"Issohn! What a marvelous name for a piece of land!" exclaimed Eago, completely mis-attributing his master's comment, "It shall be sung from the mountain-tops for decades to come!"
Eago bowed again, once again showing his knack for creeping civility. His head rose up and an arrangement of sigils and figures presented themselves before him, their golden, gently quivering icons completely indecipherable. Eago, however, seemed to recognize it, for after a quick appraisal, he nodded satisfactorily, and another phrase added itself to the jumble.
"I really should write all this down someday," he noted, as the sigils faded into air, "But on what? And with what?"
As he spoke, something shimmered in the air around him.
"Oh yes, I had nearly forgotten," he said absently, and with a mental tug, the shimmers solidified into solid states, "The Tempora, Time-Worms, if you please, parasitic by-products of this lovely thing called Time. Invisible to regular folk as a general rule, but capable of speeding up time and slowing it down. Generally at moments when such an effect is undesirable."
The Tempora were curious creatures, golden-scaled and looking like some bizarre hybrid of eagle and fish. Or perhaps is was more accurate to say that the eagle and fish were distillations of the Tempora's purer form. It had an extremely long, smooth tail, and whispered along through the air, utterly silent and, as Eago mentioned, completely invisible to mortals.
Eago diverted his attention back to Altair.
"Well I would have assumed my function was self-evident. I am the Steward of Time for that is what was appointed to me. I serve you in that regard, but I am also skilled in other matters. For example, the legitimizing and authentication of your reign, including your laws and creed. It simply won't do to have a King Among Gods if he can't be respected or followed, now can it?"
Eago nodded sagely.
"It shall be easy to record and realize your Code. But legitimizing your reign? Perhaps a task I should set my mind to at once."
Please recall that your changes to the world don't count unless you put them up on maplib! www.maplib.net/map.php?id=12931 Just put a pushpin or draw a box around the area you are changing and in the popup put what change you made. When we come to races... I'll have a few more instructions
Altair eyed the Tempora as they swam through space, barely perceptible even to his own eyes.
"Parasites?" His lip curled as he tugged on his gloves and reached for his mask. "I am not sure that I find much value in parasites."
He waved his hand, and below on Sericea there appeared a number of tiny, softly glowing lights. Closer inspection would reveal large insect-like creatures buried such that only a bioluminescent orb at the end of a long stalk dangled above the surface. The Tempora (and presumably other, not yet realized things) would be drawn to these lights, curiously approaching only to have the entire beast lunge forward and grasp the hapless creature in its powerful jaws.
1 PP: Spawn Creature: Myrmeleon. Part Ant Lion (grown to a large size) Part Angler-fish (In that it has a stalk that glows), the Myrmeleon is a large lurker-style monster who hides, buried in the ground aside from its stalk that lures prey into the vicinity before the monster surges out of its rubble-filled nest and siezes the curious creature. They find Tempora particularly tasty.
Vion peeked out at the worms and frowned. He left his sister's side and tromped over to one. "Quit it, you're doing it wrong."
He took the thing by its tail and it was unmade. There was no corpse, no decaying mass, just it was there one moment and the next... not. "Vion," his sister said with a warning in her voice, but the boy waved the warning away, indicating to give him a moment.
"You do it like this..."
A few droplets of water from the world below flew up to the boy's hand and he wrapped them in his shadow. In a moment he revealed them and the others there could see tiny things swimming around in the liquid. Vion split the water in half and threw part of it away. In the past, when the twins had created life, it vanished as soon as it left their hands, but this time the cells remained as the water fell back to Sericea. Vion wrapped the remaining water in his shadows again, and when he revealed it there were tiny organisms swimming around in it, plankton, and the water had a greenish color to it from algae that, now exposed to the light, was thriving. He split the water in two again and tossed part of it aside. He covered the remaining water again, and when he revealed it there were two things of note. One was a stalk-y plant that was already withering in the light of his father. The other was a sea worm that writhed in the brightness.
