Turn 1: DreamersYear 764, Month of:
Korroarfall
Rexxisreign
Bellia
Autumnjoy
Kia
ValorClammor
Alvin
Abbey
Mortus
Autumnwrath
Glaciana
---
Pyrite:Finding a good sized chunk of empty castle space near your quarters in the castle, you begin to focus on creation. Nothing too difficult, just some mundane rubies. The hardest bit is getting them to come out pre-cut, but after about 10 or so attempts, you manage to get the process down to the point where you can repeat in en mass. You spread your arms, exert your will, and the room you are in fills to the brim with the red gems!
+New Resource: 3 Tonnes of RubyYour next creation attempt, however, is much more vexing. Making something as complex and precise as a telescope is hard enough as is, but making one of artifact quality pushes you to the edge of your limit and skill. You get the enchantment working a few times, but manage to throw off the delicate balance or clarity the mirrors with each blessing, ruining the mundane for the divine. After a week of trying, you manage to exhaust your well of divine energy for the time being.
Deciding that a swim would do you well, you dive into the ocean in search of pearls. To your dismay, however, it seems as though no pearl oysters live in the waters around the Domain Islands, but just as you are about to give up, you catch a break; A small tribe of primitive shrimpling nomads driving a herd of sunfish. After a bit of bartering, the chieftess is willing to offer you her elaborate pearl necklace, the centerpiece of which is a green speckled pink orb the size of your fist, in exchange for the sort of service that you are more than willing to provide...
+New Resource: Stunning Pearl Necklace Emerging on the beach near Kiatown, you are quick to enter the city where you announce your identity and intentions. At first people seem suspicious of your claim, and feel it a bit inappropriate to host such a festival in a time of war, but luckily somebody thinks to send for the Heralds. Both Messel and Hialarth confirm to the crowds that you are who you claim to be, and the widow of Wildefair even offers you some money and an office with which to tackle the logistical issues inherent in organizing such an event.
As you you plan, and the festival grows closer, excitement grows. You sense some opposition to the plan, but much of it seems to be political in nature rather than moral; It would seem that some of Hialarth's enemies fear that she is parlaying her status as Herald and close relationship with the gods into power to meet her political ends. Such sentiments, however, are expressed quietly, if at all; If a god wishes to throw an orgy and personally attend, the traditional moral arguments of prudish mortals tend to go out the window fairly quick.
The festival begins, and over the course of the events you meet a few people and learn a few things...
Party Notes-Hialarth attends. You can tell that although she is clearly beginning to enjoy her status as widow and friend of the gods... and the freedom that goes with it, that her motivations are as much self interest as anything else; She makes it a point to be seen intimate with you as often as you allow.
-Messel, Son of Messel, also shows up, but things go rather poorly for him. It would seem that his scars, heroic story, and status as herald has made him into Kiatown's most eligible bachelor. No sooner does he show up and begin to disrobe, than he is stampeded by potential playmates. He suffers a broken leg and several blows to the head, and is helped home by a few friends as soon as you rescue him.
-The Pirate Herald Canvas shows up near the end, explaining that she had some trouble securing passage to Kiatown and navigating the storm around the domain islands. She tells you Ux sends his regards, but that his wife forbade his attendance. She seems to have a good time, and gets around to showing you one as well.
-The husbands of husbands and wives of wives show up in force at your invitation. You are able to successfully dispel most of the venom directed at them, but Samwise Wildefair, who attends but refuses to partake as a show of solidarity with his husband (who wasn't granted leave from his post on the wall to go to the festival), expresses concern that without some sort of explicit sign showing that they have divine protection, the people he speaks for will suffer blowback after you depart.
-A small group of protesters, Unia worshipers who object to the festival and refuse to believe that their goddess isn't active on the island, makes a ruckus near the beginning. You manage to pick up some of their names before the festival ends, curious as to if your sister might be able to make some of their number betray their values.
