Two more souls manifest in reality. Awareness develops, identities form, and sand becomes flesh and metal as the entities carve their new bodies from the desert.
Ira, the World-Eater. They open their mouth, already burning with rage.
Gral, the Contractor. Metal feathers clang as they take flight.
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Devour the sand
4v4Ira tunnels into the sand, eating as much of it as will fit in their mouth, but soon the vast organism begins to fight back. It tries to wrap the worm in pseudopods, buffet them with its fists, and even crush the worm under its weight, but Ira keeps eating, and eating, and eating. The sand's limbs slow their progress, but each one that touches the primordial is rapidly consumed.
This stalemate continues for hours as Ira tunnels forwards and is periodically beaten back.
Climb up the webs to get away from the sand.
2Dr. Bob runs to the nearest strand of silk and up out of the sand's reach. The swarm of Spiderlings parts, none of them willing to be trampled something thousands of times larger than a spider, and when he sits down to rest the bugs resume their war at a respectful difference. Occasionally, a Spiderling falls from above, gets up, and scurries away as soon as it takes one look at the humanoid primordial.
From this vantage point, he can watch new stars rise into the sky. Misshapen shadows are rising too, from a place near Kuhaku's marsh. It takes Dr. Bob a moment to realize that some of those shadows are flying directly towards him.
melt the glass around me to create more stars.
5Gyweft releases his internal fire again, this time to reshape the glass surrounding him. He scoops out gooey, red-hot chunks of silicate and transforms them into a new set of stars, imbued with even stronger fire than the last. By the time he digs himself out of the massive globule, he has made enough to illuminate universe once again.
He throws each star into the sky, targeting areas that aren't accessible from Nazir's web. They burn brightly, and this time they aren't smothered by Spiderlings.
Grant some spiderlings ability to feed by consuming sand and to stay hidden while near sand.
*removes silk top hat and waves it to Dr Bob*
My respect!
3The new stars are a great boon to the Spiderlings, but there still aren't enough resources to go around. Nazir's solution, inspired by the manifestation of the World-Eater, is simple. Spiders that can feed on sand will never go hungry.
They modifies a few of their children, changing the spiders' biology until they can feed on sand as well as light. Then Nazir places them on the ground to feed. The desert quickly notices them, and moves to wipe them out, but the newly-created Dustwalkers are difficult to find. They stay in hiding, fighting a guerrilla war against the entire world.
Fly to some of the defeated Spiderlings on their way down, offering them the power of flight in exchange for service.
3Forced to choose between service and death, most of the Spiderlings accept Gral's deal. They grow wings like his, each feather inked with the full details of their contract.
As it turns out, the difficult part is using their new gift. Gral's servants can glide back to the web, but they inevitably begin to fall again if they do anything too ambitious. They simply don't have the instincts of a true bird.
More Water from Sand. This swamp pleases me.
1Kuhaku tries to pull more water out of the ground, but something is different this time. The sand has taken notice, and consuming ALERTH only whetted its appetite.
Sand and shadows pour out of the earth, taking shape in a crude imitation of the primordials themselves. Each one is unique- Kuhaku can see a humanoid with its limbs bent backwards, a horned serpent that crawls along the bottom of the marsh, a strange amalgam with a thousand ravening mouths- but they are all horrifying.
The demons shriek as they disperse. Many advance on Kuhaku.
Gyaweft, the Smelter.
-Star-smith.
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Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover.
-Enemy of the sands.
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Kūhaku, the Mirror.
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Nazir, the Weaver.
-God of the great web.
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Ira, the World-Eater.
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Gral, the Contractor.
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It has consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: A group of defeated Spiderlings that made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves.
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Topic: Sand & Souls - Let There Be Turns (Read 61896 times)