"See?" the boy asked. He let most of these creatures fall to the world below as well, joining the other things that had been created. The seaweed and worms seemed to enjoy the saltwater well, and as time passed in ways that Vasa and Vion did not yet understand, the creatures lived, died, and diversified. Soon tiny fish swam the oceans, feeding on microorganisms, and plants gave shelter to other creatures while, in the cool embrace of the water, they turned the light of the sun into energy for others to consume when they in turn were eaten.
However, he had kept one worm, to replace the one he had destroyed, and he offered it to Red Robe.
Vasa pulled her brother back to her, away from this Eago person. She didn't trust it, it didn't seem like something mother would have sent them.
She turned to Altair, "That is a wonderful sun, father. I am sure mother will love it, when she returns."
Vasa shot a glare at Eago. The look was full of defiance.
1 PP Nourish: Oceans - A basic level of sea-life is created. Generally it is quite primitive, but it has the potential of supporting more complex forms.
Eago shrugged, "They are not purely my creation. Truthfully, I bear little emotion towards them. They are merely a natural part of the universe."
"Now if will excuse me, I am off to serve my purpose," he paused and, with a little bow toward Altair, "I suggest you perhaps do the same? Master, your eternal servant." He turned to Vasa and Vion, "Little masters, forever yours."
He moved away from the other three, his gaze lingering curiously on the children. Then with a sigh, he turned, and departed.
He sunk through the canopy of air, and his feet came to touch the rough stone of the ground. But his thoughts were still up above the roof of the world with the children. He chuckled. Perhaps they were right. Perhaps that life was too fragile for this world. But he found it hard to create life. He hadn't been lying, those creatures were not his invention. Yet another gift from Vega he supposed. He laughed again. The exhalation sent whorls and ripples of dust through the air.
Now that he stopped to look at it, he realized how very dusty the world seemed to be, how plain. The water, the wind and earth had split, yes, but perhaps too rigidly so? Life may be fruitless to pursue, but this... this was doable. And it served a dual purpose. Two masters would be sated this day.
Eago raised a foot and brought it down. The limb slammed down, and with a great groan of heaving earth and cracks of slitting stone, the land itself seemed to split apart at the impact. It was new earth, soft earth, and came apart easily. His touch was like a knife slicing open the ground. He pulled at its progress, made the crack wider her, made it curve there. Soon he was straddling a great wide cleft in the rock of the world. He stared down into it.
Vion seemed disappointed that Eago didn't appreciate the worm more. Wasn't it a good worm? The twins had a lot of practice making life to entertain themselves, or, at least, they had memories of doing so. If that was real or not wasn't a question that consumed them. What was existence in the space between the ticks and the tocks of the clock anyway, except what one experienced and remembered?
His father's comment distracted him, though. Since the worm in his hand was still very much alive, he was confused at first. Then he noticed that the other things he had created hadn't disappeared, as they always had before. Time seemed to have a strange effect on things. Odd, ridiculous concepts like the past and future seemed possible now. There was more to the creatures that the Twins created than the moments of attention that they gave them.
Vion directed Vasa's attention below and together, hand in hand, they tromped off to look at the things that were existing without them noticing that they were existing. It was strange, foreign, but delightful concept. The two watched the creatures swim, grow, and consume one another. They did indeed easily die quickly. Part of that, however, seemed to be the fault of their father's sun. Anything that swam too close to the surface injured itself, as did any plants that grew too high. The algae seemed to do alright, but even the top layers of that grew burnt and brown.
As the two children watched, they learned more about how this life grew, and of death. It was so sad, that when a creature died it left behind only an empty shell. At least when the Twins had played, they remembered the toys that they created because they had watched them, paid attention to them. But now, with creatures living and dying regardless of their directly making it so, those creatures passed beyond recollection when they passed beyond life. Nothing of them remained.
After watching the things live and die for so long, Vasa and Vion decided to change them. They took some seaweed and planted it on dry ground. It withered almost instantly in the dry air and the bright sun. The Twins caused the walls of its cells to grow thick, stiff, and dense. The seaweed was then able to protect itself from the harsh light, but it was still withered as the ground was dry. They took its roots and caused them to dig deep, down through the soil to the watertable, and from their draw moisture. When this non-sea grass seemed stable, they took it in turn and stretched it, until it was non-sea bushes. These they stretched further, until they were non-sea trees, with wide branches and thick leaves. Though it was hard for the things to grow, they gave wonderful shade below their canopy. The twins spent much time in this shade. Their near-toddler like forms gave way to older ones as they grew older in the plant-y twilight.
