BBeast

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

- Metera seems a little further east and more inundated than usual on that map.

@Muttonhawk

It's the new non-Euclidean sky-city Jvan made for Phi for the Meterans to go live in. Created during Jvan's reincarnation post and visited by Keriss and Tauga before setting off for the Well Labyrinth. It hasn't formally been named, but it is inhabited by Meterans so until Termite says otherwise I'm calling it Metera.

Metera Valley is still in the original location.

- The Valley of Peace is traditionally inside the ring of mountains Niciel made.
- I was under the impression that Angelbood Ridge was on the southmost side of the Nice Mountains' ring.

Next time I edit the map I'll shuffle that text around.

- The isles in the Metatic are pretty huge on that map. However, the map scale is a bit strange in comparison to Earth anyway, so that's not so much of an issue.

They are probably a bit too big, I agree. Although, since Termite and Loki are working on building a civilisation there, it is probably safe to keep it a bit larger than life for the map.

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

I've taken the liberty of updating the map. I, of course, don't have the source files, so the edits are a bit crude, but functional.

Up-to-date map

Changes:
Acalya infestations have been removed. Goliath would have melted them all by now.
Destroyed the Shimmering Sea land bridge.
Labelled Metatic Ocean islands.
Marked in Omokog, Tallgrass and the new Metera. Amestris has also been labelled.
Removed 'surrounded by swampland' from the Venomweald.
Xerxes has been replaced with a crater.
Replaced Celestial Citadel with the Terrestial Citadel, and placed in correct location. Nearby river has had course adjusted.
Bormahven has been made taller.
Slag's volcano has been added near the Venomweald.
The regions for Phantalei and the Drenched Flowerbed have been marked and coloured.
I've shuffled a little bit of the text around.

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

On that note, how widespread are the Slugs? They seem to have started out as Deepwoods creatures, but must have propagated a fair bit to be a common sight as far south as Tallgrass.

@Oraculum

They are specified as 'Forest Creatures'. While, yes, originally this meant around the Deepwoods, they were created before sentient life, so would have had plenty of time to travel. And since the early days Galbar has been covered in trees (in most places on Earth that aren't deserts, if there aren't lots of trees it's because Civilisation has cut them all down), these forest creatures would have probably spread quite far.

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

Gerrik Far-Teacher

Level 8 Hain Hero
30 Khookies

Day 1

Tallgrass is empty and quiet. The tents are gone, save for my own. All the people are gone. It feels strange and lonely.

I've got my tent, the communal fire pit, my carapace-working oven, the farm, my tools, and some dried venison that will probably last seven more days before going off. No people. I'm on my own for the next hundred days, give or take. Even in my travels I haven't been alone for that long continuously.

I've got plenty to do, though. The potatoes should be ready in about twenty days from now. The tomatoes in forty. The wheat in about seventy. Assuming they grow as I remember them, that is. I also want to plant more crops, because the farm should be able to provide food all year round, or close enough. The plants need tending then harvesting. I can also make more tools from the star-fiend carapace. They'd be useful to have, and they'd trade pretty well if I need anything to trade. And, of course, I need to keep myself well fed in the mean time.

Let's get to work.

Day 5

Wild animals which might like to eat the food I'm growing are an issue, especially without a tribe of people to ward them off. A violet slug tried encroaching on my farm today. They're pretty stupid animals, not paying any attention to other creatures. So I ran it through with a spear. The meat is bland, but I know a few recipes which should make it nicer.

Day 8

Rain today. Too heavy to work outside, even with my leather jacket. It will water the fields, although I need to make sure that the blight doesn't return. Moisture tends to attract it.

I stayed in the tent and inspected the toy I bought from Dibbler. It is truly a marvellous creation, clearly artificial yet somehow quite lifelike. The parts are so intricate and delicate, yet they all fit together perfectly. It is mesmerising to watch.

Day 14

I'm out of manure. Without a village full of people, I'm using the stuff faster than I'm accumulating it. It isn't a huge issue. The plants are well established, so shouldn't need excessive nutrition.

Day 18

The first of the potato crop is ready. I've dug them out, cleaned them, dried them and put them aside. It should add some nice variety to my diet.

One thing I've had to consider is storage. It is no good collecting a whole bunch of food if it will all go mouldy before I can eat it all. Fortunately, plants are generally a bit easier than meat for storage. I know that I need to keep the potatoes dry and out of reach of anything which might eat it (besides myself, of course). However, my data is fairly scarce beyond that. Villages tend to gather only enough food to eat within a relatively short period of time. Farming, however, will tend to produce little food for a long period then provide all the food over a short period. This necessitates better storage.

