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

I've got two collabs which are crawling along at a painfully slow rate. (yo, @Lauder, check the collab please. Or at least talk to us)

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

For many, the land and sea, with its resources and habitable space, form the entire world, and the stars above are just a passing fancy. Yet those people do not realise that their 'world' is so minute and frail compared to the vastness of space beyond. If only they could find a way to cast off the shackles of gravity and make a home in the void, they would have resources and territory more plentiful than any terrestrial empire.

Jvan knew this, and had founded a refuge for her servants in orbit around Galbar. Lazarus knew this, and had given her empire the secret of interplanetary travel. Many in Lifprasil's crumbling empire knew this, and were turning to the stars for a new home. Teknall had known it since the beginning, and was slightly miffed that he had been beaten to space. But now the Prometheans were ready, nay, desperate to go to space, for their terrestrial resources were being sapped by the elementals.

Jvan wanted to challenge Teknall to a race. She might have had a head start, but Teknall was keen to win the space race.

~~~~

A new Carrier was strapped to a round metal tower, which in turn was perched atop a kind of platform and affixed to a support tower. The Carrier was reminiscent of other flying Carriers, although it was much blunter in form and had nozzles on its rear rather than jets on its wings. The large tower it was attached to looked somewhat like a missile, except much larger, and had two smaller similar towers attached to its flanks.

Another Carrier had just finished filling the large towers with liquid hydrogen and oxygen. It detached from the towers and drove away. An Energiser similarly finished charging the Carrier and departed. Radio chatter and checks bounced across the airwaves.

promethean.N000001: Perform launch check for C011394.
promethean.C011394: Systems scan: all systems optimal.
promethean.C011394: Cargo is secure.
promethean.Ma00298: C011394.attachment.fuel_external check result: pass.
promethean.M001981: C011394.attachment.booster_left check result: pass.
promethean.M002073: C011394.attachment.booster_right check result: pass.
promethean.C011394: Interface with attachment.fuel_external enabled.
promethean.C011394: Interface with attachment.booster_left enabled.
promethean.C011394: Interface with attachment.booster_right enabled.
promethean.D000789: No hostile entities detected.
promethean.N000002: All Prometheans outside no-go zone.
promethean.N000001: Initiate launch sequence for C011394.
promethean.C011394: Running launch sequence.
promethean.C011394: Detaching access arm.
promethean.C011394: Priming attachment.fuel_external fuel lines.
promethean.C011394: Arming attachment.booster_left.
promethean.C011394: Arming attachment.booster_right.
promethean.C011394: Ignition.

A mighty roar louder than Aurora's winds bounced off the platform and echoed over the stony plains. Twin jets of burning hydrogen pushed downwards with tremendous force, and by the law of action and reaction C011394 was lifted skywards with equal force. The ascending rocket left a pillar of cloud behind it, climbing ever higher, until the atmosphere thinned out and gave way to the vacuum of space.

The burn continued until the Carrier and its tanks had placed themselves in orbit around their planet. The auxiliary tank emptied, the Carrier detached from its fuel tank with the boosters. It then fired its own rockets and boosted away from the orbiting fuel tank. After patiently adjusting to a new, predesignated orbit, the Carrier opened up and, with a robotic arm, lifted out a bulky mechanical device, gently placed it in the space beside itself, and let go to leave it to orbit where it was placed.

Once free, the box-shaped device started to unfold. A boom extended from behind the device, on the end of which was a radioisotope thermoelectric generator with radiators which opened up once the boom was clear of the device. Radio antenna arrays unfolded from the sides of the device. And in front of the device were cameras, lenses and telescopes. This artificial satellite then continued on its orbit, watching the world below and broadcasting information to the Promethean colonies.

The Carrier closed, and a puff of monopropellant from the Carrier adjusted its velocity to gently veer away from the device. Once a safe distance had been reached, the Carrier activated its main thrusters and headed for another orbit. There another identical satellite was deployed. A third satellite was deployed in a third orbit.

promethean.C011394: Task No. 2610889 complete.
promethean.C011394: Task list is empty. Entering idle mode.

C011394 was not returning to the surface, and neither were its auxiliary fuel tank or boosters. Getting things to orbit was costly, and the Prometheans had every intention to send more stuff to orbit. While they could have dumped the boosters and tank half way to orbit to save on fuel, they would need the parts up there eventually. And unlike biological races, Prometheans can survive almost indefinitely in the void.

As the Prometheans on the world below prepared to send more of their kind into space, C011394 waited for the time its services would be called upon once more.

