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[Roboson]

It seems as though you would prefer me as an enemy Varalin. It is a shame that one who professes to love these creatures would ensure their doom. Is this what love looks like? Does it cling so hard that it strangles its recipient? Does it claw at reason and friends? Does it burn away the future so that nothing else will remain?

No. This is not love. This is zeal. Unrestrained and unwarranted. If you cared for the Acterians, you too would be working to draw them out of the darkness. Out of their drug induced stupor. A stupor you inflicted upon them. Those beings down there are writhing in the dark, yet here you are. Eating cake. Think carefully of what I have done for the Acterians. Have I brought them harm? No. Only gave them food to eat and air to breathe. Did I sent a monster to slay them? No. I sent them a soldier to lead them to a brighter future. Look carefully upon yourself and your actions. How they have hurt the Acterians. I am not their enemy. Do not make me yours at their expense.

[Glass]

Lu, you stop as well. There's no reason to deliberately aggravate her.
And what do you mean "eating cake"? She's not eating cake. She just standing there.

[AbstractTraitorHero]

Zeal.

Yes. You understand then.

The voice that came out next was...humorless. A smile on their face. Bereft of actual merriment as an almost bitterness as a misery of their own...existence came into being one would suppose. He was right.

Utterly correct.

Almost pivoting towards him as they speak their voice low. Filled with anger filled with rage. Filled with despair and filled with a mixture of other emotions. Inhumane in the conflict of emotions that continually come from her tone seemingly unfiltered and unrestrained.

"Zeal. Great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective. Yes, that would be correct. Synonyms of zeal include...Passion, ardor, love, fervor, fire, avidity, devotion, enthusiasm, eagerness, keenness, appetite, relish, gusto, vigor, energy, intensity; fanaticism. It's. Really just another word for my whole being. All of them! ALL OF THEM!

I am. Passion. Love. Enthusiasm. All of these things! Every single one of them! Don't you understand?! Don't you understand my very essence!? How it utterly consumes me? How might I as well be a puppet? With just a chance to cut a string or two? A string or two to attempt to hold back when it will lead to something bad?

I am Unrestrained. I am unwarranted. This honestly upsets me just as much as it might upset you! It has its benefits..the sheer happiness I feel...so much more vivid. SO FUCKING AMAZING! But. But. No no no. NO!

It yes it!

The Sadness the grief! Strangling...confining and berifiting me of sense! Making my heart! Shatter! SHATTER! MY ANGER! MY ANGER MAKING MY BLOOD BOIL AND MY m-m-my mind cloud. Cloud with a redness that makes me want to destroy and hurt and yell and scream held back. Becuase. I always will hold that back..just a little. Becuase. It could. Ruin. Ruin! Everything.

I feel. So. Conflicted. I don't intend for enemies. Honestly. I feel love for you. Flowing strong. Flowing hard. Not wanting to hurt you because my heart is yelling out to reach for friendship. I ask you? How am I not doing my best? When I am. A personification of uncontrollability and powerful excitement and emotions?

Staring them as best as they could almost panting in the void from speaking their eyes watering. Tears beginning to flow down their face. Their hands shaking quivering as they are clenched and unclenched. Their violet hair almost quivering as well. Their blue glimmering eyes a mix of hatred. Melancholy. Spite. Love. Self-hatred.

[Glass]

Acter quietly went over to Varalin, and hugged her.
Listen, everything's going to be alright. C'mon. Let's go watch the stars.

[AbstractTraitorHero]

Varalin. Stiffened as they felt Actur hug them. Felt their embrace. Their heart pounding in their chest as a weak wheeze left them. Left from their chest breathed out as they felt their face grow wetter and wetter drenched in her own tears from emotion. A swell..of.

Comfort?

Happiness?

Security?

Whatever it was Varalin in the state she was right now. Riled up and angry and sad and despairing at their own existence and feeling hatred and contempt for others growing. Couldn't identify it.

