BBeast

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

@BBeast There are too many sources mentioning it to be round, hell, my Pictaraika shrines are supposedly in a perfect circle.

I will be doing something with the surface so I need it to be the least the size of an European country. Of course, the one in the map is too big, but what isn't odd after the change to inkscape?

Anyway, a smaller Pictaraika just means a larger twisted forest. As it needs to be a barrier.

@Double Capybara

I went back and checked the creation post of the Darkened Spires. My apologies. It seems I had the wrong mental picture of it all along.

http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/3384892

The Darkened Spires were indeed formed from an impact crater, so they would be big and round.

Carry on.

P.S.

As for the map border, I believe the suggestion was to change the map border line to run through the Shattered Plains, as that region lacks many features.

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

Anyway, the one main thing I want to emphasize is that I really, really don't think we want or need those land bridges. Land bridges don't make the world more accessible. Seas and rivers make the world more accessible the minute you invent the sail. Once you start thinking of oceans as a way to get around, land bridges are actually just giant walls that block you from sailing where you want to go. There's a reason people dug canals through Panama and Suez- Just a thin stretch of land in the way can add massive amounts of time to a voyage.

@Antarctic Termite

These land bridges were intentionally made by Vestec when he created the World Mountain in a cataclysmic manner, to contain all the flooding and stuff. At some time we need something to break that. Perhaps if Zephyrion returns and is mad (or if he just feels the whim to do so), he'll make a storm and break down the land bridges into islands. Or once sailing promises to become a prevalent means of travel Teknall might break down the land bridges himself as a courtesy to Civilisation.

-What happened to Jvan's peninsula? She's somehow ended up at a channel between the southern ocean and the fractal sea? She's always been at the northernmost point of an isthmus stretching up from land, specifically so that you can reach her on foot or horseback from both east and west; Somehow that got turned completely inside out.
...
-The Shimmering Sea changed shape, deleting a section of land to the south of it (which promptly got resurrected as a land bridge enclosing an inland sea?) as well as making Vetros almost coastal.
...
-The north of the Fractal Sea is growing bigger and lumpier over time, as well as marching steadily west. That vaguely phallic top bit should be a long, narrow inlet directly above Jvan, at least at the very top.

@Antarctic Termite

Remember, cataclysmic flooding. Vestec's fault. Ocean size-changes weren't entirely an artefact of map-creation. Although I'm sure some adjustments might be in order. Especially for Jvan's isthmus; that should be preserved.

-The Venomweald grew quite a bit, so the Valley of Peace is kind of fusing with the Ironhearts- That's not much of a problem by itself, but the connection between the Steppe and the Valley is growing thinner, which makes Angelblood Ridge hard to place since it took place in the foothills.

@Antarctic Termite

I agree that they are getting rather close. I always intended a gap between the two.

-Rivers, people! Where did those Mesathalassan rivers go?

@Antarctic Termite

Of course. Rivers are the lifeblood of civilisation. They are important.

-Volcano squashing the northwest Metatic acalya outbreak. I should've put it more inland, whoops. Also, Acalya forests have containment zones guarded by Jvan's conglomeration of intelligent species.

@Antarctic Termite

Your positioning is correct. It is specifically a coastal volcano. Also, the containment zones are probably too thin to be resolved on the map.

EDIT: Before I forget!

To whomever decides to.make the next pretty iteration of the Galbar map, please consider shrinking down many of the geographical features. Things are beginning to get crowded and we are still meant to be working on a huge, Earth-like planet.

I would also suggest moving the map edges more westward, closer to the changing plains. Mesathelassa is better developed at this point.

And hey, an idea for a cataclysmic event? Sea level rise. We could actually have separated continents to work with if that happens :D

@Muttonhawk

The map is starting to get crowded, I agree. Although we don't want to space things out too much otherwise nothing will interact and it will be boring.

Moving the map edge would be a good idea.

And no arbitrary world-shifting cataclysms. We had a cataclysm just like that not too long ago (http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/3915249). Plus you cataclysmicly created the Metatic Ocean before that. I think that is enough cataclysms for one millennium.

Some features we do need more of, that aren't too hard to fit in-

-Inland seas! Think of the Aral, Dead and Caspian seas.
-Lakes! Lakes everywhere! The Great Lakes, Lake Baikal, Lake Victoria, Lake Chad, Lake Malawi... Big lakes are awesome, guys!
-Rivers! Rivers can be used as highways, provided they don't have rapids or waterfalls serving as a chokepoint, and are a lifeline for cities.

@Antarctic Termite

Agreed. More inland bodies of water. Many of these would probably form naturally. We shall try to remember such features when describing new areas.

-Volcanic islands, archipelagos, and atolls! The west Pacific is riddled with islands! Think of Polynesia, Micronesia, Indonesia, the Philippines, the Caribbean, Japan, what have you!