-You meet a middle aged man, Crane, son of Pelt, who confides in you that he fears he has offended Glaciana, and suspects that he will be subjected to extreme cruelty when he eventually reaches the ice realm. He suggest that he would be willing to offer his body for your consumption should you offer an acceptable use or destination for his soul.
-You spot a woman subtly and creatively using air magic to enhance her enjoyment and the enjoyment of others. The barbarian art of elementalism is usually punished by death in Bellian society, which views any magic not obtained by priestly comunion with their gods as sinful. She is wearing a mask to hide her identity, and never works up the nerve to share her pleasure with you, but you can sense from a distance that she is most certainly an actor with a combat power a bit less than, but comparable to, that of your sister.
Stepping off the dock at Kiatown, you are at once recognized for what you are. Unlike some of the other gods in your group, there is no mistaking you for a meer Bellian. You announce your intent to mingle with high society, and are quickly whisked away to do just that.
You spend a few days attending parties and chatting with nobles, most of whom are rather nervous in your presence. It is rather hard to learn anything, as everybody seems too worried about offending you to speak freely. When Hialarth is around, things go a bit smoother, as she, for better or worse, is less afraid of you than the others. In the end, you do pick up enough information so that you might be of some use to Messel, including basic descriptions of the ten highborn families in town.
Notes from the Mingling:Conversation:
-One of the main topics of conversation is that Pyrite is in town, and that his actions, intentionally or otherwise, seem to play right into Hialarth's hands.
-Also noteworthy, some of the higher ups in the military whisper that the Orcs may have sent some sort of Champion War-Priest to Small Valley fort; Some of the troops have been suffering intensely for no apparent reason, and the Orcs are known to keep a god of agony in their Pantheon.
Noble Families:
-House Infelix is tied to the Mercede party. They are wealthy and numerous, but schemes of gods or men that aim to benefit them always seem to fail.
-House Wildefair is tied to the Mercede party. They control a good chunk of the border shared with the Barbarian Tribes back on the main land, but were always too isolated and busy to be a political force back home.
-House Nightcharm is small and poor by nobility standards, but they have a fierce reputation. They are said to practice barbarian necromancy and dark magic, and have ties to the Vampire Agrippa. They deny this. They are connected to the Mercede party.
-House Riptide was once a mighty naval power before being decimated by the dread pirates a century ago. They have ties to both the Mercede party and Selma's pirate regime.
-House Barebreast descends directly from the Goddess Multia. They are famous for their close (some say exploitive) ties to the misfit races. They control the Crown of Quivertown on the mainland, and are tied to the Nexus Party.
-House Lionpaw descends directly from the God Valor. They control a small empire of three cities back on the mainland, and provide much of the financial and military support that the Nexus Party receives.
-House Aluorthin predates Bellian culture and was originally a family of Bellpine Elves. The control Itean, the largest of the Bellian city states, and count amoung their members the famed hero King Casper. They like to consider themselves worthy rivals of Rexxis, and have been known to align with your mother to prove it. They are tied to the Nexus Party.
-House Skullcrest descends directly from the Goddess Glaciana. They are famous for slaying more dragons than any other entity during the War Before Time, and since than have ruled Volcano, the Bellian City built on Korroar's old lair. They are tied to the Nexus party.
-House Steelpick is a relatively young family descended from a merchant who found favor with the gods. Their main objective is to extablish a mine in the mountains north of Kiatown, but they are also the only noble house to openly support the Populi.
-House Grayhill predates Bellian culture and was originally a family of Hill Giants. They control the remote city of Giant's Gate back home, and are famous for their craftsmen and priests. They try to eschew politics, and instead work with House Steelpick to establish a profitable mine.
Satisfied with what you have learnt, you track down the home of Messel. You announce your presence, and are allowed inside. The Elder Messel offers you a low bow, and a seat at the head of his modest table, where he is sifting through a great many letters written on the stationary of various high houses. He looks exhausted; judging by the military uniform strewn about the two room cottage, he likely just got back from an extended rotation on the wall.
