Create a new demon with the power to harness Nothingness.
6The Emptiness in the sand tears off a piece of itself, and transforms it into a living creature. What was once an amorphous blob of spirit is carefully refined, shaped and reshaped by the emptiness until it almost resembles a primordial. The end result is inferior to a true soul, but it still has a kind of metaphysical weight to it. The thing was shaped a in soul's image, from the flesh and blood of a soul, and by that that soul's own will, and so it is essentially a fragment of the Empty itself.
All of the demons are, since the sand crafted them from ALTERTH's remains, but this one has more identity than the rest. Even more power flows into it, and it is granted the Empty's own power to manipulate Nothingness.
The new soul sinks into ground, where its touch causes the sand around it to transform. Grains melt and reform heatlessly, forming a lump of black obsidian for the demon to inhabit. The creature pulls itself free with a series of cracks, snapping as it form joints for its limbs and adopts its final shape. When the birthing is complete, it looks like a serpentine dragon with seven pairs of wings.
It bursts from the ground near Ira, perhaps because it has inherited the Empty's knowledge of primordials. Pseudopods form around the archdemon as the sands themselves prepare to fight alongside it.
Hynsyr attempts to help his creations learn how to contain and use their new power.
Hynsyr: 3
Tribute: 6Hynsyr grants more knowledge to the mortals, this time in a slightly more gentle manner. Their magical gifts are almost impossible to control, but with practice many find it possible to stabilize their bodies and reign in the wild spasms of creations that are channeled through them. While gaining complete control over their ability will require practice, these fundamentals should make them more capable of using magic constructively. With time and practice, the increased strength of their gifts may even become a boon rather than a curse.
Which isn't to say that they've mastered the technique quite yet. A multicolored aura flares up as one of the Prismatics fails to restrain their power. When Hynsyr blinks the spots out of his eyes, a red spike three times his height is embedded in the ground. Small sparks of light jump from the surface of the construct as the energy inside it fluctuates.
"Hello little ones, I have a gift for you."
Ira removes one of her many teeth and plants it in the ground and from it sprouts a huge fortress-like tree made of bone; it's branches grow, and the Dustwalkers can harvest them to form tools and other things.
"No longer shall you have to hide from the sands! Also as another gift I shall tell you three things that could help in your war with the sand. First, on the great web a mighty primordial named Kuhaku lies. It's mind is feeble and it no longer moves, but it's essence remains. Perhaps if you capture it, it can be put to good use. Second, there is ooze created by a primordial named AJAMA, it grows by absorbing the sand, seek the ooze out and use if for your war with the sand. Third, beneath the sand lies a great emptiness, the remnants of the primordial ALT, it exercises limited control of the sand, but it is still dangerous and powerful. Good luck in you war little ones."
1Ira places one of its teeth in the sand, and a bone sapling sprouts from the dust only a moment later. It grows at an astonishing pace, and cavities form in its trunk to lay the groundwork for a great fortress. At first the Dustwalkers skitter around in glee, glad that they will finally have a new home of their own, but they stop when the sand's eyestalks all swivel towards the fortress. A lump rises from the ground, far larger than any ordinary dune, and from it emerges one of the most fearsome creatures that Ira has ever seen. It is an obsidian dragon with seven sets of wings, large enough to rival the primordials themselves. Wisps of nothingness pour from its mouth.
When it surfaces, the sand surrounds it with a second set of appendages. These are large hands and tendrils, constructed for the express purpose of crushing enemies. They tower above the bone-tree, which can't possibly grow fast enough to defend itself.
The Ooze try to stand it ground while taking bubbles of emptiness and storing them inside of it, I rise to just below the top of the column, moving around and creating holes in the sand on my way there
AJAMA: 1
Ooze: 3 v 3The black ooze holds back the sand by absorbing it at an even faster rate. The desert's hands disrupt it by stirring it around, and streams of nothingness annihilate large portions of the pool, but for now AJAMA's creation is still strong enough to hold back the tide. Sandy appendages are eaten away about as quickly as they're created, restoring mass as quickly as it can be destroyed.
Meanwhile, AJAMA swells to contain the reservoir of nothingness. The liquid emptiness streams in eagerly, and in a large enough quantity to overwhelm the Demiurge. It tries to cut off the flow and tear itself free of the nothing, but even then the stream of void does not stop. It erodes the black spheres' insides like a poison, as if attempting to consume the Demiurge from within their own body. AJAMA screams, even as they become buoyant enough to float back up to the surface of the goo.
fly beyond the stars to know what is there to discover a new world
6The Sunship leaps into the air like a fish would throw itself into the water. In an instant Gyaweft is transported from the land, where his ship is slow and cumbersome, to the air, where it is more graceful than any other creature. The primordial flies up past the tower, through the strands of the great web, and to the stars, which still hang where Gyaweft themself once threw them. Some have been blotted out by Spiderling colonies, but the majority stand free, glowing with soft radiance. Despite their beauty, they have only a fraction of the sheer glory and power of the Sunship.
Gyaweft goes higher, and his craft illuminates the entirety of the sand below. The armored primordial can see everything: the demons, the marsh, the great web, and even the other primordials. But as he continues to ascend, the world that they have built becomes a tiny speck in the distance. In fact, the Smelter is struck by how empty the world still is, despite all that he has done. Living sand stretches to a distant, possibly-nonexistent horizon, and the atmosphere above it is practically untouched.
"Okay kids see the sand down there its evil and it hates you, so don't go down there."
Focus for a bit and try to make something the size of a brick appear in my hand.
3The deer-men nod at Dr. Bob before grouping up to fight their way over to a star. It's unclear why they want it, given that they can't feed on light like Nazirs progeny do, but they take control of the area easily enough that they may not need a pressing reason at all. Their size makes them juggernauts among the hordes of bugs, especially once they discover that they can just trample Spiderlings beneath their feet. A few deer-men wander off, but none descend beyond the bottommost reaches of the web.
Now that his children have been informed of the most likely danger, Dr. Bob continues experimenting with his powers of creation. He focuses on his empty hand, and wills matter to appear there. The air around the doctor crackles, but not even a grain of sand appears in his palm. The hand remains empty regardless of how much he concentrates or how long he waits.
Gyaweft, the Smelter
-Star-smith.
-Master of the Tower.
-Fragile glass wings.
-Sunship.
--------------------------------
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Enemy of the sands.
-Spidersilk net.
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Blackened Scars
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Infested.
-Envenomed Wing.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Poisoned by Nothing
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
--------------------------------
The Empty
-Devoured by the sands.
-Thinned.
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothness.
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.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk..
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: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil. A few of them have strained their minds and bodies to discover the secret of self-augmentation.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web.
Bone Sapling: A tree grown from one of Ira's teeth. It is currently under attack by an Archdemon, but if it survives it will grow into a fortress to house the Dustwalkers.
Author
Topic: Sand & Souls - Let There Be Turns (Read 61832 times)