IP: 17
IP Income: 11 [9 + Shades + Cthons]
Inventory: Gnome-Forged Flaming Sword, Soul of the First Shade
Chosen Races: Shades, Cthons
Stolen returns to the Stolen Vale in her Shade aspect, gathering the incorporeal soul of the First Shade and setting it before her. She draws up soft, dark loam from the Vale's soil and begins to sculpt it into form.
"Know, child, that you were my first. First to be sculpted out of the shadows, first to die in my name and at my hand. First to be reborn as well. Your life was yours, your death was mine, and your new life is mine as well - though you can certainly still enjoy its benefits."Under her shadowy hands the loam takes the form of one of the cannibalistic soul-devouring rock gnomes. She shatters it and begins again.
"You have been laid to rest here for some time now, and in those decades between a great trauma has come upon the world. A race of vile creatures has come to kill your kind, kill and devour them beyond even the help this place I have created to save what remains after the death of your bodies. At the hands of these gnomes, death is true and permanent."The form of loam begins to take the shape of a humanoid figure, resolving more and more into the shape of the cursed prince.
"I am powerful, as the sun and the rain, yet my power is limited to great things. The sun may bake the land, but cannot pierce the sheltering cave. The rain may break spirits and confine the un-bodied beneath the earth, but it cannot strike a cavern's roof. So are my powers limited; I may not be able to murder every gnome in a single stroke, for such an act is too petty for my powers to touch. But I can do something greater."The loam statue of the prince is set in a triumphant posture, one hand raised in a loose fist to the dull grey sky.
"I can create a Hero."In the statue's hand the flaming sword tears itself into being. Stolen turns to the soul of her chosen one.
"I name you Aeldreth, first of your kind. I grant you a second life, that you may do my bidding and save your people. Listen well, for these are my commands.
"First, remember that the Cthons are under my protection. They must not be harmed, but their bodies are yours to take by right. A second race of stone men are similarly under my protection for the moment; do not harm them, but avail yourself of their bodies when they die.
"Second, the gnomes must be destroyed, but can only be destroyed by creatures of hard flesh. The Cthons cannot produce enough bodies for your need, so you must gather more.
"Select the eldest and the strongest amongst our people; raise up this sword as proof that you have been reborn in my service and as veracity for your identity. Leave a guard to protect the youngest in the cave, but gather up any and all bodies you can find and inhabit them. Then you must undertake the first Reaving.
"Head out beyond the caves. Every living thing that your kind can inhabit, save those under my protection, kill and take. Swell your horde with the bodies of the dead, and use this blade to aid you. Do not be proud; if your numbers cannot take a foe, flee and preserve your people rather than risk destruction. But go forth and reave until you have built a mighty horde. Then return and lay waste to the gnomes until not a single one survives in the caves.
"Finally, spread the word that you do this in my name, that I have caused you to be reborn and that this place awaits all those who die if they but seek it in honour of me. Let your children and your children's children speak my name and remember that they are under my protection.
"Oh, and remember; serve me well, live a long and fruitful life, and when you return to me and the time is right you may yet live again."With that, Stolen presses the soul of the First Shade into the loam and thrusts it down to the mortal world.
Stolen creates a Hero: Aeldreth, the First Shade. [-5~8IP]* She remakes her body and places it inside the largest, freshest Cthon corpse in the Hub, resurrecting her. [-5IP] She grants Aeldreth the Flaming Sword to aid her.
Commands to Aeldred:
1. Do not harm the Cthons or the migrant statues (if they accept Stolen's offer).
2. Conduct the first Reaving and go forth as a horde of the dead, killing any inhabitable creatures and taking possession of their corpses to build a shambling army.
3. Use said army to exterminate the soul-devouring gnomes.
4. Spread the word of the Stolen Vale as an afterlife option for Stolen's faithful.[*GM decision on this one; ideally I would prefer to spend no more than 8 because it leaves me 4IP to bring the nomads into the world, but if need be I can spend up to 12IP and forget the nomads.]
Author
Topic: Gods of Creation 2 IC (Read 12726 times)