darkwolf687

Godspeed!

Orfai felt himself called by the thoughts of his Faliargun and swept through the darkness of the oceans to meet them. The shadowy figure formed above them, looking down through the waters to the seven Faliargun as they fought with a pair of Goldari. There were younglings among them now; hundreds of tiny larval forms; they were little more than tiny blobs of flesh with tentacles, barely the size of a humans little finger. They would grow dramatically through several stages until they reached adulthood, each stage growing in size, intelligence and features; In this hatchling state, they had no intelligence and ran on very primitive instincts. And so they scattered as they tried to avoid the Goldari, who would snatch up dozens at a time, snuffing them out like nothing.

The adult Faliargun fought off the Goldari as best they could, trying to gather up and defend their young. One of the female Faliargun still carried her eggs wreathed around her like a sash, sealed together with a sticky waxy substance. She kept as far back from the Goldari as possible, waving a large rock menacingly whenever once came near her to drive it away.

Orfai watched the scene below with interest but remained a shapeless, unseen shadow...

One of the Faliargun surged forwards in a sudden burst of speed, breaking a section of bone off a nearby whale carcass. Using this whale bone like a lance, it moved forward at an astonishing rate and impaled the first Goldari through the side, the long length of bone smashing straight through it's scales and out the other side. It writhed around in agony and the brave Faliargun withdrew it's boney spear as the beast retreated, turning and clutching it with both hands as it brought it's attention to the other Goldari. The beast lurched forwards towards him with it's jaws wide open, letting out a screech. But the heroic Faliargun did not falter; he stood his ground until the vest last moment, propelling hismelf forward at a lightening speed and into the creatures jaws! The lance plunged down it's throat as the Faliargun entered it, piercing through it's vital organs.

There was a moment of silence as the Goldari came to a halt, blood seeping from it's mouth. It turned slowly and began to float limply through the water. The Faliargun watched in unison- and then finally the warrior burst forth out the creatures mouth and back into the water, raising it's bone spear above it's head triumphantly. The wave of emotion that rushed over their minds was entirely different; the Faliargun no longer panicked but hailed their conquering hero.

And then, dread.

Goldari were usually solitary creatures and the presence of a pair meant it was mating season. Sure enough, a large group of them began to work their way over through the waters, a dozen of them or so. They knew there was blood in the water, and they were coming for the meat. The Faliargun turned to flee, gathering up their young and moving through the waters in a sphere around them.

All save one. The brave warrior swam into the blood of the Goldari he had killed, coating himself in it before swimming forward and then off to the side to draw the attention of the Goldari, fleeing towards the reef as they chased him.

And the Keeper was satisfied. He swept down towards his creation and took form again, becoming a shadowy figure rather than shapeless darkness, and from within that figure rose his brilliant bronze Faliargun form, wreathed in shadow and with many shadowy tentacles branching off from it. His aura and appearance inspired terror in the Goldari and they turned and scattered, fleeing before his might and wroth.

The Faliargun beside him looked to his God in amazement, and Orfai could hear the beings thoughts within his head.

"My maker! Hail!" It thought.

"Hail you, the conquering hero." Orfai 'replied' with a glance. He reached out one of his arms and touched his creation and the mark of Orfai formed on the Faliargun's chest for a moment before fading away again. "Hail, Nikarnith of the Faliargun, for you have shown great bravery and cunning. Such heroics could be the beginnings of a legend! Such deeds must be rewarded, and so I mark you now with the sign of my favour. Go forth and defend your people as you journey along the currents to the islands Rytia has provided, for your journey now flows with the tides of fate itself..."

Summary

Orfai turned Nikarnith into a hero and tasks him with guiding his people the rest of the way to the Islands

1 Might used - Create Hero; Nikarnith.
2/4 acts of creation.

Remainder - 5 Might

Not sure if this counts as a 'hero' post or not. It is primarily about Nikarnith and the deed which earns him his status even if he is only mentioned by name at the end, and said deed is pretty heroic, so I do think it should. I'm happy to remove it if you all disagree but for now;

Nikarnith: 2 Prestige earned

Godspeed!

@darkwolf687 Do you want to do a collab with me? I'm thinking Gremju shares the secret of his crystals that I don't think anyone else will know. Also he'd like to make a race with Orfai that has his lust for knowledge and has Gremju's love of having fun/existing.

Also er I have a plan to set a great challenge if Kiko's feast is going to be a thing so I hope Gremju is invited :V. of course Gremju hasn't done any planning for it IC yet as that would be metagaming and metagaming is bad

@Pyromaniacwolf

Yeah sure I'd be fine with doing a collab, though I'm not sure to what extent Orfai would be interested in making another race just yet- though such a race does sound like it would be amusing. Depends on the pitch I imagine.

