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[adwarf]

"I fear those outside of this mountain there are other gods some do not care about my creations here , but others would seek to destroy them , or cast them into a war for no reason except that they want to see them suffer."


Yes, it is those outside of his home that he fears may harm his creations his children. Some would just cast them out of their thoughts while others would create plans for their destruction , but he would not let that happen none would attack his children and survive. He will protect them even if it meant his demise.


" Do you see now why I fear for the saftey of my children ? I wish for them to grow strong , and until they can protect themselves I will protect them from harm.

[Demantiae]

Kain the Protector, Part 4.

There were other gods? Realization came over Neshara. She too was a god. Her awareness grew further, began to focus on the bein before her. He was Kain, The Shield, Father of the Dwarves. Yes there were others, Kain was right, she could feel them now, distantly tugging at her thoughts. So far away.

Neshara turned to look at the dwarves still rooted to the spot. She glided over to them gently caresing each of them with her hand. “Do not fear me my children I mean you no harm. As Kain fashioned you from the stuff of the earth you call him Father. Perhaps you can call me Mother as it is from my flesh you are sculpted?”

She turned to Kain. “I understand now why you nurture these dwarves, why you cultivate their futures. But I fear I cannot create as you do Father Kain. I am a Shaper not a Creator. Give me a stone and I will give you a diamond but ask me to create a diamond where no stone exists and I cannot.”

“I will watch over your children Father Kain, it would give me great pleasure to see them reach their potential. Perhaps they might even enjoy the touch of my hand as they have enjoyed the touch of yours?”

Neshara grew noticeably restless as her attention started to wander elsewhere. Almost looking right through him she addressed Kain again “Don't you want to know what is going on beyond your mountain? Don't you wish to meet these other gods?”

Kain wasn't even sure she heard his reply.

[ragnarok97071]

Magus Travels. Moving at a speed faster than possible by any but the gods, he descends into the Womb. There he seeks out the twisted remains of his Laylines. He can still feel their power, the magic that coursed through them, but now they are changed, wild and chaotic, with a heartbeat thrumming through their lenghth. He extends his power to the area around him, feeling at the remnants of the power that had wrought this change...

And he is surprised at what he finds. This power is not of any god which he has seen, warm, and deep, like a mother's embrace. This causes him to further investigate.

In an instant, he relocates to a nearby vein, and he feels again. He attempts to decipher what, exactly has been done to those Lines which course through the earth, and discovers that they have been utterly changed. what once were simply conduits for energy, structured and precise, had become a conduit for life itself, reshaped into veins, and causing those few caverns through which they now flow to teem with green life and creatures.

He extends his power along the lines, to the one that changed them, and extends a greeting.

Spoiler: No Color (click to show/hide)

"Greetings, Brother or sister. I hope I am not interrupting, but I am curious as to the nature of the one which has manipulated my creation. I am not angry, for you seem to not have malicious intent, but merely wish to meet you and discuss this."

Spoiler: Color (click to show/hide)

Greetings, Brother or sister. I hope I am not interrupting, but I am curious as to the nature of the one which has manipulated my creation. I am not angry, for you seem to not have malicious intent, but merely wish to meet you and discuss this.

[adwarf]

"Yes I wish to meet these other gods , but I must first must make sure my children are safe as for your other question I do not understand what it is you want. Do you wish to take some of my children from me?" Kain paused thinking then he said " If so that will not happen you may come here as often as you like to meet them even change some of them , but take them from me that will never happen. They may leave with you if they want to."

These dwarves are my children my creations unlike other gods I will not throw them carelessly ahead of me to check and see if there is something there to stop or oppose me. No , they are my children not pawns that can be sacrificed to make my life easier. This place they call home will soon be to small to hold there race and I then must allow them to wander away from here to settle else where. Before, that though I must teach them of the earth so they may use it to there advantage.

" I am sorry if I sound rude , but I must ask you to take your leave I have much to do to prepare my dwarves for the outside world." He then walked back to his chamber to think of what he must do to prepare the dwarves for expansion and war.

[Demantiae]

Kain the Protector, Part 5.

Neshara didn't notice Kain leaving. Something else had already caught her attention.

Greetings, Brother or sister. I hope I am not interrupting, but I am curious as to the nature of the one which has manipulated my creation. I am not angry, for you seem to not have malicious intent, but merely wish to meet you and discuss this.

A thought inside her mind. It wasn't her own. It came to her from along one of her veins, carried back to her as if it were a part of her. Without a moments hesitation her alabaster form melted back into the earth and was gone.

The dwarves remained standing in their spots. No longer were they afraid for their fear had been replaced by a sense of understanding. They looked at each other and at their hands for each of them still clasped the stones that fell as tears from Neshara's eyes.


