Lords of Creation: A Time for Mortals, a Time for Gods IC

[AvocadoAvenger]

The Void:
The Creator

At first, there was nothing. Nothing existed, nothing at all. But the silence of this nothingness was destined to be broken by one. An entity who was nameless in truth, but known as The Creator emerges from the void. Like a wave, The Creator passed over the space later to be known as the material plane and spun it from the void. Small patches of void would exist in the edges of reality for some time, but this monumental first plane would allow existence itself to be possible. On this plane, he creates a single world with nothing on it but vast oceans, and immediately sanctifies it so that fledgling deities are the highest level of divinity that may be present on it. After his spree of creation, he disappears from existence into the void from whence he- and all of the creation he brought with him- came.

But when he left, parts of himself were left behind. These aspects of the creator, these beings whose divinity his supreme divinity sparked, would come into power in his leave and be known to the world as gods.
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Mauhir

Mauhir was the first of the gods to come into being. She must have been born from some sort of aggressive side from The Creator, for her first thoughts were of violence. Naked, her newly formed image fumbled though the void, trying and failing to find something to punch or abuse. She concluded her birthing in this state, and developed several weapons as well as a distinct fighting style that were partial to her because of how focal they were to her towards the end of her formation. As she swung the weapons, the rage inside gave her a sense of pleasure, although she had never felt any other emotions to compare it against yet. I must spread this feeling with others was her first coherent though.

[Lizard Lord]

Perit le Bicoad was born as the aspect of the creator's intellect and curiosity. He was born wearing the skin of some pure white beast, despite the fact that such a beast has yet to exist.

Perit looked to the goddess Mauhir and to the other aspects that were still taking shape. One of them, perhaps even Perit himself, will create life. Of this the Knowledge Seeker was certain. And just as Mauhir shall arm them with weapons Perit will arm them with knowledge.


Perit lowers himself down onto the Earth and raises up an island. It is a small island, just barely large enough for Perit's purposes. From the surface of that island the god raises a large stone block that encompasses nearly the whole width of the island. Perit predicts the first life to be of the same size as the preferred shape of the gods and has left enough room for such beings to walk on the island.

Perit than began carving symbols into what Perit no doubt believes the first life will call the Stone of Knowledge. The first of the symbols were the Alphabet. The building blocks of words so that the first life may understand what else is written on the stone. After the alphabet was done the symbols than combined to form words alongside pictures to help show what some of those words mean. Not all words that would come into existence just then were written on the stone, just those that would explain what else is written. An entire section was left blank so that more words could be added later.

After that new symbols were carved into the stone. These symbols were called numbers and would help the first life count and create things of their own. After that math was carved onto the wall to show the first life how to use the numbers. Engineering was then created as a means of how to incorporate math into a practical purpose.

Next was the rules for experimentation and scientific discovery so that the first life would know the proper procedure for learning new things.

The last thing that Perit carved into the wall was "Mortal discovered knowledge starts here". Perit has given them the building blocks but they should discover the rest on their own. He was unsure if writing engineering on the stone was the right thing to do, but it may have taken the first life to long to otherwise figure it out. Besides engineering is just the rules on how to create, what the first life creates through engineering is entirely up to them.

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15 AP
-2 Create Land: Stone of Knowledge
-1 Create Mundane Concept: Scientific Method
-1 Create Mundane Concept: Literature
-1 Create Mundane Concept: Math
-2 Create Advanced Concept: Engineering
8 AP left

[Tarren]

Varok came into being above the new world. He descended onto the newly created world and observed for a while noting the actions of the other deities, especially the one draped in white. After a short while he submerged himself into the ocean that made up the world and let his power emanate out into the water. The freezing mist that surrounded him spread out from the new god in a large circle. Where the mist touched the water it froze into a thick sheet of ice. With a shudder and a loud crack mountains began to erupt from under the ice. The result was a large roughly circular continent in the southern hemisphere of the planet. Covered in mountains, with several streams and a few lakes, a layer of snow covered everything.

Varok settled down on the mountainous landscape and examined the new land for a while not quite pleased with his creation. Then inspiration took him and he gathered together many large mounds of snow. Letting some more of his power out into the world caused life to be created under the mounds. A single large, white creature emerged from each mound. As they shook snow off of their backs white fur could be seen. In reflection of their creator the creatures had three eyes.

He left the creatures to disperse as they would, leaving the mountains to head to the coast. Out amongst the ice floes surrounding the continent he broke off many large pieces of the ice. With a similar process as before he created life out of the ice. The large chunks of ice where broken open from the inside by large horns and the new creatures emerged as if hatching from eggs. The large aquatic creature had a horn protruding from its jaw and dark mottled skin. Like the bears, they also had three eyes. Pleased with what he had created so far, Varok went to the highest mountain peak and settled down to observe both the other gods and his own creations.

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15AP
-2 Create Land: Southern Continent
-1 Create Bestial Life: Snow Bears
-1 Create Bestial Life: Narwhal
12AP left

[HalfTangible]

Madgod

From where did the madness, the glitch, the hivemind come?

No one knows.

Perhaps it formed from nothing, from a simple chance error in the Creator's design. Something that started so small and insignificant that the creator saw no need to correct it. But it was an error that fed, that grew and gorged on thought and light.

Perhaps the creator itself had a stray thought as he left - a thought that went mad on it's own, and anchored to what the Creator had left behind.

Perhaps it was one of the gods, casting their eye into the realm of fancy and imagination for a moment too long, and not even aware of what they beget.

Perhaps it needed no beginning, and simply had waited for a mind to latch on to.

Whatever the truth, from that moment on, a consciousness existed in the back of all sentient minds. The fear that kept one awake, the shadows on the wall. Built from madness itself, and utterly evil. All beings in the universe that ever was or ever would be would know and tremble at one horrible name.

Settamentipazzottore, the Madgod, the Hivemind, and the Harbinger of Insanity.

[mattsdelf]

Kodeck

The creator created the universe, and with it, he created those responsible for it's well being. He didn't realize it at first, but this was the beginning of Kodeck.

