[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/DEs5zeu.png[/img] [h2]The Second Lekture: Progression and Corruption[/h2][/center] - 4 - The effects of the accursed party had been notable on the people of Haven, whereas under the law of bread and water there was peace, now the tension could be felt in the air, melancholy, rage, and suspicion. It was impressive how much trouble a broken routine could cause. But it was necessary. Art could be made by adding colourful pigments to a rock, yet art could also be made by destroying bits of the rock until what was left was a specific shape. Corruption and destruction were aspects of life, to fully avoid it was an act equal to not living, the key was keeping a balance, a balance most of her students were not keeping. Every day she would get new questions, about how they could have back that which they had only for one day, the memory of the luxury stuck to their senses and tugged at their will, the flame within wanted more, it was gifted more fuel it grew, now it could not be properly satisfied. [color=gold]"Well, since there is such a demand, I may bring back it, sometimes, but not for all. From now on good results in my tests and challenges will give you those rewards. Alternatively, there is plenty of what you were gifted out of Haven, if you believe in yourself you may go out there and claim it for yourself, just remember the first rule, once out, you may not return."[/color] The effects were notable, people previously unmotivated now showed greater motivation, either to work or to cheat. Some others were uninfected by the gifts, but to continue among the top students became a reason for their pride, and they started to work much harder on each task. The competition was not all good, rivalries started, and soon even fights would break out. Some would take their prizes and consume them immediately, but sometimes they would leave them aside, and eat one apple a day instead of eating the three gifted ones at once. This led to the first crimes, as the slyer students would soon discover that stealing was a much faster path to rewards than being top of the class. Theft and suspicion created cliques for protection, and cliques created power that exceeded that of the individual, soon the promise of security in the cliques became the threat of insecurity for the outsiders, they would protect their own and not care if some outside lost their belongings, worse, some would protect thieves from their own side, weaker students found themselves bound to these groups out of worry, but of course, they would not have the same right as the older students who joined out of their will and power. Among this rising mess also rose a group that was peculiar. Born from those who learned to reduce their reliance on the prizes, those who could go back to water and bread with ascetic discipline. As the other top students decayed, they continued to do well with stalwart focus. When deaths started happening, not only accidental death from overindulgence in alcohol or food but actual murder, the goddess decided it was time to go back a bit and end this aspect of the experiment, first, however, she would need to talk with her ascetic students. The sound of metal gloves clapping together made all of said students smile in their private meeting with the goddess. [color=gold]"I thank you, young ones, for your great effort. While vice ran rampant, you stood above it. Your techniques are commendable, and... I feel like there is nothing else for me to teach you."[/color] she said happily, then... sadly. [color=gold]"And I mean that in a harsher way than I would like. Your solution to the troubles of your species is commendable, but it has cost you the fire aspect of your being. It's not a flicker of a flame, but an ember... there is value in that. Value in a hard stone. Unfortunately, my objective here is to polish and carve stone, to melt ore into metal, and your quality became too... harsh, too unmoving, it does not give away and so attempts to change it will not have good results, such forces will only make your brittle or break."[/color] the goddess sighed. [color=gold]"While I do not think your group has done anything wrong, you also are no longer within the aims of Haven. I will have to ask you to leave. Your discipline will be of great use to this world, to the humans who were born outside or already left, I will give you guidance and supplies for this journey, but I need all of you to vacate this location at once."[/color] Only glimpses of feelings were expressed by the students, from rage to understanding, from sadness to indifference. Yet all of the ascetics nodded and did as the goddess commanded. - 5 - The students woke up to find Haven changed again, it often shifted in shape, but now there was a... solidity to it that wasn't there before. Lektor took notice of those who noticed it because indeed Haven was now an entirely different building. Before it was kept together by the goddess' will, but now she had properly consecrated it into a material location, independent from the goddess' mind. Another critical change had been that the students had all of their belongings confiscated, but it was not exactly a curse to return to the times of bread and water. With less students and no need to keep the location from crumbling with her will, the goddess found herself with enough focus and energy to make more plentiful rations, far from what a victorious student could get, but now included many vegetables and fruits. Lunch was typically light but protein-heavy, typically potato salad with Gedhe’iwak ceviche, or small sandwiches, Dinner tended to be more varied and filling, but not hard to digest, such as noodles. To further improve integration and luxury the goddess also declared a new meal time, in the afternoon, with a special ceremony to serve the students a drink, made with cocoa. The building was also less minimalist, not only was the atrium larger, but a raised garden had been added, along with a bathhouse and more spacious hallways. The design