The Artificer, Part 1.

The white-stone figure of Neshara appeared behind The Magus. He almost missed her lost as he was trying to fathom the change to the Ley Lines. Fortunately he wasn't so easily surprised.

She approached hooded figure slowly. Power emanated from him, so strong she could taste it on the earth. This one wasn't like Kain, there were no ties to the earth, no life emanating from him. He was alien to her. But she could not ignore the power she could feel within him.

“What are you?” she spoke defencively. “Are you the creator of The Womb?”. She dared not get too close lest she be burned by his malign presence.

[adwarf]

Now I shall insure that my children are strong enough to defend themselves. From the deepest parts of the Womb rise seven slabs of pure obsidian.

"This obsidian will be molded into the shape of seven perfect warriors I shall call you Creators your job is to craft others like you they will be known as Golems there job to protect my children. You have no emotion just cold calculating thoughts , but you will have undying loyalty to me and the dwarves. Now go make the Golems who will protect my children.

When he finished speaking there were seven humainoid figures standing before him about ten feet tall and five feet wide. Yes, they will protect my children at all costs they are the perfect warriors , and so they walked out of the room and went into a side corridor into a chamber filled with clay and diamonds it was thirty feet high and sixty feet wide the place where all golems would be made.

Kain creates the Creators who will create the Golems.

[ragnarok97071]

Magus recalls his power, and He laughs. the sound reverberates throughout the cavern which houses this particular vein, not quite malicious, but not very warm, either.

No, I am the creator of the Laylines, which you He gestures toward the one he had used to contact her Have made into conduits for a different type of energy. The creator of the Womb is our mother, the Overgodess, Nativa.

He looks toward His Sister. I find your changes, though I would personally not make them, to be... interesting. Life would not flourish in this place had you not done it, for example.

[Demantiae]

The Artificer, Part 2.

Nativa? A rememberance of a dream flooded into Neshara's mind. Yes Nativa was her Mother. She would have to seek out Nativa and thank the Overgoddess for her birth. But not yet, not until she determined what this Artificer wanted from her.

Neshara looked at The Magus blankly. “Changes? I do not understand. I know nothingg of Ley Lines or Conduits.” She looked at where The Magus was pointing. A small fungal bloom erupted from a crevice where nothing had been before, a small delicate flower crowning its form. In the dim light cast by a scattering of incandescent crystals both gods could seeit in all it's glory. Now Life, that Neshara understood. “Are you talking about these arteries, these veins that give life to both the earth and myself?”

Neshara thought of her birth of how her awakening had been one with the awekening of the earth. She remembered her nightmare, her oldest memory, of the heart pulled from the centre of the world, of how the earth cried in pain, of how Nativa wept for her creations and most importantly of all of how she was born. The goddess stared hard and cold at The Magus, focussed all her thought on the Artificer before her. “Are you the one who ripped the heart out of the world?”

[ragnarok97071]

Magus Thinks for a moment. No, I am not, and I do not know who perpetrated that act. When I was Newly born into the world, I created a network of magical pathways throughout the Womb, which passed through and around it. It seems that your birth took those within the planet and changed them to carry the chaotic Life Energy which you seem to be connected to.

He sits, and a chair appears. You are most likely curious about what is transpiring on the surface. I could help you get up to speed, if you wish. I must admit, I am curious about what the changes you have made in full to the Laylines.

[Demantiae]

The Artificer, Part 3.

“I don't exactly know what changes have occurred, all I know is that I am tied to the earth. What the earth feels I feel and what I feel the earth feels. I can sense the myriad pulses of life that exist within the earth, I feel the scratching and scrabbling of beings all around me, feel the shifting of the strata as if they were mortal feet on uneven ground. Through those pathways as you call them my life flows, it gives me the power the shape, to change, to mould the things of the earth. I have dreamed of beings lusting for power and using unnatural forces to obtain that power. There is no power to be found here, at least no power to be bound and tethered. The Life must flow through, awaken the potential within. We are the flame, this is the spark. We do not control, we feel. Do you undertsand?” Neshara barely understood herself. She had no idea who the 'we' were, if what she thought was true then nobody save herself could grasp the wonders of the Primordial. “Watch” she said excitement growing inside her.

Out of the rock wall came a few drops of water, slowly growing into a trickle, soon becoming  a stream pouring down the wall. The stream snaked it's way across the floor , ran close by the feet of The Magus and continued on until it found a crevice down which it cascaded.

