Giving everyone free levels through Godspeed's system will just saturate the hell out of this RP with even more MP, and then I'll have to dump all my MP into making an even bigger divine weapon
Do we really want a 100MP [Orb of Celestial Undoing]?
Makaizael did not move at once, instead contemplating upon how he would select the first imps to receive his tutelage. Gremju had seemed inclined to let them divide themselves into groups of their own making, but after several hours there were still those that drifted or lazed about, either spurned and rejected from the groups, or individualistic and unwilling to join others, or just lacking in motivation to socialize with the others or move about. It was ironically the last group that Makai began to see the most promise in; the most slothful of the imps were more content with peace and therefore less disposed to violence and chaos, and perhaps they would see and be quick to understand the benefits that civilization could afford to those that turned away from a nomadic way of life.
Most of them seemed relieved when the strange Watcher approached them and did the work of assembling a clan for them, but for those that were not glad to be spared the work, he swayed with promises of wealth, prosperity, and gifts of power that far surpassed the Speech that he had already bestowed upon them. If only they would follow him, and listen.
It seemed a small enough price to pay, so after a few hours he had assembled his group of thirty imps. It was larger than the small gangs of a dozen or so that had arisen naturally, but Makai saw no need to drive off some of his imps. Thirty was number enough to form a village and create a rudimentary civilization that could then grow; it was just right, for a community with too many more would have proven difficult to control.
While the other imps already began to bicker and make plans, many intending to strike out and leave the Plains of Madness and explore the world with eagerness, Makaizael addressed his chosen.
"You will know by now that I have taken you under my charge to teach the ways of order and civilization. It goes against your nature, I know, but I bid you to make the effort and reap the rewards. Your wayward brethren will wander free and act upon impulse and instinct; they will have harder lives, and likely shorter ones too. But you can see them and know that yours is the right path, and know that you go on with the blessings of not only Gremju but also Promus and Makaizael, and then all doubt shall be banished. So come, my friends, for there is much work before us."
They followed Makai a long ways, to where the Plains of Madness began to give way to the open lands beyond, and there they came across a few squat trees that had already started to sparsely cover the mountains. Several complained along the journal, for after all these were many of the most slothful imps, but Makai's silvered tongue urged them onward with vivid promises of all the luxury and relaxation that would come later.
"A demonstration," he called out to the imps, and then with one strange word he told the closest of the trees to fall. It did so with all the gentle grace that such a violent action could show, and then Makai taugh them how to craft crude tools from flintstones, plant fibers, and sticks. With their primitive axes they began to cut the limbs free from the fallen's tree's trunk, and then a few teams under Makai's careful watch managed to fell other trees using their brawn and their tools rather than any sort of magical speech. When it was done, they were left with the daunting task of transporting this lumber back to Gremju's glade within the middle of the Plains of Madness. In teams they began to roll the logs and push them back, for they were far too heavy to carry and yet were round enough that there was no need given that the landscape was mostly flat.
Makai pushed one of the logs along by himself, and he also aided the imps' going here and there with his own magic as well. He kept such assistance subtle and hidden, though, for he did not want them to grow accustomed to such help and rightfully saw in the arduous task a way of bringing the tribe closer together.
When they at last found themselves where they had started, but with some reasonable supply of lumber now, the other bands of imps had already dispersed. Though their enthusiasm waned with lack of immediate reward for their work, Makai offered them ample time to rest, and then he taught them the ways of construction. They built homes for themselves in the forms of small huts and shanties that had walls of earth braced by wood, with roofs made from leafy branches woven together. Though the village was truly no more than a cluster of dirt-floored hovels, it was something. Whilst their nomadic kindred no doubt slept beneath trees or hid in caves or were otherwise exposed to the cold and the elements, these imps that yearned for civilization had some semblance of shelter and they now had a taste of what their enigmatic leader had promised to them.
Almost as an afterthought, Makai then thought to have them make an offering to Gremju. Perhaps it would placate the 'demon' for some time, and even if not, it would teach these imps a valuable lesson in piety. There remained one tree trunk thicker than the others. It was the one that Makai had pushed, for none of the imps had sufficient strength or willpower, and it furthermore had a girth so great and bark so thick that it had resisted all attempts at being chopped into pieces of a more practical and useful size. But that was of no matter, for Makai now envisioned a different purpose for that log to serve.