But that didn't matter. What mattered was it was there. It was latched onto like a man dying of thirst in a desert holds a bottle of water he found. Latched onto psychically with a grip like iron as they returned the hug their knees giving out putting their face in the shoulder of acter and silently letting their tears flow..their voice soft. Not much coming from the hoarse throat but raw emotion whether of comfort and sorrow or Joy and Melancholy it was hard to identify. For it was only a whisper barely hearable in the darkness and honestly probably depressing for some. The place that is the void.


"O-Okay."

[Roboson]

*Hurumph*

[Madman198237]

The great smith, the Maker, frowned as he saw the creation of the armored knight.
Such acts were his domain, after all.

The frown would only deepen as the arguments continued. It was not worth getting involved, or so it seemed. He hoped the Acterians were worth watching. He hoped they would create things, learn that there was strength in the ability to make, rather than just destroy.

But his place was not to do so. His task, not to interfere. His work must continue. This...messenger...was too slow. These gods, too close to the First World and the mortals that dwelt there.

Arguments, too close to his forge.

Great Act: Thank-Me-That-It's-Not-Actually-Olympus
A separate realm, beside-away-close-far-separate, a grand hall, seats rising on all sides of a platform, upon which rested five thrones. Behind them, five separated sections of nice chairs, cut from wood, metal, stone, and stranger materials. The hall, indestructible, immune to the rages of the gods. All undertakings made in the hall were unbreakable. The thrones themselves, hard-edged and angular, uncomfortable in the extreme, but grand. Inscribed upon each was a name and an ever-growing list of deeds, and above each was a crest. Or, rather, above one there was a crest. The others had places, but the gods would have to bring their own insignia. The one crest that was there was of a rectangle, as a hammer-head, striking an anvil, with bright sparks around it, with two planets below and numerous stars above, each with a different shape and color, as though reflecting the great variety of creation and all that is possible. Behind each throne, at the front of the seating areas, was a chair, smaller and somewhat more comfortable, that reflected the majesty of the throne, but with none of the discomfort. in the middle stood space for something yet unheard, yet unthought.

Perhaps these chairs will keep us humble. Power should not be comfortable for those who wield it, nor should the throne be a desirable place to sit. And yet, to sit here shall be necessary, for this place shall hold our arguments away from the mortal realm.

Act: Sound from the Void
And then it was filled. Instruments, grand ones of gleaming metals and shining woods, silver strings and golden bows, all played by an invisible host. The sound reflected the mood of the room and the state of the entire universe, and yet always filled the listener, no matter how jaded, how angry, how dejected or rejected or depressed about the state of the world they had created, with the smallest feeling, of perhaps the most fragile, yet most essential thing any non-omnipotent being had ever felt...hope. And in front of each throne, a place for their own instrument, should they wish to join.

[NUKE9.13]

Having received Ralkieis' message from his unusual emissary, Phalanalin thinks a moment before composing a reply, which she dictates to the Zlyusilusl.

"Even the most absolute of absolute truths can be twisted, presented in a different way to serve the purpose of the presenter.

As for the necessity of divine guidance, well, I think you are straying into matters that are not absolutely true, my friend. I believe that mortals require our guidance to reach their potential. And regarding the moves of Acter, you are assigning motives to another based on nothing but speculation- not exactly hard truths either. I believe I saw him create his mortals and then leave them without air to breathe or water to drink, things that cannot wait, as far as mortals are concerned. And I believe that mortals need divine guidance as badly as they need to breathe- they might survive without it, but their lives are hollow and meaningless.

Furthermore, lying and cheating both are absolutely wise, so long as you don't get caught. A dogmatic adherence to the truth and fair play only works if you are strong enough. You need never cut corners if you are fast enough to win the race fairly. You need never lie if none can oppose you. So yes, mad-god, I favour cheaters, for if not me, then who shall? Who shall give the weak the chance they need to overcome the strong?

One other thing. You asked me if my favouring cheaters was a lie, moments after saying you read it in your great book. I thought your book was infallible?"

[Glass]

Acter was back on the First World, thinking. While he was loathe to consider it, it was exceptionally probable that he would eventually end up coming into conflict with one of the other gods, most likely one that chose to use his people without considering their well-being.

