Antarctic Termite

Puella Magi: The Wild Hunt

Overlooked a post but now that Ariamis has responded it's my turn. I'll kick up something today.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

@Double Capybara You made puns! I approve.

The worldbuilding of Raka and Arpeggio as some kind of dream fission reactor is really solid, and I hope we'll keep seeing Ilunabar's musical themes in stuff like this. Is there any spiritual life native to Raka and feeding on/tampering with dreams, or not yet?

As for the domain switch/addition, I think it's entirely viable. You may want to keep building on the themes of desire, pleasure or escapism in there, since I feel like that's what you're going for with Ilunabar rather than undirected whim. Anyway, the only name suggestions I can think of are 'Fancy' and 'Reverie', which are both pretty much just positively-connotated synonyms of Fantasy, which is probably the best fit on a purely definitive level.

Puella Magi: The Wild Hunt

@DarkwolfX37 Violet is still looking cohesive, but going over her backstory again I have a few thoughts to phrase as questions. There's no need to answer these, because the sheet is already fairly clear about them, but they might help add flavour next time you do a sheet.

-Did Violet's abuse from peers stem from select individuals bullying her on a personal level, being ignored or cast out by the wider school(?) community, parental disappointment, or something else?
-What was she like before her misanthropy became prevalent, or was it always present and just intensified as others responded to it?
-Violet is protective of youth due to her brother's accident. Does she blame the infant's parents for allowing him to go neglected?
-How has her ability to detect emotions changed her views towards others, adults, her parents? Does she see the good in some of them or is it drowned out by lies and hate? Is it too early to tell?

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

@Muttonhawk Thank you~ I'm honestly so chuffed with these little shits, even though there's still some contradictions in their sheet and I haven't added their means of observing their surroundings yet. Mostly vibration. Partially horror magic.

They're very unlikely to wipe out the White Giants, but they may target individuals that continuously harass a clowder of fiberlings as they pass over the same routes repeatedly, or if several of them in the same area get particularly cocky and curious over time. Clowder is definitely the collective term.

And yes! They excrete cats. Cats are Gap scavengers and this explains an awful lot about them.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

The creatures of the Deformed Sea, perhaps due to their unnatural source, were unperturbed by the destruction descending from the heavens. They continued as they had done before - here was one feeding on another, and here was another fleeing a potential predator, and there was one taking its prescribed sleep. They were not creatures with enough mind to understand that it was doom that descended upon them. Perhaps that was the vital difference between Life's creations and the creations of the Deformed Flesh.

@Kho

Just a note based on this quote. The life present in the Fractal Sea at the moment is entirely 'natural', in that it is ultimately still a product of Slough's activity. Jvan may have edited them to hell and back, but she has used their own materials to do so. You can paint over a portrait, but to turn it into a sculpture or poem is an entirely different matter. So far the only forms of unnatural life Jvan has created are the Jvanic Eyes and the Embryonic Angels; The latter are hybrid and both are purely functional.

That said, next turn she is going to reveal the designs of the first species she has created entirely by herself. As promised, here they are: Big, hairy, and sudden.

Cats

Fibrelings

Species - Bestial - the Other

Appearance: A Fiberling is an aggregate structure composed entirely of hair, animated by a cloud of ultraterrestrial energy emanating from the Gap, with a maximum mass of about two tonnes. No other Galbaric material is present in its body. Each hair can very rapidly bend, curl, or crinkle into a variety of shapes independently of the others, and can stiffen to become a less flexible bristle. Each strand of a fiberling remains animated for as long as it is in contact or fused with others in its body. The hairs themselves can be a variety of colours depending on their source and age, and different fiberlings have different concentrations of each colour, but most are dark, matte brown or black in overall colour, and only a minority have any gloss.

Due to the amorphous nature of their bodies, fiberlings can arrange their lattice of strands into an enormous variety of shapes. Rapid shifting of alignment and adaptive curling of each hair allows a fiberling to 'flow' at an astonishing speed over any solid surface they can find purchase on, even, when flattened, vertical or upside-down faces. Other terrain may induce a fiberling to try other modes of transport, such as rolling themselves over sand, and they often travel with the wind, widening themselves into an airy hollow shape like a tumbleweed. The strength of a fibreling is proportional to its currently manifested mass, and is generally lower than that of a strongly-muscled animal; However, a large one can still exert a significant amount of force to a target area, and most sizable adults can overwhelm a human via brute strength.

