[center][h2]Deep Dark Secrets[/h2][/center]

“I cannot accept this gift in good faith, especially when your fear of the end is based purely on speculation” Xavior, sitting upon his (re-redecorated) throne in his courtroom, said to the bejeweled merchant who had come to try and bargain for salvation.

“But, my god, surely the signs of the end times could not be more clear! The sky bleeds a red that does not fade, and you yourself have mentioned that the nodes grow hot. What else could these mean!” The merchant retorted, words joined by mutters of agreement from the line of awaiting supplicants.

“I have sent messengers to Benea seeking answers. Till they return and enlighten us to the truth I will brook no more discussion of whether or not the Trigger event is upon us, and that is final” The god decreed, and then raise a hand to silence the words of those that dissent “Enough. All of those here regarding the trigger event, step aside and be patient for the return of the messengers”

God sighed internally as his command was obeyed and caused a frightening number of those waiting to speak with him to step to the side. In the process they formed a worryingly large group who immediately launched into debate over the subject. As they moved off the next in line stepped forwards and was announced

“Next is…” there was a pause as the priest in charge of managing the queue had to skip down their list several times to get to the next supplicant still in line, “miss Jasmin, here on behalf of Master Forman Derik”

As instructed, the well dressed woman who’s garb made little effort to hide her calloused hands and the muscles of a miner framing her form, stepped forwards beneath their cloth, stepped forwards and bowed before Xavior “My god. We have made the most peculiar discovery. These slabs” she beckoned a pair of assistants forwards holding two large stone tablets “where found by one of the miners deep deep beneath the ground. I have not come to ask for anything in turn, you have already done so much for my family and my dear Derik, and so simply offer these due to your interest in anything that might predate the world of the creator”

The fact that something might have survived the end of the old world caused a great stir, particularly in those who had come to attempt to barter for survival at the end of this one.

“You are sure these do not have an origin from this cycle of the crucible? A trick of some charlatan, or another god perhaps?” Xavior said, trying to not get his or anyone else’s hopes up.

“I cannot say, all I know is that it is written in a language no one i have contacted to look at them has been able to identify” Jasmin said as the tablets where presented to the god and he could see that, just as she had said, they were written in a writing system not born from this cycle.

Or that is what he thought at first. Peering closer it seemed to be similar to Benea’s but, for some reason, it seemed… hazy, or blurred would be how he would best describe it, the words having been obscured by some malignant curse.

“Strange. And intriguing. Hmmm” the god thought for a moment, and then snapped his fingers, before reaching into the breast pocket on the suit he had decided to wear today and retrieving a newly created monocle. This he set over on eye, holding it in place with his eyebrow as he examined the freshly revealed information.

[hider=tablets]
 ...gave birth to the first gods. Originally there were four: Yksi, Kaksi, Kolme, and Nelja. Yksi was a great cloud of lightning and anger, Kaksi was a flood of iridescent liquid and compassion, Kolme was a never-ending ring of light, and Nelja was so incredibly large, that only their breath could be seen in the physical world…

 ...Trine set forth with Kuolemuus and slew Yksi, who had stolen Trine's face. Then Trine killed Kolme, who had set Trine’s blood on fire, and finally Trine slaughtered Nelja, who had twisted Trine’s heart…

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He read the first silently, and then upon reaching the second his eyes suddenly widened and he lost his grip on the onical, which went bouncing across the floor, clinking sound echoing through the hush of the room.

“My god? Are you alright” the priest who caught and retrieved the monocle quietly asked, concerned by the hidden look of fear he saw as he stepped in close to return the reading implement. Out of curiosity he glanced through the lens of the monocle himself, yet while the information he saw was certainly revelatory, he saw no reason for his god’s fearful reaction.

“Yes. Yes I am quite fine” the god lied, taking the lens and placing it back where it belonged, steeling himself as he once more read the word that had caused a burst of primal fear upon simply witnessing it:

Koulemuus

He did not know why he felt that way, nor why the priest had had no such reaction, but if the presence of Trine of whom all humans where children did not confirm the age of the tablet, then whatever curse or rule had caused him to feel terror at the name of that person or weapon certainly did. 

“You are correct in your assessment, miss Jasmin, this is older than this cycle, perhaps older than all cycles, and it is of great interest to me. You will do all you can to find if any more of these lay buried beneath the earth” the god commanded, before reassuring her that “I will, of course, fund and reward these efforts with my own wealth and power”

Jasmin bowed graciously, quietly overjoyed at how profitable this little trip had been, already dreaming at the advancements in mining they could make with divine backing. She’d have further reasons for joy as soon as she left the room from the group who had been denied an audience with Xavor. For though the god was interested in the content’s of the documents, those who sought to survive the end of the world saw in the slab’s mere existence hope they could take their survival into their own hands.

If these slabs could survive the end by being deep down in the earth, then surely they could too? Thus the search for secrets gained a second purpose, to dig deep and then build shelters for the wealthy to hunker down within in-order to survive the apocalypse.

[hider=mp]
1 mp: make a monocle capable of bypassing information obscuring curses

4 mp: funding for more extensive mining operations and magitech machinery in the name of finding more artifacts, though an amount of this investment will be redirected towards facilitating the creation of deep earth apocalypse survival shelters.

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[hider=summary]
People are rightly kind of worried about the sky tuning red, but Xavior tells them to wait till Benea gives her opinion on it before they start panicking

Then he receives a tribute of two stone slabs that predate the present cycle which document the names of the first gods, and then their deaths at the hands of Trine (progenitor of humans) and a person or item called Kuolemuus, the name of which strikes fear into the hearts of gods but not mortals.

Xavior then funds efforts to find more underground artifacts, while various wealthy individuals use funds to try and replicate the tablet’s survival of the end of the world for themselves, via funding the construction of underground apocalypse survival bunkers
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