So he decided to make preparations for that.

On the Island, he began to shape seven forms into the air, wireframe ones, just as his own. They were larger than him, though, and shaped not unlike a great, four-legged beast. He formed wings upon them, as well, to traverse the skies of the World. And he bestowed upon them two gifts.
The first was the ability to constantly reshape themselves, in subtle ways, to fit their needs. They may change to be able to swim through water with ease, to crawl through tunnels unimpeded, or to climb unhindered by lack of purchase.
The second, and more important in Acter's eye, was an aura of calm that they exuded. All those near them could stop to think, to figure out the best plan of action before acting on impulse. Furthermore, it was immediately clear to any observer that, for all these creatures' strength, they were harmless to any that did not wish them ill.

And so Acter sent six of them to fly away, to roam the First World, to watch all that went about. And the seventh, he had remain on the Island, to be called whenever needed, and to help all who wished improvement to think and do.

Act - Creation of the Griffons, the Hounds of Acter; they have qualities as described above, and can change their form as needed.

[Ghazkull]

Turn 5:

As the tides of the Second finally ebbed, a third moon came into existence, in all things it was a twin to the Second, with the exact same purpose. Yet its workings differed in the case of the Magical Storms and the Trials of the First and Third. More organized than before the Storms ebbend and eddied, grew and shrunk, leaving the First much less ravaged and that was well, for the creations of the Tutelaspera were planned to seed life on this world.

The Great Sky Whales, the Faelenites took to the air like fish in water. Majestic in their original forms the Faelenites quickly grew and spread across the skies of the first, their songs of joy even heard on the Islands of passion. For the great Whales were simple beings. Beings with no great ambition or purpose, they knew they were there and they took life as it was. And so they congregated in great schools which glided across the skies of the first, cavorting, dancing and singing between the storm clouds which they devoured for sustenance. Despite being created with the ability to shift their appearance at will, they stayed in the form given to them by the Tutelspera, for there was no reason for change. Many considered their form perfect, created by a divine creator and thus holy.

On the First the work of the Faelenites did not yet take root, the great droppings fell to the earth and began to sprout life...it would take a while yet however to create an ecosystem. Indeed their work was in part preempted by Tartin. For the god raised mountains and forests across the planet and where these places existed life was short, vicious and violent. Flora devouring Fauna and vice versa, everything eating everything, most things poisonous to some degree or other. It was vastly different from the mild calm isolated pockets created by the Faelenites. Indeed, where their droppings fell into the Forests and Mountains of Tartin, they nearly always caused a nigh on collapse of the ecosystem as one species or another inevitably immensely profited from the droppings growing immensely in numbers only to be devoured by even greater numbers of their predators which in turn starved due to lack of prey. The perfect cycle was broken into an ebbing and eddying curiously in tune with the phases of the third.

On the Islands of Passion the Acterians and the Phopu lived their parallel existences still mostly divorced from each other. The Phopu continued their yearly migrations...that is until they stumbled upon something new. The blessed had grown ever mroe in numbers over the years but this time they found new beings on their path, beings not unlike themselves, yet silent, brooding and massive. Intertwined with each other they seemed like a threesome of lovers. The Phopu puzzeled about this and stopped to think. Hastiness was not in the nature of these beings. If they were unsure, they stopped, rooted and pondered a problem. To their delight they found more light than normal for in the crowns of the trees were things not unlike the Great Sun and they realized that this place was clearly holy and blessed by the Great Sun. The smaller lights clearly had to be the Daughters of the Sun itself. And soon they discovered that the place contained fresh water in endless amounts and so they settled. As more and more families arrived everyone settled and they marveled at this wondrous place created by the Sun. As they watched the holy place one of them noted a strange thing, bulbous hangings from all three of the trees. Cautiously they approached and compelled by something beyond them they tasted these strange things. Until this moment the Phopu had seen no reason to eat anything for the Sun provided all they needed. When they tasted the fruits they were overcome with ecstasy for not only had they discovered taste but also the knowledge that these fruits bestowed upon them. Emboldened by it many started to attempt to climb the trees but failed. For Phopu were not built for quick movements nor for climbing. As many fell over and over and injured themselves or even died. A great many copses were dismayed and proclaimed that these fruits were not for the Phopu to devour!

