((Surprised no one was more concerned about the Acedia))
Fed by the nourishing rays of the Guardian sun, new plant life springs up on Ao Marama. Mangroves grow along the coast of Aotearoa and the various archipelagos. Fig trees grow on Aotearea and the poles, and several species of colourful moss begin to colonize the polar alpine plains.
Crabs take to the new trees like fish to water, beginning to feast on the succulent upper branches. Tank-like vibrantly hued mantis shrimp stalk among groups of mangroves, felling them with explosive punches to bring down the groups of delicious crabs nesting in them.
Eels begin to slither onto land, eagerly feasting on the uncontested figs of the polar forests and crab eggs.
Some boxfish develop into rainbow-coloured poisonous box blowfish
Small golden clams become common in the world's fresh and salt waters, eating particulate organic matter flowing in the water.
Tree-crabs, land-eels and Box-Blowfish develop
Several species of plants appear
Mysterious golden clams appear
Towering mushroom trees begin to spawn on what little land exists on Skygge. Painful fungal diseases begin to spread among the Ishimen who permanently live in miserable and damp conditions, though they are easily removed by burning them off with the even more painful application of Ovoce Fruit paste.
Fungal trees begin growing
Fungal diseases begin spreading among the Ishimen
Nixitar builds the fire of intelligence within the land crocodiles, uplifting them into hunching humanoids, whose left hands burn with a cosmetic fire. He then teaches them how to make fire. However, the Noll have little to burn except for the precious singing cacti, so they only make rare fires out of their own dried dung for religious ceremonies.
Shortly after their creation the Noll scatter into tribes, half of which head to the coast and begin catching boxfish in the shallows, being excellent swimmers, and bringing down the rare giant crab in group hunts. The rest head into the trackless deserts, living a nomadic life moving from oasis to oasis, living on singing cacti and water, using their unevolved kindred as packbeasts.
Through Nixitar's refusal to carry out his role and heal someone in need, the song of the spheres becomes ever more harsh, losing compassion.
7 Noll are uplifted
Noll learn how to tame animals and make fire
Noll divide into the Coast and Desert tribes
Healing loses 1 sphere alignment.
Wieland creates a wondrous shining white city on a tall hill overlooking both the desert and the sea, crafting it with care and precision so it will provide the Noll with the amenities of civilization. The bravest Noll from all the tribes slowly venture into this obvious landmark, and never leave, having been thoroughly charmed by its conveniences. Using the plentiful water, they begin to grow plantations of singing cacti, which fill the city with pleasant scents and music during sunsets.
They form into a new tribe, the City Tribe, and the good conditions of their home allow them to rapidly increase in numbers. Some of the other tribes try to take this treasure, but the City tribe breaks the attacks by chucking rocks at the enemies from the high walls.
Inspired by their surroundings, the City tribe has begun to take its first faltering steps to constructing their own buildings, primitive things of mud and stone.
The City Tribe now primarily worships Wieland, while still paying respect to Nixitar as their creator. They have named the city
Locus
Agon happily accepts the sincere offer of Wieland, and in a blink, reality shifts as he appears in orbit around Ao. The Guardian Sun notices his heavy corruption and hastily moves closer-
-to extend a hand of compassion. Gently she cauterizes the gaping voids on Agon while doing minimal damage to Agon's overall superstructure. The Guardian Sun works side by side with Wieland to hunt down the remaining Nothing, until finally Agon is mostly free of its influence.
However, it is almost impossible to entirely get rid of the Devourer once he has sunk his claws into you, so vigilance would be wise in the future
In the confusion, some strands of nothing escaped from Agon to the world below. Though the Guardian Star managed to vaporise most of them in the air with great pillars of flame, and smash many of the remainder that landed on Ao with her mighty fist, some managed to survive. Hiding in hollows and caves, only coming out in the golden night, when the gaze of the Guardian Star is on the other side of the world, to feed.
Having dealt with Agon's blight as best he can, Wieland sets to improving him instead. The Guardian Sun's kind light causes the living metal of Agon to slowly heal, as the Chained Smith works in his innards, optimizing and improving mountains of machinery. The underlying superstructure is carefully moved, improving Agon's sturdiness, collapsed halls cleared out, slumbering seeds of the Devourer destroyed.
Flaws are hammered out, factories doubling in output as the cradle-arms do their work more efficiently, banks of mind-metal humming smoothly as Wieland loving picks at them with a set of microscopic tools.
Safeguards are built into Agon, warriors and weapons glowing with power, to prevent such dire circumstances from occurring again. Wieland is still not quite satisfied, but supposes it's good enough for now. These new warriors streak across the night skies of Ao, hunting down strands of the Devourer that did not hide well enough with bolts of lightning. All tribes of Noll see the "Sky-Screamers" as divine, the servants of Nixitar, armed with bolts of holy skyfire.
