Term 17010, Age 1:
Saga of the Rat -
Following Professor Yínfà homeroom meeting, the young gods do little save explore their immediate quarters.
Saga of the Ox -
Koaring is the first of the students to venture forth on his own into the mortal world. Arriving in Peanut village his goal is simple; Hunt a hag. Following the pathways into the woods that the villagers would take to the mines, he is quick to pick up the scent of a corrupt creature. The scent leads Koaring to humanoid footprints. The footprints lead Koaring to a strange hut decorated with still-beating hearts.
Bursting through the door, the god sets eyes upon his quarry, and is surprised by what he sees; Father had always said that hags were hideous creatures, but that is clearly not the case here. Aside from a few scars, birthmarks, and warts, the creature before Koaring is a reasonably attractive young woman. Her hair is reddish-brown, skin is fair, and her face is freckled. She sits on the only piece of furniture in the hut, a large bale of hay, wearing nothing but a sultry smile. Koaring is briefly taken aback, and then blown away when she opens her legs, causing the overwhelming aroma of a female bear in heat to waft throughout the hut. Wordlessly, she beckons the god to approach, and at that moment Koaring's desire to fight the hag completely evaporates...
You spend what must amount to several mortal months in the hag's embrace, your time split almost evenly between carnal relations with your host, feasting on the game meat she provides, and enjoying a deep, dreamless slumber. You are pretty sure you are under some sort of enchantment, but you do not really care; For perhaps the first time since leaving your father, you are content. You divulge to her all your deepest secrets and desires, and in return only learn her name: Baba Yāo fù.
Eventually the day comes that you must leave. Baba Yāo fù leads you outside the hut, and offers you a sad smile. "I wish I could keep you forever, Koaring, but Shizi would destroy me if I were to keep you from your studies. My kind feeds on the misery of mortals, so spending time with you, a being my hunger does not compel me to torment, was a lovely change of pace."
She pulls you in for a deep kiss, and then whispers sinister into your ear. "But make no mistake. You are now at a disadvantage in your fight against the corruption of this place. Not only are you smitten with me, but you have given me a daughter. Unless you choose to stand at her side and walk the path of corruption, our child will become your greatest rival!"
Baba Yāo fù pulls away from you and offers a teasing grin. "Feel free to track me down again any time you wish to get in bed with your enemy..."
Natural 100 Ultimate Critical Failure! Koaring is now enthralled by Baba Yāo fù, and suffers both a -25% penalty to action success rate, and a -50% penalty to combat power when attempting direct hostile action against her.
Koaring has shared his secrets with the Hags! He now suffers a -10% penalty to action success rate when doing anything to directly combat the local corruption or monsters around Peanut Village.
Baba Yāo fù will bear and raise Koaring's daughter! Unless Koaring manages to interfere in her upbringing or falls to evil himself, she will become a dangerous foe in due time!
Saga of the Tiger -
The hallways of the Academy are a poorly marked labyrinth with little rhyme or reason to them. Elbakaepsnu cannot help but note that they remind him just a bit of his parent X’arilyg's inscrutable realm. After following the posted travel directions for hours, he eventually arrives at his destination. The observatory is a massive pristine room with a domed ceiling. The walls and ceiling are the color of the purest snow, while the floor is an only slightly darker off-white. The only feature of the chamber is a collection of divine creatures standing in the center, whom you correctly assume to be your instructor and fellow students. Joining up with them, you mill aimlessly for a short span of time while your last few classmates filter in, before the strongest creature in the group, a mighty translucent dragoness seemingly crafted from emerald, speaks. Her voice is shockingly soft and timid for one of her power and vocation.
"Greetings students. You may call me Professor Núlì. This is my first term here at the Academy of Divine Harmony, and I have been tasked by the headmaster to teach you all the means by which mortals, both weak and mighty, fight and defend themselves. The purpose of this instruction is so that you may lead and organize your own mortals to protect what you have given them, or what they have obtained and achieved in your name."
