Kallak/ The Avatar (of Artifex) Kallak rode bareback across the desert on the back of a Soldier ant, which he had named Chompy, pursued by a number of rat lizard tiger things that had started hunting him in the jungle and had decided that following him out onto the heat blasted sands of the island’s interior. His cloak of the commoner flapped in the wind behind him as Kallak clung to Compy’s antenna, guiding the ant across the broken ground as best he could, but the predators must have done this before, for they were gaining ground as they dodged around soft sand traps after him “Artifex!” Kallak yelled at the sky “Artifex a little help here!” [color=GreenYellow]”Hmmm?”[/color] Came a rather distracted voice in his mind [color=GreenYellow]”Ah. These mammalian pests again. Really now, just use my power to summon some insects to save yourself again.”[/color] “I am in the desert, there are no wolfants in the desert!” Artifex yelled, before jerking Chompy’s antenna to the left to dodge a lunging beast. [color=GreenYellow]“There is insect life here, you simply need to know where to look”[/color] Artifex explained calmly as his avatar failed to create dangerous creatures on the fly “Well I don’t! So find it for me” [color=GreenYellow]“Very well”[/color] artifex said before the presence of the god disappeared from his mind. “Hey. Artifex! Father! Hey! come back! Ah beetlejuice. Keep running Chompy!” Kallak yelled before going for plan c: Spellcasting. A difficult thing to do while riding across unstable terrain, because making elaborate gestures and perfectly pronouncing the words of the incantation was difficult when you were being jerked around and clinging for dear life to a barely tamed giant insect. It also didn't help that he had only had time to independently learn what where being described by the city’s new spellcaster’s as First Tier Spells before being sent out into the wilds by Artifex, which meant the Avatar was firing ice darts at the rat-tigers when salvation arrived on buzzing wings. Swarmlings, the large wasps who were part of the same species as the Vespian, shot out of the heat haze of the desert, the low flying bodies having been hidden by a dusty brown camouflage found in the palace of their usual red and blacks stripes. They descended upon the beasts, claw and fang meeting stinger and scything talon. Insect and manal both fell to the dusty floor as Artifex turned Chompy into the fray now that the odds were more even, the massive pincers of the ant grabbing one of the pursuers by the head, slowly crushing the scrambalting beast till artifex drove an ice dart right through each of the monster’s eyes. The chase that had lasted an hour ended in 30 seconds of brutal violence, the remaining predictors fleeing back across the sands as Kallak cheered his savior's prowers in battle, right up until the sarmlings turned their ever hungry eyes upon him. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked the creatures before remembering that he wasn't in Sancta Civitas, and he hadn’t somoned these creatures himself either “wowowow no not. I’m not food” he told them, spreading all four of his arms out in various directions to ward them off “and i’m not a threat either. Neither is Chompy here. Uh. Friends? I mean Friendz? Part of Hive, so no need to attack me yez?” The agitated buzzing slowed and calmed in response to his words and power, the insects ceasing their turned to the dead hunters and fallen swarmlings, beginning to bury most of them in the sands while either eating or gathering up parts of what they did not to be taken back to the hive. “Ok good good. Thank you all for your assistance… where did you all come from anyway? Well I mean your hive guess, but what do you normally eat” the avatar looked around, but all he saw was sand and heat as far as the eye could see. “Yeah you can't answer me I suppose, but could you take me to your big sisters? They’ll know how anything can survive out here right?” The swarmlings did not respond to this either, but considering they were loading themselves up with meat to carry back to the hive, Kallak knew all he would need to do was follow them. Unbeknownst to all but the lifeblood, long ago mortal life had spawned, lived briefly and then died here, cursing the gods as they all went to their graves. Then, ages later, new life had fallen from the skies. Vespian. The aliens had adapted to the environment in their cocoons and then excited to meet a dry and seemingly inhospitable land. Now that he wasn't fleeing for his life Kallak could even see their landing site, the rear end of a large ship made from strange paper and metals from beyond this world poking out of the sands that had swept into the crater it had made on impact. It didn’t take long for him to meet some of the descendants of the stellar refugees who had ridden the ship down, as they came buzzing towards him and the swarmling hord he was following. They were clad in white cloths made from the tough paper their kinds could produce, their faces covered by hoods that covered everything including their antena and eyes, though the latter could be seen through a meshed section that Kallak guessed kept sand out while still letting them see. Each one carried an obsidian spear with two long secondary spikes sticking out at an angle either side of the central blade. The band of Vespian slowed as they saw Kallak, who waved up to them from where he was riding just below the Swarmling hoard. “Hello there! Artifex bless your hive to be ever sturdy” he called out, invoking the name of their sahed creator in a