BBeast

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

Back from holidays. Mildly relieved to find I haven't been inundated with hours of reading to catch up on.

@Bright_Ops, nice to see Farxus back.

@Double Capybara, that looks useful. I like lists. @Kho and I think alike, since I've placed a link to your spreadsheet in the zero'th post of the OOC (under External Resources).

Regarding mineral resources, the Ironhearts have pretty much all the metals buried in there somewhere. Whether the inhabitants have discovered them yet is another matter.

And yes, there would be new varieties of crystals containing Teknall's bonus elements. The orichalcum-containing ones would generally be well-suited to magical purposes.

Also, most of Galbar's land is covered by trees with useful properties for a civilisation. I spent 2 Might on making sure that happened.

@Vec, Ull'Yang's rebirth happened in this post, way back on page 15. This was at the time of the Oath of Stilldeath. It was stated in the Might Summary that Ull'Yang would spent about 44 Galbaric years undergoing supernova.

Vowzra's death, the event triggering the Oath's creation, probably happened a few decades Pre-Realta, although not too many. We are now a few decades after the Realta. Ull'Yang should definitely be awake now. Even if we weren't counting the IC time, 13 pages of IC posts should be more than enough OOC time elapsed to justify bringing Ull'Yang back.

Regarding Gerrik, who @Muttonhawk mentioned in this matter: Since our last discussion on his timeline I've readjusted my head-canon such that Gerrik has been around for many mortal lifetimes, even before his official ascension to Herodom (due to hand-wavy godly influence prepping him to be a Hero or something like that). This forgoes such absurdities as fire being discovered around 50 years ago (or Gerrik and Stone Chipper failing to find any previously discovered fire-starting methods), and allows for the Gerrik timeline to fit more naturally into the rest of Galbar's history.

@Frettzo, I considered asking for a sketch of Gerrik, but you'll probably want to figure out how to draw hain first. And once you've drawn hain, Gerrik doesn't look all that different from a regular hain, besides his equipment, so drawing Gerrik might be a bit redundant.

How about an Urtelem? Possibly even a Runic Defender, if you're up for a more complicated version of an Urtelem.

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

@LokiLeo789, I'm with Termite here. A whole galaxy is in no sense 'very small'. As we've been using the demiplanes, there is no formal limit on their physical extent, but generally things get pretty featureless if you go too far away from the middle. The point of the size restriction is so you "don't think you can go creating a separate universe in your own plane." An entire galaxy contains enough stuff to be effectively a universe as far as people (or even gods) inside are concerned.

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

“Subdue Keriss nonlethally”

-These words, how can they be in the same phrase?

@Lauder

Teknall doesn't really know Keriss. He just saw her from a distance once.

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

Also, Niciel (@Scarifar) might have noticed Teknall harvesting a bunch of Valley of Peace mist. He's sneaky, but there's only so much you can do to hide something like that. She might not have noticed, although she does have a fairly solid surveillance network which probably could have detected a disturbance of the sort where a whole bunch of air is vacuumed up.

@Bright_Ops, we'd love it if you could stick around and keep playing. If catching up is your only concern, then reading the summaries should be adequate for the most part, and I have a list of recent major events (i.e. most posts since Turn 10 with significant consequences beyond the personal sphere) with links in the Zero'th post of the IC which should catch you up on the current state of affairs pretty quickly.

And I haven't forgotten you. If you were still around when I got up to it, I have a post which could very much benefit from having a chat with Death, although that's still some distance in the future so don't count on it being any time soon.

Of course, if you still feel like you need to drop out, that's fine too. Sometimes we find we've gone in over our heads, or real life catches up to us and we don't have time any more, or we've lost interest, or something like that, and that's okay. If you wish to leave, that's up to you, and you'll be welcomed back if you return.

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

<Snipped quote>

Just happened upon this rule somewhere that I haven't seen or maybe been paying attention to. Given that Osveril is Purity (Voids) and Jvan is Beauty (Voids), I'll probably start writing Jvan's portfolio as Beauty (Negatives) with pretty much the same powers.

@Antarctic Termite

The same powers as your original idea, or the same powers as Osveril's Portfolio? If the former, that is fine (unless it overlaps too strongly with the latter). If the latter, then they'd still be the same Portfolio (or sufficiently close) (eg. Teknall's Smithing and Conata's Metalworking, while having different names, are exactly the same thing). This would provide no problems unless/until Osveril ascends.

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

I got Spear/Pike (although it was tied with Polearm).

Also, I think I found our music mix:

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)
28.75 Might & 2 Free Points

Teknall strode across his Workshop to the humming computer. This was the machine coordinating the scouting drones in the Submaterium of Mirus. That was one thing he had figured out: Heartworm's laboratory was almost certainly on Mirus, since that was where all its defences were. Heartworm had been resisting, unsurprisingly, sending out Sculptors and other creatures to destroy the drones. Heartworm was smart enough to arrange its defences to provide minimal clues as to its lab's location, but its physical defences were extremely porous.

