A Tale of Dieties - IC

[Kaiser Omnik]

Oghi

Oghi watched what Gard was doing with one of the salamanders. He shrugged.

"Meh. Violence will find its way in that household one way or another", he thought.

Inspired by Gard's action, Oghi visited the mortals everywhere to bring them fire. He also taught them about the outside world (so they go on adventures and take risks) and the awesome parties that the salamanders threw back on the Pyre Islands.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Threxis

Seeking to learn more of the races of the world, and driven by an unknowable urge that had little in common with the mortal concept of simple curiosity, he scuttled into the lands of the Salamanders. Not wishing to create curiosity about what dwelt beneath, he did not come to them from underground, but instead scuttled upon the earth with his great piercing talons. He was far larger than even the salamanders, dwarfing them with his daunting size. He stood at his tallest end, over 40 feet tall. He left cold in his wake, though it was a natural cold that could be alleviated with enough heat, he was still as a chill wind in a land of fiery folk, clacking in his alien language and twitching oddly as he observed the curious creatures about him.

[Emperor Demonking]

Gard

Gard went to the elves of the evening and spoke to one of the elves. As Gard spoke to him, Gard started giving the elf a strong lust. That strong lust would be passed on to the elf's descendants. Gard smiled as he left.

[Smiley_]

Rabbitfolk

Many Leponites were inspired to explore past the verdant pastures and roling hills on which they were born. Some traveled in bands into the desert, taking note of the plant life there. Others trekked north to the frozen parts of the world.

[Kaiser Omnik]

Oghi

A great fire illuminated the sky and Oghi crashed into the earth, not too far from the insect-arachnid hybrid.

"Hello there. You've found the salamanders? Beautiful specimens, aren't they? Who are you? I remember you from the awakening, but we didn't speak then."

The fire god had just finished teaching some of the most advanced tribes how to build rafts to move from one island to another and eventually to the mainland.

[Emperor Demonking]

Gard

Gard came to the salamanders, choosing to stretch his leg. He then started to walk towards Oghi. "Hello there. Hello, your gods right? I don't think we've met though."

As Gard did that, he decided to make the halfling family of envy. One halfling would have great feeling of envy and would past that down to his descendants.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Threxis

Swinging his head over to the firegod, Threxis whirred and chattered, his ability to communicate with the other gods increasing slowly. ...Curious... he nodded at the creatures, he wasn't too good with inflection yet, but it seemed he was speaking of the Salamanders. ...Name....Threxis...True...Gods...Left... He spoke to Oghi, and the newcomer, together ...You...Are?...

[Kaiser Omnik]

Oghi

"I am none other than the fiery Oghi, god of...well, fire! My children, the salamanders, remain young all their life. Look how they dance, feast and fight! They have the most interesting existence."

[Emperor Demonking]

Gard

"I am Gard, lord of." Gard then took in a breath. "Greed, Gluttony, Envy, Sloth, Lust and Pride. What are you the god of? Did you say?"

A halfling suddenly became excessively greedy. He would pass that on to his descendants.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Threxis

Threxis clicked and clacked his mandibles before responding. ...Insectoids...Cold...Brutality... He looks at the two gods again. He had emotions indeed, but they were subdued and... odd. They would little understand his drives, or him theirs. That was the way of things, he supposed.

[Fan]

The high lord of death Romachuk checked his hourglass, and saw that time was here for another reaping. So he sent out his reapers into the more dense, and violent lands as they would reap the greatest bounties. Then he sent them out into the lands filled with the most dead the reaping was also having another odd effect. Normally the bodies of the dead took quite awhile to decay back to the earth, but once reaped, and put through judgement their bodies went back to the earth nuturing the soil, and new life sprung up from where they were buried. How funny that his reaping would cause the production of new life? Funny really.

[Darth_Malevo]

Bel-Shannon

In a universe run amok with change, there must be consistency. A continuum of existence, a status quo that cannot be denied. It must be forever continuing, with no pauses or gaps or leaks or breaches. A sort of maintenance, but one that requires a janitor unlike any other. A janitor that can never go off duty, or leave his post. To do so would let reality unravel at the seams, and that would generally fall into the category of unfavorable.

Thus maintenance became an aspect of the universe, perhaps one that is not appreciated, but one that is noticed when it is not present. Like with all aspects of the universe, maintenance cannot be left to its own devices, lest the entire universe become absolutely rigid in some perfect form of stasis. So a god was born, one tasked with making sure that everything was held together, and that the odd tear or fracture in reality was obliterated.