The young herald lies naked in his hammock at the back of the room, with his leg tightly bound. His father explains that there was an accident at Pyrite's festival of pleasure, and that the boy is presently in too much pain to sleep without drugs. He then takes a seat at the middle of the table, careful not to position himself too close to you without your blessing, and inquires as to the nature of your visit.
---
Your arrival at Selma's Gate is just as successful as your visit to Kiatown. The people at once recognize you, and pay the proper respect. Things get a bit complicated, however, when you declare you intentions to have an audience with each of the pirate lords; Word quickly gets back that none of the three is willing to let either of the others have the first audience. Observing such a petty reaction to your divine invitation, you figure that it will be no difficulty at all to play them against each other.
The situation is sort of solved when the owner of the local playhouse offers his private box, which is a neutral space large enough to host all three lords and their attendants at the same time.
You arrive early, and have the box decorated to your liking. You also demand to have the actual performance for the night cancelled, as you and your guests would have more important things to focus on, and you found the subject, a historical drama depicting the slaying of the Gear Dragon Quoxklang, to be distasteful.
The pirate lords arrive, and are granted entry in the order of the power of their fleet.
The first to enter is Kell the Crone, admiral of the first fleet. She is a Bellian Woman somewhat older than childbearing age, adorned in fine red robes trimmed with gold and rubies. She offers a deep bow, and stands at attention, waiting to be invited to take a seat.
Next to be allowed in is the Dread Pirate Scion, a truly ancient man dressed in a once fine, but now tattered and frequently mended, black sailors outfit. You recall hearing once that the Dread Pirates wear the clothing that they have spilled and shed the most blood in to formal events. His ancient legs more or less useless now, he is carried in on a coushined platform by two servants. As he is unable to rise and bow, he offers tribute instead; You are presented with an armored dress made of pink scales.
"These be the remains o' the Rose Dragoness Glamelix," he declares in a voice softened, but not weakened, by age
"slain in the war before time by the vile House Riptide, an' recovered by my predecessor 97 years ago this month. I give 'em freely to honor your gloryiousness, and to see what is left of ta fine lass delivered to the claws of 'er kin who may treat her with the correct rites an' respect."+Lesser Artifact: Dress of the Rose Dragon Unable to stand awaiting an invitation to sit, Scion bids his attendant to hold him at head level with Kell.
The last pirate lord, Rook the Searoc, enters. You notice at once he is, in a way, more like you than the others, as he is a Gargoyle: a misfit race made of earth and by Tellen and Clammor during the early days of history. Like most of his kind, he resembles a hunched stone Bellian with monstrous features, but instead of the traditional eagle wings, his are the swimming fins of a Penguin.
His behavior, perhaps because he is a misfit banned from most forms of traditional Bellian Worship, is a bit unorthodox; He approaches you, bends down, and kisses each of your feet. Then, unlike the other two, he promptly takes a seat.
Ketemos:Retiring to your libarary, you spend several weeks composing a poem that examines the power and justice of Rexxis, the Strengh of Valor, the mood swings of Autumn, the destructiveness of Alvin, the sweet morality of Unia, the wild and dangerous chaos of Abbey, the genius of Telen, and the Compassion of Multia.
The poem is then wrapped into a dream, and mixed with the contents of one of your many writings on style, simplicity, nuance, and grammar in literature. You then reach across the stars, and into the formless realm of dreams, where you feel around for hours, until you find the sleepthoughts of the sleeping poet, crack them open, scoop out the trivial musings of her mortal mind's subconscious, and replace it with the fantasy of your own creation.
The next morning you feel prayer energy flow into your body for the first time. Your actions have satisfied the mortal, and her satisfaction has given you strength.
+1 Prayer Energy!Happy with your work, and hoping on your mother's power that the poet's own imagination and life circumstances don't end up detracting from its message, you set out on a voyage for Port Selma, in search of the pirate lord who flies your mother's flag.
