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[color=brown][h1][b][u]Algrim[/u][/b][/h1][/color]
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With the world stabilized, the months that followed were ones of great productivity for Algrim. He had returned to Arira’s paradise, only to discover that the goddess was absent. The disappointment he felt was almost immeasurable, but she most likely had her reasons. There was much more wrong with the world than earthquakes, after all. Perhaps it was good that she had begun to look beyond this one little corner.

In any case, he saw no sense in waiting around. Already, the rest of his kind had made immense strides in repairing the world. Where there had once been wastelands there were now lush and diverse ecosystems. 

However… something about it didn’t sit well with him. All of those ecosystems felt too… open. Exposed. Vulnerable. They were easy to find, and there was nothing protecting them against attacks from above. Had they learned nothing?

Algrim shook his head. How foolish. He would not make the same mistake.

And so, he dug downward. Deep beneath the earth. Then, upon reaching sufficient depth, he began to dig outward. For months he toiled, creating an advanced network of vast city-sized caves and long winding tunnels, which spanned across much of the known world. Between his mastery of earth and the pillars he had constructed, there was barely any impact on the world above, save maybe the occasional tremour.

But a cave could not support life. Not on its own. So, he created mushrooms, mosses, and roots, all of which served different functions. He embedded ores and other minerals into the walls, that could one day be harnessed.

One mushroom would emit a bright golden glow, serving as a source of light, and this was perhaps the most frequent of the underground vegetation. It tasted horrible, and was mildly poisonous, in order to discourage creatures from eating it. The other mushrooms and mosses came in a wide variety of colours, and were considerably more edible, with some also having medicinal purposes.

Next, he added animals. Various species of mole-like creatures, which would serve as a source of meat and protein. Snakes, and bats, to serve as predators which kept their population in check.

But all of this was only intended to support something even larger. Intelligent life. And so it was that the Stone God built statues in his own image throughout the tunnels and caves. 

When the vast stone armies stood in completion, Algrim retreated to the largest and centermost of the caves. Then, he licked his lips, cracked his knuckles, and punched the ground.

A massive shockwave of energy boomed outward. At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then, the stone he had created his people from turned to flesh. The gemstones embedded in their faces became eyes. The moss piled onto their heads and chins became hair. Algrim turned his own skin to flesh in order to match them. They stood, blinking, confused, and amazed. 

They were his people.

Although they were short compared to the humans, they were considerably more durable. Their skin and muscles were tougher, their stamina more plentiful, and their bones were made of steel. They could live a healthy life of up to four hundred years. Personality-wise, he made them creatures of honour and integrity; they could never knowingly share a falsehood, while breaking an oath would fill even the most immoral among them with a certain sense of shame and regret unless Algrim and only Algrim would absolve them. At the same time, he also made them beings of cunning and ingenuity, especially when it came to building and crafting.

He needed a name for what he had built, he realized belatedly. The Underkingdom, he eventually decided upon. And he would be its King, for it was his creation in his domain, and inhabited with his subjects. The Underking.

With a smile, he turned to his subjects and addressed them for the first time. There was much to teach them, and his work was only beginning.

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[hider=Post Summary]
Algrim has finished building the pillars. He decides to go visit Arira but pops in while she isn’t there. He’s disappointed. He then decides to go back to work. He builds a vast tunnel and cave network underneath the world, filling it with ecosystems. I haven’t specified how expansive this is yet; it mostly depends on what the GMs will allow and also who actually wants dwarves under their civilizations.

Anyway, he then goes on to make dwarves, and names this place the Underkingdom.
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[hider=Action Summary]
-Create a massive cave and tunnel network underground.
-Fill those caves and tunnels with ecosystems that can support life.
-Create dwarves.
-Begin teaching those dwarves civilization.
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