puká-iwitu-iwikũĩ’ , the Kami’s head lifted from its hand with a look of surprise, and it made a quiet and sharp sound like a branch snapping off in the distance. Its essence felt subtly changed; more unique and defined, connected to this particular Hipling of the Hopeful, able to understand its words, intentions, and being without needing Relloc’s guidance. It nodded in enthusiastic agreement at the gift of a name between them, then it did something that Rel, the Hiplings, perhaps the entire First World, has not ever experienced. It physically spoke back with only slightly accented Hiplish, in a voice like Summer’s tender breath.   “Tsoromind nieir fier sulntik,”   Blossom felt a warmth spread throughout her body upon hearing the words, sensed a deeper connection to the life around her, her mouth opening slightly in wonder.   “This is my name-gift to you, little Hipling. It means ‘Blossoming Flower of Friendship’ in the wordspeak of my kind. It will be only slightly less difficult for you to speak than the sound-meanings of my name. As you also gave me ‘Puká’, I shall give you ‘Tsoromind’. This giving of names makes me happy, Tsoromind. The one you know as Relloc tells us that the Others outside of the pocket only speak with us to bargain for our blessings, if they speak to us at all; give and take. You and yours do not ask anything of us; you share with us your stories, kindness, and ‘food’, which Relloc tells us is one of the most important aspects of offerings amongst your kind. You include us in your daily activities, in your play, in your decisions. You treat us as equal to you, even though we are both more and less in comparison, showing concern for our well-being by not destroying our physical connection to this world.”   The Kami paused for a moment, searching for the words.   ” We have kinship amongst our kind, Kami and Hipling, what you call ‘love’. I, and mine, are thankful for this, Tsoromind. Come, let me show you what it is to be Kami, and you can show me what it is to be Hipling.”  

Rel stood there in open-mouthed astonishment as the pair walked off, feeling slightly lessened in spirit, as if that resonance drew its existence from him. When he explained the importance of the Kami to the Hiplings, he did not realize his guidance had planted such a bond between the two, for their sparks to resonate as one. His heart swelled with joy at the unexpected outcome, and he felt his connection with his avatar grow stronger.   ”I’m sure you sensed this interaction, Relloc. In their own way they have become like us; bonded physically and through essence. Can you share this knowledge with the others, both Hipling and Kami, so they may continue to grow their commune together?”   He exerted a bit of his will through to the great tree, to provide the necessary energy to empower the future bondings, and felt his avatar spread it out to the Hopeful. With that small effort made, Rel’s reality flickered, as if he were in both the Void and setting foot upon the First World. Closing his eyes and taking in a calming breath, he waited for the sensation to pass; he had been sleeping for months at a time before now, his physical body was getting easier to exhaust the more he distributed his Dreaming and an unalterable knowledge filled his mind. He was a dream of the Void made manifest, a godling on its way to achieving ascendancy in the hierarchy of existence, and soon he would be unable to share in the simple delights of his creation. He drew a sharp breath at this realization, this inevitability, and slowly released it as he came to terms with the idea.    ”It is what it is, my man. Remember what you thought before, ‘You can't stop something from happening, you can only redirect its course, hopefully into something useful. Go with the flow, enjoy the ride while it lasts. Sometimes the journey changes you, forms you into something more beneficial for the world around you, letting it grow from your journey too.’ The little ones can still come to you at the Bungalow and you are able to join with Relloc; nothing is lost to you, just changing how you can interact with it. Besides, there’s still time to appreciate these finer details and the closeness with the Hopeful, so just live in the now. Is-ness, Rel, is-ness.”    Opening his eyes, he was firmly back in the First World, and he strode off with renewed purpose.

On his way back to center of the Pocket, he watched as a group of Kami calmed a gathering of Hipling trappers and a jumping spider with a missing foreleg that was attempting to abscond with a rodent the little hunters had snared. Through images, the Kami explained that the spider was a hunter like them, trying to survive just as they were. The spider chittered curiously at the trap, trying to figure out a way to get at the prize inside, while the rodent stood stock still and breathing rapidly. One of the braver Hiplings came forward slowly, rationalizing there was plenty to go around for they could always trap another, and looked up at the spider cautiously. The spider’s chelicerae twitched as the Hipling approached, unsure if it should flee or strike, when one of the Kami laid a hand upon its cephalothorax as if telling it to be at ease. It released the trap from its pedipalps, backing away from it and the hunter, as the Hipling flipped the trap up to face the latched gate toward the spider. Climbing on top of trap, careful not to expose any limbs to the captured rodent, it waited for the Kami’s instructions. Acting as a translator between the arachnid and the hunter, it revealed to the spider that the little two-legs would share their meal with it, should it not bite at them or try to spin them up in its strands. It waved its abdomen as if in acknowledgement, then lowered its body to the ground, all of its eyes now focusing on the rodent inside. While the other Hiplings watched nervously, the brave little hunter quickly flipped the latch which raised the gate and they dropped behind the trap, for it to act as a shield just in case. As the rodent tried to quickly climb free, the spider was quicker, darting forward to sink its fangs into the creature and jumping back with its prey still clutched close in its pedipalps. The Hiplings watched in stunned silence as it ate; they always escaped into their pocket places when the big things got too close, so this was their first time seeing one of the spiders eat. After the initial shock wore off, they reset the trap while the arachnid was occupied with its meal and scampered off to check the other traps for today.  As they went along, an Yvapurũ joined them and the hunters shared their story; it was agreed from then on that one of the Yvapurũ would join a group of hunters when they went out, to speak to animals as the Kami did, and so it went at three other traps. It seemed the same spider was following them, as there could not be many missing the same leg, circling ahead of them as it sensed the successfully trapped rodents. While not a successful hunt in the traditional sense, the Hipling hunters gained the trust of a new friend by adapting their sharing of food in a novel way and with the help of both Kami and Yvapurũ alike, gradually being able to work up their courage to pet it after a Kami was able to explain to it that the hunters were not a threat and wanted to show affection. Keeping his distance, Rel observed this adventure play itself out with only a little trepidation; had the Kami or Yvapurũ not been there, things would have likely gone very differently. Hopefully, the addition of either a Kami-bonded Hipling, the purple-banded ones, or possibly a Kami-bonded Yvapurũ will become procedure for every hunting party, as some of the beasts of this world may not be as docile as a jumping spider. He shuddered at the thought, and feeling a little wearier as the day seemed to be moving faster than he would have liked, he continued on his way to speak with Relloc about the upcoming changes for them both. He also wanted share what time he had left with his little ones, since their age of exploration was drawing near and his ability to be among them in this current fashion was coming to its end.

While all of the Hiplings were quick to learn, a good few of them were quicker than others and shared in Rel’s capability of performing mental calculations just by looking at drawings. After conversing with his avatar, he asked these inventive minds to make a visit to the Bungalow, wanting to see just how capable they were. They arrived the following morning as the sun was rising, looking very excited; whether because of the invitation or their first time travelling at Kami-assisted speed, Rel wasn’t sure. He smiled as he watched the Kami come to rest upon them, taking the form of woven vine wide belts, rings of copper, floral headdresses, and in the case of the Yvapurũ, a spider silk necklace ornamented with a teak symbol of their sacred tree.   ”Come on up to the deck and enjoy a second breakfast with me, we will get to why I invited you as you eat. Fruits, nuts, fish, nectarine juice, and something special to drink that clears the mind fog after waking up when it’s just too early.”   Pointing in the direction of the low tables with assortments for them to sit at on the deck, Rel walked into his home for a few minutes, then came back out with a large beetle shell tray with steaming wooden cups. Placing one in front of each of his guests, he took the last one as he set the tray down on his workbench, holding the cup in both hands to bring it under his nose and inhaled slowly with closed eyes before opening them again to watch all of them. They all did the same, then opened their eyes in happy surprise. This new drink smelled good! One with a beard almost as bushy as Rel’s went to take a sip when the other assembled Hiplings snorted once in protest, making the over-eager Hipling pause, and follow their gazes to Rel who still had yet to take a drink. A matter of politeness amongst the little ones, they only begin their meals until after the eldest one among them takes a bite or sip. Rel was not above a little mischief, so he kept them waiting, still watching. After a few more moments, he chuckled with an impish twinkle in his eyes and nodded at the bearded Hipling.   ”We don’t have all day, longbeard, take a sip so we can begin!”   They all grinned at that, wiggling their ears delightedly as the  second  eldest took his first sip, and waited to see his verdict. The longbeard’s ears twitched erratically once, twice, before he took another sip and grinned widely. Rel took the time to explain how to make the drink, from the shrubs as tall as trees where the fruits were found, the planting and growth cycle, their harvesting, the roasting, down to the exacting details of proper grinding and preparation. Once he felt they had a firm grasp of the concept, the morning feast truly commenced. This was going to be a good morning, indeed!

Rel laid out his sketches on the workbench while the others were enjoying their breakfast and the new drink called coffee, or as the Hiplings called it, “Jitter Juice”. He sipped at his own cup, sighing happily, as he let them finish before going over the ideas he had. Pointing over to the right of his home, there was a small-scale mock-up of the Rest, complete with the new addition of the Triangle Pass, though the term small-scale was relative. It was about the size of a five-storied human building made of stone, with two “rivers” running down the sides, and the Pass was two stories high and twice as wide at the top. He then motioned over to his sketches, bringing them over to the work bench for them to take a look. In the drawings, there was a switchback set of stairs leading from the base of the mountain up to the opening, multiple rooms large enough for the biggest Hiplings carved into the sides of the Pass, tubes dug through the stone of the mountain leading to basins on the walls that could be controlled by lifting a water stop and finer tubes within the ceiling to provide a nearly continuous gentle misting, and numerous planter boxes on the sides and ceiling for insect-attracting plants to be grown in. Near the bottom point of the Triangle there would be anchor points for ropes to be tied around, either to aid in climbing or some other purpose known only to Rel. Within the rooms there would be places for beds, river-fed pools with drainplugs, and food preparing spaces. Along the outline of the triangular openings on either side of the mountain and equidistant rows on the sides within the Pass, would be seams of orichalcum, sun-rock to the Hiplings, and a line drawn to Relloc. The Hiplings scratched their heads, looking at the drawings, wondering what the Eldest had in mind. It took them a few more seconds of contemplation before the discussions and plans started to pour forth; a lookout point, a resting area for those who want to climb high, a mountain retreat for those who need to contemplate what it is like to be among the stars? There were benefits to any and all of these ideas, but they didn’t know what the end result should be. The knew Rel was asking them to build something, though, so why not build one thing that encompasses all these projects? They hurried over to their “little” Rest and got to work on implementing Rel’s designs with the assistance of the Kami’s nature-shaping abilities and the input from the Yvapurũ on how the overall plan would best suit the ecology of the mountain.

Rel watched them as they worked, nodding as the little ones worked together to make the work not only go faster, but also allowed for collective suggestions for amendments during creation which saved them from revisiting ideas later. Once they were done, he marveled at their creative ingenuity, they actually improved upon his design. Creating two sets of stairs with a tightly corrugated ramp in between them and adding guardrails to the outer edges. When asked why they did this, they said that they may need to bring carts with them; the ramp was ridged like it was to provide extra traction if needed and by putting stairs on either side it allowed for better control over heavier loads. Rubbing his chin, he then pointed to the rooms carved into the mountainside along the stairs, to which they explained that a place to rest may be needed as there were a lot of stairs to reach the Pass. He looked at the deep-set caves next to the rooms and they followed his gaze. Before he could ask, they added that there could also be heavy rain which would make things too dangerous for carts or could damage the contents of the cart. Looking even closer, he noticed many small holes in the expansive flat landings where the stairs switched directions; they had managed to add drainage channels under the stairs which fed back into the river via underground stone pipes from the base of the stairs, preventing any flooding at ground level. Walking up the stairs to their end, he discovered that that they curved gently into the mountain itself, with orichalcum beams running along the walls and ceiling giving off enough pale silvery light to illuminate the inside of the tunnels. Rel paused, scratching his beard while looking up at the lighting. One of the Yvapurũ revealed that they discovered, depending on which root of Relloc the sun-rock touched, it was either a sun-rock or a moon-rock. The golden glow of that much sun-rock would be too harsh for the confines of the stairwell and inner rooms, but moon-rock provided enough soft illumination to recognize faces and allow for easier sleeping.

Every room on the sides of the Pass could be accessed from both the stairs and the outside, with a long balcony connecting each of the rooms on that particular level. Within the wide stone railing of the balcony rested the water basins with flowing water, but he didn’t see the water stops, which confused him until he got to the end. He saw that they designed the basins in such a way that they would fill until reaching an overflow drain. A well-pleased grin crept across his countenance upon seeing this; he didn’t even think of that as a possibility, yet here it was, and he was happily upstaged by his Hopeful! Gazing up, Rel saw another deviation from his original plans, seeing that they built the planters within the bottom of the balconies directly under the basins. Tilting his head to the side, he didn’t comprehend the why of their design. Turning to them with a look of confusion, they just grinned at him and looked up behind him, their ears wiggling with excitement. With a bemused smirk, he did as they wordlessly directed, and kept looking. He caught a faint glimmer of light fall from the balcony into the planters and now that he knew what to look for, he saw many falling glints of light. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again, having realized that the overflow drains down into a droplet system inside the balconies. It prevented the plants from being overwatered and the soil just moist enough for the plants to thrive. Clever, very clever! Thankfully, for what little bit of ego he had, they kept the misting system and the orichalcum lighting seams the way he designed. For now, at least, until they could come up with a better idea. He turned back to face them, his eyes glistening under the moon-rock dispensed light, opening his arms wide. They all gathered in for a group hug, feeling Rel’s joy and satisfaction with what they accomplished; they understood what he wanted, gave him more than what he asked of them, and more importantly, came up with ideas of their own with minimal to no guidance from him. They were well on their way to being little Makers themselves, taking their first steps towards improving their world and perhaps the lives of the other races on the First World, ready to show them what it meant to be Hopeful…

Easing his embrace, they were all back on the Pocket proper along with the mock-up Rest, at the right distance for a bit of perspective. Rel stood in front of the model, growing to a height where he could grasp the sides of the small-scale mountain and pull it back just enough to where it lined up with the real mountain, using the Triangle Pass as a guide. Once the openings matched up, he placed his hands flat on either side of the model and exerted all but the last of his earthly power with closed eyes and a grunt. He opened his eyes when he heard them all gasp, no longer feeling anything within his grasp and saw that mock-up became one with the Rest, everything to scale. The mock-up was one thing, actually constructing all this on and in the mountain would be too monumental a task for hands as small as theirs in the timeframe he suspected he had left to him. Shrinking back down to their size, he smiled sheepishly at them and shrugged.   ”You came up with a better design than I did. The least I could do was make it real for you. Let’s get back to the village, we wouldn’t want to miss lunch, would we?”  

After spending the rest of the day with the Hiplings, joining their feasts, Piles, and sharing in their tales, he rested for the night in a combined state with Relloc so he could be with all the Hopeful at once. Rel joined the Hiplings in their dreams and manifested near the Kami of the Pocket, relaying how proud he was of them and the progress they had made both individually and together. He explained, as gently as he could, about his impending transformation and what that would entail for them. That he would still be able to visit them in their dreams or as the Great Tree Relloc, and that they would be able to visit him anytime they wanted at his home.    ” I love you, little ones, more than I can express. And to the Kami, while I am not your creator, you have just as special a place in my heart as my Hiplings. To me, you are one and the same, equally deserving of affection and respect. I’m not leaving any of you, I’m just going to be having more responsibilities watching over you as you get ready to explore the world of the Bigguns and making sure you are as prepared for this adventure as I can, and that means I have to stay focused on a much bigger picture. Think of it like this; from up in a tree’s branches, you can see more of the ground below than you could if you were down in the bushes, yes? That is what I will be doing from my home, watching all of you, no matter where you are. But not yet, not tonight. Tonight, I am going to listen to all your songs, stories, and jokes. I will play any game you want me to play. Answer all questions you may have to the best of my ability. There is much you can teach me as well; while I may know quite a bit, I am not all-knowing. I want to learn what it means to be Hipling, what it means to be Kami, from your experiences and perspectives. You have my full attention tonight, my Hopeful, show me how to truly Dream!”   
 
 Spoiler: AP Spending 
AP Remaining After Rollover: 12
Refund from original Divine Magic posting: 2
AP Total: 14

 Create Mythical Concept (4AP) - Divine Magic:  Divine Magic is a fraction of godly essence/power gifted to those who offer reverence to deities, avatars, concepts of nature, and/or true devotion to a philosophical ideology(Law/Chaos/Good/Evil), enabling the gifted to perform actions similar to Gods but on a much smaller scale, while bearing the "signature" of their chosen belief structure(left up to the player/writer what their god's "signature" might look like). Anyone can tap into Divine Magic if their faith is strong enough for their god to notice, but the truly devoted can be granted a Domain themed ability suited to their chosen devotion, while Heroes can be granted two. [Dream (Inspiration) 8/10]

 Create Mythic Sub-Concept (2AP) - Druidism (Divine Magic):  Druidism is an embodiment of nature’s resilience, cunning, and fury. Its followers claim no mastery over nature. Instead, they see themselves as extensions of nature’s indomitable will. Revering nature above all, believers gain their powers either from the force of nature itself (Kami) or from a nature deity. Many pursue a mystic spirituality of transcendent union with nature rather than devotion to a divine entity, while others serve gods of wild nature, animals, or elemental forces. Practitioners are also concerned with the delicate ecological balance that sustains plant and animal life, and the need for people to live in harmony with nature, not in opposition to it. Leaving the powers unlisted so others have room to adapt for their purposes, but the powers should reflect a connection with nature; shapeshifting into or speaking with animals or plants (including animals/plants created with the Create Monster action such as jumping spiders, auroch, and banyan trees), causing plants to grow larger, quicker, or perhaps deadlier, localized (200 meters) earthquakes and weather effects, etc... These powers are in lieu of the domain-themed abilities granted by Divine Magic.  [Dream (Inspiration 10/10; DOMFOLIO GET!]

 Create Organization (1AP) - The Yvapurũ:  A druidic order of Hiplings who have been tasked with the protection and preservation of the land within the Pocket, guiding the Hopeful towards building their civilization with the conservancy of nature rather than solely consuming resources for their needs. If they happen to come across races other than the Kami and Hipling, who are of like mind, they would be willing to teach once the language barrier has been removed.  [Creation (Bounty) 5/10]

 Create Mythic Sub-Concept (2AP) - Kami Bonding (Divine Magic):  Currently locked to Hiplings; through the equal treatment between Hipling and Kami, the Hipling reverence towards the Kami (plural being Kamii?), and the Kami appreciation of the Hiplings' innate kindness, the two races have formed a spiritual bonding that benefits both. When a Hipling and a Kami give each other a meaningful name, their sparks/souls resonate with each other; at that point the Hipling can utilize some of the abilities of the Kami (such as blending in with surroundings, not leaving behind physical scent or tracks, limited elemental and/or environmental shaping/attacks/defenses, methods of mobility) while the Kami can consider the Hipling to be an extension of their environment which allows the Kami to travel outside of their usual boundaries to explore the greater world. Should the need arise, the resonance can be severed by either party, with the Kami instantaneously rejoining their local area. For example; if a Hipling realizes they are about to perish, the resonance can be severed, and the Kami appears at the place of initial bonding. [Community (Family) 5/10]

 Teach Advanced Concept (1AP) - Beast Taming:  With gentle guidance from the Kami, the Hiplings learned they did not always need to fear the bigger animals; more often than not, they just wanted sustenance, much like the Hiplings themselves. Using a food-based reward and training methods, the Hiplings began the process of befriending animals of all kinds. [Creation (Bounty) 6/10]

 Create Advanced Concept (2AP) – Engineering:  While studying with Rel, many of the adult Hiplings were gifted with the understanding of how to solve technical problems, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve systems whether through building something new or improving on already existing structures and systems. [Creation (Bounty) 8/10]

 Create Advanced Sub-Concept (1AP) – Civil Engineering:  Combining the teachings of Rel and the Yvapurũ, the Hipling engineers have mastered the application of physical and scientific principles for solving the problems of society through design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, sewage systems, pipelines, and structural components of buildings. [Creation (Bounty) 9/10]

 Create Mundane Concept (1AP) – Coffee:  While some of the effects may be antithetical to the love of relaxation, the exacting process of preparing the perfect brew can be calming and there are rare occasions when heightened alertness is necessary. While the Hiplings have mastered the process of growing, harvesting, roasting, and preparing the fruits necessary for making “Jitter Juice”, they will be quick to offer a cup, with food, as a gesture of friendship. [Creation (Bounty) 10/10; DOMFOLIO GET!]

AP Spent: 14
AP Remaining: 0

Progress:
[Creation (Bounty) 10/10; DOMFOLIO GET!]
[Dream (Inspiration) 10/10; DOMFOLIO GET! Lesser Deity status achieved!]
[Healing (Repairs) 1/10]
[Community (Family) 5/10]
 
DasIrrlicht
 
 Originally Posted by DasIrrlicht 
 timecrunch 
 

 Naseki  , Water &amp; Blood 
The first  true  warships have left port. The Noble has dabbled with the concept for a while, to create some ships to escort merchants and collect people who decided to attempt a ocean crossing. Able to defend itself against attacks from Seafolk Leviathans, and at least hold itself against dragons long enough to have other ships escape. Maybe even defeat some if grouped up. Its sails made from the wool that has become cheaper over time. Its rigging using the thick silken strings the Spiders have been able to produce. Its armament using both freezing and incendiary scorpio-ballista, as well as faster to shoot rocket-arrow-arrays. Truly, the defenses as normally only a city or a army can provide, spread around ships of different sizes and purposes. Real beauties.

 

 "Hey, keep the children away from that mountain!"  The sheepherd shouts at the traveling troupe of musicians and their family.  "What, do the Necromancers not watch their servants correctly?" "I wish. No, the nobles have gotten the absurd idea of taming the jumping spiders, permanently. It is... Working, somehow. They got a whole swarm there. Won't harm you, but your small ones may be not that lucky. The way some of them eyed my sheepdogs has me a bit on edge..." 

 

The pile of limbs was moving. That alone would not have been to unusual for the forest of Bahl, but this pile was not cursed by the members of the warhost. No, this one was a creature of its own, a ooze made up of thick blood and flesh fragments, arms, legs and even some heads with their mouths agape occasionally poking out. Most of the hands where clambering to weapons they wielded when their owners still lived, and a uncompfortable ammount of arrows has collected along the creatures back.

The clot has been wandering a recently destroyed camp, weaving off-path to consume more bodies and add their limbs to its outer shell. In truth, however, it has a goal on its fragmented and simple mind. A face, a person, who has caused a lot of suffering to the prey this slime consumed. How the Bloodclot knew where the person was is unknown, how the fact that the person even exists at all is known to it is a absolute mystery.

Yet something about the suffering drove it. A pile of ooze and corpses wanting revenge for a crime they are unaware they where a victim of, heading deeper into the forest, absorbing more stray suffering as it approaches the hideout of its target...

 

The deal was simple. She would be leading a group of settlers and soldiers over to the east, once again. This time, however, she would recive backing from a number of different cities, in which name she should be founding a new one. Unlike Port Tale, which has grown organically after a troubled begining, this new city will be stamped out of the ground artificially. A defensive fortress from wich the Chain will spread its infulence in a new, yet oh so old land...

But first, they will need to travel the distance. A actual fleet worth of vessels, large transports and many a warship. In tow, fisher boats to establish a early food production once landed. Small herds of Sheep and a swarm of Domesticated Jumping Spiders. Barrel after barrel of raw materials. Tools and plans for heavier designs. Experts in magics of different kinds. Uncountable workers, mercenaries, sailors. Humans and Gelaton alike. Even a Cultivar of the Medow Bloom takes part in the expedition.

And what they all had in common was a Oath sworn to their leader. The black-as-ink Gelaton mostly goes by  'The Lady'  both for her followers and anyone else mentioning her. Trough she does apparently have a name from before she became a Inksworn, and does carry an actual title from the abysal labarinths of sorts. Yet nobody seems to know what her actual title is.
 
 Spoiler: Naseki AP Spending 
 11 AP LEFT 
 4 AP ROUNDSTART 
 0 AP - Mundane Concept  [MUA Charge]
  (Sheep) Herding 
Naturally, sheeps and goats are the most obvious choice to Herd. The lesser cows and even the rare herd of Aurochs exist as well. Most herds are keept for their wool or milk, throwing of some meat as a side business as lambs get sold of to be butchered. There are rare cases of more 'special' herds, breeding to sell the animals of whole for different uses, or herding rarer animals or even monsters.  1 AP - Sub-Monster  (Of Jumping Spiders) [Creation(Alchemy) 9/10]
  Domesticated Jumping Spiders 
Always tameable, it was manipulation of their feed and breaktroughs of selective breeding that made the commin Jumping Spider more useful to Society as a whole. The resulting arachnids are much more pack-oriented and prefer to consume more, but smaller prey which they can also feed their offspring. This, in turn, makes them less a thread to people... If not directed by people, that is.

Despite their changes in behavior, they are still far from harmless. Both suitable to ride the jagged terrain away from the roads of the triangular chain, and able to shoot rope-like silk strings at a moving target, they are well on their way to replace Aurochs as the beast of choice for most non-agrarian purposes.  1 AP - Teach Mundane Concept  [Creation(Alchemy) 10/10]
  Textiles 
Textiles are not new to the chain. Most clothes on the triangular chain come from wool, leather and petals of the bovine lotus. But over time, the treatments improved, so the current cloths are not behind in durability of strength. Their weight however still tends to be on the heavier side.  2 AP - Raise Hero  [Water(Travel) 3/10]
  The Lady, Inksworn of Oaths 
A surprisingly old, yet forever youthful Gelaton of ink-like complexion, the stains not being limited to their hands as it has spread trough her whole body. The gel-body emulates that of a human in most features, but she forgoes forming any facial features, making her hard to read at times. Both her name and her title are keept secret, even by the ones that know them, but one can infer rather easily that it has to do with the process of swearing a oath, a binding promise or agreement of sort to fulfill tasks or embody certain ideals, made willingly.

After the mixed success of her first expedition, she has started to get quite a following, as well as some wealthy backers. The Lady seems to prefer to avoid fighting when words can solve a problem peacefully, but if that fails, or a foe is seen as to deeply corrupt or evil to attempt and compromise, a Sword and shield are her weapons of choice. She does dabble in the magical arts, but it does not seem like she found the ones right for her yet.  ________ 
 11 AP Left 
 1 MUA Charge 
 1 GUA Charge 

Progress:
 Creation(Alchemy) 10/10 
Water(Travel) 3/10
 
Zelphas
  Turn and Turn Again  

Salet had run out of time. It knew this. And so, it returned to its place. The rock that had been and would be Telas was still in its place, though the place had changed much. Perhaps its other would enjoy the change. Salet knew it was no more its concern. And so, Salet returned to where it came, wondering, only for a moment, if it would come back again.

...

..they could rest and watch for a time--

Telas became abruptly aware that they had lost time, somewhere.

Their surroundings changing drastically, the stamp of a different god upon their place, was something they accepted and set aside; they had hoped to hide within another being's choices, and this gave them the opportunity to do so. They would look at this later. Instead, their focus went to the creatures they had been watching most closely, before... before something had happened.

Much had changed with the Yloch.

Telas watched as the Yloch traveled a vast underground space, larger than they could have made themselves. When had this appeared, and how could it have come to be? They watched as sinkholes appeared on the surface, small and fleeting, dragging flora and fauna into this underground cavern. Vast stretches of the caverns were covered in thick, moss-like growths in a multitude of colors; these growths fed on one another and were eaten by everything underground, yet always returned.

Telas saw a vaguely spiderlike figure made from stone, which lived with others of its kind shaping stone into alien geometries. This figure came upon a fallen human with some delight, gathered it up, and dragged its form towards an obelisk, pushing the struggling creature into the stone as if the solid surface was water. The obelisk morphed, slowly, around the human inside it, then stepped from its pedestal and began to move, another stone spider. Telas sensed that these creatures were related to one of their earliest creations. How did this happen?

In their sight, Telas watched another event unfold; a strange, pale figure, a mess of limbs and appendages, stalked a small group of surface creatures. When one of those creatures separated from the rest, the pale monster engulfed it, then walked back to the group. In panic, the group attacked it, and it became angry and attempted to engulf them all. What could that be?

They saw tiny, blind creatures with two legs, short tails, and wide mouths hunt; each one was frail, but working together they overwhelmed foes. They saw what looked like a normal cave; when creatures walked into it, the ceiling fell, and then rose into place, leaving nothing behind. How had all of this happened?

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 0 AP + 6 AP = 6 AP 
 Funeral Rites:  Salet has died! ...For the moment. 5 AP for each of their Domains gives me  41 AP  total. Spending  20 AP  to buy the Domains and Portfolios of: Chaos (Change), Craft (Tools), Earth (Wastelands), and Emotion (Addiction). Also, spending  11 AP  to buy back: The Caverns of Yl, the Yloch, Yloch Ratum, Boulder Worms, Wormwalkers, Deep Delvers, Teach Beast Taming, Yl's Escape, and Yloch Controllers, thereby getting the Life (Worms) Domain and ascending to Lesser Deity!

Telas is back, with  10 AP . Using that to do this:

 Create Land (2 AP) - The Deepness:  A massive series of labyrinthine tunnels stretching across the known world, wedged between the surface and the endless sea beneath. There are only a few direct connections to the surface world; Yl's Escape and the Caverns of Yl are one such connection. The Deepness would be barren without connection to the surface, or covered in Triffilids (see below).  [Nature (Parasites) 3/10] 
 Curse (1 AP) - Sinkholes:  Minor, random sinkholes open throughout the world from time to time, dumping whatever is underneath them into the Deepness. There are no more than five sinkholes open at any time, and they remain open for no longer than ten minutes before closing again (most open and close within seconds).  [Nature (Parasites) 4/10] 
 Create Monstrous Life (1 AP) - Triffilids:  Triffilids are multicolored growths of fungus-like material that proliferate in the Deepness, especially near water. Nearly anything can digest and gain nutrients from Triffilids, including other Triffilids, and they are able to regrow from miniscule deposits, meaning that they are never truly eradicated and will consume themselves to continue growing if necessary.  [Nature (Parasites) 5/10] 
 Create Subrace (1 AP, from Rock Wights) - Gargoyles:  Gargoyles are what happens either when a Rock Wight has eaten enough sentient prey to gain sentience itself, or when a sentient creature is placed alive into especially-prepared stone by another Gargoyle. Spider-like creatures (with ten limbs instead of eight and no visible head), Gargoyles can manipulate solid rock easily, forming it or moving through it as if it was air or gas. While they are sapient creatures, Gargoyles do not see anything but other Gargoyles as sapient, considering flesh-creatures as food, or as essentially a means to reproduce.  [Nature (Parasites) 6/10] 
 Create Racial Society (2 AP) - Beauty:  Since Gargoyles only eat rarely, do not sleep, and have a solid understanding of when they will die by monitoring their own life-force, Gargoyles in the Deepness have dedicated themselves to one pursuit: beauty, which to them means shaping alien labyrinths out of stone and finding the best way to trap flesh-creatures and display them until use. This means that Gargoyles are often somewhat solitary, though they keep in regular contact with each other in order to admire one another's "art".  [Nature (Parasites) 8/10] 
 Create Monstrous Life (1 AP) - Mockeries:  Mockeries are aberrant creatures that attempt to mimic other creatures (especially sapient ones) and live with them. The problems in this bizarre way of life are manifold: in the first place, Mockeries first kill and replace one sapient creature in order to blend in. In the second place, a Mockery cannot tell one sapient creature from another, and so their attempts to mimic a creature end up with them displaying a horrifying mishmash of every sapient creature they have ever seen. In the third and final place, when they are not immediately accepted by the group they are trying to join, they grow angry and try to kill every creature in sight. This means that they are less "terrifying mimics" and more "nightmare murderers" in the eyes of most sapient life.  [Nature (Parasites) 9/10 
 Create Monstrous Life (1 AP) - Nipjaws:  A nipjaw is a bluish black teardrop-shaped creature standing on two stumpy, thick legs, standing about one foot high on average. the wide end of the teardrop is split in half by a large, tooth-filled maw. Ravenous pack hunters, a single Nipjaw is too weak and fragile to be a credible threat, but several Nipjaws are a formidable enemy.  [Nature (Parasites) 10/10; Domain Get! 
 Create Monstrous Life (1 AP) - False Caverns:  A False Cavern, at first glance, looks like the ceiling of a large cave. Closer inspection would reveal that all of the stalactites are oddly uniform, and the air of the cave is too warm and wet compared to the tunnels leading into and out of it. When enough creatures to make a meal for the False Cavern walk under it (this is variable depending on the size and hunger level of the Cavern), the False Cavern simply falls, crushing and absorbing the creatures under it before taking its place back as the fake ceiling. False Caverns can be killed, but preparation and skill is needed due to their size and tough hides.  [Life (Mockery) 1/10] 
 10 AP - 10 AP = 0 AP Remaining 
 
MutantDragon
  Enemies of the Mind  

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of warriors mad with a lust for slaughter gathered in the forest. Drakes and their riders gathered in numbers never before seen in one place. At their head was Harkit, resplendent in his armor and crown, deadly sword hung at his hip. All knew that when that sword was unsheathed the enemies of the sun would tremble in fear of its flaming might. And all knew that the day soon came when Harkit's blade would once again feel the open air and taste the blood of heretics. Hundred, perhaps thousands, of warriors mad with a lust for slaughter marched in the forest, chanting hymns to the sun with an eagerness that would startle most other creatures. The whole of the forest was filled with the sound of their chants, the thunder of their footsteps, and the roars of their beasts, and any who heard was filled with dread.

---

Deep in the shadows of Bhal'nabool, a spark burst into a flame. It was small and dim, but its glow could be seen clearly in the gloom of night. It flitted about the darkness with the sense of levity one would find in an otter. It was soon after its formation that the lone survivor of a small scouting party from Kish Eru that ran afoul of the flora and fauna stumbled into the clearing where the light played. Despite himself, he couldn't help but watch as the flame darted about. He couldn't for the life of him recall where he was, but he knew this wisp was pretty and playful. What was the harm in watching it? And so he watched, and, as it drifted away, he followed. He didn't't bother to look where he was going, he simply followed the light. He never even noticed as a giant insect crawled out from the underbrush.

---

Junit was not a normal girl. The other children were scared of her. Her siblings were scared of her. Her parents were scared of her. They weren't always scared of her. They mocked her or worried about her once. They thought she was always spacing out. She wasn't. She was just looking at the dead people. They were scared, the dead people. They were dying all over again. It was sad. Then she started to hear the voices. Not the dead voices; she had always heard those. No, she was hearing the voices of the people around her. Their inner voices. And she talked with them. But they didn't understand. Others would mock her when she spoke in response to thoughts, but the people spoken to became scared. It disturbed them. An older girl hit her for it. So she made the other girl hurt. She made the girl scream. She didn't hear any thoughts from the girl anymore. Now everyone was scared of her. She could hear them. She could hear all of them. They were shouting with their outer voices and inner voices. They were scared and angry and  loud.  It was too much. They were too loud. So she shouted back. Not with her outer voice, but her inner voice. And suddenly, they were all silent. No more shouting. Just quiet. And as she looked at the dead people, she saw more familiar faces than ever. And, she supposed, they were scared, but at least their wails were quieter now.

---

Carnok was gifted. He could move small objects with his mind and listen to the thoughts of the people around him. Carnok was cursed. He could move small objects with his mind and listen to the thoughts of the people around him. He walked a narrow line between madness and lucidity, but he remained sane for the time. He wondered how many of his peers could have done the same. But, still, his powers had their good parts. Why just the other day—  TERROR!   He staggered under the weight of his fellow villagers' fear. He stumbled from his cottage, mind cracking under the strain of so many minds crying out in fear. In pain. There was something new, too. Something small, and primitive, and chaotic. But it was drowned out by the cries of larger minds. By the time he disentangled his consciousness from the psychic stampede, it was too late. The goblin was already upon him.

---

The goblin was different than the others. It was spawned from one of the gifted. It lacked the intellect or will for true psychic perception of proficiency, but it had raw power that leaked from its simple mind, lashing out at everything around it. Most of the humans it chased doubled over in pain or became consumed by madness. This power could not save it from an arrow, however.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 

Rollover x2! 8AP + 10AP = 18AP

 Create Mundane Concept (War Chants) MUA:  The armies of the Empire of the Sun have taken up the practice of war chants meant to strike fear into the hearts of enemies.

 Create Monster (Will-o'-the-Wisp) GUA:  Within Bhal'nabool, the Darkness Weaver's dreams spawned this creature. They appear to be small balls of colorful flame that dance about with a seemingly playfulness. This is a deception that, combined with minor hypnotic magics, draw the weak willed into following the wisps, which then lure their victims towards natural hazards such as deep water or hungry predators. The few People of the Chain who have had occasion to learn of them have taken to referring to them as Irrlicht.

 Create Mythic Concept (Psionics) 4AP:  Sapient people of every race across the first world are occasionally born with psychic powers. The exact nature and strength of these abilities various depending on the individual, with "common" abilities including telepathy, telekinesis, and the perception of the Echo Plane, though a wide gamut of abilities can be found in particular individuals. These abilities are known to erode the sanity of the users, though it is often unclear if that comes from the abilities directly destroying the mind of simply the added terrors and stresses the powers often add to the lives of "gifted" individuals. [Mind (Insanity) 4/10]

 Create Monster (Mind Goblin) 1AP:  Mind Goblins are created when psychically gifted individuals are turned into goblins. The goblins created from the psychics posses some of that psychic's power, but none of their control or refinement. This cuts them off from the normal hive mind. Regardless of which abilities the psychic may have possessed in life, the mind goblin vents pure mental energy, overloading nearby minds and causing extreme pain or madness, though these effects can be overcome through enough will or opposing psychic force. The strength of the mind goblins psychic assault is determined by the strength of the infected psychic. [Trickery (Corruption) 10/10]  New Domain Unlocked! 

18AP - 5 AP = 13 AP
0GUA
0MUA
 
Mechalich
 Cleaning the Web 
Ecie, in looking upon the worlds within the Droplet Web, scowled. There were fine worlds to be found within the cores of Elves, Hiplings, Humans, Lolats, and especially the Onna who had been pushed towards this path. At the same time, there were also problems. Many worlds, far too many, were either stunted by the influence of internal discord or hideously tainted by devotion to external influence. Though it was in her nature to welcome connection and joining, Ecie’s mind hand expanded since her early beginnings. There was connection, and then there was corruption. Where one took two things and bound them together to create a greater whole, the other’s influence pushed on thing into dominance over the other, disrupting uniqueness and leaving behind something lesser than there had been to begin.

By this point, she struggled to full extend her awareness to the First World, so full of corrupt connection and discordant consumption as it was. So many creatures that tore and tore, and others that warped and twisted inward. She did not think it would last much longer. A sad thing, but not, in the grand scheme, especially consequential. There were many, many thousands of worlds now. The loss of one was merely the elimination of one node in the web. However, it would not do to allow such corruption to spread to the Droplet Web. It was, she saw, like that concept mortals faced: disease. The Onna had studied this, and learned to respond to infection, to the poisonous cancer of corrupted cells, through extraction, the removal of the damaged flesh to preserve the whole. It was something Ecie had absorbed herself.

The web required a cleansing, more, it required agents to protect it, to maintain a constant cleansing pressure. They would, she realized, perforce need to be potent creatures, for worlds were not some small matters to handle. It would even be preferable, she realized, if these protectors could also guide and teach, aiding in the growth and transcendence of the worlds within. As such, they would need wisdom in addition to strength.

It took some time, but eventually she grasped the form desired, and shaped these new guardians from the core strands of the web itself, empowering them within its bounds immensely. Outwardly the possessed the form of Hover Wasps, maneuverable creatures capable of removing items from spider webs, but they were formed from the very fabric of the plane itself, possessing vast size, immense power, and a slow, calculating intelligence capable of alien inspiration and pattern discernment far beyond that of mortal beings. They chose to call themselves Parischnas.

The Parischnas quickly spread throughout the Droplet Web and sliced free corrupted worlds with mighty snaps of their mandibles. Such lost inner realms were not harmed, but they were returned to the void where they resided before, unable to touch or contact any others. All those consumed by external influence were removed in this way, and a vigilant watch was kept accordingly should new damage arise.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Create Legends (5AP): Parischnas  – these beings are mythically augmented hover wasps (Parischnogaster sp.) that dwell in the Droplet Web. They have the ability to cut the fabric of the web itself, severing connections between inner worlds and, if they desire, removing such worlds from the web entirely. They are extremely sensitive to the nature of these worlds, able to discern a great deal regarding the identity of the owner from simple contact. Per the mandate of their creation, all worlds consumed by 'corruption' are immediately purged from the web. This includes any world belonging to a being lost to cannibalism, anyone who has conducted a Pact with a Temptation of related entity, all Inksworn, and anyone whose mind is subject to Lilia's love, among others.  [Law (Judgment) 5/10] 

Starting AP: 5 Rollover Gain: 6 Spent: 5 Remaining: 6
 
AlexanderML
In the Magi Realms there exists many different realms living amid a number of colorful flower-themed terrains. Yet standing out for both their choice of home and for being one of the oldest Realms founded is that of Mo'Orical.

Founded by those who wished to live outside of where the Tuatha made their home, the ruler of Mo'Orical founded his first outpost amid the dark dry expanse of the waste.

 
 Spoiler:  AP Actions 

6/20

 -(artifact charge) Create Organization - Mo’Orical, the Wasted Realm:  A magi realm that resides inside a wasteland portion of Desire Heart. Its population mainly consisting of those embraced from the Chain; they have turned this realm into an exporter of orichalcum and glassware. Its capital, the Shining City, is located next to an artificial lake that also borders the Lustrous Caverns.

 -1 AP - Teach Advance Concept - Glassware:  ‘Inventing’ the methods themselves the people of Mo’Orical discover and then master the art of creating glassware for a variety of uses. While they attempt to keep many of the trade secrets to themselves, this concept inevitably spreads to all of the Magi Realms. 7/10 Espionage (Plagiarism)

 -1 AP - Teach Advance Concept - Optics:  While other magi realms can replicate most designs of Mo’Orical on their own, the ability to design and create something that manipulates light to a complex and precise degree remains a specialty of the realm.  8/10 Espionage (Plagiarism)

 -(artifact charge) Create Mundane Concept - Orichalcum Lamps:  These lamps are designed with a small shard of orichalcum placed among a set of mirrors to maximize its luminosity. While essentially only made in Mo’Orical they are exported to other realms and beyond as durable sources of light that require no fuel or delusion.

 -(artifact charge) Alter Land - Lustrous Caverns:  These caverns located in the wasted realm of Mo’Ocrical are home to long veins of orichalcum. It is dangerous work, as the cavern twists and the light of so much orichalcum has been known to make embraced or living alike suffer a number of medical conditions with time that requires magical intervention. The people of Mo’Orical tend to view it as a prized possession, its shifting walls always appearing abundant.

The fact that it exists in Desire Heart has those few scholars who know of it and the source of arcane magic puzzled. The concept of ‘mass delusional phenomena’ is beginning to make its way around the silver scribes.

 -(artifact charge) Bless - Mist Blooms:  These flowers were given to the ruler of Mo'Orical as a gift from Chymes when he visited. They produce a soft mist that is regulated to meet the needs of any garden, the flower naturally never letting drought or flood harm plants within a garden. They have a lesser effect when carried around by humanoids, with a soft mist regulating the temperature to keep things comfortable for the wearer, though it cannot stop drowning or extreme sources of heat and cold.

The mist these flowers produce contains a small amount of Lilia's Love that is transferred to the creatures it touches. This is an even more insignificant amount than most flowers of Lilia, though when worn for long periods of time it becomes comparable to other flowers.

 -(artifact charge) Create Monstrous Life - Chimeras:  Formed from an animal’s soul placed inside the Delusion Caldron, with the creation leaving an after effect that nature recreated. Chimeras are the culmination of numerous animal souls conjoining after death, their souls unable to persist alone yet conjoined together through the delusion they are gifted by the Soliloquy. This gives them more mass than embraced souls of mortal species, yet their minds are twisted and torn in multiple directions at once. Without a tamer these creatures act unpredictably, mostly doing nothing yet capable of fierce violence or fearful flight depending on the souls that make up the chimera.

Upon death chimeras produce a small amount of Lilia's Love in the air around them, something that counts as having eaten a flower with Lilia's Love for the embraced.

Rarely through unknown means a Chimera will suddenly be transported to the First World. Many die by drowning or falling from too great a height, but some manage to survive the transfer.

