[center][colour=Red][h3]Kirron[/h3][/colour][/center] [i]THUD![/i] The heavy, grey-skinned quadruped flailed its horns and brayed into the sky it flew across. It had never flown before. The ground flattened in a streak where it landed, skidding into a tumble in the dirt. It desperately righted itself and thundered away before it could even stop. [colour=Red][b]"Nice try, fat boy!"[/b][/colour] Kirron hefted his club -- a stripped tree trunk -- back over his shoulder. His growling shout followed the flat-footed creature behind it. [colour=Red][b]"Try better next time or I'll swing hard enough that you won't hit the ground! Heh heh heh..."[/b][/colour] Kirron wiped some spittle off his lip with his forearm. The fight would stay in these creatures. It was just a matter of knowing who was boss. The thought shrank Kirron's smile. He turned to continue on his walk, humming thoughtfully to himself. [colour=Red][b]"Hrmmmnm. Each one dies. Might not learn. Will keep relearning..."[/b][/colour] He snapped his fingers. [colour=Red][b]"I ought'a try something else."[/b][/colour] He let images pass through his mind as he strolled through the Hooflands. He knew there was a solution somewhere. [hr] Wildlife only attacked Kirron a few more times before he approached the east coast again. Most was just territorial or defensive behaviour now that most of the blood had dried or soaked into the ground. The genuine predators followed curiously for a while, but could not quite overcome their reluctance to challenge a tree trunk. Kirron's reflection distracted him still. As highlights of red became less frequent in the flora and fauna around him, he wondered whether he would be constantly adjusting forever. As sun lost its power to biting cold winds and clouds, the thought of slowing down to stop his work became less appealing anyway. He swam across the flow of a broad and refreshing river with no new ideas yet. There had to be inspiration somewhere. It wasn't until his feet finally felt sand and his eyes looked up to peer across the horizon that he stopped and scrunched up his face. [colour=Red][b]"Wait..."[/b][/colour] Kirron saw Heliopolis was leaning a little too far to his left. He had been going south-east. He paused for a moment. And then he lifted his brow and shrugged. [colour=Red][b]"Whatever. Not like I'm in any..."[/b][/colour] A sound carried across the beach that trailed Kirron off. A high groaning sound, almost like an amused yell. Kirron turned his head to the source. [colour=Red][b]"...Rush..."[/b][/colour] Down the beach to his right were what looked to be a crowd of irregularly placed smooth rocks. Some of them moved, using little limbs to throw sand upon their backs. One of the stones was not a stone at all, but some blubbery grey mass pushing itself along by two little paws and its half-curled tail end. It had two big dark eyes on its head and a handful of thick straight whiskers springing back from under its nose. A closer look revealed all of the stones to be these blubbery smooth creatures, napping lazily on the sand. Intrigued, Kirron approached the creatures. More little grunts and belches sounded from them. One by one, the sounds dimmed as their heads quirked up to look at the blood god with big curious eyes. Kirron stopped and asked the nearest creature. [colour=Red][b]"Hey, you,"[/b][/colour] he pointed. The creature was reclined on its side and holding its bemused head back. [colour=Red][b]"What're you?"[/b][/colour] The creature opened its mouth, revealing a big pink tongue and a set of healthy teeth. "I'm a seal. What're you?" [colour=Red][b]"Call me Kirron."[/b][/colour] He tilted his head to one side. [colour=Red][b]"Why are you all laying about here?"[/b][/colour] The seal turned to look at its friends and back to the blood god. "Because our tummies are full and the sand feels nice." Kirron harrumphed. His brow quirked as something pieced together inside his head. [colour=Red][b]"S’that so? Hm…I need to think about this. Scootch over, seal."[/b][/colour] The seal wobbled itself out of Kirron's way as he set down his huge club and lay down on his back, looking up at the sky. He even did as the seals did and threw some sand on his legs and torso. It did feel nice, he thought as he frowned. [hr] [i]Shhhhhhhwhuf![/i] The heavy, blubbery seal flailed its fins and brayed into the sky it flew through. It had never flown before. The sea water smacked and gave way to his body, leaving his skin stinging as he remembered which way was up. Looking about, more seals fell into the water, each with a [i]CHOOM[/i] and a cloud of bubbles before the liquid slowed them. Each shook their heads as they came to their senses. The seal blinked hard. They looked strange. He blinked and shook his head as he registered what he saw; the seals around him had their tails split into two thick limbs, and their fins had grown longer, with curling fingers at the end of each. He recoiled in horror as he looked down and found his own body changed in just the same way. Some panicked swimming took the seal closer to shore in a similar manner to his friends. His rear limbs took a moment to get used to but he could thankfully still swim as well as before. His head poked out of the surface of the water. Left and right, many of his friends and family were looking to shore as well. They appeared confused. [colour=Red][b]"Get up! Enough sleeping!"