Rytia seems good. I've only skimmed her sheet for now what with all *gestures wildly at IC* this nonsense, but any problems can probably be touched up later, so consider her accepted.
@Antarctic Termite Acknowledged. So do you want me to repost the whole thing or just the expanded part?
Whole updated sheet.
I assume the world has no life on it already?
So when one goes about creating life, does one need to spend the miracles to create it individually by species or is it enough to specify a vague classification for mundane animals? Like say, fish? And does one need to spend the miracles to create flora too, or only for fauna and flora being a free action?
World is barren yes. To create enough species for a major ecosystem (hundreds, including plants animals and a bunch of insects and worms and fungi) you may spend a Might point. Individual species can be made for free or a Miracle depending on how important they are.
Way you've set it up is fine for now, though because Orfai is level one and spent only half a Might point, the sea life will be localised to one area and might not be very diverse. For example, the Door is in a bay at a warm temperate latitude, so you've probably created plenty of coastal and shallow-water species, but the far depths, tropics, poles, reefs and open ocean will still need fish of their own.
Leaves a far distance away from the starting oasis to create a new barren landmass.
While I'm sure the post is fine, this is exactly what I asked you not to do, until Wrongend posts the map. I know the OOC thread might hop quickly from time to time, but please try to pay attention to announcements, everyone.
Lei might pull him back to the beach to be social for at least a few minutes when I come back from class, depending on how things have developed since then.
like the wind i sway back and forth / i'm brittle as an aged human being like the wind i sway back and forth / i'm brittle as an aged human being like the wind i sway back and forth / i'm brittle as an aged human being
Feel free to have whatever birth scene you like, or hit me up if you want Lei to be involved somehow. Whatever path they may take to be born, new gods will show up on the beach at level one.
WrongEnd has a map somewhere he'll probably post soon enough. Just don't go wandering off far enough for a world map to be relevant just yet.
The goddess stood in robes of grey, tailored by no hand yet tailored well, and still unable to hide the inhumanity of the being within. Malkut's eye cast a slow light, and she extended her hand to receive the golden Lock. She gazed out upon the beach, still and calm and lit by stars alone, with nothing but sand around. She inserted the Key.
Click.
Now she saw and heard not only the beach but what lay beyond: a darkness, and things superimposed upon the darkness, and things whispered through the shadow. Each was as clear as the other. The humble world, and the things she had laboured so hard to hide from it.
"Is it time?" said Alto, alighting on the sands.
The Concierge pulled an ancient gypsum tablet from her coat and looked at it. Despite the years, it still depicted the old figure of the Man from Above. "Yes," she said, crushing it to dust. "If I don't return- you know what to do."
Her sleeves became wings, and upon silken folds she swept into the dark. Alto pawed at the sand with some nerves. Malkut inclined his head.
Let it start at the beginning, she thought to herself. Where freedom was lost.
Promus
The inky black-blue of the night sky above began to make way for a cresting band of orange and pink. The stars that were his only company began to leave him with the coming of the day; as the last of their lights faded away and the dawn sun began to rise, Promus bristled. The shackles chafed at his ankles and wrists but there could be no writhing free. The first rays of day fell upon the walls of frozen smoke. The glassy black stone beneath him quickly became searing hot, and once more his prison was alight as a crucible of pain. He had screamed in the past, for the first few centuries of his imprisonment, but now the torment was merely a cycle as natural as sleep or rain. Even as his skin peeled and flesh became tallow, he only gasped and took sharp breaths.
But something else was rising against the dawn. A sharp shadow, grey and streaming, leapt the horizon and outsped the sun, crossing its zenith before it could even leave the earth. The shadow eclipsed the light and became a silhouette, and shot across the land. Perplexed was the weary sage, for this was not how the Cycle was written.
The silhouette flew ever closer, its shade silencing first the vicious mirrors and then the sun itself. By the time it crested the obsidian pit, the corona at its silken wings was all Promus could see of the light. "Come," said the saviour, extending a hand into the scene of wasted godhood. "It is time for this to end."
The haggard remnant of He Who Stole the Wind silently regarded the one that had dared defy the gods and approach his prison. It had been eons since he had heard the voice of another. Though pain lived in his eyes and upon his tortured body, he stretched against his shackles as far as he could so as to meet her hand. Lei took it, and gripped it, and the shackles rattled. And she leapt into the sky.