@Antarctic Termite

Volcanic islands are slightly more tricky. On Galbar, currently the only (established) volcanic region is the Ironheart Ranges, which is decidedly inland. Such regions might require a god to create them.
In the remains of the south pole, however, are plenty of new islands and archipelagos, although they're more arctic than pacific in climate.
The Fractal Sea is unlikely to contain natural islands, due to its unusual depth and formation. The Shimmering Sea, however, could easily have many islands. And the Metatic Ocean, formed by cataclysmic flooding, may have islands where there used to be mountains.

-Reefs! Where did the Drenched Flowerbed go? It was our resident Great Barrier Reef analogue.

@Antarctic Termite

Ah, that place. That should be put back in the map.

-Cenotes! Vakarlon made a cave system that riddles Galbar and the Submaterium presumably connects to it, so having some giant flooded holes in the ground would be awesome.

@Antarctic Termite

Those would be awesome, although I don't think they're large enough to show on the map. But I agree that more use should be made of the caves.

@Lauder They're Holy Garatha trees! No one has made use of their cool properties!

@Kho

Perhaps it will become more useful once long-distance trade routes become a thing.

-Piktaraika (previously Julkofyr's thingplace) should be far smaller than that, and the Hilt also

@Kho

I agree. The Darkened Spires were excluded from the map for a very long time, then when they were added they were made absolutely massive. It was meant to be a canyon, not a giant crater.

To compromise with @Double Capybara, who wants them to serve as a barrier of sorts, I think that the Darkened Spires/Piktaraika should be made long and thin, reflecting their original status as a canyon/valley. Something like the Grand Canyon in scale, perhaps?





Also, @Cyclone, can you please put the old versions of the maps in hiders. At present that post loads 5 high-resolution images every single time I try to view the character tab, and the old maps are just clutter.

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

@BBeast Please tell me that you have a voice in mind for Sharon. The only other Sharon I know was a large, hopeless romantic netball player character acted by Magda Szubanski and I just can't get that out of my head.

I need a different voice in my head.

@Muttonhawk

Hmm...

If I find anything, I'll let you know.

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

Gerrik Far-Teacher

Level 7 Hain Hero
26 Khookies

In Tallgrass, Gerrik had managed to figure out a good daily routine. In the morning, before the heat of the day set in, Gerrik would head out with Sharon to forage for food. With his exceptional abilities, they had often collected more than enough food by midday, which they returned to the village. From midday until evening, Gerrik would experiment with the star-fiend carapace. Then in the evening Gerrik would teach and share stories, as was his typical mission. Occasionally Gerrik would join a hunting party rather than go foraging, where he was able to prove his reputation as an excellent archer.

All this hunting and gathering was not typical of Gerrik's visits to villages. As was always the case, he had to earn his keep, for the village had to feed and shelter him. Normally, teaching and crafting was adequate, but in Tallgrass he was spending many hours on a personal project. Compounded with the fact that this was a very small village, with only 14 adults, Gerrik would have been an intolerable burden if he didn't help provide food.

This had some other benefits. Thanks to Gerrik's great efficiency at foraging, the people of Tallgrass were actually collecting a small surplus of food, and thus able to spend a bit more time performing other activities. The villager with the most free time was Sharon, since she went foraging with Gerrik. In this time she weaved, producing clothes, tents and baskets, using some techniques already known and some taught by Gerrik.

Another benefit was that this schedule gave Gerrik a lot of time with Sharon, while they were out foraging. Gerrik's profession meant that he rarely spent time with individuals and did not stay in one place long enough to develop meaningful relationships. But with the unusual circumstances here, things were different.

One afternoon Gerrik was at work shaping the star-fiend carapace. The big stone which he dropped from a tree, while delivering a massive amount of force, was very slow and strenuous to use and quite inaccurate, so Gerrik had built another hammer. This was a hammer with a hardwood handle almost as long as he was tall, with a hefty stone head. Such a hammer was perfectly suited for delivering great force in each blow, and the only reason he hadn't had one before was because it would have been much too big and heavy to carry long distances.

With this big hammer Gerrik flattened a chunk of star-fiend carapace against a flat rock. The sharp clangs of the stone against the metal rang out rhythmically throughout the village, only interrupted whenever Gerrik had to stop and readjust the position of the carapace.

Sharon sat down nearby with her weaving. She had threads made from twisted tall grass, a simple loom made of sticks holding the threads, and a bone needle, and was weaving together a square of coarse fabric. But while one pair of eyes watched her loom, her other pair of eyes furtively inspected Gerrik. With each lift of the hammer Gerrik's arms bulged slightly, his exoskeleton expanding to accommodate his flexing muscles. And each swing of the hammer was delivered with impressive strength and equally impressive accuracy. Gerrik was strong, agile, smart too, and-

"You missed a weave," Gerrik said casually between hammer blows.