Kodeck was created by the need to look after the things one does, but he was not yet the Stonelord, there where barely any rocks in sight.

He looked at the world and spoke aloud,

"Let there be a giant spinning ball of magma below all this, and let from it, spew from the floor both of the oceans and land, pockets of magma with precious metals and great vats of molten stone.

And let currents of heat flow around the world, forming great expanses, and regions of hot and cold."

And there was, and somehow it was all related, a new process known as convection had begun.

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Starting AP: 15
-2 Create Land: The Great core, thousands of degrees hot, and made of spinning magma, as well as a solid inner core. It keeps everything deep underground warm and toasty.
-1 Bless: Ores, The hot metal spews out mostly rock near the surface, but also pockets of metals like Iron, tin, copper, lead, gold, silver, uranium, and the like.
-4 Create fabled concept; Convection and convection currents: Heat can flow through fluids, and rises away from gravity, which I am assuming already exists. Because of this, hot fluids tend to circulate in currents, hotter parts of them rise, cool if they hit something cooler, and sink back below the other rising hotter parts. This creates a system of heating and cooling both below the earth's surface, and above the ocean floor. Deep beneath what we consider, the ground, lava does this, heating up from the heat of the core, rising, and cooling. The surface of the lava is the coolest, being in contact with the ocean floor, it hardens, and forms great plates of rock that form a thick, 'crust' over the seafloor, and under the continents as they might form, but haven't yet. These plates are moving, rising, sinking, and falling off of eachother, which causes magma to spew from the ground and form volcanoes, explains earthquakes, why it is warmer at the equator which must form itself from this concept and much, much more. Convection currents also happen underwater, and in the air, here creating weather, and directing warmth from the hot water near the equator to the colder seas near the poles. The concept of convection also explains why liquids bubble when they boil, and why plasma does certain things on the yet to exist, sun.
Remaining AP: 8

[Lizard Lord]

Perit saw that it was Varok that created the first life and was saddened. The snow bears and narwhals did not have the intellectual capacity to grasp what the Stone of Knowledge had to offer. This had to be fixed.

Sparks flew from the finger tips of the Lord of Science and pierced the minds of Varok's creations. They were unharmed by this and in fact grew brighter. Their brains grew larger and more complex, allowing them to grasp complex concepts. This includes, but is not limited to, what is written on the stone.

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8 AP
-1 Bless Narwhals: Upgrading them from bestial life to sentient.
-1 Bless Snow Bears: Upgrading them from bestial life to sentient.

6 AP left

[HearTheRequiem]

Lloren

A man steps forth from the void in a flash of colour, seeming to almost skip through the air. A cape billows behind him as if caught in a yet-to-exist wind, and falls as he stops, suddenly, suspended in midair.

This world. How...dull. How perfectly symmetrical, so regular and featureless.

Not for long.

The mage draws his hand back, tracing a circle in the air above him, and an immense shard of crystal comes into being. With a snap of his fingers, the shard launches itself worldwards, smashing into the eastern side of the world, causing ripples in the ocean, and, somehow, breaking off a small fragment of the world itself.

The wayward world-shard floated towards the new God, rippling and flowing as he reformed it according to his whim. Soon, it seemed to be nothing more than a shining ivory tower - though oddly dual in nature, as if someone had gone into a chess set and stuck two rooks together, bottom-to-bottom. A mobius-strip of stairs looped around the towers, both containing and being contained.

Actions:

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15 AP to start.
2 AP: Create Land: The Crystalline Peaks: The crystal still sticks out of the world, forming what appears to be a multifaceted mountain range made of broken glass.

3 AP: Form Astronomical Object: The Capricious Spire: A shining ivory double-tower, with a mobius-strip stairway looping around it, was formed from the fragment of worldstuff that broke off upon launching the Crystalline Peaks.

I'm intending for the Capricious Spire to be Lloren's kind-of home base sort of thing, rather than a plane.

[mattsdelf]

Kodeck

Kodeck saw these behemoth crystalline structures and was struck by inspiration; "Why didn't I think of that? Crystals!" Although, it is very clear that he was referring to another idea that he had just had, that was somehow related.

A colorless orb appeared in his hands. He crushed it, and the world suffered a birth pang; a very small earthquake, following the very small earthquake it had suffered just shortly ago when the crystalline peaks jammed themselves smack dab in the middle of a Tectonic plate.

And now crystals would form with the metals in the earth, bigger crystals the further down you look. Diamonds, Malachite, jade, Amethyst, and more, the earth was blessed with.

Kodeck also saw that, short of a few islands, almost no land reached up from The Great Core. He was set to fix that; The earth quaked, the plates moved, and a large quantity of lava was set free to surface; The first warm continent; "Korren" had formed. It was enormous, and it was intricate. There was a great volcano at it's center, The Great Mountain, he would call it for now, where so much lava had gotten stuck on its way up. It's shape looked a little bit like a triangle.

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I'd imagine the world looks something like this, right now


Edit: And AP costs:
Starting AP: 8
-1 Bless the ground with crystals
-2 create land.
Remaining AP: 5

Addition; The birth of Esser

Kodeck thought of order, he was hit with the inspiration to create a force of boundaries, and of limits; This force grew and grew until it had a mind, until it was an entity, until it was a new god. Esser was born.

Kodeck said to this new god; "Welcome to creation, Esser, you will do great things to keep order. Go forth and create that which you would."

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Esser is born and may post. This post would be more glorious if I had spent more time on it, but I wanted to let him post before rollover.

[AgentIndy]

"Thank you for birthing me...Father. This force of creation at my finger tips...why were the heavens neglected for so long?"

Esser raised his hand to the sky, a purple mist sprayed forth from his hand into the pockets of void in the universe. The mist eventually formed a cloud around the current universe, formed out of hydrogen and other basic elements. It was the Nebula, and it defined the boundaries of our universe.