I will have a post coming soon too, most likely. I've been wondering whether I should have the Faliargun just arrive at the islands, or whether I should go full on exodus and have them make their way slowly there guided by a hero over the course of a few posts, facing trials and tribulations along the way. Maybe that's something Gremju would want to get in on too if I do go with that, given he's the challenge master lol.

Godspeed!

Definitely should. And for shits and giggles, it would include even the most irrelevant and minor of conversations between the gods, but super purple prosed.

Examplus ask "Ah, what's your name sister?"

becoming

And verily the lord Examplus did say unto the newly birthed Goddess Exemplaria "Tell your name to me, dearest sister, that I might know you better, for I am the salt and earth of the world and the architecture of speech itself!"

Godspeed!

_{i may or may not be making Lei's first species a marine one}

@Antarctic Termite

And lo MATER LEI fashioned beings of the ocean from the sand of the sea floor, and breathed life into them that they might inhabit the waters of the world as wise folk.

ORFAI surely was offended at this. From the black depths of an ocean trench rose forth the KEEPER and his wroth was terrible that man did tremble and fish did flee! Aghast and furious, the KEEPER said unto LEI "NO MY DEEP DARK SECRET OCEANS FUCK OFF REEEEEEEEE."

And verily, LEI doth mock the impotent KEEPER's screeching, and so it is recorded in the tales of old that the KEEPER ran off in a huff.

Godspeed!

When you make your speech overly elaborate just to fuck with mortals



Edit: Good point, will make that summary more of a summary

Godspeed!

Orfai turned his attention towards 'Him' and they nodded to each other. Wordlessly, Orfai swept out from the beach again and disappeared into the waters of the ocean, flowing across the world back towards Mater Lei's structure. 'He' watched the Nerai break from the grasp of Rytia to join it's kindred, then watched Rytia swoop through the air and towards the centre of the islands. 'He' swam down through the waters, bringing the oddity with him, to examine the tunnels and caves that the goddess carved.

The Faliargun would definitely be able to settle here and expand, Rytia was a good and careful architect. She had avoided compromising her own design but had all the same produced large caverns and tunnels for them, that crept around beneath the corals and through the rocks of the island as an expansive network.

"Excellent, I am most grateful." 'He' said when they were finished. Then 'He' paused for a moment before holding up the vault oddity to show her it again. The crab still hung around within it, clearly very shocked at having been relocated halfway across the ocean. "There is the question of where we put this..."

***

Orfai flowed up to the Faliargun and looked upon them, judging them each in turn. The Faliargun approached him cautiously, and he reached out his arms to them.

"Do not be afraid," Orfai said, and the Faliargun tilting their heads to regard him "For I have seen the affliction of my creations at the hand of those of the Corrupter. I know their sorrows; And I am come to deliver them out of the jaws of the Goldari and the Halls of the Mater, and to bring them up unto the waves and across the seas, unto waters flowing with pearls and coral, unto the place of the Nerai."

Orfai flowed closer to the Faliargun and reached out to touch one of them. There was a slight glow as he placed the location directly into their minds, that they might know the way to go. And once more Orfai became aware of the acute need they had for communication, and the lack of capability they had for this.

And yet Orfai could not give them speech, for as much as he thought about how this might be done and as much as he desired to do it, he could find no way for such to happen. Indeed, it seemed there was no way for himself to do so, that such knowledge was a secret even to him and lay within the domain of another.

Yet- he paused and he thought to himself for a moment. There were other ways to communicate- Rytia's Nerai had shown a more visual form of expression, making it easy to tell how they were feeling even without words. Yet he wanted something more comprehensive than that. No, there were other ways, and perhaps more efficient ways besides. For in truth, the more he thought on it, the more he realised that fully fledged audio communication within the water would be- inefficient to say the least.

So the Keeper of Secrets imparted to them a great gift; with a wave of his hand and the shadowy trails of his divinity once again flowing around them, he granted them a magic innate to their being; that they might from birth communicate mentally with each other; their bodies changed slightly as his divinity flowed through them, altering the fabric of their being. The section of the frontal lobe usually responsible for speech was now the source of telepathy, a telepathic organelle if one would. In short, his Faliargun would become a species of telepaths or empaths, capable of communicating with each other without the need for audio or visual stimulus. It was over short distances, true, but then what forms of communication were not hampered by distance, especially within the water where audio would suffer, and where in the deepest depths of its darkness the visual might no longer serve effectively either?

But they would need to communicate with more of the world than just each other, for they were to share this world with other creations and the gods themselves. Thus, the Keeper ensured that their newfound telepathy would allow them to send telepathic messages to any living things that had a mind, thus allowing them an avenue of communication with the other mortal races. It would be crucial for them to be able to communicate ideas to the Nerai and to the other races of the world, even if the way those beings communicated back would be very different indeed.

