Cycle 5And so the children rose against their parents
Crystal fought Crystal
It was called
CrystalmachyAs the Geminae descends into self-conflict, dark grappling with light, for now a stalemate, as the tenebrous worm matches the former sun blow for blow upon the battlefield of their own body. Perhaps an outside force could tip the scales in whichever direction they favour?
In between gnawing and scratching at each other, potent decrees spill forth from vaporous vocal chords,
to repair the Throneworld with Cloudseas and Cloudstone. *static*
Gaping holes left by the assault of Ferrous fill up with strange liquid mists, deep ravines filled with firm cloudstone, and of course their shadows, inkseas and inkstone. The minor earthquakes slowly tearing apart Throni decrease in frequency as its structural integrity is somewhat restored.
Seals begin to make strange cloaks of woven inkstone, which allows them to move freely under the rays of the mutagenic Sun-Shell, though the Sun-Children still hate and attempt to devour them, but are being slowly pushed back from an unstoppable terror into a stubborn irritant of the sun-kissed lands. Strange thrones and buildings of Cloud and Ink spring up close to deposits of such as tribes settle in, but so far the effects of these divine materials has been largely limited, perhaps by the imagination of the seals or their lack of trading routes.
Sadly, Geminae notes that at least for now there is still plenty of metal in the Throne-World.
Asbestos asteroids impact against the outside of the Shell-Sun, forming pockmarks and rich deposits of asbestos for any life that might be interested in that sort of thing.
It is discovered that the treasured Nectarine which was once gifted to Geminae has gone missing!
As have the Sun-Dogs.[Stalemate!]
[+1 Harmony]
[Rich reserves of strategic cloud resources have been located]
That the Sandywood shall sprout into existence and flourish
Amidst the pleasing susurrations of background seal suffering, the you that is Utugar feel a pleasing glow within your inner prides as the Seals offer up great Inkstone and Cloudstone thrones to you upon pyres, the thrones melting into puddles of ink or water putting out their pyres, which is seen as a sign as the great Throne in the sky has accepted their sacrifice. Some Seals vow that one day they shall not need to slave away making thrones for the bigger throne, but sit upon it!
It is upon such an eve of Auspice that from your many hands resounds the musics of divine creation, twisting and branching into the the populous Sandywoods, which sprouts up around several Seal Huddles. With a thick layer of petrified insulation from any potential legal attacks, they shape themselves and their clonal colonies into mysterious sigils that ward against the gloriously resplendant and their ilk, making it harder for them that it already was to perceive or interact with such minute creatures. As the compass, which was blocked by the Shell-Sun, is muffled even further, the Seals tend more towards being homebodies, pretty much staying in one place and ignoring the larger world outside their little huddles.
As a result, some Seal groups believe the Sandywoods to be cursed, and move away from any areas where they grow.
The Sandywoods seem to dim the light of the sun in their immediate area, decreasing ambient light levels and incidents of mutation.
The Seals have over time gained a slight translucence in your sight as your trees propagate. Uh-oh.
You may need to relocate your garmanent thrones before you misplace them.Seals continue offer up their blood upon altars to unknown beings.
Seals who you attempt to matchmake treat you like the crazy old aunt that keeps asking "So, when are you going to get married then", and you fail to make much headway.
[Failed to reclaim matchmaking authority.]
[The Throne-World becomes less significant]
Decree: Weep seas
Eschara weeps for the tragedy of reality where even as nothing threatens it, her siblings fall into infighting, uncaring of the plight of the poor plants. Her tears burst from the ground in great geysers and fountains inundating most of the surface of the peach-moon in seas of saline water with a golden hue, which proves an adequate legal insulation against No-Flesh. Islands and mountains that rise above the waters however, have now thoroughly petrified. Thick, stony scabs upon the peach-moon, transmuted and graced by the No-Flesh Law.
Eschara shudders slightly from leftover sobs, this causes tsunamis and small cracks in the skin of the moon, which cause deep chasms as the bottom of the Weeping Seas, mysterious abysses leading to the divine secret hidden deep at the core of the moon.
