Back when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, I got started with writing online on the Spore forums. Man, those were the days. We're talking like 12 years ago 2010-ish!
I've been here on and off for almost as long, and have GM'd a bunch of different things to varying success.
@Kho If we really are saying 13.5 billion, it'll be weird since we're still making oceans and the like. And that's to say that after so many billions of years, Slough has only really made the Deepwood?
I'm in favor of calling it 13.5 billion at the end of next turn, after major geological work has been done and right when we start making (somewhat) intelligent life.
Regarding the question of the passage of time, I canonized it somewhat in one of my earlier posts. It's definitely in the upper billions, but I'd say we're still about 300-500 million away from catching up with where Earth would be. Keep in mind that Galbar isn't fully geologically formed yet and life is confined to just a few places.
On the topic of Zephyrion and this Pantheonic Empire, as you'll see once mortals start popping up that he's very much a fire and brimstone sort of god. He has a short fuse with the other gods that anger him, so you can imagine that he has even less patience (as in next to none) with mere mortals. I think in his sheet I also mention that he's rather arbitrary in his dealings with worshipers. He picks favorites and doesn't act very predictably.
Care to share the 'dangerous idea' that Ilunabar is afraid to voice?
And she just suggested that Zephyrion build giant instruments for the sake of music, or would they have some sort of purpose? I'm thinking about whether Zephyrion might realistically take a lesson from Vestec by making a bunch of instruments that can wreak all sorts of havoc. A Horn of Doom that kills whoever blows it as well as any that hear its sound, a Conch of Fury that summons a hurricane...
Hey-Hey, this looks neat. Any chance I could play just a hero that's unaffiliated for a while instead of a demigod? I wouldn't expect to get any actual benefits until I got a god to pump them up.
That sounds like a fun idea; I did something similar in the last RP.
Unfortunately you'll have a bit of a wait before we can consider letting you join; we're still doing timeskips of thousands of years and have yet to even make intelligent life.
Feel free to hang out with us in the OOC for a while though!
<Snipped quote by poog the pig> That's a cool idea. I'll go with wells. Holes in the earth that gouge deep into the realm of the occult. Prepare for burrowing centipede-snakes.
Have you heard about how the Nahuatl religions had a Hell/Underworld of sorts that was a real, physical place? It was this spooky cave system that they thought spirits went to in death.
Similarly Mammon could make some of those caverns below the surface into his own little Underworld where mortals might go to do black magic or offer tribute.
I think I'm going to have Ilunabar trying to inspire Zephyrion to make the fissure in Ironheart Ranges spread around the world, creating Tectonic Plates and thus bringing change to the landmasses.
Jvan seems a big fan of Zephyrion, but he's never really spoken with her directly and has seemingly been indifferent towards her. I wonder how this inevitably strange interaction will go now.
Similarly, I'm curious as to how Ilunabar will respond to Zephyrion unexpectedly popping up to say hi, going on a little spiel or three to her about what he thinks is beautiful and isn't, and then offering her the chance to help him cause massive destruction carve out some pretty little landforms!
What could go wrong with Jvan, Ilunabar, and Zephyrion all trying to make something beautiful?
Storm's King; The First Gale; The Embodiment of Change Level 2 God of Change (Air) 0 Might & 1 Free Point
Through the empty, polished hallways and turrets of his acropolis did Zephyrion race, enjoying the freedom of the drafty and spacious halls with the countless windows and terraces. Even with Teknall for company the place felt somewhat...lifeless. It was far too large and far too vacant; after the initial rush of excitement and novelty began to dimmer, Zephyrion found himself feeling rather lonely. That was no matter; size was relative to gods. The First Gale reached out and expanded his airy form to fill up the space within the citadel, becoming one with the every last breath of air within its splendid halls.
With mild interest he had watched as Vulamera took the shards of chaos and disarray that drifted about in orbit around Galbar and shaped them into one great body, and then sundered it into many smaller ones. 'Well, look at my dim-witted fool of a sister. She takes after me, bringing about such beauty and Change! And look at those many moons, each one a marvel in its own right, a jewel in the skies almost so superb as mine! Perhaps she grows closer to redemption,' the Storm's King mused to himself.