was still centred on the round atrium, surrounded by galleries that led into the private rooms, the floor was of a similar size, with a similar amount of rooms. the structure was made far wider to avoid having too many floors. From the outside, it looked similar to a stone pagoda. Notably, there were carvings on the walls and square pillars in the Haven, seemingly only decorative at first, but soon the students started to see repeating patterns, except all the sphinxes, eagles and lions, which were 100% just Lektor's ego. One would think the new arrangement would calm the situation, and they would be partially right, most students started to feel comfortable again when all the crazed competition was gone. But not all. Lektor had to add new rules, no theft of the key supplies, no murder, the basics. While some was expected, like that there would be those too addicted to luxury to turn back to a lesser, if extremely comfortable, living, Lektor found herself impressed with the continued existence of the cliques even after all means of power had been dissolved. In retrospect, it was obvious, that undoing the situation would not undo the scars, plus humans were a creature of habit, it seemed, there were just so many acquaintances they could make before they started to close their minds to others. [color=gold]"But that would be putting the burden on the element of earth alone. Earth cools down and takes shape, and habits are formed because of that, the body too gets used to certain things, certain people..."[/color] that made sense and no doubt much of it was rooted in that and yet, in her cat's cradle, there was a missing piece. [color=gold]"Earth, even if equal, tends to separate, air and water tend to unify, but may separate if their composition is too different, fire however always unifies. Now Humans are a body of earth and a will of fire... and what does that mean..."[/color] Many theories started to form in her head. [color=gold]"Like moths to a flame, humans will drift towards stronger wills. But that expands the potential of the flame as well? Wouldn't that make for a vicious cycle? A lesser person's flame could become much greater if enough people believe in it, to the point it may overpower the light of a person with a strong and pristine flame? That would not explain this behaviour... But perhaps there is a desire, flames desire to become greater, united flames become greater, but each flame is trapped in a shell of earth... what can it mean? This Path turns into a Maze, and my head spins."[/color] The goddess sighed. More testing was necessary. But perhaps... she should fully understand her home turf first, understand the earthly shell before further tackling the fire within. - 6α - [color=gold]"What is this, pupils?"[/color] The crowd from the galleries looked confused for a moment before one brave girl rose her hand. "A rock!" [color=gold]"Yes, sure, but what is different about this rock?"[/color] The girl leaned forward against the stone barrier between her and a likely fatal flaw. "It's a bit scratched. Did someone break your rock goddess? Wasn't me I swear! Bet it was Grugson..." [color=gold]"It's not broken, I made these, ahem, scratches, in actuality, it's a carving. Take note of it, and take note of the walls around you, you will see this carving appears for every time there is a stone"[/color] she smiled and continued to explain the basics of writing. [color=gold]"Now, it's very easy for you to learn that symbols are related to a thing, but let's go further, these symbols can also represent concepts and qualities. For example, note that animal on that carving, it has no unique symbol of its own, but a junction of these two, why is that?"[/color] "Because it's a rock cat?" [color=gold]"What in the name of the Path is a rock cat? Child... you have eyes, you don't need to feel the symbols with your hands. Look at them"[/color] "So... Stone-Hill Cat? Cat from the rocky lands. Oh, that is a lynx, right?" [color=gold]"That would be correct! By uniting these symbols you can express many different feelings, even completely new feelings that do not have a correct word for them, if you join winter and beauty, you may express the concept of ice crystals, if join spring and annoyance, that can be a very bad allergies season."[/color] the goddess smiled. [color=gold]"There may be more flexible systems to take words from the air and impress them onto earthly matter, but, of the ways to write, this type of object-oriented language has an elegance of its own, which I appreciate.[/color] she casually took a sip of coffee. [color=gold]"So, let's use this to do a simple task. Learn the words assigned and then make a name for yourself, a title, and create something that expresses your... uh... vibe. Like Summerchild, Mountain of the Birds, Long Beard, Step of Amber, and so on, so forth."[/color] she smirked. [color=gold]"To those of you who typically cheat or slack, I will be direct, do not do that, just this once. This is a very important task."[/color] - 6β - Elegance, to Lektor, meant a language that expressed the simplistic but often meaningful way the elemental world interacted. To the lessons to come, that would be key. Before she advanced on anything, she took one more moment to meditate on the meaning of things. [color=gold]"Earth is also the most direct downward force, while Fire is the purest upward force, bound to the heavens and the stars. They move in different directions, earth wins and binds the vessel to the ground... hmm... no... That will not do."