[center]
[img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/2b4925ee-b215-4b89-a794-5058a6c53e13.png[/img]
[colour=lightseagreen][h1][b][i]Ashalla[/i][/b][/h1]
[b]Goddess of Oceans, Storms and Ice[/b][/colour]

&

[h1][color=orange][b][u]Kalmar[/u][/b][/color][/h1][/center]

[hr]
The coasts of Kalgrun were an untamed wilderness. Dense forests, imposing mountains and frozen landscapes held all manners of creatures. Ashalla’s pseudopods curled out of the sea and licked against each new species Ashalla saw. Although she had seen many of these creatures in the sculptures of the winter-spirits, it was only here that Ashalla could taste them. Many of the creatures bore Kalmar’s signature, although some had the mark of Phystene or Seihdhara. There was even one species which had been made by Narzhak.

Eventually Ashalla came to the east coast of the continent, where the forests gave way to plains. Rising from the plains, almost blending into the clouds, were tiny wisps of smoke. There were intelligent mortals in these lands.

Ashalla continued along the coast until she found a pack of the mortals. Their camp was a collection of furs, animal hides and leaf mats strewn across the ground. Some pits had been dug to hide food. In the midst of the camp was a circle of blackened branches and white ash.

A few groups of mortals were within walking distance of the camp, out hunting for sea-birds with their slings or foraging the scrublands for edible plants. These mortals adopted the common humanoid form - notably they were taller than Dreamers and their features bore an animalistic sharpness, particularly their ears, teeth and nails. She also noticed the grace and agility with which the hunters moved. Yet unlike the selka, none seemed to be hunting the fish of the sea.

Within the camp remained one adult mortal. The red-haired male sat on a rock, bone-tipped spear lying nearby. He gave the occasional glance around the camp, which contained a couple of infants asleep on a mat of animal hides, but he was clearly bored.

Ashalla watched the mortal for a time from the concealment of the ocean. Then she approached. While the man was looking the other way, Ashalla flowed quietly across the sand of the beach like a creek running in reverse, then reached the dirt and grass. A pseudopod crept up the rock, but before it reached the man Ashalla thought better of it. Instead the water gathered up and rose.

The sound of water moving was just starting to gain the attention of the bored man when Ashalla spoke with a voice like a crashing wave. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“Mortal man.”[/b][/colour]

The man reached for his spear and turned in alarm, yet when he saw the towering woman of water his mouth gaped open. There was a stunned silence for a second, until the man’s mind caught up with the situation. He leapt to his feet, held his spear upright, crossed his spare fist across his chest and bowed his head. When he looked up again, though, a quizzical expression overtook his face, and his mouth twisted as though trying to find the right words to say.

Ashalla pre-empted the man and said, [colour=lightseagreen][b]“I am Ashalla, Goddess of Water. Who are you?”[/b][/colour]

The man bowed his head again. “I am Nym.”

[colour=lightseagreen][b]“What are you, Nym?”[/b][/colour] As Ashalla asked her question, a thin pseudopod of water snaked along the ground and licked against the man. Nym tensed at the touch and stepped away from the pseudopod, although another pseudopod had sprung up on the other side of him. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“Answer the question.”[/b][/colour]

“I-” Nym tensed again at the watery touch, although the icy gaze bearing down on him made him think twice about resisting. “I am a father, a hunter, a Vallamir.”

The tendrils finished probing Nym and withdrew, allowing Nym to relax a bit. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“Who are your gods?”[/b][/colour]

“My kind were created by Kalmar, Roog, Arae and Li’Kalla. They taught us how to survive in this land of Kalmar’s.”

A little bubble rose through Ashalla and popped at the surface. [colour=lightseagreen][i]Li’Kalla? She’s whole again?[/i][/colour] Ashalla did not hesitate for more than a moment before continuing with her questions. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“You are a hunter, yet you are not hunting.”[/b][/colour]

Nym looked over his shoulder at the sleeping babies in the camp. “No. Today I’m doing the task of a father and watching the camp and the young.”

[colour=lightseagreen][b]“Your mind and hands were idle.”[/b][/colour]

Nym looked a bit sheepish. “Well, yes, it is a bit boring.”

Ashalla rumbled thoughtfully. Her gaze then shifted to a section of scrub nearby, within which lurked a badger. Although the badger appeared ordinary to mortal senses, Ashalla could sense the faintest odor of divinity. A pseudopod stretched out with unnatural speed and wrapped around the animal. Ashalla regarded the badger for a moment, then released the animal which promptly scampered off.

Carrying on as if nothing had happened, Ashalla asked, [colour=lightseagreen][b]“Have you ever considered hunting the animals of the ocean?”[/b][/colour]

The vallamir’s brow furrowed. “No, um… hadn’t had the need. Although, it wouldn’t hurt, although don’t know how.”

