Muttonhawk

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

This Conata post is getting rather long. Like, not especially dense, but I feel like I'm pushing how many events I can cram into it. I'm tempted to stop and post, leaving a massive cliffhanger so I can finish the rest of the events without feeling like I'll never get it done.

I don't know, though. Would people prefer a sheer "Next time on Dragonball Z"-esque cliffhanger or should I post the whole thing with a less suspenseful "I wonder what the next chapter will hold?"-esque cliffhanger like I've done with Conata up until this point?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Rhazii didn't have any refutation to Ahnasha's reasoning. That didn't mean he felt any better about it. He looked down, pouting slightly and lowering his ears. "Does it have to be every day, though?"

"I'm afraid so, son," Fendros said. "If you transform against your will because we left training too long and you end up hurting yourself or someone else, you might never forgive yourself. Your beast spirit is a power to be respected. You are responsible for it now."

In response, Rhazii groaned and his tail curled until it was in his lap.

Fendros reached out to pat Rhazii on the shoulder. "Growing up can be difficult, Rhazii. But trust us, this is not the hardest thing you will face. We both went through it, and we didn't even have our lycanthropy to warn us it was starting."

Rhazii raised his eyes to reveal an annoyed look. He looked to Fendros sceptically. "Is what you told me about where cubs-?"

"-No! Well, hopefully not this soon," Fendros interrupted. "It's about the other changes you'll have in your life as you become an adult. This is a milestone, and I'm proud of you." Fendros began to stand up. "Remember, we'll be here if you have any questions. Nothing is beyond asking, I promise. Now come, I think we'll be heading back to camp soon."

Without an answer, Rhazii began to stand up as well. News of his new training regime had evidently put a damper on his mood.

Janius looked ahead again and sighed. He took a couple of slow blinks to think about Kaleeth's intentions. "Hmm." He looked torn. "It is a reasonable thing, really. We could still all be together." He turned his head towards her with a slightly worried brow. "I would miss you on hunts. Do you think, every now and then, we might still hunt together? It does not have to be every time, I just...I enjoy hunting with you."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Rhazii sat up properly and laid his hands in his lap while Ahnasha spoke. He looked up to her with a curious frown. He paused afterwards, unsure what to make of his mother's tone. Looking at Fendros didn't help either; his expression was neutral as well.

"I split off? Into an undead creature?" He asked them both. "I'm...and I wasn't meant to do that?" Rhazii raised his brow, stared ahead and shook his head. "That had to have been my beast spirit. I just remember being focussed. I don't remember anything except the cold and getting hurt and...trying to say sorry. That's right." He lowered his voice. "I messed up, didn't I?"

Fendros knelt down beside Ahnasha. "It can be difficult to control your beast spirit without any practice. Many lycans don't even have half the memories of their first transformation that you did. It got excited and it was not entirely your fault, though what happened was dangerous. Now that you are transforming, your mother and I have decided that you should start learning as soon as you can."

Rhazii nodded, still exhausted.

"We will be teaching you every day until you can be confident enough to transform and be in control on your own."

The extra detail made Rhazii's eyes shoot up and widen at Fendros. "Every day!?"

Janius held Kaleeth a little tighter while he thought of how to answer. He eventually came up with something half-baked, though it completed in his mind as he went. "I think...Kaleeth, you might be assuming that we're in a pack because we're werewolves and that's what wolves do. But, it isn't about instinct. Not really- or...not completely." He looked in Lorag and Meesei's direction. "Take Meesei, or Lorag when she's not around. We don't take turns eating after them because they want to exercise dominance over us. It's because it's just an accommodation to our beast spirits. Meesei and Lorag might think it's unfair to make us wait, but we aren't bothered, because we have learned to live with each other. They have to exercise their rational minds all the time to prevent themselves becoming tyrannical, abusive leaders, even if they love us." Janius gestured to Sabine. "You saw what happened when Meesei was too weak to control herself. She struck Sabine, probably out of anger, but also to be dominant like the alpha she is."

After shifting to look at Kaleeth properly, Janius gave her a small smile. "Now, we might have to make accommodations for you every now and then. That doesn't mean you don't belong. We prefer to have you, with everything that comes with it. Is that what has been on your mind?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lucky, haha. I'm neck deep in university right now. Things have been tight.