“You see?” The Magus clearly didn't see. “I wished for a stream to cut a path across this cavern. From what I understand an Artificer like yourself would conjure a stream and direct it's course to suit your will or purpose. But I have no such control. The stream goes where it wills. It finds it's own way, I merely allow it to find that way. I could never re-create that same stream, that stream has its own life and no two lives can ever be the same. Do you underrstand now?” She hoped he  did. She had no diea where this aptitude for teaching had come from but it felt good to explain to another the secrets of Life and the Primordial.

“Now it's your turn, tell me of this place you calll the surface...”

[ragnarok97071]

As you say, I would find it hard to take such a light hand in my creations, whereas you would find it difficult to see the intricate orders of my power. I will tell you about the surface, then.

Actually, it is not much different from this place, though it has no roof, no walls, only open expanses, with a few exceptions. There are forests, rivers, mountains, and, though not as potent as in your veins and the areas around them, there is life. Creatures live, and die, and pass on their lives to their young. In particular, Godly interest has been focused on an area known as Dordrath, a city in the northern regions of the world. it is the first, a rather large grouping of peoples, mostly human, that work together to ensure survival.

Where there is life however, it seems omnipresent that death should follow. War has come to the womb, fanned by the creations of the Lord of the Sea, though he seems to have no direct part in it. I regret to say that I shall soon enter into this war, and, as with the majority of our Siblings, I am mustering those who owe me allegiance. You, however, need have no part in this.

There is a place where I spend much of my time, built at a place where the Laylines meet, a place for the Mages, my followers, to meet and learn. I help to train them to help their homelands survive, and intend for its students to be spread far and wide throughout the womb.

But I think that you should see it for yourself, as I am not very good at describing it. In fact, it is a very hard thing to describe in mere words. If you wish, I could show you some particular places of importance.

[nuker w]

As The Wanderer watched as his many siblings or their own creations started to gear for war, he realised that alot of his siblings had one thing in commen.

And that was that they had ones whom served them with passion.

As he did not wish to deal with mortals, no-less make his own, it was necceary to make one from what he had already.

Placing his hand on a passing Being of The Sand, he concentrated for a long time. Suddenly, large rocks erupted from the sand, and slamed into the being. More and more rocks colided as more Beings of The Sand joined the growing hulk of sand and rock. Casting his hand into the air, a large rift opened, flowing with the power of The Void. As the mound continued to grow and grow, spirits flew out of the gaping rift and into the rocks and sand.

And then it all stopped.

With a load clunk, the mound moved once. With another clunk, it moved twice. And with the third clunk, it rose its head.

Standing on its new found legs, the creature looked around it and at its self. The creature itself was in the shape of a giant humanoid, yet its limbs were made of sand, corrupted sand, darkness and rock. Standing 30 meters high, the creature dwarfed nearly everything in its view. Turning towards the bright Sun, Cyguc, the Great Being of the Sand, made his presence known to the world as he roared, filling the sand covered planes with the noise and the rest of the world with a warning; The Wanderer was ready for war.

The Wanderer creates Cyguc, the Great Being of the Sand. It is 30 meters high and is made of 'darkness', souls, rock and sand. As for how powerful it is, i'm putting both my acts into it.

[Demantiae]

The Artificer, Part 4.

Neshara was intrigued by the things told to her by The Magus. “Yes I would like to see these places, this sanctuary of artifice and the commune of mortals known as Dordrath. I wish to see the places where life flows free and creatures gather to pay tribute to the wonders of The Womb.”

All of a sudden the goddess grew gold, the life disapearing from her alabaster body. She stiffened resenbling a statue animated by mischevious magic. Dream-vision washed over her once more. “There is a cancer that eats away at my flesh. A great beast of corruption is born of my body. By the hand of another this corruption spreads. But Life stands in the way of the corruption. There is pain and sorrow, the spirits of the earth are powerless to stop its spread. I must stop its spread.”

When Neshara came to she had only one question for The Magus - “What do you know of the Corrupter?”

[Demantiae]

Lament of the Passionless.

Ogodon and Tishin had once been regular Dwarves. They scrabbled around in the dirt for roots, scraped the walls for moss and hunted Cave Rats  and Gingko Lizards for their meat and hides. Life was tough for the Dwarves. Whilst they were well suited to living in their subterranean environment they enjoyed few luxuries. When the ground was warm they were warm, when the ground was cold they were cold. Their crude tools required constant care and repair as did their basic clothing. But they were content knowing that Father Kain watched over them, kept them safe from his tomb of gold. At least they used to be content.

