[center] [img]https://i.imgur.com/TiC9fEF.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/CatDIhj.png[/img] [/center] Artifex stood within a war room. It was new, freshly built within the tower Artifex had hosted Gibbu in and its most prominent feature was a strategy map of Ha-Dûna and its surrounding area. The god still seethed at the offence given by this “Sigeran” and at (some) of Ha-Dûna’s practical excitement at the prospect of roaming out into the world and doing battle in his name. Rather than lash out immediately, Artifex had first driven his rage into productivity, forging this war room and using what little eyes he had in the area to garner an understanding of the situation therein. The prospects for those upon which the blades of Ha-Dûna would fall were not good. It was true, they had their new walls and the knowledge of how to use them and together they could hold a numerical advantage over the city they were all to spread out and disunified to actually pose much of an opposition. They would need time to amass their strength against the coming storm if they were to stand a chance. [color=lime]”If the people of Ha-Dûna won’t engage in more constructive distractions, if they want war and death and slaughter, then they shall have it!”[/color] Artifex announced to the floating sets of glass butterflies he basically set to follow him everywhere so he could keep a closer eye on their automatic business. The god (in imposing horned insect form) conjured a stone from the air and began to whittle it, carving stone with the ease of wood. Stone dust and splinters fell away until the god was satisfied with the small stone sculpture he’d made. The small statue was the size of a doll, and had a wide smooth base to help it standard upright. It looked like a humanoid grasshopper wearing segmented armor and what looked to be a full face helm with the top slit off around its neck that led into a dark interior. The god examined the miniature a few times, before nodding and putting it down on the strategy map atop one of the rocky hills surrounding the city of Ha-Dûna. [hr] The sun was setting in an alabaster sky above the highlands around Ha-Dûna. Below in the forest her exiled daughters and sons made camp. Fires were stoked. Meager meals were prepared. Libral amounts of nettle tea was set to boiling. Spirits were low and perhaps none were lower than those of the Mothers. The nascent order of mothine women charged with upholding peace and protecting the weak had failed their first real challenge. The ascension of the war god Sigeran and the inevitable return of the ways of conquerors and raiders by the city’s people that would follow was antisma to everything they were supposed to uphold. Aimil sat around a cock fire with a few of her fellows, the first and so far only of their blessed kind.but what did it mean to be blessed by gods who had been foiled, struck down by one that had been considered lesser. Their discussion then, as it had so many nights before,turned to theology. Aimil was getting sick of it, but some of her sisters seemed to have endless energy to invest in the matter. “I say again. It must be a test! We have been brought low yes, but that does not mean we are forsaken! We must have done something wrong, which is why the gods allowed this to happen,” Mairead, a young mother with ruby and bronze colored wings insisted, “and only once we root out what has displeased them, and then we will be returned to the grace of the gods once more.” “The gods did not allow this. They intervened, and yet all they could do was let the faithful run,” Sorcha, her wings black and her moonsilver helm still dining her head, retorted bitterly, “you are too young to remember the days when the gods didn’t intervene all willy nilly.” “You make it sound like its a bad thing, that the gods are paying us special mind” “All I’m saying, is it wern’t always like this. Who’s to say it always will be,” Sorcha continued “and really, who’s to say they’re able to manipulate things as finely as you say? What did they even do on that black day? Messed with the sky mostly. Made a deer-” “They gave us wings and silver,” Mairead retorted “Sure sure. And give the druids power too. But that’s the thing. It’s always people. And wasn’t power that the bastard used to turn the people against the other gods. It was words. It was words from the moon too when the city turned its attention to temple building.” “And cursed the weapons and bones of those who attacked the innocent, and build the walls around the villages” “It’s all words and gifts or curses. What I’m saying is they work through people, and if the people don't work with them then maybe they can’t do much.” It would have been poignant for Artifex’s opening move to have revealed itself then and there, but instead it was about 20 minutes later after Aimil had wrangled the conversation round to the night’s smiting that the statue hit the table. When it did, the side of the hill close to Ha-Dûna exploded as a tall giant of stone and metal pulled itself from the earth, as if it had been entombed within it and had now come back to life. It stood, dirt and stone crumbling from its form and looked towards the city it towered above. In the camp and in the city the humans looked at the distant figure with fear and awe even as it faded into the twilight and asked themselves “what does it mean” [hr] Artifex next carved several dozen smaller statues, each depicting swarms of hulking insectile beasts with many wings, spikes ridging their limbs and two giant scythe-like blades in-place of hands. As each was placed down on the table next to the first figure, a swarm of man sized monsters spewed forth from the mouth of the statue down below, forming a growing swarm that buzzed around their new home and master. [color=lime]”Let us see how they like to be the subject of raids, hmmm? If they