So I'm trying a few things out. I'll store some fresh, while others I'll bake, and others I'll dry. I'll see if storing in sealed containers helps over storing in a tent. I might even try burying a few of those containers, as long as I can prevent them from leaking.

Day 19

Storage isn't the only thing I'm thinking about. I also need to consider my next crop of potatoes, and how to make it better than the last. For that, I have a plan. I'll take the best potatoes of this harvest, those which grew the fastest and the largest and didn't succumb to the blight, and plant those. Their descendants will likely share those traits, and hence the average quality of my crop will improve. I'm not sure how many iterations it will take for significant improvements to occur, but it should work, and would provide a substantial benefit over gathering wild food.

Day 23

I've harvested all the potatoes, and planted the eyes from those which I deemed to be the best. Another twenty days can I can pick the tomatoes. Until then I need to tend to the vines and make sure they are growing well, and keeping the bugs away.

The potatoes taste good. Somehow having grown them myself makes them feel more satisfying.

Day 25

I've got to find a better way to collect star-fiend carapace. I've run out of limbs to cut off with the Eenal Bow, and even that was tedious. With the torso remaining, it's going to be very difficult cutting it into chunks I can carry. If I can get the carcass closer to Tallgrass, then I'll be able to work it better, possibly soften it in the forge or develop some tool. I'll cut it in half and drag it here if I have to.

Day 27

I'm aching. Dragging it didn't work. It's too heavy, such that it sinks too much into the soil to move easily. I got half of it maybe a quarter of the way before I couldn't go any further, my muscles aching. I'll need a better plan. After I recover.

If Sharon were here, she could have massaged some of the tension out of my body.

Day 35

The tomatoes are almost ripe. It's been pretty dull, otherwise. I'm still trying to think through how to move the star-fiend carcass.

Day 38

Tomato harvest is done. Tomatoes are wetter than potatoes, so storing them fresh for extended periods won't work. I'll have to dry them first- those I don't eat over the next few days, that is. There is also the matter of the seeds. I can't replant the tomatoes immediately, because they don't like the upcoming winter weather. I'll extract the seeds and store them separately. With no flesh on them, the seeds should last much longer on their own than the whole tomatoes.

Day 43

Ashlings. They're rare, but vicious and cunning all the same. A pack of them tried sneaking up on my camp during the night.

Of course, they didn't count on me being able to see them through walls while I slept. Once I Perceived them circling I got my Bow and quiver and went outside. They probably thought they had some safety, because it was a dark and overcast night, but I don't need light to see. I shattered a couple with empowered arrows from the Eenal Bow before the rest turned and fled. I shot a few more as they ran. Most exciting thing to happen for many days.

Hideous creatures, though. I hope they run into a White Giant or some urtelem.

Day 47

I've implemented a solution to my problem with the star-fiend carcass. I had been thinking about how useful it would be to have some urtelem to help, since they would be strong enough to carry the carcass. Unfortunately, no urtelem herds reside nearby. However, that got me thinking about how they roll to get around, which made me realise that rolling was a good way to move heavy things across the ground, since it removed the issue of dragging through the dirt.

Now, I can't roll the star-fiend carcass itself, since it isn't round enough, but I realised that I could push it over smaller things which rolled, which would produce a similar effect. So I found some straight branches, smoothed them into cylinders and laid them out side by side and rolled the star-fiend carcass over them. I had to move the rollers from the back to the front continuously, but it is still a lot easier. I managed to get the carcass all the way up to my camp. This will make things much easier.

Day 50

I've added onions to my crop. They tend to grow well over winter, and grow plentifully. While they only last up to ten days once harvested, they don't all have to be harvested at once, so that's a bonus.

Day 54

The farm is pretty much taking care of itself at this stage. I've removed all the plants I don't want competing with my crops. It rains frequently enough to avoid the need to water the crops manually. Wheat and root vegetables tend to be low maintenance. I just have to keep animals away. I've built a star-fiend carapace tool which should help me harvest the wheat when it comes. I practice my spear technique. I whittle some arrows. But other than that, there's not much to do.

Day 56

I'm barely half way through, but gods am I lonely! I thought I could do it. I miss having people to talk to. I miss everyone. I miss Sharon. Why did they have to go? The farm's working. I could have fed them. Why must I be alone?

No one said you had to be.

Stone Chipper! How glad I am to see you!

Likewise, Gerrik. You're doing a good job here. It's the least I could do to provide a little support. Now, show me what you've learned about farming.

Day 57

Tell me a story, Stone Chipper.