hope that they would not be as aggressive as their feral kin. In a show of peace he dismounted Chompy, pet the giant ant and then walked closer with his arms spread. “From which hive do you ladies hail?” A flurry of discussion erupted among the Vespain woman as they hovered before him. Then one flew down and landed before him, planting the point of her trident in the sand, using it to support her weight as she ceased flapping her wings, standing without their support. It was something Kallek knew as practically unprecedented among the city dwellers, who would only use walking staves if their wings no longer functioned. “You. Stranger. How have you stopped our little sisterz from attacking you? And why did they fly all the way out here in the first place?” she barked as the others landed around her, planting their own tridents in the ground, the secondary prongs stopping the polls from simply sinking through the soft sand. “Oh that. I, uh, commanded them to,” Kallak explained “hope you dont mind” “You commanded our little sisters!” the first yelled, clearly minding “You can command the swarmlings? How” asked another at exactly the same time. Younger, this one, and when Kallak looked at her he saw the tell tail rainbow flecks of a Servent in her massive compound eyes. “With magic of course. I’m but a humble mage from Sancta Civtias, sent on a pilgrimage by Artifex to your, ah, lovely home seeking various types of Bee that I learned of through a vision”, he half lied. “Beez? Mana? Magez? What is this nonsense” the leader of the woman demanded “Oh, well mana is what mages use to cast spells. Here watch” he replied, before casting the simple light spell most mages learned to ease them into things. The simple orb of colored light appeared in his hand and drifted upwards and hung there for the rest of their conversation, marveling the Vespian. “Amazing” said the Servant Vespain, her rainbow flecked eyes drinking in the spell like she was a woman dying of thirst. “And you can use this to controle Swarmlings?” “Uh yeah, sure. Any insects in fact. Like Chompy here. It’s pretty specialized though, not a lot of mages do it” The avatar lied out of his thorax. “I don’t like it” the leader muttered “Please please please sister. It would be so useful to learn how to do thiz, we could have actual guestz. People could come here to trade instead of us going allll the way out there if they don't attack people. Oh we should have him as a guest!” the Servant begged, her enthusiasm gripping several of the others who echoed her desires. “Gzzz, fine. Fine.” “Yez!” the Servent took off in her excitement before waving at Kallak to come after them “Come on come one” Kallak’s cartilage shifted to a happy yellow as he clicked his mandibles. He hadn’t even had to ask and he was getting a place to set up for the night. He mounted up as the other vespain took off. Some headeded the way he’d come, following an invisible pheromone trail to the buried battlefield while the rest followed him and the Servant, who’s name Kallak found out was Silandrazz, back towards their hive. As they talked he found out that she had no idea she was one of the Servants, which seems to be a ubiquitous state of being on the island. Sancta Civitas had had to seek out the city's two Servants on their own inorder to induct them into the mage training course at the library. After a bit of travel they stumbled across the Vespians home. Literally. Kallak had to throw his weight back to stop Chompy from falling down into the hidden canyon the Vespain hive was built in. it was a bastion of life in the sun baked desert, a veritable paradise compared to the harsh world beyond. At the bottom ran fish filled seawater, constantly spilling in from the distant ocean through canyon, cravases and caves. As it evaporated in the heat it rose upwards, fresh and clean, feeding inumerable plants that grew on the walls and ridges of the cravess’s walls, including vast trees whose roots crossed from one side of the canyon to the other. Long vines dangled down from these, drinking in the seawater below. Fish swam in the seawater below, hunted by trident wielding Vespian, and rodents scurried about the plants, hiding from the swarmlings buzzing too and fro. The hive itself was a dome of paper built into the side of the valley. A large flat sheet of paper fanning out across the seawater, connected by vine ropes to the other side, that Kallak larter learned was used to catch evaporating water and bring it down into special collecting chambers in the hive. Kallak marveled at this as hidden civilisation tucked away in the seemingly inhospitable desert as Chompy carefully crawled across a root bridge and then towards the hive. He entered, noting that here too the Vespian walked with their staves (butt down instead of points down on the more solid ground) and after a minor incident where one of the hive’s hulking guards nearly dissolved him in a spray of acid, was treated as a guest of honor. Their first guest ever in fact. The disguised avatar ate well, and told them about his travels to the frozen peaks of one of the island’s extinct volcanoes, to the depths of the cave system below it and to the waters of the lake that lay at its base and which fed the river that ended at Sancta Civitas. “Air, earth and water elemental bees” he explained, “and I’m here in this roasting land to find the final kind, the elusive fire mana bee” That wasn't all he told them about of course, they were all eager to hear his tales of the land beyond their desert home, and of the self proclaimed shining jew of their