[/b][/colour] Kirron grasped another pair of bewildered seals by the tails in each hand and flung them one after the other into the sea. [colour=Red][b]"If you've got time to relax, you've got time to have fun! Come on! Get ready!"[/b][/colour] The blood god was grinning from ear to ear with his shark-like teeth. The seal looking on followed the arcs of his flying friends. Their flapping tails parted into the strange hind-limbs as they flew. Kirron threw quite the number of seals into the ocean this way. Many retreated to the water before he could grab them, of course. Some tried to bite but were just taken by the heads and tossed into the water without so much as a second look. [colour=Red][b]"Don't miss out! This'll be great, I promise!"[/b][/colour] Kirron laughed. He was unstoppable. After enough seals were thrown into their new forms, Kirron stood up straight and dusted the sand off his hands. [colour=Red][b]"Alright, listen up everyone! This is your celebration! I've got some gifts for each of you!"[/b][/colour] He turned, took a deep breath and blew a gust of wind from his pouted lips. The sand flew violently inland, revealing under the beach a neatly arranged pile of fresh dead fish, all coloured a deep lustrous red. Kirron turned back to the seals and beckoned with one hand. [colour=Red][b]"Come and get them, then we'll celebrate. If you're content to stay, just turn around and swim away. You'll be back to your old forms before you can even remember this happened."[/b][/colour] Some of the further seals' heads ducked under the water in fear, retreating as they did back into their tail-and-finned forms. Others glanced back and glanced at each other. The seal looking on felt his heart race. He was hungry and curious. A deadly combination. When he ducked under the water, he swam towards the god. His body slid to a stop on the sand. An immediate attempt to shuffle his way up the beach cause his new hind-limbs to bend effortlessly on a middle joint. He propelled himself and stumbled. He god a face full of dry sand. Undeterred, he kept trying. His hind-limbs propelled him up. His heart beat too fast for him to consider turning back. He overstepped and held his new, long, fingered forelimbs out. He barely balanced himself. Heavy feet crunched on the sand in front of him. Kirron stepped up to the standing seal. The seal lifted his eyes to the towering red god. [colour=Red][b]"Here."[/b][/colour] Kirron held out one of the fish. The seal bent down to try to bite it. He overbalanced and felt his fore-limbs grab at the blood god's wrist. They were good at holding, these new hands. After another abashed glance, the seal grabbed the fish with one of his new fore-limbs and stuck it in his mouth. [colour=Red][b]"Now tell me,"[/b][/colour] Kirron said in his low-pitched voice. [colour=Red][b]"What're you?"[/b][/colour] As the seal chewed and swallowed the delicious, warm, and tender red fish, he thought about the question. He thought about it until he knew he was thinking. He thought unlike he had when he first met the approaching blood god. With a small gasp, the seal looked up to Kirron. "I'm a...a...selka. That's what I am, Kirron." The selka felt a tingle in his throat. He had spoken to the blood god. Not like he had before. He spoke with sounds from his mouth that fit together like rubble. Kirron clapped a hand on the selka's shoulder and grinned. [colour=Red][b]"Sounds correct to me. My gift to you is the name Viyoh."[/b][/colour] He pushed Viyoh behind him. [colour=Red][b]"Now go have fun, Viyoh."[/b][/colour] Viyoh spun to look behind him as he rebalanced. In front of Kirron now were the carefully approaching seals from the water. All of them were still transformed -- they were selka, like him, he knew. When one reached the spread of fish and ate one, Kirron gave her a name. Antorophu. Antorophu's eyes lit up when she heard her name. [colour=Red][b]"Now go have fun, Antorophu."[/b][/colour] She was unceremoniously, or perhaps ceremoniously, shoved along. Kirron attended to each selka. A selka who was taller than the others found her hind-limbs more easily. Uraph. [colour=Red][b]"Now go have fun, Uraph."