4/20 remaining
 
Athedia
The Lolat airships watched the boats retreating below them.  Who would be reckless enough to to get that close to the ocean?  Even from this height a small number of them had felt the pull.  From their height they could not see the figures on the boats nor their true size.  But Glikmora had spoken with the Captain of the Fleet and word had been passed.  These were Humans.  The people of the Triangle Chain.  If they followed the boats path, they would soon reach their 'town'.

The concept of a town took a while to explain to the Lolats, never ones to remain in one place to long.  The entire concept of humans was still strange to them.  A people that raised their young?  Like animals?  The concept of children, of permanent houses, of parents, of not sticking as a people but splitting into small 'families'?  It was a strange world filled with even stranger people.

As they approached the Triangle, they could see the Great Hand approaching.  Glikmora had told the Captain of the Fleet to head north once they skirted its shadow, there they would safely find the town.  And so they did, a place of stationary sledges and floating boats.  Long wooden structures stretched out into the water, the boats seemingly attached to them.  The Lolats murmured to each other.  Were these people immune to the ocean?  Or simply did not understand what the call meant?

The Captain of the Fleet let out a call.  A landing site had been found, up a cliff behind the village.  The plants were to be kept fed and the bare minimum gas bled off.  If needed the Fleet would be able to quickly launch.


 



The fishers managed to return home rather quick, losing sight of the skyboats for a moment as they came to tell their families what they saw. Of course, the natural first reaction to flying boats was 'You are tired, you where to long on the ocean, you must have imagened being underwater already', but that was quickly rectefied as the skyboats came into view of the village. They only could make a rough guess about the size, before they seemed to come down on the closeby cliff. Boats on Land is just as weird as boats in the sky, obviously, but that should not stop some of the fishers to get some things together and prepare to meet them as they touched down.

A handful of people took the winding road upwards, each person slightly different. A old fisher, who wants to see something new in her advanced age. Some young deckhands, who only recently joined with this small town. The local gelaton, who despite their kinds distaste for water commited some research in the coastal plantlife in the hopes to make some new discoveries. And a small, hunched old man who took care of the local fish market and had his curiosity for the new outweigh the need to keep the shops staffed.

They must have arrived just as the boats touched down, for nobody seems to have left them yet to tie them down... If one even ties down skyboats... However, they could not see the heads of any people poking over the railing either?


 


Glikmora held back, wanting the Lolats to make the first contact with the new people.  But there was fear.  These people were giants, and there were no Dona who would be able to stand against them if they were a threat.  But the Captain of the Fleet, reassured them.  The gas plants were ready and there would be enough on board to take off at the sign of any threat.

Bags were gathered, filled with both live and boiled insects from their stores.  These bags were large for the Lolats, over 10 cm deep and carefully drawn shut.  A contingent from the flagship was chosen.  The Captain of the Fleet and 15 other Lolats would emerge and meet these giants.

And so they emerged, wearing the light silk coverings developed for living on the airships (with loops and pockets to help connect them to the ship in rough weather, feet and hands uncovered to improve grip).   The Captain looked up at the gathered giants as the other Lolats held aloft the gifts of food.  The Captain spoke in the Lolat's native tongue, a round bubbling language that flowed together almost seamlessly.  They expressed their joy at seeing this land that was described so long ago and a desire to know the strange peoples who lived in it.


 


They did not know what they expected, but it was not... frogs. Or at least something looing like well dressed frogs. Yes, before them was the kind of creatures that would be usually found in stories told to children. The sounds they made where not animalistic in nature however. The awnser from the humans was... a bit gruff, the voice of someone who worked their whole life. The fisherwomans language relies not much on tone and much more on the actual words spoken, stopping and starting at certain points to let words hang in the air, sometimes with longer breaks and slight swings in pronounciation to signal a new 'topic' or 'concept' starting.

Bowing down to the ground, if mostly using their knees so one can stand up again quickly, they inspected the offered pouches. Fine material, well worked. Valuable for sure... Given, a quick glance at the contents revealed them to be less exciting. Bugs, mainly. Dead, some apparently having been fried or cooked. Maybe bait to catch greater prey, but given the size of the visitors, one could not be sure.

The Gelaton tried to replicate the sounds the frog-people made, and did so surprisingly well. However it was clear that that was just parroted and not a exact understanding of the language, before they returned to say something in the same language as the fisher... If not anywhere as gruff. Either way, the Fisherwoman put the pouch to the side, and extended a hand towards the frogs. A gesture of greeting maybe?


 


The Lolats looked at each other in confusion.  The one at the front stepped forward and held its hand out in front of it in the same manner, imitating the actions of the large woman.  Behind it the rest of the Lolats mimicked the gesture.

Glikmora moved behind the crowd of people, examining them.  She had never truely processed the difference in the languages during her travels, automatically understanding and being understood.  But mortals did not exhibit this ability.   A disappointing discovery.   She watched the awkward meeting as both groups confused the other with new customs.

She would need to figure out a solution.  Something near universal that both these people and hers could use.   Her eyes widened, the rains.  She reached out to her creations brewing in the sky, the traveling storm and the seasonal one.  They would now, from the time their waters churned in the clouds seeded with her divine energies until such time as they touched the ground, bless all those that drank of them with the understanding of any word spoken to them.   As would all future Pure Rains.


 


The human took the hand of the foremost Lolat in theirs, and as gently as they could manage, moved it a little up and down. For a person their size, that is barley any movement at all. For the Lolat, their arm got gently but surley dragged up and down a bit, before the very loose grip was released again... The hands sticking together a uncompfortable moment longer thanks to the skins different makeup. As the different peoples stature relaxed a bit with the peaceful greeting completed, their bared teeth in a smile may are a bit off-putting, but apparently just as not-hostile as anything else so far. Either way, it was a impass.


 


The Lolat's behind the Captain of the Fleet hurriedly lowered their hands. They looked uncertainly at the strange people baring their teeth.  The small creatures stood an impasse until a voice spoke.  It rolled with the language of the Lolat's but with the tones of the humans.  Words uttered by a hooded figure at the back of the group. Hurriedly the Lolats in the back disappeared into the ship. They swiftly returned dragging out one of the spare balloon silks and held it up while staring at the Gelaton, unknown speech tumbling from their mouths.  While they did this the Captain of the Fleet took a large auroch horn and blew into it.

Slowly large drops of rain started to fall from the sky.  This wasn't the season for the traveling rains, but still it was falling.  Slowly at first, but in a way that signaled a downpour would start soon.  It didn't take much time to notice that the space under the silk was staying dry, having been waterproofed in some manner.

The Gelaton would be the first to notice as painful rain drops dissolved into its skin.  The round language was still being spoken but there was understanding to the words now.  The small frog creatures were speaking to it. "Gift from the Smiling One, to keep you safe.  The rest must drink."

More and more Lolats were emerging from the ships, each turning their heads upward to drink of the falling rains.


 


It only took minor encouragements from the gelaton for the humans to cusp their hands and drink from the falling, out of season rain. As they do, the slimeperson hefts up the held out silks to wrap themself in them with a simple folding pattern. "That is most curious. Its the rain that does it?" The woman who shook the hand is the last to drink, for they had to clean it of on some cloth first from combined skin substances. "Well. That is new. As are you, ehm... What should I call you?"

"Captain of the First Fleet of the Adanat Lolats."

"Well then, Captain, welcome to the triangular chain!"

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
Current Domains: Luck (Gambling), Amphibians (Bipeds), Fungus (Mold)

Bless (1AP) Language Rains: A new effect of the Pure Rains is that the water consumed from them grants the consumer the ability to understand other languages.  Things such as metaphors might still be lost, but the general meaning will get through.  The water must be consumed before it touches the ground, however if caught in glass bottles that are clean of impurities it can be bottled and stored for later.  The effect is not permanent and wears off after an amount of time proportionate with the amount consumed.  A few drops only lasting a few minutes, and a mouthful lasting a few hours. [Weather (Rain) 3/10]

MUA Use:  Bless to call Pure Rains to location.

12 AP - 1 AP = 11 AP

Water (Wetlands) 7/10
Weather (Rain) 3/10
Medicine (Toxins) 2/10
Truth (Deals) 5/10
Magic (Necromancy) 6/10
Travel (Air) 8/10
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naseki  , the Landing back in the Ancestors Home 
The travel was swifter then last time ocean was crossed to unknown shores. But that was to be expected being that this time, she got real ships, with real sailors. There was a minor confrontation with the seafolk, but just the pure size of the fleet was a deterent for the small raiding parties. The leviathan, however, presented a bigger problem. Took one of the smaller ships out before it was blinded. Heavily damaged one of the transports before its wounds stopped it from advancing. Took another hour of fire until its carcass started sinking to the bottom of the ocean as a unmistkable message what happens if one attacks a fleet from the chain from now on.

And the land they landed at was a interesting little place. A island of varied plant-life and wildlife, some familiar like the jumping spiders, others foreign yet mundane. Yet what mattered the most to the landing parties was the topography. Formed like a misshapen half-moon, pointed with a large bay towards the continent just about in view. The coasts where nearly all the way around cliffs, making landing hard but not impossible if given some time. Further in a few higher mountains would make a great place for a proper city in the traditional style of the chain, yet first, they had to sweep the place... Who knows, maybe the scourge of their ancestors has root in this island as well?

 

In Bahl, the Alchemists and Siege-Opperators where quite busy. The army moral was not standing great, even with the new road back towards the city secured. Whatever made the clear cut line could strike again at any time a far as they knew. Maybe that is the reason they have lost contact with some of the forwards camps as well? But, something to brighten up the chances had been worked on... Using the new route some materials could, under heavy escort, be moved up to the camp. The plans where simple, but precision was needed. A new weapon intended to change the outcome of the current seeming standstill, where the Empire attacks and vanishes again, while the army can do little more then hold the position at the time.

Well, calling it one weapon may be a bit wrong. Its one new weapon combined with some novel application of it. The Cannon, as they called it, was like a elongated metal barrel, with thick walls, mounted on a frame. Several test shots with mundane balls made out of the local stones where made, every now and again some cultists in the forest would find this ammunition and wonder what kind of catapult could have shot things this far, and at what. But here, a different application was planed.

Once the Opperators where certain to have figured out what mixtures and ammounts of the alchemical fluid-bags could be used for what ranges, a small battery of the weapons was pointed into the direction of a suspected camp of the empire. Scouts reported a increased amount of abominations in that area, and most that did not report back to begin with where headed that way to begin with. The bags where loaded, glass spheres coated in a very temporary mixture that would delay their shattering just long enough where used as ammunition, inside of them, a mysterious mixture. The alchemist they had to thank for it had already departed, but that Galotian was trusted, apparently everyone in the merchant guild would be willing to give their life for them if they asked for... Given, that may just be hyperbole.

 

The cannons where fired.
The orbs soared trough the sky.
High. To high to directly hit the target?
The orbs shatter mid-flight.
The mixture inside reacts with the air.
Clouds, small ones, temporary ones.
And then the clouds break appart, hailing down ice like spears.
Trees break. Animals scream. The sudden swing has even taken the enemy by surprise.
The ones that could find cover had to wait in fear of the next spear hitting directly on top of them.
The ones that did not get covered started to bleed as sharp hail-fragments followed the spears of ice.
Sudden. Brutal. Impersonal.
And then, after a few minutes, it stopped.

 

The little guerrilla camp was devestated, as was the surrounding area. Yet there where many survivors, most if not all of them wounded to some degree... Some had their limbs torn, most had heavy flesh wounds. A few unlucky had their full skin flayed from the razor-sharp hail, and the following freeze-burns. As the Soldiers arrived soon after, they found some treating their wounds. Others had already started to canibalise the ones they believed would not make it. Regardless, both kinds of Cultist that failed to leave when they had the chance where cut down with no mercy. The Mercenaries took no prisoners, the Adventurers had no facilities to keep any, the odd smaller groups attempted to extract some knowledge out of the ones just to get the empires usual incoherent madness and desperate pleas of ones that had more sense...

 

In the south, on the crescent shaped island, some (mostly) less grusome scenes play out. Under the lead of the Lady, mutiple parties are cutting trough the woods, making slow but steady paths, searching for any local villages there may are. The Tribals on this island are mostly cut off from the more violent mainland, but that does not mean they don't have simelarities. Sun-Worship is nearly as popular here as it is over there, if to a more... primitive degree. Sacrifical murder is also a thing that has sadly taken hold in some of this tribes, the ones that present themself as the strongest of the locals even.

However, their strength is nothing compared to a organized military, metal weaponry and a certain... Disdain... For the local practices. It took a mere day for the largest tribes to be broken up, and a example to be made of the treatment Sun-Worshiping-Murder-Cultists are to get. Smaller Tribes, and ones that did not follow the murder-part of the routine, tended to see the new arrivals as saviors. Even if 'Praise the Sun' quickly got a new knife at their throat, but they adapted quickly. Speaking themself of from the religion, or hiding their feelings about it in favor of the promises of a saver and better life with the newcomers. The next few days where spend with hunting down the ones that had gone into hiding instead, as the constructions of the piers began.

Weirdly enough, they soon found under the locals a unexpected alchemist. A weid, small human in heavy coats much more civilised what the others wore, speaking the dialect of the chain with a fluidity like they heard and used it their whole life. They made a offer to the Lady, which she felt right to take. Help with the islands still mostly unexplored parts. Help making it a true Fortress of a size the chain did not know.

Much of the land would keep its flora and fauna, but roads where soon established to reach every point of the coast from the center in the shortest possible time. The cliffs faced some heavier alterations. The Strange Alchemist and a surprising number of what seem to be Functionaries where day and night forming it up. Explosions concocted by small vials that should never hold such a force shattered away overhangs. Large rocks started spiking out around the island over the weeks as large rocks moved up to make any approach via ship not headed directly towards the bay difficult. The tops of the cliffs where flattened out, as towers of wood, stone &amp; concrete, well decorated but primarily functional, get raised along the whole line. Each tower in sight of the next, and each with small barracks at the base, and some siege equipment afixed to point sea-side.

On swiffels, the new cannons got mounted, aiming towards the sky in case of a dragon attack, and able to be lowerd towards the sea should the ability to build proper ships fall into the wrong hands. The local tool-makers have found quite a interest in this cannons and their workings, and some attempted the daring task to make them work when smaller. Some of them even succeeded, and quickly sold of their new creations to the Mercenaries and Soldiers. Trough the price was high on its own, making them artful was quite desired. A symbol of a certain status, was such a firearm.

At the center of the island, multiple walled cities got build. Kind of. truly, it was just one walled city with many smaller, walled towns laying around it dedicating themself to produce something or another, and send it back towards the city at the core. There, a new Organization was formed to handle the Chains affairs in their (human) ancestors home lands. Lead by The Lady, a Inksworn of a Title well kept secret, the group called itself 'The Order of our Ladies Mercy'. A name as double-edged as the metaphorical sword, as their 'Mercy' heavily depends on who they are dealing with. Their members are all showing some ability to produce magic not unlike that of an arcane mage, yet eerily like an alchemists concoctions. Lower members, or ones working the more peaceful side of the organization, tend to produce healing salves from seemingly nothing, or can call out for a Functionary to do simple tasks, yet not with the skills a traditionally called for Functionary usually displays.

The more militant side however is leaning towards smoke-trails that explode away, flashy strikes of their weapons with unusual effects, or even calling forth the soul of a fallen comrade to temporary lend them their skills. People that showed no skill for the magical arts tend to pick them up after joining, and ones that before already knew much about them see theirs shift as they are in service to aline more with the 'style' of the order. At the time, they still follow up on securing 'Caer Avitas'. Yet the plans to bring the fight to the continents mainland stands, and is crystal clear to anyone who joined the expedition from the very beginning. The Cultists, and their Empire, need to fall.

 
 Spoiler: Naseki AP Spending 
 11 AP LEFT 
 4 AP ROUNDSTART 
 1 AP - Advanced Concept  [Society(The Chain) 1/10 &amp; GUA Charge]
  Cannons 
In theory, a rather simple concept: A projectile, a explosive &amp; a preferably re-useable tube. The explosion propels the projectile at speeds much greater then traditional mechanisms. That increases range, lethality, ecetra. Explaining what a cannon is is a moot point, one knows it once one saw it.
There are many more ways to do 'cannon' then one would expect. Chemistry, Alchemy, certain Magics. A lot of things can supply the instant force needed, but some are naturally more suited then others. In the same way, the nature of the 'tube' can vary a lot as well. Metal is a natural fit for something one can use multiple times, but it is not unheared of to use more fragile materials, like Wood or Stone. Glass makes a poor choice however, for obvious reasons. The projectile varies the most, stone balls are common, as are iron ones in places that can spare a lot of the material. Loading many small projectiles as a grapeshot, or even full-metal, arrow like flechettes offer a deadly option against flesh and wood alike. Firing a different explosive is also a option, if one that tends to be more risky by its nature. The biggest point of failure is in the propellant, of course. A explosion to strong will shatter the cannon and likely kill the users much better then whatever it was targeted at. One to weak will make the weapon ineffective, and suffer a long and tedious removal of whatever is left in the barrel before one can attempt another shot.

The Alchemist-Cannoneers of the Chain prefer metal cannons mounted on frames that can fire surprisingly far up and down. They prefer to load alchemical bombs that can be detonated high above a target and have the effects rain down on them instead of aiming more conventional ammunition at the foe, not at least because the more mobile variants are ill suited to quick movements. On their ships and stationary defenses much more suitable to be angled and tilted on the fly, Spider Shot, a variation of Chain Shot, proofs effective at destroying sails, fins and wings alike, forcing severe disadvantages on foes. 
 1 AP - Mythical Sub-Concept  (Of Divine Magic) (Shared with Lilia) [Society(The Chain) 2/10]
  Orders 
A Order is usually founded with the approval, or even direct involvement, of the deity which powers it utilizes. Members are usually not judged by the divine directly and instead must measure up to a code or laws given with the founding. They undergo some form of ritual to join or raise in the ranks, which usually involve tests of character or the swearing of a oath. This in turn means that while much more people can utilize some amount of divine magic, they are usually more restricted then someone who truly caught a gods attention, with the exception of their highest ranks.
While the Organizations that make up any given Order are usually lead by mortals, and follow a large number of additional rules that get added or removed as times demand, the core principles or ideals given to them by their deity are usually unchanging, and the magic recognizes a break of them and can cut of individual members from it in a instance should they sufficiently violate them.
 Because of their heavily divine intertwined nature, a teach action is required for a organization to utilize this, as cultural exchange does not really cut it.   1 AP - Alter Land  [Society(The Chain) 3/10]
  The Fortress Island, Caer Avitas 
In the South West of Yalasere (On the map represented as Purple, 11) the Settlers from the chain landed, and with the help of an alchemist that claimed to already have been on the continent for some time, the place has been considerably terraformed. Besides the large central bay, the waters around the island are filled with sharp rocks able to tear open most ships. The  coastline itself is dotted with miniature forts able to spot and defend against attackers of any orientation of a compass, or even from the skies above. Further inland, between the large sections of the rainforest and connected up with roads in both directions, are small towns, walled to rival any city of the chain, producing food, clothing, weaponry, and exploiting the natural resources by cutting down wood, mining, or collecting plants that grow in the more natural parts of the island. Then, at the center, build around the tallest of the mountains this place offers, is a true city.

Like all Cities that the People of the Chain build, it is walled with concrete, and lighted by alchemical fires. Unlike them, however, it is much heavier defended. layers further up can shoot from their walls back down at the lower ones should they fall, and as one goes higher, more and more rooms are mined right into the mountain itself, forming a vertical maze of sorts, where civilian workers, tribesman that get integrated into civilized society, Soldiers, Mercenaries and the new folk, 'The order of Our Ladies Mercy'.  1 AP - Advanced Sub-Concept  (Of Cannons) [Society(The Chain) 4/10]
  Firearm 
You take a cannon, you shrink it so a single person can use it reasonable easy. Their barrels are near universally made of metal, and their ammunition is usually a single simple projectile or some even smaller shot. They are, at the time, considered quite rare and novelties, trough if they appear they do so usually in some numbers. Accuracy at range still leaves much to be desired, you typically have only as many shot as you have barrels if you can not find the time for a lengthy reload. However, if a hit is scored it has the potential to end a confrontation before it even began.  1 AP - Organization  [Society(The Chain) 5/10]
  The Order of Our Ladies Mercy 
Founded by a agreement between 'The Lady', a Inksworn Gelaton, and Naseki, a deity that claims to have kept a helping hand out for the People of the Chain since their inception, and before its own somehow. While Nasekis involvement is kept a internal secret, the name will sometimes still escape and be connected back, even if it does not mean much to most humans.
The members of 'The Order of Our Ladies Mercy' follow a number of strict codes, outlawing, prosecuting or even persecuting certain practices while encouraging or demanding others from themself. To uphold their standards, the swearing of a oath directly to the Lady is required, even if the Ladies presence is not.

While there is no exact list anyone outside can look into what they swear themself to hold to, not at last because a certain secrecy seems to be part of it, a number of points can be easily interpreted. Helping those who have been done unjust harm, offering foes a surrender (Given, the exact details of when someone counts as a new foe and when not are weird), aiming for either a quick, or a painless death, a fundamental opposition to the practices of cannibalism and sun-worship, (given, the later can be recovered from), as well as a vauge desire to 'bring civilization'.   Civilization IV was the best one.  

From this oath they can draw a variety of powers, starting at simple things, like the producing of healing salves, calling forth of a Servant not-unlike a Functionary, coating their blades and bullets in solutions that cause devestating effects when coming in contact with blood... To more impactful magics, like calling on the skills of a deceased member, summoning massive Beasts of Ooze, or even turning someones body or bodyparts into a fluid, be it in order to slowly fix a torn-off limb or mortal wound, or to permanently disfigure someone...
Weirdly, every member seems to have a instinctive understanding with the more primitive ooze creatures, and if not outright provoking them, won't be attacked by any member of the greater Slime Family. Some even seem to be able to talk and direct the wild ones.

The uniform of the order usually consists of a coat half white lotus leather, half a treated teal leather, which gets combined with a simple chest plate and open-faced helmet for the more militaristic members. Their preferred weapons are the Sword and Shield, trough any of the higher ranks or longer standing members tends to also carry and use a pistol to open a fight once demands fail.  ________ 
 10 AP Left 
 2 MUA Charge 

Progress:
 Water(Travel) 3/10   Dropping Progress in this one, for I think this one is to restrictive for my current plans. 
Society(The Chain) 5/10
 
Mechalich
 Exodus 
	War spread across the world. Not war against goblins, or monsters, or the tempters, or any of the other horrors, but war of person against person with readiness and vigor. The Sisters reacted to this with horror, for was not the First World beset with suffering enough? Nor did they feel that they possessed the capacity to resist it much longer. The growing strengths of magic and the strange mutagenic alchemical methods, despite the residues and limitations they produced, reached beyond a likely capacity to resist. At least, not without cruel transformations to tear the world further. Some Bloodsilks counseled that path, but all others disagreed. Even if victory might be obtained, the losses entailed in such a conflict would obliterate any justification. They were people, not ants, and sacrifices of the self were not to be made lightly.

Certainly not when there was an alternative available. A course was determined, agreement obtained, and in the end decided with unanimity. They chose the date of the spring equinox, considering it appropriate, and put matters in order accordingly. Some small provision was made for those left behind, in the hopes that they too might seek this alternative approach, though it was little expected. Instead, they simply resolved to keep the lessons among their own, to avoid making the same mistakes upon the worlds they now took as their sole focus.

The people of Port Tale were the first to know, as they woke the morning after the equinox to see a small sign of carved wood posted outside the bounds of their city. It read only: ‘We have gone to the Web and shall not be coming back. If you have the will to follow, and strength of self to meet the judgment of the Parischnas, we will welcome you among the gathering of worlds.’ Those who walked out into the concrete dwellings there found all things packed away and stored, totally empty. Others, including Sea Folk across the lengthy coastlines of Eresalay, discovered the same. Empty concrete towns, quietly left as if everyone had simple gone on a journey for a while, but no Onna anywhere.

In the Droplet Web, worlds swelled, entwined, and adopted endless colors as their custodians focused their full and complete attention upon them, unencumbered by continued attachment to their mortal shells. Ecie looked upon this and smiled, though she knew this development remained incomplete. Carefully, she twisted and wove strands of the web into great spheres, hollow and full of passages. These provided nests for the Parischnas, allowing them a place to rest, and solid ground rather than strands in the network for the first time.

With the web thus secured, Ecie turned her focus to those left behind. The Humans, though they were of her making, she deemed lost, at least as a group. Perhaps individuals could overcome the difficulties they faced but given the level of attention others imposed upon them, she remained highly dubious. Not a place she chose to focus her energies. The Hiplings, Lolats, and Nimbis had their own divine patrons, and she was loath to interfere with such evolving systems. Perhaps later. The elves, high in the skies, and the sea folk, in the depths, where the clear choices with which to begin.
In the end, she chose the skies, for the plight of the elves seemed grave. She took two of her creations, Onna and Parischna, and bound them together alongside a piece of herself. This emissary, called Kleodirae, appeared as a melding of woman and wasp, black and yellow in color and able to shift between states. On crystalline wings, she traveled between the soaring whales, seeking to teach the timid people living upon high and guard them from the monsters of the sky with the exertion of her divine power and deadly mandibles and stinger.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Alter Land (1AP): Web Nests  – the Droplet Web now contains world-sized nests made of planar webbing that serve as resting spaces of the Parischnas. This provides a solid, non-sticky surface that might serve many purposes in the future.  [Life (Evolution) 10/10] 
 Create Avatar (3AP): Kleodirae  – a divine werewasp, Kleodirae possesses ordinary humanoid size, but can shapechange from the image of a yellow-skinned Onna woman, a humanoid-sized black and yellow striped wasp, and a deadly hybrid form. She has gone to live among the elves in the hopes of guiding them to develop inner worlds.  [Law (Judgment) 8/10] 
 Teach Mundane Concept (1AP): Natural History  – Kleodirae has taught the basic principles of natural history to the Elves, including knowledge of lands far below.  [Law (Judgment) 9/10] 
 Teach Mundane Concept (1A): Writing  – Kleodirae has taught the Elves to write and record, allowing the spread of knowledge and messages throughout their society on a permanent nature.  [Law (Judgment 10/10] 

Domains Acquired: Life (Evolution), Law (Judgment)
Domains Possessed: Animal (Spiders), Animal (Transformation), Community (Sisterhood), Law (Judgment), Life (Evolution), Plant (Vines), Protection (Cleansing), Protection (Shelter), Water (Rivers). With 9 Domains Ecie ascends to Greater God.

Starting AP: 6 Rollover Gain: 6 Spent: 6 Remaining: 6
 
Athedia
Glikmora's Wail saw the Lolats starting to explore more, their crafts growing in speed and size.  It feared the influence of its siblings.  More Temptations had been coming to places the Lolats congregated and the young still unnamed ones were often easy prey.

So Glikmoras Wail reached out, used Desire Hearts deep paths to spread the word.  Ones name, their true name held power.  It wasnt the destructive power of arcane magic, nor the love Lilia spread through the world, not even the divine magic that twisted round the pathways of arcane.

This was a Truth.  Ones word freely pledged with ones true name would cause the words to be woven into your future fate.  A promise that would shape yourself.

 
 Spoiler: AP actions 


11 AP + 4 AP = 15 AP

Current Domains: Luck (Gambling), Amphibians (Bipeds), Fungus (Mold)

Create Mythical Concept (4 AP) Namebinding: A different form of magic, this (currently) can only be cast on oneself.  By expressing ones true inner name and making a deal invoking it, one must fulfill their oath or suffer their life energies wear down, grow threadbare. [Truth (Deals)9/10]


15 AP - 4 AP = 11 AP

Water (Wetlands) 7/10
Weather (Rain) 3/10
Medicine (Toxins) 2/10
Truth (Deals) 9/10
Magic (Necromancy) 6/10
Travel (Air) 8/10
 
MutantDragon
  An Eye for Fire, War, and Madness  

Far above the First World and in a hole beyond the Void Slintoch watched events unfold. The war pleased him, for it drove the mortals to new heights of slaughter. Yet still, he observed from a world away and that would no longer be satisfactory to him. So, with a great and terrible roar, he ripped open the Void once more, reopening the tear that was used in his realm's creation. This tear was then filled with raw divine energy that prevented movement between worlds unless opened by Slintoch's will. As the final touch of this window's creation, a wreath of fire and wrath burst into being, surrounding the hole and forming the shape of an evil eye made entirely of fire. Though smaller and dimmer than the sun, the eye would shine in the night with a presence and intensity to rival the full moon and any whose eyes lingered upon it would feel the the fury of his gaze.

---

While marching towards battle, a contingent of Harkit's army caught a glimpse in the sky of what would surely bring about wintry doom. Whatever mages the heathen armies deployed were truly masters of their craft, able to launch death-dealing ice-spears from far beyond the horizon. Yet, as now, the imperial forces were learning to spot their approaching doom moments before it came. As soon as the balls that would bring about nearly unrivaled destruction were spotted, a horn blasted out and the marching soldiers halted and raised their shields with an almost supernatural haste. No sooner were their shields raised did the ice fall down upon them. Their shields were strong, as were their bodies and resolves. Yet still, many fell beneath the awesome powers unleashed upon them. Shields were punctured and bodies frozen by seemingly arcane blasts spawned by the icicles of doom. Yet the cultists persisted, meeting ice with steel. When at last the barrage was through, their marching and chanting resumed, the fallen left for the goblin slaves of the Crimson Bloom Champions to collect for later consumption and equipment retrieval.

---

On the edges of the Bhal'nabool, unseen by any mortal eyes, shadows condensed into a new horror. As this new beast stalked through the forest, it came upon a small camp of intruders. They were nervous and vigilant. They feared this forest and its inhabitants. But they were armed and they were prepared. They thought they could survive the night and return to the larger camp with their scouting report in the morning. That's how it was supposed to be. Yet their noses were assaulted with a stench far worse than any they had ever smelt before. Somehow, it eclipsed the horrific odor of decaying bodies that they had become so familiar with. Their eyes watered and their heads grew faint as they hurried to block the smell, all the while alarmed about the possible source. That's when they saw it. It was an ape-like beast, perhaps six feet in height with one eye in the middle of its grinning head. Upon its body it carried another maw filled with vicious fangs and its hands had large claws reminiscent of a sloth's, though far more sharp and wicked. With a snarl, the beast lunged forward, easily overpowering one of the soldiers and rending her with those savage claws. It leaped upon the next and hugged him tight while its abdominal jaws devoured him. The soldiers screams filled the air as five of the others rushed forward; the final two fled into the night and were never heard from again. They attempted to surround the beast and jab it with their spears, but its hide was extraordinarily resistant to their attacks; none of the spears penetrated deep enough to deal significant damage if they even pierced its skin at all. With an annoyed grunt, the creature flung its half-chewed victim at one of its assailants while lunging forward to send another sprawling to the ground with a terrible gash. It then spun around, knocking one soldier's spear away while doing so, and lunged for another of the humans, though, this time, the attacked soldier's spear thrust out and into the monster's eye, causing it to reel backwards with a terrible screech. The others capitalized upon the ape-creature's injury to stab at it again with their weapons, though it was a needless effort; the beast was already dying. And yet, many more emerged from shadows all around the forest...

 
 Spoiler: OOC 

Rollover! 13AP + 6AP = 19AP

 Create Portal (The Great Eye; Between Inferni and the Void) 2AP:  The Great Eye is a flaming hole between worlds held open together by Slintoch's power. Currently, there is a fiery wall of energy that totally prevents physical passage between the Void and Inferni through this hole, though this wall can be dropped if Slintoch so desires. The Eye is visible on the First World at night. [Mind (Insanity) 6/10]

 Curse (Gaze of the Great Eye) 1AP:  Slintoch watches the world through the Great Eye and anyone who stares back at it can sense his gaze and his malice. This causes some mental distress and can eventually drive individuals insane, though this would only be after years of prolonged observation. [Mind (Insanity) 7/10]

 Create Mundane Concept (Shield Wall) MUA:  In response to taking artillery fire while on the march, the armies of the Empire of the Sun have devised the simple strategy of forming up tightly and interlocking their shields above themselves. While far from totally effective, this has worked to reduce their casualties from current artillery bombardments and could potentially be used effectively in other combat scenarios.

 Create Monster (Mapinguari) GUA:  Mapinguari are ape-like monsters with singular eyes and an extra maw set on their torso. They additionally possess sharpened sloth-like claws and have an odor more offensive than words could properly describe. They exist within Bhal'nabool and instinctively seek to defend it from intruders. While they're highly resistant to most injuries, attacks to their eyes can successfully fell the beasts.

19AP – 3AP = 16AP
0MUA
0GUA
 
AlexanderML
    Blooming Ice   

( ♪ )The estheric isles are a marvel, the shores jagged ice, the land holding trees that sprout from cold ice and flowers bloom in shadowy caves; yet all these are well traveled by the people known as pale ones. Frequently one could see their tiny crafts move between the icy islands under gray misty skies.

The pale ones lived relatively simple lives amid the subarctic isle that grew and shrank with the tides and seasons. Semi nomadic the pale ones built great log houses for the long winter and tended flower gardens under the guidance of the wise flower maiden Arrienal, traveling under the night sky to hunt and gather during the short summers.

One of the things that set pale ones apart from regular humans were their muted emotions, dulled and hidden away in the inner palaces of their souls. Few pale ones saw this as a detriment, with most finding themselves thankful for the more clear headedness this provided. Yet due to their collectively distant hearts, when something  did  reach them, they deeply treasured it; many stories of a warrior or moon-touched being driven by romance flourished in every log house.

The pale ones believed in a single goddess who had shaped the isle out of love into ice, gifting it to those who saw her call on the shores. Once a man named Tabitha had been smitten by her daughter and shed his blood upon the shores, giving them life even as the interiors remained solid ice. Moved, the maiden gave the first ice flower to him, with others later on being gifted to other pale ones for brave deeds or passionate action.

Flower circles are common sites upon the estheric isles, most hosting powerful flowers to help with daily life. For hunters know to gift the blood of their kills to the crimson blooms so that they might fight off winter’s chill, fishermen knew to grow zephyrs blooms to propel them across the waters more easily, gardeners to let the mist blooms cover their gardens to keep winter’s bite or summer’s drought away, and others that had been introduced to them.

It was simple with slow changes that arrived with the coming of great events in the world. Yet this small cut-away part of the world had a startling new development.

Under the starlit night sky, upon large winged insects who carried majestic lamps, the shadows of their ancestors appeared with words of wisdom and held wonder in their hands. They told of the world beyond death, of the terrible and magnificent realms, and how much they missed their people.

Shock, rejoicing, rejection; extremely mixed and powerful emotions swept across the people of the isle who saw and heard of their ancestors return. Loved ones embraced, rivals counted scores, and many celebrations were held for the star-gliders honor.
Yet that could not compare to when She appeared.

As if walking straight out from the stars She graced one celebration after another, Her veil hiding the tears that strewn down across her face until they fell upon the ground. For many nights She appeared at feasts and celebrations, amid barely tended to flower gardens, and the peaks of each and every island in the isle. While it was hard for them to remember clearly, it was common belief that She smiled at them like a mother feeling relief as She bid for the ancestors and living to learn to know one another.

( ♪ ) Yet as the people of the Realms and the pale ones grew closer together, the shadow that was Lilia stood in the Echo staring at it all. With an unsteady hand she reaches out to a child… and retreats her hand back into the Echo as the girl turns around confused. Lilia stared at this girl with her glowing white hollow eyes amid a black shadow.

“Why not join them?” A voice came, lacking malice but also curious.

Lilia turned around towards them, her skull barely visible due to the light coming from her eye sockets inside the deep shadow. She twisted and turned, but ultimately gave a sad sigh  “I-I can’t they’ll think I-I’m so  ugly .”  she said unable to calm herself.

The man whom she faced wore a white and gold styled cloak from the magi realms, his face marred by the flowers that grew from inside him. He nodded in the negative “I can see why you're worried, but shouldn’t they be unable to see such… sacrifices you’ve made?” he asked. He himself was only too aware of how oblivious one’s heart became to the faults of Lilia, it taking a great deal of logical thinking to even properly tell what would upset others about Lilia’s appearance as it did not bother him in the slightest.

Lilia was silent at his words. Her embraced were fully unable to see faults in her, her flower maidens much the same; yet mortals, even ones who frequently used her gifts… they would be unable to not spot the… blemishes. Thus was the reason given to the flower maiden who went in Lilia’s stead.

The man who stood next to Lilia felt a pang of guilt as the goddess looked at him and said  “Do you love me?” 

“...No” he said looking down at a small ring on his hand. He could not look at Lilia’s expression as he said that but still felt an enormous storm of emotions flood his inner palace. Overwhelmed tears were in his eyes as he looked away towards the little girl, who was slumping against the door to a log house looking dejected. “I love another. I think I’ll see what that child is doing there. It would be good for you to join.” he said before stepping back into the world of the living.

His inner palace could not contain all the emotions Lilia was giving him, with it almost bursting when she gave the whimper   “D-don’t go…”   yet her feelings could no longer touch him in the mortal realm… even if her sad eyes could be vaguely seen.

The girl for her part gasped at the sudden appearance of the man. After a moment assessing him, the girl’s gaze became more relaxed. “Mr, are you a star-glider?”

With a smile the man gave a nod “I travel on foot, but I am of the same house as them now.” he took a step forward and knelt down to look the girl in the eye “I am Alaion.”

“Are you Maiden Arrienal’s brother?” the girl asked with a mildly curious look, by human standards.

Nodding in the negative Alaion, rubbing the flowers growing on the side of his face “I am a Maiden myself, but no brother of the great one. Why are you out here, besides this cold house… who is inside?”

 Grief, loneliness, fear  Alaion felt entering his inner palace, it hit him surprisingly hard and he looked down as the girl gave the choked out response of “No one, I’m waiting for them to come back.”

‘Come back’, Alaion knew that the odds of that happening, especially anytime soon, were not favorable even here. He did not look back up, but the girl noticed a few tears landing on the ground.

“Mr Alaion…?” she asked, reaching out a hand towards the man who was showing a startling amount of emotion.

“I’m fine.” he said with a smile, tears still there as he held the girl’s hand. The bitter cold on her was brushed aside, scrapes healed, and she felt energy return to her; yet he did not let go and continued to pour more of his emotions into this.

“Are you ok, Mr?!” the girl asked at the show of emotional outpour.

With a sigh Alaion nodded “I am. I believe it's healthy to pour out feelings that overwhelm you. Worry not, you did not overwhelm me yourself.” noticing that he was still holding the hand of the girl he gave a small smile “Would you be willing to forgive me for showing you this side of me if I help find those you're waiting for?”

“But… what if they come back before then?” the girl asked, shocked at the offer coming out of nowhere.

“I’ll take responsibility then. As things stand… I would not have you follow behind them if I leave regardless. A man should not leave a grieving girl alone.” His smile looked forced as he had poured everything he had in his inner palace out, but the girl blushed and had a hopeful look in her eyes as she stared at the swaying flowers on his face.

After a drawn out moment like this she nodded “I’ll trust you, Maiden Alaion.”

Nodding Alaion stood up, helping the girl up as well. “We go to the realms beyond, first the mists between then Stygia. Do you have anything you would like to take with you?”

Taking a look at the log house and the place around her, the girl shook her head in the negative.

“Then let us begin. Stay close to me, and you will be safe.” He said as the pair disappeared from the mortal realm.


 

  Developments of the Magi Realms  

-The issue with having a lack of arcane energy inside of Desire Heart is something that the silver scribes work hard to find a solution to, for many arcane practitioners despair at how little mana the Realms natively have. While alternative methods are considered, the extraction of arcane energy from orichalcum is utilized.

Through painful trial and error it is discovered that without a medium between a practitioner and the orichalcum arcane explosions will automatically occur after a successful extraction. Yet through carefully integrating the orichalcum into a medium made to extract the energy, it can be done safely with numerous benefits; at the cost of the physical feedback that tells an arcane practitioner when they are close to an arcane explosion.

-Physically weak without the chance to grow in that direction, many embraced in the Realms have taken to learning how to move and manipulate objects or people with just arcane magic. While spells of this sort have existed before, the science of it is perfected in the Magi Realms as true telekinetic magic is crafted.

-Through unknown sources the silver scribes have produced a number of specialized arcane techniques that focus around the manipulation of life forms. Different from the cultivary that witches are familiar with, less subtle and considered brutish by some, the power of lifeshaping is readily integrated into the magi realms. Be it for adapting plants in a garden for different environments, to giving faces to the shadowy embraced, or morphing chimeras into less dangerous shapes.

-The Great Library and its many scribes and visitors demand a great deal of paper and ink for it to properly function. Chymes and the professors come together with some help from the Onna embrace to fill these demands.

 
 Spoiler: AP Action 


10/20


 
 Spoiler: -1 AP (Split with Kona Öldunnar) Create Mythic Sub-Concept (Arcane -&gt;Arcane Mediums): 
     
   One shape does not cover all, for these arcane mediums can be more than staffs!   
   Through the incorporation of orichalcum into an object arcane practitioners can create devices that can independently channel arcane forces outside of the flow or leylines of the sun. An unexpected side effect of this is that arcane intoxication is far less prevalent as the arcane energy touches the caster when an arcane medium is used, yet the limits to an arcane explosion can be harder to estimate for the untrained due to the lack of physical feedback.

Besides creating a means to use arcane magic in sunlight deprived regions arcane mediums can be crafted in such a manner as to overcome certain limitations in magic. Some are crafted to channel arcane magic silently without extra energy input, delay the release of a spell, widen the area the magic affects, or automatically maintain magic a arcane practitioner would normally maintain through concentration.

Inside the Magi Realms most arcane mediums are created by having a lotus tree sapling grow in soil enriched by orichalcum dust, cultivating the saplings to grow quicker than normal through lifeshaping magic. The wood from these trees is then carved into staffs and wands. Purer orichalcum rich soil, embedded orichalcum and jewels into the staff, and delusion application on an arcane medium are said to make better arcane mediums by the people of the magi realms.

While uncommon other variants of arcane mediums are present in the magi realms; rings with orichalcum to channel magic silently, hair pieces made to look harmless, or outfits whose sparkling designs hold spells to be unleashed.

This concept spreads to the Magi Realms and the witches blooms that visit it. Kona’s seafolk also learn it upon the concepts creation.

7/10 Community (Magi Realms) 
 
  
 

 
 Spoiler: -2 Bridge Plane (Desire Heart - First World)  - The Estheric Sky: 
     
   The night sky holds the secrets to new connections.   
   Those that travel the starry night sky above the Estheric Isles will find that the sky gives way to Desire Heart with but a blink of an eye and a simple will to go there, similarly those in the night sky on Desire Heart may enter the sky of the Estheric Isles through the same method. Animals, vehicles, and other things they are either riding on or carrying cross over with them so long as all sapient creatures in the transfer cannot see clearly and desire to transfer to the other plane.

Visually this bridge appears as something similar to an aurora in the sky, though a muted one with patches of darkness with no stars in them. Most of the sky is still visible through them and effects that require moonlight (such as solstice arts) still function.

Creatures entering Desire Heart from the Estheric Isle can choose which Realm they are entering, or into the wilderness of Desire Heart. Those from Desire Heart can give a specific island they wish to fly over.

Through this the people of the magi realms begin to think of the estheric isles as ‘ the  mortal Realm’, just another Realm that they can travel to; if a particularly annoying one due to the sun’s rays banishing embrace who linger too long in the open into the Echo.

The bleeding effect between Desire Heart and the First World extends to all of the Estheric Isle for effects that care about the distinction.

9/10 Community (Magi Realms) 
 
  
 

 
 Spoiler: -(Artifact Charge) Alter Land (Blooming Isles): 
     
   Beautiful though it might be, it is unwise to away from the path if your not ready to see what shape delusions can take.   
   With the coming of one wearing the Flesh and Blood of Lilia the estheric isles have the tainted mana flowing through it fully bloom. Where once the inner reaches of most islands were ice, flower fields and forests of white flowers grow.

As the estheric isles come closer to the Magi Realms chimeras more frequently appear in the wilderness and tuatha begin to set themselves down where they believe they will entrap the most mortals. 
 
  
 

 
 Spoiler: -(Artifact Charge) Create Organization - The Estheric Realm: 
     
   Orichalcum lamps light every home and street among the first true villages to spread among the Estheric Isles.   
   The only living majority Realm, and the only one on the First World, the Estheric Realm borders all of the other Realms inside Desire Heart by virtue of the sky. While first found by and introduced to their own ancestors; other Realms begin to have individuals visit and trade with the people of the Estheric Isles.