It was then that Ilunabar made an appearance, complimenting Teknall on his craftsmanship or something of the sort. She was welcome company. In a sudden blast of air, Zephyrion had rocketed to where the two stood in the citadel. for ease of conversation, he contracted his shapeless form manifested as a small vortex. "Ah, Ilunabar! We have not become so acquainted as we should, so I might humbly implore that you stay. Welcome to my shining jewel in the sky! A beauty, is this palace not?" he spoke as amicably as his tone allowed, the words still whipping rather harshly from within the churning mass of air that was his form. Despite all friendliness, he was nearly demanding that Ilunabar declare the Celestial Citadel beautiful; such an affirmation from the Goddess of Beauty would legitimize the palace's splendor and solidify it fast against any doubt in the god's ever changing mind.
A moment after, he heard Vulamera. His interest was piqued when he heard her calling out to the world, offering up the moons as gifts to the various gods, one by one. Zephyrion eagerly waited in anticipation to see which would be his!
Her gift never came. Words could not describe his rage and jealousy; down below, the air itself seemed to roil and a dire storm began to brew. He swept through the hallways and appeared atop one of the nearby gleaming spires of his alcazar. There he stayed, glaring long and harshly at the hideous rocks that Vulamera had erected for the sole purpose of marring the view of the heavens, making his Sky the ridicule of all below. It would not stand!
Teknall said something about leaving, no doubt for his new moon. Distractedly and half-heartedly, words whirled out from the storm, "Faretheewell, brother! Like the wind on the plains, be ever welcome in this hall!" He then returned to Ilunabar, the living sparks that were his eyes glowering and cackling rather wildly. "Sister, look to the sky! See the wretched works of Vulamera, who I might name Foe? Such a disgrace. Those lifeless rocks are a blemish upon my pristine sky, something will have to be done..."
Suddenly aware that his ranting might be offputting, he changed the topic to happier things and in only a heartbeat his tone swung drastically to an upbeat cadence so as to better reflect this change. "But enough of that; such machinations can wait! Let us not stare at the horrors above so hard that we lose sight of the beauty that lies below!"
It was then that Zephyrion sensed an odd presence in his vicinity. It would seem that he had yet another visitor; Jvan's eye had managed to lodge itself within the clouds and zephyrs that were the foundation of this citadel. He was not a poor host; he would bring her to a more comfortable position! As gently as he could, the Embodiment of Change willed the eye to be swept in a draft of rising wind. Suddenly, Jvan would find her eye placed gently atop a pagoda alongside Ilunabar and Zephyrion, the view of Galbar below perhaps even slightly better from atop these heights.
"I bid you welcome as well, Jvan! I do not recall speaking long with you, sister, so it is pleasing to finally have you in my presence."
Addressing both of them, he said, "You have arrived at a good time; admire that vast, empty expanse below us: it is beautiful in its pristine simplicity and bleak harmony, yet still no more than a blank slate on which something better might be wrought. Even now as we speak, I prepare to chisel and carve that expanse into something more appealing. It shall be a fun exercise of power; look at how the winds already stir!"
That great churning storm below that had been summoned by Zephyrion's anger now moved in strange ways, sending great gales of air rocketing into space. They arced upwards, ever higher, pulled by both the magic of the Celestial Citadel's power and Zephyrion's utter command over the air. The great columns of air reached the peak of their arc, and began to array themselves into position. Zephyrion was going to bathe Galbar's surface with blasts of compressed air so forceful that it would slice through stone and scatter soil hundreds of miles away. But he still lacked a certain inspiration.
"The two of you are goddesses of beauty, so might you care to help carry out this sacred action with me? To help guide my eroding winds, so that as a trio we paint a canvas far more beautiful than any one of us might individually hope to create? I offer you the chance to impress upon me your images of beauty that I might be inspired, to share your ideas of what form is most Ideal and Perfect..."