Ashalla rumbled again, and glanced up and down the coast. She had seen the equipment the other vallamir had been using, how little the items they had found had been modified from their raw forms. She looked back to Nym. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“I will show you how. And I shall also show you something to occupy your mind and hands while they are idle. But first,”[/b][/colour] Ashalla’s arm stretched out to grab a small rock, then retracted to a more natural length, [colour=lightseagreen][b]“I shall teach you how to better shape the world around you.”[/b][/colour]

[hr]
Nym’s pack had returned to find him banging rocks together at the direction of a large woman made of water. Although it had seemed to be a lot of pointless noise, when they got closer Nym showed them the flakes of sharp stone which he had produced. They made handles of wooden sticks and plant fibres for the stone shards, and in this way they were able to make stone tools, from which they could better make more tools.

During the evening, by the light of the campfire, Ashalla prompted the vallamir in one use of the stone tools, which was to create carvings in wood, bone and soft stone. It was to be an activity for their downtime, a chance to express their creativity, a way to preserve their memories and a means of non-verbal communication. The carvings were mediocre in quality, although the vallamir seemed to pick up the art fairly quickly, so Ashalla expressed her approval of their artwork.

The following morning Ashalla called some of the hunters, including Nym, to the sea. While they were skilled hunters on land, Ashalla taught them how to hunt in the ocean. The vallamir’s heightened reflexes were of great advantage to them, for they could spear fish with great accuracy once Ashalla showed them how to correct for how the water distorted vision. She also trained them in swimming, so they could dive beneath the water and peel away molluscs with their new stone knives. The hunters returned to their pack that evening with a bountiful catch of sea life.

The vallamir expressed their gratitude to Ashalla as she departed, her work with that pack finished. She bore a desire to teach more vallamir the same. As she travelled and taught, she came to the mouth of a large river and decided to head inland.

For a time, she travelled unopposed. Then, a colossus-sized wolf appeared upriver, defying the very laws of physics while it bounded across the water as if it were solid ground. As it neared, it began to slow down, skidding to a stop as it sniffed the air and, with its sole-remaining eye, peered at the Goddess inquisitively, or at least the region of river water which was the Goddess. In return, tendrils of water licked at the wolf’s fur. Dark and heavy clouds formed in the sky above, the cumulonimbus seeming to take the form of a face which loomed over the wolf. Two eyes of crackling lightning manifested to bear down on the wolf.

[colour=lightseagreen][b]“Beast of Kalmar, did Kalmar send you to greet me?”[/b][/colour] said a voice like a gale.

The wolf did not make a sound; it merely nodded.

There was a huff. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“Why not greet me personally?”[/b][/colour]

The wolf raised its shoulders in something that vaguely resembled a shrug. [color=orange]“He was closer,”[/color] a telepathic voice sudden interjected, [color=orange]“But I am on my way.”[/color]

[colour=lightseagreen][b]“Very well,”[/b][/colour] Ashalla answered. A tendril of water rose from the river and felt the scar of Fenris’ missing eye, then retracted. The wolf not much of one for conversations, Ashalla waited patiently for Kalmar’s arrival.

He arrived mere minutes later, soaring over the western horizon, with the white-furred cloak of an animal of the north, and flakes of snow still in his hair. He set himself down on the river bank, and the water in front of him suddenly began to freeze… until it stopped, and began to melt again - the snow in his hair doing the same. Kalmar looked up at Ashalla and nodded. [color=orange]“What brings you here?”[/color]

[colour=lightseagreen][b]“I am exploring these lands and teaching the vallamir of fishing, stone tools and carving,”[/b][/colour] answered Ashalla.

Kalmar nodded again, as if that was the answer he had expected. [color=orange]“Yes. Thank you for that, by the way.”[/color]

[colour=lightseagreen][b]“It is my pleasure,”[/b][/colour] Ashalla burbled.

[color=orange]“If you want to explore these lands, you’re free to do so,”[/color] the Hunter continued. [color=orange]“If you’re looking for something specific, or have any other questions, feel free to ask.”[/color]

Ashalla rumbled briefly, then asked, [colour=lightseagreen][b]“The vallamir say that Li’Kalla was one of their creators. Last I heard Li’Kalla had been in poor shape. How is she?”[/b][/colour]

[color=orange]“The Architect restored her,”[/color] Kalmar answered. [color=orange]“But it seems that she lost most if not all of her memories. She’s a different person now, or at least different from when I first met her. More assertive, more talkative. A strange fixation on purity and bloodlines. Even shares some of Shengshi’s obsession with manners. I met her about ten winters ago, and since then she has taken some of the Vallamir onto her island to the east of here.”[/color]

There was a rumble from Ashalla. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“Perhaps I should visit her soon.”[/b][/colour] Ashalla then shifted to another course of inquiry. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“You visited Azura recently regarding the soul crystals.”[/b][/colour]

[color=orange]“I did,”[/color] Kalmar nodded. [color=orange]“What do you think of all that, anyway?”[/color]

[colour=lightseagreen][b]“I care not for the mortals. But it is her prerogative as a god to shape the natural order to her will,”[/b][/colour] Ashalla said with a voice like a waterfall.