The Dragoness pauses for a moment to glance at the ceiling, before continuing. "This term we will cover at least four topics: Combat between individual mortals, maneuvers and tactics of mortals in a small group, pitched battle, and military logistics. If time allows, we might also explore the weapons and tactics employed by lesser mortals of bestial intelligence."
Professor Núlì then admits that she is new to The Plane of Qiángdà, and invites the older students of the class to give examples of notable fighters or militarizes within the realm. As each army or fighter is named, moving images of the actor in battle appear on the walls and ceiling of the observatory. You spend a majority of the class watching various duels and battles, and trying to figure out which students are showing off their own followers, and which are just naming well known names.
One student, a god made from metal and stone not unlike your nameless classmate, catches your attention by naming The Alpha Huntress. Your follower appears on the ceiling. She moves silently and with grace, singlehandly exterminating a camp of several dozen humans, alternating between her one handed crossbow and natural weapons. Masterfully, she avoids raising any alarms. You note the student who named her watches the footage carefully and without outward emotion. You wonder how the automaton knows of her.
The instructor speaks again briefly at the end of the class session. "Next age will will start our unit on single combat. I think we will begin with some live demonstrations. One tenth a point of extra credit to any of you brave enough to bring one of your mortal belongings for some pit fights next age! I'll bring academy healers to undo any permanent maiming or death that may occur."
And with that, the headmaster indeed falls into a speech that you have indeed more or less heard before.
---
Dun sets up camp in one of the empty chambers near the class living area, and sets about building it into a proper menagerie for the wet storage of spare parts and components for her projects. This proves to be a bit more difficult than the young goddess expects it to be; In the past she could rely on prerendered construction materials from her father's factory-temples when building large inorganic things, but now Dun must expend divine energy and effort to produce the glass and steel and water she needs herself. It takes quite a bit of work, and leaves Dun at the brink of exhaustion, but eventually the task is complete.
The menagerie is rather basic. It should keep living animal materials alive, and allow them to breed at such a rate to cover any deaths by natural causes, but will require an expenditure of divine energy or manual labor performing husbandry work if Dun or her peers with to increase the population and value of a captive species.
Success! Dun may name the location of her stored animal resources as 'menagerie' when listing them on the Register of Known Things. Resources in the menagerie will not decay unless used. Until such a time as security measures are installed, other students in the class may access the menagerie and resources within as they see fit!
Satisfied with her work, and needing a swim to recharge her batteries, Dun sets off for the mortal world and throws herself into the ocean near Pai! After a few mortal days of aimless swimming, Dun feels ready to search for and collect some local sealife.
First she checks out the polluted harbor, and true to Elder High Oyster's word find only a single species of shellfish; A bland looking beige scallop farmed on the underwater banks of the peninsula on which her new toys dwell.
Moving on from the harbor to the open sea, Dun is quick to spot a species that draws her attention; A giant insect that looks to be a relative of the preying mantis, judging by its terrifying mandibles, green exoskeleton, and alien looking eyes. This creature, however, seems to have evolved or been created to fill the ecological of the sea-lion, as it possesses the flippers and otherwise follows the general bodyplan of the piniped.
The next animal Dun comes across is a large and vibrant squid colored red, yellow, and black. Dwelling in the ocean's twilight zone, between the bright shallows and comfortable abyss, they travel in family groups of six to twelve, and logic would dictate that their coloration either advertises or bluffs a venom dangerous to other mortal beings.
Lastly, on her way back to the surface to return to the Academy grounds, Dun looks to the sky and notices large flocks of jet black seabirds. Upon closer inspection, they are not dissimilar to the osprey that live off the shore of father's continent, but even if the birds are rather mundane, Dun knows that wings are a valuable part to keep on hand for projects.
