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[IC] Gods, Men and Everything in Between Page 6

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Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Conrad
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Solas was a bold dream, an ideal. However, it wasn't the only one, for mankind has been split over the centuries into many different forms, politic or ethnic. Soon, in the wake of Solas, many other settlements began to appear, challenging the young Telios and his civilization in militaristic, cultural or economical terms. Although still primitive in nature, humanity was slowly but steadly progressing. Soon, wood began to be tinkered with more creatively, and clay foundations were replaced by harsh and sturdy rocks. Weapons began to be refined too, with stone being replaced with material such as obsidian and shark tooth, then graduatelly bronze began to be introduced to the wealthiest of men. Chieftains and warlords began to be rivaled by kings and lords.

One night, in his deep sleep, Telios witnessed the first meeting with his father, Alcadeas. The dream sequence saw the champion of Solas floating high above the bright clouds, the breeze gently flowing through his body. The only figure he could lay eyes on was a beautiful, delicate woman, with an equal delicate and beautiful pair of wings that cut through the rays of the sun. Unbeknownst to him, the woman was a gleam of projected pure energy of the Archangel, through which the father could communicate with son.



"Champion of Solas, and son of Archangel Alcadeas. You have been laid upon this world in order to protect and guide mankind. You may not know or see, but your father's eyes will always be upon you, from above or below, from land or sea. Dire times are ahead for mankind, for the God of Nothing, Xanaros, in his hunger to destroy any and all, is silently corrupting your brethen, the men. It is the Archangel's will that you shall, in his name, erradicate any threats for humanity, now and forever..." The sublime voice of the angel swept through the champion's ears, even through he found himself unable to speak, but listen. In a blink of an eye, the dream was over, and the morning rays of the sun once again found their way through the windows.

The power of the prayers and worshipping gave Alcadeas the much needed power in order to become strong once again, after having invested so much into his creations. It was time to turn and face the other nuisances at his door. The meddling of Xanaros could not have gone unnoticed. Alcadeas sought now to outright declare his rivalry against the God of Nothing, and all the godly family would come to know.
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Hidden 5 yrs ago → 5 yrs ago Post by Theodorable
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Gods, Men and Everything in Between

Turn 6 (2/3)


The Known World, circa 3,000 F.A.


The Life and Habits of Gnomes
The Gnomes continued to carve out a minor existence, getting by sometimes only by the skin of their teeth. Insistent on mucking around in filth, the Gnomish population exploded when one of their members was learned about the ability to plant a seed in the ground and from it could arise an edible stalk of something. The Gnomes were privy to factionalism and from it a broad array of belief propped up. From their history of merely fighting to survive came a worship of the Goddess of War, from the sinister decadence of a hot temper many turned to IRA and still others--those who had seen the God of Life & Death gave sacrifice to HUM late at night.


Eight Legged Life in the Forest
The Arachnids of the forest continued to weave intricate webs high in the forests, all the while expanding, seeking, learning. Their prominent master was their creator HUM, who bestowed upon them both Life and Death, but also among their ilk was worship of SOLUMNA, by a solitary sect of Arachnids who preferred to web themselves away into the tallest tree, often moving just enough to eat and often wallowing them first Life is forced upon them only to have it stolen back by Death.


The Aureus
The Aureus grew like a virus. Within 300 years, they outnumbered almost every race on the planet. It was a combination of their limited ability to fly, their aggressive disposition and the strange realization that for a lengthy piece of time, the Aureus' did not grow beyond their standard hunter-gatherer ways, meaning they did not stop and build a civilization but simply reproduced and expanded outward over and over. Within three centuries the Aureus had expanded from two thousand to one hundred and forty-thousand across nearly the entire island.

Explanation of the world itself was crafted out of their own Creator, and from it the Aureus came to appreciate both knowledge and the passages of time. But within it a small sect disregarded this in earnest of a more biological calling: the Aureus' natural ability to breathe flame. From that, came worship of IRA.


Mataki Life in the Naschya
Life in Naschya was unforgiving--short, brutal--and cold. The Mataki there lived lives of solitude with barely two thousand total encompassing the totality of Naschya. There was little infighting, as every ounce of energy was spent getting to the next moment, the next meal, the next breath. From there, worship of SOLUMNA, fostering in the deities disdain for war--which was wasteful of already scarce resources, preference against chaos, ruckus and even creation: "From Nothing," a Mataki saying went, "comes Nothing," indicating that since Naschya was born of Nothing, that Nothing (in a good sense, Nothing representing quiet, scarcity, peace and solitude) would always prevail.


