[center][img]http://s25.postimg.org/kosvah54v/cooltext166741318147104.png[/img]
[color=965716][b]The Great Artisan, Divine Mason, Builder of Civilisations
Level 3 God of Crafting (Masonry)[/b]
1.5 Might & 0 Free Points[/color][/center]

Teknall drifted above Galbar, observing the life which had formed. He saw all the life of Slough, in its tranquil and diverse splendor, kept in balance by a self-regulating ecosystem. At the peak of that ecosystem were the Heraktati. Of most interest to Teknall were the Hain, who fitted in with the natural style of life but possessed sentience, able to operate and organise at a level above. He would attend to them soon.

Then there was the unnatural life. Some, such as the elementals, did not directly impact the ecosystems, instead operating on a different plane. There were the Fibrelings, and while they made a nuisance of themselves they seemed to be made such that their impact on a global scale would be minimal, although they could still scatter a whole tribe of Hain and set them back many years. There were the Ashlings, vile creatures who spread their corruption like a plague. Teknall despised these creatures, ever since his encounter with them, and they needed to be controlled. There were the White Giants, benevolent guardians built by Toun, but they would not be able to protect the vulnerable life of Galbar forever. The Ashlings, and any other highly aggressive species which may be created in future, could adapt and grow in number. The White Giants were static, unchanging, save for their ever dwindling population in their eternal war of attrition. Galbar needed another line of defense, something which would be longer lasting, stronger, and more general in purpose.

Teknall considered the Ashlings as his primary targets, and started designing. Any life based on Slough's work would be vulnerable to anything which could corrupt the flesh. Even the White Giants, with their porcelain armour and magical energy source, were susceptible to the Ashlings' curse. Then Zephyrion's elementals came to mind. They were raw manifestations of magical energy, with a barely tangible physical form. He realized that such a creation would be ideal for fighting back the Ashlings. Teknall just needed to put it into a more concrete form.

Flesh would not do, and Teknall wasn't proficient in sculpting the wind, so he turned to the material he was most proficient in. Stone. Standing by a boulder in the Ironheart ranges, Teknall took a hammer and chisel and started carving. Stone would be an excellent material- it was strong and tough, incorruptible. It was also found in abundance, in a variety of forms. This would be important, for if such a species was to be sustainable it would need to eat, and reproduce.

To achieve his goals of protecting Galbar, Teknall decided not to apply a narrow definition to who they would fight. Instead, these creatures would be innate judges of character, able to tell who was aggressive and who was not, destroying the former and keeping the latter safe. The creatures would normally live slowly, having a minimal impact, although Teknall left plenty of potential in them, in case he wanted to improve them later.

Before him, Teknall now had a statue of a creature, yet one which conformed with the boulder. A large head and thick arms and legs were curled together, as though it had folded itself into a ball. But before he animated it, Teknall realized that he could add more. If he was creating a fantastical creature of magic, why not give it magical powers? So he granted the creature a limited degree of control over the earth from which it was made. It would be able to travel through solid earth with ease without leaving a trace of its passage.

Finished with the design, Teknall walked around stone statue once more, inspecting his work. It was not an immaculately crafted creature with smooth edges and a flawless gloss finish, like Toun's work, but it didn't need to be. Life was rough, life would beat away at it and wear it down. Stone too did not naturally come smoothly hewn and polished, but rough and jagged. To carve it to smoothed perfection would be contrary to its nature, and leave its flaws exposed and jarring. This, though, was robust, durable, able to bear the struggles of reality.

"It will do nicely. Awaken, Urtelem!" Teknall planted the palm of his hand on the statue's forehead, which stirred to life as a wave of divine power washed through it. There was the sound of cracking stone as the creature unfurled its limbs and stood, stretching its joints. It stared around blankly, confused and lost. Teknall got to work on creating more. The original design complete, Teknall was able to create more Urtelem at a touch of his hand, and soon he had a whole group of them created from the boulders. With others of their kind present, the Urtelem began talking to each other with crude grunts which had the sound of rocks rubbing against each other.

Satisfied, Teknall moved on a few hundred kilometers along the Ranges and created another herd of Urtelem. He moved on again, and created some more. He moved beyond the Ranges and created more across Galbar- sandstone in the deserts, limestone by the oceans, and so on, until the whole of Galbar had been seeded with Urtelem. Granted, this seeding was no where near the extent with which Teknall had seeded the planet with trees, but it would save the slow-living Urtelem many long generations in spreading across the planet. And the sooner they became noticeable, the sooner they could start protecting the precious Hain.

[hider=Summary]
Teknall creates the Urtelem, protective creatures of solid, living stone. He spreads them across Galbar. -1 Might
0.5 Might and 0 FP remaining
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