1PP Nourish - Land Plants: basic forms of plant kind are introduced to the land of Sericea. The plants of this world (at least, all descended from these forms) are particularly fibrous and "woody," as their stems and leaves are designed to resist the strong light of the sun. Likewise, all plants from this ilk have impressively deep root systems. 0PP Cantrip - The Twins claim their starting passive domain, which is "Twilight," the mixing of light and darkness.
As the others wandered away, for the first time he could remember, Altair was alone.
He looked to his left and saw the Sun burning down on the earth below, embossed scrollwork covering the brass rings that glinted in the light. He saw a wave of blackness cover the earth as the rings converged, then watched as they spun apart and light returned to the world below. He looked to his right and saw some Tempora eying him cautiously. He waved a hand and they scattered. He looked down and saw the world below. A rift in the earth had opened up where Eago had gone, and patches of greenery had sprouted up along the coastlines of Sericea. It was, he admitted to himself, quite beautiful, but not nearly as beautiful as Vega, whose... he could not remember the color of her eyes. He frowned and shook his head. He then looked up and saw nothingness.
He concluded he did not like being alone.
He floated down to the surface and his mind was uneasy. Without even noticing, his divine presence called up the earth below him until it formed a mountain which bumped the back of his leg. Surprised, he spun and a blast of light knocked off the top of the mountain, which grumbled and sighed almost as if it was alive as it finished rising.
Altair sat down on the edge of the mountain and began to contemplate how he could fulfill his wife's wishes. She had (had she?) often spoken of such a future, but he had never thought it more than just a game she had played... coming up with a fantastical new world as a way to keep them entertained. Had she really forseen all of this?
"Hello my master," said a voice, "You seem troubled."
Eago was beside him, as though his troubles had culled him from the air itself. But something seemed different about the man. Where before he seemed servile to the point of creepiness, now the worry in the man's voice, which was low and almost anxious, seemed quite earnest. The man came to sit upon the edge of the mountain, and gazed out as well upon the world below.
"Beautiful, is it not?" said the Red One, and he sighed, "Your wife would have wanted this."
Now when the man spoke, all the briskness and business-like tone of earlier was gone, replaced with a curiously choked aspect. He seemed genuinely moved by Altair's sadness.
"Do not mourn the passing," he said gravely, "It isn't as though you're alone. It isn't as though you don't have a piece of her, with you always."
His gaze shifted to the twins, working with their nature in the distance.
"Besides, I come bearing gifts," remarked Eago, with a gentle shift to his normal briskness, "Gifts from the one of whom we speak."
Altair could almost imagine a sad smile on the Red One's blank face.
"These things seem to keep coming through," he said, "It's as though she isn't quite done giving. Here."
And from the folds of his robes came three objects. He did not hold them up, but rather they floated, suspended in the air. They weren't quite spherical in shape, one end of each seem more tapered. They were, Altair concluded, what he'd dub "egg-shaped" for that is what they appeared to be. Eggs. They were smooth of shell and faintly shimmering, as though a bright light were cast upon them, a soft light that cast its glow across their matte surface. One was a deep gold, warm and bright. One was a pale green, a more muted shade than the plants of the twins. The final one was the colour of a wave: turquoise, but marked with veins the colour of sea-foam. These Eago handed to Altair.
"It seemed foolish for me to keep them," he said, "They were, after all, hers... and now... they are yours..."
There was a special sort of sadness in his voice as he said this, but Altair couldn't define it. Irony? Resignation? He took the three eggs from Eago.
"I have been examining the world," said Eago, his eyes on the ground below. He did not seem to want to look at the eggs any longer, "Down beneath the earth. It seems this world is full of surprises."