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AP:15
Create Celestial Object:The Nebula -3
The Nebula is an object covering the primary Universe. It is visible from any planet, as it softly shines through the interplanetary space, and can be seen on planets at night. As this boundary is meant to protect the universe, there are huge storms that take place constantly to deter entities that would enter the Nebula. This defines the limits of the universe....for now.
Set Portal -1 There is an area of the Nebula which offers safe passage through it, but it is guarded by Esser himself most of the time.
AP:11

[HearTheRequiem]

Lloren

From his cloister inside the Capricious Spire, the trickster saw the earthen one appropriating his creation, which would have been a joyous occasion - if not for one thing.

These new ones were too... predictable, too regular, too uniform. They all looked the same as most of the others, and they all followed that silly rule - smaller near the top, larger near the bottom.

Casting himself out of the window, Lloren tumbled head-over-heels, and then sprang upwards to meet his brother.

" Have to say, brother, a little boring. Hey, no need to look so stony-faced, lighten up a little! You just have to make them a little more fun, like this!"

With a snap of his fingers, Lloren sent the shards of glass from the spire's shattered window hurtling towards the planet, where they sank deep into the earth, burying themselves within several of the subterranean jewels. Those with the glass within shook, glowed, and sprouted spindly, crystalline legs, and their bodies rippled to form glittering, gaping jaws.

They began to eat away at the earth surrounding them, in seemingly random directions, tunnelling their way through the new lands.

For a second, Lloren seemed to shudder, and then his cloak twisted in upon itself, becoming an ever-changing shimmering wave of colours.

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Starting AP: 10
2 AP: Create Sentient Life: Apocrystal Spiders: These scuttling, crystalline arachnids currently live underground, having been transformed from roughly 1/3 of the regular crystals. Born of The First Defenestration, it is said that each of them carries a spark of divinity within them.
3 AP: Gain Domain: Creation (Change): Qualifying acts:

• 2 AP - forming the Crystalline Peaks, changing the landscape of a vast amount of the world
• 3 AP - morphing the planetary fragment into the Capricious Spire
• 2 AP: Transmuting common crystal into Apocrystal Spiders

[Tarren]

Varok

Great changes were happening to the world, but Varok was not concerned with them at the moment. His own creations had changed, they had become more intelligent more curious. Seeing this Varok places himself on the coast and calls out to his creations. Once they were gathered he addressed them, "You have been changed. This was not my plan for you, but it has been done. You may go on to do many great things. You will certainly encounter the others like me and maybe other races may yet emerge. Whatever you become, always stick together and remember your origins. Protect the animal life both on the land and on the sea."

With his creations on their path he finally looks out at the new changes wrought upon the world. He leaves the land mass he created and travels to the new continent. Warmer and perhaps more hospitable than the one he created, the continent still felt empty to him. He goes about creating animals to inhabit this new land. In a short time new life filled the land, all with three eyes like their more advanced brethren in the south.

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AP:11
-1 Form Society: Arctic Alliance
-1 Create Bestial Life: Antelope
-1 Create Bestial Life: Lion
AP left: 8

[HearTheRequiem]

Crystalline Consciousness, The Beginning

Deep within the bowels of the new world, a creature was moving. What it was, or where it was - these were things that it had no answer to, but hadn't even occurred to it to wonder.

It did know two things, however - it could go, and it could stop. Going was a complex process of biting and waving the long things on its sides, and stopping was a simple matter of not doing that. At this point in time, however, it had decided to go.

As it went, it noticed something strange. It realised that so far, it had been going forwards. But weren't there other things, like...not-forwards?

Eventually, it decided on attempting to go side-forwards. Its appendages wiggled, one side staying still, and it managed to maneuver itself so that it was facing a new forwards - it decided, with the first clear thought it had, that making a new forwards would be called a "turn".

So, the creature turned, and set off in a new direction.

[AgentIndy]

Crystalline Peaks

Esser flew around the world, looking for a place to create things at. He settled at the Crystalline Peaks, and directed his divine essence into creating a species known as the Kecne. He instilled the idea of civilization into them, creating the Kecnean State.

The Kecne are insects, that range from 1 to 3 meters in height. They have 4 legs, with two primary arms, and six smaller limbs to manipulate objects with. They have 6 eyes, to give them a near omnidirectional view around them. They live in the midranges of the Peaks.

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AP:15
Create Sentient Life:Kecne -2
Create Society:Kecnean State -1

AP:12

[Cloudsmeet]

A twinkle in the Creator's eye, left behind when He left, becomes a figure tiny among the extremeties of the cosmos, yet exuding a world's weight of gravitas in dignified silence. A being who instinctively now knows it's own name to be Sarig, and that it is a he, looks down upon the newly created world and the life created by his fellow gods upon it. And he saw that it was good.

As Sarig watches from above - not with his eyes, but with senses of other kinds, an unconcious act pulls together dust and rubble left over from this new creation into a moon upon which he sits; a throne, from which Sarig might look upon a sleeping world for an eternity, a counterpart to Lloren's celestial tower. And he saw that it was good.

And as Sarig watched this new world from his vantage place in the dark sky, a flash of inspiration comes to him; a name for this new world. His face, impassive until this moment smiles as he mouths a single word - "Firstworld". And he saw that it was good, and so the new creation continued to spin through the void, surrounded by the nebulae twinkling in the sky.

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Starting AP: 15
Form Astronomical Object: -3
Finishing AP: 12

[HearTheRequiem]

Crystalline Consciousness: The Start Of Self-Awareness

The creature found itself pleasantly surprised. It quite enjoyed this new forwards it had found - indeed, everything felt slightly different, and the thrill of new experiences was something altogether new and not entirely unenjoyable.

All of a sudden, the forwards came to a grinding halt.

There was...something.

But what?

And with that, something clicked. There wasn't just go, stop, and turn.
There were things. Things that were the creature, and things that weren't.

Such as this new thing, that it swallowed with a single opening of its vast maw.

And it may have been to do with the realisation, or having eaten the same stone that it was made from, but the creature glowed a soft purple, and grew noticeably in size.