-Zephyrion continues to play around in his new palace, but remarks on how lonely it feels. -Happily, Ilunabar comes to visit. His loneliness is dispelled and he greets her. -He is at first awed and made happy by the sight of Vulamera's work. He expects her to donate a moon to him, being the Supreme Being that he is, and is naturally enraged when she doesn't. -Teknall leaves and Zephyrion bids him goodbye. -Now feeling that the moons are a hideous insult to him, he voices his thoughts on that to Ilunabar without thinking. -He senses Jvan's eye and brings it to rest near himself and Ilunabar, welcoming Jvan as well. -He now prepares to distract himself from his anger towards Vulamera and outdo her by carving something beautiful on Galbar. He offers Jvan and Ilunabar the chance to help him and give their input, thinking that a trio of two goddesses of beauty and then a being so grand as himself will surely make something to marvel at! Little does our intrepid Windy Art Connoisseur know how different Jvan and Ilunabar think about what 'beauty' is...
-1 FP is being used to erode Galbar and create whatever he creates. -0 Might and 0 FP will be left.
@Cyclone They could grow larger as time passes and eventually just become unstable and rupture, creating two or more smaller elementals.
I was actually going to go for the opposite: they cannibalize one another to grow larger and more powerful. With greater size comes greater power and intelligence, so there is a clear hierarchy. The larger ones can even control their lessers to an extent in a way similar to how insects seem hiveminded.
<Snipped quote by Cyclone>
I'd say you could contrive them not to be considered life by the white giants. In that case, they would be treated like weather events would. White giants might protect frightened creatures in their presence, but not know to actually attack the elementals.
Zephyrion wouldn't bother; it matters little seeing as even if they did kill a few, more would eventually just materialize to take the place of the dead. In a war between a finite number of white giants and infinite elementals, the elementals would slowly win if only by virtue of attrition. That being said, the air elementals aren't going to just go around killing everything in sight. Not unless they are told to do so
I just asked out of curiosity as to how a white giant might react to some sort of soulless, arguably nonliving being just flying by. Would they even see it and sense its presence, or would they just interpret it as a gust of wind?
I did a thing where I actually used might. Did I do it right?
Yup.
Two b-b-b-billion?!
It sounds absurd but since they will never reproduce and are spread across an entire planet, it's fine.
But I wonder; will they attack Zephyrion's air elementals? Next turn when I have the Might I'll finally make those. Tons of them.
On that topic, @Lugubrious I continued to toss about the idea of using Slough to make them as partially natural lifeforms and with greater ease, but I don't think that's very fitting or makes much sense. Air elementals would definitely match the description of unnatural life, if they're even considered life at all.
Personally I'd say they're as alien from organic lifeforms as robots are. They can still act, think, exist, feel, speak, but they're just...fundamentally different. I don't think it even makes sense for them to have souls; they're probably more like Zephyrion in that they are simply manifestations of Change. Pure forces of nature and chaotic magic. This would also fit in with how they wouldn't reproduce in the traditional sense, instead simply spawning into existence almost at random. I'm not sure how this will work; maybe they spawn in areas affected by Zephyrion's touch and prolonged presence? Or areas blessed by him?
Any thoughts are welcome because I'm still trying to work out all of this in my head. For all intents and purposes they'll probably be the first sapient and intelligent beings to be created, but don't expect them to build cities or form traditional civilizations or anything.
Back when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, I got started with writing online on the Spore forums. Man, those were the days. We're talking like [s]12 years ago[/s] 2010-ish!
I've been here on and off for almost as long, and have GM'd a bunch of different things to varying success.
[center]Word of my splendor:[/center]
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<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Back when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, I got started with writing online on the Spore forums. Man, those were the days. We're talking like <span class="bb-s">12 years ago</span> 2010-ish!<br><br>I've been here on and off for almost as long, and have GM'd a bunch of different things to varying success.<br><br><div class="bb-center">Word of my splendor:</div><br><div class="hider-panel"><div class="hider-heading"><button type="button" class="btn btn-default btn-xs hider-button" data-name="My messenger's letter">My messenger's letter [+]</button></div><div class="hider-body" style="display: none"><img src="https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019b0090-4706-75b9-bfe5-fd4ef6737466.webp" /></div></div><br><div class="hider-panel"><div class="hider-heading"><button type="button" class="btn btn-default btn-xs hider-button" data-name="My fellow monarch's response">My fellow monarch's response [+]</button></div><div class="hider-body" style="display: none"><img src="https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019b0090-a418-774f-a117-1ae23ac670fd.webp" /></div></div></div>
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Care to share the 'dangerous idea' that Ilunabar is afraid to voice? 