Sadly, you find the docks empty, save for a few guards who wont give you the time of day. It would seem that Auratus is also in town, and that the spawn of the Stone Dragoness is moving without a disguise, and hosting an audience of the pirate lords at the theater.
You join the crowd waiting outside the playhouse and can't help but chuckle at the irony; you are a god hoping to meet a mortal, surrounded by a throng of mortals hoping to lay eyes on a god. Eventually the meeting ends, and the pirate lords leave; As luck would have it, the lowly admiral of the 3rd Fleet is the first to exit the building, and you at once have idea as to why he might fly Telen's flag; He is a Gargoyle.
Gargoyles fall under the category of misfits, which includes all the non-Bellian sentient beings created by the Bellian gods. As a general rule, misfits are shunned by every deity save their own creators, and of course Multia, who bills herself as the divine sponsor of all the downtrodden. Gargoyles in particular were spawned during the first age of peace, when Unia arranged it so that each Bellian God was married to a Bellian Goddess.
In many ways, the pairing of Telen and Clammor was bad, even by the low standards set by marriages involving Bellian deities. Telen, then even more proud and aloof than she presently is, would never permit herself to mix blood with or even show fondness for her assigned mate, and Clammor, with several historical exceptions of which your mother is not one, preferred to bed men. Still, they were expected to dwell together, and in time found common ground in their mutual appreciation of skill and knowledge, and for the duration of their marriage, they did little but create things. Many new ideals, ideas, artifacts, inventions, philosophies, designs, and equations were born from this union. Gargoyles were one such product of this 'marriage of the minds'.
You know a bit about Gargoyles, both from your mother and your studdies. They tend to live underground in huge compact comunities, which are ruled by the smiths lucky enough to know the secrets of Gargoyle production. Telen had once expressed passing concern that these reproductive secrets were dying out faster than they were being taught, as no Gargoyle wished to undermine the power he wielded by teaching it to others, but then added that there were enough Gargoyles left so that they had time to try and sort the issue out on their own before she or Clammor would have to step in and take drastic action.
Back in the present, the pirate lord's race actually raises at least as many questions as it answered. If he worshiped your mother because he had little else in the way of choice of deities, then his flags spoke nothing of his values or intelligence... but then again, as almost all Gargoyles are made with a male form, they almost exclusively worship their patron over their matron. You wonder what could have pushed this one into both piracy and Telen worship. The fact that he has flippers as apposed to the typical wings might also be a hint... perhaps he was made with a purpose in mind.
In search of more answers, you try to approach the pirate lord, but are swiftly rebuked and roughly handled by his guards, a pair of red headed barbarians.
A bit dejected, you return to port and signal for Chell, so that you may return to the island and meditate on what you have learned.
Tulwor:You do your part well enough. Swiftly smithing the ideal set of dream in your forge, you cool them in water and hurl them across the stars, confident that they will find their intended dreamer. You then settle down, and several minute later the soldier's dream begins playing in the fires of your forge...
She handles the first test with the most grace, honor, and skill, by rescuing the child, and then compromising your dream with her logic. You get the feeling that Sarah must have been trained to deal with fires, as once she gets the child out, calms down, and examines the room, she concludes that the fire in front of the old coward should burn out long before the structure becomes compromised. She waits in the burning building for about two minutes, suffering from the smoke, but when her prediction comes to pass, she drags the equally suffering old man out of the building, and doesn't return.
The second test is also a pass, but her methods leave much to be desired. Sarah rallies a few locals to her cause, before slipping out in the dead of night, skillfully avoiding the opposing champion, and setting fire to the opposing siege engines and killing the operators. The siege operators are technically combatants, and technically armed, but they are nowhere near the skill or numbers of the small band killing them off one by one. You begin to get the feeling that Sarah's training, and perhaps the training of the entire Bellian Army on the beach, might be heavily focused in cowardly siege tactics.