Clearly the Most Holy Sun would have made them able to climb if it wanted them to devour those fruits. And so the first great Schism amongst the Phopu happened. The vast majority continued onwards continuing their eternal circle of migration, whilst those copses who had tasted of the fruits were to engrossed with them to leave. They stayed and worked hard and failed and failed and failed. Generations and circles passed and the Sunseekers continued to marvel at the folly of the Sunless. Could they not see that they were destroying themselves?

Indeed as the Sunseekers followed the sun they stayed vitalized and strong, while the Sunless in the twilight of the Daughters began to shrink and become reedy and pale. Even the blessed which in time began to grow around them seemed sickly and small. But they also grew bendy, able to grow quicker and manipulate their roots and their appendages with a speed and skill unheard of. Over generations they became able to grow and thus climb up the trees where they fed upon the fruits and grew strong and wise and with character. But as they did so they saw the plight of their blessed brethren, for they could no longer move and thus were like starving men in front of a tin can. Food within reach but unable to eat it. And they took pity upon them and began to feed them. Over time it became a full time job for the Reedy to feed the Blessed, for the blessed needed great amounts of fruit and regularly, so much so that the reedy became pale and weak again, while the Blessed grew large and strong and clever and wise. They grew and grew and blotted out the sun. And the blessed knew this and the wisest and tallest among them Oldroot decided to give them his lifeblood. He opened his skin to them so that the Reedy who brought him fruits might drink from him and thus regain their strength and also a measure of the gifts that were bestowed upon him by the fruits of the Great Trees. The other Blessed followed his example and so a strange symbiosis developed: the Reedy would provide fruits to the Blessed Ones and recieve their lifeblood in return.
And so the Blessed around the Three Trees grew wise beyond measure and strong beyond measure and their souls became strong and udnerstanding.
And as the Sunseekers returned they saw these changes and they realized that the Sunless had been right evena s they listened to the wisdom of the Blessed. Foremost among them was Oldroot and he told them that the Sunseekers had not been wrong either, for the Great Trees could only sustain so many Sunless...and the Sunseekers saw this and bowed before these Blessed for indeed they must be Holy! Blessed with Gifts beyond counting by the Great Sun they were even above Blessed Ones in the Hierarchy! And each year the copses came in pilgrimage to the Great Copse as it was called now and recieved a measure of the lifeblood of the Holy Ones. And they were filled with understanding, and vigour and sense of purpose. Reinforced they felt strong in their quest to continue their migration. The Holy Ones however saw no need to use the gifts they had been given. If they wanted they could move, but the fruits were here and the Sunseekers and the Lesser Sunless needed their wisdom. They knew a great many things but knew that these great many things would not better the lives of the Phopu, for they were already content. And deep in their souls they could foresee that their strength would yet be needed in the dim future. For in their prodigious size and power they saw things the others could not and they had seen the struggles of the gods and were pertubed by them, worried that the conflicts might yet spill over to them and in the distance they saw the shape of the servants of another god and they trembled to their roots...
__________________________________________

In the Darkness of the Caves of the Acterians vile things were afoot. Kol, by now a champion of the Acterians suddenly vanished. And without him his great tribe fell apart, and life continued as normal for now. Kol however was imprisoned in the vile darkness undying and almost driven to madness, were it not for a single being. In the deepest recesses of the dark caves he had been chained to the rocks feeding of the thin trickle of Varalins Tears that allowed him to subsist, but soon after his imprisonment when he fell asleep a dim presence appeared. She had been beautiful. Beautiful beyond measure, and somehow in the vile cold darkness she gave him warmth...she had been so bright. And she told him to hold out, to wait for her coming. For she would save him and then would show him the beauty of the light and of the outside. And so he held out.