Arrienal acts as the Estheric Realm’s leader, though she has no authority over the shape of the realm or where it borders; she simply acts as a figurehead. Her presence does let the pale ones rapidly adapt and adopt changes to their lifestyle they would otherwise never accept, such as letting their children go to the Great Library to learn reading, history, magic, and other skills that were/are seen as secondary by traditional wisdom.

Towers with few windows appear on the Estheric Isle, housing the embrace during the daylight hours so that they are not forced into the Echo. Around these towers villages begin to form with folk either seeking the aid of the occupying magi or are being paid by them to support them. 
 
  
 

 
 Spoiler: -2 Create Mythic Sub-Concept (Arcane Magic -&gt; Telekinetic Magic): 
     
   The power to lift a heavy rock seems so simple when your arms are not literally ghost matter.   
   The magic of lifting and moving objects. If one wants to find out some of the inspiration for specifics look here.  http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/telekinesis 

The Magi Realms and the witches of blooms that visit it learn this concept.

2/10 Emotion (Vanity) 
 
  
 

 
 Spoiler: -2 Teach Mythic Sub-Concept (Lifeshaping): 
     
   You wish to be beautiful? Very well get in line.   
   “An offshoot of Arcane Magic, Lifeshaping focuses on altering the physical body of living creatures to serve specific purposes. Lifeshapers can enhance or remove muscle, add gills or lungs, or even alter brain chemistry and develop entirely new limbs--if they have the power and the skill to do so. Lifeshapers are unable to alter their own body, but can alter the bodies of others given enough time and Arcane power.”

Those that specialize in lifeshaping in the magi realms can find employment in a number of fields. Face-sculptors who give shape to the delusion that make up embraced bodies, giving some visible facial features and others complete body reworks so that they appear as mortals. Gold Shapers who specialize in creating orichalcum infused wood, sometimes creating the mediums all by themselves. Garden Shapers who rival themselves against witches who prefer cultivary techniques, seeing them as slow and too narrowly focused on just plantlife.

10/10 Espionage (Plagiarism) 
 
  
 

 
 Spoiler: -1 AP (Shared with Naseki) Create Mythic Sub-Concept (Orders): 
     
   Adored is so cute. If it wasn’t for the blooms vows I’d…   
   The organizations of the maiden cult are considered active Orders by this concept, with members receiving divine power in addition to the pact magic they would normally receive while rising through the ranks of devotion. (Specifics on each one to be detailed later)

Emotion (Vanity) 3/10 
 
  
 

 
 Spoiler: -(Artifact Charge) Create Mundane Concept - Ink: 
     
   It's impossible to make a book without something to make letters with.   
   Chyme’s shares from his notes a variety of different ink recipes, with some better for mass production while others are better for preservation. While of secondary importance this concept includes colored inks. Due to the inkwells of their home the witches of the old bloom and kish-eru as a whole learn this concept as well. 
 
  
 

 
 Spoiler: -1 Teach Advance Concept - Paper: 
     
   Books also need something to write on.   
   The Magi Realms begins to set up a great many paper making workshops to meet the demands of not just the Great Library, but the many scholarly inclined patrons of the Realms.

10/10 Community (Magi Realms) 
 
  
 

 
 Spoiler: -(Artifact Charge) Bless (Flora Arcane Balance): 
     
   Goddess protects!   
   Due to the presence of Lilia’s Love inside of flower trees, arcane mediums created with them have the special property of turning arcane explosions into a miniature blooming effects similar to what the Flesh and Blood of Lilia induces on a wide scale. This wears away at the arcane medium, but most members of the magi realms and witches see it as a price worth avoiding the dangers of arcane explosions. 
 
  
 

 
 Spoiler: -(Artifact Charge) Create Monster - Bloodhost Swarm: 
     
   A drone looking for a meal.   
   While the first native bloodhost queen was slain by the Maiden of Glamor, by throwing the bones of the beast into the Delusion Cauldron new (if smaller) queens emerged that she controls. Such beasts live in large hives similar to wasps, their large mouths containing acid that melts metal; with the queens being able to spray it on those that attack their nests.

These creatures are able to be controlled by the Crimson Champions, but only vaguely with them being deployed when stealth is not required in the least.
 
 
  
 
0/20 AP

Gain Community (Magi Realms) and Espionage (Plagiarism) domains!
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naseki  , Removed, Discarded, Abandoned 
When the Onna put up the sign in the night and then vanished into thin air, the guards atop Port Tales walls gave it little attention. That is a thing the Onna did occasionally, afterall. Vanish into their own little worlds and then pop up out of nowhere again later. The details where not given to much attention when it was described, not at least because the way of the Onna has kept interactions basically to a level of pure business of the few lucky enough to have something they show interest in. The surprise in the morning when the news came that Onna all along the coast seem to have vanished was a bit more sudden then. And if the one, pitiful wooden sign they put up was to be believed, with no intends to return.  "So they have gone to live in their little fantasy..." 

 

As the people suddenly vanished, the echo-servants and souls witnessing it from their plane had a increased worry. Afterall, what was happening, and why that whole race seemingly left at once, it was basically impossible to inderstand from their perspective. The souls of Onna that had died however where able to explain. Inner Worlds, a concept lethal to the Servants and denied to the Souls, and in extention, the droplet web. That is where the Onna have left to, all of them... nearly all of them. The dead could obviously not follow, but over the day, and the following week, another phenomenon seemingly swept over Eresalay: Onna that pop up on the first world, in their homes, just to vanish again. Repeatedly, seemingly more desperate each time until they finally gave up, and attempt to scratch together what is left of their life in the empty towns.

Spread over the continent, small groups of the different kinds of Onna banded together, cursing out at the moon as they once cursed at the human foolishness and the suns monsters. For they had the missfortune to be cut away from the web, the zero-tollerance of the Parischnas has caught them out as they have gathered miniscule amounts of 'corruption', merely from interacting with the world just as any other person did. Their inner worlds had been detached from the web, and they could not grasp the reason why... For them, it was little more then a betrayal of the sisterhood of the moon.

 

As the Cut-Off Onna start searching for what is left to help them live in a place they thought to leave forever, another organization has come in to take anything they can get their hands on. Always opportunistic, the Merchant Guild decided to go where the People of the Chain refused to go. A mass vanishing naturally starts the worst kinds of rumors about places afterall. Groups of Humans, Galotians, and even the odd Seafolk, with Aurochs and Spiders carrying their loads and collecting more and more odds and ends that where left behind by the Onna as they suddenly left this plane.

Underway, they started to study the unimpressive architecture to find it surprisingly sturdy and complex in the ways they are designed. Further, many a thing was deemed to bulky, to unimportant or simply forgotten and was not taken with them to their little paradise. The odd Onna they meet in their expeditions usually greeted them with fear and desperation, ready to fight for their life... Yet sometimes they had already resigned themself to their fate, and forced themself to take the friendly hand of a stranger they had disregarded as a savage for their whole life.

 

Within the Merchant Guild however, one 'person' has managed to raise along the ranks. Yes, most people could not come close within a lifetime towards the top, but this one had not such a limitation, for his lifetime was seemingly only limited by his impulse control. Something he managed to keep a grip on out of pure spite already. His true identity is a mystery to most but his closest servants and confidants, but he has gone by many names and many faces, faces he seems to switch on a whim.

Names &amp; Faces he bought, for he was not even human. Or Onna, or Gelaton, or a Inksworn or a Beloved, and especially not a Embraced Soul walking the light of the sun, yet he was able to obtain the face of any of them. The Emperor Merchant, the Holder of a thousand Souls, the Master of the Hoard, Collector of Originals, Connoisseur of the Unique, Assassin of highest Position, and Once Scourge of the Western Hand,  Vanratros 

A Dragon, or rather  The Dragon , that has raised trough the merchant guild after becoming bored with the destruction he brought the west of the triangular chain, from up high perched on a hand outstreched. Having fought many a Inksworn, burned at least some Cities whos names he can not remember, crushed plenty of Adventurers and killed enough of his own Kind, he found himself to attempt something new. Hold back, against his mind telling him that holding back was impossible and observe, despite the knowledge that nothing the puny creatures could do being able to impress. And most of all, be proven wrong, and admitting to that fact despite the burning rage that caused it in him inciting him to destroy just as he always did...

Yet, ' just as always ' was his tipping point. The puny ' people ' have proven to be more then they seem. And despite it only being he himself that will ever know, he won't be outdone by them, and just be as ' any ' of his kind.

 
 Spoiler: Naseki AP Spending 
 10 AP LEFT 
 0 AP - Blessing/Curse  [MUA Charge]
  The Cut-Off 
Onna that unknowingly accumulated enough of the worlds 'corruptions' to get removed from the inner worlds droplet net by the zealous Parischnas. Now that the race as a whole left the first world, they found themself alone in their Inner Worlds instead of the community they expected. As a result, small aimless populations of Onna of all kind are still present on ⁠Eresalay, sisters of broken faith that struggle with the abandonment after seemingly being banished for no reason they could possibly understand. It is still a open question how the people of the first world will treat them, now that the protection the large sisterhood and the bloodsilk order promised are gone.  0 AP - Mundane Concept  [MUA Charge]
  Scavenging 
As Simple, yet not very elegant progress of taking anything that could still be useful and distinguishing it from what is not. Wrecked equipment on a battlefield, ruins abandoned, the whole continent of Eresalay... All places where Scavengers out of need or desire roam to use their good eye and judgement to part the refuse from the reuse-able. Be it for survival, or simply profit. 
 1 AP - Teach Advanced Concept  [Society(The Chain) 6/10]
  Greenhouses 
Especially interesting to anyone of statue, and especially the ones living in more hostile environment or of a exceptionally vain nature. Combined with the powers of Cultivary one can grow many a flower in a place it does not belong...   1 AP - Teach Advanced Concept  [Society(The Chain) 7/10]
  Optics 
On a small scale, the benefits of this could be traded for, but now that trade with the Onna has become impossible, the scavengers pick clean for any examples left behind. Especially the simpler, more direct variatons and the places they where produced and disregarded notes of apprentices of the craft that failed to be taken where invaluable finds, as the own production can now be started... The humble Telescope being one of the first and most important creations, yet the way of 'glasses' will help many people across the world who where born unfortunate.  1 AP - Teach Mundane Concept  [Society(The Chain) 8/10]
  Carpentry 
While the Onna seem to have disregarded this skill in favour of their concrete, the examples that withstood time and disuse are valuable things to learn from. Since the Chain usually prefers combining things instead of replacing them in full, the methods will be of great use to their architects. But other uses the Onna would have looked down upon, such as improvements in mining, ship-building and even as little as better spears &amp; crossbows will be of great use.  2 AP -  Raise Hero  [Fire(Smoke) 2/10]
  The Emperor Merchant, Vanratros 
A Dragon from the west of the triangular chain that decided that the Dragon Lifestyle was not enough. Instead, he spends his possible immortal life to the gathering and collection of... Things. Originals, Unique Objects, Skills, anything not possible to be replicated. Vanratros has spend great time to Arcane Magics to improve on his already formidable powers as a dragon, and to understand the psyche of people to make them part willingly from their belongings if possible, so they may create more objects for his collection.

Despite the heavy use of the Arcane and the fractions of Lilias Love that sneaked into his soul over his lifetime, his utter refusal to give anything he believes can not be regained shows itself, as he succesfully holds himself against the corruption of his mind or body, and even the spontanious effects of the accumilated arcane magic get supressed until he deems them fit to unleash, in a spectacle that then become oh-so-more impressive.

One of his most common, yet most unique parts of his collection is that of Soul Coins, for he has found a particular liking to what they represent: The accumulation of the lifetime of a person, and according to some, even beyond that. Unlike most merchants, he never sold his own soul, and does not use the ones he bought for any purpose either if he can avoid it. This made him owner of the second largest collection of Soul Coins in the Treasury, only rivaled by That of Naseki themself. Vanratros however has taken a habit of using the guise of people long dead, whos image and name he conjures up with the soul coins (without spending them, even), a trick he holds uniquely to himself as spreading it would decrease the value of it in his eyes.

He uses this disguises to deal with the people he believes can not handle the truth, and to slip into places undetected when he participates in more... hands-on trades. Of course, he still uses his real, dragon form plenty, be it to deal with trusted people, or to deal with people no longer trusted. And it can be extremely convenient to just burn down something oneself.  ________ 
 5 AP Left 

Progress:
Society (The Chain) 8/10
Fire (Smoke) 2/10
 
Demfro
  Born from the Fractures   
 Kona Öldunnar  
 Deep within the darkest recesses of the abyss, power collects from the divines who once guarded and protected the seas, merging and collecting with runoffs from rivers and emotions caught in the tide. Heartbreak poured into the ocean from the families who were torn apart by the song of the deep, anger from the sea dwellers who wish their ocean stay their alone for all eternity, and abandonment from those that served the gods that now lay as silent as the sea they commanded.

Among these emotions and fractions of divinity left behind by the gods that once ruled the rolling tides, a harsh pull emerged, tugging kelp, rocks, and what little life the abyss had to offer, the tug of their creation creating a whirlpool above the Abyss' entrance, until finally once enough had been absorbed into the celestial black hole their body was formed, kelp compacted and molded into her flesh, clam shells broken apart and shifted into place to make her ceramic-like skin and sea grass fused together to create her long flowing hair, with the final feature being granted by a pair of pearls for her eyes, simmering white with nary a pupil to be seen.

With power coursing through her body, and sentience forming quickly, she looked above through the darkness up towards the tribal people of the sea who merely survived, not thriving as those on the land. This injustice could not stand, they chose to leave their lives behind, even if they were influenced into doing so. They should not be struggling to survive. With this mission in mind, she raises her hand to the very top of the abyssal entrance, coral forming from one of the sides and curving downwards, creating a massive shell, the bottom of which was nearly completely solid, anchored to the wall so that her children could build atop it, finishing the construction with a layer of poisonous anomone that did not harm the sea folk or shark-like kind. With the land made, she called upon the sea folk to introduce them to the new land, granting them the secrets to growing and using coral as a building material, making them no longer traveling packs, but rather a true civilization that could call somewhere home.   
 
 
 Spoiler: Actions, 7 Leftover 
 1 AP, Alter land, Coral Abode. Kona creates a massive bubble-like structure of coral, large and sturdy enough to hold several buildings and hundreds of people, the abode has poisonous anemone covering the outside which will painfully poison anyone who comes in contact with it, if they try to move through anyway, small fish and other weak creatures will often die, while larger creatures tend to just be weakened.

1 AP, Create Basic Concept, Coral Farming. Imparting her knowledge of Coral onto the population of sea folk, she grants them the ability to plant and nurture coral to be a sustainable source of building materials.

1 AP, Create Basic Concept, Coral Masonry. Expanding upon the knowledge of coral she provided, she teaches them how to use this coral in order to create solid structures, as well as rudimentary tools and weapons such as spears, hammers, and pickaxes.

1 AP (Split with Lilia) Create Mythic Sub-Concept (Arcane Magic -&gt; Arcane Mediums): Through the incorporation of orichalcum into an object arcane practitioners can create devices that can independently channel arcane forces outside of the flow or leylines of the sun. An unexpected side effect of this is that arcane intoxication is far less prevalent as the arcane energy barely touches the caster when an arcane medium is used, yet the limits to an arcane explosion can be harder to estimate for the untrained due to the lack of physical feedback.
    Besides creating a means to use arcane magic in sunlight deprived regions arcane mediums can be crafted in such a manner as to overcome certain limitations in magic. Some are crafted to channel arcane magic silently without extra energy input, delay the release of a spell, widen the area the magic affects, or automatically maintain magic a arcane practitioner would normally maintain through concentration.
    Within the Abyss, arcane mediums are the only reliable source of magic, crafted from Orichalcum veins found within the walls of the realm, this orichalcum ore is used in several ways, the most often of which being used to grow coral, fusing the magic into the plant and gently guiding it into a usable shape such as a staff, gauntlet or spear. The more rare and sought after are orichalcum pearls, created through processing orichalcum into fine dust and carefully injecting it into a clam. Care must be taken however to avoid overfilling the clam with orichalcum, clams given too much magic can result in monstrous transformations.

5 AP Greater Utility Artifact, Acropora Shield (Alter Land): Breaking off an outcropping of Coral from the walls, Kona's mind alights with an idea, collecting Acropora Coral and condensing it together into a solid disk-like shape, the curves and gaps forming to create her holy symbol of a bubble with sharpened teeth, the turns and curves making each tooth seem jagged and serrated. Using her newly created device, she pushes it through the water, collecting any remains of passed gods and infusing their essence into itself, filling the curves with a shimmering divine power. With the power of the divine, it's strength shines through as Coral begins to spring up within it's proximity, controlled by the wielder.
 
Demidos
Despite their historical isolation, the events precipitated by the departure of the Onna rippled across the fabric of the world. Suddenly, Ereselay was entirely devoid of civilization, and already scavengers among the Sea-Folk and the first probing touches of roving merchants were beginning to touch upon its shores. But it was not right that this continent pacified by the gentle touch of the Onna should give up its secrets so easily to newcomers, that its secrets should be exploited with reckless abandon. So Sagmi sings to the Star Mantas, and her music crystallizes as a flute burning with passion, and a symphony tracing the cold dance of the Mantas through the endless Void. The flute falls towards Yalasere, but the Symphony comes to rest in Eresalay, waiting to be used. Then Sagmi takes some of her siblings’ creations, the will-o-wisps, and stretched them with her songs, molded them into a new shape, before releasing them into Ereselay. In the day these creatures would be graceful unicorns, bound to light and the protection of the forests. At night, the accumulated sunlight would disperse from their forms as fireflies, leaving only the darker impulses imposed by the Darkness weaver. Appearing as demonic horses glowing like cinders, they would hunt those they judged worthy prey.  It is said that the surest sign of death in Ereselay is to see a burst of fireflies appearing in a forest at night, followed by a red glow between the trees. 

Meanwhile in First City, the Onna have been spotted for the first time – not one, but three Onna have appeared through the Abyssal Dungeon of the First City. Bitter at having been left behind by the exodus of their kin, they are swiftly introduced to a research project once known only at the highest levels – a project once graced by Kalabash the Hero, before their disappearance, but now led by a consortium of witches of the bloom and the Inksworn Sees Within Himself. A research project now kicked into high gear by the arrival of war. A secret way to splinter a Kami or another supernatural being into shards and implant them into one’s Inner World, allowing them to grow within oneself and achieve a symbiosis with them. A living Kami able to sheathe the body of a warrior in its own living golem armor that could repair itself and lash out with lashing brambles or even gouts of fire, as dictated by the type of spirit. From this grew a new elite unit of the Kish-Eruvian army,  the War-Walkers .

Fortifications sprang up around the First City. Although walls were not useful due to the nature of the watery terrain, six massive towers were constructed, each housing a single will-o-wisp bound by Pacts and surrounded by hundreds of lightstones, feeding light from will-o-wisp to lightstone and back again, creating powerful beams of light capable of burning creatures trapped within the light alive. Two more were constructed at the port town, now christened Ki-Uru, their powerful beams able to guide ships to safety or destroy those who might threaten the new town. The techniques for these constructions, as well as  were said to have been discovered in a book touched by a strange beam of light while at sea.

Lastly, a refugee arrives from the south of Yalasere. A boy, only just becoming a man. From him, the First City learns that the depredations of the empire have reached far beyond their borders, destroying and pillaging. The boy speaks of a monstrous being, beyond any other in power, that turned his village against each other with only a few words, and fed upon their anguish. Only the boy escaped, having been herding his family’s cows and watched his family consume each other from afar. The boy’s eyes burn with vengeance, and the Inksworn power that helped him travel half the continent earns him a commission in the army and a high place in the endless duels of the Guild of Ursa. His power is undeniable – after all,  He Calls to Stone .

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

1AP: Create Monsters:  Stygian Unicorns  – The first unicorns are formed by twisted will-o-wisps bound into the shape of massive glowing horned horses. Their horns are formed of concentrated sunlight and are formidable weapons. These unicorns protect nature, using their illusionary powers on the nearby forestry to confound attackers. At night, their accumulated sunlight disperses into the sky as fireflies, leaving behind Nightmares, will-o-wisps given new form in the shape of demonic horses. They are incredibly clever for monsters, able to create and utilize traps and primitive strategies, and will use their senses and illusions to hunt down and murder anyone they deem intruders into their territory (basically everyone). Both the unicorn and nightmare forms are most dangerous when they have had time to build up power, for the unicorn in the form of concentrated sunlight and for the nightmare in terms of prepared traps. Wonder(Illumination) 7/10

2 AP: Create Advanced Concept: Lighthouses – Massive constructions utilizing techniques described in a book altered by the Lantern of Myriad Truths, these constructs can light the path for many miles or burn enemies from far distances. They work equally well at night or in the day. Wonder(Illumination) 9/10

2 AP: Pact Magic Subconcept – Hymns of Binding: Expanding on the Pact Magic that is by now familiar to the First City, they develop a new form of Song-based Pact Magic, chants and hymns that can trap supernatural beings into contracts or mundane beings into subjugation. They use this to build their Lighthouses, arm their War-Walkers, and tame the native Soottooths and creatures of the area. Arts(Music) 9/10

1 AP: Create Organization – War Walkers:  Soldiers encased in golem-like Kami bodies , these are the cream of the Kish-Eruvian army, able to deal out death with near impunity from their constantly regrowing living armors. They accomplish this by taking the splinter of a Kami and fusing it into their Inner Worlds. They can also call on the powers of the specific Kami splinter they have bound, often granting them fantastic abilities. Arts(Storytelling) 5/10

2 AP: Raise Hero:  He Calls to Stone  – A young man driven nearly to insanity by Slintoch’s Avatar, he is an incredibly powerful Inksworn, able to travel through miles of stone in an instant, throw boulders with a thought, and trap his foes within a morass of stone turned liquid. He holds a grudge beyond all grudges against the Empire and any who defend them. Arts(Storytelling) 7/10

2 AP (Reduced by GUA): Create Split Artifact – The Solar Flute and the Symphony of Stars. This two part artifact is mechanically a single bless/curse artifact (respectively) that alternates curses and blessings every other week. They take intent and crystallize it into action, though it is not always what the user may expect. If they are not used by their wielders they may sometimes activate themselves. Piracy(Discovery) 2/10

Still need to figure out domain/action pairings but i'll put them out soon!
 
MutantDragon
  Madness Reigns  

Deep in a forest on the continent of Eresalay, curses filled the air. She was instructed to leave this ruined world for paradise. But she weren't allowed access. Abandoned by her sisters. Abandoned by the moon. Naleena was among the esteemed Bloodsilk Order. She fought, bled, and killed for her sisters. And now she was cast off as a snake sheds its skin. And she cursed the moon with all the fury she could muster. As her throat became raw and her curses subsided to mere hoarse whispers in the night, her gaze shifted to the giant blazing eye that rivaled the duplicitous moon's brightness. And as she gazed upon it, something gazed back. Something angry, and hateful, and  evil.  And Naleena laughed, for she saw herself in this strange new evil eye. She laughed as her spirit withered. She laughed as all the love and loyalty she once felt turned into bitter rage and hate. She laughed a manic, unhinged laugh as her body shifted and grew, bones snapping, growing, and rearranging. She even laughed while her hands sprouted cruel claws and her face morphed into a snout. And, finally, her laugh became a howl.

---

Elsewhere on the forsaken continent, in one of the empty concrete homes, the shadows of night gathered into a new shape. One of the Onna left behind entered the home soon after, seeking solace in her home from before her abandonment. She was greeted by a child. Small, no older than six. The child was crying. Poor thing, thought Lenil, to be abandoned at such an age. She moved without thinking to embrace the child, to comfort her. That's when the weeping child lowered her hands from her face and revealed a maw filled with deadly fangs.

---

High above the clouds and on the back of a sky whale, Vlint stared up at the eye in the sky. It was beautiful. Most of the others didn't understand, they didn't see it like he did. They saw it as evil. He saw it as truth. Absolute. Pure. There were some who saw it as he did. Who saw the majesty of it. They grouped together. The others couldn't see the truth, but that would change. Soon.

---

On an island off the coast of Yalasere, a haggard looking man stared into his reflection in the pond before him.

"Why am I here?" the man asked, thinking back to the home he left behind. Why would he leave it all behind to come out here into the savage frontier? He certainly didn't need the money. So, he looked to his reflection for an answer. And, with a short chuckle, his reflection shrugged.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 

Rollover! 16AP + 6AP = 22AP

 Bless/Curse (Lycanthropy) 1AP:  Embittered individuals across the First World who lose themselves in the Great Eye's hatred transform into merciless monsters with bestial characteristics, usually those of a wolf, for which the affliction is named. Affected individuals become violently unhinged, often stalking and murdering everything they encounter, though sometimes forming packs with other lycanthropes. In addition to the mental and cosmetic effects, the lycanthropes gain supernatural strength, speed, and resilience, as well as most of the advantages possessed by the animal they imitate. [Mind (Insanity) 8/10]

 Create Monster (Weepers) GUA:  A weeper is a monster that takes the appearance of a young child. It covers its face with its hands while it mimics crying to lure in prey and hide its more sinister features. When a victim approaches, it lowers its hands, revealing an unnaturally large mouth filled with over-large fangs that it uses to slay the unlucky victim.

 Create Organization (Eye Watchers) 1AP:  The Eye Watchers are a group of elves driven mad by the Great Eye. While they have yet to act openly, they are a deadly predator waiting amongst an unsuspecting herd, merely biding their time for the perfect opportunity to strike. [Mind (Insanity) 9/10]

 Create Monster (Reflectors) 1AP:  Reflectors are strange creatures that can randomly be created whenever a sapient being casts a reflection. They appear to replace the normal reflections and act according to their own wills, wills that are, at best, mischievous and, at worst, malevolent. While extraordinarily rare, they can be quite unsettling and, in even rarer cases dangerous. In these extra-rare cases, the reflectors can briefly exert physical force on the creatures they reflect, leading to scenarios such as a reflection in a lake dragging someone into the water and drawing them or the reflection in a mirror banging a victim's head into a nearby table's sharp corner. [Mind (Insanity) 10/10]

22AP – 3AP = 19AP
1MUA
0GUA
 
Mechalich
 Retaliation 

Ecie watched as certain of the Onna were bounced back from their Inner Worlds for reasons she did not understand. This should not have occurred. She was fully aware that those worlds were no longer joined to the web. But this did not matter, they were still part of those sisters, and still welcoming, still an opportunity for immortality. This outcome had been known, predicted, expected. All had still agreed to go. Why had this happened?

Carefully, she traced the joins, one by one, until it became clear what had occurred. Another deity had intervened, one who claimed benevolence only to act with great cruelty.  "So be it,"  in her rage, Ecie spoke, something she almost never did. If cruelty was the currency of the First World, then let it fall.

Her tendrils reached out, touched all those left behind, and squeezed. As one, all Onna cut-off and sent back perished, instantly, painlessly, permanently. Their existence, beyond their inner worlds, was eliminated.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

 Counter (2AP): The Cut-Off  - All beings impacted by this curse die, instantly, within days of it taking place.
Starting AP: 6 Rollover Gain: 7 Spent: 2 Remaining: 11

And, I'm done. Should have left weeks ago. This enterprise is not worth it.
[/B]
 
DasIrrlicht
 The Strike of the Chain  , start of a long, starless night. 
The ships sailed slowly, taking a wide turn. They came closer to the coast of Eresalay then the traders usually go when passing Yalaseres northern coast... A long chain of different warships, different sizes, irregular distances. Each outfitted with different weapons, crews, some of different believes and some simply payed for the service. They could barley see each other, even with the telescopes they recently got issued. Orders was to sail in the dark, move with the night as the hole the sun burned into the sky kept starring down on the procession. Of course, there was no hiding from the eye in the sky for the vessels, but a certain hope remained in the crew that the lightless travel made it focus on more interesting visuals instead...
 

In the far south of the continent a small group of devoted individuals left from the fortress island. Of course, they know they are far away from the cult they aim to fight where they are now,  but its practices have soaked trough it all. Canibalistic tribes hide all around, preying on the weaker ones that hoped the distance to the empire would protect them from such degeneracy. On the map are a number of markings. The Fortress Island in one corner. A place called 'Kish-Eru' they heard fought against the canibalistic empire in the opposite one. The north coast, to a large part, was enclosed with vauge lines of expectations, a guess of where the empire may all extend to.

But this day, a different course was drawn. The order would move along the south coast, west to east, and weed out the irredeemable from the mislead and mistaken. A slow move, methodical, finding any tribe they possibly can and observing them for a mere day before judging them. Extermination, or the chance to turn away from their sun and live without the fear of being smitten down by the followers of a hateful god every day, and every night...
 

The moon nearly was in line with the eye, hopefully blinding it for a few valuable hours this decisive night. The ships all along the line got the signal, and they changed curse south to deliver their valuable cargo. Each ship, additionally to their existing weaponry, had a special cannon mounted to their main deck. Larger then most of the ones seen elsewhere, unable to turn on its own, and fix pointed at a certain angle towards the sky. To be fired they had to be swung open, so a full barrel could be inserted to serve as the explosive force for the projectile to soar into the sky. Barrels and Projectiles of which many, and many more where savely stored below deck. Each contained the same mixture, ingredients that are so rare most of the alchemists that where involved in divising the mixture did not know of their existance, and would not be able to recreate it if they tried. Some claim the ingredients are not even all from this world. Some say they did not even all exist before the plan was concived.
 

In one of the camps of Bhal, a camp further south then most of them, Vanratros was enjoying a simple tea with the local garrison. The actual army of the self proclaimed 'First City' has gotten some new toys of their own recently, and it was a delight watching the War Walkers deploy. They matched so wonderfully with the bombardment of the cannons he has brought to this more remote encampment in the name of the merchant guild. One strikes the air, shatters the sky and has it rain onto the lands below... The others march out to pick up the pieces, wipe away the ones that thought they could just hide below a shield or seek cover in a cave.

He exchanges rumors about a certain 'Symphony', able to cause great suffering upon ones foes... How one can be the specific and only person in control of a piece of music is a concept nobody was able to explain to him yet, but it intrigued him. A song only one person could possibly sing at a time has a certain charm to it, afterall... However, the musings got cut short when a special carriage arrived. To large to fit onto one wagon, pieces have been coming in for days. Now however the final one arrived: The Ammunition. Spheres of uniform size, engraved with a single ominous word. 'Nox'. Not the Tongue of the chain, not the Dialect of Kish-Eru either. Yet its meaning was clear to anyone who read it.

 Night. 
 

Midnight. The Moon at its highest. The Eye burned into the night just out of view, at least for a few moments. The silhouettes of the ships have just been spotted by the empire, still far from their coast, but alarmingly many, and wide spread out. Ships like this where unknown to them, but it takes no genius to figure out what they are. Vessels from across the ocean, unlike the ones of the soulless merchants they tolerated so far. As each and every one of them, in a long line, lit the lights on deck it only became clear how large that operation was. Single ships, each far from the next, but spread along the coast from the western edge all the way to the forests of Bahl. The smarter would already know that this could not have been a landing, their own conquest of some small islands of their coast thought them how a landing looks. But what could it be? A display of power? A threat? A blockage?

The more foolhardy among the coast, far from where the empire hunted the lessers for food, quickly attempted to attack some of the ships via boats... Sometimes, explosions where heard, othertimes, it was silent in the distance, but this attempts universally ended with the boats sunk. The ones that made their way on Firedrakes back however had more successes, of some kind. Many of the ships where prepared for the attack from above, firing their strange cannons with special shot, or filling the general direction with bolts of countless ballista, yet a giant fire-spewing lizard can do plenty of damage even in their dieing moments. Enormous sails burn away, masts break of, some weapons get smattered... But before the next drakes arrive to pick up where the last failed, the first salvo started.
 

They have prepared for this. But even the sailors enacting this where not totally sure what to expect...
As they lit the torches and lanterns, the Empire they heard stories about send out their first people. Small boats, filled with madmen, sunk without hesitation or incident. The second ones, the Dragonriders, where a rumor they in circulation for a long time that proofed itself true in the most direct way it could. And more where to come, and who knows what monsters they would bring forwards? But there was no time to think, as the captain gave orders. The moment has come to load  the  cannon. The grand plan of the Chain, hatched in secret over many weeks between nobles, merchants, the order in the south, mercenaries, and if its true even Kish-Eru was in the know. 'Nox' got loaded, as it was on every ship this side of the continent, and many of the camps of the fights in the forest of Bhal'nabool.

More Firedrakes get spotted raising from the coast.

The final second of Silence.
 

The explosions where nothing short of deafening, as the ammunition was shot far into the sky, high above the coast of Yalasere. There, uncountable second detonations occured, leaving a faded black fog, hanging in the air. It repeated, another salvo, and the clouds got thicker. Hours on end, as along the coast the empire attempts to sink as much of the fleet as they can, yet thats a form of combat they where inexperienced in. Few and far between, they manage to seriously damage ships, yet even as the decks are lit aflame their central mounted cannons keept firing. More hours in, as the sun starts rising over the horizon, the dark clouds bend the light towards a sickly orange colour...

Some of the ships have been managed to be weathered down, as they start sinking, the rest of their payload detonates leaving think clouds of smoke where they anchored before. Yet still, the rest keeps on firing. No boats are send to attempt to pick up survivors, for the cloud would have made finding them impossible. No light enters this spots, and none leaves it.

The hours advance, and the fire continues. As the morning sun raises towards the day, it got darker. The smoke filling the air formed a seemingly solid blanket, yet the cannons kept firing, and the sailors fought for their life in their first contact with the enemy.

The camps of the army of Kish-Eru had a simelar picture, as Mercenaries manned the giant guns, and the sky as well is covered in the thick mist cutting of the sunlight. A certain fear has spread out among the soldiers. Blocking out the Sun? A measure this extreme? For now, it was pointed against their enemies, but what kind of organisation would they be facing if this 'Chain' ever turned against them?

Fireflies are out at day, providing their meager light under the thundering cloud. The cannons have fallen silent, yet still explosions occasionally hall from the thick black carpet between the open skies and the sun-cursed lands below. The weather already started to become noticeable colder, with some of the reliable rains being replaced by a black snow, leaving a film of soot on whatever it lands on, waiting to be washed away by a rain sure to follow suit soon.
 
 Spoiler: Naseki AP Spending 
 5 AP LEFT 
 4 AP ROUNDSTART 
 3 AP - Blessing/Curse  [Fire(Smoke) 5/10]
  The Starless Night, a Storm of Smoke, Soot, and Ice 
Plans made by mortals and methods enhanced by the divine, most of Yalasere has been covered by a dark storm, a layer of clouds black as smoke, cutting of daylight, moonlight, and even the light of star-mantas and the burning stare of the great eye in the sky (if not Slintochs actual view, for a god may see what they want). Thunder occasionally roars trough the clouds, often accompanied by a orange lightning before black snow or hail falls over the regions, covering everything it touches with a film of soot easily wiped away.

The region covered is roughly the size of Yalasere itself, possibly a bit smaller, but displaced to the North West. This means the empires main lands, Bhal'nabool, and vast surrounding swats of 'unowned' land are covered by the storm. The south and east coast of the continent (including Kish-Eru, naturally), are spared its presence as anything more then something to see on the horizon. Any area covered by the clouds is at a lower temperature, the switch between night and day only noticeable by the fact that the nights often become freezing as the days are simply 'cold'. Arcane Magic is naturally more reliant on the casters own powers as the lack of sun-contact weakens its infulence, but thanks to Leylines it never gets fully snuffed out. Fire magics in specific seem to struggle with the circumstances more then other kinds.

Occasionally, normal rain still makes it trough the covering, which is possibly the only good news as many plants are unable to handle the shift in the weather, and start to slowly but surley die off. Vegetation that stood in the shadows of the great trees all their existance however seem to be ready to pick up the slack... How badly this will affect nature is unclear, and most likely depends on how much time will pass with the clouds hanging thick over the continent.  ________ 
 6 AP Left 
 2 MUA Charges 
 1 GUA Charge 


Progress:
Society (The Chain) 8/10
Fire (Smoke) 5/10
 
Zelphas
 A Game of Society 

The Temptations had known who their creators were. They saw how Glikmora wept at leaving the First World, and focused on the Lolats and their society, and were confused. They saw how Telas vanished, and refused to take part in great things, and were disappointed... but some were instead impressed. And they, in turn, slowly convinced others that what they saw in Telas was not sloth, but craft. A craft that they could take part in, if they chose.

And so, those few who sought out Temptations, instead of finding lonely hermits and beautiful ascetics, were introduced to a society of glitter and artifice, where great gain and great loss were offered. The society had rules--many, maddeningly many rules--but all knew by now that Temptations could not lie; they need only ask, and it would be explained. They could not explain all the rules, of course, but they always explained what was "relevant" to their guests, their prey.

One rule that was never relevant to the guests was true in all the First World and beyond: the Temptations need not follow their rules, and could change them on a whim, so long as it made the game more interesting and did not break the deeper rule: always give the prey a chance.

 The Mind Behind the Mockery 

A pale, indistinct figure wobbled away, dissatisfied. It did not have the intelligence to even know what it desired, only that it could not achieve it. It had played its part, it had been rejected, and it had killed in anger. Such was its life. No longer.

The creature it came from took the experiences and stored them away, leaving a blasted wreck behind. It sent out a more sophisticated shard of itself... or so it thought. All it had given was power, and intelligence. Still, there was no understanding. But it was trying to learn.

 Firewater 

Deep beneath the earth, there were caverns. In some of the caverns, there was fire, lava that flowed and burned and boiled. Deeper still, there was water, endless and deep. Where the two met, there was steam, and fog, and deeper darkness. Somehow, two inhospitable places became livable, though what came out of them was often odd...

 Telas 

Telas settled back from their survey. Things were very strange indeed. Strange... but interesting. Perhaps all that was left to do for them was to watch.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 0 AP + 5 AP + 5 AP = 10 AP 
 Create Legendary Society (4 AP) - the Glamorous Association of Magnificent Extravagance:  The Association consists of Temptations, who pretend at high society while constantly changing the rules and working to mess with any mortals that are introduced. There is a legitimate chance at great riches and power for mortals who enter the G.A.M.E., but the risk is just as high, if not higher.  [Life (Mockery) 5/10] 
 Bless/Curse (1 AP) - Joy of the G.A.M.E.:  The strange and wondrous society of Temptations has tempted mortals towards them once again, causing a bump in missing people and in dangerous changes in power.  [Life (Mockery) 6/10] 
 Create Legendary Sub-race (3 AP, from Mockeries) - Shards of Travesty:  A Shard of Travesty resembles a Mockery in basic form, with perhaps a slightly better grasp of "normal" mortal forms (though still no real understanding of how to differentiate one mortal from another). They have also mastered mortal speech and are excellent mimics, though they speak gibberish as often as they say coherent sentences. Their form is still terrifying and obviously  wrong , and they are orders of magnitude smarter and stronger than Mockeries; an encounter with a Shard of Travesty is generally survived only if the mortal can accidentally satisfy the Shard's utterly alien, half-formed desires.  [Life (Mockery) 9/10] 
 Alter Land (1 AP) - Firewater Oases:  The lava that congregates in the Deepness and the endless water of the Abyss are inimical to most forms of life in roughly equal measures. However, where these two things meet, the resulting steam and moisture creates places that are (by the standards of the Deepness) practically paradisical. This attracts survivors, dwellers, and predators in roughly equal amounts.  [Life (Mockery) 10/10; Domain Get; New Deity Level Achieved! 
 10 AP - 9 AP = 1 AP Remaining 
 
Fuzzy Math
  Cocum bonum esse habes quod amor boni, amor laboris, amor creandi habes.  
  To be a good cook you have to have a love of the good, a love of hard work, and a love of creating.  


	The Yvapurũ had gathered in their grove along with the Kami resting about their necks, the overall mood being of pensive excitement. They had been busy since the Elder joined their dreams; with their newfound connection to the land, both from the Kami and their expanded harmony with the world around them, they set out to map the entirety of the island. One of the eldest gathered brought his arms up when everyone was settled, causing the ground between all of them to rise up slowly, taking the form of the island with their discoveries having been shaped out previously. For a non-Hopeful, all they would see in this shaping, outside of the extensive greenery of the trees, would be immediately identifiable landmarks. The massive tree at the center of the Pocket, the great mountain with the Triangle Pass, the rivers running along the north and south curves, and the massive cliffs rising from the ocean. To the Hiplings and the Kamii, however, they knew how to see the finer details by centering their attention on specific areas which brought that section into sharper focus. A white flower here, an indicator for a coppice of Jitter-trees. A splash of yellow leaves there, tasty fruits grew. A cachoo nut? The little druid that added that wasn’t the most imaginative, preferring a more direct representation; that indicated a stand of cachoo trees. So on and so forth, from eldest down the line, they all added their particular findings to the Grand Atlas.

The youngest member of the group, just barely considered an adult, waited for their turn to contribute, running their thumb along the crystal shard tied to their waist. When the time came, they brought the Rest into focus, then the rooms within the Triangle Pass. Walking up to the depiction, an extremely large room was added on the northern slope of the Pass, with an almost hidden entrance point as it was covered by a thick moss the grew along the entire length of the Pass at the bottom point. Bringing the tethered crystal up from its place, they used it as a drawing stick, doing their best to get the picture just right before stepping back. The other Yvapurũ chuffed in curiosity at this new addition, asking what this was and how it came to be, to which the young Hipling could only shrug while explaining that they discovered it on accident when trying to put another plant into place. They did know, however, what the crystal appeared to be able to do. Motioning for the others to gather around, they held the shard up and asked to learn about coffee, to which an almost-realistic visual projection spread up from the scintillating object. It depicted a wooden cup of coffee with steam rising from the delicious brown liquid before it spoke in a crisply knowledgeable female Hipling voice, welcoming the viewers to learn about all things coffee. The view rose directly above the cup, then zoomed down through the liquid to reveal a mature coffee plant growing in the foothills of the Rest, beginning to relate how coffee is grown to the shard’s rapt audience.

Shards soon found their way to the rest of the Hiplings, answering all of the little ones’ simple questions such as how to make simple traps, why do certain fruits taste better when left to ripen, and how to draw a pokbogbobobo. Most of the Hiplings had their shards tethered to the vine belts, though the Yvapurũ added a second necklace with the shard as a pendant, to go along with their resting Kami group symbol. Inevitably, one question rose above all others over and over again, usually after the Feastings. How to not get burnt food when using fire to make it taste better; they understood that roasting coffee fruits takes time, but when applying the same methods to other foods, it almost always resulted in something barely edible. After much back and forth between the Learning Crystal and Hiplings, trying to understand the question, it would explain how to create dishes using various methods, utensils, and surfaces to produce optimal results. There were more than a few Hiplings that took to this new process of cooking with a heart full of passion and curiosity, mixing ingredients to create more exciting meals and Feasting experiences overflowing with delightful flavors. From these lessons, the Hopeful would intuit how to produce ceramics, working with the Kami’s assistance rather than building kilns. This also allowed them to repair broken wares rather than create new ones, in the spirit of preserving the resources of the land, even if it was only clay.

 
 Spoiler: AP Spending 
AP Remaining After Rollover: 10
AP Total: 10

 Create Minor Utility Artifact (3AP; Create Mundane Concept) – The Learning Crystal:  Discovered in a cavernous (approximately 61m by 30m by 152m, 200ft by 100ft by 500ft, in size) room in the Rest that was not created by the Hiplings, accessed from the northern angle of the Triangle Pass. The crystal itself takes up almost the entire back half of the room, though not quite reaching the ceiling, and pulsates in scintillating colors. When touched and asked a question regarding basic concepts, it will project an image and describe the subject matter in a language spoken by the creature touching it, with word complexity depending on their level of general understanding. If the crystal does not understand the question, it will ask for clarification. Pieces can be chipped off the crystal and they will still retain this functionality, although the projection and sound will be more personal, shared by a handful of creatures at most. [Community (Family) 8/10]

 Create Mundane Concept (MUA Charge) – Cooking/Baking:  The act of preparing food for consumption. It involves a range of skills and techniques that are used to cook food, such as boiling, frying, baking, and roasting. While the Hiplings understood the idea of applying food to open flames, which smelled delicious, it usually resulted in mostly charred meals with only a small portion still edible. Taking the lessons from coffee production and adapting them to other foods, they can now reliably apply basic cooking practices to produce entirely edible meals.