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

@Kho Perhaps those mutations that happened to the rovaick every now and then could have made a family of hoof-foot rovaick!

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I've seen whale sharks in documentaries next to divers, but I still couldn't imagine it unless I saw them for myself. Man, that must have been amazing!

I've been to a few aquariums before but nothing that big. Are you out on a holiday right now?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

At Ahnasha's touch, Rhazii groaned lightly and tightened his shut eyes. He stretched out one arm and took a deep breath in, and then stopped to feel at his side. "Ow...I feel..." His face relaxed and his red eyes opened in realisation. "I can talk...? It wasn't a dream? It wasn't." He finally turned his eyes up to Ahnasha and Fendros.

"Hello, little one," Fendros said. "How much do you remember?"

"I..." He propped himself up on one elbow and looked ahead, trying to piece it all together. "I transformed. I felt like it was creeping up from my lungs. It was my beast spirit. I just...I changed. It took over. It hurt. But then I ran really fast. I was following you, dada. I..." The memories we're coming up as Rhazii recalled them. His facial expression changed from amazed to concerned and fearful several times. "I was hurt. I was hit by a...a...it was cold. It stung. I was scared. I think I did something wrong." He looked up again. "But then I...what happened? I...tried talking with Kaj-Julan. I couldn't. Then I ran again. I...it's all really fuzzy. Was I bitten by a chaurus?"

Janius patiently waited for Kaleeth to speak, putting an arm around her shoulders and leaning his head on hers. Her answer caused him to lift his head and look at her face with a small frown. This was not the first time she had spoken about such things, but it was the first time it had been mentioned in years. "How so, my lily? You've been part of the pack for near a decade now."

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

Sounds good to me. There might also be an elemental or two on the Firewind end that has made a cult of you like.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Yes," Fendros' smile went down and he nodded. "We ought to talk to him about it. He'll be tired, but it would be best to get it out of the way tonight." Fendros tilted his head, looking at Rhazii. "We should probably be stern, though it's hardly fair if we make him think it was entirely his fault. He might not even remember doing it. We ought to work on it as he gets better control."

Fendros curled his lips. "Honestly, I'm just glad he's okay. I should have been watching him more closely."

Janius was in his beast form lapping at the water in the river when Kaleeth looked at him, catching his eye. Once he had slaked his thirst, he checked on Kaleeth again and picked up on her anxiety. He decided then to transform back and approach her.

"Greetings," he said with a smile, sitting down next to her. He looked at her, lifted one knee, and held up his elbow on it. "Are you okay?" He asked sympathetically.

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

@Cyclone Okay, I'm watching boring group presentations, so I can give you a more detailed answer on current hain worshipping habits.

Chippers have had enough time to spread around to just about all hain tribes accessible from the larger areas of mainland. There may be some isolated tribes that do not know who they are. A couple of things to keep in mind is that the information they carried is not consistent and the Chipper tradition has morphed into various forms and intensities of Stone Chipper worship over the years.

Overall, there are currently two dominant religious habits of hain. These are Teknall worship, Mesathelassan shamanism, and Slough worship:

Slough worship is ritual idolatry of nature and is generally seen more strongly around the Venomweald.

Mesathelassan shamanism is what Capy has been fostering in Mesathelassa. It's fairly concentrated there, but still set firmly into the culture at this point.

Teknall worship is anything from respect to outright dogmatic allegiance to Stone Chipper. It's pretty much everywhere at some level or another. Teknall is kinda their race's patron right now.

Minor faiths are scattered around as appropriate. Lifprasil and Amartia both have hain worshippers. Many elemental lords could have fostered a hain population and become worshipped. There are probably still some chaos hain around. Hain Sculptors are here and there. Some hain around Rulanah will have taken Sularn's oath and begun to worship Toun, for better or worse. Chiral Phi lured some hain into her candy van in Metera. And don't forget that there are some hain in the Valley of Peace who worship Niciel and the angels.

Basically, hain are just about everywhere, so they sample into just about every open faith with a few exceptions. However, most do not have the proper construction knowledge to build any worship building bigger than a shrine. Those that do are probably Alefprian, Yorumite, a few Mesathelassans, and anywhere else where they would both have good construction and the motivation to build a temple.