Armiles had one purpose and one purpose only, to free that poor soul which had been dragged into the darkness. And when she arrived in the caves she cut through it with her sword of sunlight and the darkness vanished. Without regard for anything else she wandered through the caverns, he wrath blinding and unyielding in her wake strange shrooms grew which kept the darkness at bay, even in her passing. The Arrival of the Knight of Might had profound effects, for the caves shook with every tremendous step. And with every cut of her sword the darkness was erased from the existence of the caves, and whatever dwelt within fled. She was a being of purpose, and her purpose was saving the being named Kol. In her wake the caves either died or changed for there was no compromise in the Knight of Might. Even the Acterians were not save, for in her passing they realized the dim prophecies and myths passed down by their ancestors and the nature of the being which even in their strange sight was blindingly bright. Fearing for their homes and lives and families they threw themselves upon the being and died and died and died. Howling they were driven into the ever-receding darkness, minds blank with panic unfelt for generations but deep down a second nature to them. And yet the Knight wandered without aim for the darkness was impenetrable to her and so she had to work on blind luck and instinct. Unheeding and uncaring of the fate of those in her way she would break the chains that bound the Acterian Chieftain, no matter the cost.

And in the deepest of those caves the Acterians finally found refuge, by now they had grown bitter, fear- and hateful. They abhorred the light and turned to the Darkness and within it they found...Truth.

They found Rytliatinae, the Emissary. Its twisted form unseen by their eyes, it promised refuge from the light and the evil that came with it. It offered sweet maddening truth or elsewise comforting silence, and the Acterians came and worshipped it and in the darkness grew hateful and dark.

And in this new refuge they changed, grew stronger, resistant to pain and frugal. In the Dark they learned to make weapons of obsidian and poison them with the fungus and the shrooms that grew there and those who were most fanatic in their worship of the Emissary scarred themselves uncaring and unfeeling towards the pain and using their own knives and hatchets each of them carved a truth they had gleaned from the Emissary, a horrible truth about the universe into their very skin. The Cult of Truth was born.

In other parts of the caves those that had not stumbled upon the Emissary grew hard as well, their only light point in life the myths about Mother Darkness. But even here they found no respite for soon the Cultists ambushed them in the depths, carrying off prisoners to be sacrificed in blasphemous rituals to the God of Truth and his messenger. And the Cult of Darkness grew hard as well and in the darkness they fought and killed each other. Ever more violent, sacrificing to their respective Gods in blood, devouring each other as only the truly mad could ever do.

And through these sacrifice and the torture and pain and horror inflicted upon each other, the veil weakened and a new god was thrown into this Young Universe. Yeg'greth god of Torment was welcomed by the screams of anguished souls and he smiled. Behind him Gai-Gen Goddess of Engineering swooped in using this hole in the veil to enter this universe and escape the emptiness of the Void.

And she saw the beauty that was the strange place Cerediron had created and knew, she had found a kindred soul.

Acter creates the Griffons, the Hounds of Acter
Cerediron creates (Name it or i give it a stupid name), the Hall of the Gods
Lu creates Armiles Knight of Might
Phalanalin imprisons Kol in the Darkness
Lu sends Armiles to free him thus opening a new Gambit
Lu creates the Great Trees of Knowledge, Strength and Mortality
Varalin adapts the Acterians
Ralkiesis creates Rytliatinae (screw you for that name), Emissary of Truth (Magi)
Ralkiesis creates a Divine Messenger ( choose easier names i have to write them down)
Tartin creates Mountains and Forests on the First
The Tutelspera creates the Third, a copy of the Second
The Tutelspera creates the Sacrament of the First and Third
The Tutelspera creates the Falaenites, Giant Sky Whales
The First Phopu settlement is created: "Great Copse"
The Phopu suffer their first Schism: The Sunseekers and the Sunless are created
The Schism causes two new Kind of Phopu to emerge: the Holy Ones and the Reedy
Oldroot emerges as the greatest of all Holy Ones
Lu creates the Two Daughters
The Phopu develop into a Shamanistic Theocracy
Acter is dragged into the Kol gamble and the Acterian gamble
The Emissary of Truth (HAH) is dragged into the Kol and Acterian gamble as an Unbound Card
The Acterian gamble can only be resolved after the Kol gamble has been resolved
The Acterians grow hateful and dark
The Acterians have two new Faiths: The Cult of Darkness and the Cult of Truth