Alright. There once was a young girl named Conata. She lived in a distant land in the Ironheart Ranges. Ever since she was a little girl, she knew she was very different to the people around her, and the people of her village knew she was very different too. Although she was different, her adopted parents took good care of her and loved her very much.

Conata worked hard, using her special skills to help the people around her. She felt that she could do anything, so boundless was her energy and stubborn her determination. In spite of her uniqueness, she made some good friends. Yet, she still felt out of place. She wanted to know where she really came from, but her adopted father promised to tell her only after she reached adulthood.

Then came the Blinding Purge. She survived, although barely, yet many people she knew were killed. Understandably, she was quite distressed. Perhaps to cope, and perhaps to be better prepared, she trained in the ways of battle, and became a mighty warrior.

But her mind was elsewhere, for she had learned something about her origins. She was a daughter of the gods, which was why she was so dissimilar to the people around her, but still many questions were unanswered. Her parents asked her to wait until adulthood to be told the answers, but Conata's patience had worn thin. She was so different to those around her that she felt like she didn't belong, even among her adopted family. So one night she packed her belongings and sneaked out to run away to a distant land where she heard she could find the answers, without even saying goodbye. So determined she was that she was willing to travel the great distance alone. As she was leaving, though, her close friends met her. They insisted that they come along, not because they needed to go where she was going, but because they were her friends.

And so Conata was joined by her friends on her great journey. Although she could have travelled faster alone, the company more than made up for it. At one point in their journey, to take a shortcut, they travelled through the territory of a djinn lord. Conata was confident that they would be fine, although half way through they encountered the djinn lord and his lesser elementals. A fierce battle ensued. While her friends were terrified, Conata was brave and fought the djinn directly. Ultimately she was victorious, but only just, and she was wounded in the fight.

Yet while the physical wounds healed, the emotional wounds did not. She thought she was tough. She thought she could handle her problems on her own. But she was starting to realise that there were problems which could beat her. Yet Conata did not want anyone to think her as weak. She pushed back the doubt and tried to be stronger, but all she did was push away her friends. Finally, Conata had become so distraught and stressed, and still so defiant, that her friends turned back and left for home, while Conata travelled onward, alone.

Conata despaired at how difficult things had become. In battling to repress her feelings, to attempt to be stoic, every step became a chore. Then, suddenly, she met a strange girl. A strange yet very friendly girl. Conata went to this girl's village briefly, and they had a deep conversation. This girl told Conata that her fear and trauma was like a wound of the mind, and that it would hurt but heal. She also told Conata that true friends don't simply leave, and that Conata should go get her friends back, because being alone is hard.

So Conata did. She ran through the night until she caught up with her friends. She confessed that she had been trying to act tough about the star-fiends and the djinn lord, that she didn't want to show weakness, while really she had been just as scared as her friends. But her friends was all she had, and she didn't want to travel alone.

Having bared her heart and made amends, they were reunited and continued on their journey, friends once more, supporting each other.

That story felt particularly relevant. Thank you, Stone Chipper.

The emotions you're feeling are normal, Gerrik. Don't think less of yourself for them. And remember that you don't have to face them alone.

Day 60

A group of violet slugs tried encroaching on my farm again. I killed a couple for food and beat the rest back. A mild pest. Although, with their mild demeanour and rapid life cycle, it gives me an idea. I need to make some kind of enclosure.

Day 65

Am I glad for carapace tools. This makes working wood much easier. Making the enclosure will still take some time, though. But I've got plenty of time.

Day 72

The wheat harvest is under way. I use the long curved bladed implement I made earlier to help harvest it, for with it I can just sweep it and it catches all the wheat stalks and cuts them down and gathers them into a bundle. This makes for easy collection of the wheat, which would probably be useful as the farm gets larger.

Some of the grain I have put aside to seed the next crop. The rest I will store somehow. There are a few variables to test, such as how aerated it should be and how much I need to dry it. I'll set apart the grain into batches. I've also set aside the stalks. They normally aren't edible, and I don't intend to eat them myself, but I think I can find a use for them.

Day 78

I have finished the enclosure. It is a rectangular region of ground bounded by a short wooden wall. I put in half a hollowed out log, buried to be at ground level, to provide a basin to hold water. I've set up a little door to allow me access.

To put inside the enclosure, I have captured some violet slugs. They're so slow and helpless that I can just pick them up, carry them and drop them into the enclosure. I've got water for them to drink, and I can give them the wheat stalks and any other food which isn't any good for me to eat for them to eat. They'll crawl around within the walls, and breed and produce more of themselves, and I can harvest them for the meat just like I would harvest the plants in the farm. I can also work on ensuring that the best slugs, on average, end up breeding, such that the next generation of slugs is better than the last, and so on.