Mataki fishermen at one of Naschya's many frozen lakes, circa 275 S.A.

In the Mataki villages, small ice obelisks to SOLUMNA were erected and there in the great wilderness, the deity felt their power grow--though only in the slimmest of margins. While dedicated, the Mataki were few. Known to the Matak as the The Quiet One, SOLUMNA was considered to be present in moments of silence and thus those religious ceremonies (especially following the passing of an Mataki Elder) were held in complete and utter silence.

Still, the foreboding cold of Naschya gave way to the imminent requirement of innovation, entrepreneurship and quick thinking. Without the blessing of innovation from a more inclined deity, the Mataki were forced to grow on their own. Rudimentary fishing and hunting techniques advanced over the millennium and from it, the Hau-Hurna sect of the Mataki--or hunter-gatherer caste, came to believe it was the God of the Forge, ANTAY who had bestowed the act of innovation upon them. It is because of this that the Mataki are considered the second Polytheistic Civilization, as they--like humans--believed and openly worshiped in more than one deity of the world.

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Hidden 5 yrs ago → 5 yrs ago Post by Schylerwalker
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The Devil My Only Master

Upon a throne of salt in a dying waste populated by mutated monsters sat a King. The King of Nothing, Black Brother of Alcadeas, the dark child of Alnaeus, the Great Father of All. A Father who was now...gone. The King brooded this fact. It had expected to feel twisted joy upon the death of their father. It was a triumph. The Creator had evaporated, having spent all of his power creating this world and then...gifting it to his children? But why? Xanaros drummed its claws in thought. It had never imagined things going this way. It had imagined, bleakly, that its divine crusade to overthrow their father and damn all of creation was fruitless. But now Alnaeus was no more, his children were near-Mortal, and all of Creation trembled before the Will of the Gods.

So why did Xanaros feel so empty? So...defeated?

I did not ask for this, Father. The thought was a whisper on the poisoned wind. It was the only time that Xanaros had, or ever would, acknowledge the Creator for what he truly was. As the Father's divine presence left the world, the King in the Waste felt that Father's love burning within. I will not change for you, or for this world. The King slithered off its throne and began to walk. The miles of the Blistering Sea burned past. But this world may live a little longer. For you, if Nothing else. And it will know me. It will know fear. The King passed through the mountains Ira had created, which it had dubbed "the Hindering Hills" to itself, and then in to the Idimmu-infested grasslands beyond, which Xanaros similarly had named "the Chittering Expanse."

They will know pain and death. In the guise of a dark-skinned human clad in robes of red and gold, the King appeared in a dark cave in the wilderness of the southern peninsula. Its Cultists shrank away in awe. Light from a low fire cast flickering shadows on grotesque paintings and horrifying fetishes strewn throughout. You will love me. You will hate me. Xanaros strode forward and gently held the face of the Cult leader. In Xanaros's other hand it held a scepter of bronze ending in cruel spikes. The Cult leader held it in a trembling grasp. "What does this mean, My Lord?" Xanaros explained.

"You will pull forth the bones of the earth," it whispered in mortal guise. It reached forward and ripped out a concealed chunk of copper behind the cave wall. The Cultists nodded rapidly, eyes dancing in the firelight. "You will gouge her skin and reveal her blood. You will rip out her hair and burn it to ash. It waved its hand, and red clay bubbled forth from the ground to create a crude structure somewhat resembling a bread oven. Logs burned within, creating a raging inferno. "Gouge. Blood. Rip. Burn." the Cultists chanting, swaying back and forth. They moaned, and sweat dripped off their ecstatic bodies. "But why, Dark Majesty?" their Leader panted, barely able to stand in presence of the Dark Father.

And Xanaros reached in to the furnace and withdrew an object like a long knife. Its grip was obsidian, its pommel and crossguard of ruby, all crudely carved and polished. From the guard blossomed a leaf-shaped blade of bronze, the flickering fires of the cave making it appear to be drenched in blood. "A gift from me to you, Amelia," the King said in an amused voice, only confusing its Cult Leader more. The King held it out to another Cultist, who gripped it fervently, even as the hilt steamed and burned the woman's flesh, sealing her hand to the sword.

"THIS is why," the King hissed. "Make these. Make many of these. You will make tools to gather what you need, to make what you need, and you will use it to kill, and destroy, and take whatever you want." The Cultists cried aloud, and they wept with dark joy at the gift their Dark Father had given them. As they celebrated and made feverish plans for mining, smelting, and forging, Xanaros stepped back in to the darkness from whence it came.