Then there was life, the pesky thing that- from the chaos of the universe- came into being as a bastard child of an orgy between magic, chemistry, and the whims of some previous power. Life was uncontrolled, unmaintained. It made so many holes in time and space and reality by its creation that the universe nearly reset itself. But it did not do that, and the being known as the Maintainer also became part of evolution. Its task was not only to safeguard reality, but to ensure that evolution went according to its own insane schedule. A schedule that the Maintainer took part of, and soon a God was born. The God Bel-Shannon, the quintessence of universal maintenance and that genetic aberration known as the evolution of life. It was its duty to ensure fish could not fly, and that birds did not get the wise idea of eating rocks instead of worms.

Unfortunately, a paradox occurred. The universe does not like paradoxes, and as such Bel-Shannon was nearly destroyed. How could a god charged with maintaining a constant universe also maintain the chaotic genetic crashes of organic life? The answer presented itself in a loophole: By never physically manifesting, and instead using the ordered laws of reality to ensure the proper precedents were in place for evolution to follow a path set in stone, rather than chiseling itself a new one. So Bel-Shannon set about this task, finding itself a race that would call itself the apex of evolutionary advancement.
__________________________________________________ _____

So began the Gnomes, closest in nature to Bel-Shannon. Their curiosity nearly obliterated them on several occasions, if only because the neighboring tribe was wondering just where the last tribe went. Were it not for an amount of timely evolution in the head, they may well have gone after the Dodo on its last jog. They developed something few other species had: common sense. A power so miraculous that it counterweighted their lethal curiosity, forcing them to pause before a stupid venture. Naturally, most ignored the millisecond pause, but it was something that generally saved them from becoming easy lunch for a growing population of alligators.

This went on for a bit, until Bel-Shannon finally grew tired of having to wait decades for the gnomes to grow a few brain cells more. Waiting itself wasn't the problem, the matter of being unable to address immediate evolutionary dangers was. So Bel-Shannon, infinite in Its glory, stretched hundreds of appendages out to affect the universe. Gnomes soon became quick to breed, and their genome quickly deteriorated into chaos. This, to the God, was a good thing. It ensured that the species its so secretly favored would be well on the uptake to change, if in a somewhat volatile state.

Yet Bel-Shannon, unsure of just what a species such as its would need to survive in the world outside of genetics, decided to hold back and watch. Much could be learned by observing, with the odd touch of a sharp edge to cut off unseemly events.

Spoiler

Show

Power employed:
2 Major Acts to create the Gnomes, bless their overly curious souls.

[Fiery Justice]

Chaim

I'll teach you happily, says Chaim with a smile, looking up from his group of students, Though you'll have to keep up with A'rathic in order to do so. The students all laugh, and a dragonai lets out hiss that is the rough equivalent of a chuckle.

(The apostrophe is a guttural marker. At the once everyone is properly gathered up, I'll burn minor acts to make them all healers.)

[Kaiser Omnik]

Oghi

Oghi also sent a few salamanders to study Chaim's magical tradition.

[Krrth]

Ksharn


Ksharn had been dozing in the sun when he felt something strange. One of his children was dying from his injuries, the first death of a Vor ever. He went to investigate, and saw a reaper waiting to grab the soul. At first, Ksharn was angry and prepared to destroy the interloper. However, he quickly had an Idea.


No, this is an opportunity to strengthen my people. However, I can't have the souls of my people stolen from me. How shall I deal with this..

Ksharn reached out and infused more of his divine essence into his people, binding their souls to him. This meant that until such time as they were reborn, they could not be reaped.

Now....to winnow out the weak.

He altered the connection somewhat. Those who died during the Rite of Adulthood were not completely protected. They were protected for one week after death. After that, they were fair game for the reapers or anyone else who wanted to hunt them....and was willing to risk being hunted in return. They would have one year to survive without protection, after which they were allowed to reincarnate.

There. The weak will perish and be hunted as they prey they have shown themselves to be. They will have a chance to prove they are not prey, but predators. Any that so prove will be allowed back.

Spoiler

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1 Major act to enable reincarnation and binding of Vor souls to him. Full write-up in status, basic idea: Most Vor souls cannot be reaped, stolen, changed, or destroyed. Those that fail the rite of Adulthood (and thus die) have one week to prepare, and then must spend one year without any protection whatsoever.