 Create Advanced Concept (2AP) – Culinary Arts:  While cooking made food taste better and easier to eat, there were those who wondered, “This is good, but can we do even better?” Through experimentation with ingredients, preservation techniques, and cooking methods, these Hiplings have mastered the artistic science of cooking. (Granted, without understanding the actual science behind it; they just know how to make food look and taste its best through trial and error, remember the process, and pass it on through the telling.) Every aspect, from the presentation on the plate to the aroma, flavors, and textures in our mouths, contributes to the uplifting of a simple meal. While currently limited to the foods of the Pocket, they will be most interested in other techniques and ingredients once exposed to them. [Community (Family) 10/10; DOMFOLIO GET!]

 Teach Mundane Concept (1AP) – Ceramics:  Crafting and vitrification of pottery from clay. [Healing (Repairs) 2/10]

AP Spent: 6
AP Remaining: 4
MUA (Mun. Con.) Charges: 0

Progress:
[Healing (Repairs) 2/10]
[Community (Family) 10/10; DOMFOLIO GET!]
 
MutantDragon
  Empires Old and New  

This was an affront beyond any blasphemies previously found on Yalasere. The sun was blotted out by a wave of...smoke? This could not stand. It needed to be punished. The perpetrators had to be exterminated. And all the while Slintoch laughed, pleased at the new avenues of carnage for his chosen puppets to explore.

---

A thread of divine power invisibly snaked through the black clouds before splitting apart and latching onto inland semi-aquatic reptiles called "crocodiles." The reptilian predators were torn asunder by this power, their physical forms shredded into energy that flickered through a state of nonexistence before forming again on the coast as something...different.

---

Sarjur stood with his fellow sun-followers upon the coast, preparing himself for the bloody vengeance that would be unleashed upon the fools who dared defile the sky and obscure the sun with their wicked crafts. Just as he was working himself into a frenzy of anger and insanity, a massive shape emerged from the water in front of him. It was far larger than any firedrake he had ever seen and appeared much like one of the crocodiles found in the rivers and swamps of the Empire. The size, however, was not the only thing distinguishing it from a normal crocodile. Its scales took on the appearance of a heavily armored carapace, and its legs were much longer than usual in proportion to its body, ending in sharp, hooked claws. As the titanic reptile emerged from the water, it reared up on its back legs and, with an ear-splitting shriek, it blasted from its jaws a jet of flame that scorched the air and briefly illuminated the beach the stood on. It then fell forward onto all four legs once more and fixed Sarjur with a lazy stare as more just like it emerged all along the beach. And the sun's champions grinned and howled with glee, for these beasts would bring their wrath to the hated ones who dared to strike at the sun.

---

On another coast of Yalasere, this one far to the South and somewhat East, a young woman named Miral played with her toys. These toys were not made of cloth or wood, nor of straw or glass. They were crafted of flesh and blood and thought. The Zealots of Zargog. They were simple creatures, broken by the creature they worshipped or by its other followers until there was only a strong shell containing little else but hatred and violent intent. They were so easy to bend to her will. With but a flick of her mind she could send any dozen off to do whatever she desired, her every whim carrying the weight of an unshakable command coming not from without, but within. What she wanted, they did. And what she wanted was beautiful. It was a city, one of spires and glass, of metal and concrete. The blacksmiths and glassblowers, taught their trades by their mistress, who herself learned from the eye, worked day and night to create weapons and baubles for Miral's fledgling society. Meanwhile, the beast tamers raised flaming kittens that would one day strike fear into the hearts of Miral's enemies. And all the Zealots were drilled in combat and conditioned for total obedience, with or without psychic enforcement of it. Where once the Zealots were chaos, they now were the very picture of order. And they were preparing for the day they would conquer this world for their mistress...and Zargog, of course.

---

A howl pierced the silence that had settled over the camp. The soldiers tensed, ready for battle with whatever might come, be it a rabid beast or a host of rabid men. But no monsters assailed them, and those not on watch settled once more. It was a cold night. At least, they thought it was night. It had become hard to tell ever since the strangers on the sea turned the sky as black as ink. Regardless, the soldiers were cold, though they refrained from lighting a fire in case such a blaze would alert the enemy of their presence. Instead, they hugged their blankets tighter about themselves and tried to get some rest, though a few reluctantly rose from their spots around camp and stalked towards the makeshift watch posts established just beyond eyeshot in the dense forest brush. They did not find the companions they meant to relieve. Instead, they found their intestines. The night belonged to the wolves.

A scream pierced the silence that had settled over the camp.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 

 Create Monster (Zaluks) 1AP:  A zaluk is a massive crocodile, measuring as long as fifty feet. Their hides are extraordinarily strong and they are capable of firebreathing comparable to a firedrake's. Additionally, their elongated legs and talon-like claws allow them to rear up on their hind legs in a crude imitation of bipedal anatomy for brief periods of time. The Empire of the Sun has begun taming them for use in coastal combat. [Travel (Conquest) 1/10]

 Raise Hero (Miral) 2AP:  Miral is an ordinary looking young woman, though she possesses extraordinary psychic powers and has been driven quite mad by the Great Eye and her own powers. Leveraging her prodigious telepathic talents, she quickly gained control of the Zealots of Zargog and now directs them as she pleases. Though her telepathic talents are the most immediately obvious, there are many more psychic talents, as any insolent fool able to resist mental invasion would quickly discover. [Travel (Conquest) 3/10]

 Create Racial Society (Imperium Animi) 2AP:  Imperium Animi is a society created by Miral by way of her slaves, the Zealots of Zargog. It is a strange society, being both extraordinarily orderly despite its population and its ruler's insanity and extremely beautiful to behold, working glass, steel, and orichalcum into many breathtaking public structures. Despite this, it is still a land of terror, controlled by a lunatic despot and her brainwashed cult of cannibalistic warriors. The buildings may be pretty, the streets may be clean, and the consumption of human flesh may now be done with elegant utensils at the ruler's dinner parties, but the roots of Zargog's cult are still firmly entrenched. [Travel (Conquest) 5/10]

 Teach Advanced Concept (Architecture) 1AP:  Slintoch, by way of the Great Eye, implanted much more than madness in Miral's mind. Among her favorite topics she was granted mastery over, fine architecture was one of the first tasks she set her workers to when constructing the Imperium. The Imperium's style is characterized by its spires, arches, delicate-seeming structures that would baffle lesser societies in their ability to remain upright, and by its prolific use of metal and glass. [Travel (Conquest) 6/10]

 Teach Advanced Concept (Glassware) 1AP:  Another of Miral's favorite crafts, glassware in the Imperium is commonly used in architecture, though it is also employed for the creation of beautiful trinkets for the crazed empress. [Travel (Conquest) 7/10]

 Teach Advanced Concept (Concrete) 1AP:  A necessity for the realization of Miral's most ambitious architectural visions, the making of concrete was another secret The Destroyer whispered in the psychic's mind. [Travel (Conquest) 8/10]

 Teach Advanced Concept (Steel Making) 1AP:  Steel is used by the Imperium largely for the construction of weapons and armor, much as it is in other places, though the Imperium's metallurgy also finds uses in the civilization's architectural pursuits. [Travel (Conquest) 9/10]

 Teach Advanced Concept (Beast Taming) 1AP:  The Imperium also engages in the practice of beast taming, currently focusing on the beautiful and astonishingly destructive flame tigers. [Travel (Conquest) 10/10]   Domain Unlocked!  
 Create Organization (Night Howlers) 1AP:  The Night Howlers are an elite force of werewolves within the Empire of the Sun engaging in guerrilla warfare. They use their lycanthropic talents to devastating effect against the armies of Kish-Eru, especially now that their enhanced senses provide them a constant decisive edge, though this particular advantage is very far from being something they revel in. [Darkness (Terror) 1/10]

19AP – 11AP = 8AP
1MUA
0GUA
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naseki  , new routines. 
With the Starless Night in action, it was time for the ships to fall back, regroup, and then start their patrols around the Empires coast. Small groups, traveling together to be a harder target, and taking slightly different routes every time. Its taking clues from the chain and the forests of Bhal, applied on a different scale. In fact, with the reliance on stationary defenses the People of the Chain have gotten rather good at, it was just natural that they developed a good system to hold area outside of them.

And while this started with the ships within the Operation itself, over a short timespan the massive cannons mounted in the center where removed. The sky is already blacked out, it was no longer necessary to have them there, and carry their enormous weight with themself. That should also help fighting of the Zaluks, which while of much less size then the Leviathans of the waters further out, their nature of being essencially water-firedrakes came with the caviat that they where also handled like such, and could be usedfor much more dangerous strategies then the simple ones prefered by mere unaffiliated seafolk raiders.

 

The patrols in the area however came with a slight downside. The Trade Routes of the Merchant Guild had to be capped. The last few shipments sneaking in and out carried a unusual number of people with them, as before they had to leave permanently, they wanted to milk the Empire for what it was worth. Plans, kidnapped or bribed Architects, Workers that dedicated their life to the Steel, now stolen away. It took not long into the starless night before one had to cut their losses however.

And the people of the Empire finally seem to have wised up to the nature of the Soulless Merchants that brought in raw materials and vanished again with weapons that now, slowly but surely, appeared again in the bloodied fields in the east. Heightened Xenophobia caused by the most recent attack did not help either, of course, as some started to point to them as the guilty party being they just stopped appearing once things started to go down over the empires homelands...

But this will just be a temporary setback. The knowledge stolen will be applied elsewhere, and other trade-partners will be found for sure.

 

Their reflections of the sun made them easy to find targets. Glass Spires that have been errected just further down the coast, the Order of their Ladies Mercy continued their cursade along the southern side of Yalasere to find something resembling civilisation at last. Any ultimatum however has fallen on deaf ears, as the people there where like in trance to the Chains extended arm. And soon after meeting the first of this people, they meet the first of their soldiers: Clad in steel and Loyal to someone the Cursaders have not even heard of before, the interactions soon turned as bloody as was to be expected.

Bullets shot and missed shattered glass panes many buildings further away, and alkaline spells seeped below armours and melted away at the muscles supporting them, all the while steel blades and spears came to pierce leather coat and iron armours, as Canibalistic Zealots and dwellers of the fortress clashed near the border of the territory. Given, to the people of the Chain, the Zealots where just as much 'The Empire' as the ones to the north.

 

With the amount of 'real' things increasing in the Echo, both from the first world and places that never even had contact to the first world, the plane started to slowly but surely become twisted, yet more accurate. Displaced area of outposts of the Magi Realm showed less resistance then originally, and sometimes echos just faded trough them instead of making proper contact as they should. Souls &amp; Servants medlling with random objects and things of magical value, as well as a increase in copies made from the library instead of the before more sparringly aquired originals made the plane recognise things slightly better...
 
 Spoiler: Naseki AP Spending 
 6 AP LEFT 
 0 AP - Mundane Concept  [MUA Charge]
  Patrols 
Standing Guard, Patrolling a area, Timetables, Instructions for certain situations, ecetra. To get good at organising and planing patrol routes, how to break them up to not become to predictable, training the people involved. It means being good at holding more area with less people, less resources, and less risk involved. (I am sadly not enough a military buff to get into deeper explanations.)  1 AP - Teach Advanced Concept  [Society (The Chain) 9/10]
  Steel Making 
Whats better then Metal Working? Steel, of course. Stolen Secrets of Steel, in this case, to the benefit of the Chain. The fact that mining betters their access to the materials needed for the process does naturally lead to a fast, widespread usage.  0 AP - Blessing/Curse  [MUA Charge]
  Still Image and Blur 
Objects that are in motion on the first world are of less consistency on the plane of echos now, making impacts of a Echo against anything else less... impactful, and in some cases, simply phase trough as it transferes barley any energy at all. In turn, things that are mostly stationary have started to increase in details, such as signs and open books becoming more easily readable, and a sleeping persons facial features becoming easy to grasp.  1 AP - Advanced Concept  [Society (The Chain) 10/10 &amp; GUA Charge]
  Cryptography 
As actions of the chains forces hit all over the neighboring continent, a increase in code-speak among the members of its different organisations has become more frequent. Ciphers to hide the contents of a written message, code words to inform a second party without informing the third of its content, signal fireworks shot into the dark skies that inform about the status of pre-planned actions or expected irragularities. Of course, every society can grasp the general concept of secret messages. Some are just better at making and breaking them then others.  ________ 
 4 AP Left 

Progress:
 Society (The Chain) 10/10 
Fire (Smoke) 5/10
 
Athedia
Glikmora's Wail felt the ripples through the world as the Onna disappeared and a new wasteland was formed, devoid of peoples.  It left its charges to their building and journeyed through Desire Heart to see what had been wrought on this unfamiliar land.  A strange wasteland, as animals and creatures still lived the same lives, but one empty of the people who had shaped it.

Until one came back, a scared frightened thing.  It looked at Glikmora's Wail and fear and uncertainity passed before its eyes before all life left it.  Not in a natural way, Glikmora's Wail could see the trails of divine power retreat back into another plane.

But Glikmora's Wail was a child of Glikmora and felt anger, these reborn creatures were given no chance on their lives.  No respect for the cycle of the world.  And so it split, divided itself to meet every reborn creature in the moment they returned and offered them a coin.  Transformation or death.  A chance at something else.  Some refused the coin, some pondered the decision for to long.  But others understood the gamble and flipped it.


 


The tall hooded figures gathered at the edge of their old homeland.  They had memories of what the land had meant for them, of the sisterhood and community it stood for.  All lost now.  The worlds that had once connected them had shattered, instead the threads woven together to form a mental link.  Glikmora's Wail had given them no task, but they had decided on their new meaning.  They would travel the world, weeping for their lost sisters and all those who died.  Remembering all that had been lost.

Mourners.  For themselves and for the world.

A close land drew their attention first, a land filled with death and sorrow.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

11 AP + 4 AP = 15 AP


Create Legends (5AP)  The Mourners :  These tall pale figures are often hooded and travel alone or in small groups.  They are the transformed remnants of a lost race gifted long lives and long memories.  They have a joint purpose of wandering the world and absorbing the sorrow from it through the stories of people.  [Emotion (Sorrow) 5/10] 


15 AP - 5 AP = 10 AP

Water (Wetlands) 7/10
Weather (Rain) 3/10
Medicine (Toxins) 2/10
Truth (Deals) 9/10
Magic (Necromancy) 6/10
Travel (Air) 8/10
Emotion (Sorrow) 5/10
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naseki  , return to form: Slice of Life 
 "So you eat bugs? I mean, I guess one can do that but lets be fair, who would get that crazy idea to begin with?"  The Human merchant was toasting their glass to the miniscule glass of the just as small amphibious creature.   "You say that as out there you literally dance their dance of orders and instructions on ships directly touching the ocean, as if it was not deserving the fear or respect it is owed."   The Lolat swirled the clear rainwater in their own glass, apparently one could bottle the pure rains if one was clever enough.  "Ota, I am insulted! Some of my best business partners are Seafolk."  The frog-creature instinctivley wanted to apologise for the insult before quickly reminding itself that it is merely a turn of phrase and not an actual statement of being hurt.  "And I am sure you would like the fish if you try it. And I am just as sure the fish Roe is gonna taste at least simelar to the 'Worm Eggs' you claim are delicious."    "Insects are not bad actually."   A gelaton perks up, leading the conversation back on track.   "Small, Nutritous, don't resist much as they wiggle around inside."   The Human Merchant and the Ota Lolat look just slightly disturbed at their companies dietary habits, as from even further back, a Functionary chimes in,   "I don't eat at all!"    "You don't count!"  And with that the Merchant turns back to the current trading partner.  "What do you say, we will give the insects a shot and you try some of our fish? I am sure I can find some of suitable size."    "I think the glass is much more interesting then the fish honestly. The ease with which you got something in my size is wonderful, and yet it is so sturdy..."   And a very small 'ping' sounds trough the room as the glasses meet. While both hold Pure Rain Water, one was normally meant for juice, and the other a shot glass.

 

Despite the cloud hanging high in the north of the continent, passing directly by the emperors territory was still the savest and quickest way towards Kish-Eru. Simply time yourself that you get some extra protection by the patrols and you can relativley safely pass the dangerous lands until you can see the star mantas in the sky again. From then, you just stay along the coast until you eventually see the star near the ground: A Lighthouse. Once you see that, safe Habour is just a Spiders Leap away!

 

The scavanger group had been exceptionally lucky, recently. One of the Onna that stayed back was willing to talk, yes to cooperate even. She was able to point out some of her old work-place, and even started giving the group a small tour as long as they would not leave her side... There was a fear in her voice, a fear she did not know she had before she faced it. The fear of being alone. She was just finishing up showing them a book about anatomy, as something seemed to hit her.

She was dead. Instantly. Nobody in the group was able to do anything as it happened, yet their budding friendship was already being sniffed out before it had time to grow. Deseperatly trying to make sense of the books of Medicine they had been pointed out, they tried anything to delay the decay to set in. Onna treatments where advanced. They could even cure the goblin infection if it had hit their people. If one could just keep the body as it is maybe something in this books can save them from staying dead as well?

But besides of the many things the Onna could cure, death was not one of them. Days passed, as hopes had fallen... At least in the final moment they preserved the Onna seems to have been happy. Smiling at having found some willing audience, to listen to their rambling, possibly happy that her life was not as over as it seemed when she was alone... Even if that turned out to be so deadly wrong...
 
 Spoiler: Naseki AP Spending 
 4 AP LEFT 
 4 AP ROUNDSTART 
 1 AP - Teach Mundane Concept  [??? (???) 1/10]
  Insect Farming 
With the arrival of the Lolat came their cuisine, which is exceptionally weird to the people of the chain for all that matters. However, it comes with some benefits, being both cheap and easy to be done on different scales. Most insects farmed on the chain are however used as food for raising Spiders or as novelty in combination with alcohol, sugar or for some unholy reason, life for some Gelaton, who keep showing some facettes of their slime ancestory that most humans seem to forget they have this days...  1 AP - Teach Advanced Concept  [??? (???) 1/10]
  Glassware 
Sturdy, Clean, able to be looked into, Glass is of quite some use for the Lolat. Thanks to a small chain of trade and translations of some written records the secret to make glass in proper quantities and reliable quality ends up eventually in the hands of the amphibians... The need for the correct Sands and a reliable way to heat and cool the material fast forces the Lolats that dedicate themself to glass-making to travel near and sometimes into Telas's Promise.  0 AP - Mundane Concept  [MUA Charge]
  Embalming 
The first use of the process was crude, and fast. It possibly could even be regarded as a failure as the ones practicing it where unwilling to attempt and remove the organs, making the process of decay for them merely delayed instead of stopping it indefinitly. Liberal applications of the pure alcohols they sold the Onna before for 'medical usage' and different methods each taken and adapted half-way out of missunderstood texts did however create something of a process...
While its original attempt was of little use, others from the chain soon learned from it. Some people let themself be preserved after death intentionally, for varaieties of reasons. Others signed agreements with Necromancers to have their body be preserved after death for a fee, so that the living may earn some extra coin as the dead toil many years longer then would normally be possible for a simple raised corpse...  1 AP - Teach Advanced Concept  [??? (???) 1/10]
  Medicine 
While the medical field stays dominated by Witches and Alchemists, on the chain many now start to pick up the ideas of the dead race. Cleaning things, especially with alcohol, as well as practices of surgery to fix the position of bones before applying the tinctures or cut of limbs that can no longer be saved in a way much less risky for the one losing a limb start to take hold. While the idea of immunity to certain illnesses and wild concepts of using molds keep popping up every now and again, it is however hardly the focus as the field of medicine as one to study ends up focusing mainly on surgery as other methods mostly successfully fill the niche. While transplanting is still a idea far of, re-attaching limbs has suddenly become a feaseable thing to do after accidents or in rare cases, combat.  ________ 
 5 AP Left 
 1 GUA Charge 
 1 MUA Charge 

Progress:
Fire (Smoke) 5/10
 
WindStruck
 A New Goddess Awakens 

Existence before was impossible, before people existed, before  things  existed. But as the world took form and shape, and life and souls began to flourish, so too did disparity. Without light, there is no concept of darkness, and without warmth, there is no concept of cold. Without victory, there can be no defeat. But without a chance of defeat, victory is meaningless. Various civilizations bubbled to life, and then, as if suddenly experiencing countless past lives..!

Penia awakens, as if coming to from an incredibly involved and vivid dream.. and yet unable to remember any details whatsoever. She sits up and looks around, attempting to shake the cobwebs from her head. Her surroundings were bleak, full of death and decay. She took note of her humanoid form, which was all plainly mundane and quite human. Her arms and legs were covered in dirt and scrapes, her body was hardly covered with flimsy rags, and her head hurt. Looking around, she seemed to be at the bottom of a depression, with steep hills climbing upwards on nearly all sides. Around her, corpses of men and women, many armored, and with swords, shields, and spears littering the ground. Some kind of battlefield?

Examining the bodies, she noticed distinct symbols among many of the fallen: one, which clearly depicted the Sun. Another symbol: that of a burning eye. Upon fallen banners, blood-encrusted tabards, and shields scuffed beyond recognition, even more heraldry could be found, depicting fantastic creatures and other flowery symbols, though at the moment Penia could make neither heads nor tails of it. She didn't know why she was here. Her first instincts may have been scavenging? There was much here that could be salvaged, though where to take it and how far was a mystery.

Then suddenly, a sickening slurping and squelching sound caught her attention. Along the bottom of this depression came a blood-red, disgusting blob of limbs, heads, other body parts, and weaponry. As if noticing the young girl, it quickened its pace, engulfing the fallen bodies and continually adding more to its mass. The thing was huge, now nearly overflowing the ridges of steep hills themselves. Penia cried out and tried to flee, running into a dead end. The only way out of this mess was to climb the steep and muddy surfaces. And climb Penia tried. She scrambled with all her limbs to climb out of this horrible depression she found herself in, trapped with some horrible monster.

Nearly making it to the top, her torso is impaled by a spear, and as she is locked skewered in place, more weapons move to dice at her limbs, and grotesque hands pull her into the mass of alkaline jelly. She screamed. Everything is pain, so much burning pain, and suffocation, and darkness.


 


Then Penia wakes again, startled by the clap of thunder. Or at least, she thinks she wakes. Everything is still dark; she can't see anything, even though she believes her eyes are open. There is no more pain, no more burning sensation. Instead, there is cold and numbness. Penia begins shivering involuntarily. She can hardly see anything, barely even her hand outstretched, but as far as she can tell, it once again feels like she is barely wearing anything, completely unprotected from the cold. Her lungs feel irritated; there's something in the air: smoke? Eventually the obstruction to her vision relents, somewhat. She and everything around is covered in soot, or whatever this smoke was. The surroundings still seem incredibly gloomy, and visibility is reduced.

So Penia wanders the land, in search of warmth, and food, and light. Seems she is a young human woman, but still ill-equipped for traveling in the wilderness as her bare feet step painfully on rocks and sticks. Eventually she comes upon a camp of what looks like warriors; they wear the emblems of the Sun proudly. They question her, and she can answer, speaking their language without thought. Her presence, however, still draws much suspicion and mistrust, and her answers are vague. One of the men stands and advances with his blade drawn, hurling insults and threats. They will not tolerate insolence, nor a woman that has run from home, especially one that clearly could not bear children. Something like that. Perhaps because she was so scrawny.

Penia manages to flee from this encounter, losing her pursuers in the perpetual smokey night. Days, or weeks seem to pass, it's hard to tell. The young woman still manages to survive, despite having no food nor warmth, though her existence is misery. Eventually, however, the dark skies relent and she comes upon a shining city with mystifying spires of orihalcum and glass. It was truly awe-inspiring and beautiful - at least from an objective standpoint. But something inside Penia didn't like this...

Nevertheless, in order to quench her needs, her primal desires, she approaches and enters the magnificent city. Even as she walks, she leaves behind a trail of soot and dirt in her wake, as she is still covered from head to toe in the smokey residue. The streets appear empty at first, though she does eventually meet someone, who shows her kindness. They promise her food, and clothing, and a bath, and lead her inside. A bath Penia gets, but it is the last thing she receives. After becoming reasonably clean, and the water is changed out one last time, suddenly the lid clamps down and locks. The truth is that she was now trapped in a pressure cooker. Her cries and pleas are drown out as the heat is increased and she is slowly boiled alive. A fine meal, the Imperium Animi have found, dining on the flesh of a Goddess that night. But they did not know it, and her spirit moved on to yet another vessel.


 


This time Penia awakes with a start, the hot and humid air still clinging to her lungs, as if she was still boiled alive. Yet the heat and humidity is not so extreme, and the environment is more soft and serene. She now finds herself in a jungle. Getting her bearings once again, she finds her form somewhat small.. and stubby. Compared to the previous forms she experienced, her skin was much thicker and a shade of pale blue. She had tiny protruding ears, and a longish, round snout with a much larger mouth. It was at once, a form that was utterly foreign, and yet so familiar.

It was at about this time that she began to truly realize what and who she is. She was one of many forms and variations, yet they all had commonality. And the reason she felt discomfort - no, disdain - with that city wasn't merely because the one person she met, who feigned kindness, turned out to be some backstabbing cannibal. The very nature of the sparkling towers of glass, the sheer opulence, was diametrically opposed to who she was. Penia realized this, and began to understand. So much information came flooding into her, from all her past lives, and she realized what she may be capable of. Not only that, but now she feels a purpose to her existence. She was no longer driven by cravings of food and shelter; for one thing, they were utterly inconsequential. No, she would embrace her current state, and share her "gift" with others.

And so, she sets off toward what looks like the closest and most important thing around: the giant tree, so tall it rivaled the nearby mountains. Nimbly plodding along on stubby legs, she soon arrives at a village of Hiplings, little pygmy hippopotamus people of all different colors. And yet immediately, the other Hiplings know something is off. Penia  is  in the form of a Hipling with pale blue skin, but she is a complete stranger, unknown to anyone in the village. Perhaps that could have been passed off as a distant cousin of a friend of a friend who lived on the other side of the island and was just visiting. However her appearance was also a bit unsettling. As most Hiplings enjoyed the bounties of life and ate feasts aplenty with no care in the world, this particular newcomer Hipling looked starved, emaciated, almost skin and bones. And considering the jungle environment and primitive tools and adornments this society possessed, her version of an impoverished Hipling was completely nude, with no belts, bangles, nor other forms of jewelry. To the others, perhaps this Hipling that Penia took the form of looked like some sort of outcast, or someone abandoned at an early age, having never learned to hunt and forage. Or if that was even unthinkable for the little ones, perhaps she merely got lost in the jungles for a long time and lost all her things??

The Hipplings (Rel bless their little souls) were of course still kind and compassionate creatures. Before Penia even had the chance to do the token acting of begging, to judge how this society treated their worst off, she was already offered food and a place to rest and vines to cover her loins. Such eager kindness made Penia suspicious, as it reminded her of the last time she was boiled alive. However, she eventually relented and cautiously accepted some food, at least. It would temporarily ease her hunger pains and never-ending weariness. But for now, she was still observant. There was still much to learn, as she had not even been in the village for five minutes.

Still, something wasn't right. These creatures seemed so exuberantly kind.. They hardly had anything like 'wealth' that she had experienced in other lives, yet they so willingly and freely gave so much kindness to a stranger. Why was this? What would motivate them to be this way? Then it hit her: their life is  too easy .

Even as Penia lie there in thought, doted on by Hiplings who encouraged her to eat far more than she was ever used to, and pestered by an unending sea of questions, the divinity within her is noticed, and Relloc stirs...


 
 Spoiler: Penia AP Spending 
Fresh new Goddess, starting with 16/16 AP

Just kidding! Spent  0 AP  this post.
 
WindStruck
 A Tiny Bit of Retconning 

Penia could feel an inquisitive sensation the moment she formed within the Pocket, as if something was wishing to speak with her, mind to mind. As she broke through the brush into the clearing, she would find the face of the Great Tree already facing her direction, as if waiting to see if Penia would agree to the conversation medium. Relloc knew to be polite about this; the last time he spoke directly into a creature's mind, it panicked greatly and flew off into the distance beyond the Pocket.

The inquisitive sensation drove Penia even more assuredly toward the great tree. Even as she was already being swarmed by concerned Hiplings, her eyes briefly locked with the tree's, and she could sense the divinity in it as well. And yet the other little ones were distracting. So distracting with their questions and murmuring among themselves. It was a short while after accepting some food, that she asked if she could simply have a quiet place to rest. It was all she asked or wanted of them. They at least respected her wishes, and then she was finally alone. Alone with just her own thoughts. And perhaps the thoughts of another.   "Who are you?"   she asked.   "And where am I?"  
 A Mental Correspondence 

In her mind, she would hear Relloc's low-timbred voice.   "I am Relloc, protector of the Pocket and avatar of Rel. You are on a tropical island colloquially known as 'The Pocket' but its inhabitants have no official name for it, so they use the name given by Rel."   Relloc's face swiveled on its trunk, looking at the Hiplings, to address them aloud.   "Be easy, Hopeful. One of Rel's siblings has come to pay us a visit and seems to have not had a kind travel before now. Give them space for now and let them speak to you before you speak to them; also, only one voice at a time so as not to overwhelm."   Turning its gaze back to Penia, the avatar smiled softly.   "Please excuse them. They are friendly enough and perhaps overly excited; you are the first visitor we've had. To what do we owe this visit and how should we address your divinity?"  
  "I see,"   Penia thought to the first explanation. Something about this "Rel" seemed familiar. At least something she felt she should know, but probably could not place the reason for at the time. Even now her acumen and understanding was still growing, blooming to its full potential. She had experienced many lives before, apparently, but never had she been a Hipling. Still, the thought of being considered this Rel's sister made her smile inwardly.

  "I am.. Penia,"   she thought, a soft and hollow mental voice, unsure of itself. It was a name she simply knew, but also didn't know why or who gave it to her. But the more she thought about it, the more the identity asserted itself.   "As for why I am here.. I would not say I chose to come here, not at first. And yet here I am. And I sense there is work to do."  
  "I assume you provide for these ones and keep them safe from harm. You perpetually keep them in their blissful state, do you not? Tell me, Relloc, protector of the Pocket,"   Penia asks,  "Do you consider these people virtuous?" 
  "I provide those that ask for it; there are many that still wish to gather and hunt for themselves. As for safety, I try to only intervene when absolutely needed; otherwise, how would they know when to be cautious? Do I keep them in their blissful state? No, they do that themselves by accepting the nature of things, what Rel calls 'Is-ness'. You can't stop something from happening, you can only redirect its course, hopefully into something useful. As Rel has said, 'Go with the flow, enjoy the ride while it lasts. Sometimes the journey changes you, forms you into something more beneficial for the world around you, letting it grow from your journey too.' To others, it may seem that life here on the pocket is idyllic, but there are dangers to ones so small that larger creatures would not notice. As for virtuous, how do you mean? By whose set of virtues"  

Penia listened to the explanation about this 'Is-ness' and thought about it. It seemed, on one hand, a way to maintain inner peace and accept things as they were. Particularly, that which is beyond your control. On the other hand, taken too far, it leads to idleness and helplessness.

When Relloc questioned what she meant, however, this gave Penia pause.   "I suppose, for whatever it is worth, it can simply be  your  set of virtues. But perhaps we can be a bit more specific. What good qualities would you say they have? Do you love them? Why?"  

Relloc chuckled gently and with good nature.   "Ah. As their genius loci, a collection of their drives and will, I will likely be somewhat biased. They care for and love each other. They have accepted Kami as 'Hiplings' within that sphere of family, even if they are not actual Hiplings. They care for the land and did so before they knew what the Kami were, careful to only take what they needed and nothing more. Before Rel granted me this body, they would build their shelters in ways as to not be detrimental to their surroundings. I believe, once they begin exploring this world and encountering others, they will try to help improve things. Not without taking the time to learn if the new creatures or people are actively hostile, mind you. They prefer to avoid conflict until absolutely necessary or in defense of themselves or those they consider family, 'Hiplings'; they do tend to view other life rather simply at times, as 'Hipling' or 'Not-Hipling'. If one is kind, shares food, seeks to help and protect others, those are qualities that can make one a Hipling in their eyes. As I've alluded to though, they are cautious, and have a heightened sense of danger. Observe, mistress Penia."   She could feel Relloc reach out into the wilds with its will; shortly after a large boar broke from the brush, but as the leaves trembled before its appearance, Penia saw the Hiplings disappear or quickly take to the trees to stay out of sight.   "They have learned how to access their Inner Worlds, or 'Dream Pockets' as they call them, the moment they sense danger. Some still try to remain hidden within their surroundings."   The Great Tree shook free some fruit for the beast, which ate its fill and left.  Looking at the Hiplings in the branches above Penia with rocks in their hands, Relloc smiled softly.   "Be at ease, little ones. Rel's sister, Penia, is safe."     "They are also protective of those they consider family."  

More concepts, old yet new, that were spoke (or thought) of. Genius Loci.. Kami.. Penia grew to understand these thoughts, if at least vaguely. As Relloc explained the good qualities of the Hiplings, Penia herself felt undecided. Caring for each other and making a minimal impact on the environment is what animals did. Not all animals, mind you, but we were speaking of a bare minimum of decency even an animal was capable of. Avoiding conflict was again what many animals did, but even a rat when cornered might bare its teeth and fight.

There was then a display involving a large boar, and once again the Hiplings hid and fled like field mice. However, the ability to outright disappear from reality and into their own 'Inner Worlds' was intriguing. Penia felt that even she was capable of this, though she had never considered the idea of it until now. Looking above her, in her weary state, she noticed some of the Hiplings holding rocks and ready to throw them. Considering where she had just been before, it seemed laughably primitive, when one compared stones found on the ground to blades crafted of sharpened steel. Overall their stone flinging would have been a quaint gesture. But throwing stones from up high in relative safety was hardly a sacrifice - which ultimately, was the crux of the issue.

  "Perhaps you should not have fed the boar and observed what happened next,"   Penia suggested, all too nonchalantly.   "I am curious what the Hiplings would have done if their stones were ineffective. What if they only enraged the beast and didn't drive it away? What would have happened when they ran out of stones, atop the safety of their branches? Would they come down to fight the beast, or distract it and lure it away? Would they take any risk, or make any real sacrifices?"  
  "I fed the boar as it came at my beckon since it was only a demonstration; it was only fair. As for what they would do if the rocks proved ineffective and you were still in danger? That depends on their capabilities. If they are Kami-bonded, they may have worked together with their Kami to drive the animal away through non-lethal methods; blasts of water or air to drive it away, dust or leaf debris to temporarily blind it long enough to either bring one to safety or until it decided to move on to easier prey, build walls of stone or wood between you and the creature. An Yvapurũ may take the form of a larger beast to act as a deterrent or perhaps attempt to talk with the animal to understand what is troubling it. Even without a Kami or connection to the land, the Hiplings would try weave through its legs to bind it with vines to prevent harm coming to you or they would use their numbers to pile upon the creature, using their collective weight to bring the creature down and hold it there until the anger left it."   Relloc paused and Penia could feel a hesitation as if it were considering something distasteful.   "When they hunt, they give thanks before taking the life as quickly and painlessly as possible, and again when they have their meal. In the scenario you describe, should deterrents and non-lethal methods fail? It does not happen often, but it has happened... Only as a last resort and in defense of their own, they will use more forceful and potentially lethal methods; the Hiplings are not violent by nature, but they are capable of it. They take no satisfaction from it, only relief right after, then mourn the loss of life."  

Penia looks around and nods, both to acknowledge the Hiplings and the great tree with which she 'spoke'. Looking down she thinks,   "Yes. Perhaps you are correct. Or maybe not. It is hard to tell what the future may bring."   Slowly getting to her feet, she says to the other Hiplings,   "I think I may take a walk. I have never been near Relloc, your great protector before."   And though she was still apparently thin and weary, she did just that, first strolling around the village, observing the various primitive structures and tools and happy, curious Hiplings, and then she ambled off into the jungles again, circling around the perimeter of the village and tree, noting all the lush foliage and wildlife.

  "Allow me to make a point, Relloc. Sharing of food, generosity, that is one virtue you claim the Hiplings have,"   Penia thinks again.   "If I were dying of thirst, and then dropped in the ocean, and then asked a Seafolk for some water, would you say they are generous for offering what is overwhelmingly abundant all around them? You also claim that refraining from harming the surrounding life around them is a virtue. Though from what I can tell, they have hardly the means to do so, and the need, or desire, perhaps never even occurred to them."  

Now standing atop a small hill, which gave a clear vantage point to Rel's avatar through the canopies of trees below, Penia thinks,   "The world is cruel with many dangers. And these Hiplings, though they are innocent and I cannot fault them, have yet to be truly tested. What say you, Relloc? When they finally meet the trials and tribulations of this world, will you shelter them? Or will you encourage them to grow?"  
  "Before I answer fully, you asked if I loved them. Very much so! Though, in a way different from Rel. I am bound to the Pocket; should they decide to leave, they will be without my protection, mistress Penia. Those that stay, I will continue in my indirect guardianship, letting them grow at their own pace. My views are more Hipling than Rel, when he and I are not sharing this body, so we view that role differently. I protect them from dangers they are not yet ready to handle, while letting them prove to themselves they are more than just 'Little Hiplings' against the larger creatures here. Rel is more, hmm... Perhaps the word is 'overprotective'? He sees their love as they show it to each other. He does not see what happens when that love is threatened. If you are asking me as their collective will, I've been encouraging them to grow since I was formed. They are eager to explore, to learn, to apply themselves outside of the Pocket. Are they also afraid of the outside world? Yes, but they don't let it deter them; the ones that are ready to explore understand the risks of leaving here and accept them. They are the Hopeful, are they not? Hope is always strongest when everything else is bleak, its resilience shining that much more brightly when facing adversity."   Relloc closed its eyes for a moment, grimacing.   "I believe Rel is learning that lesson as we speak."  

Penia continues to stare at the Great Tree and sighs.   "I suppose I would never get a straight answer from you, though from what I did hear, it sounds promising.. however, if you truly are the collective will of the Hiplings, then I don't think you would ever consent to what I am about to do. And if Rel is overprotective as you say, He certainly wouldn't. It is a shame, really. For a brief moment, I felt something warm and special when you called me Rel's Sister. But I can understand if he never wants to hear of me again. Tell him I am sorry."  
 Three Bad Tidings 

Looking around at the few curious Hiplings that had continued to follow her, and yet had obediently listened to their protector and not spoken to her first, Penia says,   "Young ones. Heed my words carefully, for I will only say this once: arduous times are coming ahead. A plague of insects will soon fall upon this island. You will have to protect your food and its source before it eats first what you did not. You must decide how far you are willing to encroach upon nature, before it encroaches upon you."  

Her eyes scanning all around, to the oceans, she continues,   "A new foe invades from the sea. They are not kind and happy like you. They are cruel and spiteful, with no respect for nature nor life. As they come from the sea and thrive in it, should you conquer them, then you will certainly be able to conquer the sea. My one and only piece of advise is: they only understand might and violence."  

Then, the mysterious pale blue Hipling looks to the skies and says,   "Lastly, I must warn you: should you endure these first two trials, a third one awaits insidiously, in the future. This island shall no longer always be fruitful and hospitable. Many moon cycles from now, things will slowly begin to change. The skies will darken, the air shall grow cold. The clouds will no longer bear rainfall. In accordance, the plants shall grow dormant, no longer growing nor bearing fruit, and many animals will seek shelter and sleep. You must learn to plan ahead, to take more than you need in the now, so that you may have it later. Otherwise, you will surely freeze and starve. However, this time of darkness will not linger forever. Should you outlast it, once again your home will return to normal, with warmth and abundant life. At least, for a time, before the cycle starts all over again. This is what we call.. 'Seasons'."  

With those final words, Penia stomps her foot and her form instantly transforms into a swarm of vibrantly-colored, winged insects, which scatter in all directions.

 
 Spoiler: Damage Report! 
Penia starting with 16/16 AP

 1 AP - Create Life (Create Monsters): Rainbow Cicadas 
An invasive species new to Rel's Pocket. They are large, voracious insects with wings, about one inch wide and two inches long, on average. Also worryingly, they devour all sorts of leafy plant life and especially love sweet fruits. Left unchecked, they will multiply uncontrollably and eat everything! They are brightly colored, in many varying hues (just like the Hiplings!), but as the Hiplings will soon figure out, the cicadas are poisonous and venomous to mammals such as themselves. However, each different color of the cicadas will inflict a different ailment. Blue ones will cause paralysis, yellow ones are yet another type of neurotoxin that causes uncontrollable spasms and delirium. Red will cause great inflammation and promote bleeding, green will cause violent sickness of the stomach and gut, purple will knock you out, orange will cause crippling pain and hives, and so on. There are many more types out there to find and collect. Gotta catch 'em all! 😉
 2 AP - Create Life (Create Race): Amphibioides 
Frothing and burbling from the sea, these sentient creatures resemble ugly fish or frogs, with big, mean eyes, spines on their backs, and webbed hands and feet. Their hands and feet secrete a substance that can make them awfully sticky, though not at all times. It seems this ability can be called upon instinctively, on demand. Their forms are roundish and hunched over, and they would typically stand at twice to even three times the height of a Hipling. Using their powerful limbs and webbed appendages, they are excellent swimmers, able to even swim up waterfalls, and they are both able to breathe air and water. Their diet consists of eating whatever they can get their webbed hands on: fish, insects, and small animals. The Amphibioides are brutal savages, every one of them, and very territorial. Using only primitive gurgling languages, they have names for themselves, at least, but hardly one to call their collective peoples. They have very little technology, often using sharp stones, shells, or sticks to accomplish what they desire.

The first areas the Amphibioides claim are bits of shores along Rel's Pocket, and further into the watery depths where they lay their eggs. Soon, however, they realize the relative safety of this island, and after some few brave and curious souls make the arduous swim up the waterfalls, they began to place their eggs on the island instead. After the Amphibioides decide to place their eggs on Rel's Pocket, they slowly expand inward, felling trees to create crude structures, monuments, and dams - if you could even call them that. They mostly resembled haphazard piles. Sometimes it even looks like they toss logs into the ocean for no apparent reason! Though there is a crude use for them below as well... These guys are bad news. They are most definitely 'Not-Hipling'!

 1 AP - Alter Land (Rel's Pocket): Winter/Dry Season 
For most part of the year, Rel's pocket will be as it always blissfully was. However, now there is a winter/dry season that lasts approximately three months (or one fourth) of the year. The sun climbs lower in the sky and shines upon the lands less. The skies often become gloomy and overcast, and yet rain seldom falls. It becomes much colder, plants go dormant, many animals hibernate, and many insects die off (though their eggs will hatch in the spring). After the winter/dry season, life continues as normal with an explosion of flowers, fruit, and insect life.

Left with 12/16 AP

 Contributing to Portfolios... 
Rainbow Cicadas - Pestilence (Vermin) 1/10
Amphibioides - War (Attrition) 2/10
Winter/Dry Season - Famine (Indolence) 1/10
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naseki  , times go on 
They say that it is a ghost town. Some kind of monster clawed itself trough all the inhabitants and only the Farmstead up-mountain from it survived. He raised the bodies and walked them to work while some adventurers where tasked with killing the Mockery of Life that was their end to begin with. Took multiple parties worth to get it to justice. The final one simply burned the town down in its whole. But we are good builders. The ruins, concrete foundations, charred but still stable wooden beams, walls missing parts and windows that exploded out from the heat... behind them you can see people sometimes. Watching, Dancing, taking care of Flowers where no flowers grow anymore. But every time one comes to check, there is no trace left. Like they never actually where there...

 
Tick
Tick
The Alchemist intensly stares at the device one of the Craftsmen made recently.
Tick
Tick
The plate moves a bit with every noise it makes, as gears move below it in a intecrate little mechanism.
Tick
Tick
Every movement takes the exact same time, every time, after winding up the spring.
Tick
Tick
Unlike the old music boxes, it does not simply slow down as it runs lower of its own energy, but stops exactly when it fails.
Tick
Tick
Not dragging out the time until its failure is discovered means one can rely on it to be always measuring the time precise, for a long as it works.
Tick
T-rack
The Alchemist turns around and removes the flask from the flame, submerging it in the false ice coolant instead. Just in time for the purest solution.
Tick
Tick

 
The fisherboat shot a bolt into the water, where it started to heat up and sink down slowly. The bright light underwater would only hold for a few minutes, but it was simply meant as a warning signal. 'We are here now, wall-climbing fish-people. You know what happened last time you challenged our right to fish in this waters. You still must have the rusting harpoons stick out of your skin when you survived, or you can get a fresh one if you attempt to attack us again'.

As much as the Amphibioides are territorial and primitive, they are not stupid. Attempts to baord the boats end with sharp metal weapons being stuck trough the railings, seriously wounding or killing any of the ones that try. Getting fully in does not help much either, for the Humans and Gelatons are larger and more advanced then them, and simply resort to removing them from deck more directly, and with less chance to survive as swords and bolts make short work of them.