Sharon was jolted from her thoughts, and looked properly at her loom and found that she had indeed just made a mistake. Sheepishly she undid the offending thread and wove it properly. Gerrik didn't break from his task, although his eyes betrayed amusement.

"How do you do that?" Sharon asked in disbelief. Gerrik hadn't even been properly looking at her loom at the time, and he had noticed a small flaw from several metres away.

"As I've said, I'm very perceptive," Gerrik replied.

Sharon tilted her head back slightly. "So you've said." Although Sharon was almost certain that Gerrik had some secret behind that superlative perceptiveness. She then set down her loom and leaned a little closer, looking at what Gerrik was working on. To visible inspection, it was a flattened piece of that star-fiend carapace, roughly 5cm wide and 20cm long, tapering to a point, and relatively thin. The edges were still rough. "What are you making there?"

Gerrik stopped his hammering, set the sledgehammer down, and knelt down to pick up the object. He held it out to Sharon for her to take a closer look. "I'm making a blade. Star-fiend carapace is malleable like clay, but hard like stone, so it should be sharper than a bone blade and larger than a flint blade. Should last a long while, and be easier to repair."

Sharon simply nodded, looking at the rough metal blade. Gerrik continued, "It still has a bit of work until it's finished."

Gerrik and Sharon went back to their crafts. Eventually, Gerrik finished hammering his blade. It had been a long and tiresome task, but the chunk of star-fiend carapace had finally become a refined product. Gerrik picked up the blade and held it close to his eyes, inspecting it more closely. On closer inspection, it was almost finished, but the edge was still fairly dull. It needed to be sharpened, and Gerrik had already thought of how to do that.

Gerrik took out his flint knife. Flint was exceptionally hard and sharp, so could possibly be used to shave the carapace knife's edge. Gerrik pressed the edge of the flint against the carapace and pushed it along the blade.

To Gerrik's surprise, this action threw red-hot sparks out ahead of the blade. Sharon's gaze snapped up from her weaving at the flash of light.

Gerrik paused for a few moments, until he tentatively brought the flint knife back up the carapace blade and repeated the action. More sparks were thrown.

"How did you do that?" Sharon asked, surprised.

Gerrik brought the carapace blade up to his eyes and inspected where he had carved. "I'm not sure," Gerrik slowly replied, "It has something to do with scraping flint along the star-fiend carapace."

After studying the blade for a few more seconds, he lowered it and repeated the scraping action, this time scraping it multiple times in succession, spraying out more sparks against his working stone. Gerrik inspected the blade again, as well as where the sparks had flown. He noticed that he had indeed shaved a tiny bit of carapace off the blade, and that the sparks had deposited minuscule flecks of material onto the stone.

"The flint knife shaves off tiny flecks of the carapace, and these somehow burst into flame," Gerrik concluded, "Why the flecks turn into sparks is something I can only guess at. This action would produce considerable heat from the rubbing, which probably helps, but would not be enough to light a fire on its own. Perhaps the remains of the star-fiend's spirit grants its carapace this fire-starting power, although that is only a guess." Gerrik leaned back and laughed, his hands turning upwards. "But do you know what this means, Sharon? I've invented another way to start fires!"

Sharon leaped to her feet. This was exciting indeed. "Gerrik, that's wonderful! Wait-" Sharon's expression shifted from glee to puzzlement, "another way?"

"Yes, another way," Gerrik answered, "You know the bow drill?"

"Yes, of course."

"I invented that."

Sharon's eyes widened in surprise. She took a few moments to absorb the revelation. Her mouth gaped for a few moments, lost for words, until she finally said, "How old are you?"

Gerrik glanced down at himself. His body was close to that of a hain in his physical prime. Yet how long ago had it been since he had gone off with Stone Chipper to travel the world? It had been many, many years. A few generations, even. Yet the only sign of all those years on his body were the results of that much physical activity. Gerrik looked back to Sharon. "Much older than I look. Being blessed by a god has its perks."

Sharon gaped in awe for a little longer, until the silence became awkward. Gerrik broke the silence, holding up the two knives. "I think I have a good demonstration for tonight's lesson."

Sharon nodded. "I think they will find that to be spectacular."

---

Gerrik walked around the hill and over the burnt ground towards the corpse of the Realta. He needed to collect another sample to experiment further and make new tools. It was a trip which would take the better part of an hour, so he had time to think and observe the world around him.

His thoughts wandered to Sharon and Tallgrass. Tallgrass was typical of many small villages. The able-bodied villagers all had to spend most of each day foraging or hunting if they were to gather enough food to feed everyone. This left scarce little time to do other activities, like the weaving and sowing Sharon liked to do. While food collecting was important, it did nothing other than maintain the status quo. The boundaries of technology and culture can't be pushed when people are just barely making ends meet. Additionally, unless the landscape were particularly fertile, villages often had to roam between multiple locations in order to not exhaust the local food supply. If only there were some more efficient way of gathering food.