The only downside I can think of is that the meat isn't especially appetising.

Day 81

I've collected numerous seedlings from herb plants and planted them around the farm. They're really easy to grow. The main benefit of having them in the farm is that it means I don't have to search through the forest for them.

I also need to look out for seedlings from fruit trees. Those will take a few years to grow to maturity, but should provide a fairly steady crop once grown. As such, I need to get working on them fairly soon.

Day 82

This violet slug farm requires more work than plants, predictably. I need to ensure they have an adequate water supply. I have to feed them as well as myself, and they're fairly voracious eaters for their size. And I need to make sure that their enclosure is kept relatively clean, although that process does provide some good fertiliser for the farm.

Not only that, but I have to keep out predators too. A hawk swooped in while I was sleeping and snatched one of them away. I've chased away three foxes and a marble-eyed gargoyle already. It's one more thing to look out for.

It'll be easier when people get back. Extra hands would be greatly appreciated.

Day 85

I didn't expect to see Dibbler here, and he didn't expect to find anyone here either. His White Giant takes him on a fairly regular route, which means he knows when he'll arrive at different locations, and he's been to Tallgrass often enough to know their migratory patterns, so he wasn't expecting to make a stop here. But here we are.

I traded him some hides and food for some salt. Salt water, or specifically the salt left after boiling it, has been used by coastal people to help preserve food, but there's a significant shortage of salt this far inland. Dibbler, being the merchant he is, knows this, and had some ready to sell for such an occasion. This salt should help make harvested food last longer. I'll need to keep buying more, of course, but it'll be worth it to make the food last longer.

It was also nice to have someone to chat to, even if it was for just a little while.

Day 89

I've found myself an apple tree sapling out in the forest. I dug it up, taking as much of it as I could, and went and planted it near the river in my farm. I'll need to take good care of it to make sure it survives and grows nice and strong. Plenty of water. A nice helping of manure. Then five or ten years later, I might have apples.

Day 94

The weather's been pretty good down here. I suspect that the village should be returning relatively soon. I think they'll be impressed with what they see. The onions and potatoes should be good for harvesting when they return. I've got a good amount of grain which has survived. And I've got my violet slugs. Just working on my own I've been producing a surplus (although I admit that I have a few advantages). With a whole village farming, I suspect that we'll produce plenty of food to eat.

Day 96

Any day now.

Day 99

Tallgrass has returned! What a happy reunion! Everyone is here now. Arlen. Tami. And, most importantly, Sharon. It's so nice to have her back.

And, as I predicted, they are all quite impressed with the farm. I showed them a harvest of onions, more in one spot than they've ever seen. I showed them the containers of grain I have. The captive violet slugs were of particular interest, although some seemed less than impressed at the idea of eating them regularly. I'll find ways to make it taste better. Regardless, I've managed to gather enough support for the farm that I should get a few full-time workers. The extra hands will allow us to expand the farm, to produce more food, which will let us expand the farm more and attract more people, and so on, and then, and then maybe Tallgrass won't be such a small village. Wow! Wouldn't that be exciting.

But that's all in the future. I want to add more crops to the farm. I think I'll add peas next.

Gerrikposting

Here Gerrik is alone in Tallgrass for a hundred days, farming. He works on various small innovations, tests numerous things, and so on. He's also pretty lonely.

As usual, Gerrik's encyclopaedic knowledge, supernatural Perception, uncanny memory and divinely-gifted intelligence greatly accelerates innovations under his guidance.

Major events:

Potato, wheat and tomato harvests occurred. He made a scythe to help in the wheat harvest.

Gerrik plans to plant only seeds from the best plants, improving crop quality with each generation, inventing plant domestication.

Significant experimentation is performed regarding optimal conditions for storing the crops once harvested.

Onions are added to the farm, as are herbs. An apple tree sapling is also planted at one point. Peas will be added later.

Gerrik finally figures out how to move the star-fiend carcass- with rollers.

Half way through Gerrik has a nervous breakdown due to loneliness, but Teknall comes and comforts him. Teknall tells Gerrik the story of Conata, cast in such a way that the message is that there's no need to pretend to be tough and able to do everything, and your friends are there to support you. This also implies that Teknall has been following Conata's story very closely.

Gerrik captures a bunch of Violet Slugs and farms them, inventing animal domestication.

Some salt is purchased from Dibbler the merchant. This will help in food preservation.

The villagers of Tallgrass return to find a well-functioning farm. Gerrik manages to get some of them to work as farm hands. With the advent of agriculture, the expansion of Tallgrass into a major town is all but inevitable.