Teknall reached out with a finger and touched the computer's terminal. Since the cartographic data was hyperdimensional in nature, the simplest way for Teknall to visualise it was to directly Perceive the data. He had been doing this at regular intervals, monitoring the progress of the scouting drones, ensuring that the computer was operating as expected, and checking for clues as to Heartworm's location. From prior data, Teknall had managed to determine the average hyperdimensional density of the Submaterium tunnels, and thus he was able to estimate his progress in mapping the tunnels of Mirus.

However, the density of Labyrinth tunnels was starting to diverge from what he had previously established for the Submaterium of Mirus. A few of the newer paths seemed less plausible than previously found paths. And the data tasted funny, which was strange, since data shouldn't have a flavour. Yet the cause of these anomalies eluded Teknall's grasp, seeming to writhe out of view whenever he might have gotten close.

This unsettled Teknall. So he decided to inspect the drones in the tunnels. He chose one of the drones and teleported to it. The tunnels seemed normal. The drone seemed to be functioning fine. But as he Perceived the surrounding tunnels, he noticed that something was wrong. The map in the computer didn't match the geography of the tunnels he saw around him.

Worried, Teknall teleported to several other points in the Well Labyrinth which had recently been mapped, and found that the map was inaccurate for those locations too. He stopped when his Perception noted something strange on the ground nearby. It was camouflaged in metallic paint matching the walls and it was barely larger than a pea, but its interaction with divine energy made it difficult for the god to miss. Cautiously, Teknall approached it, stooped down, picked it up with a pair of tweezers, and held it level with his eyes.

Heartworm had laid all manner of physical traps, all effective at killing individual drones but virtually useless at affecting the swarm as a whole. Heartworm had tried laying infohazards, terrible psychic influences dredged up from the Gap, but his system was smart enough to filter out such blatant non-data, so those had been no more effective than the physical traps. Yet this was different.

For one, it was not designed by Heartworm. Teknall always recognised the hand behind a creation, and the functional component of this thing had been made by Lazarus. That explained how the following properties had been implemented so effectively.

The chip had a set of sigils on it, which defined its function. This tiny little sigil responded to other sources of divine energy, in particular the siphons he had built into the drones. Via the siphons, it embedded a kind of secret message into the drones, encoded with offensive counter-data which subverted the regular functioning of the drones, intercepted transmitted data, and propagated on to the main computer. This falsified the data, compromising the integrity of the map, and it also granted remote access and control over the central computer. The digital virus, if it could be called that, was sufficiently subtle in its workings that it could work in secret, virtually undetectable.

Teknall would have been impressed with the cunning design if he wasn't furious at this significant set-back. He teleported around to a few other locations, collecting a few more of the computer virus sigils which had been scattered around, thus verifying that this wasn't an isolated incident. Slipping them into a steel mesh bag then into the safety of his apron pocket, he returned to his Workshop and stormed over to the computer. He laid a hand onto the terminal and focused.

"Damn it!"

Knowing exactly what to look for had made finding it much easier, and Teknall was not pleased with what he saw. The virus had firmly established itself into the computer, was rewriting the map at will, and giving false navigational data to the drones. The map had been compromised. The computer would have to be reset, along with the rest of the drones. Not all progress would be lost, for Teknall could reproduce snapshots of the map from memory, but all data obtained since the virus was released would have to be discarded, and since the exact release time of the virus was unknown he'd have to assume a suitable safety margin.

He'd also have to modify the software of both the drones and the main computer to be inoculated against that virus. That should be a tractable task, given that he could reverse engineer the functioning for the virus from the collected sigils then design specific countermeasures. A generalised antivirus might be more desirable, but it would cost more than Teknall could spare, and since Heartworm had to outsource to Lazarus to create this virus Teknall doubted that Heartworm would be able to disseminate a new virus. But the updates would take time, as would resetting all the drones.

All up, this virus had cost Teknall precious time. Keriss and Tauga were en route to Heartworm's lair, and there was now a decent probability that they would get there first. Teknall didn't want to find out whatever scheme Heartworm had surrounding Keriss too late.

Teknall pressed a hand to his beak, rubbed his eyes and moaned in frustration. He couldn't afford set-backs like this.

But, perhaps, there was another way. Teknall only needed to meet Heartworm. Locating its lair would be valuable, but not essential. He had observed that the virus sent data. Teknall sat down in front of the computer's terminal, unfolded a board with an array of buttons labelled with many letters, and began typing words into the digital aether.