wish to fight without honor or mercy, let them fight something incapable of either. Go, my titan, sweep away”[/color] [hr] The statue, surrounded by a cloud of locustine minions, obeyed, marching forth into the night and vanishing from the sight of the exiles as it headed for the outskirts of the city. It struck the outskirts of it, the plague of giant locusts descending to devour crops of farmstead after farmstead. When the dawn arose, fields lay empty and those farmers that had attempted to fight the horde lay dead, their bodies rend in two by the monster’s blades. It also found the titan standing clear as day stood atop an insurmountable rocky mountain overlooking Ha-Dûna, making sure that they knew it was not going anywhere. [hr] Aimil’s dreams were filled with a strange nightmare of grasshoppers attacking small anthills, descending upon them, ripping them apart and then carrying off their food and young back to their nest. It was a cycle that repeated again and again against hill after hill against all kinds of different ant hill they reached one where the ants closed off the entrances to their hive upon the arrival of the locusts. They did not sit idle inside their home till the locusts eventually tore them apart, and instead used runners to summon ants from other nests. They came, ants of all shapes and sizes, and hemmed the grasshoppers in against the ant hill, and then together the ants from within and from without crushed the grasshoppers between them. Aimil awoke and had to mull this over for a while before bringing the ideas the dream had inspired to the others. They should go their separate ways, she suggested, to the towns around the Ha-Dûna, and try to convince them to not simply stand alone or submit to the city’s might, but to set aside old rivalries, grudges and animosities and come together as one people to stand against a common foe. Arguments were made this way and that about whether they should go, who would go where or what they should do and how they would keep in touch, but in the end it was agreed. The towns needed to work together if they wanted to survive the tyranny of the city and they would be their messengers and guids towards this new reality. [hr] Artifex nodded satisfactorily as he witnessed this. With any luck his opening gambit would buy them time to do what they needed to do, but only time would tell if it would be enough. The god stepped away from the table and awaited his opponent’s next move. [hider=summary] Artifex is pissed about Ha-Dûna’s return to war which directly opposes his and Gibbou’s attempts to prevent exactly that. He makes a war room dedicated to the area and then creates a giant animated statue filled with human sized locusts with synths for hands to give Ha-Dûna a taste of its own medicine and also distract them while the Mothers attempt to unite the villages surrounding the city into something like a federation or a mutual defence pact. [/hider] [hider=mp/fp/prestige] Mothers +5 Start 5MP/5DP 1 mp (3 insect discount) for [url=https://i.imgur.com/LiFru3R.jpg]Razor Locust[/url], an extraordinary species of human sized blade armed locust monsters who are bound to the will of the Locust Titan. Ravenous and deadly, they plague the land around the titan, but are unable to travel more than a km beyond it and must lay their eggs within it, thus restricting their ability to spread. The scythe-like blades that they use to reap crops are imbued with a power that makes the crops grow back faster than they normally would. Their chitien is as tough as copper armor but does not corrode and the teal parts of it make for useful reagents for insect related Magics or Inventions. 2 construction dp discounted by stoneworking to make the legendary beast, the [url=https://i.imgur.com/u8EOYBu.jpg]Locust Titan[/url], a giant animated statue 50 meters tall. The statue is incredibly resilient, and home to the ]Razor Locust swarm who dwell and lay their eggs within its hollow chest. The Locusts are its primary weapon as the statue itself deliberately avoids destroying structures, and while the beast can match the speed of a galloping horse its movements are too predictable to reliably trample anyone actively attempting to avoid being squished by it. The intelligence within the statue also keeps the swarm in check, ensuring that it only exacts vengeance upon the desired targets. 1 mp to teach the Mothers about relief armies 1 dp to teach the Mothers about federations Diplomatic Adepts I (2 civlisation dp addition to the mothers): the order have a basic innate talent for negotiating deals and agreements between towns, cities or whole civilisations. 3mp claim port: Militia: A militia is a fighting force consisting of people whose main profession is not war, but in a time of strife nonetheless take up arms to fight. Milita can range from part time soldiers with some training or even experience in battle to citizens using whatever they can to fight off the barbarians at their gates. Militia are generally unable to hold ground against professional forces and require advantages in numbers, technology, magic, moral, terrain, strategy, fortifications etc. to overcome their disadvantage. They most often don't fight fair as a result. Groups such as the Mothers can be considered a roaming Militia, for though they do fight it is not their only, or primary, function as an order. The fighters in revolts, revolutions or other civil uprisings generally consist of impromptu formed Militia forces as well. Typically however, a militia guards their own town, city, etc. or is subservient to/acting in support of a more professional army while out on campaign. Artifex can use this power to create, arm, train, empower etc. Militia forces, their leaders or individual citizen soldiers. 2/5 arcane monuments 4/5 for Biokinisis 5/5 mad science 1/5 for medicine 3/5 for diplomacy End 0MP/0DP [/hider]