Around him, in these ashen fields, grew young green shoots of grass. It was nature recovering from the destruction the star-fiend had wrought. This particular grass was the kind from which Tallgrass had gained its name. This grass grew relatively tall, and when mature its seeds were useful for food and bread.

Being the naturalist he was, Gerrik considered the grass for a while longer. It was regrowing. This place would eventually become a field full of grass. Grass which produced edible grains. Plants spread and grew, this was only natural. But how did they spread? Gerrik had observed many plants over the years, his Perception and eidetic memory helping there, and had figured out that it was the seeds which grew into new plants. What if he could bring many food-bearing plants into the one location?

Epiphany struck. He would gather the seeds of plants, such as these tall grasses, and grow them in a single area, making collection far easier. If he could achieve such a feat and teach it to others, then villages would no longer need to spend the majority of their time searching for food. There would be more time for everyone to follow other pursuits, and, he thought to himself, more free time for Sharon.

It was a brilliant plan, but one which would take time and effort to implement. He retrieved a second chunk of star-fiend carapace as he had originally planned, then headed back to Tallgrass, his mind abuzz with plans.

---

Out in the forest, Gerrik and Sharon were busy digging up roots to eat. Gerrik seemed to always be able to find those which were ripe for collecting. As they dug, Gerrik spoke up.

"Tell me, Sharon, how much do you like foraging for food?"

Sharon seemed a little surprised at the question. "Oh? Um. It's always been something I've had to do. Foraging is important, for we need to eat. And we all need to contribute."

"That wasn't what I asked," Gerrik said. "If there was no need for you to forage, would you choose to do it, or would you choose something else to do with your time?"

Sharon paused to consider the question more deeply. "I suppose I would do something different. I like making clothes and fabrics. I've even been putting patterns into them. I find it relaxing."

"What if I told you," Gerrik said, "that I had figured out a way for Tallgrass to get most of its food without spending all day foraging?"

Sharon's eyes widened. "Really?"

Gerrik nodded. "It's just a plan at this stage, but I'll set it into motion soon. My plan is to grow all these plants in a single area near our village. By being close to the village, we won't have to spend hours walking and searching. We'd need to care for the plants, of course, but by my estimation everyone should be better off."

Sharon's head tilted upwards and her palms bared towards the sky. A small laugh of glee sounded from Sharon's mouth. Gerrik saw Sharon's happiness, and was in turn filled with warm joy. "Can you really make that happen?" Sharon asked.

"It will take time and hard work. It might be a couple of seasons before the plants are big enough to bear fruit. But yes, I should be able to make it happen," Gerrik replied.

The idea was so exciting that Sharon wouldn't drop the subject all day. Gerrik carefully outlined everything he knew about plants, their various stages of growth, the source of their seeds, what time of year they tended to bloom and fruit, and so on. Sharon was rapt, and Gerrik was happy that Sharon was happy. They made plans to start this project as soon as possible.

Gerrik, Inventor of Fire Twofold

Gerrik is living in Tallgrass. He spends half the day foraging with Sharon, several hours working the star-fiend carapace, and the evening teaching. His supernatural Perception, encyclopaedic knowledge and nomadic experience combine to make Gerrik an exceptionally efficient forager. It is unusual for him to spend so much time with an individual person, and as such he has grown quite fond of Sharon.

At one point, Gerrik is using a sledgehammer to work the (cold) star-fiend carapace into a knife, and Sharon is nearby weaving. Sharon finds Gerrik to be quite attractive. (-2 Khookies to invent cold forging of metals)

When trying to sharpen his newly made blade, Gerrik accidentally discovers a new fire starting method (flint and steel). (-2 Khookies)

While out walking in an area of regrowth, Gerrik derives the basic principles of agriculture- planting fruitful plants in abundance near home. (No Khookies yet, it's just an idea at present)

When Gerrik tells Sharon of his idea, she is quite excited. This makes Gerrik happy.

Start: 26 Khookies
Spent: 4 Khookies
Earned: 9 Khookies (13,000+ characters)
End: 31 Khookies

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

I would like to point out that Teknall has always been depicted as wearing clothes. His leather apron is especially iconic.

P.S.

@Kho Logos has never worn nor been depicted with clothes

Neither has Elysium.

....maybe I should change that?

@Dawnscroll

Considering that Elysium is queen of a place with humans, I felt it was implied that she wore clothes. There is explicit mention of jewelry in her latest post.

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

@Vec Teknallky, Vowzra was the first naked god. 'Caus teknallky he was first.

@Kho

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

@BBeast

The Acalya forest you destroyed with that volcano is one featured under Zephyr's Dojo in the map? My characters were kind of heading that way, so it would be important to know.

@Slime

Yes. However, I'd be more concerned about what remains of the Acalya forest further inland. The volcano just destroyed the bits which threatened the coast. You'd want to go well north of that.