[AvocadoAvenger]

The World

When she was ready, Mauhir came upon the world and looked down on it. She saw the polar creatures form society and the the crystals and crystal spiders rise from the ground. "Interesting," she said to herself, "each of these creatures holds a certain fierceness." She considered each of them in turn, then thought, but they are all weak! Pathetic! How could these flabby southern creatures and crystal skitters be the best that my the other entities could come up with?! "I will make my mark, and I will make it strong! A race that is capable of adapting, of holding weapons to challenge the bravery, courage, strength, and stamina of each other. I will create a race in the image of the gods!" She shifted from thought to word without realizing it in her newness. Mauhir also managed to unlock her power to create without knowing it. In fact, she had no idea what she was doing when she created humans, yet she knew what to do, the same way a bird knows to fly south for the winter. And so humans began to spring into existence all over the continent of Korren.

Korren

Now that she knew what she was doing, Mauhir wanted a group of these humans to know of her path. She wanted to gift some of them with violence and fighting spirit, to make them superior to the rest of humanity. It was unfortunate that she could not reach all of them, for she was just one goddess, and figured that she had no means of doing so. Mauhir's solution to that problem is to alter the action of creating the land, the Korren, to make the southwest section lie on a convection current fault line. As the land breaks and the island pulls away, Mauhir knows that those on it would be her chosen people, forever separated from the rest of their race. They were the ones destined to be stronger, faster, and physically more fit. That made her smile.

Telum

On Telum, the island that broke away, Mauhir came before her chosen people in a flash of light. Naturally, the Telumans were curious, and a large congregation of them had gathered. "Humans! Those of you who are gathered here have potential to be better than the rest! To achieve glory undying, and fulfill all of your own heart's desires!" She spoke in a booming voice, the kind of voice that makes people listen. "'How do I do this?' you might ask. The answer is simple- head my words!" She threw her spear to the ground, and waved her shortsword in the air. "This is a weapon. It is sharp, and has the potential to make you all so much more than men and women. It can make you leaders!" She waved her sword, and an applaud went up. "It can make you heroes!" More applause. "LEGENDS!" The applause started again and didn't die down. Mauhir raised her voice appropriately. "If you can take from other men, do so! For you are better than them, and deserve their homes and their wives more than they ever did!" The applause finally subsided as she paused. "You are all my people, so stay as one. I must leave you now, but I leave you with this spear. May you use it well, and strike down all foes who oppose you!"

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Starting with 15 AP
-Create Sentient Life: Humans, -2
-Alter Action: Create Land: Korren, -1; Telum (Latin for "weapon") which was formerly the southwest corner of Korren, is now an independent island which I imagine is near the middle of the known world, but closest to the south shore of Korren.
-Form Society: Telum, -1
-Create Artifact: Golden Spear, -4; Mauhir's spear is an artifact that can be wielded by any god or human mortal for a +3 RCR.
-Create Advanced Concept: Warfare and Weapondry, -2
Giving me 5 AP at the end. Unfortunately, I did not beat rollover.

[huyche]

At the very Dawn of Creation the Ninth Aspect stirred in its slumber. Nemeru had known peace and calm for aeons without count, but now something was plaguing its mind. It could have been a prophetic dream, a haunting image of things to come, or perhaps a delusion, a nightmare of the worst kind.
What it beheld was a phantasmagoria of shadowy, black tendrils that slowly but steadily spread over a lush world filled of life, turning everything into an extension of themselves as they went, corrupting life into a mockery of its former self. Only but a shadow of life, somehow animated, an anathema to everything The Great Serpent held sacred.
In its dream it was alone in its stand, the last guardian to fight for the doomed world. Furiously it launched into a bold assault at the malignancy, eager to rip and tear at the ethereal substance. It twisted and turned its gargantuan form hoping to avoid corruption's wasting touch, but nonetheless hurting as its shining viridian scales lost their luster and flaked off. Frenzied with pain, it bit into the tendrils, but all in vain, for they reformed anew, wisps of shadow oozing out of its great maw. It was futile.

The dream tormented colossal beast terribly, and so the beast thrashed and spasmed in this agonizing sleep, threatening to crush the world in its vice-like grip.
The planet's outer shell shattered in a multitude of places, some pieces of it piercing inner layers, while the other colliding with each other and sending enormous shockwaves. The oceans churned. World-spanning mountain ridges and precipitous peaks arose from the frothing deeps. Gouts of magma sprung up high into the atmosphere, only to become solidified in contact with world ocean and the ambient air, creating magnificent igneous pillars.

Nemeru flailed about madly, helpless and unable to shake off his haunting visions of violence against the natural course of all things.
Deliverance came unexpectedly, but in time. A soothing presence engulfed the serpent, while it was taking another bite of the shadowy material. It was like an intimate caress, akin to a mother's loving embrace. Miraculously, its thrashing began to subside. A sense of tranquility fell upon Nemeru. As it eased its jaw in its waning throes, two whiffs of shadow-stuff hurried to flee their large-toothed prison in different directions.

Finally, The World Serpent opened both of its four-pupiled eyes. It was mildly surprised to find itself delivered from the nightmare that haunted it, but soon the delusion was altogether forgotten just like a bad dream it was.
THUS BEGINS THE FIRST AGE: THE AWAKENING it proclaimed to the world.
With cold acknowledgement, Nemeru observed its own rather impromptu creation, though, in fact, the rough, primitive beauty of it contented him.

The newborn world demanded a symbol, a manifestation of a god's will to create. Or perhaps it was a concern over the ominous visions that had troubled it? Regardless, the serpent turned its unblinking gaze towards the void.
And the emptiness of the void responded back, it shifted and coalesced. Until it was void no more, nothingness giving birth to solid substance. Substance in turn becoming an object, roughly round in its shape. With a final touch, Nemeru fashioned it into an ovoid of enormous proportions. Dark as the surrounding void and invested with the serpent's very essence.