But he was acutely aware of how this might affect his fondness for secrets and mysteries, and so made sure that sending telepathic messages was voluntary. The Faliargun could pass memories and thoughts to each other, communicate concepts with but a glance- yet they could not read each others thoughts or minds without invitation, only those ideas that they wanted to flow to the other would flow. Such pruning of awkwardness went on for a while, as the Keeper carved out this ability with the utmost care.

And after several hours, the Keeper looked upon the result and was satisfied. Already he could hear the buzz of communication between his Faliargun, as they 'spoke' to each other- and to him. They would speak the purest language of knowledge that could exist; there would be no degradation of oral tales, no miscommunications or misunderstandings from imperfect speech. The Keeper applauded his own ingenuity and cunning.

"Does this please you, Faliargun?" Orfai smirked as he 'spoke' within their minds... The thoughts flowed back to him, in the affirmative. They did not yet have any language with which to call their concepts, but their thoughts let him know their feelings- and oh how they felt so giddy now! How they better understood each other! They were still so primitive and their minds so lacking in knowledge, they had not even a proto-civilisation nor so much as a tribe. They were merely a- a school of Faliargun, as though they were the bestial fish that they were made from. Yet this ability to commune would greatly improve their coordination and thus their chances of both surviving in the world and making their way to the islands which would be their new home. In time, perhaps, they would become something more.

"These are surely the first of many bestowments, should you impress myself and the gods. And yet for now, this is my last gift to you. You, My Faliargun, shall make your way to the islands of the Nerai, whose location I have imparted unto you. There we shall commune again."

= summary

'He' remains with Rytia, nodding approvingly and then asking her where in the world he can put the broken vault oddity.

Orfai meanwhile goes to the Faliargun to send them off on their merry way to the islands, being deliberately flowery simply for the fun of it. However, to increase their suitability along the way he decides they need to have some way to communicate with each other, in order to use their survival advantage of intelligence properly. Being unable to give them language or speech as these lie within another gods portfolio, he thinks outside the box and effectively says 'Bollocks to it' and makes them telepaths so they are able to share each others thoughts, feelings and ideas.

Might Bank
1 Miracle - Making the Faliargun Telepathic

Remainder
1 Might
0 Miracles

1/4 acts of creation

@Amethyst

Godspeed!

Orfai watched the Goddess work with a cocked brow; her creations were beautiful and ethereal, and had great empathy. Even without words (and without relying too much on his divine senses) he could tell what they were feeling and doing. But he noted too that they bore gills and webbing for the movement through water. That could be good or bad, as it meant that it might not be such an easy sell to get his Faliargun settled in the waters here as he had hoped. He'd find out. "You forget I am too in the business of knowledge and it's proliferation as well as the keeping of secrets. Something of a dual nature. But our vision doesn't have to match perfectly for what I will propose-"

'He' flowed through the waters as a shadow and swept up over the oceans, appearing out of the water on the beach behind Orfai and swirling around to come up to him, so that the two shadow figures stood side by side. The broken machine and the record were placed down onto the beach, stuck in the same part of the musicless music of time as it would be forever.

"Ah, wonderful." One of the two shadow beings said (It was rather difficult to tell which one had said what, as they spoke in the same voice and had no lips to move, nor did the sound seem to come directly from either one) as Orfai motioned to it with his shadowy hand. "This is what's left of what the Mater used to freeze time before- I'm sure you too will find it most interesting, and agree it makes quite the prize even if it doesn't function anymore."

"Hold on, this is going to get a little awkward." One of the pair said with amusement. For the sake of everyone's sanity, Orfai reconstituted into the form of a large Faliargun once again, brilliant bronze scales covering his body.

"Problem solved." The Keeper of Secrets declared as he nodded to his avatar, turning his attention back towards the Goddess. "This is 'He'. Me. A fragment of me rather, my avatar."

"It gets a bit complicated." 'He' said with a small grin, looking out over the islands and then to the waters around them with a slight nod of approval. "I see what I meant."

"Indeed. See, Rytia, I have a minor problem. I created an aquatic race, the Faliargun- you see them now in my form. I thought to leave them to multiply in the safety of the waters I had created- and then Larwen happened. The Corrupter decided it would be a wonderful idea to create the Goldari, that is to say to inject some powerful predators into the same waters. The Faliargun are too few in numbers to sustain any attrition from that, and they have little knowledge. They exist for now as little more than intelligent beasts, primitives. Now, usually I would be inclined to let things play out on their own, to leave it up in the air and see what happens. But there are so few thinking beings in the world at current that I'm not willing to let that happen. Can you imagine how difficult it is to be the god of secrets when there are no secrets? Knowledge when there is so little knowledge? It's quite infuriating, really." The God paused to prevent himself going too far on a tangent, returning to the topic at hand. "Anyway, the Mater has graciously given them refuge - and she made clear that it was temporary refuge- within the confines of her building. So I am searching for a more long term solution for them."