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

@Muttonhawk, In my Gerrik posts, I'm actually planning on encountering a White Giant riding trader. Have you got any good suggestions for how one might temporarily stop a White Giant from roaming? I was thinking a thick sack over the head to block the echolocation, preventing it from 'seeing' the terrain.

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

The once vast sea of impenetrable darkness that filled the interior of the spires had gone through drastic changes. The deep black had given away to dark clouds of blue and purple, that, along with the sparkles created by clashing energies, gave one the impression they were looking into a mirror of the starry sky above.

In the monumental circle of mountains around the region, still as impenetrable as Julkofyr had designed it, it was possible to sense four buildings in opposing sides, but only one of those was completed.

Diving into the sea of stars would eventually reveal the true surface of the Pictaraika, a region of gray islands and large "roots" that rose from Raka, all that bathed by an eternally moonlit sea. It was a desolated expense, but at its very center, something shone.

The structure itself, resting atop of a hilly island, could be better described as a "whimsical lighthouse", it was a tower made of brass-colored metal, decorated with illustrations, lights, and mirrors (It heavily resembled a carousel, though less mechanical). Some sort of tune played from it, it seemed to be produced by an instrument that the mortals had yet to invent.

In one of its floors, carelessly writing down a crateful of projects, sat Ilunabar. She had changed drastically since Teknall's last visit, at least outfit wise; gone was the fancy dress and jewelry, now she only wore a simple cloak. It was easy to realize the craftsman was not the only one worried about being discrete.

From the door of the room came a knock and a familiar voice. "Hello Ilunabar. May I come in?"

"Teknall?" Ilunabar commented aloud, a bit puzzled that she hadn't noticed the sibling arriving. Even when distracted, she was typically able to notice such things. "Sure thing, give me a moment"

The door slid to the side and the goddess welcomed the craftsman with a hug. "It has been a while, brother. I take this is your first time seeing this area after I decided to take over what Julkofyr left behind?"

"It has been a while, Ilunabar. And it is my first time visiting this place, at least properly," Teknall replied. "It seems more spacious and with less unwanted guests than the Celestial Citadel."

"Indeed! And the whole structure from here down to the connection with the Raka is built with my needs as a creator in mind. Also, no more illusory walls everywhere to keep the Djinns out..." she sighed "They were too much like their creator, some softer ones would have been welcomed."

"I am curious as to what will happen once their creator returns. A personality like that tolerates no rivals," Teknall remarked. "Although, I have observed another breed of elemental which could possibly be more to your liking. They live in great trees, such as those in the Deepwood, and nurture the trees. Feminine in form, a sub-type of water elemental. You could probably make a good story or two from them."

Ilunabar immediately showed a lot of interest "That is interesting. I will surely be investigating that very soon. Hopefully, by then, Logos will already have stopped to bother us so I can see those myself."

Almost involuntarily, Teknall's hain head flicked from one side to the other at the mention of Logos, glancing around him. "Yes, Logos." Teknall looked up and down at Ilunabar's simple cloak. "This place isn't simply a new home for building things, is it? The deep connection with Raka makes physics optional here. This is a place you can hide from Logos."

"Hide... That isn't a word I like to use, but I think you got the idea of it correctly. After Zephyrion left and Vowzra... well, you know, I decided it would be unwise to not take action."

As she was talking, she walked past Teknall and signaled him to follow her as she started to go down the metallic stairs of the tower.

"So I created this little abnormality in Reality, where Logos would be out of his element. Not that it would stop him from hurting me, but decisions are taken by counterweighting the rewards and risks of an action. I don't know how angry he is for what he would pridefully call stealing," there was a hint of scorn in her voice that felt uncharacteristic to the Muse. "But I have generated a lot of potential trouble with this structure, and only a fool would think a vendetta is worth all of that.

Teknall nodded. Slowly he said, "I'm also being cautious about Logos. I personally beat back his invasion of Realta, and you can imagine how unhappy he was at that."

"Oh? That is great to hear you took down those repulsive things." Following the path of the roots downward Ilunabar intended to fully showcase her Holy Site to Teknall "Logos' trouble with me was because he thinks I stole humans and brought them to Galbar, but in all sincerity, look at a human, then look at me, or at Astarte; he is the one who stole the aesthetic and design."

"It is peculiar that many of us gods would share such a body structure. There is nothing especially remarkable about the human body, compared to all the possible viable permutations for a sentient species, yet somehow the majority of us, at least originally, manifested as humans or in humanoid forms. If I was more inclined to philosophical thinking, I could spend eons contemplating the ramifications of this shared phenotype."

"Ah! I knew you would also notice that." she sounded excited at the chance to share what is in her mind "It was one of the first motifs I noticed, I call it the Aesthetica Humana. For example, you must be already aware of Lifprasil's flesh ships; let's say he was to take his empire to the stars and spend millions of years under zero gravity. Can you imagine how much mankind could change under that time and conditions?" she drew something in one of the rocky surfaces of the caverns they had entered.