~~~~

A light meteor shower danced through the upper atmosphere of the world. Motes of dust and grains of ice streaked through the air and briefly glowed with brilliant incandescence before being snuffed out. And behind this shower was a small djinni with a form similar to a comet.

This djinni made periodic visits to this planet, gracing it with meteor showers each time it passed, although this visit it had noticed something difference. From a distance it had seen a few strange objects orbiting the world (meteor djinn have unparalleled eyesight), although its own orbit did not take it near enough those objects for a proper inspection. The djinni might not have paid it much heed if it hadn't seen that a great storm djinni was calling from the world below.

Due to their untouchable position, even the smallest meteor elementals generally hold themselves in loftier positions than any of the planet-bound elementals, even over a stormlord like Aurora. Yet space is also lonely and quiet, so most meteor elementals will leap at the rare opportunity to speak with other elementals and hear the news from the planets. The little comet mentally reached out to the grand hurricane.

Greetings, planetling. You are graced by the presence of Periapsis. I accept your offer to speak with me.

I am Stormlord Aurora, came the reply, her voice still strong despite the great distances involved.

Ah, Aurora. I have heard that name. What brings you to call upon me?

Metal beasts are overrunning our planet. They consume the earth and the seas and pollute the skies, and their hunger for expansion is relentless. They build weapons which can bring down even a great stormlord. I seek the aid of the meteor djinn, for we need all the elements united if we are to emerge victorious from this war.

While I can see that this is a tragic turn of events for you, planetary affairs are of no concern to us meteor djinn.

These beasts will become your concern soon enough! They have invented a way to fly to space. I know not what they are doing up there, but I am confident that they will soon seek out your precious asteroids and consume them and your kind like they are consuming our planet. Unless you strike them down while we have the chance!

Periapsis hesitated. The strange new satellites were consistent with this story. And if they did come from the planet, then that was a concern since no power Periapsis knew could lift an object of appreciable mass out of a planet's gravity well. And if those beings with that power were as dangerous as Aurora said...

They feast on ice, ammonia, hydrocarbons and metals, and will tear apart rocks to get them, Aurora warned, interjecting into Periapsis' hesitation. None of you will be safe if they are allowed to establish themselves in space.

I... I shall inform the others.

Periapsis continued on its orbital trajectory. With a puff of steam it managed to nudge itself towards a slightly closer intercept with one of the satellites. It was still quite distant, but it could resolve more clearly now that this was a clearly alien object. Its shape was angular. Its surface was lustrous. It had protrusions. And part of it glowed strongly in the infrared, indicating that the object was internally producing appreciable amounts of heat. This worried Periapsis deeply.