Khookie Summary
Start: 30 Khookies
Spent: 30 Khookies (-2 for plant domestication, -2 for food storage, -2 for rollers, -2 for domestication of violet slugs, -2 for scythe, -5 to establish Tallgrass into a major settlement, -15 to Level Up to 9 because he went through some tough stuff)
Earned: 10 Khookies (19,000+ character post)
End: 10 Khookies

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

<Snipped quote by BBeast>

A little bigger than a rabbit, but not much.

@Lugubrious

Excellent. That is a manageable size. I doubted they would be much larger, given their lifespan, but if they were much smaller there wouldn't be much of them to eat.

Violet slugs are edible, docile, containable, breed quickly, easy to feed...

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

I've got another question:

How large is a Violet Slug?

Violet Slug

Name: Violet Slug

Lifespan: 3 months

Description: Both herbivores and fungivores, Violet Slugs inch their way around the forest floor and the bottom of the trees, engulfing whatever tasty morsels they can find. They are single-minded and incredibly oblivious, making them prey for a great many creatures. Even sentient beings can sustain themselves on its oddly-textured but bland-tasting meat. Their phosphorescent patches glow in the absence of light. They breed and reproduce quickly, and might plague the ecosystem if not for their idiocy.

Appearance: Violet Slug

@Lugubrious

My guess is somewhere around the size of a rabbit. Although they could also be regular slug sized.

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

I have a question to ask everyone:

What do you think Teknall looks like?

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

The Great Artisan, Divine Mason, Builder of Civilisations
Level 5 God of Crafting (Masonry, Carpentry, Smithing, Alchemy, Armaments)
32.5 Might & 2 Free Points

As Tauga and Keriss entered the Submaterium tunnels from the sky city of Metera, they were being scrutinised by an unseen God.

Tauga and Keriss are heading for Heartworm. Tauga, Heartworm's proxy, and Keriss, Heartworm's potential next target. It is important that I find Heartworm before they do. The Well Labyrinth is a maze, and a very extensive one, but wherever Heartworm is it is somewhere connected to these tunnels. Tauga probably knows the way, although it is a long trip. That they are not using the Shadow Tunnels to travel faster are indicative that Heartworm's lair is, to some extent, isolated from the Shadow Tunnel network- not surprising, considering Heartworm's attempts at hiding and the apparent rivalry between Phi and Heartworm. I will need to leverage substantial resources to win this race.

Teknall left Metera and arrived at one of the blood wells scattered across Galbar. Shadows which defied the sunlight shining upon them stretched across the entrance to the cave. The essence of Julkofyr from the shadows mingled with the essence of Mammon rising from the labyrinth, creating a faint divine stench.

Teknall stepped into the cave mouth and ran his fingers through the near-corporeal shadows. He tugged and stretched the shadows, felt the ripples in the submaterium, and peered into the inky blackness of the caves and how they blended dimensions between Galbar and the submaterium. "So that's how this works," Teknall muttered, "Nothing with Mammon's touch can be free. No matter."

In a blink the scene changed to the surface of Auricolor, covered by the darkness of space, the stony landscape a sharp black silhouette against the starry sky. Teknall stretched out his hand, and the ground was illuminated by its own incandescent glow. The stone wept tears of liquid gold, which rose up and collected into an orb in front of Teknall. With another gesture, rocks shifted and a few gemstones shot up and orbited the golden orb.

The scene flicked back to the blood well, and Teknall set down the gemstones and the ten tonnes of gold near the mouth of the cave. Normally he would have acquired resources from the Elemental Siphon, but such conjured matter, while having all the physical properties of normal matter, lacked much of the submaterial value attached to matter which had existed in the Universe for billions of years. But minerals would not be a sufficient sacrifice. Mammon's trials demanded blood, and Julkofyr's flesh would only cover so much.

The scene shifted again to the Realm of Madness. Among the chaos of shifting terrain and weather was the ongoing conflicts between the innumerable demons which called this demiplane home. Demon blood, and other demon parts, generally had much greater submaterial value than the blood of many other creatures, and so was an extremely potent alchemical reagent. Demons were also extremely plentiful in the Realm of Madness, and had little other value besides fighting each other and the other denizens of this Hell.

A large demon, ten feet tall, with four arms and covered in horned purple skin, cackled as it beat a lowly imp against a rock. This was a prime specimen of a demon; powerful and cruel, having feasted on the souls of many hapless beings.

Its laughter was cut short when adamantine cables coiled around its limbs and lifted it from the ground. The demon thrashed against its bonds, but they only grew tighter, restricting the demon's movement until it could only roar. The imp who had been the demon's victim a moment ago limped away as Teknall stepped into view. The demon cursed at Teknall before the cables wrapped around its mouth and muffled its speech. "Nothing personal. I have a toll to pay."