So when a fishing boat passes over Amphibioide waters, it makes its presence known. It warns from attempting any attack, and fulfills its purpose, before heading back where it came from. It is not a predator of the race but it is very much not a prey either. Its on a whole different branch of the food chain. While some of the race begrudingly take this uneasy peace, others are thinking themself smarter. They fishers can not get up the waterfalls. They can not climb the island on this side of the area. The Amphibioide will simply climb up there more and more, take it for themself, and then wander from there back in the ocean to hunt for food as they need. Some of the smartest of them however started collecting the metal spears that the fishing boats use to defend themself. Whenever a boat ends up attacked and defends itself, they come in under and pull the sharp tools out of the bodies.
They are smart. They can use them to hunt themself. Maybe not the fishing boats, but other prey can be pierced from far away with this. From the shadows where they do not see or hear the Amphibioide comming.
 
 Spoiler: Naseki AP Spending 
 5 AP LEFT 
 0 AP - Curse/Blessing  [MUA Charge]
  Shimmering Through 
Souls wandering the Plane of Echos will occasionally find the surprise of someone on the first world noticing them. While both Flower Maidens and certain Psyonics already are able to 'see into the echo', now in places that where of high significance to the dead person it can happen that a echo of their soul shows on the first world. This echo does come with all the caveats of the Echos on the Plane of Echos, and is likely to vanish completely if interacted with from the first world.  1 AP - Advanced Concept  [??? (???) 1/10 &amp; GUA Charge]
  Precise Mechanisms 
Craftspeople on the chain have improved their craft, and started to get particulary inventive with the finer parts and tools they could create. The most well known example is naturally your common clockwork, which main use is for time-keeping, naturally. However, the precision learned can be applied in a varaiety of circumstances, allowing for optimisation in many a craft. Doors close tighter, locks are harder to break open without fully breaking them, more complicated and grander machines run with less effort, firearms are less likely to malfunction, Master-Craftsmen can insult the flaws of Journeymans work better.  ________ 
 4 AP Left 

Progress:
Fire (Smoke) 5/10
 
Fuzzy Math
  The Ol' Razzle Dazzle  

The animals of the Pocket have gotten more skittish since Penia’s arrival and her introduction of the Rainbow Cicadas, the ones that were less curious about the new potential snack that is. The Hipling hunters noticed their traps were either empty most of the time or the creatures inside them were dead, covered in their own sick and patchy fur from chewing on their itchy hive-riddled skin. Other small rodents littered the ground, bodies bent at odd angles, as if they fell from a great height without being able to reorient their flailing bodies before hitting the jungle floor. The new sound throughout the Pocket, the near constant and annoyingly loud chirring of an insect never heard before, has made even the more docile chinchibaras annoyed and harder to trap. They didn’t want to chance eating the fallen and sick, they understood that eating creatures who ate bad food could have consequences, but the hunters did not understand what was causing this. Curiosity would have to wait; they had bellies to feed and they could not rely on their traps. They needed a way to be able to approach the irritable creatures that had their awareness heightened because of it, so they pulled out their shards to learn how sneak up on their marks without giving away their presence until it was too late.

 
 Spoiler: AP Spending 
AP Remaining After Rollover: 9

Create Mundane Concept (MUA Charge) - Stealth: The Hiplings have learned how to move and watch without being noticed, slowing their bodies and focusing their minds so as to not give away their presence, using jungle debris to blend in with their surroundings, and applying varied materials to mask their scent. Those that go on night-time hunts have learned how to apply the dark waters of the Deepworld Inkwells to either completely cover their bright colors or design patterns that confuse sight. These methods can be enhanced through the assistance of the Kamii, for those that are bonded.

AP Spent: 0
AP Remaining: 9
MUA (Mun. Con.) Charges: 0
 
AlexanderML
    Elysium   


The Princedom of Elysium, standing at the edge of the palm of the south western Hand on the Chain, overlooked the vast Inner Sea as the shadows of the Fingers would greet them every morning. Its white stone streets and large port shone with the splendor of conquest, its long history of wandering up the rivers of the Hand and using the methods of war or love to win over neighbors clear for visitors to see amid the numerous banners that hang off the outer walls of all the major gates.

The princes and princesses of Elysium were a people who held the methods of the Meadow Tower in higher regard than most, with it being considered mandatory that each ruler had the knowledge of the witches at their disposal. This dedication lead to the Midnight Tower appearing in the city, a comparatively insignificantly sized structure to the landmark Meadow Tower it nevertheless was the center of the utilization of strange creations in Elysium.

What few at the time realized beyond those with witch training was that the Midnight Tower was a living being, a tuatha that continued to make pacts with the ruling family and the other nobility. It’s personal interest in the affairs of Elysium lead it to help to push the bounds of alchemical-delusion application, creating the first homunculus; sapient familiars. Yet this technique was perhaps one of the few to be salvaged after an incredible blast one day leveled the Midnight Tower to its foundation and beyond.

Deprived of an easy means for delusion acquisition the princedom’s nobility had begun to send a few of their own into the Magi Realms for some time, and while welcomed readily and trade made possible; it was impossible to find a tuatha they’d readily replace the Midnight Tower with, for a heart that could work with mortals was a rare thing among tuatha.

Yet one day the daughter of the current prince was wandering down the palace’s halls when she stumbled across an extra corridor….


 

   Eresaly   

There was a bat, pink with white puffs of fur on its neck that alternated from clinging to a skeleton and following a shadow. It did not know where it was exactly, besides a faded place that felt empty. She would look back at it on occasion, and while She lacked any eyes the way she tilted her head gave off the impression of a gentle gaze towards it; which would prompt it to give a happy shriek.

It had only a vague impression of what life it had before, but the bat knew that it had hung on Her shoulder for a very very long time; and that when it flew for the first time She had appeared hurt, tears appearing from Her sockets.

Today it clung on her shoulder as she wandered across empty places where the two-legged folk dwelled. Only the occasional sign of animal life gave the place a sense of being alive that it strangely lacked otherwise.

Occasionally She would reach out with a shadow towards something the bat could not see, just to hear the world give a sharp hum of rejection. With increasing regularity She did this with apparent unease that made the bat give out cries to try and sooth Her.

Eventually the pair had found another two-leg, one with green skin whose hair was a bundle of flexible white branches that swayed in the wind as she sat at the edge of a tall cliff. The bat could not read the faces of humanoids, but her demeanor seemed calm and reserved as she looked out at a dawn.

The one the bat clung too gave out a sigh as She stared at the two-leg for a time. She tried to reach out towards them with a shadow… just to hear the world give a harsh sharp hum of rejection. The bat begun to fly around as She stood there in the dawn light, but then noticed something strange about the two-leg.

They slumped over the edge, like a rag-doll falling over. The bat did not care very much for this, but She let out a distressed call at this and followed the two-leg below; though more graciously as the shadow slithered down below. In a panic She looked to and fro where the two-leg had fallen from and where they landed at, searching for something that was not there.

For a time the skeleton and shadow stayed near the body, distressed for reasons the bat could not truly comprehend. They eventually set off to travel again, with more speed and purpose this time. She often had to keep hold of the little bat, which was not a comfortable experience for it.

Sometimes they found bodies of more two-legs, on a few occasions they found some living ones that were not the same; all the while the bat could feel her mood sinking lower and lower.

After a few days She found a clearing that held a rare sight here, a flower circle. Here the largest number of bodies seen together in one place yet could be seen, over a dozen strewn on platforms around the circle. After a moment seeing the clearing She let a tear fall down, then another as she wandered towards the center of the circle.

Someone else was here, or just beyond, a woman in the robes of this land that looked so much like the people here yet even more like living nature with skin that appeared as rich soil and a crown of flowers around her head. This person… noticed Her wandering into the flower circle; she surprised Her even more by speaking. “You mourn these sisters, Shadow? Do you hate death, or do they have a deeper meaning to you?” her voice was distant and hard for the bat to hear, but it was clearly there.

The shadow and skeleton just stood there looking at the woman.

“I cannot hear what’s beyond, and your visage is marred; yet I do not sense malice within you. Unlike me, perhaps you did not play a part in these poor souls' ends.”  That made Her gaze go from an unfocused stare to an intense consuming one. The woman did not so much as flinch as she continued with a forlorn look on her face “I am the spirit of this humble hill, home to many sisters since the beginning. Since the ancient days my pacts were made, the circles tended to, and my protection given to the sisters here. I knew someday they would leave me, so I was prepared for when it came; and I was overjoyed when they returned to me, even… even in tears.” the woman looked regretful at that last statement.

“It was my fields that kept them here, Shadow; they hold a number of sacred flowers whose blessing… is evil.” she put a hand to her chest, the air loosing any vibrancy as she fell into some dark emotion “My love condemned them, the Web left no one behind… not for long.”

The shadow and skeleton appeared stunned, then reached out a shadow towards the woman but the world gave a sharp hateful hum in response. The woman noticed the movement, a smile appearing on her face. “I cannot tell what you are thinking Shadow, but if you worry for me please just… forget about this place. I should have been forgotten about long ago.”

The shadow and skeleton shook, an emotion clearing raging inside them that gave the bat pause to intervene, instead keeping a healthy distance away as with an uproar She slithered into the sky and unleashed words that flattened the Echo’s trees and shattered stone. It was good fortune that the bat was made by the goddess’s hand…

    “TH-THEY DIED, BECAUSE THEY HAD MY LOVE?
 I HATE YOU!
 I HATE YOU MORE THAN ANYONE!”    

Then with a harsh yank of her hand, the skeleton cut away the strings that would forevermore put an end to those with her Love. The shadow gave each one an embrace, a spark of itself to live on and bloom once more.

Yet the shadow’s embrace extended farther than just the Onna that had been slain, it reached into the worlds beyond and touched each and every creature. Her Love among each and every one of them now. The harsh judgment that would befall the Web would be almost omni-present, with only a handful of exceptions made from non-Onna members.

Still the bat witnessed as She did not relent, for She reached inside and found a wasp that could only vainly frail in hand; taken back to Her home with the bat. It did not witness what she did to it, as it was eating a big juicy fruit, but it did not care.


 


They had returned from nothing, greeted with strange new forms and hearts that were less prone to stoically accept their fates. For many, especially those who had no idea that people were rummaging through the continent, the sense of dread that came with the end of civilization continued to mount.

Then She appeared with a sea of stars behind her across the horizon. As She moved across the land great harps and horns played that announced their arrival, a great host of moths carrying shining lights flew across the sky. The land, acknowledging Her and the return of its kin, gave great flowers worthy of a goddess's attention and mortal devotion in the form of great black and blue trees that housed a million buds; each one a welcome and promise to house them well.

As the night wore on the lights in the sky would descend upon these great trees one after another, until no one was left to follow Her as she passed back into the Echo to meet with the goddess. In the future such great trees could be created again with great patience and effort, if one could remind the land of the time it welcomed a goddess.

Near these starlit trees that had arrived so suddenly, the newly made Suka-Onna finally had something to investigate. Whether the future near such things was as bleak and terrible as they had known was true or not, they each believed that they would find someone there. And when they did meet those who had taken shelter under the mighty trees at dawn...

The world had changed.

 
 Spoiler 

   14/27 AP   
 
 Spoiler: -2 Create Sub-Race (Tuatha -&gt; Homunculi): 
       
 Just as familiars can be created through the application of Delusion onto a dead animal corpse, it has been discovered that the process can be done with sapient creatures. Through alchemical preparation, applying delusion, and the blood of the creator; a sapient corpse can be brought to life. Homunculi are given new souls and hold little of the original individual’s personality or memories; instead they are emotionally distant and submissive creatures suited for their creators.

Just as with familiars a Homunculi’s life is tied to their creators, yet their loyalty is not. While most are submissive, a Homunculus is a free creature that can ultimately decide to go against its natural inclinations and do something else. Thus smart creators make sure to have a light hand when dealing with their creations, using subtext to enforce the ‘natural order’ onto them (something the professors at the Great Library endorse for the most part, if only to encourage more funding via alchemists sending their creations to be given lessons). Others treat Homunculi as their children, companions, or live-in apprentices.

While they may have fantastical appearances, each Homunculi’s base physical and mental attributes are similar to that of a human’s. Some magi use lifeshaping to customize their creations further.

A tuatha may create a homunculi through investing a soul into a body. The resulting creature is a strange and fascinating result for the tuatha, as the artificial life forms are both a part of the tuatha and yet a separate entity that can surprise it in action and emotion. Their mundane nature does leave some looking for ways around this… 
 
  
 


2/10 Wealth (Opulence)

 
 Spoiler: -1 Teach Mundane Concept (Nobility): 
 Over time the rulers of the different Realms have adopted the ideal that they are of a higher class of person more readily and firmly than nearly any other; yet even those below them are considered nobles with noble rights and privileges that interact with one another in such a manner that gives those from the First World a great deal of confusion sorting out. It is most often connected via blood ties, though this can be challenged when a prominent member of a family who gifted out noble titles to their kin die a final death (typically from murder); as the authority they bestowed is shaken and the family that once enjoyed it must come together to prop up an heir.

Most living families in the Magi Realms consider themselves nobles, only recent immigrant families that have yet to integrate into the opulant lifestyle of the Realms are a major exception. A large number of embraced are nobles, but over half are not due to large number of immigrants from the First World (though the natural die-off process keeps this from a supermajority). Homunculi are very rarely considered nobles in their own right, but are often gifted authority equal to their creators.

Elysium on the Chain, being the originators of this particular brand of nobility, are included in this teach action in addition to the Magi Realms.
 


4/10 Emotion (Vanity)

 
 Spoiler: -3 Counter (The Cut-Off -&gt; Eternity's End): 
 Ripping apart the threads of the eternal end, Lilia brings those Onna that had any amount of Lilia’s Love inside them at the time of the Cut-Off back to life as Suka-Onna. Any bodily, soul, or other injuries they suffered pre or post Cut-Off are restored as their bodies are engulfed in a flower bug that blooms with their restored bodies inside.
 


3/10 Emotion (Bitterness)

 
 Spoiler: -2 Bless/Curse - Encompassing Love: 
 Mechanical filler for Lilia’s Love, same as the sub-concept and applies to all actions that refer to it. Only addition being that any creature that can make pacts and is thoroughly corrupted can make Lilia’s Love pacts.
 


6/10 Emotion (Vanity)

 
 Spoiler: -AC (Lilia’s Boquete) Bless/Curse - Outer Souls: 
     
   See that heart there? Its your soul! The culmination of your being! Wait... how are you seeing it?   
 These souls are given to all the Suka-Onna and beings outside the First World either at the time of this blessing or at birth afterwards. They act as normal souls for the purposes of interacting with post-death or soul-consuming effects, but do not grant any extra strength. They can, however, be regrown over a number of years through similar methods used to expand inner worlds (discovery, self-reflection, meditating on the task). Each one at the time of their creation has a small amount of Lilia’s Love in them, which covers up the lack of inherent strength these souls give.

The initial gifting of these souls takes a number of hours that one needs to be on a plane besides the First World. 
 
  
 

 
 Spoiler: -1 Create Sub-Race (Mori-Onna -&gt; Suka-Onna): 
      
  ‘Bloom spirit folk’ are born from the victims of the Cut-Off that had some Lilia’s Love inside of them. Their skin is green with the tone depending on the land they live on, with flowers that also change depending on the place the Suka-Onna chooses to live. Each one is born with an outer soul, thus are unable to access the Web. 
 
  
 


1/10 Life (Rebirth)

 
 Spoiler: -AC (Chymes Journal) - Music: 
       What? People can have horns and tails in the Magi Realms. Oh, its her personality? Fair enough.   
  The Magi Realms takes on a large number of different musicians lost to the First World; Chymes has compiled many of their works and teachings into the Song and Note Encyclopedia. It has since then become standard in the Magi Realms for musicians to read the Song and Note; if only to espouse how much more they know compared to other musicians. This competitive spark goes beyond the book and many bloodless rivalries form between musicians that are spoken about in their own Realms or beyond. In times of great celebration great horns and harps enhanced with delusion are frequently used. 
 
  
 

 
 Spoiler: -1 Create Advance Concept (Split with Naseski) - Colonialism: 
  The idea of sending forth colonies to the First World and Echo has been a natural step for a society that had so long been connected to both. The Magi Realms prefers to treat its colonies as almost proper extensions of themselves, each one an extension of their culture outside of Desire Heart that act as safe havens for the embraced that would travel abroad. There is little in the way of resource extraction due to the planar divides, but a great deal of effort to conform the colonies to their ways (in the Echo this could take the form of harshly rebuking Echo Servants that spew out too much nonsense, and near the Starlit Tower Colonies children are forced to receive an education at the Great Library).
 


3/10 Wealth (Opulence)

 
 Spoiler: -AC (Flesh and Blood of Lilia) - The Starlit Bloom: 
 With the passing grace of the Flesh and Blood of Lilia under a starlit night, the continent of Eresaly gains the ability to manifest massive flower trees- Starlit Towers. Sculpted with lifeshaping they are able to house a large number of embraced comfortably, with the noteworthy ability to shield their fragile essences from the sun's harsh rebuke into the Echo so long as they stay within sight of one. A number of naturally spawning ones appear overnight in the central part of the continent with a slight northwestern leaning to the cluster, though individual flowers can be found in each major region on the continent.

The number of Lilia's flowers on the continent increases, but this is a one time increase that simply naturally remains. Furthermore tuatha and chimeras become more frequently seen here, though not as much as on the estheric isle.
 

 
 Spoiler: -1 Create Organization (Starlit Tower Colonies): 
 Seeing that their homeland had become depopulated, the Onna among the Magi Realms have largely decided to return there. While they have lost many, with a great deal of their collective culture lost and technologies largely forgotten; they have new ways now to help replace the old. There is some collective unease between the embraced Onna and the living, with the younger members of society being more wary of the new mystical and alchemical methods the embraced had discovered or invented; with even some violence being enacted. Yet the Bloodsilks as an organization are too few in number to effectively stop the spread of otherworldly pacts, alchemic discovery, and arcane lore.

Their current colonies exist where the Starlit Towers exist, mainly in the center and northwestern portion of the continent; yet a few individual villages surrounding Starlit Towers elsewhere exist.
 


4/10 Wealth (Opulence)

 
 Spoiler: -AC (Lilia’s Promise) Create Organization (Starlit Cult): 
 Formed by the one called the Witch, this maiden cult is made up of numerous different embraced races that were too outwardly fanatic to be taken seriously in the Magi Realms. Yet on Eresaly where so much much is being rebuilt they find an opportunity to more readily practice their beliefs and spread them. Flower circles are planted, beauty is appreciated and tended to; and those who would destroy the colonies or fight against the concepts of undeath could meet an end that bring the bloodsilks to mind.[
 

 
 Spoiler: -AC (Delusion Caldron) - False Parischnas: 
       
 Twisted abominable versions of Parischnas born from throwing one into the Delusion Cauldron, these beings are just as mythically powerful as their true cousins and retain a great deal of their intelligence (less than a human's but you can talk to one); however, their extremely aggressive and conflict prone natures leads them to being unable to master difficult concepts or work together as a society. Their favored prey is that of transcended kami, having the ability to poison their worlds from outside with delusion till the transcended kami inside is too weak to fight back against a swarm. Their other food of choice is the webbing tying the Droplet Web together.

If a Parischnas kills a False Parischnas, they are infected with a a small amount of Lilia's Love. The dilemma this creates for the purity-driven creatures keeps them from coordinating enough to destroy their false cousins entirely. 
 
  
 

   3/27 AP   
 
Athedia
 
 Spoiler: Bookkeeping 
AP = 14, new AP = 16 (2 lost due to cap)
 
Demidos
   In Search for the  ✮  ✮ Symphony of Stars ✮  ✮    
Contact with the arrogant city-state of Kish-Eru led to many unexpected changes, large and small. Factional divisions, always an issue among the fracticious cities of the Chain, became magnified, as the storms of politics blew as a steady wind from the First City. As it often happened when two cultures collided, rumors propagated like wildfire, speaking of strange customs and otherworldly treasures. Many of course were false or exaggerated, but often they contained a kernel of truth which could be extracted by those with the means and the patience. The Merchants, being middlemen between the cultures, were the best suited to this, and so many came to seek their council.

From Kish-Eru, one group came with a particular rumor to a particular merchant, a rumor which he had heard before among his own informers. They told him of a story, spoken by an Onna before they disappeared from the world, of a song falling from the sky like a meteor, and asked him for many maps and financing for an expedition.


 

It was still a hard concept to grasp, of course, for nobody seems to be able to explain how that song worked exactly, yet he had heard enough rumors of it from differing sources that that it existed, with enough overlap that it must contain some truth to it. And now, someone had a vague concept of where it was... And as the luck wanted it so, someone subordinate managed to point the troupe to him for funding...

 "The Onna where isolationists, I am surprised any stories of theirs made it this far here to begin with."  The man, on the older side but seemingly physical fit, hold a glass of steaming tea in his hand as he sat there on the missmatched chair in the tent, somehow looking down at the group despite them standing. Surrounding them inside the tent was a varied collection of items, weapons clearly taken from enemies of Kish-Eru, some with notches for the amount of kills they had, the remains of a cannonball with 'Nox' engraved on the side, apparently fired but never fully shattered, and various snick snacks of banners from seemingly every side of the conflict, all in weirdly good condition.  "So who am I really financing here if you start this journey of yours to the other continent? What claims to fame do you have to make this investment worth it?" 

The group of eight looks around, intrigued at the war spoils. Three give hard smiles at the weapons taken from the foes of Kish Eru, their stance betraying them as soldiers. A loud, boisterous looking man built like a barrel puffs out his chest self-importantly.    "Well, we are Inksworn, natives of Kish-Eru, the greatest city this world has ever seen! I am the mighty Speaks like Thunder! My voice can shatter trees like kindling! And my friends. are.."  

At this a quick glare from an older looking man quiets him, and the older man cuts in quickly.   "We are an experienced mercenary team with decades of experience in exploration and weapons acquisition between the lot of us. We have heard tell of a far-off continent, Eresalay, with riches beyond compare. We seek maps and provisions to make the journey. In exchange, we offer second pick of any objects, items, or treasures found, up to a value of ten times your initial investment. In return, we seek only such maps as you may have of the continent as well as an introduction and passage on one of your many merchant vessels. We will take on the risk of exploring the new continent on our own shoulders, and will share any knowledge we learn along the way, which you can then resell to others as well. As we understand it, the Chain has some interests in the area and we are in possesion of knowledge which might interest them greatly should you sign a formal agreement with us."  

Vanratos glances at 'Speaks like Thunder'. Hard to tell if they always where boasting like this or if it is just a symptom of the inksworns curse. Given, in either case they would probably act simelary predictable. Their friend seems a bit smarter, and to have a good enough grasp on the man to stop him from commiting something that may be foolish.  "I take it your friend does not quite trust me, and I would say, it is understandable. Who trusts the Mercenaries farther then the coins fall, afterall?"  He gave a short chuckle, before continuing.  "But you have come to me prepared. A reasonable deal for most parts..."  Of course, one made under false pretenses. He knows the northern continent well enough to know that the up-sale won't hold. Its riches mainly lay in the un-tapped-ness of the land. The mining, the knowledge, the lack of a living civilisation to lay claim against its plundering.

 "But you also know that the merchant guild always stood more for the joy of the trade then the joy of the profit, as appreciated as it is. And as a collector myself, I am more interested in anything unique then some trinkets."  The sip of the tea is painfully slow, as he gauges the groups reactions for the next part. They did not know yet that he had a vauge idea what they where actually after.  "But such a land will have many undiscovered treasures to find. I would prefer some of the oldest pieces, and some of the most artful ones. Pieces that show the skill of their creators, regardless if they are outlived or not."  Vague enough to possibly encompass anything, clear enough to proof a 'lesser' amount of things.

 "If you are willing to the term, I will send a subordinate of mine with you. They will be approaching you in the north, at the ports of Kish-Eru where the traders exchange wares with their landbound counterparts. They will supply you with a ship and the maps we have of the region so far."  They tap the side of the glass, feigning impatience.

  "Fantastic. We keep the stuff worth money and you keep the art and the history. Its a deal!"   Speaks like Thunder blurts out. His team looks horrified but seems reluctant to go against him directly, especially now that the bargain has been already struck. After discussing any residual logistics, the small team filters out of the tent. Speaks like Thunder already beginning to look abashed as his teammates shoot him unhappy looks. A small summary of the team is provided -- Three ex veteran soldiers, two seasoned explorers, two " acquisition experts " acting as appraisers and trap detectors, and Speaks like Thunder, the team leader. The older man is the leader of the three soldiers, a former captain that has since resigned his posting.


 

After the group left the tent, and assumingly started their travel to the port, Vanratos pulled a coin out of thin air, flipping it up as a Echo-Servants body formed around it.  "Functionary, I am heading out to deal with business more interesting then this."  He vaguely points over his back as if to describe the whole battlefield somewhere outside.  "Move everything to my Vault so I can return it to the chain soon." 

 


The 'Merchant Ship' they got their passing on was probably a bit more then they expected, as it seems to be more of a small warship then a freighter. while it seems to be lacking the cannons that the ships of the chain love to deploy this days, it still is armed decently with their Ballista and a surprising speed. Orienting itself on the position of star manters, the moon, and the hateful eye in the sky staring down at them at night, it skipped along over the short oceanic passing in a mere three nights, for they swirled a grand curve to approach the northern continent from the less-scavenged east.

 "We will be landing soon, Expedition Team."  The 'Pale One' told the Adventurers. They are a sub-kind of humans, apparently, and their monotone voice and constant state of being calm made them a hard to read people. This one in specific is apparently a member of the Assassins Guild, a group part of the larger Merchants Guild. Much more able to handle themself then one would expect from any old merchant, they all started out as merchants anyways.  "The latest maps have been translated from the Onna records, but the area we land in has yet to be stepped foot on by our People."  The androgyn Assassin was  apparently  trusted to apprise on Vanratos behalf as well, and was slated to accompany the 8 man team.

The few nights on Eresalay were...terrifying. The Expedition Team was now nine members, many of whom were trained in combat. On the first night, one of the explorers was found buried to her shoulders in quicksand, screaming for help. She'd followed what sounded like another expedition member's cries for help and stepped on quicksand hidden by fallen branches. On the second night, one of the thieves was dead. They had made the mistake of thinking themselves safe in an abandoned Onna village, and had snuck out past their own expedition guard to begin to loot the town on their own -- their body was found with a broken neck in the village well the next morning. Strange lights, noises, and primitive traps haunted the steps of the Team, even when they doubled back the way they came, new traps springing forth where none were before. Something was hunting them.

 "Six. Seven."  The 'Assassin' counted of the remaining. Of course, it could not take the captain. A shame, that could be more of a issue later then the shouting guy.  "There should be a city closeby. If one can call it that. Expect it to be littered with trees and clay pathing just as the towns."  The Onna where a weird folk afterall. Their housing from Concrete and Glass, often you can even find fruit grown inside their Greenhouse domes of roofs. Well, the ones that have not been broken by now. Yet they also claimed to be in balance with nature and their Kami. Water does not get redirected, and instead the paths where layed alongside and naturally winding. Trees offering protection to animals where present all over the place. The architecture was robust but also utterly uncreative in its application. 'Purely Functional'. The Pale ones might would actually appreciate its directness.  "Their Bloodsilk order had a outpost there, so it should be easily useable as a safe hideout for the moment. Possibly even still has their Obsidian weapons." 

 

As they continue, The last thief was shivering in distress, her eyes wildly flicking all over. As they walked, they all had one question—
  “Where are the survivors or their corpses? From what you told us, there should have been at least a few stragglers after all the others up and left-”   Asked one of the soldiers, nervously.   “Our source was fairly unreliable, just a lost civilian. We don’t know details. We’ll have to stay alert”   responds the captain tersely.

The 'Assassin' threw in another few words.  "Could have been animals ate the remains. Could be who-or-whatever layed out the traps. Not the Onna. Even if one miracilously survived they would have been more sophisticated."  The concrete building they head to is one of the bigger ones in the city, and walled of again on its own. The halls inside ring just as empty, possibly even more so as the Bloodsilk as the backbone of Onna society was very thorough when they left, only leaving behind what they could not move or did not want to take. It not only served as the bade for defensive opperation and to reign in any supernatural beasts, but also as a prison for the few criminals they had within their society.  "It should keep us save for the night. Speaks like Thunder, will you take the first guard? If anything happens, you should be able to wake us the quickest." 

 

Speaks like Thunder agrees, and the group sets up a defensive camp within the overgrown prison, with Speaks like Thunder and the second thief standing first guard. The group, surprisingly, sleeps well. On waking the next morning, the guards on duty report some sound of screams in the distance, but they disregarded it due to previous tricks and hallucinations from whatever has been following them. As such, the group is surprised to find that upon exiting the building, there is a crude palisade constructed in front of the prison, and surrounding them are goblins. Hundreds of goblins.

How... How did they do that? How did the guards not notice all this literally outside the building? It was not there yet at the second guard. The 'Assassin' stood the second guard themself!  "How confident are you about your ability to take -"  The 'Pale One' give it a rough count, and then halves the number.  "Around 200, maybe 300? Assuming we use the concrete and you focus on the gate, as I thin them out before they reach that chokepoint?"  The gates, once opened, are probably the only way the goblins have to enter the building. Give or take some clever ones that attempt to climb up.

Speaks like Thunder stands up tall and proud   "I can take them! But....perhaps in smaller groups. If they stand close together."   He pokes his head around the corner with a wary eye and returns it yelping when a crudely constructed arrow pings off the concrete by his head.   "Yes. Erm. Perhaps you can soften them up a little, get them distracted?"   he asks hopefully, looking at the Assassin.

The older man rolls his eyes.   "Despite Speaks like Thunder being Speaks like Thunder, that's not a bad idea. If we can distract them can you sneak out the back and cause enough chaos to take the attention off us? If so Speaks like Thunder should be able to blast a hole in their barricade and they'll probably break and scatter after that. I've faced a few bands of goblins in my day, most will flee after only moderate casualties."   

 

And as the Adventurers hold their valiant defence, the 'Assassin' jumps the wall, up toward and moments after also the palisade, a slight glow from Arcane Magics in their trail. Goblins with spears attempt to stab upwards to where they think he lands, but as he comes down a breath of fire is let lose below him. Vanratos, still in guise, is gonna enjoy that little stretch of the momentarily metaphorical wings. Blowing fire around himself, and straying in a number of throwing knifes that arcanly get pulled to the sides and around every so often, a boiling bloodbath was soon left to where he landed.

Armed with some primitive bows, and stolen glass arrows, the goblins started to shoot at Vanratos from a distance, but even the ones that are not deflected with a swing of arcane enchanced weaponry seem to meerly shatter against his cloak. There is more then just alchemy to this cloths, for they are just part of the disguise as well, not ripping appart as they should for neither would the real skin they elaboratly hide from reality. In responce to the attempts to shoot him, he returns fire on his own by pulling a pistol out from under the guise. Simplistic by most means, and rather old for a pistol. Certainly one of the first made. The shot goes towards the biggest crowd on this side of the wall, trailing a strip of ice behind it the barfoot goblins that take the sapce of their fallen bretheren get stuck on, painfully slowing them down as they rip apart their own feet attempting to advance towards either the gate, or the being that has come over the walls.

The distraction by the Assassin leaves the group in shock -- after all, it is less of a distraction than a full on frontal bloodbath. They react quickly however, with the captain snapping out orders and Speaks like Thunder taking a deep breath. Aiming far from the Assassin at the largest pocket of goblins, a powerful exhalation comes from his mouth. The area in front of him blurs, and a bone deep thrumming blasts through everything. Like the most powerful vibration felt through the soul when an instrument is played, everything hums for one perfect moment, and then cracks spread out from concrete, trees, and even the bones of the goblins as they shake themselves to pieces. A gaping fifteen foot wide hole is in the palisade, and through it rushes the captain and his followers, carrying swords and large shields to ward off the arrows.

  "Remind me never to pick a fight with an Assassin.....OR an Inksworn Pale One"  , one of the explorers mutters to the other after remembering to close his jaw. The two explorers stand in the back with the less combat focused expedition members, short bows drawn, trying to pick off some of the stragglers and pull some of the fire off of their frontline combatants. All is running smoothly until three goblins, hidden in a storeroom on the side of the road, stand up, bows strung and arrows pointed straight down at the captain's unprotected head. One of the explorers calls a warning, but the goblins are at the wrong angle for the explorers to provide covering fire, and the captain reacts too late, shield coming up but not fast enough to block the arrow already winging towards him.


 

The 'Pale One' quite literally leaps trough a bunch of goblins, a short blade drawn as some goblin stranglers have not even the time to hit the floor before the arrow is reached, and shattered into a million useless, missdirected pieces by the swipe... As a consequence of the sheer speed of the leap, however, a crashing sound comes from slightly infront of the group, as they hit into the concrete of another building, glass from a covering greenhouse slowly raining down on the assassin, as some of the material crumbles itself revealing the natural colour of the concrete as its no longer sun-bleached. They hit of the dust from their cloak as they stand up, glancing for maybe a second to long over the heads of the goblins still between themself and the group, before locking eyes with the captain.

Just a mere moment, after, they suddenly seem to slump together a bit, and pull out a vial of red liquid. A healing potion, probably a rather pure one. Great to heal tissue damage, not so great to heal broken bones if you want them back in the correct position. He is however to far away to clearly judge if he should have broken bones and how extensive the wounds under the cloak should have been... If there was any to begin with. It looked painful enough for sure.

If the assassin was paying attention, he would've maybe seen the remaining thief, a brown haired slip of a girl, relax back from where she was tensed looking ready to act out of the corner of his eye, despite her looking terrified out of her mind and far from close enough to interfere. With the extraodinary talents of the Assassin intermixed with more destruction from Speaks like Thunder and the small group of soldiers, the goblins begin to flee, first one at a time and then in droves. Speaks like Thunder watches them retreat, and then turns to the Assassin.
  "That was amazing! How did you do that? Is that an assassin thing or a Pale Ones thing?"  

The 'Pale One' seemingly takes some hard breathers themself.  "An Arcane Thing."  They draw out the time between words as they slowly return their posture, slipping out another potion vial and down it in one go.  "And a Merchant thing. For the price of some souls, a Stat-Gem can truly do wonders."  With a slightly uneasy laugth they look past the group to find out how many goblins stayed in eye-shot to inform the rest of their were-abouts if they inevitably return.  "Given, Assassins have usually used more of them then most other Merchants. At least for the physical." 

The concept of the statgems is novel, but the expedition members seem to grasp it with the straightforward explanation. Only the captain seems slightly skeptical, not at the explanation but at the manner in which it is delivered. After a sound chastising to the sentries and a reminder that extreme caution is required, the group goes to continue when suddenly Speaks like Thunder calls for a halt. As the others turn towards him, questioning, tears suddenly spring into his eyes and he gasps, an incongruous expression of longing and wonder on his massive features.

   "I hear it! It is answering me!"   

Heedless of the others, he turns to run through the foliage, letting out small puffs of his power to demolish the obstacles before him. The 'Assassin' had no issues keeping up with Speaks Like Thunder, naturally, but it took a bit longer for them to hear the symphony. Someone who looks more at them then at their supposed leader could see the slight smile on their face before the other members soon after also heard that sweet melody of ruination calling out.


 

After almost half an hour of running, the party arrives, panting at a massive depression in the ground, perhaps a sinkhole or the remains of a powerful impact. At the bottom, liquid music. Flowing notes like the most beautiful arias, proud military marches, and the grim notes of dirges intermingle freely. It is not a liquid, and yet it is, an impossibility of creation that defies any explanation. Everyone in the expedition now hears the music, calling to them. It wants to be free, and it wants to be held, and it wants to be used. But it can only be held by one.

Around the music lie dozens, no hundreds of corpses. Animals, insects, goblins, and even a lone Onna pile high, their rotting corpses ripe with the stench of death. Their eyes are glazed and tear tracks streak down their faces. On each are vicious wounds inflicted by claws and beaks, some from the dead beasts around and some obviously self inflicted. One beast in particular lies face down in the liquid music, and its wounds are the worst, self inflicted claw marks ripping across its own throat and its blood freely intermingling with the music.

Yes. There was no doubt what this is, and there was no doubt what this surroundings mean. The creature below has won its last fight, and it will lose its next. And while Vanratos always considered himslef above the manipulations that must have lead the surrounding creatures to their doom... He won't be sure about this for at least some of the party members. Their figurehead of a leader does not seem like a paragon of Willpower, even if the intends are well. The Captain, they probably already figured out what will happen next as well. Possibly can be reasoned with.   "Adventuring Party."   He holds the inkborn by the shoulder for a moment, just enough to distract him momentarily from his trance and jumping head first into the symphony.  "It has been fun working with you, but this-"  The 'Assassin' points into the pit.  "Falls under historic and artistic, I am afraid for you."  He waits for the groups reaction, as he put the obvious in the room.
It is really just a moment away from saying; ' This, the Symphonie, is what Vanratos wants, and I will make sure Vanratos gets. ' less a Threat then a Warning to not attempt what the 'Assassin' already knows they likely planed to do all along.


 

  "Respectfully, how does a liquid that makes beasts and creatures go insane qualify as historic?"   The captain asks, panting slightly as he catches his breath. His eyes are wide, and his pupils dilated. He seems to be having trouble focusing entirely on the Assassin, his eyes repeatedly sliding back towards the liquid. The expedition fans out behind him, separating into the explorers group standing aside and the others standing behind the captain. Speaks like Thunder appears to be halfway in a trance, and is barely listening.

Oh how nice of the captain, he does not question the artistry in it at least.  "It is not like I have not heard the rumors. Probably not quite the same as you did, but enough to puzzle the picture together."  The 'pale one', not holding on to the monotone, awnsers.  "A world changing liquid that by all means, is not supposed to exist. No mortal could create it, not to the potence of the power it holds. The rumors I got point it to be of a source much higher then any of us can aspire to reach. The song- no-  The Symphony of Stars . I need to admit, I expected it to resemble the mantas more, but I guess that comes with the flowing form. The one find of this expedition not meant for you." 
  "My idiotic companion's negotiation skills aside, the deal was monetary worth went to us. The object is, as you say, worth more than anything else"  . The Assassin notice the captain's words are beginning to slur ever so slightly. One of the explorers begins to edge towards the impact crater, his feet moving almost involuntarily.

A commanding glare comes from the Vanratos, the disguise still up yet the act mostly dropped, staring down the stumbling explorer.  " Art  can not be measured in Money. It is worth however much it is worth to whomever pays for it. I am willing to pay a lot for it to you, despite already owning it by contract. I am not calling myself the Merchant Emperor for nothing. The question now is, are you willing to back away, or will you pay a price for interfering with me."  It feels like the air around Vanratos is boiling, as a creature meant to be unrestrained rage and hatred keeps restraining it for many decades on end.

The captain straightens slightly at the mention of money and turns to look at his followers. At the motion the explorer, already primed, begins a sprint into the crater, followed closely behind by his allies. The second explorer and the soldier, slightly more self-possessed, throw back their coats to reveal strings of multi-colored glass orbs strung in belts across their chests, which they throws towards the arguing not-Assassin and Captain.

   "Eat Alchemy!"    shouts the defecting soldier.


 

An armored red screen extends between the duo of the Captain and Vanratos, and the alchemical dup.  "Shouting your attacks only works when you are Inksworn, from my experience."  The glass, most of it, shatters on the wing in a mixture of smoke-plumes, freezing ice, burning fire, poison clouds and so many more effects, which in their totality at least seem to hurt the creature that is Vanratos, if not enough to stop him as he reveals a second wing.  "Excuse me, I need to deal with insubordination."  He gave a short, way to enthusiastic smile to the prospective future associate as he took a step back, beating the large draconic wings and keeping himself suspended above the liquid. What seems like the obviously not 'pale one' simply breaths out in the runners direction turns to a swall of fire not less then what the goblins faced before.

As the piles smokes away, their ashes get carried by the boiling wind, the glare returns to the rest of the group.  "I am surprised by the way, I expected Thunder to be the one here who attempts something. But he holds up better to the thrall of the symphony then they did." 
  "Stand down. STAND DOWN."   The captain shouts to his men, who drop their weapons at the display of power, terrified. Even Speaks like Thunder is shocked back to awareness, but suddenly, the liquid....disappears. Along with the thief. The group collectively feels a lurch of loss welling up in their hearts as the song reluctantly leaves their ears, tickling as it leaves. All look shocked as the captain curses.   "She's an Inksworn. Fear becomes Time! She can move instantly but her range is limited. She must be near!"  

Speaks like Thunder spins, outraged.    "I can still sense it! She went that way!"   

 

The rest of the 'Pale One Assassin' seems to peel away and fade into nothing as Vanratos, Once Surge of the Western Hand, a dragon possibly old enough to remember their creator himself if he had not been to absorbed with rage in the past, shot of towards the direction Speaks like Thunder mentioned. A rage he is clearly tapping into as fire consumes a large strip below him in his haste, away from the pit. Toward his price.

A price that, carried by the very immediate fear of what happens next, still moves at a speed that would be hard for even most dragons to keep up with. The Hairs in her neck start sizzling as the chill running down her spin turns into a unbearable heat. And then, she was no longer running. It was dark, it was wet. It was painfull, as the moment starts stretching for her. Bitten appart, not quite death yet because of her power, still able to think as the final fear, the fear of death, drags the final second of her life into what seems like infinity.

A dozen minutes later, Vanratos, wearing the guise of the man he used back when the contract was originally formed, walked leasurely in the direction he came from, smiling as Voice like Thunder, the Captain and his men catch their breath having hurried after the thief as well.  "Now, speaking of your reward. I think its best to decide on the details as we head back to the landing. I am thinking Manors, Servants and Riches,  as well as some jobs if you are interested... " 
 
 Spoiler: AP Spending 
None at all! This is all Fluff!

...except with the new artifact Sagmi will refocus the Song of Heroes from a bless/curse artifact to create advanced concept, so -3 AP! 13 AP--&gt; 10 AP.
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naseki  , Echos, Reflections, Imitations, Counterfeits 

 
  Inferior, possibly Dangerous; But Sufficent.  
People die all the time, for all the reasons. Someone from the first world dies and their Soul gets pulled into the Plane of Echos, where what remains of the person deals with the circumstance. Some fall to despair, some sing the new song that replaces the melody of the deep that has before plagued all their life. Others deny their new reality, pretending till their truly last moment that they are still 'alive'. There is ones that seek out others for their final goodbyes, enemies that keep fighting a pointless battle that neither side can strike a final blow in, some that tell their stories to be remembered and hand down their knowledge to whomever they can find, and ones that try to help other arrivals find peace as a way to make peace for themself.

Someone born in Desires Heart got stabbed to death, a freak incident of very high emotions let out on the poor person. And they woke up again on the Plane of Echos. There was some confusion, being they had learned well from the Librarians and Tunthula they tried to deal with in their lifetime that they are Soulless. Its not the worst thing to be Soulless, of course, but the fact that their soul is sitting here and thinking about this is telling that something changed.

Echo-Servants had swarmed them soon after, trying to hear them out and figure out what happened, but just as much talking above each other making it hard for the person to get a word in... Yet soon, it happened again. Other Person, other plane, other cause of death. Same result, just like they came from the first world. Even in the far away echos of the void, the souls of dragons that never had souls in their eternal struggle and vicious cycle of murder in domum inferni dracones, manifested and kept attempting to murder each other... Despite their vastly lesser forms and weakness. Even the Echo-Servants themself, should they face their own death, will find it to no longer be the end.

 
  Spider, Black, 4E to 6D  
The Lady was in Danger. But the City left hanging.
Lady, White, C4 to G8, Taking City.
Pawn, Black, 5C to 4E, Taking Pawn.
Lady, White, G8 to 6E, Noble endangered. 'Zugzwang'.

Terrible situation, nothing can come help the piece. The game has been going to long already and White held all the advantages...

Noble, Black, 6G to 5G
Pawn, White, H2 to H3
Spider, Black, 6D to 5B
Lady, White, 6E to 5E, Noble endangered, 'Zugzwang'

Again, the reflection is holding the original at the metaphorical gunpoint.

Noble, Black, 5G to 4H
Lady, White, 5E to 5B, Taking Spider.
Noble, Black, 4H to 3G, slipping away between the Pawns
Lady, White, 5B to 5E, Noble endangered, 'Zugzwang'

Its over. There is not really anything they can still do to win. They are only prolonging the inevitable.

Noble, Black, 3G to 2G, Attempting to endanger City
Lady, White, 5E to 2H, Noble cornered. Victory for White.

They sigh. Beaten in the game by their own reflection. Next time they won't let it go first.