The only prominently supernatural feature of a fiberling's body other than its animation is that it can compress via fusion of hairs, storing mass as energy in the Gap. This allows even a fiberling the size of a rhinoceros to fit into a space the size of a single hair. The inherent instability of storing standard-model mass in the Gap means that compression comes at the cost of mobility. The more mass a fiberling is hiding, the more static it must keep its position. A fiberling at maximum size and maximum compression can be forced into its full size even by a loud noise. Decompression at such levels of instability will result in a chain reaction often violent enough to tear the fiberling apart and kill it, or at least lose most of its mass. Fortunately, fiberlings are instinctively aware of their limits, and will always try to compromise between concealment and stability. A one-tonne fiberling can rest indefinitely in just under a litre of space, expanding only at will, or upon a heavy impact to its direct vicinity, and even then slowly enough not to lose more than a few kilograms. Between compression on the one extreme and leaving unusually large amounts of hollow space in its lattice of strands on the other, fiberlings occupy a size range anywhere between a mouse and a mining truck, and can expand from former to latter in seconds. Compression, of course, takes longer than decompression.

Life Cycle: Fiberlings have no living cells that might age, and their energy source does not wane with time or exertion. However, they do wear out. Both high and low temperature extremes will increase the speed at which fiberling strands break or shed, and though one may change its behaviour to compensate for this, warming itself by friction or travelling by night, the average fiberling will still lose several kilograms of mass each year. To compensate for this, they are programmed to seek out and make use of whatever flexible and durable organic matter they can find- Anything from chitin to cellulose to animal collagen, and, of course, keratin. Integration of new hair takes a few days, and re-absorption of separated hairs takes a similar but more variable amount of time depending on the quality of hair lost.

These hair monsters reproduce by binary fission. If an environment is unusually devoid of fiberlings, even taking into account their constant wanderings, one may deliberately seek out enough strands to increase in size while its extradimensional body begins a more complex mitotic replication process. When, and only when, this process is complete will a fiberling be able to divide without just losing half of its mass to inanimacy. Attempts to manually split or force division in fiberlings will not succeed. Although they do inherit some mental traits of their parent, fiberlings have a very high rate of mutation, and thus vary enormously in temperament.

When two fiberlings share a range, they will regularly interact by flowing through one another, their physical bodies exchanging hairs without any lapse in integration. This process has little use in Galbar's plane of existence, although it can lead to new combinations of fibre type and colour. It is a much closer interaction in the Gap, in which the exchange results in the sharing of memories, though each fiberling's personality remains unchanged.

Description: The first creation of Jvan to make full use of her contribution to the Universal Blueprint, fiberlings are not, by nature, functional. Psychologically, they are rather cat-like, and follow their natural instincts of curiousity, survival, and, most of all, sadistic playfulness.

Although their need for material sustenance is rather minimal, fiberlings are predators by choice. They delight in observing an organism unseen until they can predict where it will be, then compressing themselves and waiting. Fiberlings will kill a target in a variety of ways, varying by individual, prey species, and mood, but the most common and efficient method is an extremely sudden sequence of expansion, entanglement, and bodily invasion through any available orifices. Once a fiberling has expanded into an animal, it is free to asphyxiate its victim, rupture it, or gently play with it and see how long it takes to die of stress and bleeding, crucified within an enormous mass of hair.

Of course, fiberlings are very intelligent and have plenty of room for variation in personality. Cognitively, they stand at least on par with dolphins, ravens and chimpanzees, although they exceed them in some aspects and are lacking in others. They do not have any form of language other than sharing memories repeatedly, do not form a social hierarchy and do not often display tool-making behaviour. Their perception of the world is largely self-centred and it is difficult, but not impossible, to teach a fiberling to feel affection for any but its own kind. However, they do possess the ability to plan their actions, coordinate with others, learn and experiment.