"Yet something tells me they won't ever be like that, even if rationality were to lead to it because most things lean to the humanoid form for reasons beyond the laws of nature, and more, twisted humanoid forms cause discomfort even in us, gods... In a way that is oddly similar to an animal's instinct."

Teknall pondered the image and Ilunabar's words for a few moments. "It is strange that things would follow such a pattern against rationality. It's all rather metaphysical. The Codex never specified the human form, although it would not surprise me if by influence of being created by so many beings of humanoid form it was thus subliminally programmed to favour the humanoid form over others; life and sentience were mentioned in the Codex, so any subliminal influences would also shape such things. In fact, the only one of us who regularly breaks from the humanoid pattern is Jvan."

"Yes. Jvan is interesting, it is no wonder so many have seen her as an issue, which she might be, or might not; it is really beyond me, I'm just an artist." she shrugged.

"I wouldn't rely too much on the Codex, though; there were things and concepts before the Codex, there are things and concepts beyond the Codex. I have a whole palette of Beyond Colors to prove it. It is one of the reasons I decided to experiment and defy the Codex when the universe was created, making the Dreamweaver with a little bit of cloth I took from the original schematic."

Suddenly she seemed distant, her mind focused on something other than the visitor by her side. "Actually, I might need to ask, did something happen to the Codex recently? The Dreamweaver started to act in bizarre ways all of the sudden, and now it... became a bit different."

As Ilunabar finished saying that the cave opened into a large area where a massive structure made of strings and brass pipes floated motionless, lit by the light of a fake sky. "It isn't exactly a harp anymore..."

Teknall looked up at the strange, musical structure. "That's a bit of a change," he said.

"The Codex has been modified," Teknall continued after a short pause. "After Vulamera was consumed by the Codex, Vowzra transmuted the Codex into something else, according to Lifprasil. That something else is an artefact called the GodKiller, which the aspiring emperor says is within his city."

"Sounds like a brutish thing, I... Did Lifprasil tell me about it? I think not, otherwise, I would have made this comment already... My memory about the last time I talked to him is hazy, it was just after I had created the Pictaraika, which, for some reason, I don't remember anything at all. This change to the Dreamweaver wasn't part of my original plan, but when I woke up it was there along with a Diva I don't remember creating. Chronicle is her name, she is... vexatious, but witty... I guess."

Teknall tilted his head. "It is curious that this project would deviate in such a manner. Perhaps it is the nature of your projects, or perhaps it is the nature of projects of such magnitude, or those which twist reality in such a way.

"Speaking of which, I've wanted to ask a bit about how you made this place. Julkofyr's darkness used to be nigh impenetrable in this area, and now there is barely a trace of it."

The two doubts had the same answer "It was my most demanding project to date, there was no way to change the nature of the darkness if not by sheer force. Half of the struggle was creating the connection between Raka and Reality, I had to use an Aurora as powerful as three Phantasmagorias and Vestec's help for that. The other half was stopping the flow of dreams from flooding into Galbar and possibly ending things as we know it."

She once against started to move forward, leading Teknall deeper into the Pictaraika. "Most of the Darkness is still here, but it is superimposed with my illusions, as I can create color without light.

Teknall's beak dipped thoughtfully. He inspected the place more closely with his Perception, and realised that it was indeed made largely of illusory colours. While photons had quantifiable wavelengths, the conversion of wavelength information to colour was largely one of perception and interpretation, especially with the complex array of tricks a typical mind applies to make image processing more efficient. It was a simple step for Ilunabar to bypass the use of photons and the retina altogether and go straight to influencing the perception of colour.

The next layer of the Pictaraika was composed of an empty, flowerless garden and a large building complex. Anukramanika Akhanda, easily referred to as The Index, was, in simple terms, an overextended version of Ilunabar's piles of old schematics, paintings, and maps. Except that with so much space and under the strict control of Piena, it all became heavily organized and categorized. Endless rooms hosted exhibitions of maps, scale models of entire cities, architecture and costumes of countless mortal cultures, statues of heroes along with not exactly exact biographies.

It was far from its full glory and all collections had holes, but the effort spent into storing knowledge was clear, and in a sense, similar to the one Vulamera had proposed back when there was no universe. The Muse didn't have the same divine tools that The Scribe had, but she made up for it with an extensive bureaucracy of mortal affairs, religious orders, and the Divas.

"Piena should know where the drafts of this project are, I will get them."

"Alright, I'll wait here then," Teknall replied. He watched as Ilunabar walked off into the depths of The Index. As she disappeared, Teknall went to inspect some of the displays around him. With the highly logical arrangement, it did not take him long to find the biographies of Stone Chipper and Gerrik Far-Teacher. He knew their true stroies verbatim, since he was one and he continually monitors the other. What he didn't know as well, however, was how exactly everyone else saw and remembered them.