The scene shifted back to the blood well, a place where the terrain was static and the weather didn't change every two seconds. The gold orb reshaped itself into a golden octogram on the ground, with the gems at its tips. The bound demon was maneuvered into position above the gold, and the cables anchored themselves into the ground. Teknall turned to address the tunnel.

"Mammon's bones and Julkofyr's skin,
To Phi's prying ears, I seek your kin;
This labyrinth is a gruelling road,
So take me to Heartworm's abode."

In a blur of shining metal, a scalpel sliced across the demon's throat and its foul blood spilled upon the gold below. From his satchel Teknall took out a pressurised metal canister and threw it down on the golden octogram below the demon. The canister ruptured open and released a cloud of chlorine trifluoride, which caused the whole sacrifice to immediately burst into flames. With unholy vigour the flames consumed the sacrifice, and the noxious smoke wafted into the mouth of the cave.

The shadows around the mouth of the cave thickened substantially. Teknall stepped into the darkness, and there was a sensation like falling as the shadows surrounded Teknall's senses.

Teknall felt as though he was travelling at great speed, although when the sensation stopped a few seconds later he had no residual motion and there was no impact. The shadows wrapped around him receded, leaving only the normal darkness brought about by a lack of light. The brief jaunt through the Shadow Tunnels was disorienting, but Teknall was not so easily swayed.

A golden light was conjured at Teknall's fingertips, and revealed that he was inside a tunnel deep within the Well Labyrinth. The cold, damp cave walls stretched out in both directions, the walls relatively smooth. Behind Teknall the thicker shadows of the Shadow Tunnels clung to crevices and ripples in the stone, defying the efforts of his light to completely dispel them. At least, the tunnels were mostly stone, although they had strange metallic undertones. Faint, indistinct, and mildly distressing sounds lingered as echoes on the edge of hearing, demonic sounds to torment those who wandered the tunnels.

Yet the creepy ambiance was of little concern to Teknall. He was more interested in the hyperdimensional topology of the Labyrinth. It was the kind of twisted impossible geometry that would normally be attributed to Jvan or her avatars, although Teknall knew it to be the work of Mammon. Being so closely tied to the Submaterium, these tunnels were almost a plane of their own. Tunnels looped in on themselves without ever bending. There were intersections which could be travelled one way but led to a dead end when trying to return. Euclidean geometry had no hold here. Distance was an ill defined construct. This was a torturous web of passageways which all looked alike and which didn't have the decency to follow sensible notions of geometry.

While distance within the Labyrinth was poorly defined, Teknall could tell that he was a long way from where he entered. A god always knows to some degree where they are in the Universe, even if they are in a demiplane, and Teknall could tell that he was far from Galbar. Even without divine cues, Teknall could tell that the tunnel materials here were not quite native to Galbar, and gravity was noticeably weaker. Yet Heartworm's lair was no where in sight. The Shadow Tunnels, as he had suspected, had been inadequate to take him all the way to his destination. For all he knew, the shortest route there might be thousands of kilometers, although he suspected that he was closer to Heartworm's lair than to Galbar.

If the tunnels were simple, then Teknall might have been able to explore them manually. But because of the innumerable intersections and branches in the Labyrinth, that would have taken far too much time, even for a god, because it would have demanded traversing potentially millions of kilometers of tunnels. Nothing with Mammon's touch can be free.

Teknall had been travelling the tunnels while contemplating this and considering his options, when he felt another presence gnawing at the back of his mind. Shadows curled into tendrils, reaching and grasping. The demonic whispers grew into eldritch chittering. The damp air seemed to press down on Teknall with leaden weight. Teknall spun around, and could not find the source, but the nightmarish visions clung to the edge of his vision. He spun again, yet still the source eluded him. Taunted him. Haunted him. Closed in on him.

Then the tunnels were flooded with star-fire and the world turned white.

When the light faded, Teknall was standing protectively cocooned in his Mirror Armour with his arms wrapped around his head. Above him spun the Shard Conduit, spread out like a stylised star, the mote of fire in its core gently twinkling. Teknall tentatively lifted his head out of hiding and he looked around slowly. The tunnel walls around him had been molten and twisted. It still glowed cherry red from the heat, and lava dripped from the ceiling. There was no sign of the haunting shadows from seconds ago.

Hesitantly, Teknall unfolded from his protective stance and dematerialised his armour. His breathing was shallow, and his hands trembled slightly. He looked around again, this time with his own eyes, and still saw no sign of the nightmare. Some foul vision concocted by Mammon's essence, probably... Teknall told himself.