The average fiberling is largely nocturnal and very fond of stealth, although many enjoy daylight, even to the point of sunbathing. Some are far more patient than others, and no aspect of their personality is free from variation. One fiberling may prefer to abandon concealment and exploit their limitless supply of energy to simply tease and chase its prey until it dies of exhaustion. Another might not kill at all, only mutilate and cripple. Fiberlings are long-distance wanderers that follow no pattern of movement, but some may settle in areas they particularly like for extended periods of time, and some will seek out their own kind while others shy away.

Fiberlings are in no way limited to animals in their playful curiousity, and will gladly uproot trees and tear up grasses for fun, or even drag around available materials like rocks and moss to form small structures and nests- Although why exactly they do this is unknown, seeing as they can't make use of them. Like cats, fiberlings are not fond of swimming, but sometimes attempt it in order to escape danger or corner prey, and there are, of course, the occasional anomalies who enjoy water.

Fiberlings might not be sentient, but they share one common field in which any specimen will far outstrip even a learned human in their instinctive knowledge of population dynamics. Fiberlings unconsciously record and model the populations and predator-prey balance of any ecosystem they find themselves in, and despite their whimsical behaviour, they will never upset an established habitat beyond what it can handle at any given moment. Although they do enjoy harvesting the finest-quality hairs from their surroundings, the species is always conscious of over-exploitation and may even protect their prey if a particularly bad stroke of luck causes its population to collapse, although they will not stand in the way of more gradual decline and evolution. Fiberlings never show preference towards their prey other than their need to take hair to survive, and even then, do not predate prize species any more than they do others. Fiberlings are therefore never a strong evolutionary pressure. Indeed, the only points at which the presence of fiberlings actually bears a noticeable effect on other species as a whole is when an ecosystem has been upset suddenly and beyond its ability to survive with its biodiversity intact, such as by a natural disaster or an introduced species that out-competes all others by orders of magnitude.

Needless to say, fiberlings love humans, and find them endlessly entertaining in their diversity of behaviour and construction.

Interactions: Under threat, most fiberlings are defensive but skittish when they realise that they can be overpowered. Although they are tough, due to the strength of their constituent materials and their lack of internal organs to damage, it is entirely possible to kill a fiberling simply by destroying or dispersing its strands. Sudden impacts can separate chunks of mass from a fiberling, as can slashes from a sufficiently sharp object. Magical forces can be used to separate strands from one another until too little remains for the extradimensional body of the creature to reconnect with the physical plane. Fire is an effective way of destroying fiberlings constructed of volatile materials.

Fiberlings protect themselves depending on the situation. Their immense mobility allows them to outrun or outlast most danger. Like a beetle on its back, a fiberling knows that it is more vulnerable the smaller and less dense it is, and it is standard behaviour for a cornered specimen to expand to full mass but wrap itself into an intricately woven, airtight, enormously dense sphere that can resist most onslaughts, even crusting over rather than incinerating when burned. This does leave the fiberling unable to move until it sees a chance to unravel and try its luck running or attacking.

The Horrorsome Engineer sometimes embeds a Jvanic Eye within a fiberling, giving her full awareness of its actions while simultaneously boosting its perception, and, when necessary, overwriting its will with her own. The destruction of the eye does not necessarily kill the fiberling, or vice versa, but upon its loss the fiberling will be unusually docile, unmotivated, and susceptible to training- At least for a while.

Wild fiberlings can also be trained or conditioned to act a certain way, although their natural instincts are hard to curb and it is tricky to teach them to accept a master without killing it or running from it. That said, they are not incapable of affection, at least of a rather weak self-centred variety, again reflecting their feline nature. Magical restraints are recommended.

Fiberlings interact with White Giants rather like cats interact with dogs, although a pack of several fiberlings working in tandem can break open even these behemoths, and may be motivated to do so rather than watch themselves be driven to extinction in any particular area.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

OK RUSHED BUT DONE

@Hael Whoops, forget everything I said about Jvan having mixed feelings for Vulamera; It's still true but I realised it was even better used in combination with the opportunity to demonstrate the results of Toun's shattering on her.