So he inspected the myths and legends and tales told about Stone Chipper and Gerrik Far-Teacher. There were many small inconsistencies, many embellishments which had worked their way in. A few groups considered Stone Chipper as a god. Some revered him as a highly holy person. Most simply regarded him as a very wise teacher. What was most interesting that different regions of Galbar had different entries, corresponding to the different cultures and perceptions. Even different groups within the same culture saw them differently. The most stark example was in Fibeslay. The records of Gerrik from the general populace were fairly amicable, while the Chipper population, under the sway of Shammick, had a fairly hostile recount of Gerrik. While this was the biggest contrast, it was by no means the only one, with each culture adding their own flavour, their own religious and technological interpretations, modified also by what exactly Gerrik and Stone Chipper had done in those regions.

Ilunabar walked back into the room carrying half a dozen scrolls under her arm. "Sorry that my divas are so busy and can't properly greet you today. Life has been hectic for all of us down here, there is so much to be done, as you can tell from the pseudo-garden outside."

She placed the schematics on a table and opened one of them. Ilunabar wasn't the most scientific of the gods, but it was possible to follow her reasoning. Most of it followed magical patterns and the chaotic patterns of a dream, some of it, however, described the flow of what she called "energy" across the darkness, the superimposition of illusory information and real matter, some notes about Julkofyr's dimension and some vague idea of all the oddities that could happen when she caused her plane and reality to crash.

The very last scroll was nothing but a drawing of a statue, there was no context about it, but it was odd in composition, as Ilunabar had used Beyond Colors to draw it, giving it the impression it was reaching out of the paper.

Teknall inspected the scrolls. The phenomena discribed were esoteric and abstract, containing little connection to the physical sciences he was confident with. But that had been the very reason he had come here, to get a unique perspective. Some of these insights would likely be useful to him.

On reaching the final scroll, Teknall froze. That thing made from paper and ink was coming out of the paper. Closer to him. Reaching.

He closed his eyes, and he realised he had been overreacting. The figure was ordinary and regular, nothing eldritch about it, and it had simply been painted in Beyond Colours which gave it unnatural depth. And it was static; he had merely imagined the movement.

He opened his eyes again and looked at the image of the statue. It still appeared to pop out of the paper, but at least Teknall had figured out the illusion. "What's this a statue of?"

"Hmm, I took a wild shot and expected you would know." she leaned softly against the table "I found it when exploring the spires before blasting it with an aurora beam from the orbit. There was a lot of stone rubble in a circle and this statue of a person. It is quite odd, perhaps some project Julky had, but whatever meaning it has is now lost. A Shame."

Teknall picked up the scroll and took a closer look. "Hmm." He rotated it around and inspected the details. The three-dimensional image aided his inspection greatly. "It was definitely made by Julkofyr. The rubble, although worn and broken, has retained some features I can identify; they were statues of the pantheon. The one figure standing, though, I do not recognise."

"Wait... Really? The rubble is formed of broke statues of other gods... That is curious, you have a good perception for such things." She looked at the mysterious shadowy form. "It is a little disturbing that we don't know who this is. I want to say Julkofyr could have imagined something, but you just never know.

"It is strange indeed," Teknall said.

She pressed a blank sheet against the drawing and copied it. "Here, just so we don't forget this entity again."

Teknall watched Ilunabar copy the image, then turned back to the other scrolls. "It is interesting what you have done here. A completely different paradigm to my own." He looked up. "It reminds me of a conversation I recently had with Lifprasil. We were passing by the King Trees in Alefpria. You remember those?"

"Ah, King Trees, an offspring of Niciel's Holy Trees, except with purple leaves. What about them?"

"Lifprasil pointed them out to me. I remarked on the significant chemical modifications which had taken place to create the purple leaves while retaining efficient photosynthesis. But Lifprasil and I suspect that you made no such considerations; you just willed the trees to be purple. Is that so?"

"Well, I could just will it to be purple quite easily, no physical change to it, just color change. Also, Meimu must know how to make actual purple trees, she is good with the plants."

Ilunabar smiled softly. "But the thing is that I never did anything to it, neither did the Phantasmagoria, in fact. I suspect the angels brought the Holy Tree over during the Horde War. In response to the new climate, the leaves went from blue to purple. Since the war and Phantasmagoria happened closely to each other, and my divas were very active at the capital during that time, I think the locals just assumed the new purple tree was related to that."

"Is that so? Teknall's palm turned upwards. "It is interesting how such events get distorted over time, truth mixed with legend and misperception. Of course, you would know all about that, since stories are your specialty."

The Muse giggled "Or at least that is what Fate told me. Maybe my true destiny is to be a sailor and I just never gave it a try."

Teknall laughed. "Perhaps. But you are good with stories regardless."