[Fan]

Romachuk smiled he had been watching the Reaper in particular and had almost intervened when he had seen the god arrive. yet he stayed his hand interested in what the god was doing. yes that would do nicely. No conflict, and he still got his souls. Very nice.

[Krrth]

Ksharn

Ksharn looked at his work and was pleased. His people who had proven themselves worthy would be rewarded, those who were weak would be destroyed. He was getting hungry, however. He looked over at the Reaper and thought...

hmmm...A little Butter and Garlic, and that thing might just taste good....

[Kaiser Omnik]

Oghi

Oghi decided to pay a visit to the god of the desert people. He was completely in his element in the searing desert.

"Hello there. I came to see how your creatures were faring in this environment. You really didn't make things easy for them, heh? I like that. You're bold! I hope you still teach them to enjoy life when they can."

[Krrth]

Ksharn


Ksharn glances over at Oghi, and back to the Reaper.

What do you think.....would that thing taste good?


*Pause*

Where are my manners. I am Ksharn, this is the realm of the Vor. No, I do not make things easy for them....they must survive on their own. I should only intervene if something they cannot handle occurs. So, what can I do for you?

[llamamushroom]

Shouheki

Raising its head again from the island, Shouheki inspected the world. There had been a time of chaotic destruction, followed by an uneasy ceasefire, and now the propagator was teaching the arts of healing, actively combating its erstwhile foe. Another errant thought, in the same vein as the first, crossed the Spirit Turtle's mind; what point is there to unresolved conflict, if nothing is learnt? Surely there must be a purpose, otherwise all is...

Even the thought of a meaningless universe was too painful. Anyway, there was a purpose. The silver writing had told the assembled deities to look after the world. But why? asked the undermining thought, taking on a voice and life of its own. This greatly worried Shouheki, and so the Spirit Turtle decided to consult with the other deities. Surely those who had created their own peoples and races had a purpose in mind, and so they could tell Shouheki its purpose.

Raising itself up off of the ground, and trying to cast off the great pines and cyprus that had taken root upon its shell, Shouheki sent itself through the Spirit Realm, to find the leader of the people who lived in harmony with the earth.

Eventually, it felt the shadow of Leodin in the Spirit Realm, and came back through to the Mortal Realm. Raising its head high above the hilltops, Shouheki called out,

"God of the Field and Medow, tamed by mortal hands, answer me! What is your purpose?"

The cry echoes around, raggedly torn from an ancient throat made rough from disuse. The trees still standing upon its back reverberate to the Spirit Turtle's question, as though begging an answer, too.

[pingcode20]

Fastolph Blowfield

Fastolph managed to somehow appear behind Chaim, soon after his claim. It was like some variant of the super-butler-power well known in some circles.

"Yes, I think the Halflings wouldn't be astray with a little of that. Take your pick."

---

Deserts

The nomadic colony did not fail to notice the Vor, and Emilio Largefoot, the leader of the camp, quickly waved to the others.

"We've got guests, gentlemen. Chop chop, let's get the stew pots ready."

If there was any ability that a nomadic peoples would discover first, it was the skills of pottery - the ability to carry food and drink long distances and store them for extended periods of time was crucial when you could not get fresh food all the time.

Emilio waved to the watching Vor, as his fellow campmates were preparing the fire.

---

Lagomorphs

The Halfling colonies near the agriculturalist rabbit-men followed their settlements around incessantly, observing and learning their ways. However, they brought their own twists to the bounties of resources as some settled in each town.

Their long-kept abilities at pottery were melded into the agricultural tradition, reducing the amount of labour required. The Leponites were far better at it, though, and the Halflings mostly focussed on food preparation. At first, it was only curing the food and storing it away for later consumption, but then it progressed to preparing them into meals many times more edible (in some cases making the inedible edible) and more nutritious, to boot.

Through this, they quickly squirreled their way into many large families, and fairly quickly it became something of a 'must have' to retain a (much smaller) family of halflings as chefs - over time, they would diversify and take up cleaning duties, and other service works.

Spoiler

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Minor Act: Halfling Talent at Food Preparation Established

---

Salamanders

The Salamander archipelago was a difficult one to discover - like the Vor, they had been created in difficult-to-challenge locales. Unlike the Vor, the archipelago eventually tempted a settlement into deciding to brave the waters to see what could be found on its islands to carry back.

They had no way to cross it easily, but somehow they managed to arrive, paddling little log boats laden with pots and jars once full of food. Later scholars would call it inexplicable in the extreme - there should be no way they could have made it to the Salamander's islands. The technology to cross the ocean just hadn't been invented yet!