Teknall waved a hand above his head and the Shard Conduit folded like a concertina fan into nothingness. He wasn't keen on staying in these tunnels much longer. In a blink he was back at the point where the Shadow Tunnels had first deposited him. The Well Labyrinth was a gruelling maze, but not nearly powerful enough to prevent planar travel. Satisfied that he remembered the spot, Teknall departed from the Well Labyrinth and appeared on Galbar.

Teknall had a design in mind, but he needed a template. One of his brothers had already made a creation which performed a nearly identical function to the one he required. He just needed to adapt it to his own style.

It did not take Teknall too long to locate one of Toun's droningbirds, because they have the predictable habit of following the same charges. With swift hands and a firm yet controlled grip, Teknall caught the droningbird and clasped it between two hands. "Apologies, Toun, but I need to borrow this bird for a few minutes."

Teknall stepped through a rift into his Workshop. He placed the droningbird on a workbench and released it with his hands, only to pin it down with invisible force. He would have preferred anaesthesia over restraints for the added flexibility it afforded, but since the automaton did not drink, sleep or even breathe that was not possible.

He then sat down next to the bird and skillfully dissected it, removing plates and inspecting components. Wings. Flight muscles. Legs. Skull. Control symbols. Telepathic link. Eyes. All important to the function of the droningbird, but they were of secondary interest to Teknall. The principle component Teknall wanted to understand was the siphon.

The siphon was a device which exploited aspects of the Codex's patchwork design in order to harvest a continuous supply of Astartean magical energy. It was a fragile contraption, and highly unstable if damaged, yet also extremely useful due to its ability to supply unlimited energy. Toun had managed to get the design down from the large and cantankerous prototype used in the White Giants to something small yet powerful enough to maintain continuous flight in an object that could fit in his hand.

Teknall took careful note of Toun's design for the siphon, including the Calligraphy used. Then he reassembled the droningbird and picked it up from the table. He checked over it once, ensuring that he had reassembled it to the same quality as he had found it. Then he released the droningbird through a rift back to Galbar, where he had found it previously.

With all the information he needed, Teknall sat down at a workbench and began assembling a machine. Elsewhere in the Workshop the sizeable group of Promethean Manipulators which now resided in the Workshop, together with the robotic arms integrated into the Workshop, got to work on rearranging some of the Workshop's manufacturing infrastructure. In particular, they assembled a dedicated production plant for plastics.

Teknall, meanwhile, worked on the prototype machine. He assembled a miniature magical siphon, made from mechanical parts with precisely embossed Tounic Calligraphy, with transducers to make it output electrical energy. It was not exactly Toun's design; Teknall had made substantial modifications to fit his purposes rather than the droningbird's and to allow for easier manufacture, but fundamentally it was the same device.

Teknall then worked on the other components. A lightweight hybrid supercapacity-battery pack would store energy and keep up with varying power demands. Four electric motors would convert electrical power into motion, with each motor attached to a set of carbon-fiber composite propeller blades. A set of optical night vision cameras and ultrasound echolocation sensors would provide information about the surrounds. A Calligraphy-engraved antenna chip would allow for unlimited-range telecommunication. A computer chip provided the drone the ability of thought and computation, at least to a simple extent. And the whole thing was encased in carbon fiber composite.

Teknall took a step back, and the drone buzzed to life. Its four rotors spun and lifted the drone off the workbench, and the drone hovered in the air. Including the rigid arms holding the rotors, the drone was about the size of a dinner plate. The siphon was able to provide enough power to suspend the lightweight drone in the air indefinitely under Galbarian conditions, and under weaker gravity the excess power would allow it to travel faster. Its sensory array provided information about the world around it, allowing it to navigate. The drone was even designed to be capable of operating underwater, at least to a limited capacity, so it would not get blocked by flooded tunnels.

Satisfied with the design, Teknall set the full manufacturing capacity of the Workshop to focus on creating these drones. The new plastics plant started churning out carbon fiber by the sheet. A very precisely calibrated machine, assembled by Teknall himself, was dedicated to creating the siphons. The Workshop whirred with the sound of machinery as it produced drones en mass.

As the Workshop manufactured, Teknall built another machine. It was, to external appearances, less impressive than the drones, but it was crucial to the drones' success. It was a reasonably sized computer, interfaced to a large Calligraphy-engraved antenna array with symbols matching those on the drones. It would be the brains of the operation. The drones, individually, were too small and low-powered to perform the complicated and memory-demanding computations required to map the Labyrinth. The drones would send their navigational data to this central computer, which would then process the information to generate a hyperdimensional map, and then inform the drones as to what route they should take.