In a Land Grim and Dreary

It came to pass that the King in the Waste would come to Stark Wilds, the God of Nothing's second half-hearted attempted at Creation. Truly a reminder of the futility of it all. Others might see the beauty in the Stark. The King parted fields of soft heather, furze, sage, and bracken. It climbed over strange monoliths covered in luminous moss. It walked through forests of birch, its clawed feet leaving colorless tracks in the humus. Utterly silent moths, massive purple shapes in the twilight gloom, swooped above. The King saw only an ugly stain, a lazy, back-handed insult against their Father. And he was gone now.

The King knelt in a sucking bog. Black and brown mushrooms sprouted from the murk, competing for nutrients with ferns and pale vines. It dipped its hand in to the mud and scooped out a handful. In quiet contemplation, in an almost off-handed sort of way, the King began to sculpt. It sat back, in an almost childlike pose, against a rotten tree stump. A creature began to take shape in the King's clawed hands. Vaguely human in profile, it was deformed, bearing folds of sagging, poxridden flesh. The King made it of monstrous size, near ten feet tall it cared to rise from its hunched posture. On its hands were long, yellowed claws, and in to its twisted frame the King gave it a giant's strength. Tufts of oily black hair sprouted from it at odd angles; yellowed eyes peered out of a melted face of nightmares.

The Thawn

The King sat up as the creature took on its full form. It crouched in fear and self-loathing, much like the King's own, at the edge of the mire. The King was proud. The God of Nothing had made something that was a dark reflection of its own self-hatred, its strength, its malice and cunning. It had made a hunter, a scavenger, a bully of the weak, a repulsive predator of the night. The King whistled, a sound like rusty metal scraping against stone, as it made another. And another.

"Go," the King said, in a voice that was almost tender. Loving. Hateful. Spiteful. "We have much work to do."

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Hidden 5 yrs ago → 5 yrs ago Post by Spiffy
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Telios

The first age had gone with the passing of the First Father. Telios had not known him like the old gods had. Therefore when he ceased to exist, Telios scarcely felt the difference. Though he did perceive that his own feelings of immortality had faded. A strange phenomena. Stranger still, Telios felt empowered by the people of the land. His own brethren. They had come to see him as a guide toward their shared father Alcadeaus. He was their prophet. Telios led them with a sense of sober responsibility.

He called the city of Solas his home. Being the one to order its' construction, Telios felt a sense of duty and pride in living there. It was adjacent to the open seas and with good reason. Telios had a vision for mankind. That was to explore the vast expanse of the world his Aunt's and Uncle's created and to expand outward.

Telios cut down a tree near the coast and began his work. Mankind had already been able to see objects that would float above the waters. However, they had not yet been able to successfully craft vessels to traverse its' expanse. Carving more and more into the tree, Telios fashioned a vessel.
But he didn't stop there. Telio's took canvas used for keeping things from becoming wet, and he cut them into triangular pieces. He tied them together and created the world's first sailboat.

His brethren gathered round about and looked at it with interest. Telios smiled. He entered his craft and hitched up the sails. They caught the wind and he rushed across the waters. The people cheered as he made a circle and touched shore. "This is how you will travel."

Over the next hundreds of years mankind would try fail, and succeed at the art of sailing. However, Telio's was disappointed to see that his brothers and sisters would not travel further then the areas they were already familiar with. They were missing the point. They still maintained a level of comfort for land that the sea could not match. After all, it was a dangerous place to be during a storm, among countless other perils.

Pondering this conundrum, Telios spotted a young boy on the shore. He would swim out as far as he could into the waters and swim back with just enough energy to make it. He moved like it was second nature to him. Telios knew what he must do. He walked over to the young one, towering over him by 11 feet. Telios spoke, "Young man. Do you wish to travel these seas to the ends of the earth?"

The boy was surprised at being approached and spoken to by The Prophet, but replied bravely, "I would. And I'd travel even further than that!" Telios smiled, "Your desire is granted!" Telios placed a glowing hand on the boy's head and something changed inside of him. There was a blessing upon him. The blessing of Telios. But more then that, the start of a culture and race unique to normal mankind. It was the spirit of adventure and exploration.

Over the next years the boy became a great sailor. He traveled further then any human before him. His name was Numenor.
His descendants built larger and faster ships. They took to the seas like it was their own home. They almost spent more time at sea then in Solas. Over the centuries Telio's watched them multiply with a happy countenance. They had the spirit of adventure upon them. With it they would travel more boldly then any race before them. Traversing the dangerous sea in search of riches, glory, and new lands. Telios named them the Numenoreans.