With great effort, he directed the imps as they began to move it from the outskirts of Gremju's glade closer to the middle. Amidst the crystal trees, they toiled to slowly lift the trunk and bring it upright, and then they placed it within a hole that been prepared for the purpose of keeping the log vertical once more. They buried the lowermost part, piling the dirt at the great log's base until the mound was large enough to hold the totem pole steady. And it was then that Gremju decided to gift his imps with chaos magic.
They immediately took a liking to it, and despite Makai's objections they experimented with it in the village and (in some cases) upon one another. The project abandoned for the time, there was mayhem. None were seemed to have been seriously hurt, but in one instance an imp lost hold over the power that he had conjured and it had set a house ablaze, and in another case the chaos magic had the unintended consequence of permanently giving its user a hue so bright that his skin was like the first bands of sunrise upon the sky.
In an attempt to restore some semblance of order and hopefully amuse Gremju--who was surely laughing by then--Makaizael bid them gather once more by their totem pole and work small bits of their magic upon it to make whatever chaotic and nonsensical marks that they pleased, in the name of worshiping and honoring their maker. Promus would not have been pleased at having been made to suffer such a wild form of 'worship', and this ordeal only confirmed to Makai that his imps still had a long ways to go. Perhaps in due time he would direct them in the construction of a proper temple and instruct them in prayer, but in the meantime chaos reigned.
The Challenger watched Makai worked from a distance and he was truly amused. He had been observing the Guardian of Civilization's work from a distance and erupted into a fit of laughter when the imps began casting their new magic. Eventually he fell out of the tree and remained there, laying on his back for a moment giggling. With a flash of magic Gremju disappeared and re-appeared next to Makai. "Looks like they're having fun with my newest gift," the imp-father said with a cackle.
"They do it to to honor you," the Watcher responded with restrained breath as one of the imps seared exaggerated phallic symbols onto the totem that was meant to be a shrine to Gremju. Another lobbed a bolt of chaos magic at the totem but missed entirely, so with some concentration Makai willed the earth to rise up and suffocate the resulting flames.
-Makai gathers his groups of imps, purposefully choosing to deal with the laziest of the bunch because they seemed like the easiest to control. -He gives them a pep talk and then they chop trees and bring the wood back. -They build a village of little hovels using dirt to fill in wooden frames. -Gremju gives the imps chaos magic and there is anarchy for a while. -Makai has them raise a totem pole to act as a shrine to Gremju, and they use their chaos magic to draw all sorts of interesting stuff on it.
Start: 19 Prestige -2 Prestige to formally claim his 'of the Earth' title and canonize his power and knowledge of the ground, its plants, etc. -5 Prestige to level that title twice, to of the Earth (III) -2 Prestige to claim the title Friend of Imps (I) -2 Prestige to claim the title He Who Felled the First Tree (I) -2 Prestige to gather together his tribe of imps and convince them to heed his counsel and obey his decrees -2 Prestige to teach the imps of construction +2 Prestige for this post existing +2 Prestige for this post being collaborative End: 8 Prestige
I'll echo the suggestion that you check out Godspeed.
the large number of Djinn-touched souls mingled inside her and condensed into a Djinn of great power, making the woman host a Demi-God. @BBeast
The big plot hole here is that djinn do not have souls. It's been so long that I had almost forgotten about what Capy just said (excessive use of the Winds of Change can lead to one starting to lose their body and APPEAR as a djinni) but the caveat is that said mortals don't actually become djinn. They become something halfway between, a sort of immortal human attuned to magic that is nonetheless still not so powerful as a djinni lord, incapable of 'dying' and then reforming once more, etc.
Interestingly, the same ogre sorcerers that have the more powerful variant of Astartian magic are also the only (to my knowledge) mortals to make any extensive use of that Astartian soul magic that Muttonhawk just mentioned.
It's part of what enables them to enslave djinn by force of will when other shamans simply cannot do that, and it's also been demonstrated to allow them to temporarily enhance their strength or agility to superhuman levels. There's some IC post where an ogre shaman named Dargok uses this to fight off a bunch of urtelem.