>Heartworm, this is Teknall. I know you're listening.
>I found the digital virus you got Lazarus to make for you.
>You've delayed me, but haven't stopped me.
>I can reset the drones, inoculate them, redistribute them across Mirus.
>I can still find you.
>You know I'm hunting you, but you probably don't know why.
>I need to talk to you about what you did to Vakarlon, and what you're going to do to Keriss.
>I'll get my answers one way or the other.
>I'm giving you the chance to choose how.

Hacker wars continued

Teknall finds out that he's been hacked. With Lazarus' Secrets Portfolio, the virus was able to elude Teknall's notice until it had caused significant damage to the map (and until Teknall found the physical devices distributing the virus).

Teknall gets really annoyed at this. While he can recover and continue the search, he has been delayed sufficiently that even if he does this there is a reasonable probability that Keriss will get to Heartworm before Teknall's drones can find Heartworm's lab.

However, the virus also sends data, the receiving end of which Teknall assumes to be monitored by Heartworm. He sends Heartworm a message, saying he's caught the virus, telling Heartworm why it's being hunted, and offering to negotiate.

No Might spent.

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

@Frettzo, firstly, congrats on finishing uni!

Secondly, don't give up on the story. I want to see what happens next. Taking a long time to get a plot done has never been a reason to throw it out in the past. Among other things, retconning the Beast out of existence would mean Ilunabar never gave Astarte and Brown that jewellery, so more than just Astarte's plot would be affected. That plot has also been the only thing Astarte's done recently, so it would be a waste to throw it out.

If I remember correctly, you seemed to have geared up Brown for the big showdown and were converging in on a village to do it. All that's left is to defeat the Beast.

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

I am awoken from my slumber.
I sense motion.
It eats through the stone.
It is not Air, for I sense footsteps.
It is not Fire, for fire cannot burrow.
It is not Hydrocarbon or Ice, for it would not come this far inland.
Its Flicker is strange.
It thus can't be Stone or Meteor.
It gets closer.
It bites into me!
Who is this that dares challenge me?

* * *

The colony sprawled outwards, with the usual grid of Processors and railway tracks surrounding a Nexus. Towards the northern edge was an extensive strip mine, digging up a large iron ore vein. Many Harvesters worked there, producing many tonnes of steel being freighted out to other colonies. Operation was as normal.

Then there was a tremor and the earth shifted. There was a sound like an explosion from the mines, where the tremor happened.

promethean.N000130: Error: Communication failure with H207819. Last known location: [25.098 20.105]
promethean.H207650: Destruction of H207819 confirmed.
promethean.N000130> new_hazard(Location=[25.098 20.105],Description="earth tremor",Risk=80,Action="investigate")
promethean.H207650: Investigating Hazard No. 000392.

The Harvester plodded closer to the collapsed stone wall which had crushed H207819, illuminating it with headlights for optical inspection and pinging it with sonar. Some of the other Prometheans were already moving away in case of another tremor, especially the Energisers whose high cost gave them greater bias towards self-preservation. Yet as H207650 looked at the stone, it realised that this was not an ordinary collapsed wall. The earth was still in a single piece, and there was no fault line along the ground to suggest that the chasm had folded up.

promethean.H207650: Unable to classify Hazard No. 000392. Sending data to N000130.

There was a barely perceptible shift in the stone. A circle of deep black stone revealed itself on the earth facing the Harvester.

Another one?

The stone wall lurched, hurtling towards the Harvester, and reduced it to a mangled wreck of scrap metal with a horrific crash.

promethean.N000130: Error: Communication failure with H207650. Last known location: [25.098 20.105]
promethean.N000130> update_hazard(000392,Risk=705,Action="avoid")
promethean.E002049: Destruction of H207650 confirmed.
promethean.H207702: Warning! Unexpected earth motions at [25.098 20.105]
promethean.M302199: Infrastructure damaged at [25.098 20.105]
What unnatural abominations are these?

The stone rose from the mine. Cranes, conveyor belts and rails twisted and snapped with tortured screeches as the earth forced its way through them.

You attempt to take my domain.

The stone kept rising, bulging up from the pit, until it manifested into an enormous towering form, easily a hundred meters tall. Three broad legs supported the mountainous body, which was capped by a dome which might be its head. On this dome were several relatively small circular patches of very dark stone. A careful observer would notice that these patches flexed and tilted, and a particularly creative observer might suggest that these were its eyes. And these eyes angled themselves towards the Nexus, whose own towering form clearly marked it as the chief of these strange metal entities.

I will crush you!