They had good relations with mankind and shared the same religion, though they focused more on the worship of Telios, The Prophet. They had a distaste for the Cult of the Promised End. They actively avoided them. Though they did make use of the metallurgy that came from The Dark Brother. With it they fashioned cutlasses, weapons and other seafaring tools. Seafaring merchants made enormous wealth in trade with other human settlements. They were big on mercantilism.



Hidden 5 yrs ago → 5 yrs ago Post by The Nexerus
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New Life


The sun baked the ground in the Systyn Desert, its heat choking to death all but the hardiest of natural life. Small leafless shrubs clung to shade wherever they could find it, rocky outcrops of jagged, tanned stone creating small patches of shade, just barely providing the minimum conditions necessary for the most basic plants to live and reproduce. The great sand dunes of the Systyn had ceased to shift with the winds, the hot breathe of their solemn creator settling, now carrying only small wisps of sand with each godly exhale. The topography settled and the balance of life was found; small, weak lizards and mammals struggled for dominance here, competing over the scarce vegetation of the inland sands. Only along the coasts did life do anything more than merely survive. It was there that strips of green could be seen, patches of cacti and even the occasional still living tree marking the end of the Systyn an the beginning of the ocean. Yet, it was not Solumna's plan that the fertile coasts would be host to intelligent life. Instead, the silent goddess would spawn her next creation among the dunes.

Birthed out of the scalding sands of the Systyn came the Ashta: a race of hairless bipedal mammalians, standing three feet tall with greyish toned flesh. They protect their own skin from the heat of the Systyn sun by wrapping it in the skins of other beasts, cleaned of hair or scales. All the other creatures of the desert shall be their prey, hunted by them for their sustenance. Foremost among the Ashta's prey animals though shall be a new creature, born from Solumna just as the Ashta were; the Reinoklaii. Colossal worm beasts, the Reinoklaii prowl underneath the sands of the Systyn desert, their massive size shifting the dunes of the desert as they near the surface. Their flesh and skin can be any of a number of bright colours, though the most common are purple and red. Entire tribes of Ashta could be fed for months off the successful hunt of a single Reinoklaii. Those tribes that came to specialize in hunting them would soon dominate among the Ashta, out-surviving those tribes that subsisted off hunting small game. The hunts usually consisted of baiting the creature to emerge with their favourite meal: a dying camel. The beast would then be numerically overwhelmed when it came up above the sands, pelted with rocks and stabbed with spears of stone and bone. The teeth of the Reinoklaii themselves became the favoured weapon for slaying the beasts, encouraging those tribes that made a successful hunt to attempt more in the future.



The Reinoklaii hunting Ashta would soon come to develop a sense of themselves as a distinct order within the Ashta: Worm Hunters. Unlike the other Ashta, who came to fear the Reinoklaii, those Worm Hunter tribes began to revere the existence of the creature as an offering unto them by the one they worshiped as the Night Goddess. Believing her to be responsible for the coming of the coolness of night as well as the flesh of the Reinoklaii, the Worm Hunters signaled their devotion to the Night Goddess through the constant wearing of head coverings, keeping the top of their heads hidden behind garments of skin from the moment of their swaddling. These Worm Hunters also came to develop a superstition against the ocean, never treading too near to the coastlands, as the Reinoklaii avoided these areas, lest they unwittingly burrow into the sea and drown.

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Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by jimapple
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AMELIA VISITS THE GNOMES

The world that the FIRST FATHER had made and which he left to his children to do with as they wished was now molded, shaped and formed. It was finally complete. The land bore and reflected on its surface the varied personalities of all of AMELIA’s siblings and herself. It was a new era, a new time, a new beginning. There was so much that could now be done and so many glorious deeds that would be recorded. The world now boasted the existence of Humans, Gnomes, Arachnids, Aureus, Elves and Mataks, Thawns, Ashta and many more will be created. It felt like there was a creature arms race. While these creatures were still etching out meager existences, the new age promised the flourishing of them and the advancement of their civilizations. Within the world there were also non-sapient beings that now roamed the land and under and over it. It was no surprise to her that it would be her sister IRA who would create the first two of such creatures, the Idimmu and the Dragons. Then SOLUMNA created the beautiful but deadly Ashta. With all these creations, what AMELIA’s really longed for was to see these different creatures engage in glorious never-ending wars.