[/color] the sphinx rubbed her hair in annoyance, raising a finger and causing all stone carvings aligned with her Cat's Cradle to have the words related to body and Earth. She had been anxious since the ascetics had risen, her original tests would merely bring humans towards a fully earth-bound alignment, and that was not what they were meant to be, surely, but... there were some lessons in all that. For one, she learned new limits of how humans worked with the earth element, second, she had learned the way earth would break off, creating repetitive behaviour, and vice... [color=gold]"But this word, vice... failure, is the same way we describe erosion. Huh. The water erodes down the stone, and creates the river. But once it finds the vice of the stone, it will not break another path, it's the path of least resistance. Could it be... I have been ignoring the wind and water of the body, they were merely mechanical, but, nothing is this isolated. Hmm"[/color] That would require more thought, but tomorrow's new situation would surely give some insight onto how the body reacted to such changes, after all, it was a bodily chance for once. The goddess smirked and rose up her hands with immense divine power concentrating on them. Focusing on the stone carvings the students had made. - 7α - Screams, gasps and a few surprised "wow" sounds. Haven was a mess that morning, more than it was when the goddess gifted them luxury, more than when she redesigned the whole place. Those who hadn't noticed it when they woke up surely noticed it when they walked into the hallways, a good percentage of the students now had animal features, from horns to tails to ears and even changes to the eyes and limbs. Not all of them, but even those who stayed fully human felt a level of change within them. The goddess stood at the very centre of it all with a smug grin. "What is this?" an old adult man asked, pointing to his fluffy cat ears. "I look ridiculous with these stupid things in my head!" [color=gold]"Hooo?"[/color] the goddess simply made an incredulous, if a bit forced, sound, twitching her own ears. "Uh... I mean... it's fashionable but on a cute woman such as yourself." [color=gold]"Whoa... Sly, avoided the fall, makes sense why you took the spirit of the cat."[/color] she smirked and continued to watch as the confusion spread out. Then she clapped her golden gloves together and silence that annoying murmur. [color=gold]"Good morning humans. As you may notice, some of you may have won blessings. All of you won something, but, in many cases, these changes will take the form of appendages, necessary changes to your body so that you may put to use new abilities."[/color] she tilted her head. [color=gold]"As some of you may notice, I have some myself."[/color] The whispers came back, some people unironically going "oh! she does have a tail!" Rolling her eyes Lektor continued. [color=gold]"These blessings were formed from the spiritual essence of your body and of the words you wrote yesterday. Miss Sunset-Gale wished for speed and freedom, now she has wings for arms and a fiery spirit to her. Mister Foglurker wished for the ability to feel at home in places others shun, and took to himself the aspect of the crocodile. And you uh..."[/color] she looked down at a rabbit-eared woman, she had a tall body, with a certain thickness to her that stood just under what some would call chubby, but skillfully evaded that line, her smug aura almost mocked the goddess. [color=gold]"I will ignore your desired name and call you Hills of Bountiful Harvests. But you asked for, ahem, fertility, and you sure seem to have that aura about you now."[/color] Lektor hid a blush on her face, clearing her throat. [color=gold]"Today also marks the day your training will be increased, a lot. We are, hmm, halfway through the course. The prize at the end awaits some of you, and plenty of knowledge will be given to all of you. It's time to raise your skills once again, competitions to be held, and, to an extent... cullings. So far the knowledge was guaranteed, but I will start to have a harsher stance. Not all people deserve all the tools, that is the simple reality of it."[/color] She tilted her head. [color=gold]"Try to keep a good result in at least one discipline, be it the art of writing or the martial arts, you will not fail over something your body is not meant to do. That would be like judging a bird on how they swim or a fish on how they fl..."[/color] she looked up and saw a floating carp. [color=gold]"Huh."[/color] Her warnings were not jokes, the students found themselves far more organized in constant training, especially in the martial arts. Before they were tilting fields or lifting rocks, now there was mock combat, swordplay and fist fights, the bathhouses which once had many pristine bodies now was a gallery of bruises and scratches. Similar pressure was felt on all levels, from the cooking classes to the writing classes, Lektor was no longer joking. They wondered what could they receive at the end that would make this worth it, nevertheless, the gift of a goddess would surely be worth something, and nobody wanted to leave Haven just yet and risk losing some important lessor later. - 7β - Magma-colored eyes observed the evolution of the students within, peering deep into their bodies and spirit, taking notice of habits by twisting the strings in her cat's cradle. The designs of the spirit appendages were successful on many levels. Touching them would reveal that they were quite warm, as one would expect of fuzzy ears and fluffy tails, but even the more lizard-like features or horns would have such behaviour. That was because she had made it all "will-bound", natural containers of fire energy naturally produced within the humans. This was likely why the harpies could fly despite a somewhat heavy body, the element of fire had an inherent upward movement. She observed a tiger man being hit, falling back towards the ground, and at the last minute doing a spin and falling on his feet. Felines had such abilities bound to the hair of their ears, giving them a great sense of balance and spatial location even at high speeds, the feline chimera inherited such aspects, having it bound to their will as well. As time passed, she started to notice exactly what she sought. The vices, the paths ones were used to, started to appear for chimeras as well. Canines had good hearing and a keen nose, this meant there was little reason to develop or train certain aspects of their vision, which was understandable. Faced however with