Heptas thought to the future, and created a work that would influence the future for billions of years, until the world's death, and would continue to influence other worlds. A sword. It would require a difficult quest to acquire...
300: Titanic Artifact: The
Sword of Slaying. The Sword of Slaying is a very powerful magical sword bound by the following laws:
I. Anything that touches the Sword of Slaying's Blade dies, except the other parts of the Sword of Slaying(the Hilt and Scabbard).
-Ia. Truly anything. This includes gods and other immortals. Whether a Titan could be killed or injured by the Blade, nobody will ever know. As for a Demiurge? Maybe. The future holds the answer.
-Ib. Truly anything. This includes non-living things. This is the reason the Blade appears black: it kills the light that touches it. This is the reason the blade is extremely cold: it kills the heat that touches it.
-Ic. The Blade does not kill absence, however. This is the reason the Blade doesn't glow: it doesn't kill the darkness that touches it.
-Id. The Sword's wielder can choose to kill a concept by cutting it with the Blade, once per day. Concepts cannot be cut using the Sword of Slaying in other ways.
-Ie. Anything killed by the Blade cannot return to life.
II. The Sword of Slaying is divided into three parts: the Blade, the Hilt, and the Scabbard.
-IIa. The Blade cannot be removed from the Scabbard unless it is attached to the Hilt.
-IIb. The Scabbard has engravings depicting the death of the Sword's wielder. If knowing how they die changes the wielder's future, the engravings change accordingly.
-IIc. When the Hilt is properly pressed against the Blade while the Blade is within the Scabbard, the Hilt will attach to the Blade.
III. The Sword of Slaying can only be wielded by an intelligent biological mortal being who has been transformed by the Local Law of the Reforging Pilgrimage.
IV. Should the wielder of the Sword of Slaying lose the Sword of Slaying, it will teleport back to them.
V. Should the wielder of the Sword of Slaying die or become immortal, or should 12 years pass from when they took the Sword of Slaying from the Temple of the Titans, the Sword of Slaying will return to its home in the Temple of the Titans.
-Va. When this happens, the Hilt shall detach from the Blade, 144 false clones of the Hilt will be created, and the real Hilt will be placed in the heap of clones.
-Vb. When this happens, the Blade shall be placed within the Hilt.
VI. The wielder of the Sword of Slaying may gain certain powers depending on their physical status.
-VIa. If they are blind, they will gain the ability to sense all life within 10 meters of them while the Sword is drawn.
-VIb. If they are deaf, they will gain the ability to hear the thoughts of all intelligent beings within 10 meters of them while the Sword is drawn.
-VIc. If they are missing one or more limbs, they will regrow the first time they draw the Sword. The regrown limbs will be colored purple.
-VId. If they are near death, they will gain the swordsmanship skills of everybody who has previously wielded the Sword while the Sword is drawn, and they will gain the ability to completely ignore pain and blood loss.
-VIe. If they are an anthropomorphic bull due to being transformed by the Local Law of the Reforging Pilgrimage, they gain the ability to teleport short distances while the Sword is drawn.
VII. During the full moon, the Sword of Slaying absorbs a small fraction of the power from any god it is used to kill to permanently enhance the wielder's physique.
VIII. During the new moon, the Sword of Slaying cannot be drawn.
IX. The Sword of Slaying can only be destroyed by performing a special sequence of steps in exact order, inscribed symbolically in the chamber within the Temple of the Titans where it is kept. It cannot be destroyed or damaged any other way.
-IXa. The first step is to melt exactly 144 forks by knocking them into a pit of molten steel using the Sword of Slaying during the new moon.
-IXb. The second step is for the wielder of the sword to stab themselves with the Sword, dying.
-IXc. The third step is for the next wielder of the sword to die in an all-out duel against their Law of Opposition-chosen rival during the full moon, and not invoke law X.
-IXd. The fourth step is for the Sword to not be assembled, and instead for the Hilt of the Sword to be taken from the Temple without taking any other part of the sword. The Hilt must then be thrown into 12 different active volcanoes and retrieved, in sequence, within 12 days of each other.
-IXe. The fifth step is for the Sword to be assembled, and then used by the wielder to kill a god, during the full moon. The killed god must willingly give up their life. This will cause the Sword's Blade to lose its property of killing whatever it touches for the next 12 days.
-IXf. At the end of those twelve days, the Sword will shatter, becoming forever destroyed, no longer able to be repaired, with no magic left in its fragments.