A CHILD BORN OF DARKNESS WILL COME
SCALES IN THE PALM OF HIS HANDS
HARMONY SHINES TRUE IN HIS BEAUTY
AS SHADOWS COVER THE LAND

foretold Nemeru.

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Deities Amun, the First Lord and Svaldyraz, the Alljudge are born.

AP: 15
Create Land (-2): Nemeru's Spine, a number of vast mountain ridges encircling the world arose from the depths.
Curse (-1): Earthquakes and Tsunami's wrack the planet after Nemeru's powerful shudders.
Form Astronomical Object (-3): A dark moon that sits in an orbit around the world. Only during solar eclipse this creation will be seen, refracting the rays of the sun and submerging the world in an eerie, purpurescent twilight.

[Cloudsmeet]

Sarig, watching as Mauhir acts impetously and abandons part of her creation to fickle fortune, appears to those humans left behind in a great communal dream. In it, he proclaims one of them with whom he is pleased to be his appointed Shepherd, and declares that the person in such a position shall be appointed once yearly by the votes of the people.
And in this dream he shows his new people a vast yet sheltered bay, the waters full of fish and the nearby hills and valleys rich with precious metals, wild animals to both tame and hunt, where they might prosper greatly. As they dream he creates this land on the eastern point of Korren so that the people might find their way there and build themselves a city.

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Starting AP: 12
Create Society (Korren): -1 AP
Promote Leader (Shepherd of Korren, appointed yearly by democratic vote): -3 AP
Create Advanced Concept (Democracy): -2 AP
Alter Action: Create Land (Korren) -1 AP
Create Mundane Concept (Architecture): -1 AP
Create Mundane Concept (Mining): -1 AP
Create Mundane Concept (Farming): -1 AP
Ending AP: 2

I shall be the Athens to your Sparta, Avocado, and we can both try and corrupt each other's societies to our own visions

[HearTheRequiem]

Tectonic Shift

Elsewhere, a great crack sounded through the earth, and tremors shook throughout. Struck by a sudden need to get away from...the thing, one apocrystal spider turned, not sideways, but rather upwards - away from the noise and the movement.

It was time to move. Move away.

But going forwards that way was difficult, much more difficult than any other forwards had been. This one needed a name, and that name was "up".

Then, abruptly, up just...stopped. As if there was no more up. What there was, in its place, was... a different forwards. This one felt different, but was easier to move through, the spider found, requiring much, much less biting. There was something else, too, something that hadn't been there before.

Light. Seeing.

For the first time, the spider could see. Everything it could see was brown, and reminded it of the forwards that needed to be bitten through, the one it was going before this one.

But...There was something else. Strange figures, all clutching some kind of...thing, something that looked...nice. Not quite the spider, but definitely something that the spider found agreeable.

It was...it needed a word. Gold.

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So, some of the Apocrystal Spiders were underneath Telum when it split off, and this is the first one surfacing.

[Cloudsmeet]

Meanwhile, back in the new nation of Korren, miners strike something that is not rock, or metal, or any of the precious gems that they know so far. As their as-yet-crude picks strike, this... thing shifts of it's own volition...

At the same time, Sarig meditates on the gifts that he has given to Korren, his chosen peoples, and in a rare lapse of concentration a mote of raw thought-stuff escapes and coalesces into a new divine essence; Krieerk, a newly formed god of technology, civilization and industry. Sarig smiles, recognising that no harm has been done, and welcomes his new brother.

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Sorry things were so short, for both of you Kopout and Requiem, but I have to go out and probably won't be back for the rest of the day, so if you post anything I have to respond to, expect a bit of a delay.

And also, Kopout, sorry for leaving your first appearance so long. I got distracted and kind of forgot

[HearTheRequiem]

National Treasure

Impact. Shock. A new feeling. Pain?

Something strikes the top of an apocrystal spider, and it yelps, letting out a sound somewhere between the jingling of keys and the crunch of gravel on a driveway. Wheeling itself to face the...whatever it was, the creature waits...

And bites down as the enemy strikes again, finding itself ripped from the ground as the monster rears back. Stunned by the sudden appearance of light, and the awakening of its vision, the spider's jaw slackens, and it loses its hold on the creature...

Stumbling to its spindly feet, it sees these...creatures, all different but somehow similar, and something stirs within it...Isn't it, too, like other things?

Then, all at once, it finds itself filled with the thoughts and feelings it never thought, and never had, and understands.

I am many, and I am one. I am myself, and I am us. I move as many, and I think as one.

Spoiler

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AP: 9
1 AP: Create Society: Semiprecious Heirarchy: Apocrystal spiders are grouped into castes depending on which gemstone they're made from, congregating with others of the same material - Amethyst spiders with other amethyst spiders, quartz with quartz, and so on.

1 AP: Bless: Apocrystal Spiders (Fragmented Mind): Each type of spider shares a hivemind or collective consciousness with those of its heirarchy, sharing thoughts, impressions and feelings. Spiders can communicate with those outside of their caste, by way of small vibrations and resonating frequencies, but in this way only basic ideas or concepts can be gotten across.

[DukeGod]

Svaldyraz stands upon the body of his father. He does nothing nor speaks a world. He simply looks into the world. He already knew what he would create. But not yet, they weren't ready as he judge. Yet he talks to himself

"Preparations must be put in place..."

And decides that he needed to go there. Observing the humans, the spiders and the kecne without inferering with neither, he turns his eyes the southern lands. The bears and the narwhals lived there and they were...not so as advanced.

He decided it was unfair. So he flies to the Southern Continent and there, in the great mountains, he gives the bears their first city, Trimek he names it. The bears would still be mostly hunters he decides, but would form and organize themselves.

The narwhals now. He chooses them to live undersea, as the only sentient race that could now. He chooses to allow them the power of growing corals into the shapes they wish and need. He names their society Bikini

He realizes that the Narwhals had a bit of an advantage. He returns to the bears, and gives a small number of them, more knowledge as hunters.

