Lords of Creation

[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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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]

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)

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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]

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 Show 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 Show 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

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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