[center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/870473f3-5910-4f94-b693-626198194773.png[/img][/center] Mater Lei walked the halls of her citadel, watching the waves of Grimloq's latest contrivance batter and fail against its ashen walls. Spray soaked the window as though it were raining; it had been a sunny day before, but now Lei had made it clouded. She felt it more appropriate. She could almost hear the roar of his avatars duelling out in the distant sea. The gods had left, by and large, to forge their own territories. One or two remained- Kap Gam was still here somewhere, as was Ipeyr, fostering his son. Kiko was still around, though fate alone knew where her tunnels led. Alto was gone. Malkut was resting. For the most part, she was alone. Lei pulled a thin slab of metalled glass, the Book of Alto, from her coat, watched the letters dance thereon; the only source of light in a dark dark hall. He did send reports. When he could. Could be [i]bothered.[/i] Lei looked into the darkness, the corridor extending endlessly before her. It was moody. Every wall bore the scrawlings of the desperate golem. Her magic still soaked the place, residual power that would come when she called and until then stayed where it had been left, darkening. She curled her fingers. The magic zephyred. Tiny specks, so small as to be fog, hanging in every corner, living but not breathing, dead, hungry. Her magic was the magic of dust. She clenched a fist. The walk that had been dim was now black. Beneath her mask, Lei smiled. It had been a long, long time since she had indulged herself. She didn't need to be lonely, of course. She was just watching the Door [i](that cold and distant door that ever seemed to be watching back)[/i]. She could make this place as lively as she wanted, a sight to heal tired hearts. She could make her guards like flowers, dancers and warriors, fill it with shrine maidens to please her eye. Then she could wander. But, thought Mater Lei, watching the lightless curl, she had a theme going. The dust swirled and condensed, thickened with flesh. It did not take shape- it was still dust and dustshadow. Lei kneeled, extended her finger, and bored a wound of light into the black. The bright spot wavered, shook, swam, and split in two. Lei grabbed the darkness by the throat and pulled it out. A [url=https://www.artstation.com/artwork/aYdqR]Haze Man[/url]. Lei threw it back into the dust and it stayed there. She looked into the dim. Plenty more where that came from. One by one she filled her halls with Haze Men. They lay in the dust, the shadow, embedding themselves in the concrete, motionless, unseen, traps for the audacious. When she had some two hundred, Lei filled a bag with rabbits and threw them into the Citadel. They didn't last long. Those thin arms sprung like beartraps. Lovely. Lei selected a room in the Keep and filled it with weapons, great iron weapons, spears and hammers and axes, and garottes, and bolas and boomerangs- not the light returning kind, made for sport, but the heavier kind, for killing. They were crude weapons, heavy and huge, sharper than they ought to be, and [url=https://68.media.tumblr.com/04cb2bf3608830897230876e7042475f/tumblr_owoll5VnnW1s8p1hwo1_1280.jpg]the Haze Men suited them well[/url]. [colour=thistle][i]That will do,[/i][/colour] thought Mater Lei, [colour=thistle][i]for now.[/i][/colour] She stepped into the garden and listened to the Plumes. Did she hear a knock? [hider=h a z e m e n] Lei realises that her pretty much utterly empty citadel is kind of creepy, so she decides to mAKE IT EVEN CREEPIER [b]The Haze Men are created for 1 Might.[/b] There's about 200 of them and they don't reproduce, so that's pretty much the upper limit on their numbers unless Lei decides to make more. Composed of a strange dust, Haze, they dissolve their bodies and blend in with shadows and walls until disturbed. They're quite strong and lack blood, but can be carved up or returned to dust by strong impacts. Haze can be rearranged into new Haze Men, so over time they'll tend to lose numbers as a result of their dwindling total mass rather than individuals being killed. Haze Men are not sentient. They follow a strict set of instructions and triggers written by Mater Lei. They can be 'curious', though, when they are allowed to investigate. [b]Lei spends a Miracle to make weapons for them, because fuck, guys, I love these things[/b] [b]Mater Lei 5 Might 3 Miracles Level Four 7.25/8 Acts of Creation[/b] [/hider]