Just as the gods are about to unleash their fury, the cicadas bend millions of acres of grass in unison. The spiraling fractal patterns carved into the ground resonate with the fabric of reality and two shields hiss on, bulwarks against divine action; on against Decay, the other against Fire.
Only a few gods manage to slip through.
(Hour 4)
Nephilim is the first, attempting to balance the forces of order and chaos. Nothing happens.
(Hour 5)
Audditorius decides to purify the world. He creates a knight of light and fire, who sets about educating the population about the perfection and glory of Audditorius.
(Hour 5)
Varalin dribbles manifestations of her emotions onto the world. These monsters roam in the darkness and attack those that are alone, consuming them with grief, fear, or paranoia.
(Hour 7)
Clestesth creates the
Uvhoth, giant rock worms surrounded in deadly dust that chew through the crust.
The Cicadas begin a communication effort upon learning of this by drumming on the rocks.
CICADAS: Ah, so what do you want?
UVHOTH: We wiiishh to devoour your fleash and feeeast upon your sssouls!
CICADAS: Oh. If you’re the kind for exotic tastes, there’s a spirit of pure light you might want to try.
The Knight of Audditorius is preaching to a congregation when the ground beneath him rumbles and the Knight is swallowed up in the stony maw of a Uvhoth, along with the entire town.
-1 town+1 enthalpy
(Hour
Gello creates a small windstorm upon the surface. Right now it threatens no mortals, but it is moving quickly.
(Hour
Grimmer strikes the earth with Fire. Most fizzles out, but one bit ignites the
Sigil of Decay Deflection. An entire arm is burnt up and the runic shield fizzles and goes out.
Sigil of Decay Destroyed
(Hour 10)
Cavefriend causes spikes of crystal to push up out of the ground, splintering every blade of grass apart and turning the beautiful meadows to a deadly, glistening mass.
The Cicadas run out and seek refuge in the still-unharmed fields of the farmers. They reassure the populace that everything is fine.
+2 enthalpy
(Hour 11)
Nephilim takes control of half the Cicadas and turns them on the other half. It is absolute chaos in the Cicada Refuges.
The Cicada population is reduced to a tenth of its original, all under Nephilim’s control. The captive souls of the Cicadas speak to him (think Durkon) asking who he is and what he wants.
-1 insect species+1 enthalpy
(Hour 11)
Grimmer speaks to the people of the universe, claiming it as his own. In light of present events, this is a very good claim.
Two towns convert and burn the cicadan refugees as a sacrifice. They combine forces to collect crystal from the newly converted fields and mix it with cicada ash to form Grimmersteel. They begin building a castle with this dark metal.
A nearby town attacks them for this transgression against their gods.
+1 civil war+2 enthalpy
(Hour 12) As their last act before being controlled by Neph, the Cicadas give the Men the schematics for a localized Divine Shield. The men carve the runes into the earth near their towns.
No divine actions can be taken on towns now. You can aim stuff at them, though. I’ll use Robo’s example - you can throw a mountain at a town, but not teleport a mountain straight on.
Conditions of the Surface- Emotional monsters
- A Uvhoth fused with a Light power
- A small windstorm
- Crystals everywhere
- Tower of Grimmer
Of the 43 towns:
- 39 are faithful to the Cicadas, though scared.
- 1 was destroyed by a Uvhoth
- 2 have turned to Grimmer
- 1 is fighting the Grimmer towns