challenges that fooled their hearing and smelling senses and made aware they would need to improve their vision, they lagged behind even humans while trying to improve it, the trained senses and known paths would actively jump forward and overtake attempts to improve the less trained sense, and too much focus and discipline were spent on containing them to properly learn the other path. It was logical, it's hard for a flow of water to break through a stone wall, but much harder, if not impossible, for it to break a second opening once the first one was made. Another thing the chimera aspects tested were the cliques. So far they had survived because in the still days of the new way of life in Haven there was little change to break them apart. Weakened but were still dominant as people preferred their acquaintances over strangers, being all equal, being part of the same clique was about one of the few notable differences among students... until now. How would a wolf chimera react to a wolf chimera from another group? How would a leader react if he led a group with chimeras of the same animal as him within his group? Would they get benefits? Would it create rivalry? Preference? Bias? And as she expected, the damage to the cliques was immense. Weaker groups found all their integrants drifting apart in a few days. Not only for the aspects she expected, but also the simple truth that the spirit animals bound to the students were also telling of their personalities, people who would ignore each other now found out they were more compatible than they thought. Sometimes the question was merely physical, harpies liked to hang out high in the temple, where other species could not reach, some students became fully nocturnal while others stuck to small niches or humid areas, where most of their previous cliques would not be comfortable. Stronger cliques survived as coherent groups, in fact, they became even stronger due to all the adaptations to house and unify a pack of increasingly diverse individuals. New ones formed based on the theme of their spirits, while many stood in sort of a half-there half-gone state, more as groups of friends. The difference between the latter and the former two would become pronounced as the cliques quickly discovered that the power of names could also be applied to their groups, soon fancy names with fancier carvings would embellish the areas of certain cliques, The White Blossoms, The Serpent Council, The Band of the Frowning Lord, The Noise Makers, The Spears, The Rock Cat Appreciators... The goddess was starting to regret teaching writing if this is what they did. As she also suspected it would happen, some groups did not centre around a single strong leader, but a weak one with many strong followers, however, in practice, she found them to be as coherent as the centralized groups, with the 'council' around the 'king' figure finding their balance of power and accepting the unspoken truth that they were the governing body. Nevertheless, the formation of these more coherent groups did lead closer to her long-term objectives for humanity, but not her long-term philosophy. [color=gold]"A crossroad? Hmm, no, not quite."[/color] she observed the word in front of her and willed the stone rune to change, from Choice-Road, Crossroad, to Choice-Net, Filter. Yes, that would do. [hider=Might Summary and Creation Description] Initial: 5 MP / 5 AP [b]-4 MP -- Create Species: Chimeras (Human off-shoot) [/b] Humans with small animal aspects, such as tails, minor details to the skin, strange eyes, horns, and even extra sets of ears. These changes are bound to one's will, their inner fire, and takes a shape according to their self-perception. Yet, these traits will also be inheritable, the first chimeras created bloodlines that will stay strong as long as the descendants keep the initial spirit, those who deviate may become off-shoots (fox to white fox, for example) or just revert to humans, it's unlikely they will become new types of chimeras, but their own descendants might. Given these extra appendages are made to interact better with the energies and magics, naturally infused with the human's fire element, chimeras tend to show greater ability in the mystical arts. The features will also give them benefits, however, these benefits are balanced out: When a path is made where a chimera naturally outperforms a human, another will be closed, making the chimera underperform in that. Examples: Feline Chimeras are faster and more agile than humans, but have lesser upper arm strength and burn their energy faster. Harpies have wings and can fly, but lose their arm mobility and are bad at running on the ground. Horned Bovine-like Chimeras have a larger build and great charging strength, but less mobility. [b]-1 AP (Reduced from 2) -- Create Holy Site: Haven [/b] A temple / school / prison where Lektor does her Lectures. Provides decent housing and food, as well as amenities. Aesthetically, it is inspired by stone-heavy locations like Mayan Temples and Ethiopian Churches, though the design follows Chinese principles. One who leaves the temple cannot find it again. [b]-1 MP -- Teach Technology: Writing [Progress towards unlocking Runes aspect: 1/3 [/b] In the context, stone runes, with a logogram design, inspired by the mayans but with perhaps a hint of chinese here and there. That said, its likely mortals would not struggle to adapt that to other types of writing in other materials, so its likely other gods do not need to spend more might on this tech, if they interacted with this stone carving writing. [/hider] [hider=Summary] More Lektor lessons. First, Haven descends into chaos because she gave mortals access to pleasure through competition. Ascetics rise, Lektor don't really likes them because they quell their inner fire, which isn't the PATH for humanity. She undos the changes, puts up a no murder rule, makes Haven into a proper temple, gives students more to eat and drink. Teaches them how to write Makes animal people so we can have cat girls. You can thank her.[/hider]