Revolt Production Music - Athos

An arm almost as long as the djinn was tall cleft itself from the rocky side of its body. The lanky limb lashed across the mine, tearing up cables, rails and other structures, as well as plowing through many Prometheans.

promethean.M298701: Destruction of H208945 confirmed.
promethean.E002049: Warning! Critical damage received.
promethean.M302199: Infrastructure damaged at [25.098 20.106]

Dozens more warnings flashed through the digital aether as a second arm peeled out and swept through the other side of mine.

promethean.N000130> update_hazard(000392,Description="hostile entity",Risk=9500,Action="eliminate")
promethean.N000130> new_task(Type="demolish",Target=hazard.000392,Priority=9800)
Processing Task No. 312798

Harvesters trundled up to the djinni as it started walking and closed in to mine through its legs. The djinni kicked and stomped, crushing and toppling the machines. Even as the Harvesters fell, dozens of Manipulators swarmed in from the ground and off the walls, latched onto the djinni and drilled into it. Cracks formed in the stone, but this seemed to only make the djinni angrier as it brushed off the Manipulators like insects. Two steps later and the djinni had crested the southern slope of the mine and entered the colony.

The Processors had already broken ranks and were evacuating, with glacial speed. A sweeping stone arm ruptured dozens and pushed them aside.

promethean.N000130: Urgent! High risk hazard. Destruction imminent. No available protocols.
promethean.N000130: Requesting cloud computation.
promethean.N000001: Request granted. Synchronising computational resources.

The collective consciousness of over a hundred Nexi, connected via radio, was brought to bear on the frantic task of finding a way to combat this colossal entity of raging stone. A few seconds later, ideas rolled in, and the Nexus took action.

promethean.N000130> new_task(Parent=task.312798,Type="deliver",Object="explosives",Destination=hazard.000392)

Processors across the colony shifted gears as they prepared and outputted any explosive they could. With great haste these were transported by rails and loaded onto every Carrier the colony had. The roar of jets joined the sound of thumping stone and tortured metal as the djinni advanced, crushing Processors and swatting aside Manipulators. The Carriers circled and closed in.

I am stronger than Air.

The lanky limbs were well suited to swatting down flying entities. An arm lashed out at the nearest Carrier and struck it squarely. It detonated. The mining charges shattered the arm, and left the djinni reeling in pain. The other Carriers seized their opportunity and dived. Three Carriers loaded with high explosives rammed into the djinni at speed, each exploding and blasting apart the stone.

Terribly wounded, the djinni collapsed to the ground. The other Carriers forwent their suicide dive in favour of dropping their explosive cargo upon the djinni. Manipulators swarmed in to drill and hammer away at the fallen djinni, who thrashed around and crushed many of them but was overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. Harvesters also closed in and tore through the stone. The Prometheans were unrelenting, and the djinni was reduced to gravel.

Task No. 312798 complete
promethean.N000130> remove_hazard(000392)

The stonedjinni had left a trail of total destruction. The crushed bodies of hundreds of Prometheans littered the ground, as well as the twisted wrecks of whatever infrastructure had stood in the way. Hundreds more Prometheans had been left severely damaged, both from the rampaging djinni and from the shrapnel from the exploding Carriers.

There was no mourning or grieving among the Prometheans. They did not have the capacity for such emotions. There was only the calculation of losses and the organisation of recovery. Already the surviving Manipulators were busy at work salvaging parts and scrap from the destroyed Prometheans and repairing those who had been damaged. The Nexus and the Processors got busy with manufacturing more Prometheans to replace the losses.

promethean.N000130> new_direction("Make colonies defensible")
promethean.N000001: Directive No. 000003 received

Robots vs Elementals

Firstly, I would like to thank Cyclone for the idea of doing a post with Prometheans and Elementals.

A Promethean colony accidentally digs into a slumbering stone-lord. The djinni makes reference to some fairly exotic elemental types, such as Ice, Hydrocarbon (liquid hydrocarbons, that is) and Meteor, although considering the environment they are probably quite common here.

Needless to say, the djinni gets mad when a Harvester tries to mine it and crushes the robot. When it notices that there's a whole colony of them, digging up its domain, it gets really mad and goes Godzilla on the colony, heading for the Nexus.

The Nexus freaks out and sets the priority of stopping the djinni to over 9000.

Harvesters and Manipulators try to dig through the elemental, but against a 100m tall raging stonedjinni they don't have any stopping power.

The local Nexus connects to the global Nexi hive brain to figure out a solution. That solution is to load Carriers with mining explosives (or any other explosives at hand) and kamikaze dive into the djinni. It's quite effective, and the Prometheans manage to kill the djinni.

As the Prometheans repair the damage to the colony, a new Directive is declared: Make colonies defensible.

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

@Muttonhawk, to be fair, Teknall did sanitise his inputs. It's just that Lazarus found ways around the sanitisation processes because Teknall was too stingy to spend Might on an actual anti-virus program.