And yet, somehow they did. It was almost certain that there was a little bit of divine meddling afoot in their arrival, but the actions of the Halflings once there would vindicate themselves.

---

Gnomes

The Gnomes were curious creatures indeed, and such curiosity could only be inflamed further by the arrival of a travelling halfling caravan. The people almost appeared to be an offshoot of the Gnomes - they certainly looked similar enough - but it was far too early in creation for subraces to be made.

"Hello? Is there anybody in here?" one asked, tenatively standing at the threshold of the booms and whistles of a Gnome-Home.

---

Greed

Greed. A deplorable sin. Amongst a nomadic peoples, there was no room for greed. Moreso among the halflings, whose very existence relied on absolute integrity among its members.

In a later age, he would have been executed for his fault.

As it stood, however, it was not a great enough sin to warrant death, and so the seed of greed was cast out from his people and left to die. Where he would go afterwards was anybody's guess, but in a time where plenty was not the norm, greed was not good.

[Krrth]

The Vor


The Vor watched the little things move around on the outside of the desert. They were doing....something involving a fire. The Vor thought that was a little strange, since currently fire was of no real use to them. A small amount of time had passed when the Vor smelled something...delicious. The odor was incredibly appetizing. When the small things wave for them to approach, they looked at each other, then decided as a group to try whatever was making this new smell.

[Emperor Demonking]

Gard

Gard left the other two gods and saw that his creature of Greed had been sent out of the halfling group. Gard was not pleased, he was not pleased at all. Gard went to the halfling. "You are my servant. You are needed. Do you think allowing them to banish you, is the best way to get what you want? Of course not."

"You were the first one to fail me. You will have your gift now." Gard conjured five red jewels, one bigger than the others. One special thing about them was that merely seeing them caused you to desire them. "Now, use one of these to beg for forgiveness. Never let the big one go though. Good bye."

Greed went back to the halfling village and tried to get forgiveness.

[Fiery Justice]

Chaim

Chaim's lessons, at first, vary little. He teaches them to recite a few incantations and focus their wills towards calling up Chai. But he advances for sometime in teaching, guiding, and instructing, incantations give way to raw focus and will. The magic, to say the least, is complicated, involving a lot of channeling through Chaim (there's no other readily available source of Chai) and calling up knowledge and focus.

As the process continues they ascend up higher and higher ranks of healing, curing diseases, remaking limbs, and finally, at long last, Chaim explains Resurrection Magic:

"All resurrection magic relies on a few principles: Freedom of spiritual movement, souls cannot be contained beyond the reach of your will and I can't teach you to force them into a body.'

Chai must be ignited in every piece of the body, it must form the basis for the new life, not the heart, not the mind, not even the spirit itself can form the basis of the new life, it must be the Chai. When you become stronger, much stronger then you are now, you will be able to form the entire body from Chai, structure and control it. But right now, you are not nearly so strong.

In addition to all of these qualifications, you must have my personal aproval, which I will grant freely. The cost of such a spell is high, both in energy and literal cost. The best way to cast such a spell is with an extremely well formed diamond but other gemstones might funcution in a pinch.

When you undertake resurrection magic, there is a price. Romanchuk is selfish and greedy, he will not be pleased by the magic which gives life to the dead. I will protect you from his direct reproof, but you must be weary of his servitors ever after, for I cannot protect you from them. In enacting this magic, you establish yourself as a foe of death forever. I will show you, but given as corpses are in short supply in any area and I would not wish to force you to fight Romanchuk, I will not be giving direct instruction. You know the magic, you know how to focus your will, and you will now see it in action. After all that I have taught you, that should be enough."

Chaim teleported away and back and began the ritual. It involved a lot of chanting, magical energy releases and a very fine diamond, but the exact nature of the ritual is difficult to describe. It took ten minutes on the whole. Then it was finished.

You are done, you have learned everything you can learn this way. You may go.

[Smiley_]

Leodin

The protector god acknowledged Shouheki.

My purpose? What I do? Just as my people cultivate the land and watch over it, seeing that it is not destroyed or rendered sterile, I cultivate their hopes and dreams. Each mortal lives a life. This life, though short, is filled with countless experiences. Experiences of pain and happiness. Of success and faliure. I watch their hopes grow making sure that they too live for something. They live for their families, for their community and for the land they live on.