-IXg. However, if during those twelve days, the depowered Sword is used to kill another god, also willingly giving up their life, the Sword will return to its former glory immediately, and will not be destroyed when the 12 days end.
-IXh. There is a third option, however. If, during the 12 days, the depowered Sword is used to kill another god, fighting at full strength against the Sword's wielder, trying their best not to die, and is then thrown and retrieved from the 12 active volcanoes its Hilt was thrown into, and is then used to kill the wielder's rival in an all-out duel, all of this done by someone transformed into an anthropomorphic bull by the Local Law of the Reforging Pilgrimage, the Sword will transform into its evolved form, in which there is no doubt nothing, not even a Demiurge, could survive its strike, and there is no chance for the wielder to die fighting. If this occurs, the Sword will not shatter when the 12 days end and will instead return to its normal form.
X. While the wielder of the Sword of Slaying is dying, they can choose somebody else to become the Sword's new wielder instead of having the Sword teleport back to the chamber where it lies within the Temple of the Titans. This can only be done once in a 144 year span.
To protect the incredibly dangerous weapon, Heptas created the
Temple of the Titans in the center of Lentath, in an area without any active volcanoes.
15: Anomaly: The
Temple of the Titans.
The Temple of the Titans is a massive ziggurat, placed in a small area of Lentath free from dangerous volcanoes. It is constructed of pure obsidian and is composed of five layers. In order to enter inside, someone aiming to do that must enter from the top of the ziggurat, and must hence climb the massive staircase leading up there. Within the five layers, many non-magical but self-resetting traps lie. In the bottom layer, at the center of a massive maze, a small chamber containing the Sword of Slaying lies.
Surely, though, that wouldn't be enough. A working of magic was required.
50: Modify Regional Laws of Reality:
The Local Law of the Reforging Pilgrimage.
Anyone approaching the Temple of the Titans has every aspect of their identity, from their personality to their memories, gradually eroded away. By the time they reach the Temple, anybody walking there would be nothing more than a vegetable with no identity and no hope of living, due to having no desire to eat or drink, and only breathing due to their brain's programming. There is a way to survive this, however: if one wears an animal mask while approaching the Temple, and acts out a completely different identity, one distinct from their real identity in every way, while their real identity will still be eroded, their fake one will remain in place and become their real one(at least in their mind). The body of one who uses this method will be transformed into an anthropomorphized version of the animal their mask represents once they reach the Temple.
There was not much to see, otherwise, on the continent of Lentath. It could be a little more interesting.
Heptas creates Masked Bison, Stupefying Grass, and Stupefying Fruit Bushes, and spreads all three of them across Lentath and its neighboring islands.
10: Specific Species:
Masked Bison.
The Masked Bison is a creature similar to a normal bison, but with a thick mask of bone on its head. When it dies, the mask detaches and can be worn. The masks are used to protect the bison, as they compete for food supplies and headbutt each other to do so. Old Masked Bison develop a precognitive danger sense only useful for sensing broad danger... like volcanic eruptions. They have built up a tolerance for the effects of Stupefying Grass and Stupefying Fruit Bushes. When one Masked Bison kills another, they eat the dead Bison's mask for the calcium, but no other part of the dead Bison as they are herbivores.
10: Specific Species:
Stupefying Grass:
The Stupefying Grass is a species of grass that is the most common food eaten by the Masked Bison. It has adapted to Lentath's volcanic eruptions by exploding: when extreme heat(like from lava) gets near it, it explodes, using special compounds within it triggered by the heat to propel a few seeds high into the air where they hang until the lava and ash dissipate. They can spread the normal way, but this is slower. A side effect of the compounds is that any creature that eats the grass has diminished brain power as the compounds eat away at the eater's brain. Masked Bison have built up a tolerance to this.
10: Specific Species:
Stupefying Fruit Bushes:
The Stupefying Fruit Bushes are a prized additional source of nutrition for the Masked Bison, as the fruit they produce contain extremely high amounts of calcium needed for their bony masks. The bushes have adapted to Lentath's volcanic eruptions by exploding. When extreme heat gets near them, their fruit explode and send seeds high into the air where they hang until the lava and ash dissipate. They can spread by having their seeds survive in the Bison's digestive tract, but that is slower. A side effect of the compounds within the fruit is that any creature that eat them have diminished brain power as the compounds eat away at the eater's brain. Masked Bison have built up a tolerance for this.