Success! Dun found four resources: Navy Scallop, Harbor Mantis, Danger Squid, and Black Osprey. She may carry a total resource value of 20 back to storage! She may divide that 20 up however she pleases (eg. 3 Scallop, 7 Mantis, 5 Squid, 5 Osprey), but the value of no individual resource may surpass 15.
Saga of the Rabbit -
To reach the headmaster's dockyard, Qu retraces his steps to the docks where The Emperor first dropped the class off, and then jumps into the seeming bottomless shaft using a nominal amount of divine power to control his fall. After quite a bit of time passes, Qu approaches the bottom of the shaft. Floating several hundred yards above said bottom is a series of criss-crossing docks that stretches nearly the entire length and width of the shaft. Docked at the docks is a huge collection of flying vessels, of all shapes, sizes, and build materials. Landing on the docks, it is a simple matter of following the signage to Vessel 32, a craft shaped like a longboat complete with decrotive oars, where The Emperor of Scholars and a small group of other students await.
The Emperor is dressed in robes that are far more simple and modest than the ones that adorned him at the time of your last meeting. The mask on his face today, although elegant, is made of simple wood, and the voice from underneath it is softer than you remember. "Greetings students. In this context, you may call me Headmaster Jiangxuéjīn. Welcome to my collection of ships. This one was given to me as payment by a god of pillage for admitting his son to the academy, but many of the vessels you see were built by me or given as gifts of friendship by graduated former students."
The Emperor stomps his foot softly on the deck of the ship. The chains holding it to the dock fall away, and it begins to rise upward through the shaft. "This term, we will be riding this ship, exploring the features of this world I made, enjoying each other's company, and partaking in scholarly discussion. In most of the courses I teach, I demand high levels of excellence, and am thus quite strict with grades, but this is not the case here. Nobody here truly needs to learn about the Geography of The Plane of Qiángdà. A handful of you could hardly care less about the topic. Some of you are genuinely interested in quizzing a veteran creator god about the details of his creation. Some of you have had courses with me before, and enjoy learning directly under my tutelage. Some of you have heard this is an easy class, and are looking to improve their grades. Some of you have heard stories of my might and wish to try and gain my favor. Some of you are new or unsure of yourselves as students, and seek judgement and assurance from a being known as The Emperor of Scholars. All of these are valid and worthy reasons to take this course, and I look forward to accommodating you all."
The emperor pauses a moment, as if lost in thought, before continuing. "Our first voyage may be boring to some of you. We will explore the Zhùdìng Funnel and Lake Línshí, and I will give more or less the same information I gave you all when you first arrived at the Academy. As today's lecture is not new information, you are all free to interrupt with questions at any point."
And with that, the headmaster indeed falls into a speech that you have more or less heard before.
Saga of the Dragon -
It takes a bit of trail and error to find, but eventually Dun reaches the Archive of Mortal Qiángdàn Lineage, an impressive library that covers an area thrice the size of The City of Pai with shelves several stories high. The place is well staffed with Skeletal former mortals animated by powerful magics, creatures that your father would call liches back home. Despite lacking a true spark of divinity, many of these undead archivists approach or even exceed your strength. You find one of the weaker ones, and demand it lead you to classroom 1. It complies without complaint.
The classroom is like those in your father's re-education camps, minus the restraints. There are desks and chairs facing the front of the room, where the instructor, or in this case instructors, stand. You recognize Court Scholar Chet from when he burst into your homeroom meeting, but are unfamiliar with the powerful lich standing at his side. Chet speaks first. "Oi! Listen up! I only want to have to say this once! This fine skeletal lady standing beside me is High Archivist Jiāpu. In the early days of this Plane, she was a mighty mortal queen, who found a means to defy death so that she might play matchmaker for her descendants for all eternity. She did so for many generations, until her people were destroyed by factors beyond her control. Then she was brought here, and has been archiving the liniage of the various high houses of Qiángdà ever since. You will be hard pressed to find anyone who has worked at the academy longer than Jiāpu, save for the emperor himself and his blood relatives. I will not tolerate any of you disrespecting her just because she is not a god."