island, Sancta Civitas. They had yet to hear the stories about the Embissarie’s arial and their great magical library. Silandrazz was the most eager of all, hanging onto his every word and asking the most questions during the evening until eventually the sun set and the moon and stars came out to watch over the cold desert night When the hive was asleep, its varis casts snuggled together for warmth around their massive queen, Kallak snuck out. He had a final job to do, and then he’d be done with this quest and could go home. Not that he hadn't kind of enjoyed the adventure, but it would be nice to get behind the safe walls of the city again rather than having to worry about being eaten by whatever lifeblood made rat mammal the island was going to throw at him next. The avatar snuck away from the hive, using the light of the moon to light his steps until he was far enough away. Then he cast the same light spell he had demonstrated to the Vespian earlier, bathing the area around him in a pale blue before attaching it to a small beetle he conjured from nothing and sending it to light up various bits of the canyon. “Now. lets see” Kallak said to himself, as he gazed around the canyon “where could you be… ah, there, there and there! Yeah that works” he said, spotting several likely locations far away spots using his Avatar senses as the light illuminated them. Having found plenty of spots the fire elemental bees could be he rapidly approached one, leaning into a nice looking crack in a section of steep cliff. When he looked inside however there were no Fire Elemental Bees to be found. Of course there weren't. Because they did not exist yet. But then, with a wave of the Avatar's hand, they suddenly did. A nest of red bees suddenly formed, complete with stores of honey, hundreds of red and black workers, grubbs and a queen. Almost as soon as it had come into being the bee’s set a fire inside their own hive, bozzing out to get firewood and then fuling it to keep the grubs, queen and themselves warm though the cold desert night. “Yeah that’s not what I expected but ok. Well it worked, lets just do the rest quickly shall we.” he stepped back, turned and found himself looking at a crude looking at a mudskipper-eque creature the size of a crocodile that had been creeping up on him as he inspected the hive. Seeing the jig was now up the land fish lunged at Kallak. Kallak screamed as it came at him. Silandrazz screamed as her wings flared to life and the Vespian lunged from her hiding place. The fish monster screamed as her trident stabbed into it, thrashing wildly, causing the obsition blades to tear its flesh apart. The fish died messily, blood soaking the canyon’s banks. “I. What. Where.” Kallak panted between gasping breaths. “I couldn't sleep and then you snuck out all suspeicouz like so I followed you” the Vespian explained nonchalantly asking exitedly “how’d you do that?” “Do what?” “That thing you just did. I felt it, but it wasn't like the magic you did. It felt different. Why’d you start a fire in a” she pushed past the still stunned Kallak and looked inside to see the Fire Elemental Bees. “Ohh what are these! So cute. They have a little campfire. And they feel like how you do when you do spells.” she stepped back a bit “Yeah can still feel it. How have I never sensed this before? Who are you? Did. Did you make these? Did you make all of them? How?” “Magic?” Kallak tired “No. no I don’t think so. Felt different” Silandrazz said, with uncertain certainty “I’m a druid?” “I don’t know what that is. And why would you say you were a mage if you aren't?” “I. uh. Well I am a mage but” he tried to explain, but Silandrazz kept going “And why would you go around making weird bees. You made all of them didn't you. The onez you talked about ‘finding’. And you said you are on a quest from Artifex… like a prophet. But even the onez in the storiez couldn't do stuff like that, they just hear him. What are you?” She stared at him as the disguised avatar raised his hands and tried to come up with a response. She looked at him harder than anyone had ever bothered to do. Demanding understanding, the rainbow flecks in her eyes sparkling until she saw it. The same power he had used was on the cloak. Lighting fast she made a grab for it and before the avatar could stop her she pulled away his disguise. Nothing about his appearance changed. He still had the grand pair of horns and second set of arms she knew he had, but suddenly a connection she had not been allowed to make was made in her mind. “You look like. Like in the temple. You look like Artifex? How could I never see that before! I. what. My god?” she stammered, shocked at the sight of Avatar. Normally when he was like this Kallak would stand tall and proud, his cartilage would turn jet black and he would speak with confidence and authority. But here, now, unmasked all of a sudden, he remained the slouched brick red Mantarin he had been just moments before. “Ah. yeah. Well no.” Kalak said before sighing “I’m not Artifex” “But you look” she began “I know I know. I’m not Artifex but I am kind of his hand crafted presence upon this world. An Avatar. The hand of god on Galbar” Kallak interrupted before sighing “you see why I wear the cloak now” “What? No! That’s amazing! If I was something special I’d flaunt it!” Silandrazz insisted, to which Kallak laughed once “What? You mean the eye thing? Thatz nothing” “It's not nothing. It’s how you can sense magic like you are, how you understand it just by looking at it, how you managed to see that there was a link between the creation