Additionally, he chooses to give the idea of Honor and Justice to all. But he does not enforce them. Each race would be able to choose how they'd treat them.
Preparations are mostly done now. He returns to his father and sits atop him, beside his brother Amun and watches as the races grow. Soon enough, he tells himself, eager, but still patient

Spoiler

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Starting AP 15
Create Society: Trimek, -1 AP
Bless: The narwhals can now shape and sculpt coral with innate magic. -1 AP
Create Society: Bikini, -1 AP
Create Order: The Misha Medved, bears that are Hunters above all, -2 AP
Create Advanced Concept: Honor, -2 AP
Create Advanced Concept: Justice, -2 AP
Remaining AP 6

[AvocadoAvenger]

Telum

After Mauhir disappeared, the congregation slowly dispersed. It was then that spider appeared to them. "It must be a test of our goddess," the Telumans whispered among themselves. Daven quickly ran to the center of the commotion, realizing that he would have to be the person that his people relied on now. Daven had been the one to take the spear. He was neither the quickest nor the youngest in the crowd, but he had been the first to be been brave enough to lay a finger on it, and claimed it without resistance afterwords. He had been especially moved by Mauhir, and had been prepared to sacrifice everything for the new religion. The spirituality that he found in her presence surpassed his love for his woman back home and children that he had with her. I will live my life in the light of Mauhir now, he thought during her speech, and may I be her weapon, and strike down all who oppose me.

"It is a test of Mauhir!" yells the middle-aged man with dark hair and a short beard holding the golden stick. "We must show her that we are worthy!" he continues as he now begins to charge towards the spider, "show her that you are worthy!" Daven leaps from his the higher rock he was standing on towards the spider, the point of his spear facing downwards. The spear moves like magic in his hands. After the first attack, he lands, spins, twirls the spear over his shoulders and behind his head, then jabs skillfully at his perceived enemy.

[Mynxae]

Fyrador, The Void

A shadow detached itself from the Void, drifting down to look at the world. "Pah. Those petty godlings wish to squabble amongst themselves. I'll help them to that goal, but I shall create some beings to help me in this venture" thought Fyrador, his mask blurring for a moment until it grinned, the eyes sparking with green fire. He looked high over the first world and disregarded it before settling on the Void around him. "Yes... This will do nicely" he thought as the Void around him shifted and swirled as a moon appeared out of the darkness in front of him, shifting like the Void around him. "It shall be the moon over the world, the dark to watch the light, or perchance, to destroy the light" he said, his voice betraying no emotion.

Spoiler

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Start AP: 15.

Form Astronomical Object AP3: The Dark Moon. It is perpetually dark except for occasional slivers that almost look like tricks of the light. It sometimes disappears and reappears at different places around the world, in an odd orbit of teleportation.

Create Sentient Life AP2: Drakonyr. Humanoid in shape, they fear the light and revel in the shadows. They are as hideous as their master and hide behind closed doors, always seeking to find ways to thwart an enemy with cunning rather than strength. They live on the Dark Moon and serve Fyrador.

Form Society AP1: Drakon Empire, ruled over by the Emperor, appointed by Fyrador. (will write up something about the Emperor later)

End AP: 9.

[mattsdelf]

"Thank you for birthing me...Father. This force of creation at my finger tips...why were the heavens neglected for so long? But you're right, we have three moons, and no star."

"The heavens are just as new as you are, I don't think anybody has had the time. Look around you, this is all pristine, original, round."

Lloren

From his cloister inside the Capricious Spire, the trickster saw the earthen one appropriating his creation, which would have been a joyous occasion - if not for one thing.

These new ones were too... predictable, too regular, too uniform. They all looked the same as most of the others, and they all followed that silly rule - smaller near the top, larger near the bottom.

Casting himself out of the window, Lloren tumbled head-over-heels, and then sprang upwards to meet his brother.

" Have to say, brother, a little boring. Hey, no need to look so stony-faced, lighten up a little! You just have to make them a little more fun, like this!"

With a snap of his fingers, Lloren sent the shards of glass from the spire's shattered window hurtling towards the planet, where they sank deep into the earth, burying themselves within several of the subterranean jewels. Those with the glass within shook, glowed, and sprouted spindly, crystalline legs, and their bodies rippled to form glittering, gaping jaws.

They began to eat away at the earth surrounding them, in seemingly random directions, tunnelling their way through the new lands.

For a second, Lloren seemed to shudder, and then his cloak twisted in upon itself, becoming an ever-changing shimmering wave of colours.

Kodeck was shocked, and then pleased. . . "Cool. . . I like how their seemingly random reactions form such an intricate system of learning by doing. It looks like our world is coming along nicely. Now to add something wild to tame the wild."

Kodeck saw new races flourish, and grow. He thought to create one of his own. He fleshed out of dirt and mud, the people of another kind. He kind of coughed as he was naming them; "Orcs." And thus, the hill orcs of Korren began. So far, they are a wild tribe based society, and hunt anything they can sick their dogs on.

Kodeck was not pleased. He thought his people should be ordered, honor-bound, so he drafted a system for them. In this system, there would be three groups of orcs. There would be the Kinsheth, who are nobles and police. Nobody can be born into this group, it can only be earned by the elite and old of the second group, the Nith'torri, who are the workers, military, and mass labor of the orcs. One becomes Nith'torri by volunteering for service, being convicted of a felony, or being too poor to support your family from the third group, which is just everybody else. Orcish tradition is such that those who work, those who dedicate their lives to the betterment of society, should not be shunned, they should be crowned with gold and glory. It's not supposed to be easy, but their society is better off for the hellish conditions that they go through in their first trials of Nith'torri, and they sing songs about it later. It is only once an orc who had been through the trials and tribulations of serving in the mines, fighting abroad wars amongst comrades, and doing the things that nobody else wants to do, that he can be truly honored. In truth, the orcs have a sense of duty, and many of them want to belong to the Nith'torri, to prove their metal. About 3/4 of orcs who are young adults are Nith'torri, and none are Kinsheth. About 1/3 of middle aged orcs are still Nith'torri, and roughly 1/30 of them are Kinsheth. Orcs don't age past middle aged, but the longer one lives, the more scars one gets, and the more likely they are to be promoted to Kinsheth. To be promoted is not always to be retired, there are many Kinsheth who continue on with what they did, sometimes to lead the Nith'torri, because that service is all that they know.