[Chappers]

Canvia

Some wise or pretentious creature once said something along the lines of 'there is never a beginning'. Tosh. I had a beginning, or rather I was created and before that is not important, anyway that is where I began. The sensation of being willed into existence, granted power, and let loose is a little odd to say the least. In fact it is probably impossible to describe so i'm not going to bother. I'll start after that with the sensations that hit me then...


I was kneeling on a grassy hill, hands out in front of me, and my breakfast spilling out of me, which was strange really because I didn't remember having breakfast. First impressions? Not good, as something that looked suspiciously like a mushroom travelled by at high speed.

Groaning I stood up and, gathering my dignity about me, 'looked' around. Odd, I wonder where I am? Ignoring the words on the stone I spread my gorgeous black wings and rose into the air with their steady beats. From up here the place looked even more bizzare with funny little things bouncing around all over the place. Maintaining a steady beat I soon had the whole of the place scoped out, I even watched as the little gods started to play with my new toy.

Thinking that i'd seen enough I opened my mind to the gifts that coursed through me, promptly falling from the sky with an undignified yelp as the pure pleasure of sentient life dreaming, scheming, and generally hoping their little socks off hit me. Recovering I started to explore this wonderful new sensation, mmmm life was going to be so much more...interresting.

I landed on what looked to be a shore. Sun and sand, lovely.

Hmmm...

Waving my hand I created a deckchair, cocktail, and sunhat. Laying back I started to think, what was I going to do, what indeed...

[Darth_Malevo]

Bel-Shannon

Boddypen was a normal Gnome as far as his species was considered. One of several children, he had been born with no serious crippling mutations, or anything that really helped him all that much. All he had to show that he was a proper Gnome was an extra toe and the inability to notice when he should have been in pain. Unfortunately, Gnomes being Gnomes, that meant he was quite lucky. His brother Hedwinkle had been born with no bones, and that had been a messy birth to start with. Or so his father told him with his lisp. He had been born with an overly large tongue, and it was things like that that made Boddypen wonder just what he will do to deserve just an unholy existence.

His entire tribe existed within the Shelter, a pitiful series of grass huts that had burnt to the ground several times before they actually tried burning them down to discover why they burnt down. It was the sort of head numbing logic that made Boddy question just what sort of patron deity his people had, and if that deity had a single marble in his/her/its head. Little to say of his distant cousin Berendo, who invented fire, and promptly led a very warm and very short life. Then there was Lidwinkle the Eunuch, renowned for his mastery of taming animals in a manner which generally involved a sharp object, standing behind the animal, and praying that a thin hunk of wood would be good enough protection for what's to come. Gnomes, each and every one of them, with about as much foresight as a blind ferret.

Boddypen, on the other hand, had a tad more foresight. Enough, at least, to tap a few of his brother Gnomes on the shoulder (Or shoulders, in Loopfoodle's horribly malformed case) when several wagons pulled up. Boddypen had seen wagons before, one of the other tribes having invented stone ones before nearly wiping themselves out in the process of seeing just how fast they can go. The technology had stuck, however, and it only took a small amount of scraping to get the stains off the wagons.

So there Boddypen was, creeping through the underbrush with four other Gnomes behind him. They didn't even have spears with them, though one did have a particularly large rock in his left hand. That's when evolution kicked in, and- like a lemming- his head popped up from the underbrush. Just to see what was going on, even though the intelligent part of him understood that these strange folk were probably not all that interested in negotiating, and more interested in culling the population for a bigger food supply.

His head popped back down, and there was a rushed conversation in the bushes, "<Anybody have a stick?>"
"<No, why?>" Garrick asked, the poor blighter twitching slightly as his condition kicked in.
"<Well, I figure we could tie that rock onto it and use it like a club.>" Boddypen replied, realizing too late that he just activated another part of Gnomish evolution.
"<Why stop there? Why not tie some animal sinew on the stick and propel the rock?>" Dwobni chipped in, a bit more loudly than required.
"<No, no, you know what happened last time we tried that! It took me a week to get all that sticky stuff out, a week!>" Another Gnome bleated from the back of the crowd, a riot of noise soon erupting from what was supposed to be an ambushing party.
"<Obviously, we should tie the rock to a piece of sinew, then to a stick! We'll still a rock after we use it!>"
"<A heavy object tied to a stick? That's just...stupid, even for you, Dalmadge.>"

And so it went on, a discussion on the fine points of sinew, sticks, and stones in the underbrush. If pottery and alchemy had been around, they might have brought some tables and herbal drinks to discuss the matter over. Wonderful for the curiosity of Gnomes, not so wonderful for the stealth of Gnomes trying to sneak up on a bunch of Halflings.