I just did and my cloak. You’re a Servant” “I’m nobody’z servant! And stop trying to distract me!” Silandrazz complained “Ha, yeah that’s apparently basically what the other two said. Kinda the fault of whoever gave them such simplistic names” Kallak said, having more or less gotten over the shock of his unmasking “But yeah, you’re a rare magical prodigy. They can also talk to each other over long distances which is pretty neat” “I. oh by prophetz. Thats. I always felt like. No, wait, you're distracting me. What is your deal” “Look. I just don't like attention, least not all the time. But I also have a job to do, which is whatever Artifex wants doing and... Ok look, you don't really believe me but I swear to… actually instead. Hay. Artifex. Back me up on this” [color=GreenYellow]“My son speaks the truth child. Also good job, got the last of the Elemental Mana Bees in place I see. Let's just spread them around a bit more though. Stable breeding population and all that”[/color] Arifex said into both of their minds “Holy prophetz on high!” the Vespain cried as suddenly hundreds of tiny little lights lit up all across the canyon, noting the location of more Elemental Bee hives coming into being. “Ok that’s cool. Can I go home now?” “Wait. so you were lying about the insect thing weren’t you Kallak. It wasn't magic it was, well, this.” [color=GreenYellow]“He was. My son has a tendency to do so. However I see your desired child, and your potential. Know that the power you seek does lie within mana, you will simply need to be the one to discover it. Some would say it is arrogance, to desire to change what the gods have made, as changing the nature of the swarmlings would be. They are fools to do so. You, my child, shall show them that. I dub thee, and all who walk in your footsteps, the Lords over Nature, may you take what was made by the gods and bed it to your will. Build upon our fondation child, and you shall achieve wonders unseen.”[/color] the god announced to them [color=GreenYellow]“Oh and yes, Kallak, My Avatar, you may return home. You should go with him, Silandrazz, to the library. Meet your fellow Servants, learn from the library's many scriptures, and add your findings to them.”[/color] “”I. I will, father!” the young Vespian cried out to the night “Welp. Good luck with that.” “Hey. No. If I’m going, you're going to take me.” “And why would I do that?” “Because it's the right thing to do!” “Is it though, I mean it’s a long dangerous journey” he began before the Vespian butted in “And I have your cloak and your secret” before dangling his enchanted robe in front of him “Ah. Fair.” Kallak sighed, but inwardly he knew he’d probably enjoy the company “Let’s go back to the hive. We’ll try and explain this to your sisters in the morning” [hider=summary] Kallak is pursued by prehistoric rat wolves into a desert, is saved when Artifex summons a bunch of Vespian swarmlings from out of the desert. Then he meets the desert dwelling vespian who chased after their feral siblings, and claims to be a mage who can control insects when asked why they aren't attacking him, when it is infacta divine feat keeping them at bay. One of the Vespian Silandrazz, how is a servant who does not know any magic or what a Servant is, is really excited by this prospect and gets her sisters to agree to invite Kallak to their hive as a guest. We see how the Vespian live in the fertile seawater valleys and find out about Kallak’s quest to discover the 4 elemental bees that there are. Thenat night he sneaks out and makes fire elemental bees, revealing that it was a quest of creation rather than discovery. Silandrazz snuck out to follow hin, saw him do this, salves hm from a land fish and then figured out something is fishy due to her Mastheyodi senses seeing the difference between divine and mana fueled acts, which eventually causes her to grab his divinely infused cloak, revealing him to be an Artifex look alike. Artifex explains that his is an avatar and also that she is a Servant. Silandrazz is unconvinced, at which point Kallak just invokes Artifex, who comes down, tells Silandrazz that Kallak is speaking the truth, for once, and also that while he may have lied about using magic to control the Swarlings, this is entirely possible using magic,she just has to be the one to discover it, making her head of the “Lords over Nature” holy order in the process. Then he tells her and Kalak to go back to Sancta Civitas [/hider] [hider=mp summary] Start mp/dp 1/5 Bunch of free insect commanding actions via insect port 3 insect discounted to 1 mp, Elemental mana bees: mana bees can absorb mana and use it both as sustenance and to cast sorcery spells, swarming together and then unleashing elemental attacks on predators that might attack their nests. They also produce honey, which stores elemental mana, making it highly prized by mages. Visually the bees are simply bees with elemental colors instead of their yellow stripes. Initially there are Air bees, who live high up or in free floating hives Earth bees, who live underground and often build their hives from metal Water bees, who are aquatic and live in freshwater Fire bees, who live in deserts and who light fires to stave off the cold desert night These bees can be crossbred to create new elements Order: the Lords Over Nature (0insect mp) Entokinesis II: the order has a knack at studying or inventing magic related to insects, such as commanding modifying or creating them End mp/dp 0/5 Prestige Servants (+5) Servants: - 3, detected that Kallak’s cloak was divine Lords Over Nature (+5) [/hider]