 
  Remains of Nothing, fitting Everywhere  
Followed by a few dozen Echo-Servants, someone studies the movements of someone on the first world. They are odd. They remember to be a person that does not exist anymore. Even the very Soul had been sniffed out of existence by the wrath of a isolated god. But someone seemed to have taken pity on them. Multiple someones even. First, a number of the cut of seem to have become something else entirely, a people of sorrows. Then, days later, the ones that died started to rise again. Their skin turned green tones, and flowers starting to bloom in their hair and roots seemingly a part of their very skin.

The handywork is easily recogniseable for Naseki, afterall, part of them was involved in something simelar. They wonder how they pulled it of. Maybe the memories of this Onna had been left in the Abyss when their minds got destroyed, and Lilia has puzzled then together? Maybe She roped back in the memories of others about them, and puzzled together an aproximation of who this onna where before? Maybe their beings are literally pulled back from beyond some veil not even the divine fully comprehends? Of course, figuring out the how was secondary, as they noticed something else: The handiwork was... a bit lacking? Maybe it was because Lilia rushed, or it was just a simple act of forgetfulness. But the Suka-Onna lacked something that defined the Onna before.

They could see the poor people struggle. One in particular had fallen into their eye, as she struggled to swim, having to come up for water every few moments. Alien to how she used to do it, staying below the surface for hours at a time... The Suka-Onna lacked the Adaptations of their predecessors, and their previous lives. Asking for a book of the Echo-Servants, naseki sat down with them to plan out a small gift. The Suka-Onna already changed their Apperance slightly dependent on where they live, but studying the flowers of the area, the solution to the problem was as simple as it was elegant. As long as there is a Flower Native to the area, the Suka-onna should adapt with its bloom. Their chosen homes reflecting back upon them and grant them the adaptations suitable for their choice.

 
  Echos of Power. Metaphorical speaking.  
The lanterns suspended over the tribes village lit some ugly banners more so then the road below. The cloud of smoke covering most of the continent has also affected this people, a peaceful folk mostly hiding and occasionally fighting of the canibals, wall-bambo having been high and their injured treated with the local herbs. But today, 'The Warden' came, together with their men. Some of them not even human. The spiel was grant:  "Stability, Control, Protection--"  A speech about how they have come to free the land, yet they talk of themself as 'The People of the Chain'. And in a way, they chained the Village. No longer free to do what they can, but under the rules of some 'city' far away, not even on this continent. Sure, its not slavery, or being eaten, like some of the other tribes did. But calling it freedom feels cynical at best.

They changed the houses, no longer living in bamboo, but instead in cut and flown buildings. They punished the ones praying to the sun for forgiveness, to take the night away, as they claimed the starless night to be a good thing for the continent. They started digging up the dead, inspecting their bodies to make sure we where not canibals, before reburying the ones that where rotted to far for them... Who knows where or why they took the ones in 'good condition'. Their food and drink is strange, and the old are worried as the young fall towards a 'Al Gul'. What seems certain is, after many years... Nothing that made this tribe what it was will be anymore, replaced instead by the vision of a city that does not know their name. Even their genuine Loci will one day listen to a name mangled and reshaped to fit the new people it represents.

 
  A venture in highly experimental Alchemy  
The shadows of the Western Hand on the Triangular Chain. Of course, its a bit missnamed, as the shadow only passes the area for a short time each day. Its a mostly peaceful region, far away from the war on Yalasere, or the plundering of Eresalay. To far northern to have made contact with the small group of the Lolats yet, and facing a ocean so vast, yet basically unexplored, for even the seafolk has hold the area for mostly uninteresting so far. This place is of course not totally without its issues. The tropical climate ecourages Flame Tigers to form, which have to be hunt down before they get out of control. The farmsteads in the valleys are in a constant fight with the goblin population attracted by their practices. A swarm of domesticated jumping spiders had gotten away and started to breed with the wild relatives of theirs causing a sudden spike in pack-like behavior. And of course, sinkholes have swallowed whole buildings in the outer towns. Finally, many years ago a dragon even had claimed this as its hunting ground, but that is long past as far as the locals knew...

And there lays a City somewhere in the center of the region. The city was old, older then most on this side of the chain, but it was also considered weak compared to its neighbors. Its position allowed it to grow early, but it now is hampered by a lack of space suitable for itself. A lack of space leads to a lower population. Lower population means less guards, which in turn means that it can not protect nearly as many routes as its neighbors. But its age made it respected. It was here a influential merchant had chosen their home, Vanratos was his name. He fashioned himself a collector, a museum taking up large stretches of his estate, and many would consider him the leader, or possibly 'owner' of the city. The 'Emperor Merchant', a title given in mockery embraced.

He had collected a group of highly skilled alchemists to run a experiment with materials left from the 'Nox' opperation. A liquid not unlike the one he recently aquired (Yet still has to master. Music was not his natural strong suit as he found out.). The Liquid he had gotten for the Alchemist however was something different altogether. It was really a lot like water, but not wet. Not Dry. Not even Present at times. No smell, nothing dissolves in it either. In a way it reminded him of the faceless functionaries, but this was more potent, more alien... And it exhibited a unique property he truly wanted to harvest: It changed form every so often. It turned into pelts, it turned into flesh and bones, it turned into grass and it turned into glass, just to revert back shortly after.

The Alchemists worked day and night for weeks on end, but failed repeatedly as the substance refused to react with their creations. That is, until in an act of desperation, they returned to the oldest principles of alchemy, the earliest recorded element of power: Blood. Yet it was not the 'blood' of humans that reacted with the material...
 
 Spoiler: Naseki AP Spending 
 4 AP LEFT 
 4 AP ROUNDSTART 
 0 AP - Curse/Blessing  [MUA Charge]
  Native Blooms 
The Suka-Onna, as a whole, find their bodies to adapt within mere weeks to whatever enviorment they choose to stay in, as long as there is flowers native to it. As the blooms change and skin colour takes more tinted shades of green, they gain a varaiety of mostly small abilities or characteristics. The ones living in coastal regions or even a amphibian lifestyle tend to grow flowers of reed or lotus, and develop larger lung capacities to be able to stay submerged for sometimes days on end. Ones living in desert-like climates can gain aspects of cactus or aloe vera, able to sustain themself of short bursts of energy for long times, while ones in thick and high forests will find themself able to bend better and hold onto most normally unclimbable textures like a vine of a sort, and the ones in the colder climates are able to endure the temperatures with little to no issues. Of course, there is stranger areas with more specialised and stranger flowers, and in turn more varied and extreme abilities.  0 AP - Advanced Concept  (Shared with Lilia) [GUA Charge]
  Colonialism 
Chain Colonies are mostly hold by the individual cities within the Chain, and having more is seen as something Nobles may brag about. They are 'Civilisation' brought to savages, often dominated by a mostly native population and few very infulencial settlers. Resources tend to get exploited as the taxation is usually higher then on the chain itself to cover the transport of goods. Culture is being disected and rearranged into a form they would prefer it to be like. However, saftey is provided. Law tends to be strictly enforced in colonies, and corruption is surprisingly low as its not uncommon for groups of Her Ladies Mercy to be involved. The standard of living is generally raised, and there is some freedoms on work and pay. Traveling Merchants stop Colonies prices from escalating to much because of single peoples greed, and it is not uncommon for people born in the colonies to travel to the chain and make a life for themself there... Of course, if this benefits outweigh the 'sledgehammer &amp; branding iron approach' of the chain to 'civilise' the tribes is highly debatable.  2 AP - Create Sub-Life (Of Gelatons)  (Up towards Legendary) [Ooze (Gelatons) 12/10 ;P]
  Shifter(Shifters) 
Alchemist of the Chain worked tirelessly with a sample provided to them by Vanratos, a fluid of unknown origin used for the ammunition of the Starless Night. This unnatural alchemic ingredient produced by Naseki directly resonates well with Gelatons, which after sampling a strongly diluted version of it showed more control of their bodies form. Repeated exposure, extensive training, and a significant number of test subjects dropping out because of the mental strain the experiments taking the toll on them, the Alchemists created the first 'Shifter'.

Shifters are able to form their ooze bodies in unnatural and precise ways. A Shifter can easily disguise themself as a member of most other species up to double their natural size, or compress themself to a fragment of it to impersonate smaller creatures. Their 'skin' can simulate most textures and colours, allowing them to easily pass as Humans, small pelt-y animals, common slimes, the skeletal Beloved, and with sufficent training, even specific persons. Success when disguising as inanimate objects tends to be more mixed however, as holding perfectly still for extended periods of times in not in their nature. Their voice can mimic plenty of different sounds, be it the way a specific race sounds or the sound of far away sword-to-sword combat, or even the sound of multiple people talking over each other.

However, Shifters seem to suffer from Split Personalities. Repeated use of the same disguises will lead to the disguises forming their own minds within the Shifter, and while the original is always in a overarching, controlling position, it is very much possible to be friends with only one part of a Shifter while enemies with another, and the different personalities only seem to share as much information as the original allows them.

While the intend of Vanratos was to control the  only  Shifter, and he can truly claim to employ the first one as his top spy, it was not possible to contain the population. Tests believed failed developed their abilities late, and is proven to be able to reproduce, if rarely. Shifters lacking training, be it personal or regimed one, will use their abilities instinctual in a more uncontrolled manner. Ones that did learn how to utilise them in turn enjoy using their abilities in mostly underhanded job prospects. Thieves, Assassins, Spies, and the most vile: Traveling Actors.  ________ 
 6 AP Left 
 1 MUA Charge 
 1/2 Curse from a different divine source, its complicated. 

Progress:
Fire (Smoke) 5/10
 
Athedia
Glikmora had been watching her small creations mingle with the humans, taking joy in their collaboration.  But part of her missed the swamps and warm dampness of her first land.  That longing wove itself together in her dreams, creating a large home, a hollow tree with its center rotted out but still standing.  It's great boughs reached up into the sky reaching out to touch the places her longing had lingered.  At each place grew a tree, whose bark in small quantities would heal the soul of wounds and in large would build an armor against future pain.  Inside these trees, if one fell asleep they would wake in the Grand Tree, in a place where time was slow. To leave one needed to merely climb the tree and find a place where it touched the space between.

Glikmora started to find peace.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

16 AP

Weave Plane (3 AP) The Great Tree:  A giant hollow tree with its center rotted out in a swampy land.  The land extends as far as the boughs of the tree reach.  The branches of the tree lead to different exit points and time moves slower in this plane.  Glikmora created it as a reminder of her first land.  [Emotion (Sorrow) 8/10] 

Create Portal (2 AP) Traveler Trees (The Chain):  A large tree has grown on the bluffs outside the fishing village the Lolats landed at.  It is hollow inside but appears to be healthy.  It is connected to the Great Tree which can be accessed by sleeping inside the hollow tree.  To leave through this portal one must scale the Great Tree and walk along the respective limb until you reach the place where it connects to the First World.   Cutting the connection will cause the portal outside to appear dead.   [Not claiming this as progress] 

Blessing (1 AP) Traveler Tree Bark:  The bark from this tree can be brewed into a tea that gives calming effects.  This can help treat uncontrollable emotions.  However to large a dosage will block off the ability to feel emotions until the bark has worn off.  [Medicine (Toxins) 3/10] 


16 AP - 6 AP = 10 AP

Water (Wetlands) 7/10
Weather (Rain) 3/10
Medicine (Toxins) 3/10
Truth (Deals) 9/10
Magic (Necromancy) 6/10
Travel (Air) 8/10
Emotion (Sorrow) 8/10
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naseki  , Traveling Entertainment 
Fireworks in the night sky! Signs all around the roads!
The traveling circus is near the city, and the Ringmasters brought some of their most well known acts: Acrobats on the spiders web, self-declared marksmen hitting target after target out of the sky, alchemistic displays of skill in vast pyrocinetic expanses, a man firing themself from a cannon, a Witch out to show the wonderful world of flowers, petable beasts and a giant in a display fight with a 'adventurer'. Witness spectecular Arcane Magics and the dancing dead! Trapped cages of Goblins and a Flame Tiger behind glass, as well as a Actor able to play every part of a piece at once as they switch costumes with speeds unseen before. That and more, you can see and touch at the carnival, as some acts are skin close...

Please do not imitate any of the acts, the Showmen are professionals, and they will leave and return as does the grand storm.
 
 Spoiler: Naseki AP Spending 
 6 AP LEFT 
 0 AP - Mundane Concept  [MUA Charge]
  Showmen 
Entertainment is nothing new, and even traveling troupes have been around for a while. Doing it professionally and becoming well known is something else. Everyone heard a song of a bard in a tavern, but only rarely you get to hear a whole orchestra as the Circus approaches. Every artist can claim themself to be a skilled individual of entertainment, and the art of the lie. A Lie the audience is naturally aware of, but keeping the facade up is what allows the fun to begin with.

Traveling Troupes tend to have a mixed name however, cause where they are is a festival, and where a festival is petty crime naturally follows. Some claim its this nomadic groups of entertainment that commit the crime, but often it is just locals exploiting the situation. Showmen and traveling troupes do sometimes cross continents as well, a new audience being easier to wow with the same tricks afterall...    ________   
 6 AP Left 
 1/2 Curse from a different divine source, its complicated. 

Progress:
Fire (Smoke) 5/10
 
Demidos
No one ever accused Sagmi of being a goddess who was not active. With the rapid uptick of the war and in anticipation of the final showdown, there was still some time before the climax of the war arrived. More upheaval was required, and so Sagmi sang to the ocean and dragged up islands from the sea floor, not a few, but hundreds. A thousand and one islands, some large and some a mere spit of land. On each she conjured one of her favorite stories, the Singing Rapier, the Traveling Minister, and many others. Husks were generated as characters, and the islands’ natural features warped and shaped into mansions, bazaars, and foodstuffs to fill out the edges of each story. Every tale looped, the same story playing out as eternal homages to the most beautiful, dashing, and heartbreaking epics ever devised. Anyone too close for too long would start to get sucked into the storyline, growing fangs or ball gowns as the story dictated, but quickly losing their sense of self.

Small seafaring communities began to crop up around the most bountiful islands, places of lavish banquets and of rich trading centers. The seafarers found that by quick and clever raids, they could leave random debris in certain places and allow the power of the islands to turn it into food, water, and weapons to be retrieved at future dates. The food is edible, and the islands’ magics maintain the objects for a month before undoing themselves. Naming themselves after the Storied Isles they most frequented, they frequently clashed over the best Isles, armed with eclectic mixes of wondrous weapons and cobbled together pitchforks and maces. Some groups, not content with the temporary nature of their artifacts, turned to piracy to gain more powerful weapons and tools, launching raids on ships and vessels traveling past their Isles.

The stories were set, but the smallest of loopholes were left, such that an individual with enough willpower were to enter them, and to live out or change the story for the better, they would be able to not only keep an item from the story for themselves, but would attract the attention of a goddess.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

Alter Land -- Storied Isles: 1001 Islands that Sagmi pulled up from the seafloor, they have a powerful reality warping effect that slowly turns anyone who gets trapped on them into a soulless Husk, and any object on them into something fitting the story. The Isles have the power to create artifacts, food, water, and any arbitrary object that best fits, but if removed from the Isle these properties slowly decay over a period of a month. Good thing Naury isn't around to ponder the implications that these things decay at the same rate as souls. There’s probably no relationship. Probably. Arts(Music) 10/10

Create Monsters[1]: Husk: Soulless creatures that play the parts of various characters in the stories of the Storied Isles. Though they appear as knights, princesses, monsters, and demons on the Isles, when removed from the islands they slowly decay into an amalgamation of plant, inorganic, and rotten animal matter. They are made by the power of the Isles into living beings. Piracy(Discovery) 3/10

Create Advanced Concept: Seasteading -- Some intrepid souls have discovered secrets that allow them to live their entire lives at sea. These brave adventurers create floating homes, towns, or even cities on the water from lashed together wood, kelp, and salvage. Creating a community at sea is difficult though, and so many have turned to the Storied Isles to obtain their supplies, trading their trash for short-lived wonders from the islands. Piracy(Discovery) 5/10

GUA: Create Advanced Concept [1]: Piracy. Yes, its an advanced concept. Piracy(Discovery) 6/10

Form Racial Society (The Drevish): The Drevish is the collective name for those who live on the sea, often near the Storied Isles. They often name their clans after the Storied Isles they most frequent, and have a strong tendency towards personal freedom, independence, and an aversion to authority (Chaotic Neutral, for those who are DND minded). They tend to accept those who have no other place to turn and accept any race willing to spend their life on the sea. This often leads them to turn to piracy to support themselves, as it can be difficult to source enough materials on the sea to support any moderate sized community.  Piracy(Discovery) 8/10

Create Avatar: Blessing of the Storied Isles: Any creature desperate enough to survive an entire story arc on one of the Storied Isles with their psyche intact is worthy of Sagmi’s attention. Anyone who achieves this feat, if they so desire, becomes an Avatar of Sagmi. Sagmi will briefly intrude upon their body and mind, effectively creating an amalgamation of goddess and mortal that seeks to fulfill the desires of both. Upon achieving the wishes of both parties, Sagmi will withdraw from them. In effect, this means that you can briefly attain the powers of a demigod to achieve your goals if you have perfect willpower and you’re willing to also achieve Sagmi’s goals along the way. Arts(Storytelling) 10/10

Achieved another two domains by points but not taking them yet to remain a Demigod. Spent 10 AP so should be down to 15. Sigh I still need to spend more huh….
 
MutantDragon
  Conflict and Strength  

Slintoch sat in his lair and thought. And as he sat, he thought about many things. And as he thought, he thought about strength. And as he thought about strength, he gazed through the Great Eye and onto the world below. His gaze swept across shadows, and whales, and oceans, and paradises, and hellscapes, and more places yet with stories still untold. And as he looked, he found strength to be an unusual thing. There were some who achieved power. Not power to rival Slintoch's, nor that of his siblings, but such a lack was to be expected. But still, there were a precious few who could seize dominion through their strength: strength of body, of mind, of will, of emotion, and of many more things. Yet, still, strength was a rare thing upon this world. The mortals needed to grow. They needed to become stronger. They needed to become more  fun.  So Slintoch made it so.

---

Vlint and his fellows had not been idle since discovering the eye's naked truth. They trained for the day they would fight to carve a new order upon the backs of the sky whales. They trained to punch, to kick, to throw, and to grapple. When they could, they trained to use weapons, though they were few and far between on the backs of the titanic sky-beasts. New weapons would be needed. And Vlint found his answer from the eye. As he trained alone one night, he felt its gaze upon him. He felt it penetrate into his very core. Into his   soul.   He was never truly aware of his soul before, yet, now, he felt it echoing inside him, representing, perhaps, a potential he never knew existed. As he trained, he focused on channeling this facet of his being into his art. And, bit by bit, his strikes became faster, harder,   better.   His forms flowed more rapidly, new techniques rapidly formed in his suddenly elevated mind, and he found himself capable of impossible things. His soul was connected to some other place, and that place could be slipped through, if only for the briefest of moments, to shift from where he stood to another nearby point without traversing the space in this realm. He also found himself able to harness power into blasts or blades of energy. He could perform acrobatic feats that were not possible before. He was, in every way, better.  Stronger. 

---

Miral's puppets in the Imperium were drilled in combat, both armed and otherwise. Their training was brutal and the results were deadly, yet the techniques and their applications were beautiful. Every block, every strike, every lock, every throw, every stance and step was perfect. And from that perfection and discipline, the minds of Miral's zealots changed. There was some small amount of psychic power in all people, even those who could never hope to unlock even trivial psionic power. Miral knew this. She observed it and studied it, but ultimately disregarded it. And yet, as she watched her soldiers train, she was startled by something new. The power in many of her most talented slaves had focused itself and expanded like a muscle. It was still different from hers, or the power of any psychic, yet it was  powerful.  And, she noticed with a smirk, potentially useful. So she subtly nourished this power and guided its use during training. Progress was slow at first, but soon it exploded, and her troops became inhumanly strong, fast, and resilient. The soldiers who displayed this power were able to do other things of note, as well. They could cloak themselves from all normal perception, leaving only a faint psychic signal to show where they were. They could, with a touch, generate psychic overloads in individuals not endowed with these gifts. They could turn their hands and feet into extraordinary blades able to cut steel and stone. There were few who possessed the potential for these new arts, and the path to achieve them was one of pain, but the power they gained was undeniable.

---

Harkit trained in the darkness while his army enjoyed a rare respite from its march. The march would soon be over, a battle would commence, and fate would be decided from the spillage of blood. Such was life. Such was as it was meant to be. Yet the sun was blocked from the sky. This would not what was meant to be. Yet, undoing it was not Harkit's current task. His current task was war, and so he trained. Yet his mind circled back to the sun and the cloud that obscured it. And his blood boiled with rage and the blasphemy, the  indignity.  And soon, his rage spilled out around him. Not as the magic he perfected so long ago, but as something else. An aura, of sorts, an aura of a different sort of power. This aura surged about him as a blinding red storm of energy, a storm that clung to his flesh and to his sword. It wrapped him in its armor of hatred and added its weight behind each strike. While the aura blazed, Harkit's body itself also changed. Most notably, his muscles bulged and he shot up in height. As he continued to train, pouring his rage into a power he had never felt before, his height increased by nearly two feet and his muscles swelled to double their original size, yet he felt no loss in flexibility or coordination; the opposite effect occurred, in fact. But despite all these changes, Harkit's mind narrowed into a single bloody desire. He wanted to kill.

---

Slintoch was pleased by the strength he had sown across the world, yet, still, something was missing. Challenges? Teachers? Instigators? All of the above? Slintoch could not say for sure, but he could say for certain that there was  something  missing. So, of course, he took the balanced approach and threw ideas at the world in the hopes that something fit.

---

Shadows formed from nothing wall across the first world. From shadows deep in the mountains of the Chain, away from any cities, though not so far contact could never occur, stepped hounds the size of bulls. These hounds were brutally aggressive towards anything they saw, lashing out with fire just as much as their teeth. From another set of shadows, beetles the size of ponies emerged. Or, rather, submerged, for these beetles spawned in the ocean. Wickedly strong and with exoskeletons hard enough to deflect swords, they were viciously territorial. Finally, from the last of the shadows, blue and red skinned beings appeared. These humanoid beings had sharp teeth and prominent horns, and they ranged in size from those of humans to those of giants. They all shared martial and mystic power that would astonish most mortals. As inconsistent as their size was their behavior; some were ruthless monsters that ate anyone who crossed their paths, some were cunning monsters that could terrorize villages for entire mortal lifetimes, and some travelled in search of powerful or talented individuals to fight or train.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 

Rollover (Numerous)!   43AP  !

Teach Mundane Concept x2 (Martial Arts: to the Eye Watchers and Imperium Animi) 2AP: Both the Eye Watchers and Imperium Animi developed and perfected their own styles of martial arts distinct from those practiced in the Empire of the Sun. [Chaos (Struggle) 2/10]

Create Mythic Concept (Mystical Martial Arts) 4AP: Slintoch created a framework inherent in mortals for the attainment and development of power through the framework of martial arts. This power usually includes enhancements to physical capabilities as well as more overtly magical effects and techniques. Where the power comes from is less important than the dedication to harness it, though the sources currently used are souls, psychic energy, and emotions. [Strength (Ferocity) 4/10]

Create Sub-Concept (Mystical Martial Arts --&gt; Harkitdo) 2AP: Harkitdo is a style of martial art developed by Harkit that focusing on building and channelling emotions of anger and hatred into tangible energy. In the process, a practitioner's body is mutated to cause an exponential increase in strength and toughness in addition to a dramatic size increase. [Strength (Ferocity) 6/10]

Create Sub Concept (Mystical Martial Arts --&gt; Qijutsu) 2AP: Qijutsu is the art of channelling a user's soul into mystical and physical power, allowing short range teleportation, the projection of energy in the forms of blasts or weapons, superhuman feats of athleticism, and more. [Strength (Ferocity) 8/10]

Create Sub Concept (Mystical Martial Arts --&gt; Animipugna) 2AP: Animipugna is a style of martial art developed in the Imperium Animi. It focuses on channeling the latent power of the mind through effort and discipline, allowing incredible feats of supernatural speed, strength, and skill, as well as opening the door to supernatural techniques useful both on and off the battlefield. [Strength (Ferocity) 10/10] New Domain Unlocked!

Create Monster (Hellhounds) GUA: Hell hounds are massive hounds found in remote mountains on the Chain that are capable of breathing fire.

Create Monster (Sea Beetles) GUA: Sea beetles are territorial beetles the size of ponies that can be found in oceans throughout the First World. They are extremely strong, able to burrow right through ships, and territorial. Their incredibly strong exoskeletons can protect them from most harm, but could make useful materials should they be slain.

Create Legends (Oni) 5AP: Oni are demonic beings created by Slintoch to variously terrorize and develop mortal races. They range tremendously from being the size of normal humans to towering as tall as the largest giants, and they come in various shades of blue or red, but they all share the same curved horns on their foreheads and unnerving grins that reveal sharp fangs. While some might act as simple monsters, they are all keenly intelligent and versed in all current sales of martial art, both mystic and mundane. Additionally, they are innately attuned to arcane magic, making even the least of them a passable mage. As noted above, they have multiple different missions, with some existing only to slaughter mortals and others existing to guide the development of those who show promising strength or at least the potential for strength. [Chaos (Struggle) 7/10]

43AP – 17AP = 26AP
1GUA
3MUA
 
AlexanderML
   Zephyr's Call - To Skies Beyond   

Ever since their founding the lolat disciples of Chymes had the glimmering childish wonder at the prospect of flying amid the skies imparted onto them; as prospect members were those who looked at the floating structure of Zephyr’s Call and could not turn away from it out of wonder for the potential they saw. This habit of theirs would often lead them to exploration of Adanat and with the power of flowers beyond.

What the zephyr bloom witches discovered was odd and disturbing for the most part. If it were not for Chyme’s own intervention and the treior offering to guide early explorations, then the realms of the magi would have been too antithetical to them to tolerate. As it stood, the eternal realms were understood to just be delusional in more than one sense. They did however offer a few expensively made pieces of delusion-crafted vehicles that flew, though most inhabitants of that realm who traveled far preferred to use giant moths that were simply too large for the zephyr witches to easily control.

Yet amid the strange realms a witch one day encountered a pair of pale ones, one a girl in a black dress the other a man dressed in white with the front of his face appearing to be broken like glass; flowers seeping out of the gap covering his right side with an assortment of flowers. The pair both looked generally disinterested, yet one of them spoke up.

“What is this thing…?” the girl asked at the sight of the witch. The lolat was going to give a response but the man flicked the girl’s head lightly. While it was difficult, the witch could understand the message of her words.

“They are a lolat, a witch.” the man said in a deliberately slow tone of voice, then turning to the witch asked “Excuse me, I am the flower maiden Alaion. Good greetings amid the ever dream.” he said with a tilt of his strange head.

With a raised eyebrow the girl gave a “I am Merayal.”

Being more familiar with human looking creatures than most lolats, the witch could understand that the way they were being looked at was with scrutiny. It was also familiar enough with the term ‘flower maiden’ to know that they were the religious leaders of the magi realms. With a bow the small witch let out in broken magi-tongue “Good meeting. I wish you well lard Alaion. Ledy Merayal. I am a witch of a Zephyr Bloom.”

The girl appeared a little surprised at this “Ah… Excuse me. I mistreated you, would you accept an apology?”


For a moment the witch paused “If you would accept some chance.”  they said while reaching into a bag of theirs and pulled out a few copper dice.

Both Alaion and Merayal blinked at that, though they showed little other reaction. Then with a nod of the head Alaion patted Merayal’s shoulder, “Go ahead, I’ll pay for it if you lose”

“We are betting?” Merayal asked confused.

“Whether good or bad, chance can make new possibility.” the witch intoned. Alaion gave a soft smile like he had heard that before. Hesitant Merayal gave her silent approval.

The dice fell, a game was played, and in the end the witch had won resoundingly.

Merayal looked reserved, unhappy with the whole arrangement over an insult. Yet the soft smile on Alaion had not faded as he brought out a macabre piece of work- an upside down skull that had numerous flowers jutting out of it like a bouquet. The witch gasped at the sight of it for some reason- it felt off, old, and something powerful; it being thrust out into the open for them to see only now was startling.

“I have heard of your bloom and how you’ve already obtained one flower from this-” he lightly shook the bouquet up and down “- I shall gift you another.” Then without looking he pulled out a small white dandelion- which almost cartoonishly grew to be taller than the man. “This is quite the handful, do you wish to risk taking a hold?”

While not a game, there was opportunity here. So the small witch grasped the large blooming plant- which resulted in them immediately being thrust into the sky so quickly that they did not let go in time. Letting out squeaks of terror that befuddled the flower maiden and girl below who began to plan on how to bring the witch down safely before they ran out of strength.

At that moment a humanoid shape fell from the sky, scattering bits of paper and ink around with them as they fell. Grabbing onto the first object at hand they yanked the dandelion like flower a great distance downwards before the counter weight had it begin to rise again. The one who had appeared had a large bushel of red roses growing out from his back almost like wings or a heart- and had the face of a skeleton.

“My this is fortunate- oh no!” the skeleton said to the startled witch who had begun to let go out of fright; yet the skeleton reached out and grabbed a hold of them in time. “Whoa there miss. Sorry to intrude but I can explain how I ended up here once we have safely landed… or are you in control of this flower?”

The two stared at each other for a few moments as the witch was having some trouble processing everything even as the skeleton seemed so calm about the situation. He looked out from their increasingly high vantage point over the realm they were in, able to spot the tops of so many flower-trees that keep their blooms too high to see from ground level.  After some time seeing him be so calm, the witch also relaxed and looked out over the realm for a few seconds before giving a sad nod to the negative.

“Ah well, not to worry.” the skeleton said “I can pull us down if I work hard enough at it.” then with a small grunt a ring on his hand began to glow and the dandelion like flower began to descend. “This is why I prefer rings- no hands required.”

Eventually with the skeleton’s effort yanking the flower down onto the ground the pair were able to land safely, the flower itself being rooted in place with the same magic that brought it low for the time being as the skeleton flopped on his back. The witch could surmise that if he had lungs he would be out of breath. “Give me a moment please, that was exhausting! Though considering we have time, who might you be miss? What brings one of the Zephyr Bloom here?”

Taking a sitting position the witch was also exhausted, but apparently had more strength in her than the skeleton who looked like a corpse just lying there almost still. She was bemused when she realized he was speaking the tongue of her homeland rather than the bastardized magi version of it. “My name is Delbee, lord Chymes. I and others explore this realm in hopes of discovery on how to reach the skies. Today I let chance play out and found this flower.”

“Well there goes my introduction.” Grumbled the skeleton. “I suppose delusion and magic aren’t suitable for making a great many vehicles, have you seen the moths yet? The flower shows that you met Alaion, since he has Her bouquet. Also no need to call me ‘lord’, I know it's a tradition around here for folks to call each other by those titles but I just find it silly.”

“You are correct, Chymes. Might you have a few ideas?”

“Well…” the skeleton said sitting up with his flowers slowly popping back into place as he then began to rummage around his robes “I suppose, I’ll need to find pen and paper first to properly sketch this out miss Delbee.” he said before looking at her in the eyes “Its a pleasure to meet you.” a gesture which would have looked touching if not for the fact that he had no eyes or skin.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 31/30 AP

-AC (Lilia’s Bouquet) Bless - Cloud Puffs: These large dandelion like plants are found mostly wafting through the Endless Sky, reproducing endlessly by the wind scattering their seeds. Terra Whales snack on these seeds and they can be made into fluffing material when the root of the seeds are removed.

Their most extraordinary feature comes before their seeds scatter, for a cloud puff will gain the power to resist gravity and rise high into the sky. Its stem is steel like in hardness and can support a small vessel’s worth of weight (like an air balloon). These flowers lose this ability to resist gravity once all their seeds have fallen off, a process that occurs one at a time over a day once picked from the ground or reaching maturity. Applying water to the seeds can temporarily reduce the lift the puff produces.

When a cloud puff first produces lift it releases a small amount of Lilia’s Love. Consuming any part of the plant could give minute amounts of it as well.

-1 Create Sub-Advance Concept (Airships -&gt; Floral Ships): These vehicles are the result of skillfully combining cloud puffs for lift and zephyr blooms for direction. A properly built one has a means to give water to the cloud puffs and a means to control the amount of light the zephyr blooms obtain; both actions that can be done with a single pilot. While magic can be used to maintain the flowers for a time, both the zephyr and cloud puffs need to be replaced at least once a year (without magical aid it's closer to four times a year).

This concept is discovered by the Zephyr Bloom, the Magi Realms, and the natives of Adanat.

-1 Teach Advance Concept - Beast Taming: Through a coordinated effort between Chymes, the giant silk moth tamers, and the Zepher Bloom coming together a variety of new techniques and apparatuses are invented to thoroughly train and ride giant moths- with special harnesses being used by lolats that make it look like they are riding an elephant.

The process has given the trainers inspiration as to how to tame other less docile monstrous creatures. With the Magi Realms in particular using this experience to tame chimeras.

This concept is given to the Magi Realms and the people of Adanat.

-1 Create Organization - The Sky Gliders Guild: This group of tamers and explorers are the primer experts in giant moth taming and utalige. Their members come from all the realms, yet they are bound by traditions and a code of conduct. This code ensures that the guild’s members do not compete among one another with prices, spill trade secrets, and more humane functions such as keeping a high standard of care for the moths.
 


 


With time and the ingenuity of a great number of people the skies of the First World had two new additions- the floral ships and moth riders. From there it was not long before a brave explorer would find the world inside clouds.


 

   The Great Library - Growing Pains and Discovery   

The Tome Guardians were struggling with the surge of new students that were introduced by the starlit colonies. The children that arrived were unruly, arrogant, and in such vast numbers that they even out numbered the pale one children attending.

A large number of new staff members were required to join the library, enough that the once simple quarters of the teachers began to transform into something far more vast and complex- its own city. One that was highly restricted to outsider entry at first due to its purpose; yet one day She arrived.

Perusing the shelves, the streets of the library-city, and the gardens that lay within She walked with apparent ease. Her face concealed by the night sky, Her dress made of the hundreds of flower heads offered to Her by the blooming flowers. The once closed doors to the city were opened by massive flowers, the streets bathed in a glow from above. The holy sight was a clear enough sign for the Tome Guardians to open most of the city to visitors- at least the visitors that were already allowed entry into the library. Thus the city of Akashic was formally made.

The city soon garnered more attention outside of its holy visitation (something that garnered little attention)- the introduction of a means to mass produce books. It was in its early stages but with it they began to print numerous copies of books that once took scribes months to properly copy. While some of the Tome Guardians were pleased about this, others were not.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
28/30 AP

-AC (Flesh and Blood of Lilia) Alter Land - The Library City of Akashic: Located within the great library this settlement is the primary home of the Tome Guardians, with only them and their direct families being allowed to live within its walls or visit for longer than a week. Plant life finds its way to growing out of crevices, water can be found flowing out of a few larger flowers called Lady’s Tears, and natural light rains down from the ceiling.

-1 Create Advance Sub-Concept (Paper -&gt; Bookbinding): The process of turning stacks of paper into proper books is perfected within the Magi Realms. Many books use leather, while soft covered examples begin to become popular with printed copies of books.


-1 (split with Naseki) Create Advance Concept - Printing: Through the use of plates and a press the first mass produced books are made to satisfy the demand to read or take out copies of the many original books the Great Library houses. While initially housed only within the city Akashic the details on how to print are sold to individual realms as the demand quickly becomes too much for the single city of librarians to bear.

This concept was first invented in the Magi Realms and the Chain.

-1 Create Advance Sub-Concept (Scientific Method -&gt; Library Science):  “A field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and other areas to libraries; the collection, organization, preservation, and dissemination of information resources; and the political economy of information.” -Basically Wikipedia

In short, the method on how to run a library and other means of information distribution becomes a whole field of study onto itself within the Magi Realms. As the number of children entering the Great Library and the number of embraced seeking copies of numerous different books or obscure knowledge increases the need for such experts arises as well.

The Tome Guardians create a new subdivision for those that apply library science- the azure overseers. They act in a similar manner to managers for the Great Library, making sure mundane tasks are accomplished and that the flow of information remains steady.
 


 

   The Estheric Isle - Life Within Ice   

On the Estheric Isle, a vast amount of change has occurred in a short period of time. Once where nomad roamed now lanterns glow guiding the way through concrete roads. Where once small ships would sail from land to land- now swarms of moths and large vessels of flowers descend upon shining ports. And where once fish made up the majority of food in winter now shining ice house new agriculture wonders from the Onna members of the Realms.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
 25/30

-1 Teach Mundane Concept: Agriculture: Focused primarily around woody fruits and nuts the pale ones are the first to adopt mass food production methods of the Onna. The suka-onna of the starlit isle take some more time due to willful spite to not listen to their elders, but eventually they begin to return to growing herbaceous plants as their ancestors had.

-1 Teach Mundane Concept - Masonry: The use of stone, brick, and mortar to build durable and expansive structures.

-1 Teach Advance Concept - Concrete: Use of cement and chemical mixtures to produce composite material of great strength.

-2 Create Mythic Sub-Concept (True Ice -&gt; Ice Sculpting): The art of ice sculpting is something that the pale ones of the esthiric isles develop as the introduction of advance material techniques are taught to them. Through it they can mix True Ice with water and other imported chemicals to produce a substance that is almost as clear as glass and nearly as strong as steel; while being lighter than both. While a valuable traded commodity it is also a replacement for metal on the isle. It is also used to produce-

-1 Teach Advance Concept (Greenhouses): The pale ones begin to create their first green houses in their cold homeland, predominantly using sculpted ice for the ceilings; allowing for far more dense populations than before.

19/30 AP
 
DasIrrlicht
 Naseki  , Join the Armarda! 
They are not quite 'cheap' but most people in the cities allow themself a weekly paper. It is not like enough happens to justify buying one every day anyways. Sipping a Tea the bored man flips past the first page. The Headline of 'Sunhounds' sounds like a hoax anyways, they are probably just small tigers or something thelike. Neighboring City has power-struggles as Tax-Rise angered local Merchants. Nobles looking for skilled craftsfolk to teach people in the colonies. First Onnas come to the Chain, seemingly Kindred to plants. The reader glances over their paper into the road, looking around if they can spot anyone green-skinned, but besides some Gelaton does not really see anyone even slightly fitting that description and returns to reading. They probably are in some port city, anyways... And mentioning that, of course the usual call to join up with the Navy, visit unexplored islands, fight against Pirate scum in glorious battles... Has a Healthcare plan?
And of course, finally:  The Winner is Ticket 8090-Coin. Congratulations. You can collect the winnings at-  Yeah, figures, maybe he has better luck next time.

 

The fact that the Chains different Navies are interfering with the the Dervish way of living is some people a thorn in the eye, but since for many of the seasteading folk 'raiding' is as normal a job as carpentry, the feeling can be described as mutual. It is not unusual for Chain Convoys to cross trough Dervish Waters, heavily armed even for the more mundane cargo. It is in all honesty as much a power-play as it is protection of their own interests.

A number of the Triangular Chains Cities decided to actually bind together their Naval assets explicitly to keep a grip on 'safety' in this waters: 'The Armarda'.
They are not totally opposed to the Dervish, but the fact that the society is offering refuge to their 'worst' members naturally keeps the tensions on edge at most moments, and even the peaceful cooperations that occasionally happen (Trade is just a natural thing of course, and the Dervish seem to have a secret to turn what is scraps into useful things) are standing under the threat of a blade falling at any moment, or fire being opened by a sailor a little to tense. The fact that they managed to establish ports on some of the Storied Isles is its own concern.
 (We are not quote one-piece yet, but we may be getting there.) 

 

The soul wandering the echo of the island is barley concious, but they seem to become more aware every day... Just as their still living body on the storied islands loses more of itself as time goes on. A single Echo-Servant is carefully following the woman, attempting their best to do what was their speices original goal, even if it has fallen much into the background this days with so many people to talk to: Preserve Peoples Stories. The Woman may won't ever be truly themself anymore, but maybe a fragment can survive their form being twisted...

 
 Spoiler: Naseki AP Spending 
 Because of the break the AP have piled on, as did the artifact changes. Breaks over so things are now back to getting capped. 
 18 AP LEFT 
 0 AP - Advanced Concept  (Shared with Lilia) [MUA Charge]
  Print 
The Chain is big. That is possibly a understatement, even. Seeing themself as the original source of writing, citing some by now ancient Gelaton history speaking of a divine being having created the first texts at the so-called lake of memories, literacy has always been near universal on the Chain. However reproducing books is a teadious work, taking sometimes months and prone to make mistakes. But with precision in machinery, a new option arrived: Machines that write for one. Of course the earliest presses are clunky, and slow, but they can be run so often that they quickly overtake manual copying of works. The addition of specialised wood carvers even give some early ability to add pictures to books...
Print is naturally suspectable to attract Wyrds, which usually slip in during the last steps o production. Many presses have their own, signature Wyrd without even knowing it. 
 1 AP - Advanced Concept  [MUA Charge &amp; Unattributed 1/10]
  Propaganda 
If you can mass-produce writing and images, it was only a question of time until its used to direct the masses. The fact that there was a war overseas only speed up the process to near instantly... Of course Propaganda comes in many forms, but few things are as controlable to be wield-able as a instrument like Print proofs itself to be. 
 1 AP - Advanced Sub-Concept  (Of Print) [Unattributed 1/10]
  Newspapers 
There was always interest about what the other Cities on the Chain, and in extention, the rest of the civilised world, was doing. Most papers are surprisingly short pieces as even with the courier star birds details have a hard time traveling the distances, instead focusing on 'local' issues of cities and their direct neighbors. Announcements, Sightings of Beasts, the odd Rumors, a page of Propaganda, some news from the colonies. In the south of the chain, a rudamentary lottery seems to have taken hold as well. 
 0 AP - Mundane Concept  [MUA Charge]
  Lottery 
(Did you know there is no higher concept for gambling?) The Lottery is a simple game. The stakes are low for everyone involved, as only a small sum is used to buy in, but the rewards promise to be so much greater. The trick is simple: The reward is slightly less then the sum of what everyone pays in, and the prize stacks if it is not payed out... Which in turn attracts more people trying their luck. The presense of the Lolats has apparently inspired the rise of this generally considered harmless passtime. 
 1 AP - Organisation  [Unattributed 1/10]
  'The Armada' 
Officially called 'The Armarda of the Triangular Chain', but the full title is not even internally common to be used. A Special force of the Chain specifically made to deal with the risks Derbish waters resemble, they are a self-governing fleet which is like a more authoritarian reflection of the Dervish own society in many ways. Sharing the drive to individualism as well as the clan-mentality different ships and internal groups develop, yet structurally enforced with clear hirachies.
Their ships are never alone, and tend to be unusually well armed even for ships of the Chain. Cannons are common, as are harpoon ballista able to chain ships to each other and prevent escapes or tow damaged ones to a port. The Sailors are usually armed with Spears or Rifles, depending on their position, and trained in their use for combat on sea. As one goes up the ranks, the Captions tend to get more on more unlike each other. Tactics vary wildly, as does how 'friendly' they are to the locals. A complex system of flags and signifiers at the very least make it easy to spot who one is dealing with from a distance... 
 2 AP - Counter  (Storied Isles) [Unattributed 1/10]
  Censor 
One Person having the Willpower to resist the Storied Isles warping properties is a well sought after anomaly. But the Chain believes in colonisation, and in extention, so does the Armada. A group of like-minded people has the potential to disrupt a ongoing story arc if they linger on a Storied Island. A large one with its own strict rules, regulations, hirarchy and plans can be enough to supress much of the supernatral powers of one. Any group with a strong Genius Loci is able to overpower a Isles reality warping power and instead enforce their own reality on them, which usually means a form of normality.
Some Isles are able to adapt their stories by twisting circumstances and attempting to force interactions along their original plans without the husks, while others are totally unable to perform as long as they are occupied by the group. Of course, if a story lines naturally up with the occuping forces own interests, the results can become somewhat unpredictable. 
 0 AP - Mundane Concept  [MUA Charge]
  Bounties 
Offering rewards for the decimation of monsters or Bandits is nothing new, but the Derwish situation. Some of the more notorious members make themself a name, and their faces end up being recreated for print and offered rewards upon. Most Bounties are written out by the different navies of the chain, but the actual rewards tend to be sponsored by disgruntled traders who had fallen victim one to many times...
It is usually other traders, Adventurers who have gotten their hands on a ship of their own who collect such bounties, but the Dervish themself have made use of this to rid themself of troublemakers as well. The situation can be complicated. 
 0 AP - Blessing/Curse  [MUA Charge]
  Save Our Souls 
People that get lost to the Storied Islands and start turning into Husks do not do so fast. As they get twisted and warped to be unrecogniseable, the echo pulls on their souls, taking fragments of it in a try to preserve the person, but ultimatly failing as the souls pulled this way lack the energy to truly sustain themself. Souls pulled as the husks form only have a lifetime of a few days and often suffer incomplete memories. 
 1 AP - Advanced Concept  [MUA Charge &amp; Unattributed 1/10]
  Shipbuilding 
Shipbuilding becomes increasingly important to the chain, in order to project itself towards the colonies, wage their war, stay in contact with their new ally and deal with the more dangerous waters. While it is technically nothing new, there is a certain skill undeniable to the designers from the Chain, their purposemade craft excelling at what they are made for. Speed, Standing-power, bombarding coasts or fighting in direct combat. Hunting the wildlife or intimidating prospective raiding parties. Carrying Freight or Passengers. Some design will be there, specialised for the purpose. Some of the more common and generalised ones are starting to get paddled for sale towards adventurers and even the Dervish as well.  ________ 
 12 AP Left 
 2 B/C Charges 
 1 Mundane Charge 

Progress:
Fire (Smoke) 5/10
 
Athedia
[b]"How do you want to be remembered?"[/roll] The cloaked entity comforted the dying man, brewing a tea to lessen the pain as he slowly bled out from a gut wound.  The response was quiet, so quiet the figure leaned down to listen to the man speak.  It nodded quietly until the man fell asleep from the tea and stayed there letting the man's soul fade away as his head rested in the figure's lap.  Less than an hour later the figure was back on the road, the man's body seated under a large tree with his hands in his lap holding a coin.