Agon has taken to following behind the Guardian Sun, trusting in his larger and brighter companion to destroy any traces of the Devourer on him if they should appear again. Below the Noll speak of the Sun's shadow, following behind her day after day, but too shy to reveal his love.
The clinking of the Hammer's chains becomes more musical, building the harmony of the spheres to ever greater heights.
The divine city of Locus is created, 2 Units of Noll migrates into it.
Thanks to the good conditions provided by Locus, the city population rapidly increases by 1
2 Units of City Noll now worship Wieland, though their "skill" in "artifice" is appalling.
City Noll develop agriculture and primitive architecture
2 Minor acts are spent on Bringing Agon into creation, 1 Act on healing him to the best of Wieland's Abilities
Through Wieland's own hands, Agon is completely repaired, and even improved. Agon swears loyalty to the Chained Smith.
Strands of Nothing now infest Ao, wreaking havoc at night.
Agon will begin teaching the inhabitants of Ao next turn
The Sphere of Outcasts gains 2 Alignment
The Sphere of Artifice gains 1 Alignment
Sayyart creates a new race, springing from ancient origins, the birdlike
Pouhaki, placing their eggs on Aotearoa, singing a gentle lullaby to them as they hatched, fables and riddles of strange tools and weapons.
The Pouhaki develop rich and musical oral tradition based upon the stories first shared with them by the Leviathan, and as time goes on, slowly begin to unravel some of the lesser secrets hidden in them, helped by hints gained from pious shamans praying to the great Water-Mother. Soon Pouhaki are hunting boxfish and infant whalefish in the shallows of the world-ocean with nets and beakspears. Fishing is not without danger however, and some of Pouhaki fishing parties lose their life to opportunistic Ragesquids.
Golden pearl ornaments become common, oysters smashed open for their flesh and shiny flesh-gems.
In their greatest hunting achievement, a large group of Pouhaki hunters managed to bring down a single elephantine Tank-Mantis through great loss of life, entangling it in layers of nets and slowly clubbing it to death with their primitive beak weapons.
However, all is not well among the Pouhaki, as it seems some of the strands of Nothing snuck into their eggs when they were made. A full third of the Pouhaki were born without the Cannonball of the Water-Mother on their foreheads and denounce her as a cruel tyrant and rapacious monster, undeserving of worship. Several skirmishes have occurred between the Markless and the true Pouhaki.
The Pouhaki shiver in their nests when the comforting Guardian Sun sinks below the horizon, the slightly darker night home to incomprehensible terrors that destroy entire tribes and leaving gaping wounds on the world, which only vanish at sunrise
Sayyart sifts among the mighty Terrorsquids, seeking out the true paragons, then contacting them telepathically, telling them to obey her. Their simple animal intelligences are unable to understand her intent or the danger they are in, and at the sense of something foreign invading them, go berserk and attack the water around them in a blind anger. Disappointed, the Leviathan steadily devours failure after failure, until only one paragon is left, the largest of them all, bearing scars inflicted by whalesharks and his fellows in their feeding frenzies.
At the Water-Mother's demand, he haltingly submits, though you can feel endless anger and hatred burning inside him, as it did in all the others.
The Pouhaki are made. 2 Units of them have been influenced by Nothing and are Faithless
The Pouhaki master primitive tool use and develop a rich oral tradition
Sayyart has bent the greatest squid of the oceans, the Paragon Terrorsquid, to her will
Kiln sings a song of the very essence of music, echoing through every part of the bubble, echoes forming new harmonies, a entire divine symphony originating from one voice simply singing. Reality shudders as Kiln bends it to his will, changing the very essence of life into a melody.
The seas of Ao begin to fill with the stately singing of the Whalesharks, expressing their joy in being alive. It blends together with the hateful screeching of anger and hunger of the squids, the songs intertwining even as the creatures devour each other. Pouhaki music flourishes, drums and bone flutes adding accompaniment to songs, joined by the rhythmic drumming of tree-crabs against mangrove trunks. Noll choirs soulfully croon amidst plantations of singing cacti, their music joining together, the lonely singing of tree-eels filling fig-forests with eerie sound. Only in the most lifeless deserts can some silence be found.
Even on desolate Skygga the buzzing of swarms of furry mosquitoes begins to take on a musical bent, and the fanged-toads find themselves croaking for the first time, becoming a watery chorus, singing their mating songs. The dying gasps of starving Ihmisen as they weakly struggle against toads chewing on their still-living flesh becomes a funeral dirge, their death-rattles a soul-stirring climax.
Satisfied, Kiln then descended to the dark surface of Skygga, to sing to the Apostate.
Though cruel Valosh tried to prevent this by stripping them of their hearing, the Kiln's song reverberated in the Ihmisen's bones, heard by their souls, as the Soul-Box told them of something they had never known before in their hellish existence.
Hope.