Spoiler:  The Kol Gambit (click to show/hide)

Players: Lu vs. Phalanalin vs. Acter
Goals: Free Kol, Kill Kol, Destroy or Make the other Houses Give up
Open Cards:
Emissary of Truth (Magi of Truth) - UNBOUND
Kol (Soldier of Might) - Attached to Chain
Armiles Knight of Might

Spoiler:  The Acterian Gambit (click to show/hide)

Players: Lu vs. Phalanalin vs. Acter
Goals: Destroy the others House, make the other give up, win the worship of the Acterians
Open Cards/Characters:
Armiles Knight of Might
Emissary of Truth (Magi of Truth) -UNBOUND
Kol Soldier of Might - Chained

Spoiler:  The Universe (click to show/hide)

The Darkness: A sense depriving universe covering barrier, against which even the Gods are not entirely immune.

Luar - The Sun

The First
- Floating Island with lush wilderness and wildlife
Acterians
Blind subterranean humanoids with the Second Sight, Pain Resistance, Frugal, Obsidian Crafting
Tribes (overall no more than five thousand)

Phopu
Nomadic Plant People
Copses (tribes, no more than fifty thousand)

Blessed Ones
Plant people enhanced by the Gaze of the Sun Eagles, grown to titanic proportions
Worshipped by the Phopu
no more than 1000

Reedy Ones
Thin, pale weak Phopu who can rapidly grew on trees and suck their lifeblood.
no more than 3000

Holy Ones
Plant People enhanced by the Gaze of the Sun Eagles, grown to titanic proportions, enhanced in strength wisdom and character strength.
Transcended Mortality.

-The Ground
The Falaenites
Giant Skywhales, living off of Magic, able to take any form they like. Excrements and corpses crate new life.
no more than five thousand


The Second

The Third
Copy of the Second, Part of the Sacrament of the First and Third

The Temple Fortress of Tartarus

Ceredirons [Insert Name Here]

Spoiler:  The House of Might (First House) (click to show/hide)

Lu
2 Act

Worshipped as the Sun by the Phopu
Worshipped as the God of Hate and Destruction by the Acterians

Tartin
2 Acts

Armiles, Knight of Might
Worshipped as the Avatar of the End Times by the Acterians

The Sun Eagles, Hounds of Might
Worshipped as the Gods of Evil by the Acterians
Worshipped as Sons of Lu by the Phopu

Spoiler:  The House of Twisting Shadows (Second House) (click to show/hide)

Phalanalin
3 Acts

Yras, Knight of Twisting Shadows

Spoiler:  The House of Truth (Elder House) (click to show/hide)

Ralkiesis
3 Acts

1 Act/turn through Blood Sacrifices

Worshipped as the God of Madness, Protection and Truth by the Acterians

Tutelspera
1 Act

Emissary of Truth - Magi of Truth
Worshipped as Divine Protector by the Acterians of the Cult of Truth
Worshipped as God of Blood and Madness by the Acterians of the Cult of Darkness

Divine Messenger - No Position

The Book of Truth - A mighty Artifact which records any and all Truths of the Universe
The Spire of Truth - An Obsidian Spire recording the Acts of all the Gods

Spoiler:  The House of Making (Elder House) (click to show/hide)

Cerediron
2 Acts

Gai-Gen
1 Act

Spoiler:  The House of Acter(Younger House) (click to show/hide)

Acter
2 Acts
Worshipped as the Maker by the Acterians

Varalin
3 Acts
Worshipped as Mother Darkness by the Acterians of the Cult of Darkness
Worshipped as the Blood Queen by the Acterians of the Cult of Truth

1 Act/turn through Blood Sacrifices

Spoiler:  The House of Torment (click to show/hide)

Yeg'Greth
1 Act

Spoiler:  Religions (click to show/hide)