Ed: Oh boy this is one baby I really don't feel like proofreading. GOODNIGHT EVERYONE.

On a positive note, as of now, Jvan has not only semi-canonically smooched a dead doe, but mentally referred to a stronger male god as daddy.

I hate myself and everything I do.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

The Embryonic Angel soared into the heavens, its curved and asymmetrical web of sails filled by a pulse of the Other. Jvan watched the tiny entity go, questioning herself.

The Unborn will see this as an insult, or a challenge. I may have been honest, but I do not trust her, either. Indeed, the All-Beauty had few doubts about the nature of the gift, gorgeous as Mirus was. It was a bribe. A distraction too perfect to resist, though resist she did. Surely, if Vulamera sought peace, she would have simply taken for herself a body, any body. Truth? Lies? Such things were for words, not flesh! No god existed who could not take on a fitting form! And yet, this... Aborted sister of mine shows great promise. Science, art, engineering, all these traits she has displayed for all gods to see over Galbar. Am I judging her too harshly for her disability? Was Vulamera perhaps not unborn but stillborn, like the Rottenbone, only none recognised her potential enough to heal her?

Clink.

A porcelain echo ricocheted through Jvan's creative core, abrasive and sharp. No. She searched for a word, one which she had never needed to use before. Vulamera could not be allowed to stay as she was. Vulamera was... Imperfect. She is imperfect. More must be done.

Clink.

I have seen such potential before. It is not sufficient. A deity that considers itself too perfect to change must be forced to, for their own sake. My patience is great, but one day, I must see that Vulamera's art becomes heartfelt. I am not sorry, sister. It is not the first time I have broken a god.

Clink. Clink. Clink.

* * * * *

Sheltered under the softly shuffling pink mists of the Mother, a Jvanic Eye rested, alone. It was rather large, as such constructs went, likely occupying about a cubic metre of space, and its force of impact had led it to skid over the mountainous earth and settle itself in a long gouge of upset gravel. The visibility wasn't particularly favourable, but what could be seen was pleasant, and Jvan had no reason to try and move or retrieve her Eye.

Time passed, and the valley changed little. The first lichens, windborne as spores released by the Deepwood, were slowly starting to settling on the rock. Only a disruption of the quiet brought the Horrorsome Engineer's attention back to the lost Eye.

Something large and seamed was visible to the colourful probe, and its white mass was approaching quickly. Jvan focused her vision, and saw a great, gleaming white creature approach with a rapid hexapod gait, clicking regularly and sharply from the end of its expansive neck. It drew near. The White Giant knew its way, and its missive, and Jvan saw over the cyborg flesh a layer of ceramic. A perfect match for what she remembered.

The entity reared, elegance wrought in muscle and metal, and shattered the Jvanic Eye beneath its fists, pounding its viscous fluid organs into the gravel. Within the mind of the Engineer, there was quiet.

...Nice work, Toun. I like it.

* * * * *

A smaller Jvanic Eye found itself not only watching, but watched. Soon it received a welcome rather different to automatic destruction, and even more exciting. The winds of Zephyrion carried the organic sphere to a shallow bowl of raindrops atop an elegant roof, one that cupped its lower surface and allowed it to roll endlessly in any direction without moving. Such generous authority! Why, just as Niciel is a mother, Zephyrion almost fills the role of father, confident and bold.

Jvan listened closely through the visceral device. Generosity was manifesting itself in other ways, too; A major commission had been issued, under the power of the First Gale. The Engineer felt a thrill of joy at the recognition of her domain, both in her and her sister proponent of art. To see the score of the Muse sung into action upon Galbar would be truly inspiring. Even the plans were set together elegantly. I hope they're kept on display somewhere. Teknall surely left wall space for such maps.

Ilunabar's reserved words not only for the project, but for Jvan herself. They were odd words, but the goddess felt the warmth of them. The next embryonic angel was large and well-developed within its amnion, and it rode the winds of Change far and swiftly to its goal. As it grew, it became rectangular, and its fragile skin grew translucent over a layer of chromatophores and texture cells, that morphed as it spoke and settled into a colourful model of the same map Ilunabar had designed, bar some small additions.