The little meteor djinni sent out a message bearing Aurora's warning through the void with words carried by waves of psionic thought. Perhaps they might listen. Or perhaps in their hubris they might ignore the warning until the metal beasts were encroaching their orbits.

~~~~

The Prometheans launched more rockets into space, carrying satellites and other cargo. With more satellites, the Prometheans were able to watch more of the planet below. The movements of storms, large djinn and armies of elementals could be tracked from the heavens, granting the Prometheans one more advantage in their ongoing war. Satellite imaging also made scouting and prospecting more efficient, for now they could map the entire planet without having to traverse it.

The satellite network also improved logistics and communication between the Promethean colonies, for they provided precise measurements of location and could relay radio communications across the planet.

But satellites were only the initial fruits of the Prometheans' expansion into space. While many of these satellites looked to the world below, a reasonable number were pointed outwards to the stars beyond. Telescopes focused their lenses on anything which moved, and with some calculations and parallax measurements they determined the existence of a fair number of objects which orbited their sun along with their planet. It was these objects which drew the interest of the Prometheans, because they were the natural next step in their expansion.

So probes were launched. Larger rockets propelled scouts against the motion of their planet, such that their trajectories dipped into the orbits of the inner bodies of the solar system. And as the probes started the long fall towards the sun, the Prometheans started building a fleet for their prospective colonisation.

Both parts and workers were continually being launched into space. Space shuttle Carriers pushed around metal tanks, old boosters, and specialised parts manufactured on the surface, while Manipulators with magnetic feet, enlarged radiators and mono-propellant thrusters worked in the microgravity environment to construct and assemble the parts.

The construction of new Carriers was key to the project. The shuttles were good for moving things about orbit, and properly equipped they could even return to the surface of the planet, but they did not have enough delta-v to achieve interplanetary flight. Much larger Carriers would be needed, with over half their mass taken up by propellant, enough cargo space to carry the other Prometheans, and beefy thrusters to propel them across the solar system.

For interplanetary travel is not a simple affair. The only way to control flight in space is to push off things, and rockets do this by pushing propellant. Yet they must carry this propellant with them, and bring more propellant to have enough push to push that propellant about. Every tonne of propellant added to a rocket provides diminishing returns for how much they can push themselves through space, that is, how much they can change their velocity. Every gram of cargo and equipment cuts into this precious velocity budget.

The Prometheans quickly adopted the design philosophy of 'every gram counts', as cruel necessity dictates when planning spaceflight. Not having to carry around life support was a boon for the Prometheans. Yet the Prometheans themselves were hardly light-weight. The Prometheans built colonists which were as lightweight as possible, and they had to think carefully about the smallest practical crew for the mission. Tools, devices, and even Prometheans themselves were downsized and optimised for weight.

Yet weight was not the only optimisation to be made. The chemical engines had good thrust and were simple to build, but their exhaust velocity was lousy, such that a lot of propellant had to be spent to get a reasonable change in momentum. Further, chemical rockets required chemically reactive reagents, not least among them being oxygen, which was energetically costly for the Prometheans to mass produce.

Yet burning fuels was not the only way to push propellant out the back of a rocket. The Prometheans knew the power of nuclear fission for producing heat, so it took little prompting for them to adapt their nuclear reactor schemes to super-heat rocket propellant. This had numerous benefits. One benefit was that the propellants didn't have to be chemically reactive; any relatively light fluid would be sufficient. Hydrogen would provide the best efficiency, but methane and ammonia came up as a strong alternatives for their higher density, abundant supply, and ability to remain indefinitely in storage.

The key benefit, however, was that the nuclear engines had a notably higher exhaust velocity than anything chemical rockets could provide, which would allow the Carriers to travel further for each kilogram of propellant.

The nuclear engines had less thrust than comparable chemical engines, but only by a small amount, so this was not an issue. The main cost was that it required a substantial amount of highly enriched uranium. The fuel rods would need periodic replacing and reprocessing to maintain optimal performance, which would necessitate taking bulky centrifuges and enrichment devices on the colonisation journeys. The relative rarity of enriched uranium also made the nuclear rockets unappealing for small-scale regular use, but they were more than a worthwhile investment for the colony Carriers.

Work carried on in orbit to build these colossal Carriers and the Prometheans they would be carrying, supplied by a steady trickle of parts from the surface. The probes continued their slow descent towards the inner bodies of the solar system. Yet rather than wait idly, the Prometheans set their sights on a target closer to home.

Their world had a moon, albeit a small and distant one. It was more of a captured asteroid, not even 50 kilometers across, but this was all the Prometheans needed to stage deeper expeditions into the solar system.

The Prometheans sent Harvesters to that moon to begin mining. These Harvesters were unlike terrestrial Harvesters, for they needed to operate under microgravity conditions. They had clamps to affix themselves to the asteroid. Their drills and digging maws were balanced such that they would not exert any torque while operating. They came with sheets to enclose their work-space so no dust would escape. They were well equipped for asteroid mining.

Yet the pioneering expedition was lacking in just one crucial area: defences. This small rock was home to several stony elementals, who objected severely to the Prometheans digging up their home. Ill suited for combat, several Harvesters and Manipulators were trashed before the rest were extracted by the Carrier shuttles.

The Prometheans modified the surviving Harvesters and Manipulators to be better equipped for close combat with hostile meteor elementals. The next foray to that asteroid was accompanied by a Destroyer, one built for space-flight. The Destroyer drifted alongside the asteroid, scanning it with ground-penetrating radar and gravimetric sensing, as the Harvesters floated up to the asteroid and latched on. When the elementals appeared, the Destroyer aimed and fired its railguns, blasting apart some of the elementals and frightening the others back into hiding.

The Harvesters and Manipulators established a mining outpost on the moon, under the watchful gaze of the Destroyer. As they dug they found some metals, some organic compounds, and some water. These were all good things to find. The metals could be used for in situ manufacturing, although the concentration of ore near the surface of the moon seemed to be relatively low. The water was valuable for operating the fusion reactors. Quite significantly, though, the water and organic compounds could be used for propellant, which allowed the Prometheans to fuel their fleet for the upcoming voyage without having to haul propellant up the gravity well of their planet.

Carriers came routinely to collect what had been mined to take it to the shipyards. More Prometheans came to join the lunar colony, and a Nexus was soon established there. Resources were directed from the planet to help establish a second lunar colony, which could then fuel the flight to the inner solar system.