The reeling after-effects from the massive collision with the Blood-Moon has send the Peach-Moon reeling towards the Ring-Hub, in whose orbit it will soon be caught if no action is taken to prevent this.
In primordial origin of the weeping of the seas, several Blood-Spawn, asbestos asteroids and echoers have impacted against the lunar surface, most in pleasingly aesthetic sprays of seatears, lending to a rakish, cratered air. The Blood-Spawn, reverting to their organic selves beneath the waves, begin feasting wildly on the delicious peachflesh of the seafloor, growing fat and corpulent. The echoers, mysteriously extremely buoyant, float upon Weeping Seas until they wash ashore on stone-islands where they beach and mumble incoherently.
The Peach-Moon is blessed with shoals of coppery lilies and silvery butterflies who drink of their nectar.SuRai-od plants the astral seed in the competitive ecosystem of Plantia. It blooms into the joyous sunflower, bane of illusion and fear, who will reveal the truth to those who partake of its seeds. It begins growing a valley of lesser kindred, carving out for themselves a niche in the savage ecosystem, by the might of their thorn-covered tendrils ripping apart interlopers.
AWE dances and twirls in shining and breaking and flowing asbestos. They create the species of breakers
Hypnotic patterns of divine dance coalesce into the first of the breakers, roaming pillars that grind panels to dust under their millstone feet so that they can feast. More adventurous Djinni sometimes climb up and ride around on the Breakers, and suckle at the bounty of their spinnerets.
Yet the dancing never ends, and other, more predatory creatures puff into being in the nominal atmosphere of Ferrous. Gaseous Valves raining mercury-blood onto Ferrous, from which hatch the far more fearsome Valve larvae, fierce and deadly predators of living mercury that can fit easily through any crack. They topple many breakers to feast on their nutrient rich innards, and harry many Djinni Carpets.
The Djinni, between the twin threats of Unknown Dread and Valve Larvae, suffer much this cycle, creating the rich soils of horror and grief in which with the final lullabies of a weary AWE, many seeds of hope are sown, to grow into an indomitable spirit of optimism, that will always drive the Djinni to overcome their challenges.
Through mantras and repeated chanting the Djinni try to convince themself that there is nothing to fear in the unknown, and they sleep together in great cuddlepiles to avoid nightmares. This seems to help starve out the Dreads that plague them, making attacks by the fear-monsters less frequent as they are deprived of energy.
One particular champion of Hope, a Djinni named "Too-Many-Questions" stumbled upon the ripening deposit of Dragonbone set into place by geological schemes, and forged from a (comparatively) small piece of ore the great Spear of Pride that could slay even the Silver Killers and the Half-Seen Dreads.
Become a hero told of in song and dance, travelling from carpet to carpet on great Breaking Steed, hunting down monsters that would kill kith, kill kin. Uncrowned king of legend, ruling nothing yet venerated by all, graced by the Moons of Hope and Noblesse.
In travels, discover Too-Many-Questions, Amulet of Regeneration, which heals wounds and ailments.[A hero arises!]
[+1 Harmony]
[+1 Spherical Alignment]
[Something begins to peck inside the moon of Nobility]
"Come along, it will be fun!"
It was fun, for a time, as the couple and their energetic child saw the Ring-Hub, oohed and aahed at the Celestial Abacus, marvelled at the orrery of the lesser constellations, navigated through the endless maze of Rainbow Roads, wondered at the Soul-Sea and basked near the Shell-Sun, slowly tearing the Marrowed Prophet in twain.
, and secretly pilfered the celestial dice for safekeeping.But as time passes, the imps infect you from your moon-wife, crystallizing your masterfully crafted gardens into gaudy immobility. Grim news travels among the firstborn, as you keep having to bat off annoying spawn of the Blood Moon who screech annoyingly, and try to conceal themselves inside asbestos asteroids to crash into your surface.
Finally sparks inside your child, who seems to be maturing and growing up over the journey. It is as you idly view the Peach-Moon, last remnant of the Flesh in visible reality, that the Mirrored Mantis speaks.
"
Father! Great is your beauty! Great is your wisdom! Great is your strength! I am going to rescue my friend, which that mad godling devoured so cruelly! Do not miss me, for I shall grow only ever greater to better reflect your glory!"