The third test starts out all right for Sarah, but promptly goes down hill fast. At first it becomes quite clear that the soldier dosn't have it in her to kill the old king in a cowardly fashion, but just as she is about to leave, the soldier's mind again bleeds into the structure of your dream. A battle hardened Bellian officer, covered in scars and wearing a patch over his right eye appears next to Sarah, and begins chewing her out.
"YOU WILL KILL HIM!" The one-eyed officer shouts, spraying spittle into the dreamer's eye as the rest of the dream seems to freeze around them
"HE WOULD KILL YOU, AND YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY! EVERYONE YOU LOVE, DEAD, BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T KILL HIM! BECAUSE THE FACTIONS GOT A HOLD OF THEM, AND LET THEM RUN RAMPANT ACROSS KIATOWN IN A MURDER FRENZY!"You begin to get the feeling that the officer is no longer talking about the king. He continues his tirade, and his voice becomes lower, and more dangerous.
"If you don't kill these Orcs, I will see you dishonorably discharged. You will be exposed for the coward that you are. Nobody will touch you. Not for love. Not for employment. Not even for friendly recreation. Hell, nobody will touch your daughter either... I'll see to that myself, coward. I'll see you both ruined."Sarah opens her mouth to speak, but the officer again cuts her off.
"Shut up. Do your duty to the Bellian People. Slaughter. Those. Orcs."With that the officer vanishes, and with tears in her eyes, Sarah turns and plunges her blade into the neck of the evil king, who is now bound and gagged for good measure.
Ketari:Stepping off the Kiatown docks, you walk the streets of Kiatown, marching on the morgue. People stare and pigeons flee in your wake.
You arrive, enter, and introduce yourself. The stunned undertake passes out. When he come around a few minutes later, you share your plan with the greasy little Bellian. Not one to turn down a goddess, he leads you to the corpse vault, and you command the first rat you see to report to you on the nature of the corpse mangler.
The undertaker offers to let you spend the night in his apartment, so that the mouse may report back to you and you may react quicker. The apartment is a small room with a small bed above the morgue. You get the bed, and the undertaker, out of respect to the bird eating nature of his guest, heads to market and buys a peafowl, which he cooks for a shared dinner. He then spreads his blanket on the floor and falls asleep. You lie awake, daydreaming about harpies and what they might taste like.
Your mouse returns a few hours before dawn. It reports that a strange creature wearing a cloak entered the vault with a key, sawed some limbs off the corpses, put them in a bag, and ran. The mouse was able to get a good look at the creature while it worked; although it dressed and walked like a man, it seemed to be assembled out of various animal parts, and while cloaked it was able to move freely at night without drawing attention to itself.
When the creature left with its bag of loot, the mouse followed. The mouse reports that it was able to trail the thing, and that it moved a bit slower than the average Bellian. The mouse followed as far as Sea's Bounty, a pub in the fish packing district, before a nasty owl spotted it. The mouse was able to hide from the nightbird, but lost its query in the process.
The undertaker is still asleep. You could wake him up and explain what you know. Or you could return home and try to solve his problem with your remain miracle. Both of the above is also an option.
Newbellum Castle:Jade Throne:
No lord. No temporary lord.
Miracle Bank:
3.5 Neutral Miracles (+1/2 Per Month)
0 Miracles from Ketari (+0 Per Month)
1 Miracles from Auratus (+0 Per Month)
0 Miracles from Tulwor (+0 Per Month)
0 Miracles from Ketemos (+0 Per Month)
0 Miracles from Pyrite (+0 Per Month)
Moon Chamber:
Upgrade (Cost)
+1 Combat Power (1 Prayer Energy, +2 Prayer Energy at Combat Power 30 and every 10 Combat Power thereafter)
Random Boon (3 Prayer Energy)
Targeted Boon [Grants you bonuses in a desired area] (5 Prayer Energy)
+1 Miracle or Interaction a Month (8 Prayer Energy, +8 Prayer Energy each time you take this upgrade)
Defenses:
-Sandy Domain lowers the success rate of hostile miracles aimed at Newbellum Castle, or any resident or welcome guest inside of said stronghold, by 75%
-Rocky Domain grants all inhabitants of Newbellum Castle a x3 Modifier to their combat power rolls while defending the castle in battle.