~~~~

"Skylord Aurora, we appear to be gaining ground against the metal beasts. Their expansion has slowed considerably, with them founding only a single colony in the past many days. Their armies seem to be less thoroughly armed, with them using fewer exploders than in the past. They have even abandoned outer colonies of their own accord. We are winning at last. Why are you so sullen?"

They aren't surrendering. They're re-prioritising. They have sent hundreds of their kind into the heavens over this period. The sky over their territory is always scarred by at least one pillar of cloud from their starward flights. They have not made many new colonies here because they are trying to found new colonies among the stars. That one new colony they made was by a small sea, which they are already guzzling to fuel their ascension. They have fewer exploders because they use similar devices to propel themselves into space. The realms of the meteor djinn have vast quantities of ore which are much easier to access than the ore here. Once they establish themselves in space, they will not want for resources, and our war will become so much more difficult.

"Then surely we must strike now, while they are weakened, so that what you fear does not come to pass."

Indeed. Our time is short. Tell Ferrum and Arene to gather their forces and meet with me. Send word to the others as well. We strike at dawn.

~~~~

Satellite observation reporting unusual elemental activity
Enemy No. 001415 ("Storm elemental, colossal") located at [10.01 -1.32]
Enemy No. 025431 ("Hydrocarbon elemental, colossal") located at [10.01 -1.32]
Enemy No. 019002 ("Stone elemental, colossal") located at [10.01 -1.32]
5400 (+/- 2000) other elementals detected at [10.01 -1.32]
Other elemental armies have generated at other locations around the border.
Deduction: elementals are planning attack, large scale, at multiple locations.
Overlap with prediction: 84%
Prepare long range missiles for launch
Warm up reactor on D0003050
Prepare D0003051 for launch
Execute Task No. 3001282

Tyranny of the Rocket Equation

The Prometheans get to space at last!

They learn how to fly rockets (0.25 MP for Rocketry), how orbital navigation works (0.25 MP for Orbital Navigation), and how to build chemical rockets to take them to space (0.25 MP for Chemical Rockets). The first thing they put in orbit are a few satellites to provide GPS and to observe the world below (0.25 MP for Satellites), although they also work on moving a lot more stuff into orbit.

Aurora finally makes contact with a relatively small meteor djinni named Periapsis. Periapsis notices the threat the Prometheans pose to the meteor djinn, and promises to forwards her request for aid to the others.

Meanwhile, the Prometheans have turned their eyes to the rest of the solar system (0.25 MP for Astronomy). They send scouting probes. As they wait, they start building a colonisation fleet, with massive Carriers, in orbit around their planet (2 MP for Cosmic Construction (they're going to need it later)). A major breakthrough is the development of nuclear rocket engines (0.25 MP for Atomic Rockets).

Their planet has a nearby asteroid-moon, similar in size and composition to Deimos. They set up a mining colony, after a brief mishap with native meteor elementals which they solved with railgun artillery. Asteroid mining techniques are developed to handle the microgravity conditions (1 FP for Asteroid Mining). This colony will supply much-needed propellant to the Promethean space fleet.

Meanwhile, the Prometheans have been directing a lot of attention and resources to space. The elementals decide to capitalise on their apparent weakness by launching a major attack. The Prometheans anticipated this, and have already planned their counter-strike.

Stay tuned for the epic showdown.

Might Summary
Start: 25.5 MP, 2 FP (12.25 MP reserved by Workshop)
Spent: 3.5 MP, 1 FP
End: 22 MP, 1 FP (12.25 MP reserved by Workshop)

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

Hey, posts.

In other news,

Minor announcement

The GM team has decided that, to tackle inflation and power creep, all future artefacts/items/weapons are to be limited to 10 Might.

This prevents a continual escalation of the cost of powerful items, and encourages more creative uses of Might.

Current items are unaffected.

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

@KabenSaal Just to be clear, these aren't your normal dwarves.

Also, @LokiLeo789 has a few other characters running around Amestris who you could bump into.

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

@KabenSaal Amartia has long since moved on. He was last seen in the moving city of Metera.

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

@KabenSaal The GMs have discussed your application, and you have been approved. You may post your character sheet in the characters tab, and start posting in the IC at your convenience.

For your reference, the post with the other demigod which had a Relic of Perfectus involved in their ascension is here. This post also includes the 'creation' of the Relics of Perfectus. For plot purposes, you find a Relic somehow. You can choose its form, and how it might catalyse Legio's ascension.