The light of the compass enclothes him in the panoply of the Seeker, and in his tendrils of aurora there yawns into existence a strange dragon headed scepter of finest Corux. Travelling to Ferrous to rescue the Contempible one, and with wave of sceptre, all Imps depart from the surface of you and your moonwife to follow call of liege-king, surfing on ripples of the auroreal river, cackling and gibbering.
You eventually settle on the opposite side of the Shell-Sun from nothing in particular, your trailing train of Rainbow roads finally beginning to stabilize again.
[+1 Spherical Alignment]
Let it be known: Metal is that most exalted of Materials, and in all things, Metal excels! Fools might make a shield of wood, a sea of clouds, a wall of stone, a throne of light, but true craftsmen - those who know truth and goodness - will make a Shield of Bronze, a Sea of Quicksilver, a Wall of Steel, a Throne of Gold!
Like blocks of lead getting imprinted into the parchment of the real, so your declaration resounds. Thump. Thump. Thump. While the effects will be subtle at first, they will resound and echo and influence many things for a long time to come.
Already however, you notice that the Sanguine Lunar's Spawn function much better than they did before, though their behaviour also seems to become more erratic and... glitchy? your divine intuition tells you. They are already at the edges of what you can easily perceive however, and it hard for you to investigate further.
There is a faint echo from the World that is a Throne as well, but your sight is shrouded and warded.
Some completely unremarkable asbestos comets may have impacted upon fields of verdant panels, causing minor cataclysms and disturbances in the Asbestos Eco-system. Breakers, Valves and Djinni swarm to compete for the rich bounty that has fallen from the sky.
In a fit of pique, She-Road fashions a strange metal-transmuting ecology upon the Throne-World, which will transform the supposedly superior into crystal, stone and flesh. While copses of Sandywood, grown into strange, blurred patterns, hinder the decree somewhat, suddenly the variety of life on Throne-World increases greatly, as the Seals are met with strange animals with skins of stone and crystal.
who break into their cloudstone furnaces and devour all the copper logs they were smelting.This has led to several of the metallic forests of the royal qi being cleanly devoured by the ecological calamity of the devour-beetles, leaving large areas of the Throne-World bare and lifeless, exposed to the merciless beating sunlight.
Empty land for the Sandywood to propagate into.For the first time the
seals need contend with something that is not natural disaster or other
seals (often those driven mad by sun), and suddenly fashioning weapons becomes a far more popular pastime in their huddles, to better drive off the granite tigers and Hemopal wolves.
[?? manage to defend their settlements from animal attacks with weapons of supremacy][She of Roads: +1 Discord]
The Marrowed Prophet falls into a troubled sleep as celestial forces slowly but surely tear him in two, trying to fit his bulk through a gap too small for it. Nightmares increase in frequency.
[SLUMBERS THE FEAR]
Crystalmachy
At Utugar's feast of rocks and ' infants, which many may have protested, Eater seems to instinctively devour the flesh of a race on the cusp of civilization, probably seals, probably following its old imperatives. Speaking of imperatives, halfway through the feast, a mysterious dragon of Coruxion met with you and your spouse, partaking of the offered delicacies of roasted young, and speaking of the dire threat hanging over the eaters of civilizations. Of their father, driven mad by the tear that is not. Of the pounding demands in their heads that grow ever louder, ever more insistent, ever more
hungry.
Eater agrees to leave with the Envoy after a whispered discussion that you were not allowed to hear. To "prevent the spying of the divines" said the Coruxion one. Rude.
Your relationship advisor, fifteenth to hold the position, believes that Eater may be cheating on you, having grown tired of your unimaginative dishes. At least, that's what you think he was saying. He seems to have been mumbling for some reason.
Miffed, you seek out the Divamond dragon of Aahriikja, only to find them in a travelling troupe with Eater and the Coruxion one and Chtonyx, travelling along the skyroad, soon to leave the Ovum Lux, each carrying an inkstone sack that clinks suspiciously. Aahriikja rasps from a dozen misshapen mouths that if he survives what is to come, he will consider your proposal of a marriage.