[/b][/colour] Another who crawled half the way on his still rotund middle and sprinted the rest of the way ate a fish while catching his breath. Hoshaf. [colour=Red][b]"Now go have fun, Hoshaf."[/b][/colour] None of them really knew what to do. They had a feeling it meant something other than standing around wordlessly. One selka managed to navigate the whole way across the beach propped up on her hind-limbs. Ephrish. [colour=Red][b]"Now go have fun, Ephrish."[/b][/colour] Ephrish was enlightened like the rest, but her balance remained imperfect. She stumbled her way across the uneven sand until Viyoh and Antorophu reached out to hold her. The higher centre of balance took them all by surprise as they staggered his way and that. They all laughed. Viyoh even had the temerity to pull them into another stumble together for the thrill. [colour=Red][b]"Now go have fun, Dheansaff."[/b][/colour] Seeing the laughter, the other selka started to giggle. They joined in by grabbing and shoving one another in play. [colour=Red][b]"Now go have fun, Hulphay."[/b][/colour] The selkas settled into their playfight as a collective on their new land legs. [colour=Red][b]"Now go have fun, Felsoff."[/b][/colour] Before long it was more fun to see who could stand up for the longest, rather than see who could throw the other down. They made rules with their new words, speaking in ways that fit together. [colour=Red][b]"Now go have fun, Nevuah."[/b][/colour] Of course, standing still was never the fun way to win such a game. [colour=Red][b]"Now go have fun, Nuhuansoph."[/b][/colour] They put spins on the game. Some raced across the beach, shoulder to shoulder. Some joined in a circle and spun. [colour=Red][b]"Now go have fun, Thumfatem."[/b][/colour] The crowd of movement laughed into the day. [colour=Red][b]"Now go have fun, Ethrevith."[/b][/colour] With no more coming out of the water, Kirron turned around and put his hands on his hips. A satisfied smile crept onto his face at the scene. The selka were all having fun. They learned one another’s names and spoke with a new language. They danced, and wrestled, and discussed, and went swimming, and ate some more of the fish. Kirron could not help but to step up and join in the revelry. This was a day of celebration. [hr] At the end of the day, Kirron sat facing the ocean with his arm on his propped-up knee. He made sure to scare off any creature wishing to interrupt the party, but now all the selka slept on the beach behind him. Each had a smile on their seal-like face. The experience left them exhausted. Kirron did not expect to see another seal waddle itself out of the water. It was an old, spotty seal, peering up at Kirron with a grumpy scrunched nose. [colour=Red][b]"You're too late to be a selka now."[/b][/colour] Kirron told the seal. [colour=Red][b]"You had your chance."[/b][/colour] The seal grunted as only the old, wise, and indignant could. "They'll be very hungry in the morning, you know!" The seal told him, still speaking like an animal. Kirron frowned. [colour=Red][b]"So what?"[/b][/colour] "They'll be too overwhelmed by all this thinking and words to catch any fish!" The blood god rolled his sunken eyes. [colour=Red][b]"They'll work it out. Hell, if they want to have fun like that again, they’ll [i]have[/i] to work it out. Why do you care, anyway?"[/b][/colour] "Because I'm the oldest seal there is!" The seal barked up at Kirron. "I want to see them live happy and healthy lives! And you just messed it all up!" Kirron craned his head forward, scowling at the old seal. The seal stood its ground. The staring contest continued. The level of quiet intolerance between the two remained neck and neck. Kirron narrowed his eyes. The old seal narrowed its eyes. They both started to grumble in unison, escalating in volume and speed. The crescendo ended as Kirron halted and straightened. He spoke flatly. [colour=Red][b]"You want to protect them."[/b][/colour] "Yes!" The seal barked. Kirron drew in a long, thoughtful breath. [colour=Red][b]"You know they must face their own challenges."[/b][/colour] "Of course I know!" It snorted and lowered its voice. "All guardians know this." The corner of Kirron's mouth quirked upwards. [colour=Red][b]"What if I gave you the ability to protect them all? Would you let them face their own challenges then?"[/b][/colour] Thinking was hard for the seal, but his wisdom was cultured from a long and eventful life. He barked after a pause to say. "I would. Many challenges are beyond them. I would protect them until they can face those challenges themselves." [colour=Red][b]"Good,"[/b][/colour] Kirron said slowly. He stood up to his feet. [colour=Red][b]"Then do that with my blessing...Yimbo, Selka Guardian."