What's up. Been a while since I last talked to you in Horde of Evil/Dungeon Keepers.
Shamanism is still relatively limited, though. So that we're on the same page, I'll give you a brief rundown of the two types I've established (in Mesathalassa there are 'shamans' that are completely different, ask Capy about them).
The god of change originally created the djinn (aka elementals), which are entities of varying intelligence, personality, and power. These djinn are sort of like nature spirits and they each correspond to a certain aspect of the world (like water or fire, but some are more obscure like sound in the case of Murmur or treesap in the case of some djinn called dryads). There's a wiki page that you may find helpful: divinus-ii.wikia.com/wiki/Elementals_…
Shamans are basically just mortals that have learned to deal with djinn.
Human shamans exist in two regions: Rukbany with its nomadic tribes of horsemen, and Vetros with its Egyptian/Hebrew/Sumerian culture of cities along the river. In both places the shamans are functionally the same; they learn the language of the gods so that they are able to communicate with djinn, which they then use to buy favors through offerings or worship or whatever the particular djinni in question wants. These shamans have no power inherent to themselves unless they manage to permanently bind some lesser djinn to their will, but even then, though a shaman may throw a fireball at you it's not because he's a firebender. It's just because he has a few firedjinn buddies helping him out.
The other notable shamans are the ogre sorcerers. There's only about ten of them, but they're each vastly more powerful than their human counterparts. Whilst the humans try to make peaceful pacts and buy favors, the ogres use rituals and can enslave djinn through sheer force of will.
Not sure what you're planning, but I hope that spiel was of some use to you.
On that topic, I went back to edit my hero posts to conform to the new prestige system. They now have even more than they did before, mostly because of the rule that they now get +2 for a collab even if it isn't part of a quest.
Looking back I did make Hal spend some additional prestige in the recent post, for that time when he dropped the meteor.
I've got about 60 Prestige between just the three Watchers...I was originally going to have them spend almost all of their earned prestige on giving things to mortals, but at this rate they might start picking up a bunch of titles.
In other news, Promus would probably be thrilled to find some sort of babysitter. The criteria for eligibility include not trying to eat the cyclopes and not trying to physically corrupt the cyclopes.
When the Centaur spoke of its quest and asked if Promus could be of assistance, the god answered with a warm smile. There was a glow in his eyes that said 'yes' yet offered nothing so tangible as a promise forged from words.
"I will be watching you," the Sage finally told the Centaur, but then the god shimmered and was gone.
As time passed, Promus was quickly made aware of the movements of the three that worried him most; true to their moniker, his three Watchers saw what they were meant to see. Though it was only Halazael who had reported with urgency and regularity, eventually all three had found the time to whisper a few quiet words upon the wind that they would reach their master's ear.
So it was that Promus came to understand that Gremju was amassing a horde of some creatures called 'imps', and that Larwen had already created a bastion from which his unholy war was already beginning. Some other gods had offered resistance, but it was of little reassurance. They had done the world no favors in acting preemptively; now through the aggravations of Lasis and Regulus, Larwen felt under the pressure to move even quicker. Alarming the demon had only served to expedite the war and drive him into deeper concentration.
Though he had not hoped to begin grim preparations so soon, it was clear that he would need to amass forces of his own, for he intended to be well prepared to strike with a sudden and overwhelming force in the very moment that any of the demons appeared vulnerable; it was his moral imperative, for one surgical and merciless assault upon the harbingers of chaos, however brutal and distasteful, could spare untold millions of mortals.
A fourth Lord of Civilization seemed a good start, however; there was only Makaizael to teach mortals of earth and nature, Halazael the stars and sky, and Azazael of divinity and power. He saw need for yet another, one to teach them of flame and all the benevolent gifts that it could bring.
So to create a being with knowledge of fire, Promus sought out a great source of heat. Though he flew near and far across the land, in the end the hottest flames were those that he found beneath the cool waves of the ocean. In the volcanic depths of a deep ravine carved into the sea's floor, Promus shaped a flow of magma into a hulking yet vaguely humanoid form. Into the body he also imbibed a the capacity for a great deal of intelligence and he gave the being the spark of a mind with which to use that potential; the only thing left was to give a name: Pyredes.