He looked back at the scrolls. "The point I was trying to make, though, was how differently we work. Dreams and Beyond Colours and illusions are as strange to me as electrical engineering and quantum physics are to you. And it's not just us; each member of our family works slightly differently, or very differently, creating in different ways, with knowledge of different things. And this diversity shows through, and covers the gaps which exist in a single god's abilities. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Of course I agree. This whole building is a monument dedicated to the work we did together, not only us gods, but also many mortals. And I do my best to value the input everyone brings to our world, I don't really want to see another case like Vulamera or Julkofyr, where one's potential is lost to madness."

Teknall nodded. "That is good. Our family has lost much already. What remains should be treasured. What has been made should be valued."

"The greatest challenge is that a lot of existence is based on contraposition, clashing differences tend to get increasingly distinct. We, for example, form a duality between two different methods of creation, with increasingly different paths, because you are the Craftsman and I'm the Artist. Now, beyond creation style, there is the issue of mindset, on that point we are quite similar, but you with Logos, for example, form a duality, the one who reasons and cooperates and the one who rules and dictates. We can try to search for the mistakes in Logos' mentality, but I fear that doing so will just increase the antagonism and make the autocrat a more integral part of his personality."

She took a deep breath. "I think that is why I'm down here. I'm not hiding, I'm just avoiding a conflict I want no responsibility for."

Teknall was quiet for a moment, until he said, "There are some conflicts that are wiser avoided. Discretion is a useful attribute."

"Discretion and awareness, I think."

She clapped her hands twice. "But let's stop with this downer talk. So, is there anything else you need here today? If not, I would like to show you one last thing before you leave."

"There is nothing else I have planned here," Teknall replied, "What is it that you have to show me?"

Without much thought she led the way forward across the layers of the Pictaraika, the destination here, was the very last one. The Purger, a pitch black land against a bright white sky and the barrier between Reality and the Raka.

"Since you value privacy, I thought I would show you an alternate exit." she casually said as she strolled through the odd landscape.

"But also..." In these forests the only non-monochromatic thing were the mirrors, either the actual ones or the mirrored versions of Galbarian buildings. Ilunabar picked a hand mirror from the wild, changed it a bit, and then waved it around in the air until she managed to capture some of the shining white energy that filled it.

Immediately, she pressed it against her chest and used her cloak to envelop the mirror. A new cloak enveloped her body instantly, otherwise it would be improper.

"Take this as a souvenir. Or as something that could help in whatever you are doing. I have no idea really."

She smiled and gave her sibling another hug. "I have linked one mirror as a one-way trip to an unassuming Hain house in the Gilt area. Thank you so much for visiting me."

Teknall hugged Ilunabar in turn. "Thank you as well, Ilunabar. We shall meet again some other time."

He held the mirror and looked into it. He checked through the mirror as he might a window, and saw that the house was unoccupied. But there was the matter of how to travel through it. Even ignoring the glass in the way, it was too small to fit him, and-

He was overthinking it. Ilunabar is more intuitive than that. He gazed deeply into the mirror, and when he looked away he found that he was no longer in Pictaraika but in a hut on the Gilt Savannah. The mirror in his hand was now mundane to all appearances, displaying his reflection. Checking around him one more time, he pocketed the mirror and walked out of the hut.

Summary

Teknall visits Ilunabar in Pictaraika.

They talk of several things, including dryads, how they're both 'hiding' from Logos, the ubiquity of the humanoid form, how there is more to the Universe than the Codex (eg. Dreamweaver, Beyond Colours), the present condition of the Codex as the GodKiller, how Ilunabar had covered Julkofyr's darkness with illusions, the history behind Alefpria's King Trees, and the role of doiversity and clashing differences. It is revealed that Ilunabar isn't so much as hiding but avoiding the conflict.

Teknall is shown Anukramanika Akhanda, aka The Index, where Ilunabar is keeping a fairly extensive record of mortal culture and lore, as well as all her project plans. Teknall inspects the entries on Gerrik Far-Teacher and Stone Chipper, noting the embellishments and region variation.

Ilunabar shows Teknall her plans for Pictaraika. Teknall finds her methods to be strange to him, but potentially useful.

Ilunabar also shows Teknall an image of a statue, recording some artefact Ilunabar found in the Darkened Spires before renovating the place. He identifies the statue as Julkofyr's craftsmanship, and the rubble around it as being statues of the gods. The intact statue, however, is of unknown identity. Julkofyr's imagination, perhaps, or maybe a forgotten god.

As the visit draws to a close, Ilunabar leads Teknall to the bottom layer, the Purger. She conjours up a mirror for Teknall to step through- a quiet back door exit- which Teknall gets to keep as a souveneer. They share a warm goodbye before parting ways.

No might spent.

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

You know how we were talking about changing the Turn over?

I think we should change the Turn over. Among other things, the Demigods are all out of Might.