The old god's chains shattered at her flight, and Lei soared into the heavens, dragging his tired body with her. The unlocked Lock in her left hand shone against the sky, and together they escaped the daylight, the blaze, and flew into the calming shade of somewhere deep and hidden. There they hovered for some time, new wings folding and unfolding from Lei's body, traversing no space, but doing so at great speed. When they next met a light, it was stellar.
Once more, Lei stood on the shore at the edge of the world, constellations flickering above her. She released her grip upon Promus, and the sage slowly left the embrace that had saved him. He knelt upon the sandy ground, perhaps for true reverence and not just frailty, and then glowed softly as his flesh regenerated. The wounds faded, but the scars were still there; they were just hidden beneath the skin. Four wings emerged from his naked back, and then he finally spoke.
"So you have defeated the God of Gods and cast aside his disciples?" he looked up to his savior. Behind a placid face, he wondered for what machination she had chosen to save him. "If you have not, then I fear that the retribution for your defiance in freeing me shall be terrible."
Lei shook her head, leaning on the cane that Alto brought her. She was not frail, but the flight had drained her. "There will be no retribution. The God of Gods was eaten by his retinue long before I was born-"
Impossible. The stars still gleam with heavenly power.
"-and your escape, until now, was a mystery that lasted the aeons." She looked out, back at the dark. "From that Door, there is no return."
The turmoil within Promus broiled and then settled without so much as a single outward sign. "You twisted time and fate to effect my flight. For what end have you gifted me this great favor?"
"The favour is mine," she said, and bowed, but not low. "It is not for the winged to be bound to the stone. What's over is done. This world is for the future."
His gaze drifted to the door. From that Door, there is no return.
With a shudder, his stoicism shattered like glass as he came to a final realization. "My children..."
They had grown stronger in his absence; even from his prison he had listened to their thoughts and wept as the prayers grew rarer with the passing centuries, but even so, he had always told himself that he suffered for them. To have escaped his pain felt like he had abandoned them. "I'm sorry," said Lei. A barren word.
Yet there was a time that every father had to set his children free.
One more deep breath. "If this world is for the future, then it is a future that I shall build. A new world, one better than the last; I can see it already." He turned to the one that had carried him away. "Can you...?"
He didn't even know her name. No matter; he offered her a title that commanded veneration and gratitude. "...Mater?"
"Lei," she said, inclining her head. "...Mater Lei."
Promus rose to his feet once again, and with a parting nod and one mighty flap of his wings, he ascended to the sky above. Alto looked on, in awe and envy. Mater Lei laughed as she watched him ascend.
"I can see it!" she yelled, calling to the brilliant stars. "I hear it coming on the wind!" She turned to the Door, still open and still dark. "Come!" she said, raising the Lock above her head, where it shone. "Come and partake of Creation!"
And her voice echoed through the Door and was heard.
Summaries are what we use in Divinus to clarify what we've done and how we've done it. After each post, a short summary is included to describe major actions taken by the characters and the statistics involved.
In this post, Lei opens the Door and travels into the distant past to rescue Promus from his torment. She may herself be a distant descendent of his civilisation. 1 Might spent to shatter the chains binding Promus.
Promus is brought into the new universe, where he mourns for the children from which he has been torn. Lei declares that she is honoured to have him in the new world to build a new future, and Promus pledges himself to this purpose. He gives Lei the title 'Mater'.
As her sons look on, Lei calls through the Door, inviting the new gods to be born.
Mater Lei 6 Might 0 Miracles Level Four 1/8 Acts of Creation
@Jarl Coolgruuf I still like Pelegath, maybe even more than I did. Just make sure not to disappear without a word this time.
@Scarescrow I'm a bit shaky on this one. I've been very lax on character goals so far because most characters I can kind of get a grip on, but while the theme of endings is perfectly fine, the actual applications of 'forgetting' is quite vague, and I don't otherwise have much of an idea how Sebna will play. Try be more clear about what the limits and strengths of its power are and what it will use them for in specific situations.
Also, the fact that Sebna has a duty and moral code strongly suggests that he's Lawful.
@Kalleth Césure's good, even unfinished. Definitely some shade of evil rather than neutral, but he's good. Not Good good. Just good. Great. Dandy. :a-ok sign emoji:
Guys. I've decided. Humans are going to come about when Seihdhara procreates with a bear.
For anyone wondering: the opening post is now being worked on, and WrongEnd has the map done (he just forgot not to add forests because god DAMN IT KHO I TOLD YOU NO BEARS)
Vec
Timemaster