From his robes was produced a shard of something silver, shimmering, not as the eggs had done, but more mundanely. Like the eggs, it floated in the air before them, more an effect of Eago than anything else. Nevetheless, the shard of 'metal' as it were was strangely intriguing. As Altair watched, its form became malleable, and it warped into various shapes. It became an eagle, a circle with jagged edges and something less easily definable. A face? Altair couldn't be sure.
3 PP - Forge Artifact - The Three Eggs - Each egg will birth a god, separately three time, contributing one PP each time. The artifact will work three times in total, and then will disappear.
1 PP - Nourish Land - Iron and other metals are found beneath the ground.
"They are beautiful, Eago. I feel her near them, if you know what I mean? Thank you for giving them to me... as long as they are here, you are correct, I do not feel quite so alone."
His eyes looked down to the south where his children were playing.
"Eago, I do not know them." He said at last, lacing his fingers together and resting his chin on them as he stared across the world. "I mean, I know them, for they are my children, but I can barely remember anything about them. I feel... I feel like I should formally adopt them or something, make this tenuous connection from Before into somethign real, just as the world was made real. You are constantly writing things down... could you not make up some form of contract for me to sign? I know it would be a completely foolish formality, who would deny it among the four of us? But... it feels correct."
The twins strolled along the shore of the eastern continent, the shore of the western one visible to their godly eyes. Vion bent down and scooped up a tiny fish from the water. He brushed his hand over it, letting some of his shadows sink in, and its fins grew strong. He set it down and it began to make its way over the mud, back into the water, then back out. Vasa smiled at the sight of it, but it seemed lonely on land, among the reeds that were newly growing out of the shallows. She took another sea creature and burned away what she didn't need. It was left with a small, black body, hair-like limbs, and translucent wings. Soon flies were buzzing about the reeds. The mudskippers seemed interested, but were unsure how to get at them. Vion took one and passed his hand over it again. It was left with a bulbous body and its fins had become thick stubs. He let the frog go and soon they were swarming just as much as the flies. Vasa laughed heartily and placed a hand on her slightly rounded stomach. If Altair's god-keen ears could hear, he might have thought he heard Vega's tinkling voice, as their daughter was much like her mother in that regard.
In no rush, the two gods meandered their way from south to north, creating life as they went for the amusement of each other. There had never been Time before, so it was strange to have time to spend together. Vion found Vasa's presence pure bliss. They were young gods in a young world, what happiness could exist that wasn't their's?
1PP Nourish: Vasa and Vion create a wide variety of amphibians and insects, which populate both the waters of the world and the lands.
3pp remaining
***
"Father?"
It was Vasa's voice that spoke Altair's affectionate title, though it was an older voice. The sweetness of youth was less in it. It had been lost, a little, in the time that she had spent away. In its place was the beginnings of the quiet ripples of adulthood, like water sliding over smooth stones. When the Lord of Light turned to look at the fragment of time that would have been his daughter, he saw a young woman in the place of the child that he had first seen. Her hair was longer, and curled into ringlets that framed her face. Her features were strong, like his own, but her nose was like that of Vega (though only his eyes could see such details).
Next to her was Vion, taller now, though still not as tall as his sister. His eyes were still soft, but his wild hair seemed to be more purposeful now. Some of his youthful slapdashery has perhaps gone away. He his darkness well, it seemed, though it was hard to peer deep enough to see the details. And in his arms, Vion held a small object. It was smaller than even the twins had been when they first appeared, but it seemed to have the same general shape, except instead of radiating it reflected the light cast by others. Its skin was a pale green, like the new buds of a tree, but its head was covered in a mass of leafy-hair. Two brown, fuzzy nubs grew out of its forehead.
"Father," Vasa said again. "We wanted to bring our child, Althas, to you and to ask for your blessing upon him."
As Altair looked at the child it seemed as if he could see it grow right then and there. This would be a strong one, to be sure.
2Pp Beget Minor - Vasa and Vion produce a son, Althas. Anubis, as soon as Toph has a chance to respond, you are free to start posting. Base weekly PP is 4, but all new gods get 8pp for their first week of existence. To note, while I indicated that Althas is just a baby right now, I tried to indicate that he'd be as much of an adult as you want as soon as you want.