Their home is the area closest to the center, the volcano of Korren at The Great Mountain, their nation's name is simple, it is just, "The Orcs," and they perfer it that way. It makes so that nobody must mistake their identity. The Orcs is what they are, The Orcs is what they do. Their cities have names, but no one city is big enough to mention. . . Yet.

Spoiler

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Starting AP: 5
Rollover: +4
Create sentient life: -2
Create society; "The Orcs" -1
Create Order: The Kinsheth -2
Create Order: The Nith'Torri -2
Remaining AP: 2

Additionally, he chooses to give the idea of Honor and Justice to all. But he does not enforce them. Each race would be able to choose how they'd treat them.

The orcs value these things, as Kodeck values these things. He goes at once to this god who had done what 'ought' to be done, and thanked him; "Svaldyraz, I thank you for what you have done. It is good. We should revel in these things. Shall we join forces?"

[Lizard Lord]

An adventurous Narwhal named Pearl often looked out into the great wide ocean in wonder. One day she swam away from Bikini into the ocean to discover what was out there. Eventually she came across an island. Full of delight in her discovery she named it after herself. Pearl Island it would be called.

She emerged to the surface of the water to take a better look at this island and was amazed to see the massive stone block that stood on top of it. Upon swimming around the island she saw the letters written on the great stone block. She stared at them for a long time as she tried to figure out their meaning.


As Pearl stared at the Stone of Knowledge Perit, invisible to her sight, leaned down next to where the Narwhal's head lay above the ocean surface. He whispered hints to her and the whispers were perceived as her own thoughts. She began to piece things together and after a few nights had learned the secrets of the Stone.

Pearl swam back to the Southern Continent and spoke to others, Narwhals and Snow Bears alike. Pearl taught them what the Stone taught her. As she did so Perit whispered to her once more and Pearl had an idea that she shared to the others and several agreed to join her.

The narwhals that followed Pearl built platforms out of coral. The Snow Bears that followed her rode those platforms as they traveled to Pearl Island.

Once there they began what they set out to do. Using the gifts of math and engineering they set out to shape coral to build a city, The City of Knowledge, that floated above the water around the island. For Pearl and the others, they made it their job to protect the stone and add to its knowledge when they can.

Spoiler

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6 AP
+4 rollover
-3 Promote Leader: Pearl
-1 Create Mundane Concept: Rafts
-1 Form Society: City of Knowledge. A city made of coral built around Perit's island (now called Pearl Island). Its buildings and roads sit above the surface of the water and it also has water roads for the Narwhals.
-2 Form Order: Stone Keepers. A group of Narwhals and Snow Bears (currently as other races can join as well) whose job is to protect the stone and add all concepts they discover, from mundane to fabled, to it.
3 AP remaining

[HalfTangible]

Madchild

The Madgod watched creation for a time. However, it sluggishly realized one very important, all-consuming fact: It was hungry.

It gathered strength, latching on to the sentient thoughts of the creatures already made. It left many of it's victims mindless and lobotomized, eating every last thought it could out of pure hunger.

It grabbed onto the stray thoughts of gods as well, but took great care to only eat subconscious thoughts and remain hidden. It realized that eating thoughts this slowly was inefficient - it needed new subconsciouses to feed on - strong enough to stay intact when it ate them, but weak enough that it could consume more whenever it pleased.

It felt a new desire: to make such a thing itself.

And so it willed it into being from sheer mental might: a creature of primordial power and being. However, the madgod saw no reason to be constrained by the petty rules of reality that did not apply to it. He forged these first creatures out of ideas and concepts - being composed purely of the primordial ideas that make the world. Communication, Time, Fear, Pain, Emotion, Desire, Death... It willed into being the first of the Madchildren, all across the world.

And the world would tremble at their wrath.

The Game

The name of the Madgod is Settamentipazzottore.

A name that should have never been known to anyone.

Certainly, it seems innocent enough, if a bit long-winded. It is not impossible to pronounce, it is not an offense to the ears, and it sounds silly rather than horrific. But know, dear reader, that it is the most horrific word that has ever existed.

It is a mind-virus.

Your conscious mind sees nothing wrong with such a name, but your subconscious and unconscious know. Instinctively, they are afraid of this name, and with good reason. Your mind is connected to the Madgod itself once you know the word, and it doesn't leave. It can't leave. And once you know the name, your mind begins to unravel.

A connection to the Madgod causes reality to bend and break, to crack under pressure of pure madness. Your subconscious can feel it, deep within itself, and it tries to warn your conscious that something is wrong. But the Madgod is powerful and sly, and feeds off of such thoughts. Your conscious is never the wiser, either to the lost bits and pieces of thought, or of it's presence.

At first, you will simply be more inclined towards him - you will want to serve the Madgod, perhaps even found a cult in his honor, or for one of the Madchildren. You will not even consider the idea that it will not be your will.

But then it begins to feed on more, just a bit more. You begin to lose touch with reality as more and more of your thoughts are partially consumed mid-path. Garbled, useless information flies through your brain at random, causing sensations of the unreal at any time. And the unreal invites the Madgod.

Your mind slowly begins to fall into utter madness, as your sanity is literally eaten away. You become violent, manic, utterly depraved in desperate attempts to reclaim your sanity that is already too far gone. You babble the name of the Madgod, dooming those around you to it's maddening effects as well

Eventually, reality crumbles away entirely, and you are but another mindless husk for the Madgod to manipulate as it pleases. And for every mind held under it's sway, the Madgod grows stronger.

This is not a warning, simply what I look forward to, dear reader.

After all, why would I tell you the name at the very beginning if I truly wanted to keep you from such a maddening word?

Enjoy losing your sanity.