-Frozen Domain prevents the Young Gods, and anybody fighting alongside them, from suffering an utter defeat, as long as the battle takes place in Newbellum Castle or on the Domain Islands.
-Labyrinth Domain prevents creatures intent on destroying any feature or improvement made to Newbellum Castle or the Domain Islands in battle from winning a Complete Victory to do so.
-Sunken Domain allows each young god may call a single actor who is willing or bound to instantly appear at their side in a battle to defend Newbellum Castle or the Domain Islands.
The Crucible: Each month, Any sentient being in the Crucible to train has a 5% chance of being killed, a 10% chance of suffering serious injury, and a 85% Chance of Gaining 1d6 Combat Strength. Non-Actors who gain strength from the Crucible become Heroes. In addition, the Crucible can store monsters; A person in the Crucible to train may fight a stored monster each month, and if he or she prevails, that person gains an additional 1d6 Combat Strength that month, and cannot be killed or injured by the Crucible that month. Any Actor in the Castle may put somebody from open storage or a storage they control into the Crucible to train as a free action. Nobody may be freely removed from the Crucible until they have fought a stored monster at Tulwor's request, but any Actor, including an actor inside the Crucible, may use a miracle or interaction to interfere with the process and break somebody out.
Trainees [1/3]
-Sarah, Bellian Soldier (Currently Resource, +5)
Stored Monsters [0/5]
Loose Storage:
Resources
-3 Tonnes of Cut Ruby (+15)
-Stunning Pearl Necklace (+5)
-June, Bellian Child (+2)
Lesser Artifacts
-Dress of the Rose Dragon (+6% to interactions dealing with high society. Bonus halved for non-females)
Prayer Glass:
-Answer my plea for vengeance! I was recently approached by the merchant Haze, who demanded that I sign a contract agreeing to sell my crop exclusively to him at a price lower than what I could get at the open market. My entire season's crop was set alight and destroyed the morning after I refused him. I know the flagship of his shipping fleet, The Cartel, is docked at the Kiatown Port. Sinking that would be suitable payback, but I would be happy with any sort of vengeance. From: Hugoph, Son of Hugoph, Humble Farmer
-Years ago I, as a minor noble, was held for ransom on a ship belonging to the Pirate Lord Tifi the Rose. While there, I witnessed her burry a stash of treasure on the Northeast Coast of the Island. I wish to form a party to claim it, but I own no ship, and not enough people are willing to brave that long of a hike through the jungle. I plead you to help me make this work! From: Malcome of House Skullcrest
-For eons my people have been under the protection of the Goddess Multia, and she has shielded us from the worst of the persecution and hate born towards us. Since learning that Multia has no power here, many of us are nervous that people will treat us with the utmost contempt and violence as they did in the dark days. Please send me a sign that some god is still watching over us! From: Samwise Wildefair, Speaker for the Husbands of Husbands and Wives of Wives Pyrite has shown interest in this one...
-I am disgusted and tainted. My superior officer just made me cut down 30 helpless and bound Orcish Prisoners. They were guilty only of fighting for their people as I do mine. Please help me find redemption for this sin, the courage not to let it happen again, or a way out of military service. From: Sarah, Daughter of Seth, Conscripted Private, 1st Kiatown Army This is all Tulwor...
-Help a poor mother out. I always knew there was a chance that my son was half an Orc, but now he is starting to develop the teeth and jaw to prove it. I'm afraid they will kill him once we can no longer hide it! Help us! From: Shilo, Daughter of the Streets
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Topic: Isle of the Young Gods: Game Thread (Read 52515 times)