Shivering bodies firmed with new purpose, unseeing vestigial eyes shined with new life, as the Apostate lashed stone axeheads to sturdy branches, and chopped down the first devil-tree.
Visions that had haunted them their entire lives, that they were always hopeless to carry out, finally found an outlet, as they managed to set the felled trunk of the devil-tree on fire, banishing the ever-darkness of Skygga for the first time in generations. The super-dense wood of the tree, grown in the deathly gravity of Skygga, burned for days.
The Hopers screamed in both joy and pain at the too-brightness, then fashioned torches from cut-off branches, easily catching complacent toads stunned by the light. The toads were roasted over fires, burning out their toxins, as huddled Ihmisens gained warmth from the fires. Soon roasted mushroom was added to the diet, as slowly the Hopers settled on the rare pieces of land on Skygga, finally beginning to survive.
Entire groves of devil-trees were burned to the ground, the surprised acedia living in them killed by stoneaxes as they attempted to flee the flames, their sinister skin and bones fashioned into great booming drums, allowing the Hopers to faintly feel music vibrating in their bodies despite their deafness.
The music of creation becomes more profound, beginning to go beyond the understanding of even the gods.
Music has become intrinsic to life.
Music gains 3 sphere alignment
Apostates become Hopers, worship Kiln
Learn how to make axes, fire, cook food
Hopers lose hearing, but their eyesight begins to improve
Agon may have spurned you, but at least your stored divine power enfolds the tendrils of nothing, freezing them in place, though unable to remove them.
Valosh attempts to end the famine by causing a surge of new Ovoce growth, providing more food for all. For a time, this helps, but steadily the presence of the Devourer twists the eerily silent, always silent, Acedia, kindling in them its endless hunger and non-power. They become larger, tougher, and able to eat many times their own weight in Ovoce fruit. The famine becomes worse than ever before, and even the most zealous Ihmisen's faith begins to waver as the Acedia begin to look at even them with hungry eyes.
Through their suffering, the Valoshians are brewing a dark and cruel power inside themselves, requiring divine interference to actualize.
Famine worsens, Acedia become more fearsome.
Ishimen faith wavers
The seed of a horrific power has been planted in the Ishimen, requiring an act of god to sprout (at least one minor act). The god may attempt to guide the direction of its growth
The farmer Gre wandered among rows of cacti, humming in time to their crooning as his scaly hands carefully checked them for blights. The thick musk of the cacti hangs heavy on the air, the Guardian Sun almost beneath the horizon, the Shadow-Moon close behind. Gre was heading back to the city for the night, when he heard the noise of a Skyscreamer. Curious, he lifted his head to try and spot it streaking across the sky.
Gre was quite surprised when the Skyscreamer suddenly halted in place above him, and began to descend, a gleaming being of silver and gold floating in front of him, speaking in a strange voice that reminded Gre of the desert wind
"Greetings being of Noll, child-creation of the Nixitar. I am Agon, servant of Wieland, come here to fulfil a pledge, and teach your people of metal. You have much to learn"
The empty space battered out of nothing by the bubble cracks and burns as figure of molten-red claws his way out like a parasite from the flesh of its host. The smoky being of spikes and fire turns its attention upon your bubble, and
speaks in a voice of crackling flame. The Devourer seems to shy away from the new arrival.
"Oh? I thought I smelt some delicious souls around here, and it seems the Devourer didn't get to them before me either! Weakling gods, I am Uzlac, Demon of Fire and Pain! I seek access to your fragile bubble. In return I offer the power of a minor act to every god that allows me entry!"
The Pearl begins enters a state of super-solidity as reality hardens.
Reality is
stabilizing (42/100 Stability)
The gods are
weakMighty Acts: 0
Acts: 1
Minor Acts: 1
Sphere Alignment:
Ocean: 5/10 (Rhythmic)
Armaments: 3/10 (Off-key)
Mighty Acts: 0
Acts: 1
Minor Acts: 0
Sphere Alignment:
Darkness: 4/10 (Off-key)
Cruelty: 4/10 (Off-key)
Mighty Acts: 1
Acts: 0
Minor Acts: 2
Sphere Alignment:
Artifice: 4/10 (Off-key)
Outcasts: 5/10 (Rhythmic)
Mighty Acts: 0
Acts: 1
Minor Acts: 2
Sphere Alignment:
Fire: 5/10 (Rhythmic)
Healing: 2/10 (Off-key)
Mighty Acts: 0
Acts: 1
Minor Acts: 1
Sphere Alignment:
Souls: 3/10 (Off-key)
Music: 6/10 (Rhytmic)
Skygga
4 Ihmisen (Worship Valosh)
2 Hopers (Worship Kiln)
Ao Marama:
8 Noll (6 Worship Nixitar, 2 Worship Wieland)
6 Pouhaki (4 Worship Sayyart, 2 are Faithless)
Author
Topic: Ragnarok IC (Read 2022 times)