[/b][/colour] The wise old seal felt a bloated, flushed feeling. The blood god shrank as the rest of the beach shrank around him. He felt his teeth grow and snap together with razor edges. He felt his skin and fur thicken around his blubber until he could barely feel the lapping of the waves. He felt his muscles and tendons fall at ease with which they propped up his old bones, stronger than ever. When he finally towered over the bluffs around the beach, he let out a guttural, echoing roar. All the selka started from their sleeps and beheld their guardian’s friendly, beastly face. He felt as though he could bite the land and tear the continent in half. He felt he could protect his seals and his selka from anything. [colour=Red][b]"And with that, my new friends,"[/b][/colour] Kirron shouted to all the Selka, [colour=Red][b]"I have to go! Never lose sight of what is important to you! Earn all the fun you can!"[/b][/colour] Kirron bellowed out a loud laugh and sprung himself down. When he leapt away into the sky, laughter echoing behind him and sand send flying in a plume, the selka felt such a grief strike their hearts. All the selka and all the seals wept that day, for they knew they would never have such fun as when Kirron came to gift them. But even though they could not stop weeping, they could still earn their fun. They never would forget the blood god’s words. [hider=:aseal: intensifies] After populating the Great Hooflands, Kirron goes walkabout again. He beats up a few territorial creatures along the way with a massive tree trunk. He thinks about something vague along the way regarding his future. After losing track of his time and direction, he finds himself on a beach a little south from the mouth of Kangjiang river on the east coast of Atokhekwoi. His confusion is interrupted by a bunch of seals lounging on the beach. He walks up and asks one of the seals what’s up, has a revelation, and then relaxes for a bit on the sand. Suddenly, Kirron starts throwing the seals into the ocean to get them to wake up. While they fly, the seals’ tails grow into legs and their fins grow into arms and hands. They get transformed into humanoid seals. Kirron lets all the transformed seals know that he’s got gifts for them, but if they just want to be seals again, they can swim away and they’ll turn back. He then reveals a whole load of fresh red fish from under the sand. Some of the transformed seals retreat into the ocean and turn back into their original forms. Others carefully make their way back onto land. When they do, Kirron gives each of them a fish and a name. The fish bestow sentience upon the transformed seals, securing their new forms as [i]selka[/i] – a new race of intelligence semi-aquatic seal-like humanoids. When they gain their sentience, Kirron tells them to have fun, and the crowd of selka grows into a big party. Selka are fun-loving creatures adapted to subsistence from the sea. They are peerless divers who can hold their breath for much longer due to a higher concentration of blood in their bodies and other physical adaptations against changes in water pressure. They are somewhat blubbery of body and less agile than other mortals on land, but they are just as strong and fierce as your average human. They’ll soon grow and spread across the coast, but they are very unlikely to migrate into too-dry climates, let alone very far inland. Wiki articles pending™. Aaaanyway, Kirron protects the selka while they’re partying, but they eventually tire themselves out. As he’s watching over them, another seal comes up out of the water. It’s an old and wise seal – the oldest and wisest of them all by his claims. The old seal tries to chastise Kirron for distracting the selka with all this intelligence and partying. Kirron basically tells him he should have more faith and they get into a glaring contest. Kirron works out that the old seal just wants to protect the seals. After working out that the old seal won’t stunt the selka’s growth with helicopter parenting, he transforms the old seal into Yimbo, the Selka Guardian. Yimbo is a colossal and monstrous seal and an apex predator of the ocean, with great strength and a caring heart. He will be taking care of the selka and the seals from challenges beyond them, but nothing lesser. Then Kirron leaves. The selka and the seals are so sad that they start crying and never stop, despite their sadness not always being present. This manifests as lubricating mucus running from the eyes of seals and is quite natural, but it doesn’t keep them down. Kirron told them to earn their fun, and they shall. [/hider] [hider=Might Summary] [i]Before:[/i] Kirron - Blood, Strength - 10 MP - 8 FP -4 MP: Created the Selka, a sapient race of semi-aquatic seal-like humanoids. -2 FP: Created Yimbo, the Selka Guardian. A giant seal made for protecting the coastline. (Boosted by Strength portfolio) [i]After:[/i] Kirron - Blood, Strength - 6 MP - 6 FP [/hider]