CORUXION hungers. CORUXION beckons.
"LESSER PARTS OF ME, RETURN TO ME! YOU CANNOT ESCAPE MY SIGHT."
Coruxion, Dragon of Spirit looms ominously over Ferrous, roaring hungrily.
As your roars echo, Hemopal slithers from a mercurial lake, unwillingness clear in his cyclopean eye. You can see that he has grown somewhat since you first spawned it, though twisted and made strange by the no-flesh law, an aura of ethereal blood pulses around him.
Cerulean Garmanet crawls from an obscure crevice, eyeing you warily. As well the puny defeated wingless worm should!
You
pounce for Wingless, when suddenly, everything goes wrong. Springing from concealing mats of asbestos, a flight of crystal dragons suddenly attack you from all sides! Chtonyx, Eater, Kerubion, Prismeth, and... Corux, second greatest dragon of Ruin.
You struggle to defend yourself against the attacks of seven dragons, even as Hemopal chuckles mockingly, and you see the offspring of the Blooded Moon rising from the silver waves in strange stuttering motions.
Minor wounds accumulate, but you are after all a god, and they mere remnants. Slowly you manage to even the odds once more, cutting off a limb here, ruining a wing there. But. But.
With an indignant squawk, the Hopeful Phoenix flies to the melee from the distance, Too-Many-Questions upon her back. The Dragon of Blood start in surprise at the sight. The Djinni Champion, wielding the Prideful Spear, shouts angrily,
"Hold monster! I cannot allow you to devour husband of my patron! Also, which of you is the bad monster? And which of you is the husband? Also, I heard that one of you is married to a god? Is that true? Also-"
Well, a complication but still you should be able to-
Suddenly a pillar of noble moonlight enshrouds Too-Many-Questions, as with a triumphant cheep, the Noble Phoenix hatches from her moon-egg.
Y-you can probably still-
With a joyful burbling, the Mirrored Mantis finally streams into view from behind the Moon of Hope, your imps happily dancing upon his luxuriant waves, pointing at you.
You attempt assert your dominance over them, but the Dragon-Headed sceptre roars angrily as an illusory compass shimmers into view briefly.
"
Release my friend!" burbles the abominable godchild.
A vigorous beatdown ensues, in which you lose your wings and tail and acquire many unsightly gashes. Your defeat, and death, seem all but certain-
5:8 Once more taking His Nets in hand, Ferrous did set out to harvest Hemopal and Cerulean Garmanet, again intending to smelt them down to Dragonblood and Dragonbone.
Ferrous, upon which all this sacred violence had been taking place, finally noticed what was going on, and even better that the slippery crystal fish that has escaped his net had finally left hiding! A grand sky-covering net suddenly fell upon the assembled melee, as various combatants desperately scattered to avoid it. Eventually the phoenix of Hope, Dragon of Death, Dragon of Blood and Prismeth (who was too busy analysing the net to escape) were captured! Grievously wounded, Coruxion took this moment to make good his escape, but not before Corux, who had been clinging to him for a good while, took a vengeful bite from the Crystal Dragon God's eye before you manage to rip him off.
Corux smiles bloodily at the diffuse attention of Ferrous and roars as loudly as a gnat to be heard, through a partially torn throat.
"Hear me oh World of Metal! We have come to deliver upon the bounty that you issued! A mountain of metal, from myself and from Eater, in exchange for the promised rewards the freedom of our siblings you have captured! A good exchange no?"
Too-Many-Questions begins hunting down Imps while negotiations are ongoing, having deemed the net beyond its ability to break.
The much-travelled dragons are blessed by the Compass with Cloaks of Starlight, which will protect them somewhat against less subtle divine machinations[The Ruined Dragons have challenged their god-ordained destiny and achieved a pyrrhic victory, most of them at least partially maimed in the aftermath, but become greater from stolen gobbets of Crystal Spirit Flesh]
[Corux and Eater each offer a mountain of throne-stolen metal in exchange for Ferrous' promised rewards and the release of the hostages.]
[Borethyst appears to be missing!]