 That Evening 

The figures were gathered around a fire, each telling stories from that day.  Some had met people, in this place many had met people.   Those displaced and starving from the constant wars, those left behind as being to close to death.  The Mourners felt drawn to the dying.  Some were given the chance to join them, some just listened to.  Souls paused moments before departing and given an extension to help others. The cloaked figure who had spoken to the man talked for the first time.   "I take the name Arthorn, to remember my first.  He did not die alone."   The gathered group echoed those words.  "He did not die alone. 

 


Arthorn wasn't sure how to give the Gelaton a coin but settled for putting it on the creatures dissolving flesh.  The poor creature had been caught in a rainstorm and unable to help Arthorn could only be there to be a presence.  The same rain that had spelled the creatures doom also allowed its final memories to be shared.  Stories of self that had been repeated so often only to be spoken this final time.  Loved ones, hated ones, memories recalled in amusement.

Arthorn drank them in, glad the rain masked the tears.  This moment always came with sorrow, but they couldn't imagine the cruelty of having to have those thoughts alone.  They had traveled here on hearing of a traveling fleet of small people who celebrated death and summoned storms that spoke a thousand languages.  There was much to learn still.

Arthorn remembered what had sent them here. The man's story had been one of fear and bravery as he had fought in battle, only to be abandoned by his allies as they retreated unable to carry his dead weight.  He had been so afraid in his last moments, telling the new Arthorn that he didn't even know what the ocean looked like.  He had promised his wife he would take her there but that would never happen.  Arthorn knew then that what the Monks said was true, that it was their job to keep those wishes and dreams for those they heard.  And so Arthorn set off for the ocean.  There they met a woman who spoke of a lost brother, who journeyed to the chain.  Arthorn had given the child the woman had born to her husband and left to the Chain.  And so they journeyed from death to death finding their next destination.


 


The Lolat's had spent a few months learning the ways of the Chain.  Some even had figured out some of the rough language the Large Folk spoke, though the more popular language to attempt was the burbling dialect of the Melted Ones.  Many had changed from the light silks into wearing the rougher clothes that the locals wore.  And more had been born, introducing the villagers to the Dona and regular Lolat forms.  Many Dona took to working the boats that were sent out, their smaller fingers helpful in dealing with knots in lines while their outsized strength helped with the hauls.  Others took to cultivating the new plants and insects that were being used to restock the ships.  Many did not live in the village proper, the oversized homes not fitting them well or the expectation of family units.  Instead they built floating homes, cultivating the Gas Plants and Silk into new small platforms they anchored to the outskirts of the village.

The new Captain of the Fleet spoke with Glikmora, confirming what they both knew.  When the airships left, not all the Lolats would come with them.   And not all the airships would continue the passage forth.  Atodana turned back, sent on a current back to Adanat to share the glories of the new information learned and the new people's met.  Glikmora enchanted the winds to repeat their path, a high current traveling both ways along the journey.


 


Glikmora felt her presense all around the world and it scared her.  The world felt so small now and herself so big.  She didn't know how much longer she could hold onto the world.  But if she had to leave she would build two things to remember.

The first was small, a necklace of quartz that was so polished that it almost looked like rainbows adorning her neck.  And the second was a compass, pointing toward nothing.  Pointing toward Home.
 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 

AP after holiday build up = 28 AP

Legendary Society (4 AP) Monks of Last Days:  These traveling Mourners spread across the world, offering those who are dying the same offer they had received from Glikmora's Wail.  For those who deny the coin flip or lose it, the Monks of the Last Days listen to their stories to remember them meeting with other Mourners and sharing those stories.  It is Tradition for one of the Monks of Last Days to take their name from the first persons story they heard.  Their mission being to simply not let anyone die alone.   [Death (Mercy) 4/10] 

Raise Hero (2AP) Arthorn: A Mourner and Monk of Last Days who took their name from a man dying of a gut wound.   They wish to fulfil the dreams of those they listened to.   [Death (Mercy) 6/10] 

Racial Society (2AP) Chain Lolats: The Lolats that decided to live on the Chain.  They keep many of their traditions such as burials and and emphasis on honestly but they have integrated with the peoples of the Chain.  They still avoid necromancy, however they have started to learn such skills as fishing and alchemy. [no associated AP assignments]

Blessing (1 AP) The Blowing Path:  A gift from Glikmora this 'path' is a permanent air current that travels from the corner of the Chain to Adanat and back.  Experienced airships can use this to both keep on track and speed up their journey.   [Travel (Air) 9/10] 

Greater Utility Artifact (5AP) Hopes Enstoned (Raise Hero): To reflect the hope Glikmora has in her gathered heroes to touch the world and set it into balance.  [no associated AP assignments]

Greater Utility Artifact (5AP) Homefinder (Create Portal/Bridge):  With this Glikmora will always be able to find a place she considers home.   [no associated AP assignments]


Water (Wetlands) 7/10
Weather (Rain) 3/10
Medicine (Toxins) 3/10
Truth (Deals) 9/10
Magic (Necromancy) 6/10
Travel (Air) 9/10
Emotion (Sorrow) 8/10
Death (Mercy) 6/10

22 AP - 19 AP = 3 AP (before rollover)
As of 1/18 = 7 AP
 
Athedia
   Dreams of Home   

The Atodana slipped through the sky, much faster than an airship of its design looked capable of.  However the heavy rains and salt sprays from it's time in the Triangle had done damage to the wood and the Lolat's onboard were tense.  A decision was made to stop at the island they had passed over on their way to the Chain.  The tall walls should protect them while they attempted repairs and it looked like there was an ample supply of wood if anything needed to be replaced.

The Triangular holes Glikmora had made were still there, punched through the very earth itself.  The Lolats slowed the airship, further damage caused by scrapping or crashing would only make things worse.  And then one spotted something odd.  He was a Dona, much larger than most of the other Lolat's on the ship but unlike the original crew, this lot were all volunteers.  Many had not even seen their homeland, having been born during the stay in the Chain.  And they were eager to share the skills they had learned.

He saw... baskets.

And food inside those baskets.  Offerings?  He spoke to some of the others of his generation, trying to explain the importance.  Sure most Lolats did not consume much if any fruit and he didn't recognize the insects that swarmed it, but that wasn't what was important.  These people *did*, though which was something he did not know.  That meant they were also different from the Humans and Gelatons.  Still this went by them.  What was important was repairing the ship and making sure she remained airworthy.  He was handed one of the ropes and told to join the others below securing the ship to the walls of the tunnel.

He hammered the ropes into the walls, watching as others tied onto what they categorized as 'convient formations' at the base of the triangle, all the while watching as the Ota started to methodically crawl along the underbelly of the ship, noting areas that needed to be repaired.  Some of the other Lolats were starting simple card and dice games using items they had obtained in the Chain.  Others were napping or sharing stories.  They would be here for a few days minimum and any break from work was appreciated.  The sides of the Pass were dotted with holes into small caves, places the Lolat's were forbidden from setting foot by the captain.  Even though none had been seen in generations, stories were still told of the living rocks in caves that would squeeze and crush the Lolat who wandered to far from the surface.  No one was paying him any mind.  And he wasn't planning to go into a cave, the opposite in fact. So he carefully took the bottles of Pure Rain he had taken from the ships stores and unhooked one of the strange baskets.  And he headed off to find whoever had left the offering.


 


Glikmora slept in her tree and she dreamed.  She dreamed of the wetlands of the land she had raised from dead and rotting things.  She dreamed of the networks deep beneath the ground.  She dreamed of the children she had filled the land with.  And in her dreams she reached out to that home and it reached back.  Unseen in the center of Adanat rose a tree, a twin of the one in the Chain.  Glikmora's dreams calmed.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
GUA Charge Hopes Enstoned (Raise Hero): The First Speaker is a Dona Lolat that was traveling back with the Atodana when it stopped in the Triangle Pass.  Seeing the offerings left, he went down into the bowl to make first contact with a new people. He is to become the main Diplomat for his people.

GUA Charge Homefinder (Create Portal/Bridge): A Traveler Tree now grows in the center of Adanat after Glikmora revisited it in her dreams.  One of the branches of the Great Tree has reached out to meet it.


Water (Wetlands) 7/10
Weather (Rain) 3/10
Medicine (Toxins) 3/10
Truth (Deals) 9/10
Magic (Necromancy) 6/10
Travel (Air) 9/10
Emotion (Sorrow) 8/10
Death (Mercy) 6/10

As of 1/26 AP=11
 
Fuzzy Math
  Soon Has Arrived, Pt.1   

---It’s A Prayer In An Empty Room---
 
 Spoiler 
Rel paced back and forth along his deck, not with the ease of puttered tinkering, but with apprehension and anxiety. The world outside the Pocket was moving much too fast and was entirely too vicious for the Hopeful to survive it. Other Dreamers were creating nightmares throughout the First World and beyond, either with intentional malice or casual apathy towards their creations, concerned only with their own personal desires. Yet, was he above that hubris himself? His little ones were safe and nurtured here, kept ignorant and isolated of the true atrocities being inflicted upon other races; was he doing more harm than good by shielding them as he was? He felt the sudden departure of a kindred Dreamer in the Void, sensed the near extinction of their precious Onna from the First World. Rel moved too slowly, too cautiously, to have any interaction with them and that loss of opportunity vexed him keenly. While there was a vague sense of aloofness before the Dreamer’s departure, Rel felt that they were as caring for their creation as he was, but maybe that’s why they left and took most of the Onna with them back into the Nothingness. Rather than continuing to push against a world that was insistent on chipping away at their design, the Weaver had had enough, and protected the majority of the Onna with a Finality Event. Could Rel do that to his Hopeful? Could he silence their stories, their joy, and their curiosity, all in the name of guarding their precious existence? He thought about that for a while, making his way toward the garden bench by the sōzu, and sat down. Was it really a matter of keeping the Onna safe or was it more of a selfish desire of the Weaver, one born of unacceptance at the thought of sullying their particular dreaming by interacting with ‘flawed’ entities? Images of Hiplings and Kamii being torn apart, devoured, physically and mentally twisted to the point where they would no longer be his Hopeful. He held his face in his hands and wept at their potential fates; to what lengths would he go in order to save them from that? Would it be fair to them for him to deny them the chance at exploration, at adaptation to the severities of the outside world, at growth through overcoming tribulations, all because he didn’t want them to suffer? Could he bring himself to smother them all as they figuratively slept, all the while keeping them ‘safe’ in their dreaming? His quiet weeping soon turned into an angry sobbing; why would the Weaver do this?! Even if the choice was presented to the Onna, the information presented for that decision would be influenced by their Dreamer, thus making the choice moot! Rel could feel the subtle attempt of another Dreamer to save the Onna that chose to remain, then to have that choice ripped away from them all the same, so why bother pretending it was to keep them ‘pure’?! And why was he dangerously close to deluding himself that he could keep his Hopeful safe? He wanted what was best for them, but who was he to decide what ‘best’ meant for anyone but himself? Coming to the realization that even if tried keeping the Hopeful here in the Pocket, the others would eventually set their sights on the island, chipping away at any resistance he offered until he grew tired of resisting. Until, maybe, he also acted selfishly and denied his creation a chance to prove their worthiness of existing. He continued to sob, mentally walking the darker corners of his mind, knowing that he would be incapable of snuffing out their light even if it meant preventing the other Dreamers and their creations doing what he could not.

Rel started when he felt a small set of arms press against his neck, a shift of weight on his shoulder as he turned his bleary eyes to see what caught him unawares, coming face to face with the First Hipling hugging his neck. He did not have the awareness or time to have his appearance be that of a Hipling in their eyes; the actual Eldest among the Hopeful simply wanted to comfort its friend and creator, a deific humanoid that looked nothing like a Hipling or Kami, it knew the presence of Rel no matter the form he took. And of all the Hiplings, it was the only one who understood what anguish was; it existed before Rel blessed the little ones with knowledge of shelter building and the ability to heal quickly from what should have been mortal wounds. It knew pain and suffering as it fought for survival against beasts that were trying to survive themselves, true hunger as it learned what was safe to consume and what wasn’t, frustration at a world that was much too large for little legs and hands. Yet, here it was, filled with love and concern, unbent by despair.

 “Your heart and mind are hurting, Rel. Uncharacteristically burdened for the one who is supposedly Unburdened. You have nothing to fear in the world beyond your gate; you do not know hunger as we do, your body is not of flesh and bone that can be torn and broken like ours, you are nearly limitless in what you can achieve compared to us. If there is something that can bring you to feel this pain and anger, it must be truly great indeed. While I might not understand it, I can listen to your sorrows. It might help to share the burden, it might not, but it can offer a perspective that is not solely yours.”  The ancient Hipling spoke with a wizened and quiet tone. It scrambled down from Rel’s shoulder to sit comfortably on the bench next to him, making a cushion out of the deity’s robe, and waited patiently for Rel to find the words.

  “You were there when I shared with Relloc what I saw of the world. I’m not sure what it chose to inform you all of at that point, but the outside world has become embroiled in greater battles of survival, an entire people were erased from existence, and I fear it will only get worse. When I think the Hiplings are ready to explore, something else horrifying comes into existence out there. If a race can go from thriving to functionally extinct because of an angry and fearful Dreamer isn’t enough, there’s now giant river lizards as tall as trees that can breathe fire and have claws that that can probably tear through stone, and people that cause insanity or throw creatures into the sky with nothing but a thought. And, while I can’t place it, I sense a tension building in this world. Like a pot boiling water with too much pressure on the lid, just building and building until it will explode. How am I supposed to keep my little ones safe?! They leave here and they’ll be destroyed. They stay here and they’ll either be destroyed slowly or will never grow to their full potential. I’m terrified, Wilf. Not only for myself, but also for the Hopeful; I keep saying to myself, ‘Soon, the Hiplings will be ready for the world outside the Pocket. Soon, they will be ready to share their wonder and curiosity of the world with others. Soon, but not yet, there is more to prepare for that adventure.’ Soon, soon, soon! I can’t keep you and yours from harm, I can’t keep preventing and delaying the inevitable departure, I can’t bring myself to walk away and bring you all with me. I can’t…”   Rel’s words were growing in volume as his frustration grew. All of this endless imagination, all of this nearly limitless ingenuity, all of this cosmic power; how small it now seemed in the face of what his fellow Dreamers, his siblings perhaps, were doing. He stood suddenly, Wilf falling into one of the robe’s pockets, as Rel tore a banyan from the ground roots and all. Hurling the tree from his plane of existence into the Void, his voice rising to a full-throated wail of impotent rage.   “IT’S ALL TOO FAST, DAMN IT! VIOLENCE AND DARKNESS, TWISTED DREAMS OF DESTRUCTION BY SELFISH EGOS! EVEN THE LONG SLEEP OF DEATH ISN’T SAFE FROM PREDATION!”   More and more anger flowed from him; the forge on his deck glowing white in response to his fury.   “I CAN’T! I CAN’T PROTECT THEM! I CAN’T KEEP THEM SAFE! I CA-“   His ire abruptly turned to immediate confusion as he felt an almost crippling pain lance through his right hand and up his arm; looking down he found Wilf bodily hugging Rel’s robe belt around a pair of the god’s pliers that were clamping into the webbing between his thumb and index finger with more force than he expected a Hipling capable of. Rel dropped to his knees with a grimace of both misery and fury, but the ancient Hipling kept applying more and more pressure, looking into his eyes with love and indignation.

Wilf spoke with gritted teeth, not breaking eye contact with Rel.  “Did you not give us love and a desire to take care of each other? Have you not stopped for a moment to consider the depths of those emotions? Before we were able to instinctively sidestep into our personal Pockets, we learned to how to fend for ourselves against the bristly-backs, spiders, and big birds; run as fast as we could, hide as best we could, climb as high as we could, hold our breath under water for as long as we could. Do you know what we did when one of us wasn’t fast enough? Couldn’t hide well enough? Not strong enough to reach the high branches? Our breath not deep enough to hold out?” 

The little Hipling watched Rel’s face, hoping to see the despairing terror and anger leaving the deity’s eyes. When it became clear that Rel was still mentally flailing, Wilf redoubled his efforts around the tool’s grips, causing it to clamp even harder and bite into skin.  “Those that could, we moved as one to defend our family; either throwing rocks, weaving through its legs with our vines to bind it, or piling on to it with our collective weight to bring it to the ground and hold it there until it gave up the fight. We are small, this is true. We are curious, assuredly. We have learned caution against most things, definitely. Yet, we are not defenseless, Rel. You just chose to look away when we bared our teeth in something other than a friendly smile or joyous laughter. After we learned of mutual bonding between Kami and Hipling, while you were dreaming here, there was a great jungle cat made of flame burning through the southern forests while hunting prey. We tried talking with it, we tried scaring it away, we tried trapping it, all to no avail. Fifty Yvapurũ banded together along with their Kami brethren and formed an even greater pokbogbobobo made of ice to tear away at it until it lay dying, as it would not turn from its determination. There was no joy or elation in this act. We didn’t want to resort to ending a life, but it left us with only two options; let it continue to burn through our island or do what we must do to stop it. Whether through fire or trees being uprooted in frozen talons, a good portion of the land there laid in ruins without being noticed by other Hiplings or yourself because we repaired the damage until we all panted in exhaustion, spent from the battle and toil. Once the deed and the work were done, we grieved for the jungle cat, even though its own decisions led to its demise. Do you know why we grieved, Rel? ‘Why does prey cry for me and warm my final rest? I would roar in exultation at your death. You are victorious, rejoice! This makes… No… This… No sense…’ Those were the last words of the great fire cat, Rel. We were there for it, to ease its last moments, even as it didn’t comprehend why we attempted to comfort it. Because there was no one else there mourn it, because there was no one else there to give it love as it faded.” 

Wilf eased his hold on the pliers as the god slowly came back from the edge.  “You are so sure of yourself and certain in your beliefs. Do not be like the jungle cat, Rel. Please. We may not be as strong, vicious, or cunningly ruthless as other creatures you have seen, but you are unintentionally insulting us by thinking we would be easy prey for the world. We know it will be hard for us, maybe even deadly, but we accept that. We might not be fully prepared for what faces us, but no creature can be, not even a god. You hold us and yourself to the Is-ness; ‘Sometimes the journey changes you, forms you into something more beneficial for the world around you, letting it grow from your journey too.’ Is this not what you taught us? This is our journey, let us change, and maybe make a difference in the world. We are the Hopeful, are we not? Hope is always strongest when everything else is bleak, its resilience shining that much more brightly when facing adversity.”  Finally, Wilf released his grip on the tool completely and dropped to the ground while still holding the robe belt, letting the pliers fall beside him. Breathing heavily from the exertion, he raised his eyes up to meet Rel’s gaze, unsure as to what would happen next. The ancient Hipling had done the unthinkable; even if the intentions were out of love, a way to force Rel to refocus on the present through pain, he had attacked his Creator. His eyes started to tear up, thinking of the ramifications of what he had just done; mortal weapons would have just wounded Rel’s pride if he had noticed them at all, but Wilf used the Divinity’s own tools against itself, causing it physical pain. Still, he had to get through to the god somehow, as he was beyond words at that point, so the Hipling consigned himself to whatever punishment was due. Glaring up at Rel with tears in his eyes and a mixture of defiance, fear, compassion, and acceptance, he quietly spoke again with only a slight quivering in his voice.  “So, here we are, Rel. A Creator and its creation in a situation that neither of us thought possible; a Hipling willing to cause pain, even against a Divinity, to save what and who it loves. Are you done scaring yourself into inaction and flailing about like a stuck bristly-back or do I need to it again, dinkus?” 

Rel knelt there, rubbing the pain out of his arm, watching the First Hipling with disbelief as if truly seeing it for the first time. Its beard as bushy as his own, a resting Kami about its body in a robe made of swirling clouds, its body holding coiled purpose at the ready to back its determination. He could feel and understand its resolute commitment in the words, ‘to save what and who it loves’, included the god himself. Rel lowered his rear fully onto the ground and splayed his legs out in front of him, keeping his movements slow so as not to cause alarm; the fury in his mind had died, the anxiety giving way to methodical reasoning.   “We’re good, Wilf, we’re good. I’m… I’m sorry you had to do that, but I’m glad you did. I lost sight of Is-ness, looking too far ahead instead of focusing on now. I’m also sorry for viewing the Hopeful as needing my constant protection; you are my children, and while precious to me, I was wrong to conflate that with fragility.”   Rel held his right hand up to his gaze, looking at the reddened indentation; the Hipling managed to cause enough damage to draw blood and discomfort when he tried to squeeze his hand closed. While he could easily will himself healed, he decided against it; he would let it heal over time as a reminder of just how wrong he was about his misconceptions of the Hiplings. He lowered his left hand to the ground with the palm up, motioning for the Hipling to rest itself upon it.   “You have more than proved your point, Wilf. If you and yours can accept the dangers, who am I to get in the way? If you can forgive my disquieted farsightedness, I’ll promise to only intervene when absolutely necessary. Deal?”   Wilf climbed into Rel’s hand, then up his forearm to hug the god’s upper arm, which Rel took as agreement. Without thinking, Rel cupped his injured hand around the First Hipling to hug him back and winced at the sensation. Still, he kept his hand there for a few moments more, until he thought about his blood touching the Hipling. Pulling his hand back slowly, he saw the stains briefly on Wilf’s skin before they seemingly faded inward; strange, but he looked no worse for wear. Maybe a little more vibrant?  “Eh, that’s a problem for tomorrow’s Rel.” 
 

---Little Things We Do When Nobody’s Around---
 
 Spoiler 
Nightly dreams of coils, springs, gears, and little hammers. Visions of pulleys, ropes, belts, and bellows.  Water rushing through pipes turning screws causing larger contraptions to move. Weights, counterweights, releases, and catches. Simple and complex contraptions for work, for play, for building, for battle. Rhythm and flow, pumping and whooshing filled his dreams. All these mechanisms blurred red as the scope moved out, revealing the forms of Hiplings sparring good-naturedly with a Kami’s grace, the sounds of their battle matching the cadence of the symphony of miniscule moving parts. “Bones, blood, muscles, organs, and flesh. Machines made living, but machines all the same…” Wilf would sometimes wake clutching his Learning Crystal; maybe this was the source of his dreams? This particular morning found him well-rested and sat in his dwelling within the Peak of the Rest, the dreams committed to his knowing, looking out at the horizon while contemplating what came before and what now lay ahead. The Yvapurũ considered him a member of their group, but his connection with the Pocket ran deeper than any other Hipling; the island was only slightly older than himself and he had learned to listen to its teachings as it was the only way to survive before Rel blessed the first generation and himself with advantages that made their lives a little safer. He did not begrudge them this, rather he felt he could finally relax a little, no longer having to chase after food or spend days hiding while wounds healed. The Kami linked to him hugged itself close around his body as it sensed Wilf’s memories of the “old days”. Wilf pressed his hand against the Kami’s temporarily solid form, sighing softly with a smile as he thought back; the two had been paired for a long time, though not mystically bonded until the Hiplings and Kamii discovered the process. Unlike the other Hiplings, he had not found a mate to share his life with; he was too focused on his own survival and teaching the others what he had learned from experience so they would not have to struggle as he did. When he felt the others had learned enough from him, he decided he was content with his own company and chose to make a home for himself at the peak of the Rest, so he could find some peace and quiet; he had done enough running, hunting, and foraging. That was where he found a large cave (Perspective Note: a small alcove for a large human.) and set about making himself an abode there. It was here that Wilf and the Kami met each other, with this being the first time seeing either of their kind; Wilf was aware of the presence of the Kamii within the land and the Kami had heard stories of Hiplings from birds that had rested within this space, but that was the extent of their awareness before that day.
Initially, they only “spoke” through mental images and feelings, learning about each other as best they could, which led to minor squabbles over misunderstandings. As time progressed, they were able to understand their respective languages and the misconceptions cleared. Eventually they understood how to cohabitate this space together and simply enjoyed the friendship the other offered, to the point where their thoughts and desires were comprehended without effort; they were as close to being bonded as possible without their sparks resonating. Once Druidism and Kami Bonding were established, they considered themselves mated after their naming, with Wilf naming the mountain Kami  “Tuyuwé-yumbuiçawa-puçangaçawa”  and the Kami naming Wilf “Tsullind witenil hul”. Through all their conversations, sharing concepts both natural and foreign to them, they grew to love each other as deeply as any Hipling pairing. Those were the “old days” of fighting to survive against a world that was much larger than himself and finding relatively peaceful solitude with his beloved Tuyu.

With the recent development of Rel’s blood slowly diffusing in their energies, their connection was fully realized and more complete than any other Hipling-Kami Bonding, their futures were going to be interesting. Their souls blending in equal amounts, their whole becoming greater than the sum of their parts, transforming into both Hipling and Kami; a Kamling. By most outward appearances nothing would appear as different, Tuyu still rested about Wilf’s body as a robe of clouds, and Wilf still looked like a bushy-bearded Hipling whose light blue skin took on shades of blue gray over time. Upon much closer inspection, one would see that Wilf’s irises looked like sapphires holding back lightning storms and his flesh took on properties of touched materials while maintaining its suppleness, while Tuyu was vaporously attached to Wilf like an atmospheric mycelial network which let them share their senses and allowed Tuyu to experience all of the physical sensations that Kamii lacked for the first time; taste, touch, smell, sight, and sound. For Wilf, his senses were augmented through how Kamii perceive the world; it was as if the very environment around him, as far as he could see, was an extension of his awareness and body. It took weeks for them to grow accustomed to all of the new perceptions. They made small journeys at first, so as to not overload their minds with new experiences, then longer and longer ventures were made as they learned how to utilize and focus their abilities without being overwhelmed.

Once they felt fully in control and adapted to their novel symbiosis, they realized that they now had a greater responsibility to the Hiplings, the Kami of the Pocket, and to Rel himself; living legends representing the pinnacle of their kind. Wilf drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes and Tuyu rippled across his body with quiet anticipation. Releasing his breath slowly, his eyes opened as he stood and looked out onto the horizon once more, he caught sight of creatures emerging from the ocean below and approaching the cliffs. He focused his attention on the creatures, bringing them into sharper focus, and he noticed the midday sun glinting off of pointed metal spears in their hands. When they started fighting savagely to the death amongst themselves over a large fish, with the only concern being the strongest get to eat the most, Wilf and Tuyu knew that these new creatures were not kind-hearted and would pose a threat to the Pocket. The Kamling turned their gaze away, feeling a deep sadness welling up from within; it was time to teach again, to find those amongst their people who were capable of living with the last resort, to save what and who they love.
 

---A Hand Reaching Out---
 
 Spoiler 
After Wilf left, Rel took the time to grow another banyan to replace the one he angrily tossed, and walked amongst his small orchard, back to his puttering old self. As he mindlessly munched on a banana, listening to the calming sounds of the sōzu, he slowly became aware of a droning chirring past his hedge gate.   “That’s new…”   he mumbled to himself as he finished his snack. Pocketing the peel absently, he strode past the gate and found himself immediately sharing consciousness with Relloc. Through their connection, and Relloc’s connection with all native life on the Pocket, the chirring was almost deafening. Rel pulled back slightly, until he could get himself accustomed to the sudden onslaught of sound, then reached out to his avatar to ask for acceptance of searching its memories. Once agreed, Rel discovered another Dreamer had visited while he was having his episode and heart-to-heart with Wilf.   “Mistress Penia? Well, I finally have an actual name for one of my siblings now. Not exactly the way I envisioned First Contact, but it is what it is. And I see that Wilf has already influenced you, Relloc. ‘Letting them prove to themselves they are more than just Little Hiplings’, hmm?”   He felt Relloc’s slight unease for speaking so candidly to another Dreamer.   “Be at ease, friend! He and I already have come to terms; they are indeed as you see them, more than what I chose to see. While I would have preferred a warmer greeting from my sister, I shall play by their rules for now. To review, there are three concerns that require attention; two most immediate and one of nebulous timing. New insects, eating away at the forests? Wonderful! A foe from the sea that only understands might and violence? Brilliant! Last, but not least, three months of cold with minimal food or rain? Fantastic!”   The face of the Great Tree raised an eyebrow in confusion and concern; Rel seemed happy with this, what happened between him and the First Hipling? Rel picked up on his avatar’s inner thoughts and chuckled.   “That’s for Wilf to tell you. First, that is. I’ll give my side of it afterwards. As for happiness? Penia did not lay waste to them and gave them challenges she felt the Hopeful had a fair chance of overcoming; this is something to be mildly accepting of and happy about! That being said, you and I are not going to interfere unless absolutely necessary. Unspoken rules between Dreamers and all that. Besides, this will let them prove themselves to themselves, which is ultimately more important than them proving it to me, right? Now, let’s see what happens!”  
 

---To A Heart In Doubt---
 
 Spoiler 
The Yvapurũ had been watching the cicadas ever since the hunters came back with their stories, categorizing them according to their colors and effects, trying to think of ways to prevent them from overtaking the Pocket. They watched what happened when birds and rodents tried to eat the cicadas or were hostile towards them; the blue ones stiffened the body, yellow gave one the shakes and react to unseen things, red made for swelling and turned non-killing wounds deadly through blood loss, green caused one to vomit from both ends, purple gave the sleepies, and orange seemed to make even breathing painful and the misfortune of insatiably itchy blotches. Talking has proved ineffective; the cicadas only understood eating, breeding, and laying. Direct physical assault would be impossible; can’t touch them without them biting or so it seemed. The jumping spiders seemed to be enjoying themselves, unaffected by the bites of the cicadas or devouring them. A possibility, but the insects outnumbered the current population of arachnids. They scratched their beards as they considered what to do. The sudden downpours of heavy rain didn’t seem to affect them much, the cicadas just came back. They didn’t want to obliterate the forests, that would deprive themselves of food as much as the insects, not to mention everything else on the island. There was also no guarantee it would work. If they grew the forests back, would the invasive bugs return? After a few days of watching and deliberating, the Hiplings noticed the chirring grew quieter for a time, and the trees creaked in their discomfort. As the Yvapurũ approached the trees, they noticed the fallen bodies of the insects on the ground, their life’s purpose having been fulfilled. As a group, they blended in with their surroundings, waiting and watching.

A ground squirrel came within sight, sniffing the air cautiously before approaching the easy protein the insect bodies represented now; they could no longer bite, so it should be safe, it reasoned. One of the younger members wanted to call out to the squirrel, warn it away, but decided against it; if it could touch the dead insect without harm, the Yvapurũ could collect the bodies safely. The young druid instead gave the squirrel a subtle mental nudge, making one of the purple cicadas look the most enticing of all the colors. The rodent perked its ears up, zeroing in on the closest purple cicada, and quickly thwapped it with a paw before jumping back. It too had learned to be cautious, whether through previous experience or having watched others of its kind fall victim to the insects’ bites. After nothing happened for a few seconds, it grabbed the bug up and began eating. Once it got through about half of its meal, it swayed a bit and promptly fell to the ground, unconscious. Feeling emboldened by this, the Hiplings let go of their hiding and approached the trees without trepidation, pushing the bodies aside with their feet. Reaching out their wills to speak with the trees, they learned that the new insects burrowed within their wooden flesh to lay their eggs, causing them distress. While creatures native to the Pocket have done the same, the rainbow cicadas were too numerous and out of sync with the ecological balance, creating too many hollows and bare spots on the tree. The trees also spoke of feeling dry at their roots, which was unheard of with how much rain they usually received, so the Yvapurũ concentrated their minds on moving aside the earth from the roots slowly and methodically. Between two and four Hiplings deep, they discovered little multi-colored grubs and nymphs; most of the other bug babies were whitish, so they reasoned these must be cicada babies. The rainbow wrigglies looked to be drinking the moisture from the root systems, maybe getting sustenance that way as well? The understanding of their lifecycle was becoming clearer; burrow underground to drink at the soft roots, emerge from the ground to find a good resting spot in the trees, turn into their adult forms to begin feasting and mating, make little bug creches in the branches of trees, and then likely fall to the earth when ready to go underground to begin the cycle anew.

With that knowledge, the Hipling druids made their plans to potentially contain the damage caused to the plants of the Pocket, with the understanding that this process would be cyclical until fully contained. First, they would create a special section within the Rest, next to and twice as long and wide as the room containing the Learning Crystal, lined with living wood on the sides and ceiling. Loosely packed earth approximately six Hiplings deep for the root systems of the living walls, to be leveled to the spot where the entrance was formed. The “entrance” wouldn’t be an opening as such; their bonded Kami would shape the stone and wood out of their way, then shape it back into place behind them. Stone channels would crisscross the wood on the ceiling, with fine holes too small for the bugs to crawl through would create faux rain cycles, fed water in the same way they designed the system for the Rest Stop. Day and night cycles would be simulated through the use of orichalcum veins laced throughout wood lining; all the veins would be centrally connected to a living orichalcum beam that ran below the mountain that could be controlled by Relloc, directing varying amounts of either Arcane or Divine flow. Mangoes, nectarines, bananas, and other fruits would be brought in for them to eat during their feasting cycles, with a layer of protection around individual Hiplings provided by the Kamii. Second, they would collect a certain number of wrigglies by placing soil- and root-filled containers below the trees to catch them as they fell. These would then be transported to the Rainbow Chamber and emptied to allow for the insects to bury themselves again; the soil height to be maintained at the six Hipling deep mark and regulated by a rotation of volunteering Kami, attaching themselves to the Rainbow Chamber to assist in further understanding and observation of these new creatures. Third, young jumping spiders would be used to manage the number of cicadas; once the spiders’ appetites grew too large, they would be guided back into the wild. Fourth, the druids and hunters would collect the dead bodies of the cicadas for further study; it might be possible that crushing the bodies into powder would provide them means to use the cicada effects for beneficial purposes. Fifth, after wriggly collection, the Yvapurũ would direct legions of native ants towards the eggs in the trees and the grubs and nymphs in the ground as a new food source; the likely population increase in ants would be necessary for this task while being more manageable than the cicadas. Sixth, they would repair the damage done to the trees as soon as it was safe to do so and only eat the fallen fruits for a time as a matter of respect for the trees’ assistance. The first three measures would preserve the existence of the cicadas, providing them what they needed in order to maintain healthy numbers; while they might be a danger to the Pocket if left uncontrolled, they still deserved existence and would be carefully supported. The last three measures would help contain and eventually eradicate the wild Rainbow Cicadas in a disciplined manner. With the initial strategies plotted, the Yvapurũ all nodded solemnly in agreement and stretched their limbs; it was time for them to prove they were truly stewards of the land, to prove the trust given to them was not misplaced, to protect and serve the life within the Pocket.
 

---It’s the Smallest Spark---
 
 Spoiler 
Even if the cliffs and gravity would delay the threat from the sea, Wilf wasted no time in finding Hiplings among the First and Second generations and Kamii willing to protect the Pocket and their own, letting the druids focus on their tasks with the cicadas. He spoke with the engineers first, detailing his plans for defensive rings of traps encompassing the Pocket, getting progressively more harmful from the edges of the island inward. Simple jungle covered pit traps filled with brambles. Work with the Kami to have trees produce extra sticky and pungent insect attracting sap. Deep pits lined with stone and sharp shards of ceramics that seal shut at two Hipling height intervals. Easily detectable “false” traps that lead to trees filled with jumping spiders in their branches. Tunnels with pressure plates that trigger mechanically thrown spears that eventually lead to bristly-back dens. Deep, murky pools of water filled with tari'ira and piraya. He left them with explanations of how to create such things, using the knowledge from his dreamings, noting that these were only rough ideas and to get creative. One “trap” the Kamling pair took upon themselves was to extend the Deepworld Inkwell to encircle the Pocket to be the first defense past the banyan barrier, making a twenty-foot wide ring with the only breaks in the circle being the Twin Falls, and moving trees back far enough to not be felled for bridges. When first discovered, the Hiplings asked the Kami of its nature, learning that creatures made of ink would arise when they sensed something truly disparate from the natural order of the creatures around it; this would definitely filter out not only the threat from the sea, but any other non-Pocket natives as well. When that task was completed, he moved about the Pocket with the agility and speed of a Kami, his features blending seamlessly with his surroundings, meeting with experienced hunters, trappers, and a few untasked druids. Once he gathered what he felt was enough, he brought them out to the caldera edges, showing them all the signs of the threat Penia described. More and more of the ocean below was dotted with carcasses of large fish and the bodies of the invaders, marking their path towards the island.

 “We’ve, Tuyu and I, gathered you all here to show you what is coming. Rel’s sibling, Penia, described a plague of insects to come to our land and here they are. Most of the Yvapurũ and a team of builders are working on containing that threat and seem to have a solid plan. She also spoke of a threat from the sea, and as you can see, it is coming. Thankfully, they seem only a few times larger than us and we have some time on our side; the ocean is larger than they and we have our cliffs to aid us. I do not think it wise to assume they would not have the ability to scale the cliffs or swim up the Twin Falls; why head towards such obstacles if you have no means to overcome them? Lady Penia also told us the threat from the sea only respects might and violence, something that is abhorrent to us, yet we are not strangers to. Do we not hunt and bring down prey? Do the rodents just lay down and let their sparks fade so we can eat? We do what needs doing and give our respects in their passing. If what Penia says is truth, these creatures are cruel, spiteful, and would not give thanks to their hunt. Those of us that have been through countless moons can understand this, even if we do not like it; these creatures are seemingly no better than wounded bristly-backs and will not listen to words. We must accept upon our shoulders the weight of violence against other sapient beings, should words fail to achieve peaceful understanding. We do the tasks that the other Hopeful should never have to do, so they remain unjaded in this world. Those of us here today, we are the Burdened.”  There was no joyous tone in Wilf’s voice for that title, just a grim and resolute understanding that sometimes one has to do distasteful things if it means preventing greater harm.

 “We are still the Hopeful, we still share our kindness with each other and those that do not bear us ill will, we still help where it is needed. When we must act, when it is time to do the Needful, we do our work as much as we can in the shadows and without telling. We do these things quietly, quickly, and with as little pain as possible, like we do on our hunts. If we do not have time to mourn or give thanks after the Needful is done, we do it as soon as we are safe to do so; this is part of what will help us bear the weight of our duties, separate us from the sea threat and others in the world like them. We take no pride or joy in doing what must be done, we accept no accolades upon completion, we bear no malice at the task, and grieve for the ending of their path. When we must confront an aggressive creature, we first attempt communication, preferably from safety. Should that fail, we then attempt to make their goals too difficult to achieve, through traps or escalating mobile harassment. If they remain undeterred in their pursuit, this is when we truly shoulder the Burden, to stand our ground and prepare ourselves to do the Needful. Even then, we should not be without mercy. Tuyu and I have developed a style of fighting based on fusing the Hipling knack for engineering, our natural predilection for achieving more with less exertion, and the Kami’s innate understanding of the movements of nature. We are calling it Hipkido for now, but perhaps you will come to a more efficient form, and can name your improved style something more fitting?”  Wilf smiled softly, looking out at those around him give little chuffs and ear wiggles of amusement. He could feel Tuyu communicating to their Kami family, effortlessly gifting the whole of the style to them, who would then impart it to their Hipling counterparts as they learned at their own pace.

 “Wieldable sticks of all sizes, ceramic cutters, and vine ropes will be our weapons of choice, should we have them, otherwise we use our bodies and knowledge. Our attacks will focus on redirecting our opponent’s strength, going with the flow of their motion to control our adversary, to use less of ourselves while they use more; we seek to exhaust first and foremost. If we cannot outlast, we will then move to incapacitate. Joint locks, pressure points, extra sensitive bits if they have them.”  He cupped his twig and berries as he said the last, eliciting a wince from the others.  “The Needful, in this situation, starts with pain; a warning that if one continues, it will get worse from here. Like any structure, a body has points of vulnerability, and focusing on damaging those points will cause the entirety to weaken. Especially should it continue to exert itself and cause more harm through its own actions. This is the moment where we focus on immobilization and removing methods of attack. Ankles, knees, wrists, elbows, shoulders, and lower jaw or mandibles. We shatter bones, tear tendons and ligaments, and over-extend joints to the point of uselessness. This is the second to final warning; we are giving them a painful opportunity to cease their course of violence of their own volition before we move on to the last resort.”  Wilf paused there, letting the words and ideas sink in, his ears low to his head and a remorseful look on his face.  “Hopefully, we won’t have to go any further than that. The damage caused so far should be enough; they might not be able to walk away, but they’ll continue to live, and be able to heal from it. We have given them multiple opportunities to change their minds. As they lay broken on the ground, should they choose to threaten us or promise future harm, we will ask them one final time if they truly mean those words. If they give us no reason to doubt their sincerity, we will move decisively to separate the spark from their bodies as quickly and painlessly as possible, removing their threat from this world. There is no reason to prolong their suffering any further. Their decisions led to a lifetime of pain, culminating to this point, where we give them their last kindness; a merciful ending.”  The others reflected Wilf’s features as they nodded grimly, understanding just what the Last Resort truly meant for their opponents and themselves.

 “As we move out into the world, there may be other tasks that could be considered as doing the Needful, they may not even be related to violence. As of now, we do not know what they would be, but we will discuss the tasks as they come up before we act on them. For such things, we must understand why it is a Burden to accept and agree to it. We do not know the ways of the Not-Hiplings, we do not want to cause harm unintentionally or intentionally, this is not our way. We help, we share, we learn; these are our ways as Hiplings and Kami of the Pocket, even the Burdened. We will be travelling with the sojourners in large enough groups to serve effectively, but always an odd number, so if there is to be debate there will always be a deciding number. One last thing to mention before we learn about something more fun, we are not to be leaders of any of these ventures to the outside world. Remember, we work behind the scenes; we can serve as advisors, but we will only guide when asked, otherwise we just watch, listen, and go about our daily routines.”  Wilf clapped his hands to signal the end of the stark subjects and grinned at those assembled.  “Now, who’s ready to learn how to really work together as a group? Tuyu and I have worked out some neat new ways for Hiplings and Kamii to get even more out of Kami Bonding than what we’ve typically been using it for; Hipling-inspired Kami artistry! Or, if you prefer, Applied Kami-stry!” 

The Kamling demonstrated many new techniques of how to achieve greater results from working together between a single Hipling and Kami pairing, as well as a group of pairings. Using the detritus and material of the environment around them, Tuyu and Wilf gathered enough mass to surround themselves to give Wilf a larger body composed of earth, leaves, and water that looked like a four-foot elemental Hipling. This new body (Author’s note: Think of it like an elemental mech-suit.) displayed a strength to match its new size yet retained all the fluidity and grace of a Kami guided by the creativity of a Hipling, able to perform all the movements of Hipkido, allowing for the leverage necessary to battle larger opponents. A single pairing could reach the size of a typical human, though those with a longer period of bonding could get to twice that size. A group of pairings working in unison, linked through the Kami and maintaining a different portion of the “body”, could attain a size comparable to a quarter of the height of Relloc. The upper limit seemed to be around fifty pairings, getting to about half the size of Relloc; any more than that then the linked communication started to “stutter” causing the movements to get shaky and disjointed. In addition to size and mass, states and movement of matter could be controlled as well, with the Hipling protected from the various changes of temperature or consistency. Water could become steam or ice, stone becoming magma or mud, so on and so forth. Materials could shift around the body, such as making hands, weapons, tools, or localized “armor” of stone or similar hard material, or gaps to allow a strike or projectile to flow through harmlessly.