With that, Chet offers Jiāpu the floor, and the venerable lich speaks. "This class will be simple in structure and execution. When we meet, I will take you through case studies of mortal procreation and eugenics that I find interesting or of likely value to my class. In addition to humoring me on these lectures, you will each complete two predictive eugenics reports in which you will breed mortals of your choosing, and submit a written paper predicting and analyzing the traits of the offspring. You will be graded on your ability to predict and analyze the offspring's traits, and not on the usefulness of said offspring. Once you complete your two reports, you will be given your choice of a hands on final project, or a written final exam."
Jiāpu then gestures back to Chet. "As long as you are part of my course, this court scholar will be at your disposal. If you request his aid an age in advance, he can help you round up interesting mortals, provide divine assistant to otherwise incompatible mortal pairings, or provide any other service related to eugenics or your class assignments. Are there any questions for me or requests of Chet? If not, class dismissed. Nobody likes a lecture on the first day."
---
Elbakaepsnu soars to the civilized lands east of the Ashen Wastes. Upon arriving the Eldritch dragon-god makes a big show of circling one of the larger fortresses for several hours and bestowing minor corruptions upon the surrounding land, before landing on the tower, and demanding an audience with the local lord. Elba find it harder to warp his frame to physically fit through the doors of the fortress than it is to coerce the guards to grant him entry.
The lord of the fortress is an elderly and obese human, who introduces himself as Duke Azazel. It does not take much intimidation to secure his loyalty, as the man is not only a coward, but also facing the sort of problems that a mortal might turn to a god to solve. The Larger human nation, it turns out, is caught deep in the throws of civil war; The King was recently killed, and now the families of his three sons, each sponsored by a different deity, fight for the throne. Duke Azazel has thus far been able to maintain his neutrality by pointing out to the factions that attacking his forts, which all sit on the border of the Ashen Wastes, would allow The White Locusts of the 72nd Infantry the opportunity to strike into human lands. He worries, however, that eventually one of the warring factions will become desperate or ambitious enough send him an ultimatum, or even attack his lands without warning.
In addition to a civil war over a larger throne, the old human is also deeply concerned with the succession of his own title. Duke Azazel controls four of the five forts that border the Ashen Wastes. The fifth has been seized by his estranged wife Lady Mira, who seeks to give their only son the Ducal Title. Duke Azazel, however, doubts the legitimacy of Lady Mira's son. Instead, he would prefer to be succeeded by his niece and concubine Lady Jasmina, who is both the Duke's 'true love' and mother of the only children that he is confident are his own offspring.
"If you use your divine strength to protect my title and lands, I will serve you until my dying breath." He swears.
Success! You may RP with Duke Azazel to work out the details of his servitude.
---
{null} sets off to the ashen wastes, and quickly finds a suitable spot for its first project near one of the salvaged camps. The hardest part of the entire creation process is booting up the creation suite software. It quickly finds that whoever had modified its memory had also, perhaps accidently, uninstalled some key drivers and changed some hardware settings. The nameless god spends most of the saga, many mortal months, wandering the wasteland tinkering with its own subroutines before the creation suite finally launches!
Once running, the Creation Suite renders the design and implementation of the Ironwood Trees a trivial task. As the subroutines and printing hardware conclude their work, {null} finds itself standing in a copse of metallic wood! The god notes that the process was slightly inefficient, as a handful of the trees came out too damaged or incomplete to grow or reproduce. Not wanting to be wasteful, the infant deity uproots the doomed plants and takes them back to open storage.
Success! A Copse of Ironwood has been created near the Salvaged! You may add the value 5 resource 'Recycled Ironwood' to open storage.
Saga of the Snake -
The Saga passes uneventfully.
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Topic: Academy of the Young Gods (IC Thread) (Read 18971 times)