In the Father's Halls, Thaneos stirred. He had waited for a long time, but now was the time to strike. While Vanida lay in exile, it was time to unify Eversummer once and for all. He felt some guilt for the red woman, whom he had been forced to abandon, but he only did what he must. His giants were already mixing with the Imperial population, spreading his blood throughout the populace. One day, their power would run in the veins of all Hadrians, and perhaps even all humans under his protection. For now, however, he had to focus on the matter of that pesky Coalition. They shared his faith, but they did not share the rule of Hadria; that was worrying. Unity meant strength; division amongst the humans broke that strength. He also had to remedy with the matter of the mixed faith of his humans. It would be done, all in good time.
He chose to first solve the problem of agnosticism and the faith of the red woman. For that, he created a new branch of his priesthood; the Holy Inquisition. Their duty would be to ensure that all inhabitants of Eversummer believed in him. He was not concerned with eliminating the other faith, as long as Vanida's followers paid him homage too; and as such he made the Inquisition not an order to exterminate other religions, but to convert those who did not associate his name with that of a god.
Once that was done, there was the matter of the Coalition. The Empire would rise and rule over all of Eversummer before he was done with it. They already had a severe advantage over the members of the coalition - numbers, weaponry, organization and unity were all in their favor against the coalition, which was a glorified confederacy, but he wished to make sure the war would be swift and one sided. A long, dragged out conflict would only inflict unnecessary deaths upon humanity; he wished to unify the continent's governments, not wipe out all inhabitants who did not obey to the Emperor. As such, he created two more weapons for the empire to use.
The first, he named the Father's Steel. It was a new alloy of steel, which he created from scratch using his fire essence. The alloy was a dark red metal, extremely hard, which could be made formidably sharp as time passed. It was all-round superior to steel in nearly all ways, save for one; if a man who did not follow Thaneos's cult attempted to wield it, it would be as effective as copper weaponry.
The second was a living thing. Eversummer was a land of gentle hills and vast plains; a land where fast troops could dominate the battles. He had heard that, in other continents, sentient beings rode over beasts to grant them an advantage, but he had another idea.
He created beings which walked on four legs, like the domesticated bulls of the humans, but had the upper body of a human and the horns of a bull. He did not create beasts; these creatures were intelligent, although not quite as much as the humans, to compensate for their formidable physical ability. Indeed, these creatures weighed well over a ton
[I'm talking metric ton here] of muscle and bone. He spent some of his powers to make sure the beings, which he decided to call the Karas, would integrate seemingly naturally in the imperial society - their population skyrocketed to represent about a quarter of the empire's, and integrated them as normal citizens without the humans getting alarmed by this. While the majority of them would be farmers and townsfolk, like the humans, some of them would join the Order and reinforce the imperial army, which was just what he needed.
Once the Inquisition had been formed, the Father's steel had been spread throughout the imperial army, and the Karas were a part of the society and the troops, he made the final move. He gave the order to the Emperor in the man's dreams to invade the Coalition, with the mandate of heaven to do this without arming the innocents or doing unnecessary violence - solely what was needed for victory. He also gave, with the strength he still had, godly favor to the invading armies, granting them uncanny luck in their campaigns.
Once that was done, he returned to his Halls, and rested.
Thaneos creates the Holy inquisition (one act), the Father's steel (one fire act), the Karas (one act), and integrates the Karas into imperial society (one act), before sending the empire of Hadria to war against the Coalition, granting its armies uncanny luck.The Inquisition is a branch of the Wanderer's Order that is charged with spreading the faith to all inhabitants of Eversummer. Their duty is not to wipe out other faiths, but to ensure that at the very least those other faiths also integrate Thaneos as a god.
The Father's steel is an alloy of steel, dark red and all round better than normal steel in nearly every way. However, it must be forged by one of Thaneos's followers, and if an infidel wields it, it is about as effective as copper.
They are formidably strong, weighing over a metric ton, but not quite as smart as humans overall. Although they are not quite as fast as a horse, they can easily outrun a human and are much more enduring than either. The majority of them are farmers, although they generally have a good ability with smithing. They are fully integrated into imperial society, and are considered to be normal citizens. They cannot breed with humans, for physiological reasons, but can bear descendants of giants.
A Karas, fully clad in heavy armor of Father's Steel and completely armored, is an unstoppable killing machine. With the empire's training and equipment, they make for the best cavalry of the world by very far.
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Topic: Pantheon Play Thread: In the beginning there was... (Read 86849 times)