As the Burdened came to understand what they were being taught, they cemented this knowledge in the way that worked best for them, which was through play and games. Learning through fun allowed for creativity to blossom, granting room for the “I wonder” and “What if” to spark new ways of doing things. The threat from the sea was approaching, but there was still time for these particular Hopeful to enjoy themselves, to remind themselves of what they accepted the Burden for. There would eventually come a time when love, kindness, wonder, and peacefulness would be a precious commodity for this world. That working together, respectful of strengths and weaknesses while acknowledging differences, will make of this world a better place for all. The Hopeful will serve as a reminder of that belief and the Burdened will ensure that not all hope is lost. Maybe, against all odds, the creatures from the sea will come to learn that strength and violence are not the only things to be respected. Who knows? Some might even learn to be Hopeful!
 
Fuzzy Math
  Soon Has Arrived, Pt.2   

---That Can Light the Dark---
 
 Spoiler 
While the Pocket was still plentiful for now, Penia’s first two tidings have come to fruition, and the Hiplings had no reason to doubt the third. They understood that they needed gather more food in preparation for the times of sparsity, but how were they supposed to prevent the gathered food from spoiling before those times ended? Of all the predictions Rel’s sibling made, the thought of there not being enough to eat was disconcerting enough to cause trouble sleeping, which is likely what caused the incident at the chamber of the Learning Crystal. As this was a subject near and dear to a Hipling’s heart, all that were not preoccupied with a task they could not step away from were present, filling the space to near bursting. After much discussing of what to ask the crystal, an elder placed a hand upon the crystal, still sorting the question as it spoke. Rather than ask the crystal how to specifically preserve food so it would last longer, they more broadly inquired about techniques for preserving materials in general, causing the Learning Crystal to explain not only the techniques of foodstuff preservation but also the preservation of many organic and inorganic materials. As the knowledge from the Learning Crystal was processed and filtered, those that understood at the most complex level then explained in less complicated terms to the others that were close to grasping the ideas, causing a chain of breaking down the intricacies to the simplest terms for the youngest among them. Questions, answers, confirmations went back and forth until all comprehended the teachings of the Crystal and made their way back out of the chamber.

The incident caused something of a minor enlightenment, spurring their minds to reach new concepts and chase new theories, enthusiastically sharing their findings with others. They studied the world around them, animals, plants, and fungi, in a new light and curious wonder; adapting the acceptance of Is-ness to include How it Is and Why it Is. All of the preservation methods described how materials interacted with their environment and other materials, leading to the realization of chemicals; what they were, how to extract or produce them, their reactions, combinations, and applications. This in turn led to the discovery of glassmaking, which had the fortunate property of being nonreactive to every new chemical discovered so far, so the Hiplings began creating glassworks and storage rooms within the Rest to prevent any damage to the forests from accidents. Many methods required the use of oils and resins that were either produced or extracted from animals, bugs, and plants, with the Hopeful learning through trial and error how to procure these substances safely not only for themselves, but also the wildlife involved. Thoughts of conservation and ensuring supply became a concern; it would not do if the cost of making preservation materials led to the depletion and harm of their sources.

Setting themselves to figuring out a solution, they concluded that plant life would be much easier to maintain and populate, as beasts proved to be much more selective in breeding and required more of the resources the Hiplings themselves were trying to conserve. Resolving to just make use of every part of their small hunts until they could figure out how to comfortably rear the beasts, they focused on breeding plants; they could be just as particular as the beasts, but in more manageable ways, only needing the right environmental factors to thrive and the means for pollination. While the engineers and builders were figuring out the logistics for both problems, a few druids watched with amusement for a few moments, before walking over to the side and stood silently until noticed. When the planners finally realized the Yvapurũ, the druids asked why they were working harder and not smarter; nature has already provided the solution and there was no reason to reinvent the bee. The builders stood there in silence with their mouths open to speak, but as the druidic wisdom dawned on them, their open mouths turned to grins and words to laughter. Of course! It was far easier to design something for the bees than to figure out a new system in place of them. Portable, comfortable, and protected hive spaces, to keep the bees as stress-free as possible.

The absolute giant of a Hipling named Longstrod, standing at a height of nearly seven average Hiplings, was one of the Yvapurũ present. As a First Generation, he had observed many things, but his particular passion was bugs. All kinds, whether they be six-legged, eight-legged, much-more-legged, or no-legged, aggressive or nonaggressive, terrifying or adorable; they were all fascinating to him. When the engineers then asked druids for their opinions on what designs would work best for both Hiplings and the bees, they found Longstrod was nearly as knowledgeable as the Learning Crystal, able to describe in fine detail and more than enough information about colony formation, hierarchy, hive structure, preferred temperatures, breeding cycles, best times to collect honey and wax, so on and so forth. With his guidance the engineers and builders were able to build a hive box that would fit within the parameters they set and would rival, if not be slightly better, than a natural hive in terms of comfort and safety for their new fuzzy little farmers.

With the pollination aspect squared away, they turned their focus to regulating the environmental situations. While those that were Kami bonded could control such things, or the Yvapurũ with their connection to nature, they would have to almost constantly monitor and be present for that to be effective. Certainly not ideal when their talents and duties needed them elsewhere when called upon. Instead, the Hipling engineers came up with a solution that was an amalgamation of discoveries past and present that would allow them to grow plants all year-long; a building of glass walls and preserved wooden frames, hydraulic powered fans for continuous ventilation and humidity control, watering systems that can control volume and frequency, a special hive designed for the structure, ceramic containers for easier plant transfers if needed, and soil enrichment through derived chemicals. These structures would be called greenhouses and could be made to scale to accommodate plant sizes, mobility for transport of the buildings in their entirety, or size restrictions due to location.

Three tidings from Lady Penia; the cicadas were present, the sea threat was near, and the months of scarcity that potentially lie ahead in the future. The Hopeful rose to the challenges, unbent by the burden, heads held high. Time will tell if all their plans and preparations were enough to remain unbroken. Adapt, overcome, and survive. For now, they still had work to do. Gathering and preserving food would take time they may not have; Penia wasn’t exact on the timing for any of her predictions, so they will continue thinking “It could be tomorrow!” until everything was in place. They remained optimistic about their future, pleased with the progress they made, and the knowledge they gained from their discoveries could be shared when they met others willing to learn. Soon has finally arrived! The Hiplings were as ready as they will ever be to explore this world! They just hope it has good food and good company when they get there…
 

---That’s How You Change the World---
 
 Spoiler 
Many buildings and workplaces have been constructed. The collection and study of the Rainbow Cicadas was underway. The rainwater collection systems and pumping stations to move the liquid energy where it needed to go were in place. The traps have been laid and mapped, with more being built as time goes on, and the knowledge of their placement dispersed amongst the Hopeful. The Burdened trained their bodies and minds, going through the flows of motion in Hipkido, until it was mostly muscle memory. Various preservation projects were being implemented, working in shifts, so no time was wasted, with at least two months’ worth of food already preserved and stored in a massive Vault within the Rest. Both avatar and deity watched on as the Hopeful moved with an inexhaustible industriousness spurred on by both necessity and the joy of creating; as one wave of Hiplings and Kami finished their tasks of the day, another wave took their place, ensuring that everything that could be completed was done so in a timely fashion. Rel and Relloc held true to their word, not lifting a physical or figurative finger, letting the Hopeful handle Penia’s trials with their own ingenuity and designs. Rel was finally at ease with what Relloc and the Hopeful themselves knew all along; the Hiplings could take care of themselves. Realizing he couldn’t prepare them for everything they could possibly face took more time than he cared to admit, but he eventually got there in the end. There were going to be bruises, harsh lessons learned, and possibly losses, and he just had to accept what they already had. Smiling upon his creations and taking pride in their own creations, he was ready to let them from under his protective embrace if not his watchful eye. He would keep himself to his promise, to only intervene when necessary from here on out.

Both of their attentions were pulled away from the little dreamers suddenly to focus on the Triangle Pass. The Pocket had visitors! It seems that Rel’s plans for building accommodations within the Pass were finally being put to use by the froglings and he could sense their apprehension, but not the cause. Through Relloc, he sent word to Wilf to gather a group comprised of the Burdened, the Yvapurũ, engineers, builders, and food makers.   “Wilf, please greet our new guests, with gifts of coffee and mango grubs, with caution but not fear. If the visitors offer gifts in return, accept them. There might be language barriers, but the Kami may be able to speak through mind pictures, or the froglings may have means of their own. You and yours have proven yourselves ready for this. Soon has officially become Now! The explorations of the Hopeful begin today, no matter how small the steps made, the journey must begin somewhere!”   Rel smiled as he slipped from Relloc back to his Bungalow; a new day, a new beginning, a new world. If all goes well, a new friendship will be made and made properly. Over a cup of coffee, maybe some breakfast, and working together on making something beneficial for all.
 

 
 Spoiler: Animals Mentioned 

 
 Spoiler: Bristly-back 
Bristly-back
 
 

 
 Spoiler: Tari'ira 
Tari'ira
 
 

 
 Spoiler: Piraya 
Piraya
 
 

 

 
 Spoiler: AP Spending 
AP Remaining After Rollover: 29

 Raise Hero (2AP) – Wilf, the First Hipling:  Wilf was the first Hipling dreamt into existence, making him positively ancient even by Hipling standards, has been accidentally transformed into a Kamling by Rel’s essence and love. While the others are not aware of his discussion with Rel, they have noticed a difference in him since that day. A hero in more ways than one, to Rel and the Hopeful, he is always prepared to do the Needful in order to protect them, their cause, and way of life. [Healing (Repairs) 4/10]

 Raise Hero (2AP) – Tuyu, the Beloved:  Wilf’s love and mate. While traditional mating is highly unlikely between them, they love and care for each other none-the-less.  Tuyuwé-yumbuiçawa-puçangaçawa  is only a little older than Wilf in age, having watched over the Pocket since its inception. Their bond with Wilf runs deeper than any other Kami Bonding, made all the stronger by Rel’s essence mixing with their form, their soul has intertwined with the First Hipling’s and has conferred elevated abilities above regular Kamii. [Healing (Repairs) 6/10]

 Create Advanced Sub-Concept (1AP) – Structural Engineering (Engineering):  With indirect knowledge and inspiration coming from Wilf’s dreams, the Hiplings have mastered the design of the 'bones and joints' that create the form and shape of structures, taking their love of building even further. Structural engineers also must understand and calculate the stability, strength, rigidity and damage susceptibility of built structures including buildings, nonbuilding structures, and machinery. [Science (Engineering) 1/10]

 Teach Advanced Concept (1AP) – Precise Mechanisms:  With indirect knowledge and inspiration coming from Wilf’s dreams, Hipling engineers have learned how to make small, interlocking and interplaying complex parts that work together to achieve greater results. [Science (Engineering) 2/10]

 Create Mundane Concept (MUA Charge) – Leatherworking:  With indirect knowledge coming from Wilf’s dreams while holding a Learning Shard in his sleep, he passed along the teachings of how to produce leather from the hides of their hunts, along with potential applications such as belts, bags, and cloaks.

 Create Advanced Concept (2AP) – Physics:  Motion, gravity, the interaction of moving objects. What causes it and how does it work? Hipling engineers studying the small parts began to wonder about the finer intricacies of how all these little parts function. Physics is the natural science of matter, involving the study of matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. [Nature (Science) 2/10]

 Create Advanced Sub-Concept (1AP) – Mechanical Engineering (Engineering):  With indirect knowledge and inspiration coming from Wilf’s dreams of small parts, mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that involve force and movement, as well as the means of how to provide said power and motion. Mechanical engineers analyze their work using the principles of motion, energy, and force, ensuring that designs function safely, efficiently, and reliably. [Science (Engineering 3/10]

 Create Advanced Concept (2AP) – Anatomy:  With indirect knowledge and inspiration coming from Wilf’s dreams, and direct knowledge from their more severe accidents and hunts, the Hiplings have learned just how bodies function and their constituent parts. With this discovery, they now know which parts are vital for function, and what areas need to be protected at all costs. [Healing (Repairs) 8/10]

 Create Advanced Concept (2AP) – Complex Mechanical Traps:  Graduating from their simple traps, Hiplings have started combining their knowledge of Precise Mechanisms and engineering to make far more effective, and potentially deadly, traps. Some of the designs are single-use, while others have been built for manual and automatic resetting. [Science (Engineering) 5/10]

 Teach Advanced Concept (1AP) – Scientific Method:  The Hiplings have begun to categorize their observations and discoveries about the world through theory and experimentation, committing processes to memory, and creating replicable results. [Nature (Science) 3/10]

 Create Advanced Sub-Concept (1AP) – Entomology (Scientific Method):  While the study of bugs might have been inspired by the Rainbow Cicadas, it didn’t stop with them. Certain Hiplings were particularly passionate about this subject, adding volumes of observations about all things crawly to the Hopeful knowledge base. [Nature (Science) 4/10]

 Create Organization (1AP) – The Burdened:  These are the Hopeful who have dedicated themselves to doing the Needful, taking on the weight of non-Hipling-like behavior in order to protect and serve, functioning as something like a militaristic intelligence group (Think Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare). Observe without being noticed, identify and discuss the level of Needfulness that needs doing, carry out the lifting of the Burden. [Healing (Repairs) 9/10]

 Teach Mundane Concept (1AP) – Martial Arts:  With indirect knowledge and inspiration coming from Wilf’s dreams, the Hero came to understand the basics of fighting with style, which led to the creation of Hipkido. [Healing (Repairs) 10/10; DOMFOLIO GET!]

 Create Advanced Concept (2AP) – Hipkido:  Currently locked to Hiplings and Kami of the Pocket; this is an advanced martial art designed around the principles of engineering, focusing more on on non-lethal methods of combat, though lethality was not ignored. Expanded flexibility, throws, joint locks, pressure points, attacking critical points of function, are all incorporated into this martial style. [Science (Engineering) 7/10]

 Create Mythological Sub-Concept (2AP) – Applied Kami-stry (Kami-Bonding):  Currently locked to Hiplings and Kami of the Pocket; Applied Kami-stry is a means of Hiplings and Kami working together to achieve mutual goals (or just having fun!) through combining the abilities of Kami with the creativity and knowledge of the Hiplings. [Nature (Science) 6/10]

 Create Mundane Concept (MUA Charge) – Preservation Techniques:  Due to a mistaken framing of a question posited to the Learning Crystal, the Hiplings gained the knowledge of many forms of preservation methods and what they could be applied to.

 Teach Mundane Concept (1AP) – Natural History:  All this life around them and they barely knew anything about it. Enlightened by the preservation methods taught by the Crystal, the Hiplings began to study the local flora, fungi, and fauna more closely. [Nature (Science) 7/10]

 Create Mundane Concept (MUA Charge) – Natural Science:  Combining all they have learned about engineering, the Hiplings wondered if it also applied it to the world around them, so they turned to the Learning Crystal to see if their notions of how the world functions were close.  (Minor handwaving involved; I couldn’t think of how I wanted to fit this is the narrative.) The Crystal and further studies illuminated the basics, hinting at further mysteries to be solved at a future time.

 Create Advanced Concept (2AP) – Chemistry:  Extrapolating from preservation methods, applying concepts of Precision Mechanics, Cooking, Physics, and Natural Science, the Hiplings have discovered one of the basic building blocks of all matter. Chemistry deals with the properties, composition, and structure of substances (defined as elements and compounds), the transformations they undergo, and the energy that is released or absorbed during these processes. [Science (Engineering) 9/10]

 Teach Advanced Concept (1AP) – Glassware:  Through Chemistry, the Hiplings have discovered the versatile material known as glass, along with the materials required and processes to make it. Primarily used to make containers for substances, there have been experiments in other designs, both practical and creative. [Science (Engineering) 10/10; DOMFOLIO GET!]

 Teach Mundane Concept (1AP) – Resins:  Utilizing natural substances from plants and animals, such as lacquer, oil, pitch, and wax to coat and preserve objects for various purposes; the Hopeful seek to protect important materials from adverse effects. [Nature (Science) 8/10]

 Teach Advanced Concept (1AP) – Horticulture:  The Hiplings have figured out how to grow plants (and fungi) for purposes of preservation, conservation, and food production. Further studies are ongoing to determine if certain properties can be encouraged or discouraged through selective breeding. [Nature (Science) 9/10]

 Teach Mundane Concept (1AP) – Apiculture:  If the Hiplings applied themselves a little harder, they could be living with A’s, but they’re getting along just fine with bees! From Longstrod’s meticulous observations about all things entomological, the Hopeful have learned how to raise bees for pollination efforts, tasty honey, and wax for preservatives. [Nature (Science) 10/10; DOMFOLIO GET!]

 Teach Advanced Sub-Concept (1AP) – Greenhouse (Horticulture):  Combining an array of recent discoveries, the Hiplings have endeavored to construct environmentally regulated spaces for flora and fungi to grow optimally all year round as well as providing an extra layer of protection for the bees. [Life (Biology) 1/10]

AP Spent: 29
AP Remaining: 0

Progress:
[Healing (Repairs) 10/10; DOMFOLIO GET!)]
[Science (Engineering) 10/10; DOMFOLIO GET!]
[Nature (Science) 10/10; DOMFOLIO GET! Greater Deity status achieved!]
[Life (Biology) 1/10]
 
Fuzzy Math
  I'm Pickin' Up Good Vibrations  

While the Hiplings and Lolats were busy building relations and potential alliances, Rel did something he rarely enjoyed as it usually led to lesser results, but he had limited time and needed to move quickly; the dreaded act of multitasking. He felt more capable as of late, so perhaps this time would be different, or the diminished results would be comparable to his previous works at the very least. Dividing his essence between Relloc and a manifestation within the Bungalow, so he could both observe the happenings within the Pocket and work on an idea gleaned from the conversation between the Speaker and Wilf, he set himself to task. During his Dreamings in the Void, he watched the less scrupulous of Kish Eru binding Kamii through chant and song then splintering them into shards, to be embedded within one’s Inner World to gain a fraction of their abilities; while Rel found the practice detestable, as there was no consent given, maybe it could be adapted.  ‘Does this Atodana talk to you… …it could tell you where it feels discomfort.’ 

The Erudites, or maybe they simply called themselves the Kish, adapted pact magics for their own purposes, and removed the agreement between two parties. While Rel did not care much for the typical twisting of the agreement, it was still a redeemable and required aspect of the magic, and the removal of it created a form of slavery. In his eyes, personal agency was sacrosanct, and this magical binding was a perverse act; it removed an individual's ability to control their own behaviors and reactions to circumstances beyond their control, even if their actions are limited by someone or something else. One could argue that his little ones did something similar with their traps and fighting style, but that would be a straw man fallacy. The defensive tactics of the Hopeful, while potentially harmful, still allowed for the choice to continue or desist.

This was going to require art, science, and divinity to match. The power of the songs suggested some sort of mechanical resonance, just enough to cause the subject to physically seize, and perhaps a subharmonic pitch to implant an overriding command of subservience. Contemplating materials, Rel placed his hand upon his forge, pulling forth a crystal set within brass mesh. Waving his hands over this contraption, he imbued an enhanced durability and capacity for matching vibration without shattering. Scritching at his beard, he adjusted the metaphysical properties, making sure that this would only function with the individual’s purposeful intent and natural mental rhythms for synchronization to occur. As a potential countermeasure, the process would require the object to be held against the creature’s skin or essence for the period of one week, allowing it time to reconsider the ramifications of the transition. Nodding to himself, Rel focused on the process of Transitioning, doing what he could to make it as painless as possible.

Once the vibrations of the enmeshed crystal matched the physical and mental resonances of the creature, an ethereal whisper would be heard in their minds, explaining that nothing short of divine influence would be able to reverse the transition. Their physical form would become that of the enmeshed crystal and whatever non-living thing it was attached to, their senses limited to the design of the attached, their abilities limited to what their mind could understand and achieve. In return, they would gain a possibly unlimited lifespan, depending on if the crystal is destroyed. While able to precisely locate damage or deterioration at the minutest level in their new body, there would no longer be an ability to feel physical pain or hunger, though satiating one’s mind would become paramount. While movement would be limited by design, such as if the object the crystal is attached to has the means, be it wheels, sails, or legs, there would no longer be physical fatigue. One could travel for years, as long as their body held out. If the crystal is removed from the attached object, the object becomes what it once was while one’s self becomes homed entirely within the confines of the enmeshed crystal, able to be attached to something else; allowing the subject to gain new perspectives and experiences. The creature would then be asked if they wished to continue. If answered in the negative, the crystal immediately loses the resonance, and the process would have to begin again. If answered in the positive, the creature would be reminded that this transition is nearly irreversible and to be absolutely certain that transferring one’s being into the enmeshed crystal with the stated limitations is truly desired. This will be the final chance for the creature to back out; the process ends without harm if denied or the transition is completed immediately if accepted.

Stepping away from the forge, Rel pondered what he had just created. Did it have the potential for great harm? Of course it did, but no more than the weapons of others he had seen. It also had the potential for allowing others the chance to continue their journey should their bodies fail them or for a loved one to continue being a presence in their family’s life. He was certain there would be outcomes he could not foresee, but such was the fate of all creation; the hoped for purpose of a decision was never guaranteed. Reaching down into the Sanctus Aquaeductus, he lightly sent a reverberation through it, causing the creation of this new crystal to grow along its path. He then placed the enmeshed crystal within a chest made of amber and silver along with procedure instructions that would be spoken in local dialect depending on who opened the chest, duplicated it eight times, then really tested his new limitations by travelling into the Void with his creations. One by one, he transported a chest to inconspicuous locations for others to find; one within the greatest mountain of the Chain, one buried beneath a great pile of bodies in the middle of the Empire, one tucked away in a forgotten building of the Imperium Animi, one placed within the boughs of the largest corpse tree on Adanat, one in the mustiest corner of a Meadow Bloom witch’s garden shed, one placed discretely upon the palm of the Northern Hand within sight of a particularly observant Tome Guardian, one placed at a dead-end twisted alley of Kish-Eru, one placed within the coral of the Coral Abode, and the original was placed within one of the currently unused rooms of the Rest Stop. As the last was placed, Rel turned all of his focus back to the happenings on the Pocket, his gifts to his siblings’ creations to be found at their own pace.

 
 Spoiler: AP Spent 
AP Remaining After Rollover: 21

 Bless/Curse (1AP) – Resonance Crystals:  Special crystals that grow along the twisting Ley Lines/Sanctus Aquaeductus; they can synchronize with the physical and mental resonances of a creature holding them. They serve no function outside of serving as the medium for Manual Transition. [Journeys (Transformation) 1/10]

 Create Mythic Sub-Concept (2AP) – Manual Transition (Wasteland Pact Magic):  By attuning the enmeshed crystal to one’s own physical and mental frequencies, a creature is given the opportunity to transition from their mortal bodies to that of the crystal. When attached to a non-living object, microscopic dendritic tendrils spread throughout, causing no damage to the object, allowing the creature to spread itself through the object. As only the body is given up in the process, all knowledge and mental abilities remain able to be used. If the object has means of motion, the mind within the crystal is capable of moving the object itself, otherwise they can potentially use any arcane, divine, or psionic ability to overcome that lack. If the object is designed in a way that has a facsimile of a face, such as a masthead, mural, or gargoyle, the creature can see and speak through such things. The enmeshed crystal can be transferred between objects, should the entity wish itself be moved, allowing it to experience new “bodies” and perspectives. As an example, an entity attached to a ship with a masthead can see where it can move its head, can move its sails and oars by itself, and can pinpoint where damage is within the entirety of the ship. If a creature is forced into the transition process, by physical duress or magical/psychic subjugation, the transition will fail and will cause the crystal to break down into dust. [Journeys (Transformation) 3/10]

AP Spent: 3
AP Remaining: 18

Progress:
[Life (Biology) 1/10]
[Journeys (Transformation) 3/10]
 
Demidos
Pirates, adventurers, travelers, freedom lovers. The words changed, but the Drevish simply lived life as they found it. With their basic needs sated by the Storied Isles, much of their days were spent in leisure, punctuated by bouts of intense action. Amidst the boredom, some took up the sport of free-diving – although the Isles themselves extended deep into the ocean, their enchantment only extended shallowly into the waters around them, and much sea life spread from the coral of the deeper parts of the ocean grew upon these shallow waters, fed by the ambient magic, converting many into wondrous labyrinths bursting with color, fish and seaweed. These labyrinths were favorites of the Drevish, leaving open the opportunity for sport and the finding of true pearls that did not degrade within a months’ time.

For some groups of Drevish, these pearls or the complex geometric shells of the Nua’Tse became trading goods, or currency that could be traded. Naturally receptive to ambient magic, their shells grow in distinctive geometric shapes approximating runes, with each rune associated with the magics of the distinctive island from which they have grown. In the eyes of an expert, this is often an easy way to appraise the veracity of such shells, as they can be exposed to the magic of any given island and should begin to react with the magic in an expected way. The Nua’Tse also grow throughout their lifespan, always becoming larger. The shells of the biggest Nua’Tse could be used as habitations, as the shells were natually buoyant once the creatures themselves were removed.

Some of the Drevish communities also welcome Luminals, refugees from the war in Kish-Eru that often take on positions of importance in the Drevish towns thanks to their light-based powers, functioning as both protectors of lost ships and defenders of the Drevish.

 
 Spoiler: AP Actions 
Create Concept: Free Diving – The Drevish are naturally adapted to the water in so far as any of the landbound humans can be. The Drevish often dive for many minutes in their play and pursuit of underwater treasures, and can hold their breath for extreme periods of time using a series of breathing techniques they have developed within their communities.

Create Monster (Nua’Tse) – the Nua’Tse are a species of crab-like shellfish that have grown common in the area around the islands. Naturally receptive to ambient magic, their shells grow in distinctive geometric shapes approximating runes, with each rune associated with the magics of the distinctive island from which they have grown. In the eyes of an expert, this is often an easy way to appraise the veracity of such shells, as they can be exposed to the magic of any given island and should begin to react with the magic in an expected way. The Nua’Tse also grow throughout their lifespan, always becoming larger. As the islands are still new, there is no known maximum size, but ones the size of houses have been spotted and used as the base for new dwellings. It is somewhat concerning that as they grow larger, local Drevish have begun to report strange phenomena following the movements of the largest of these new creatures….
 
Fuzzy Math
  What A Day For A Daydream  

As the Hopeful were going about their tasks and play, enjoying little moments of reverie during periods of idleness, Rel slid inspiration and deeper understanding into their minds unbidden. Simpler, yet missing, pieces of information relating to their more advanced knowledge. While they accepted the Is-ness of things as they were, understanding the why’s and how’s deepened their understanding of the world around them. This is not to say there weren’t breakthroughs however!

Simple addition and subtraction was not new to them, they could count how many fruits they had before and after a feasting. Nor was geometry, as they were able to calculate distances and the volume of spaces. What they discovered was what came naturally to them existed within nature as well, firming the somewhat fluid concept of mathematics in their minds into a definitive science. Plants and trees grew to certain sizes depending on the levels of nutrients they were able to attain and space to grow in, the flow of fluids gained or loss speed depending on direction and inclination, the exact amount of pressure needed to break open a nutshell without pulverizing the nut instead of getting lucky. The weavers idly making vine ropes wondered if they could use the smaller and fluffier plant fibers that weren’t strong enough for ropes to make something else, resulting in tiny ropes that could be woven into large sheets for crafting various items; blankets, cloaks, window coverings, and the like. As some of the Hopeful watched the Lolats working on their sky-basket, they realized that the froglings could not grow their reeds into the shapes they needed, having to cut, measure, fit, and weave smaller pieces together to make their repairs. With the Hiplings being much smaller and with the help of the Kamii blending abilities, the Hipling engineers were able to closely observe this process, when they had an epiphany involving their own woodworking skills. Rather than growing the wood into the shapes they needed, they could instead cut and shape fallen branches to fit together, using interlocking joinery and different types of wood for added durability.

There were among the Hopeful those who worked with metals, even making steel by inadvertently mixing compounds and other metals together, primarily for making more durable hunting traps or frames for the greenhouses. Granted, not with forges and hammers, but with the help of the Kamii extracting and shaping the elements as needed. As their minds wandered in the tedium, they followed their wondering this time, instead of shaking the thoughts from their minds. Perhaps the accidental metals they created could be beneficial in other ways? What other mixtures could be made? What would happen if the metals were heated or chilled; temperature difference had an effect on chemicals, why not metal? Little moments of speculation and experimentation led them to discoveries of stronger metals that could serve many purposes. Smashers that wouldn’t crack, cutters that didn’t chip as often, and grippers that held a firmer bite.

While creating these new tools, they noticed imperfections every so often, little irregularities that made for faulty function. They wondered if there was a way to make their tools the same way every time, removing the time wasted by having to create another to replace the malfunction. The idea and solution came from the unlikeliest of places; watching the littlest among them playing with river sand and discarded nutshells. The children would fill the shells with wet sand, really packing it in, then firmly smack it on the ground to dislodge the contents. The older Hiplings approached, watching as the little ones did this again and again, making their sandy half-nuts on the banks. More than a good few of them retained enough detail of the inner contours of the shells! The little Hiplings didn’t understand why the adults looked so excited, nor why they were given big slices of dried mango, but they were happy to accept the gifts for quietly playing with their sandshapes and blocks. The adults chattered amongst themselves quickly, deciding upon making ceramic molds in the shapes needed after calculating the ideals of the tools desired, then pouring the metals in to see if it worked. After multiple successes, the idea took root and spread out amongst other applications; cooking foods into fun shapes, freezing liquids into pleasing designs, making structural improvements more uniformly.

As the Hopeful were planning out their structural projects and collecting various insects for their secretions, terms and definitions slowly came to their minds that described these tasks. Arc’ture? Ark-uh-texture? Not quite… Architecture! The process for making the models that became buildings was called architecture! Herding, corralling, and breeding the insects in specially prepared conservatories, particularly the big waxy buggalo beetles, was now referred as insect farming. Along with the resins, the Hopeful also experimented with the webbing of spiders and strands from certain caterpillars, coating their leather gloves with substances that prevented adhesion. Perhaps the weavers could make something from it, or maybe the hunters and engineers could use it for better traps. The concept of hydroponics slowly drifted into their minds as they began envisioning scenarios of places the Hopeful might go where there was not enough healthy soil for plants to draw nutrients from, so they began coming up with solutions now to be better prepared, just in case. The stories the Hopeful told each other were usual informal affairs; sharing observations throughout their day or insights gleaned from particularly ponderous moments, with others as they traveled the Pocket. Before this mid-day’s feast, one of the elders established a new tradition: The Big Telling. This was to be done after a Feast, but before they all joined the Pile; any of the Hopeful who wished to share important information or an entertaining story would be able to address all those gathered, though limited to a few minutes each, to better be able to reach a greater number of ears and minds. This way, new ideas and amusing tales can be dreamt on during the Pile, allowing for renewed conversations after a good nap to add to the Knowing.

Through their study of anatomy, their own and other creatures within the Pocket, the Hopeful committed these findings to memory and learned how treat various physical ailments. This allowed them to categorize illnesses and recommend treatments for a speedier recovery. Medically beneficial chemicals were discovered mostly by accident; certain leaf-wraps they used for bandages enabled wounds to heal faster than others, which caused further experimentations and explorations with numerous plants and minerals. Along with this, they learned how to better extract and prepare these compounds in ways best suited for treatment, whether it be a salve, injection, tonic, or small tablet. The Hiplings rarely had illnesses last longer than a day at most, no more than two with minimal activity, but these new medicines helped shorten that down considerably. Taking the knowledge from these two concepts, the Hopeful applied these lessons towards the creatures they cared for, whether it be animal or bug. At the same time, within the upper canopies, a curious property of water was discovered. As small droplets of water collected on a leaf, a nearby Hipling named Myur was relaxing and observing its surroundings, when it happened to notice all of the droplets coming together into a singular large bead of water. Glancing through it, before the bead fell from the leaf, the Hipling saw that it displayed an enlarged image of the leaf it was on. The grooved surfaces and fine fibrous hairs that held the water onto the leaf for as long as they could, the shine of the morning sun appearing brighter and more spread out upon the leaf’s surface. For any other Hipling this would have been an idle curiosity, but this was one of the most prolific naturalists among the Hopeful, and what it saw got its mind running through possibilities. Good glass was as clear as clean water, maybe it could have the same property if the shape was similar to that of a water bead? Perhaps different curves would produce different results? Making its way down to the others, Myur spoke excitedly with the engineers and glassworkers, explaining what it saw. They had learned so much from the world around them already, but there was always something new to be discovered, adapted from nature into new techniques and sciences.

The arrival of the Lolat envoy sparked many ideas and possibilities within the Pocket, spreading amongst the Hopeful at a faster rate than usual, spurred on by the potential for making new friends and maybe exploring new lands. Even if only a select few could make that trip, there could be other chances for more expeditions, to travel with the froglings in their air-baskets. The Hiplings and the Pocket-Kamii were ready, eager to help in any way they could, and hoping to learn more about the world beyond their borders.

 
 Spoiler: AP Spending 
AP Remaining After Rollover: 28

 Create Mundane Concept (1AP) - Mathematics:  More of a realization of a fundamental concept of the universe than a new discovery, the Hiplings have acquired the understanding of mathematics as a science and can use it for more precise creations. [Construction (Improvements) 1/10]

 Teach Mundane Concept (1AP) - Textiles:  Well, if you’re going to travel, you need a towel! The Hiplings have intuited how to make fabrics from various plant fibers and silks. [Journeys (Transformation) 4/10]

 Teach Advanced Concept (1AP) - Carpentry:  While there are no right angles in nature, sometimes you need a ninety-degree perspective to make things work. The Hopeful now understand how to make things from wood without shaping living wood to fit their designs. [Journeys (Transformation) 5/10]

 Teach Mundane Concept (1AP) - Metalworking:  The Hiplings might not use traditional methods for metalworking, but through experimentation they now understand the principles for the creation of alloys and tool creation. [Journeys (Transformation) 6/10]

 Teach Advanced Concept (1AP) - Steel Making:  While its creation was accidental initially, steel became the first proven alloy the Hiplings recreated on purpose for its durability. [Journeys (Transformation) 7/10]

 Create Mundane Concept (1AP) - Casting:  When you need a bunch of things to be ninety-eight percent identical, you can’t rely on the skill of one individual making those items or many individuals making their own item; you make a mold of the item and pour/pack the medium in! While typically used in metalworking, the Hopeful have also adapted it to work with Applied Kami-stry, Culinary Arts, Traps, and their various engineering disciplines. [Journeys (Transformation) 8/10]

 Teach Advanced Concept (1AP) - Architecture:  The Hopeful now know the term for designing the various structures they have been building and how to plan them out more meticulously. [Journeys (Transformation) 9/10]

 Teach Mundane Concept (1AP) - Insect Farms:  When most of your populace is six inches tall, one learns to farm the creatures that are smaller or only a little larger than yourself. Primarily used for conservation and preservation efforts, insect farming has been adapted for silk gathering as well. Entoculture is near the bottom of the list for farming purposes, but the possibility is not unthinkable. [Life (Biology) 2/10]

 Teach Advanced Concept (1AP) - Sericulture:  There are numerous different properties between plant fiber and critter-silk, but both can be woven similarly. Applying the new concept of textiles to the bug ropes, the Hopeful have learned how to make silk variations of fabrics as well.  [Life (Biology) 3/10]

 Teach Advanced Concept (1AP) - Hydroponics:  There will come a time when a plant needs growing and there’s just not enough healthy soil, or so the Hiplings postulated of the world beyond the Pocket. Using a system of substrates for the roots to take hold of, they have created a process to supply plants the nutrients they need through fluid mediums. [Life (Biology) 4/10]

 Teach Mundane Concept (1AP) - Storytellers:  While the Hiplings are still a loquacious group, their talks were usually informal affairs amongst a small group. They have established the tradition of the Big (After-Feast) Telling as a means to share their stories and discoveries to a wider audience. [Journeys (Transformation) 10/10; DOMFOLIO GET!]

 Teach Advanced Concept (1AP) - Medicine:  If it hurts when you do that, stop doing it! The Hopeful have learned a great many things about their physiology and that of the other creatures native to the Pocket, making large strides towards the repairing of injuries and practicing preventative care. [Life (Biology) 5/10]

 Teach Advanced Sub-Concept (1AP) – Pharmacology (Medicine):  After discovering that certain leaves helped heal scrapes and cuts move efficiently, the Hopeful took to greater study of other materials for medically beneficial chemicals and how they could best be administered. [Life (Biology) 6/10]

 Create Advanced Sub-Concept (1AP) – Veterinary (Animal) Medicine (Medicine):  If their strides in anatomy, medicine, and pharmacology were good for the Hiplings, they reasoned it would only be the right thing to learn how to care for the creatures not as sapient as them. [Life (Biology) 7/10]

 Create Advanced Sub-Concept (1AP) – Veterinary (Entomological) Medicine (Medicine):  Most wouldn’t spend the time to learn how to treat the illnesses or injuries of arthropods, as their physiology was too intricate and their breeding cycles produced numerous broods. Given their abundance of curiosity, dedication as stewards of the land, and the relative lack of size difference between Hiplings and most crawlies, the Hopeful spent the time necessary to provide rehabilitative care for even the smallest of creatures.  [Life (Biology) 8/10]

 Teach Advanced Concept (1AP) – Biomimicry (The Scientific Method):  By adapting their observations and studies of the world around them, the Hopeful have learned to recreate nature’s lessons into their understandings of other sciences and engineering concepts. [Life (Biology) 9/10]

 Teach Advanced Concept (1AP) – Optics:  Through the looking droplet, Myur led the Hopeful to discovering the properties of light and how to manipulate it through shaping the medium it travels through, bringing the world of the miniscule into focus. [Construction (Improvements) 2/10

 Teach Advanced Sub-Concept (1AP) – Microscopy (Optics):  Through their studies of optics, the Hiplings have learned how to view the minutest details of life, with all of its imperfections. This would allow them to repair even the smallest of damages to objects, study the building blocks of life, and prepare treatments for truly tiny creatures. [Life (Biology) 10/10; DOMFOLIO GET!]

AP Spent: 18
AP Remaining: 10

Progress:
[Construction (Improvements) 1/10]
[Life (Biology) 10/10; DOMFOLIO GET!]
[Journeys (Transformation) 10/10; DOMFOLIO GET!]
 
Fuzzy Math
  Watch Me Rise  

Rel felt his essence thrumming, straining against the self-defined metaphysical boundaries of what he considered “self”, as time simultaneously stopped and stretched into the infinite while watching the conversation between the Speaker and Wilf. The last time he felt like this, he had one foot upon the First World and another in the Void, having to choose to stay amongst his creations or become something more than what he was. He fought it as long as he could, not wanting to give up the closeness with the Hiplings, but he knew it was inevitable. The world created by his siblings and himself was simply too delicate to contain an evolving Dreamer. As he progressed, becoming more confident in his capabilities, the surges were relatively mild and gave him time to adjust. This time felt different; this was not going to be mild and there would be no time to conform the power to his understanding. No, this was going to be a Big One. He was going to have to bend his understanding as best he could to his new form. While Rel was certain Relloc could house a portion of his awareness, he doubted he’d be able to cohabitate the shared mindspace any more than that.

There was still time before the transition though; he could still provide one last physical gift to the Hopeful while he still had the capacity. Realizing they would be traveling to lands that may not respond to their connection to nature or areas where the Pocket-Kami cannot help them, Rel set about creating his first intentional artifact; he had no conscious memory of creating the Learning Crystal, even if it sounded like something he would have done. He considered a multitool at first, a small rod made of morphic metal that changed shape depending on the wielder’s desires, able to do the work of a million Hiplings. That would certainly be useful, but perhaps wouldn’t be as precise as they would need. A block and tackle system, when adjusted for perspective, that had the potential to move mountains? The Hopeful would be too concerned for the natural balance for that to work. Rel unfocused his mind, letting it drift through waves of possibilities, until it eventually caught on something.

He remembered the model Rest he created for them to plan out the Rest Stop and a vague vision of them creating a topographical map from the soil to mark important locations. He would make something they already had a firm grasp of using, something both simple and elegant. A collapsible modelling table that could expand to ten by ten by ten meters and condense down to one by one by two centimeters; large enough for them to make a model they could physically enter and build in, small enough for them to carry in a pack. The frames and legs would be made of orichalc-wood, the same material Relloc’s physical form was created from. The drafting surface would be formed from solidified divine essence, with the appearance of serenely polished chrome reflecting faint moonlight.  When it was expanded, they would only have to touch the drafting surface and it would make a perfect three-dimensional chromatic model of the landscape they wished to alter, down to the smallest creature and finest detail. Able to zoom in and out, the Hopeful could then make their changes on the model, observing the effects and repercussions of their prospective plans before committing them to action. Once the drafts and revisions were finalized, the table will present two options, commit changes or abort without committing. If committed, the alteration process would begin and take seven days to complete, no matter if it was a minor change or a great change. If aborted, the drafting surface returns to a flat plane, and nothing is altered. As a failsafe in case they have to leave in a hurry, if the table is condensed without selecting either option, that will be treated as if aborting.

Willing the artifact into existence at the base of Relloc’s trunk took much less effort than he thought it would, although imparting the instructions for its use to his avatar was nominally taxing, as Rel had to go through every permutation of potential questions the little ones might have in a matter of minutes. Once done, he felt another surge of power fill his being, signaling that the last rise was nearing. His attention drifted to the Void, watching the star mantas dive and twirl on the backdrop of the expansive black, catching occasional glimmers of other realms of existence as they danced past. So much potential for existence, for life, for creation… He could sense the essence of a few of his siblings; some were close to this next and possibly last step in their Dreaming, others were content with being amongst their creations, and most seemed content to focus their energies on this world. How many Dreamers have faded to the Empty Slumber? How many grew discontented with their dream, forcing themselves to angrily wake? He still felt the echoes of the Weaver with a small sadness but let them pass over him.

    “We are still here, we still Dream…”     Rel solemnly whispered out into the Void.

He drew forth the power welling within, forming it into a loom of cosmic energies, able to weave the fluxing possibilities of the Void into new planes of existence. If Rel was going to make the next and possibly final leap, he felt that he would be the first of his siblings to do so, so he took the responsibility unto himself to provide them new spaces to Dream and grow. Should this First World be destroyed or left to its own devices, he would ensure that there would be other chances for his brothers and sisters to experience new worlds for them to continue to play in and with. The Unburdened, the Lord of Sloth and Artifice, was the epitome of Is-ness. Some may have drifted into the dreamless black, some may have Awoken, but Rel just Is. There was always going to be something that needed doing or improving and it could only be put off for so long. Grunting with the effort he began weaving a new plane into existence, one for himself and all of his siblings, a place for them to gather and discuss. As he would come to know them, he would add sections to the nascent realm that would be uniquely theirs for them to feel comfortable in, though they would all have clear boundaries with intermingling energies bleeding together. In the center of this plane would be a large hall with a table for them all to sit at, whether it be for family gatherings, or to settle disputes. Whether or not this would live up to his intentions, Rel wanted to at least give it a chance; a neutral space for the Dreamers to congregate and share stories at best, or to air grievances and scheme at worst.

With that last bit of effort, Rel felt himself split into a smaller awareness that still remained within Relloc and a larger awareness within the Void, taking in both the enormity of existence and seeing just how precious it is. He was going to need a multiversal minute or more to process this new development, letting his larger awareness just drift with the mantas, as it learned what it meant to be an Elder Dreamer…

 
 Spoiler: AP Spending 
AP Remaining: 10

 Create Minor Utility Artifact (3AP; Alter Land) – The Drafting Table:  A modeling table gifted to the Hopeful, allowing them to (slowly) shape the land with exacting detail and careful planning. [Construction (Improvements) 5/10]

 Create Greater Utility Artifact (5AP; Weave Plane) – The Looming Cosmic:  A great loom for Rel’s use that enables him to bring new planes into existence with greater ease. [Construction (Improvements) 10/10; DOMFOLIO GET!]

 Weave Plane 2AP (3AP-GUA) – The Great Convention:  A plane for Rel and the other Dreamers to convene, should they choose, to enjoy each other’s company, hash out details for joint efforts, or to hopefully come to amicable solutions between the disgruntled. Different sections of the realm will be added as Rel comes to learn of his siblings that are designed for their comfort in mind. [TBD 1/10]

AP Spent: 10
AP Remaining: 0

Progress:
[Construction (Improvements) 10/10; DOMFOLIO GET! Elder Deity status achieved!]
[TBD 1/10]
 