[center][h1]Excelsis, the Lord-Eminence[/h1][/center]
Excelsis was still somewhat contemplating the encounter with two of his god-kin. They were… strange. So self-limiting. Even their forms, which seemed inspired by mortals, felt limiting. Then again, he knew next to nothing of these mortals. Passive, distant observations showed little capacity. They were more like writhing maggots in the ground. And yet life itself, the mechanical function sustaining it, was nothing short of genius design. They were able to convert various sources of food, combined with the gases of the world, into a sustained source of energy. They were thinking too!

Eventually, Excelsis felt compelled to take a closer look. The humans, as they were seemingly called, never knew what happened. One moment they were a family-tribe wandering the half-finished world, the next one of them was gone. A gale wind billowed over them.

The god-orb had taken one of the humans. He was screaming ceaselessly. A fear response, it would seem. Excelsis stopped in an instant. The sudden changes of momentum nearly knocked the human unconscious. That lessened the screaming.

[b]“Be still now.”[/b] Excelsis said. However, the human had not much say in the matter. He screamed, but he was suspended in the air high above the world by Excelsis’ divine grip. A tendril sprouted from the eldritch orb and snaked towards the human’s forehead. He never stopped screaming. Then the tendril touched and the human fell into a fugue state.

The mind, what a wondrous construct. Whoever made it impressed the Lord-Eminence. But something was lacking. Their minds were capable of so much more! It would be a waste to have these bright minds waste away generation upon generation as they crawled out of the sludge of their birth. Excelsis redrew the tendril. From the forehead of the human a golden thread flowed. Then Excelsis got to work. A  hundred more delicate tendrils formed, twisted, turning, bending, breaking, forming and shaping the human’s mind thread into a blessing. Slowly, over the course of a minute in which Excelsis was intensely miracle-crafting, he created a golden glowing engram. It was a masterpiece, not that shoddy useless thing like the Akashic Vessel. This would be the Spark and it would propel these mortals through discovery and excellence for centuries!

He released it. The engram, with its perfect geomantic shapes, floated up for a second, unfurled as if it was something between a beautiful flower blooming and a machine coming undone. The pieces separated themselves gently and then vanished from regular perception and seeped into the foundation of everything. Something was added to reality that didn’t half-exist before. Sapient life was forever altered, gifted and cursed by the Spark.

[color=663399]“Hello hello, test test. Are you the one who picks a fight with the book? I hope you are.”[/color]

Receiving the message was an odd experience. It was so pointed, yet it came from someone Excelsis had somehow completely missed. [color=663399]“Anyway, I stumbled upon something interesting down here. If you want to come take a look, I will be waiting.”[/color] The caverns were steeped in mysteries that were begging to be discovered. The vision lacked an exact position, and the world was still big. [color=663399]“Oh, right. The way is a bit hard to find with all those unfinished mountains. Here’s the direction, hope that helps.”[/color] The trial towards the cave now lay open and bare. One less mystery in the world.

The whole ordeal smelled like a challenge and this god was goading him into answering it. It could be dangerous or made to lure him into some sort of trap. Or perhaps there was no discovery to be made and he would waste his time? What if what he would find would utterly destroy his own essence?

All of these reasonable worries fell upon two dozen deaf ears. Excelsis flew away in a great hurry. With the trail before him he coursed through the air, along the half-made mountains until he eventually reached the cave. “I have come.” The Lord-Eminence declared as he floated into the cave. In a second, all other senses upon the orb vanished. A million eyes formed. Eyes that could see beyond ultraviolet and infrared. Fledgling eyes, barely more than just specs of sensitive tissue, were scanning even for magical influence. The god-sense still alluded deliberate manufacturing. It was there but it refused to be poured into a manageable form.

[b]“How intriguing,”[/b] Excelsis said as the eyes scanned the whole room.[b] “Transmutating bell. Incomprehensible lettering. A symbol ingrained upon reality.”[/b] The god quickly summed up the most notable parts of the cave. Even one of these discoveries could propel the newly born field of esoterism for decades. The fraction and the nature of the symbol, however, told Excelsis that time was not in their favor. [b]“What is it terminating?”[/b] Excelsis asked himself, the world and the strange god in the cave as well.


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Create Divine Artifact - Nightmare cost reduced to Surreal(In-Domain)
[b]The Spark[/b] - The engram was given to the world, and was chained to sapient life. Some individuals may be born with a metaphorical "spark" inside of them. The spark makes them talented in one particular aspect of life. This could be art, warfare, science, philosophy, esoterism, magic, or any other subject. However, the spark comes with a few caveats.

It causes the person born with it to become obsessed with the aspect. Finding peers will be difficult, if not near impossible. It can be a lonely experience. Secondly, the spark-gifted will inevitably run into some form of challenge. This challenge is partly created by subtle forces made by the larger Spark blessing, which pushes challenges towards the spark-gifted. However, such obsessed and talented individuals have no problem finding these challenges themselves. One could argue, to a lesser extent, that the forces used are 'fate'. The Spark as a whole does not safeguard spark-gifted from each other. There is a very real possibility that two spark-gifted square off in a duel where only one will emerge victorious.

The challenges are meant to be a Catalyst to push the spark-gifted into further heights. A scientist might be confronted with a seemingly impossible observation, a commander could be put into a losing battle, or an artist may fall into despair because his work does not amount to his own vision. Overcoming these obstacles requires more than raw talent.

Once the challenge is overcome, the spark-gifted emerges ever greater. Their spark, at first only talent, transforms into pure genius. These individuals have changed the course of mortal life forever and will become known as exemplars in history. So the next generation may be inspired by them.

Those who fail often die.

The Engram that compromises this far-reaching effect was given to the world itself as a generous gift by Excelsis. Because it is a divine artifact, others can find it, alter it, and even claim it for their own.

Conviction: -2 (Divine artifact, Nightmare level cost reduced to Surreal due to in-domain)
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