"Within this archipelago, there is safety for the Faliargun to retreat to should one of these Goldari show up, or to lose them amongst the islands. Here, they can catch fish and gather flora easy enough and in time, they could cultivate plants beneath the calm central waters for food. It could be suitable refuge while they grow in number, and they should not cause difficult for your people. Although they can temporarily walk- well, in a manner of speaking - on the land, they are most comfortable in the waters. If anything it should even be mutually beneficial, at least in these early stages- there is safety in numbers after all, and there is potential for the future." 'He' said, concluding the thoughts of Orfai himself.

"So what say you?" Orfai asked with a pleasant smile spreading across the face of his form.

= summary

Orfai makes a proposal!

@Amethyst

Godspeed!

Corrupted souls. Oh boy.

Godspeed!

"Creation yes, but far from anything great. Just fish and algae. Plan, no. I don't have any plans, not yet." Orfai replied simply as he looked around; the land here was still barren. Perhaps he should lend a helping hand of sorts... "Secrets? Oh I can help with that- for I am the Keeper of Secrets and the Lord of Knowledge itself- but aside, if it is to support beings, it will need more than this. I shall help with this."

Orfai raised a shadowy hand out towards the island behind them, raising his voice and singing a chorus of notes; from the ground sprouted several large deciduous trees; they rose some 40 feet into the air and had many large long swirly branches from which hung fan-like leaves. Through the acceleration of Orfai's magic, these trees emerged not only fully grown but already with fruit in the form of large, soft and juicy red fruit for Rytia's birds to eat - and in doing so spread the seeds across the islands.

And then he reached out with his mind across to 'Him'. It was a strange feeling to convene with himself even across this distance- and it wasn't easy, at least not yet. But he managed to send 'Him' a message of sorts, a beacon with which to follow.

"So Rytia, what will these people of yours be?" Orfai said as he turned away from the sprouting trees and folded his shadowy arms again. "For I may yet have a request to make of you."

***

And 'He' did follow it. With the broken gramophone and the strange record carefully in his shadowy embrace, 'He' followed across the oceans towards his master. As useless as the oddity was now (And indeed, quite probably as useless as it was forever), it was strange and wonderful enough that he wanted it. Perhaps in time he or a servant of his might learnt something from it, however small, or perhaps it would remain completely useless forevermore and exist no more as a curious museum piece of cumbersome tableweight. 'He' didn't particularly care, for They were collectors.

= summary

Orfai decides to just add a bunch of trees to the Goddesses island. Oh boy, this could earn him a slap!

@Amethyst

Cost and progress summary

1 Miracle: Creating and accelerating a new type of tree to give the currently bare islands some life

0.75/4 acts of creation

1 Might remaining
1 Miracle remaining

Godspeed!

Orfai grunted and turned away from Gremju. Oddly enough, the answer the being had gave did not reassure him in the slightest as to the merits of this idea. Regardless for now, he would see to other matters for something else stirred in the world; he could hear and sense the rush of water from the oceans splashing against the side of Lei's construct- another disturbance, someone else had been playing at building islands.

Orfai's shadow broke its form again and collapsed in on itself, vanishing as it teleported beyond the walls of the construct and out above the oceans before sweeping over towards a spiral of islands in the distance now. New islands, raised from the depths of the ocean.

The shadow swirled around her for a moment before coming to rest upon the sand. It took a vaguely humanoid shape and paced along the beach for a moment, looking out to the other islands. He could hear the waves crashing upon the rocks, sending echoes through the island on which he stood. The winds caught in the caverns and was instead turned from a soft breeze into a whistle, like air passed through a flute. His eyes narrowed as he considered it, it was almost as if the islands themselves were large instruments rather than islands...

"Well, this is interesting." The figure spoke, looking to the vague spiral of islands. She could easily have taken any piece of land or any of the existing islands, why raise so many here? Was it to do with the construction ratehr than the location? The noises created were perhaps not random, for he sensed intuitively that this goddess had creativity to her that might have given rise to such a design; perhaps they truly were large instruments rather than mere islands; Perhaps in time it was intended to be the beginings of a holy site of some description, a place of worship? Or would be populated with creations of her own, a sanctuary far from the mainland and for now perhaps even safe from the Corrupter (not that he imagined that would last for long, not once something living was placed on the island. Lawren, it seemed, was very diligent when it came to corrupting just about anything he could get his hands on, from fish to swamp to worm...) "What is it, then?"

= summary

Orfai investigates the newest disturbance to the waves. @Amethyst