A speaking organ was set over the face of the map like a title, and it intoned directly to Zephyrion, with all the courtesy and magnificence befitting the situation.

"Lord of Change and Lady of Dreams, your welcome is well appreciated. May my eye remain here always as a gesture of goodwill to your domain, Zephyrion, for innovation and whim alike are written deep into the nature of art.

"Ilunabar's designs are wholesome and mature, and contrast the Shattered Plains pleasantly. My propositions are modest, but will compliment its own themes. I suggest that a precise channeling of storm winds will cause rivers and falls to run between the mesas of the Stone Horns, and fill the canyon floor with a network of shallow lakes, which may later be populated with low forests and wetlands to fill the air with petals. The motion of this water may provide breath for further musical organs which may compliment the horns. The peaks of each mesa may be designed also as nesting sites for such creatures as will, one day, thrive on the wind..."

As the mouth of the angel moved, a second message, encoded in light so as not to interrupt the main voice of the goddess, played itself for the benefit of Ilunabar. It was a short pattern, but its glows were subtle and optimistically colourful, and if the luminous organs of the back of the angel were made to pen a written tongue, it may have read like this:

"There is no movement without debate, nor composite without clash. Do not lament the harsh feelings spent over me, Ilunabar, for even they come from an elegant source. Mostly, anyway. And though I don't follow parts of your discourse, either- The precise mechanics of order and chaos don't hold me for long- I think we can agree that we shall both work to preserve dynamic interaction between chaos and order. For my work is only a setting for a story, and what is a story without intrigue? Even the white giants are pretty, though I don't think they like me. If you enjoy my work, sister, use it to stage something magnificent. Use the whole world."

* * * * *

As a message was relayed, the Jvanic Eye of the Citadel swivelled faster, and the body of Jvan too gazed upwards at the beautiful ruin of glowing rings unfolding over Galbar. Has the Unborn gone truly mad? No. No, Vulamera would not do such, though Jvan had certainly found her unpredictable before. The Mindful God would rather hold Galbar to ransom. This is Chaos, gambling with our creations- Playing with our responses- At the risk of complete annihilation- Logos! Where are you when you're useful? In haste, Jvan gathered numerous samples of all her creations into her body cavities, assimilating some and killing others where struggle was inconvenient. The Deepwood. I must warn the gods to move-

A harsh pulse of scarlet radiation pulsed over Galbar and into deep space from the body of Jvan as she regretted her exhaustion and regretted Vestec, a warning light to those who could still act. Someone would. The orbit was still entirely repairable. Ilunabar has strength yet. She will see this if no one else- Sudden cataclysm doesn't make a good story- Unless she's into that, I guess!

In which my character makes references to restrictive gender norms

Outdated before human society has even been born. Anyway. This one got rushed towards the end again. I'd like to have fit in more dramatic and interactive responses but ugh exhaustion and overexertion.

Jvan muses on the message she has sent to Vulamera. Just as she begins to grow sympathetic, the shards of perfection left in her by Toun instead lead her to believe that Vulamera must be forced to change.

A white giant crushes the Jvanic Eye resting in the Valley of Peace. Jvan is impressed by Toun's craftsmanship.

Jvan adds details to the plans Ilunabar suggests, making them more suitable for retaining water and life in the long run, and leaves Ilunabar a message telling her to keep up maintaining a diverse balance between chaos and order. Something like that. I don't know where I was going with this. whoops

And then Vestec tosses down a moon and panic ensues.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

*inverts empty pockets* Nope, not my responsibility this time.

Edit: This is a great opportunity for Belru to get the other gods in debt, though, considering that she still has plenty of Might.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

Going a bit off topic, this conversation reminded me of an anime I just finished, the whole thing was based on Hope/Dreams x Despair. However in the end the main girl and the main villain just came to an understanding that Hope would always generate Despair, the two were linked and no side would ever win. It was cool.

@Double Capybara

...Puella Magi?

Suddenly I want to have a kid very badly.

I just realized this.

A kid will be the only one who will honestly point out what's weird about me right to my face.

@Awson

On the other hand, if they grow up with you, your weirdness and flaws will seem normal to them. They won't realise that you're not the norm until later.