This got a bit longer than I planned. Flash of inspiration and all that. I merged Verinaath's background into the set-up, and I like it like this. Shikogan, I'm going to be abusing these guys for my highway-robber demigod's amusement.
Eons passed, and eons came, unheeded by the ebbs and flows of the immaterium of thought. Anger flowed through the stars, chasing in the wake of a dream of gain unfettered by perspective. Into the conscious realm of one world they drifted, seeping through the psychic shackles binding a being into the world.
With a roar that shook the skies, the massive being awoke. Verinaath returned to form.
”And I thought you'd never wake up. So good to see you're still alive! Did you have a nice slumber?”“Cram it,” the huge serpent barked to nothing as he shook the sleep from his limbs. “You take a meson blast to the face and see if your neurons keep firing. What did I miss?”
”My reception is limited I'm afraid. Your old pals the Glorbnoxs started a pan-galactic brawl over an ad-bot scheme. They're catching quite a bit of guff for it.”Verinaath let out a satisfied cackle. “Serves them right for that margin deal. Squid-faced bastards. Not that it does me any good stuck on this dirtball,” he cursed, staring at the muddy world below.
”Speaking of which, I have found activity on the surface. Some intelligent life has sprung up during your slumber.”The serpent feigned interest as he scratched his armored crevasses. “Anything worth waking up for? Class 9's? Extra-progressives?”
”All primitives, I'm afraid.” The demigod started growling.
”However, I've run some simulations, and identified a few candidates for, um, indirect uplift. Probability in the second quintile for at least one species to reach Class 4 within a standard core-turn.”A low chuckle echoed through the sky. “It has been a while since I impersonated a deity. Well, show me what you've got.” Reclining in the air, Verinaath watched images form in the twilight. A mass of representative spheres appeared, with a profile of a bald canid. “Natural born liars, huh? Sounds like my kind of scum.” Another mass of colors formed on their calculations. “Eh, immaterium is a bit crowded. You didn't mention I had company.”
”I did not detect any independents. Manifestations I believe.”“Just what I needed, more ghosts. What else is down there?” An image of a thin hairy humanoid appeared, with more spheres riddled with colored clouds. “What did I just say? I'm not competing with any damn spirits.” The last entry materialized, a four armed simian with smaller spheres. “This is a joke, right? A bunch of vomitous monkeys? Nothing useful alive on this grungy rock?”
”That's all the mid-sapient organics anyway. They do look kind of like you.” Deftly dodging the demigod's swat,
“Alright, alright. Well, they are industrious enough. You can probably scrap them up to your usual standards. They'll be profitmongering with the best before too long, if you can show them how to... appreciate... more things than... fruit.”The serpent let out a deep sigh. “It's going to be a long millennium. Well, let's get started.” And with that, Verinaath spiraled out of the heavens, towards another unsuspecting client. Thoughts whirled through his ancient merchant's mind of ways to entice seed picking apes...
I'll try to, uh... Let's see, I need to turn monkeys into plunderers. Think like a monkey...
Action 1 – Inspire the Jottar to seek out new and better foods. Hopefully, that'll inspire some opportunism.
Action 2 – Encourage them to explore and expand, especially northwest.
Should my primary sphere be Economics? I guess because I'm a god (technically) I add my bonuses to whatever the species prays for, or something like that. Eh, I'm having fun with this.
On that note, don't let my fiction screw up the rules. I assume gods can be both material and immaterial as they need to. If not, I'd rather be material.