It was a little while later when Teknall returned to the Well Labyrinth, at the exact location that the Shadow Tunnels had deposited him earlier. Beside him opened a rift in space, and from it poured forth the drones. Like a plague of locusts these mechanical contraptions buzzed through the tunnels and flew off in every direction. This swarm had hundreds of thousands of individuals, each one tasked with exploring the Well Labyrinth.

Teknall watched as the last of the drones exited the rift. This army of scouts would probably map the Labyrinth better than any of its other residents to date by sheer brute force.

"I will find you, Heartworm. It's only a matter of time, now."

Summary

Teknall watched Tauga and Keriss head into the Well Labyrinth to find Heartworm. This tells him that Heartworm lives somewhere connected to the Well Labyrinth. Teknall still needs to find Heartworm to talk about the nasty things it did to Vakarlon to make the Arksynth, and he intends to do so before Keriss gets to Heartworm.

Teknall's first option was to try the Shadow Tunnels. However, as a side-effect of being in Mammon's property, the Shadow Tunnels are not free to use. A sacrifice is required- an inadequate sacrifice will result in an incomplete journey. Teknall sacrifices about ten tonnes of gold and a large demon from the Realm of Madness. (When Vestec called for Teknall's help, he revealed the location of the Realm of Madness. Post with Vestec and Teknall is in the works. This post comes chronologically after that.)

Of course, Heartworm's lair isn't actually attached to the Shadow Tunnels, but Teknall still manages to get very far, and finds himself a long way from Galbar in the depths of a spooky Labyrinth, with hyperdimensional topology to make navigation even trickier.

As Teknall explores a bit, he is spooked by a nightmare and glasses everything in sight.

Teknall then comes up with a plan and goes back to his Workshop. He borrows design elements from Toun's droningbirds to create quadcopter scouting drones powered by magical siphons, all connected to a computer hive mind dedicated to mapping the Well Labyrinth. Teknall makes a few improvements to his Workshop to help produce the drones, mainly by adding a dedicated plastic production plant (free Alchemy action).

Teknall then unleashes hundreds of thousands of these drones into the Well Labyrinth at the point where the Shadow Tunnels had taken him, and they proceed to swarm and explore. (-1 Might (from Workshop) to create the drones and map the Well Labyrinth.)

(Not mentioned in the post, but production in the Workshop has switched back from Prometheans to Stellar Engine Collectors. Previous upgrades plus the presence of Prometheans in the Workshop gives a pretty healthy boost to production. And since 50 years/Turn is now canon, I can use that to extract a less arbitrary production number. Current figures equate to about one every 50 minutes.)

Might Summary
Before: 32.5 MP and 2 FP (13.5 MP reserved by Workshop)
Spent: 1 MP (Scouting the Labyrinth)
After: 31.5 MP and 2 FP (12.5 reserved by Workshop)

Status Report

++Stellar Engine++
Operational Status: Nominal
Collector Count: 10,000
Power Generation: 500 GW
Collector Output: 50 MW each
Collectors Needed for Total Star Coverage: 5.58E16
Dependent Systems:
*Teknall's Workshop
*Goliath
*Shard conduit
*Workshop Promethean Manipulators

++Teknall's Workshop++
Operational Status: Nominal
Might Output: 8/Turn
Might Reserved by Workshop: 12.5
Total Might Available to Teknall: 31.5
Freepoints Available to Teknall: 2
Manufacturing Outputs:
*Stellar Engine Collectors, 500,000/Turn

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

We have a space-faring civilisation! Teknall applauds you.

I'm going to have to find some way to meaningfully interact with the space-dwarves now.

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

0 PR: Logos' realta storm Galbar from all directions. Countless are caught in their indiscriminate fire, marking the largest planetwide massacre in existence. The attacks last for between a few days and a few weeks before stopping.

@Muttonhawk

The Realta lasted a couple days at most. Teknall was armed and mobilised within two hours of their arrival, and from that point on they dropped like flies until the confrontation with Logos, after which the Realta immediately made their retreat.

c. 1 PR: Death of Kyre at the hands of Xos.
...
The reason Kyre's death is so early in the piece is basically due to Conata setting out soon after the realta attack and meeting Aeramen. Aeramen mentions that Kyre has been 'quiet' at the time, which was meant to hint that the god had died by that point. Why it took a few years for the current hullabaloo to come around can be put down to divine timescaling.

@Muttonhawk

It had been established that Kyre had been quiet for a substantial amount of time prior to his death. He was practically in stasis by the time Xos arrived. It is not necessary to place Kyre's death so early.

Clockdog is always worthy.

@Muttonhawk

Damn right.