Acterian Cult of Truth
Espouses Blood Sacrifices
The Maker: Creator of the Acterians, God of Supreme Indifference (Acter)
The Blood Queen: Goddess of Torture who grants mercy only to those who sacrifice to her (Varalin)
The Pantheon of Hate: Lu and the Sun Eagles
The Avatar of the End Times: Armiles Knight of Might
The Divine Protector: Emissary of Truth
The God of Truth, Madness and Protection: Ralkiesis

Acterian Cult of Darkness
Espouses Blood Sacrifices
The Maker: Creator of the Acterians, God of Supreme Indifference (Acter)
Morther Darkness: Goddess of Mercy and Oblivion (Varalin)
The Pantheon of Hate: Lu and the Sun Eagles
The Avatar of the End Times: Armiles Knight of Might
The God of Blood and Madness: Emissary of Truth

Phopu Shamanistic Faith
Espouses Pilgrimage
The Divine Sun: Creator of the Phopu, Giver of Life (Lu)
The Suns Sons: Granters of Blessings (The Sun Eagles)
The Suns Daughters: Protectors of the Great Copse (The Twin Suns)
Holy Ones: The Divine Mediators of Lu
Blessed Ones: Chosen Ones of the Sun

Faelenites Myth Complex
Tutelspera: Divine Creator

[AbstractTraitorHero]

((what about my cake :3))

A cake. Strawberrys adorened the top of the layered cheesecake of some sorts. Fudge seemingly cold not hot filling several layers of it. Overall it looks rather nice.

Create Above Cake. Send several small pieces to the Acturians Anonymously. Cut it safely into many slices.

[micelus]

The Tutelospera was joyous, and hopeful, and surprised, and whimsical. The world was as it ought be. Now, it was time to begin the Plan It envisioned.

Over the ages, the Tutelospera had slowly become aware of what had happened to the filth it had ordained from Its pet whales. It was good, and it was glorious. Here, there was a copse. There, a pond. In other places, the excrement had seeded life...only for it all to be devoured by the savage species of Tartin. It was good, it was right.

And so, the Tutelospera winded up Its systems and its divinity, for now It forged the first of its chosen. Taking the fallen filth that still yet lay unexposed, the Tutelospera manipulated it with divine essence, changing and prodding its very substance. What had been created was in a way, still filth, but of a different nature.

They were the Good Folk or the Furred Folk... or in the tongue of the Tutelospera, The Tavros. The Tavros were filth in that they were Cursed and Blessed. Where other species would know the forms of their offspring at birth and recognise their features in themselves, the Tavros would have no such luck. Like the winds of magic, their very forms and minds were determined by the phases of the moon. Each phase was associated with a different form and this influenced bodies of the Tavros. That is, what form a Tavros took at birth depended on when it was conceived and when it was born.

Kleisto/New Moon: Wolfmen
Imikleisto/Waxing Crescent: Cowmen
Misianoikti/First Quarter: Goatmen
Fotismos/Waxing Gibbous: Moosemen
Kataigida/Full Moon: Batmen
Kleisimo/Waning Gibbous: Lionmen
Misianoikti/Third Quarter: Boarmen
Defteros Imikleisto/Waning crescent: Ratmen

In this way, a calf conceived during the newmoon but born during the fullmoon would have the features of both the Wolf and the Lion. Regardless of these mixtures, all would still be humanoid in shape and omnivorous. While the gestation period of any litter was around 8-10 months, truly Blessed or truly Cursed creatures could be born months too early or months too late.

Though abominations in form, the Tutelospera knew that the world was cruel, and harsh. It would be fitting to make its creations like the world around it; savage and ruthless. Instead however, it adorned them with another nature.

Love.