Ever since the appearance of the strange goddess who called herself Neshara Ogodon and Tishin had been restless. They were fortunate enough to witness the encounter between Father Kain and Mother Neshara. Whilst the other Dwarves tried to play down this event Ogodon and Tishin knew differently. It had changed them. No longer were they content to stay confined to their cavern. They asked just what it was Father Kain was protecting them from that they weren't allowed to leave their home. They asked what it was Father Kain wanted of them when he emerged only briefly from his tomb and quickly disapeared. They looked around at their fellow Dwarves and the Golems and they wondered why the creations of Kain had so little ambition, so little passion for the life given to them. It was as if eveything Kain touched was content simply to exist for it's own sake. But Ogodon and Tishin wanted to live they wanted to experience the lfie that had been given to them.

Such thoughts as these two had set tem asside from their fellow Dwarves. The tribe at large rejected their idea's as folly. Father Kain gave them everything they need. If they needed it Kain would provide it for he was Creator, Nurterer and Protector of them all. Ostracism was inevitable. Even the others who had witnessed the encounter between gods shunned them, betrayed their own senses and ignored their own idea's in favour of those of the tribe. Ogodon and Tishin would stand alone, man and wife as the only Dwarves with the courage to question their purpose in life, the only Dwarves with enough vision to see beyond their cavern and their simple way of life.

Ogodon and Tishin stood on the fringes of Dwarven society and they looked in. What they saw was a lifeless culture, of toil pursued by the passionless, of a tribe totally dependent on the direction of their creator. They knew there was more. Perhaps Neshara would show them more? Perhaps if they left the cavern-tomb they would find more?

Close to where Ogodon and Tishin sat a trickle of water began to snake down the wall. It was not there before but it was there now.

[Demantiae]

Spirits Awaken.

The Dwarves awoke to find a change to their cavern. They awoke to find a change to their entire way of life. A group, small at first but growing larger with every passing minute stared at a large section of cavern wall. Curiosity and trepidation held their gaze fixed at the point at which something had appeared.

Whilst they slept Ogodon and Tishin had been hard at work. They had awoken as one, related to the other fragments of the same dream. Neshara had visited them in their dreams, inspired them to this act. She had shown them the way, taught them the methods, awoken their minds and their imaginations. Feverishly they had gathered up stones from alll four corners of the cavern, crushed them down and mixed them with just a little water. To some they added their own fluids – blood in some, spittle in others. They had taken these elixirs of dreams and spread them upon the walls as if guided by the gods themselves.

Where once was empty rock now was a story, the story of the gods, the story of Kain and Neshara. Kain sat atop his throne of gold, his metalic skin protecting him as he protected the Dwarves. A great metal club lay at his side and a crown of gold adorned his head. He was Kain the King, Father of the Dwarves and Shield of the Earth. Next to Kain stood Neshara, naked in her white flesh, her four arms dancing in the darkness surrounding the figures. There was no crown upon her head but instead a halo of deep red sat above her brow. At her feet lay a field of green, of mosses and lichens that grew where she passed. She was Neshara the Queen, Nurterer of the Dwarves, the Heartbeat of the Earth. These figures were enormous, easily three times the size of the largest Dwarf in the cavarn.

Below the portraits of the twin gods of the Dwarves was told the story of Kain's reunion with Neshara. On a field of black the two gods embraced as long-lost lovers, as siblings abandoned and reuinted. The faces of the rock, spirits of earth and stone watched as the gods embraced; the creatures of the underground – the mole, the rat, the bat looked on in anticipation; flowering fungai sprouted at their feet intoxicated with joy.

The images did not only depict the past. Dwarf men, woman and children picked from the earth many bushels of moss. Dozens of Dwarven families could be seen picking at the fungai and the moss and the lichens of the earth, gathering them for some great feast. A great table of stone stretched across the cavern at which sat hundreds of Dwarves, eat enjoying the fruits of the gatherer's labours. Never had the Dwarves seen plant gathering on such a scale. Such was impossible for it took effort to locate new patches of edible growth, it took time for them to grow. Only by divine benefice could so many Dwarves hope to feast off so many plants.

The Dwarves were in awe. Never before had they thought to depict their history, their culture in this way. Kain had never shown them to do such things. This was clearly the work of Neshara!

Ogodon and Tishin stood before their masterwork, hands still covered with the evidence of their work, bodies smeared by the many colours of their dream elixir's. Their eyes were intense, locked onto this singular purpose. The Dwarves speculated that the spirits of the earth had taken control of their bodies and guided them in this work. One thing they knew for sure, they feared and respected these two. They were clearly the servants of the gods and spirits. They dared not harm them for fear of bringing witchery upon themselves. But neither would they embrace them for who knew what kind of strange supernaturual powers they possessed? They would forever be set apart from the tribe yet still they exert great influence over it.

The Dwarves discover Shamanism and take their first cultural evolution. It's the first step the Dwarves have taken that wasn't pre-ordained by Kain the Father.