Pyredes came alive with a shudder and pried free from the volcanic vent, but then the rush of frigid seawater came into contact with searing flesh. With a burst of steam, a skin of stone began to harden around his molten innards but it went too fast. As he writhed in an icy pain, his body twisted and contorted such that the stone was formed in all the wrong ways. With a panicked start, Promus dragged his creation from the sea and onto a rocky beach.
Though he had not yet fully cooled, Promus could already see what Pyredes was to become. He was powerful of form and in possession of a single eye in the center of his forehead.
Promus forced himself to watch his son's struggle and felt a guilt that burned hotter than any lava flow. He had made a mistake, but now he feared that there was little that could be done to correct it. Pyredes would never be beautiful or as dexterous as the Watchers were, but he at least would be strong of body and mind.
When the cyclops' agonized torpor began to wane, Promus gave him his birthright. "Listen, beloved Pyredes; take these words for your own. Claim this language of the gods, that you may know any mortal tongue and be likewise understood by their baser minds."
"Hmmghrmrglhm."
Promus looked at Pyredes expectantly, waiting for the cyclops to find its tongue and speak, but his disciple looked down and would only grunt and grumble. He kept staring at Pyredes, nigh incredulous at the thought that perhaps his failure had been so absolute as to also render this Lord of Civilization with a deformed mind as well as body. But then the cyclops seemed to shift uncomfortably under his father's unending gaze, and that shyness turned to anger. With what resembled a roar, he threw a rock at Promus and then fell upon his back to wail and pout. Tears of liquid fire dripped from his one eye; Promus carefully wiped them off the cyclops' face before they dried to form a crust of sand. It seemed as though Pyredes might be merely a 'child' of sorts and that he would have to mature and grow, not unlike the mortals. In trying to make one cleverer and wiser than his three Watchers or even himself, Promus had made yet another mistake.
But this error was not so bad; for that day, it was enough to demand that Promus take his mind off of Larwen or any of the other worries that already burdened him, and for that the god would later be grateful. In that moment, though, he had only thought to give Pyredes the company of friends...siblings. He would not be able to watch Pyrades constantly over the years to come, so it was best that he would have others for company and for safety in numbers. Though not quite so powerful or large as he, these fellow cyclopes shared his likeness. Promus did not repeat his mistake, and in their making he took care to not render them crippled as Pyredes had been. Even so, they were not particularly agile or quick, but even with their cumbersome bodies and clumsy gaits they betrayed the signs of a great intelligence and strength.
Promus bids the centaur farewell.
Now that Promus is aware of how the 'demons' are entrenched, and that several other gods of questionable trustworthiness seem to be assembling armies, he feels the need to keep up with the arms race. It also seems clear that his three Watchers are not enough.
With this in mind, he enters a volcanic fissure beneath the sea and creates a molten being composed purely of magma that he names Pyredes.
The seawater cools around Pyredes. His sizzling hot body begins to harden and cool with such rapidity that it leaves him with a bad and crippled disposition. He has a limp and crippled leg, and Promus feels really guilty about messing that up.
Pyredes is given a powerful form of speech; like the gods, he is able to understand and speak any mortal language. This guy is a Lord of Civilization like Azazael and bros.
That being said, he still just grumbles and makes noises and has tantrums. Promus wonders if he somehow messed up Pyredes' mental faculties as well, but then comes to suspect that Pyredes just has the mind of a child and that he'll have to actually grow up and all that.
So that Pyredes has company, Promus decides to make a great many other guys. They are a bit smaller, not so magically gifted as Pyredes, and are not born as cripples, but they are made in Pyredes' rough likeness and are still more or less his siblings. Thus the cyclopes are born.
More to come on cyclopes!
Start: 5MP and 2/4 MP towards level 3
-1 MP on Pyredes -0 MP to give Pyredes the gift of divine speech (free portfolio action) -1 MP on cyclopes
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!
I've been here on and off for almost as long, and have GM'd a bunch of different things to varying success.
Discord: VMS#8777
<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 12 years ago!<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>Discord: VMS#8777</div>
Member
LokiLeo789,
NoriWasHere,
Lord Zee,
Crispy Octopus,
DracoLunaris,
Vec,
Timemaster,
CFProxy,
Monkeypants