[color=orange]“That prerogative goes both ways,”[/color] Kalmar mused. [color=orange]“And means other gods are free to try to stop her. Then other gods will defend her, we’ll have a war, and all our creations will suffer.”[/color] He shook his head. [color=orange]“Anyway, the agreement I made with her was that I wouldn’t try to stop her efforts, I would help defend the souls within the vault from harm, and I would offer my own power to help her find a solution, if I can spare it and the solution is agreeable. I also made it clear that the agreement would become invalid should we run out of soul ash before her alternative is completed.”[/color]

[colour=lightseagreen][b]“That is very reasonable, Kalmar,”[/b][/colour] Ashalla commented.

[color=orange]“It is good that you agree,”[/color] Kalmar said with another nod. [color=orange]“I have a question myself. When you say you don’t care for the mortals, do you mean the state of mortals after they die? Or do you not care for them when they are alive as well?”[/color]

There was a brief contemplative rumble. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“After a mortal’s demise, they are of little use to me besides the information stored in their soul. During their life, mortals are of interest, amusement and some utility. Although I may grow fond of some individual mortals, unlike Azura I feel no close personal connection with mortalkind as a whole.”[/b][/colour]

[color=orange]“I’d say mortals have more value than that,”[/color] Kalmar said with a shrug. [color=orange]“Though my interest in them doesn’t go as far as Azura’s either. Creatures like the Vallamir, or the Jotnar, Dreamers, and Selka may be smarter than most, but they shouldn’t be put on a pedestal because of it.”[/color]

The was a light huff. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“Yet their intelligence, which grants them limited power to shape the world around them, makes them clearly superior to unintelligent beasts. Not to say that unintelligent beasts are unimportant, of course, for without them life would falter.”[/b][/colour]

[color=orange]“Superior in intelligence, yes,”[/color] Kalmar nodded. [color=orange]“But can a selka swim as fast as a megaladon? Can a Vallamir track as well as a direwolf?”[/color] the Hunter questioned. [color=orange]“Yes, mortals are better poised to take advantage of our direct teachings and gifts than most, but that doesn’t mean their lives inherently have more value. And what we do provide them should be carefully managed. Or else they might take it for granted, and even try to abuse it.”[/color]

Ashalla rumbled, then said, [colour=lightseagreen][b]“Indeed. Each species has its place and function, if well designed. And what we provide to the mortals often comes with expectations.”[/b][/colour]

One of Ashalla’s eyes turned to the horizon. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“If that is all, Kalmar, I have the rest of your continent to explore.”[/b][/colour]

[color=orange]“Would you like me to accompany you as you do so?”[/color] Kalmar asked.

There was a rumble for a moment, then Ashalla said in a melodic voice, [colour=lightseagreen][b]“If you wish.”[/b][/colour]

Kalmar turned to Fenris and waved a hand. The beast nodded, and moved out of Ashalla’s path, stepping on to the bank of the river where he then proceeded to lay on his belly. Kalmar himself began walking westward. The storm clouds above receded, and a woman of water rose up beside Kalmar. [color=orange]“If we continue upriver, there’s an island…”[/color]

[hr]
[hider=Post Summary]
Ashalla explores the eastern coast of Kalgrun, tasting various creatures. Eventually she comes across one of the Vallamir, and asks him about his creators - in the process she learns that Li’Kalla has been restored. Ashalla then teaches them how to make stone tools, how to fish, and also how to make carvings out of wood.

After that she begins to travel upriver, where she meets Kalmar’s wolf, and eventually Kalmar himself. Ashalla asks him about Li’Kalla: Kalmar tells her what happened to her, and also where she might be found. Ashalla then questions him about his meeting with Azura, and he explains the agreement that was reached. They talk a bit about the value of mortals, and whether or not they deserve to be placed above other less intelligent forms of life.

In the end, Ashalla opts to continue exploring Kalgrun, and Kalmar offers to accompany her.

Throughout the post. Ashalla detected a few things by virtue of her +1 Detection.
[/hider]

[hider=MP Summary]
[u]Ashalla[/u]
[i]Start:[/i] 1 MP & 8 FP
[i]Spent:[/i] 1 FP on teaching stone tools to the vallamir of Kalgrun.
1 FP on teaching carving (of wood, bone and soft stone) to the vallamir of Kalgrun.
0 FP (Oceans Discount) on teaching fishing (by hand and spear) to the vallamir of Kalgrun.
End: 1 MP & 6 FP
Portfolios: 8/10 Colour
5/10 Music
1/10 Sculpture?
[/hider]