Although, that sensation of excitement and anticipation was quickly overshadowed by heavy dread and a profound sense of loss as she could no longer feel the presence of ALNAEUS. She started to look for him in every corner of the world and she could not find him in it. Then she flew up passed the sky and into space to try to find him. After searching for years, he was nowhere to be found in all of creation. Her relationship with the FIRST FATHER has always been a complex one. Ever since the beginning when he created her with NUDRISS and ANTAY, she had always tested every boundary before them. Because of this there were many times when she went up against her siblings to fight and challenge them. Then there were also times when she would test ALNAEUS himself, even though she knew that she never once stood a chance. It was like parents going through growing pains with their rebellious teenagers. Although, now that his presence was gone it felt like a huge part of who she was now gone too. Amelia wondered if the FIRST FATHER built this world knowing that he would soon be gone. She wondered if that was why the powers that were coming back to her and her siblings from him were getting weaker as time went on. She had wondered many millennia ago, what the FIRST FATHER wanted from her and her siblings. These were now questions that she knew would likely never be answered.

AMELIA came back into the world and as she roamed the plains, the forests, the tundra, the deserts, until she came across the gnomes in the swamps. They seemed so helpless, weak, and were struggling to survive. The only thing that gave them some semblance of joy was the produce from their farms that helped them survive. She reached out her hands and winds stirred all around her and went in different directions all over the world searching for YLLWYTHYR’s presence, but like the first father he was gone. She then looked at the gnomes with pity and sympathy because she saw them helpless, aimless, and without a purpose. They were like her now. They no longer had someone that would guide them, lead them, and help them through the ages. Amelia thought that these gnomes didn’t deserve to be prey for the larger creatures just because YLLWYTHYR was gone. She knew that he would have taken care of them and would have done everything for them. Now they were alone and defenseless. It was now up to her to care for her brother’s little ones. She knew that someone needed to take on her brother’s role.

The gnomes were easily susceptible to attacks from many larger creatures. Even sicknesses and illnesses throughout the centuries would ravage their tribes and their communities. AMELIA thought that the only way for them to thrive is if they did not die so easily. She then swirled air around her and let the air slowly lift her up into the sky. The light around her changed to bright blue and she then opened her hand as if giving something to the gnomes. The light blue winds softly landed on each living gnome on the planet. From that day on every time gnomes lost or damaged tissues, organs and limbs these parts would quickly heal themselves. She had given them the gift of quick regenerative healing. To show them the effectiveness of their newfound gift she lifted multiple large boulders into the air and dropped it on a huge number of them. Many of them were wounded, incapacitated, and crushed so that some even lost their limbs. In a span of a few minutes, all of them fully healed from her attack. This shocked the little gnomes that they started testing out their new power on themselves. They started running hitting, punching, poking, smashing, and throwing things at each other to see how their bodies would regenerate. After a significant amount of time, they found themselves slightly tired but still fully healed. These powers also protected them and gave them immunity to diseases, illnesses, infections, and even slowing down aging process to allow them to have significantly longer lives. She hoped that with this gift that the gnomes would become more resilient and would help them flourish.



A few decades after, the gnomes started to multiply and spread across the peninsula. It was evident to AMELIA that while they were more resilient and were copiously harder to kill they were still unable to offensively protect themselves. While they were not as fearful as they once were they were, AMELIA knew that massive creatures such as dragons would still try to make snacks of the gnomes. She knew that while the other larger races would find it harder to destroy the gnomes they could still enslave and decimate their societies if they so willed. With this in mind, she once again took to the air and the wind that was swirling around her now turned blood red and landed more forcefully on the gnomes that they were forcefully knocked down on the ground. When they got up their hands lit up red. With this, they had the ability to control and manipulate air for the purposes of war. The gnomes would become worthy war mages since each one of them was now born with these powers. This one act had turned the gnomes from being prey into the predators. Emboldened the gnomes hunted, attacked, and fought bigger and larger creatures.



AMELIA then selected the smartest, bravest, and most capable of the gnome race to create a special order called the War Bringers. The leader of the War Bringers was known throughout the entire race as the Khan. Selecting the Khan was done through an event known as the Trial of Liprad. Liprad was initiated by a gnome who wants to claim Khanship. Then there would be a battle royal until there was one undisputed winner who would be claimed as Khan. The first ever Khan was Yosvyn Nibar. AMELIA came to him and gave him the SCROLL OF GLORIOUS DEEDS as it was now his responsibility to keep the scroll and to inform the gnomes that only those who are worthy will have their names written on the scroll by AMELIA herself. The War Bringers would push the gnome race to be warriors and to train them on how to harness their newly acquired powers. The War Bringers taught the gnomes about Amelia and the Scroll. Then the life of gnomes who followed the War Bringers were now directed for the glories of battle and in achieving great deeds.




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