The Tavros would be the Tutelospera's Chosen of Love, and through it, they would prosper. By love of one's family, of one's friend, of one's tribe and of one's ancestors, and of one's gods. By love, they would fight. By love, they would share. By love, they would prosper. As such, the Tutelospera made them gentle souls with the bodies of savage creatures. With this done, it woke them from nonexistence and explained their place in the world. They were Tavros, Cursed and Glorious. They were inheritors of the earth, of the First. The land was harsh, the Creator knew, but by cooperation and love, they could survive and prosper. These words the Tutelospera gave them, as well as knowledge of the Skyspirits,((i.e. the gods) who would play tricks and perhaps aid them in the years to come. The Red Moon ((The Tutelospera)), their creator, would watch and care for them but only from afar. Blessed are the mortals who solve their problems themselves, and without beseeching the aid of the divine. As a final parting gift, it divulged to the wisest and strongest of them the secret knowledge of the Sacrament of the First and Thirds, a way to strengthen themselves and offer Love to their compatriots.

1 Act: Create the Tavros, mammalian abominations of Love upon the surface of the First.

[NUKE9.13]

From her vantage point in the heavens over the First, Phalanalin laments the fate of the Acterians.

"Look at them, driven into the corner by unrelenting savagery. Brought to violence and madness by an unstoppable force. Such is the fate of the weak, is it not?"

She cracks her knuckles.

"No, it is not. Not whilst I have anything to say about it. I may not be able to stop the rampaging sun-knight, but whyfore exists the darkness if not to conceal? Let no denizen of the shadows be found lest they wish to be found."

Within the depths of the caves, where the darkness still held out against Armiles' onslaught, a ripple appeared. An Acterian, fleeing for her life, stumbles blindly into the ripple- and feels herself stretched out, squashed down, spun round and blown to pieces. Moments later, she finds herself standing wholly intact, in a cave she does not recognise, with naught but a lingering feeling of having travelled some great distance. After spending a good hour or two shaking with fear, she realises that she was entirely unharmed by the experience, and what's more, there is no trace of her pursuers. Being Acterian, these realisations naturally do little to relieve her of her fear, yet she somehow manages to pick herself up and set off to figure out where she is.
The caves she finds herself in are entirely unknown to her, even after she spends many hours exploring them. Yet she encounters streams of tears, and plentiful foliage (as plentiful as can be found within the caves, that is), and eventually is forced to concede that these caves are not literally the worst place in existence- high praise, coming from her broken mind.

Such occurrences would repeat themselves throughout the caves, as those fleeing the wrath of others suddenly find themselves standing hundreds- if not thousands- of miles away. Though none of them knew the secrets of the Shadowpaths, and could not repeat the feat of traversing them, it nevertheless saved many lives, both from other Acterians, and the attention of Armiles.

Act: Create the Shadowpaths, portals found deep within the darkness, that lead from one to another. The wise, who take time to study them, might discover the secrets of their operation, and be able to control where the Shadowpaths take them- those with a talent for magic may even be able to create them. Alas, the Shadowpaths do not come with a manual, and for now their usage is purely accidental.

[Glass]

Acter had a specific goal in mind at the moment.

He was carrying some of the intact corpses of the Acterians that Armiles had killed up near the mouth of the caves. That had been a disaster. Better than if Lu had sent them to try to lead the Acterians, though.

Once he had a group about the size of a large tribe, he began his work.

Faces shifted - enough to give them a new identity, not enough to remove them from being Acterians. They were to be a new tribe, not a different people.

Memories of past lives were removed, but in their place, history was given - the successes and failures of the gods, objective knowledge of what had befallen the others that they had been (as well as why these things had happened and their original intent), and knowledge that they would not have to live like that, for as Acter changed these people's forms, he made their skin resistant to the possible harm the sun could bring, and he expanded their second sight to go to the horizons.

And with that, he began to breath life back into them. They would slumber while he continued to go through them. He picked one to mark as their leader, with a single line down the center of their face.

They would awaken at dawn.

Act: Take some of the Acterians that were killed by Armiles, reform them so that they can live comfortably on the surface, and return them to life.

And with that done, Acter recalled one of his Griffons to enter the caverns and find where Phalanalin had hidden Kol.
Hound of Acter: played in the Kol Gambit.

[FallacyofUrist]

The gears tumbled and clanked... and then stopped. Could a goddess really be stunned? Yes. What a horrible world it was to behold.

"What... what is this? What have you all done!?"