[pingcode20]

Fastolph Blowfield

Fastolph left Chaim to his own devices, and began examining himself. He closed his eyes, and saw his own divine spoor, and examined it more carefully. All gods gave it off - it was difficult to hide it, because it was based on power, and power was not something easily hidden.

But, still, he looked more carefully, and began to understand the nature of the divine sight.

Spoiler

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Major: Secrets domain advances to Rank 2.

Greed

The halfling returned, bearing his 'gifts' of vice, instructed by Gard to try and subvert his colony. Fastolph was not the sort to allow this to happen - he had the reputation of the halflings to consider.

He assumed mortal form, and masked his divine spoor, intercepting the returning halfling at the limits of the latest encampment.

"Why, exactly, are you back?" asked Blowfield, to the returned 'Servant of Gard'.

"I seem to remember you being exiled."

The greed-infused halfling sweated nervously, and offered up one of the rubies. "I've come for forgiveness... I was asked to give you this."

"Transparent. I think your new benefactor has something left to learn. Come with me, and we can talk."

The halfling nodded silently, and followed the tall, authoritative halfling into the tent without complaint.

"Now, the jewels, please."

The greedy fellow turned over one of the rubies.

"I don't believe I asked for a jewel, my friend. All of them, please."

"Um... ah..."

"Now, Gordo."

Gordo handed over three more small ones, holding on to the large one nervously.

"Interesting. There is a reason why you don't want to turn over the large one. Reason more than the greed which saw you thrown out in the first place."

For a moment, Gordo resisted the urge to tell him. At the end of it, a flash of lightning erased such resistances.

"Please. Enlighten me."

"I was told not to give it up, under any circumstances."

"By your benefactor? Yes, I think I know who you are talking about, now." Fastolph held up the four rubies, and picked up a carved wooden goblet. He squeezed, and crushed the rubies into a blood red wine that turned the goblet into gold. He held out the goblet to Gordo.

"Have a drink. My treat."

Silently, Gordo took the goblet and drank down its contents. He felt his right ring finger become heavy - it turned to gold for just a moment, before fading back to normal.

"That, is how much you owe to Gard. That is the value of your greed. The rest is halfling, and halfling alone, Gordo Goldfinger. But, of course, you need not tell that to Gard - you are his servant, not his ally."

Spoiler

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Minor Act: Queuing 12x 12th level servants.

Using one to subvert Gordo Goldfinger as Minor Servant. This is 'secret information', and is not apparent to Gard.

---

The Vor

Emilio waved the Vor over.

"Come, come." he said, as the other halflings worked on the pot. "Almost ready."

He used simple words and motions to convey the message, and seats were brought up for the Vor to wait. They didn't have to wait long, before a line of halflings brought forward wooden dishes filled with what looked a little like meat dropped in mud, with grass sprinkled on top.

Fortunately, the thick soup was not, in fact, meat dropped in mud, and it smelt appetising indeed.

[Krrth]

The Vor

The Vor looked around the camp...not nervously, but perhaps warily. They sat on the benches provided, and waited. Soon, a meal of what looked like meat dropped in mud, sprinkled with grass arrived. They looked at each other, and gave a shrug that just screamed "Eh, why not. We've had worse". They quickly devoured the meal, clearly enjoying it. After the meal was over, they tried to communicate with their hosts. Despite having just met, a surprising amount of communication was possible...the Vor seemed to have a knack for picking up new languages. By the end of a few days, basic communication was possible....and the Vor ate everything put in front of them.

Who....you? Friends?

The Vor smiled. This was perhaps not the friendliest gesture possible, given the large number of sharp teeth they possessed. Between the teeth, the claws, and the elaborate, beautiful tattoos, they looked rather fierce.

you....teach?

They indicated the remains of the meals prepared.

Spoiler

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Vor have a Knack for learning languages (1 minor), Vor have invented Tattooing as an art form, and are quite good at it (1 minor)

[pingcode20]

The Vor

Emilio smiled, and nodded.

"Yes. We will teach friends."

There was nothing primitive about either language - it was simply a matter of working with simple words until understanding of each other's languages could be achieved.

"Come."

He made motions indicating the Vor should come over to the main cooking area, and while it was difficult, and their art was as highly developed as the tattoo artistry the Vor already had, it was still comparatively in its primitive stages, and the language barrier did not cause too much trouble in their endeavours to help the Vor learn some of the dishes they had been served during their stay.