The only canonised human cultures with djinn-controlling shamanism are Vetros and Rukbany. However, they are also quite pious people, so an occult ritual of the kind you have described would be somewhat inconsistent with their established culture. This does not prevent you from establishing an enclave of djinn-controlling shamans elsewhere; you are welcome, even encouraged, to do so. Lands around Amestria have a past history of occultism and human sacrifice (prime example, somewhere north of Amestris), so that might be a good location to start (especially considering your future plans). Considering the current climate in parts of Amestris (post), it is not unreasonable for a tribe to attempt to one-up the competition by creating a demigod.

The djinn of Galbar are currently embroiled in a civil war. Roughly half of them (including the majority of fire elementals) have sided with Xos, the murderous god of destruction who is one-third of Zephyrion and thus claims lordship over the djinn. Most of the other half actively oppose Xos and his djinn. This may influence the motivations of any djinn taking part in this ritual.

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

@KabenSaal I have a list of options above. If all else fails, Vestec will probably help (pending approval from @Rtron, of course).

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

@KabenSaal It's not in the OP. The Gap is the gaps in the design of the Universe and Reality, filled with eldritch horrors even more eldritch and horrific than Jvan. Not even Gods go there, it's that nasty. Fortunately, it is normally safely sealed away where it can't break Reality. Unless someone meddles in it, that is.

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

@KabenSaal No one knows how the Relics of Perfectus works, or what they do, or why Vowzra scattered these Gap-infused artefacts across the universe. We only know that one was able to turn Lazarus from a mortal to a deranged demigod (although the derangement was likely caused by other factors), that they typically have very strong traces of the Gap on them, and that there is statistically about one per planet. Each Relic likely behaves somewhat differently. The details of their functioning is highly subject to Plot, although generally there is some association with the Gap.

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

@KabenSaal Regarding Amestris:

The ex-capital city of the Amestrian city states, Xerxes, was indeed erased from the face of Galbar. However, the old site of Xerxes has been claimed by Farxus to create a city for the undead and forsaken (link). Although this does not stop you from teaming up with him to create some buildings there.

The rest of the Amestrians don't seem to care much about Xerxes any more. They are out to care for their own cities. There is war and conflict between them and with other tribes. This might still be a good environment for Legio to do things in.


Something which might also be of interest is that the elementals of Galbar are currently waging a civil war, and there is significant collateral damage to mortals. The greatest casualty so far is Dundee, the capital city of the dwarves, which has just been conquered by a bunch of fire/lava elementals.


Regarding origins:

We have a few sources of appreciable divine essence which might be found as just 'lying around'.

Relics of Perfectus, scattered across the universe by Vowzra, can contain enough divine essence to create a Demigod. This was, in fact, exactly how Lazarus became a demigod. Normally, you wouldn't find more than one Relic per planet, but we can make exceptions to that without any trouble. This is probably the most likely 'divine shard'.

The Winds of Change, which permeate Galbar, are straight up Zephyrion's divine essence. They couple strongly to elementals, which is a favourable property. Urtelem know how to capture the Winds of Change, although they would be adamantly opposed to any plan involving the sacrifice of sentient beings, but others could probably figure it out. The catch is you would need an enormous amount of the Winds to have any chance of producing a divine being.

Arksynth is, in a sense, the flesh of the luck god Vakarlon. Normally, the divine essence associated with Arksynth is far, far too dilute to have any divine effect. However, Vakarlon also favours underdogs, which it sounds like your mortals are. It's a million to one chance, but when you have Vakarlon's favour million to one odds happen nine times out of ten.

Alternative to mortal-driven endeavours, I can think of a couple of other candidate gods who might help possibly, if their players consent.

Belruarc-Vowzra-Gadar (@Kho) is currently in the business of righting divine injustices. Whether creating Legio aligns with that, that might require a bit of readjusting. (Perhaps if, instead of a mass sacrifice, all these people had been slaughtered by some divine cause, then Belru could gather up their souls and put them into a new being. Maybe.)

Astarte (@Frettzo) is the goddess of Soul Manipulation, which sounds suitable for the task at hand. However, she might not be supportive of a mass sacrifice, although she's so whimsical it's hard to tell.

Vestec the god of Chaos (@Rtron) is always looking for ways to get more children. Cramming a couple hundred souls into one body and adding a bunch of fire magic sounds like a suitably chaotic thing for him to do. And if these mortals are sufficiently desperate, they could conceivably pray to Vestec, and Vestec has the highest prayer answer rate of any of the pantheon.

We have no shortage of ways to jury-rig together Legio's creation.

(Also, you aren't actually required to start by saying 'wow'. That appears to be some outdated meme from Divinus versions past. But don't let Kho know I told you that.)