Sincerely,
Draco of the Unknown Word
Madchild of Language

Spoiler

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Create Fabled Concept 4AP: The Mind-virus
Knowing the name of the Madgod connects them to him through their subconscious. Connecting to him in such a way slowly drives a person first to service to the madgod, and then into complete insanity. Once they know it, the effects are irreversible by mortal hands. Fortunately, going mad from it takes time - a particularly strong-willed and/or intelligent person could go months before they succumb to even considering worshipping him, (assuming the Madgod doesn't take particular interest) and years before they lose their minds. But every mortal eventually does. Fortunately, the name is rarely actually spoken aloud by any of the Madchildren, and Draco's works (such as the above) rarely catch on en masse. But it does infect a few minds.

Create Fabled Life 5AP: The Madchildren
Beings composed of concepts and ideas rather than matter (as we understand it - not sure what it'd be called here, material? Materia? Stuff?) such as Communication, Darkness and Time. Depending on the Madchild, this grants special powers and abilities. All of them have a maddening affect on the minds of those around them - while very few people will be permanently affected if they leave it's presence quickly, staying too long can result in utter insanity. They are powerful beyond measure, and occasionally are worshipped as "angels" or "demigods" by cultists of the Madgod. Mostly this is because of their sheer power, but also because they are the only beings who can safely withstand the presence of the Madgod in their minds. They feed off of thoughts, like their master, and are immune to the madenning effects of the mind-virus.

(For the record? These guys will be rare. EXTREMELY rare. Mostly because they're more threatening that way, but also partly because describing how they fight will be... confusing.)

Divine Infusion 3AP: Madchildren

Gain Domain 3AP: Madness (Primordial)
-Create Fabeled Life: The Madchildren
-Divine Infusion: Madchildren

-15AP
And now the Madgod has NO AP remaining.

(( EDIT: Reading through the entry on the Madchildren again, it occurs to me that it's poorly worded. A madchild is something you have to PERCIEVE in order to have a maddening effect on you - specifically anything about it that shouldn't be possible. Having one sleep in an air vent in a skycraper isn't going to drive everyone in the building insane unless it reaches out in it's dreams, but that's psychic powers at work, not it's own form as described here. For example, Draco has an impossible form literally made up of words and concepts. You would have to see it for an extended period of time (or several periods of time that add up to an 'extended period') to go crazy, or listen to it talk in a voice that speaks meaning instead of words. Things like that. ))

[HearTheRequiem]

Telum

The spear strikes unerringly as the spider jerks back, a noise like splintering ice filling the air. Cracks spread throughout the creature's body, a stark and cloudy lilac in comparison to its usual deep purple.

High above, Lloren looks down and smirks, muttering under his breath.

"I commend your effort, war-sister, but things have a way of not always going how we would expect..."

The spider shatters, shards of crystal flying everywhere, coming to rest on the earth.

And they twitch, and with a noise like winds rustling through a wind-chime, they sprout legs as before, scuttling towards the gold implement once more.

Spoiler

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Starting AP: 7

1 AP: Alter Action: Create Sentient Life (Apocrystal Spiders) : Fragmented Form: When the spiders break apart, the fragments of crystal become new spiders, albeit each much smaller and less powerful than before, as you'd expect.

Had this in mind since creation, so I'm glad I have a way to implement it.

[Tarren]

Varok left his creations in the south of Korren and traveled through the continent observing the new peoples that emerged on the continent. While of potential future interest they did not concern him at the moment. He eventually made his way to the northwestern tip of the continent that the sentient creatures had yet to settle. He had seen his creations expanding north, if they eventually made it this far north he wanted them to have a place that reminded them of where the originated from. He let his his power reach out across the land to change it. The temperature dropped, the land was covered in snow, it was almost a mirror of the the tundra that covered the Southern Continent, except not quite as hostile or mountainous. As before he created new life to populate this land. First were the wolves, he decided they should be pack animals, needing to band together to survive. Next came the Reindeer, they would be the food source for the wolves, but he did not leave them defenseless. He gave them large antlers and with which to defend themselves. Finally he made a creature of the sky, the bird would a predator like the wolves, though solitary.

Spoiler

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AP: 8
Rollover: +4=12
-1 Alter Action: Create Northern Tundra on Korren.
-1 Create Bestial Life: Wolves
-1 Create Bestial Life: Reindeer
-1 Create Bestial Life: Snowy Owl
-3 Gain Domain: Nature(Tundra)

• Actions Above (4 AP)
• Create Southern Continent (2 AP)
• Create Snow Bears (1 AP)

AP Remaining: 5

With this part of the world now filled with life Varok turned his attention back to the Southern Continent. While traveling south across the empty ocean Varok let his mind wander. Several creatures had been created on the various landmasses he and the other gods brought into being on the world, but the sea from which everything had sprung and been mostly neglected. At the moment this thought passed through the god's mind a stray spark of divine creation struck the god. The god was temporarily overtaken by a sense of otherness that he could not explain, as if something from another existence had just passed through. Once this moment passed the god continued on his journey south. Unbeknownst to him, the spark had taken his last thought and personified it in the form of a new god. In the ocean below were Varok was struck lay the newly born god, floating on the water.

Spoiler

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This is the introduction of Jongo.

Once Varok reached the Southern Continent he noted the new society that had emerged around the Stone of Knowledge and was pleased to see the the Narwhals and Snow Bears were still working together. He decided to finally approach the deity that had advanced his creations. "Perit, I've noticed the attention you've given to my creations. It seems you only seek to advance them for their own good, I appreciate this. Do you have any further plans for them?

[AvocadoAvenger]

Telum

Several others were about to jump in and finish the spider again, but Daven held a hand up to keep them back. Maybe this conceals some secret purpose. Holding the spear firmly and pointed at the spider, poised to strike at any second, he circled his perceived enemy. "Strange creature, have you anything to say? If so, then say it now, and I will hear you out! If you only show yourself to us so that you may lead us astray from our one true path, then prepare to be shattered by my spear a second time!"