[Coruxion has somehow disappeared to parts unknown, with Mirrored Mantis in close pursuit!]
[Many Imps have been left behind on the surface of Ferrous where they now reproduce and wreak crystalline havoc]
[Ferrous is revealed to be infested by spawn of the Blood Moon]
[The Noble Phoenix has hatched!]
[Ferrous has become the central metaphysical locus of Reality. You feel your metal bones creak under the heavy attention of the crystal sphere]
[The Throne-World fades further into obscurity]
[Coruxion: -1 Spheric Alignment]
The Tower is Ascendant. Harbinger of Sweeping Change, Disruptive Revelation, Disaster, Divorce and Bankruptcy. Discover the Hidden Secrets of those closest to you.
The Minor Ruler is Prominent. Measure closely and find the inconsistencies.
The clicking beads of the Celestial Abacus warns that it is ready to begin fully enforcing the Karmic system of Harmony and Discord. May this bring Prosperity. Celestial Dice Countdown: 3 Cycles(Please point out errors!)Name: Levis est geminae
[Radiant Realm]
1 Decrees
2 Spherical Alignment
2 Harmony
Sphere: Lux- "Light"
Constellation: Corona Australis- "Gemini"
Temperament and Humours: Joyful, full of cheer.
Goals: Fun
Vice: Āhrīkya - Lack of "Shame"
Virtue: Laetitia - "Joy, Gladness"
Name: Eschara
[Radiant Realm]
2 Decrees
3 Spherical Alignment
1 Harmony
Sphere: Plants
Constellation: A nest filled with eggs hatching into various organisms
Temperament and Humours: Nurturing
Goals: To spread life throughout the Crystal Sphere
Vice: Death
Virtue: Growth
Name: Ferrous
[Resplendent World]
0 Decrees
4 Spherical Alignment
1 Discord
Sphere: Metal
Constellation: The Hammer and the Anvil
Temperament and Humours: Phlegmatic
Goals: Construct
Vice: Pride
Virtue: Noblesse Oblige
Name: Second Precept: Acter Working Entity [AWE]
[Shining Spirit]
2 Decrees
3 Spherical Alignment
1 Harmony
Sphere: Asbestos
Constellation: The Sun
Temperament and Humours: Choleric Bile
Goals: To imbue and strengthen
Vice: Blood
Virtue: Hope
Name: Coruxion
[Shining Spirit]
6 Decrees
4 Spherical Alignment
1 Harmony
Sphere: Crystal
Constellation: The Eye
Temperament and Humours: Vicious Blood, Restless Contempt
Goal: Ruin
Vice: Prosperity
Virtue: Despair
Name: Sheroad
[Radiant Realm]
1 Decrees
-1 Spherical alignment
1 Discord
Sphere: Trade
Constellation: Compass
Temperament and Humours: Assertive
Goals: Connected World
Vice: Overindulgent
Virtue: Charitable
Name: The Sculptor
[Resplendent World]
1 Decrees
4 Spherical Alignment
2 Harmony
Sphere: Beauty
Constellation: The Tower
Temperament and Humours: Joyous
Goals: Pretty Things
Vice: Contempt
Virtue: Creation
Name: Utugar
[Shining Spirit]
7 Decrees
2 Spherical Alignment
1 Harmony
Sphere: Thrones
Constellation: The Seat
Temperament and Humours: Phlegmatic
Goals: Lording over puny mortals
Vice: Pride
Virtue: More pride
Name: Marrow [SLUMBERING] [TEARING]
[Radiant Realm]
2 Decrees
-2 Spherical Alignment
1 Discord
Sphere: Soul
Constellation: The Fool
Temperament and Humours: Measured and Calm.
Goals: To Enrich the Souls of Mortals.
Vice: To Twist the Mortals.
Virtue: Honor.
Name: Bakukik [SLUMBERING]
[Radiant Realm]
2 Decrees
1 Spherical Alignment
Sphere: Justice
Constellation: The Axe
Temperament and Humours: Righteous
Goal: Fairness
Vice: Overanalyzing
Virtue: Equality
Author
Topic: Crystal Sphere IC: Cycle 7 [10/12] (Read 7457 times)