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Okay, so I've gotten a bunch of messages about this and have held off on answering them in the hope of eventually coming back to the game, but unfortunately at this point I'll have to call an end to it. Life has become very complicated and I don't have the time to mod/write/run a complicated game, unfortunately. I didn't want to leave this unfinished though, so I've reworked the next update into a mini-finale, of sorts. Sorry again, this'll have to do for now.
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Sep 11, 2020 03:33
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| # ? May 5, 2024 01:39 |
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DAYS REMAINING - 0 DAYS REMAINING - 0 DAYS REMAINING - 0 ANNIHILATION  The beings that thought they ruled this world, this earth, this Everything, were slowly withering without even realising it, their power diminishing as they fragmented into Pantheons and caved into Rage and waged their War... They thought they were gods. But they wouldn't be gods forever.  The first act of this Day was with Tse-Goa, god of Openings, who wanted to split the Center of the World open. Bringing his hand crashing down on the Volcanic island… But something goes wrong. These are ancient Spells protecting this place, Spells wrought by other gods, and these Spells absorb the impact of Tse-Goa’s strike and redirect it into the loam and rock and fire instead. Sick of the very nature of the earth acting against his every action, Tse-Goa spat and gnat and turned away from this world, perhaps to meddle in someplace else. (Backfired roll, the Center of the World instead grows considerably larger.) His fate would be bestest among the gods.  From the chaos and disorder sown across the course of the Fourth Day, another god had sprung… and Jester wanted only one thing – to sow more. And so the god of Chaos reached down and grasped the very fabric of existence, and pinched. (Excellent roll, random WarpWays appear throughout the earths and waters, allowing instantaneous transportation between them...)   Meanwhile, Athruithe Beaga, she who was once called Doomsbane, was growing weaker. She turned to the only true threat in the vast northern continent – the Beast-King of the Humans. He was deformed and maniacal and unstable, so Athruithe Beaga tried to craft an Artifact that would allow him to transform into his old form, even if temporarily… Only, it didn’t work out exactly as she intended. (The Amulet of Atrophy, an Artifact of Power, is crafted and granted to the Beast-King. Formed by corrugated bone, it transforms those who serve the Beast-King into beasts of their own. The Humans gain Beastlike, devolving into wild beasts that will eventually be hunted into Extinction by other Peoples.)  But while she withered into something else, into a mere spirit of chance in the twisting strings that belched forth Life, those that once worshipped her were raising a mighty fortress in the depths of the Swamplands, ringed by walls that stretched above and below those murky waters. (Mór Domhain, or the Depthless Gate, is raised in the northern continent. The holy city of Worms will stand for a thousand years.)   The prince of the Stars himself also got involved with the Tyrant ruling over the Humans. Eispas tried to tried to ordain a mortal champion, taking a promising newborn under his wing and watching over him as he grew, protecting him from the terrors that blighted his childhood, training him for his ultimate destiny in overthrowing the Beast-King… (Maag, a Champion of the Gods, is chosen to overthrow the Beast-King. He leaves home to fulfil his destiny upon reaching adulthood, and is promptly devoured by the Beast-King. (This event sets most of the northern continent firmly against the gods, joining the Anti-God League in opposition to any further divine meddling.)   At the same time, as the last tendrils of ash seep from the skies and cracks heal in the earths, a god of the Underworld turns his gaze on the west, where he compels the caves beneath the Starry Peaks to expand into earth and rock, enlarging the Valley above them. (Great roll, Starlit Valley is greatly expanded, as are the Starry Caves beneath it, forming a vast and complex tunnel system incomprehensible to most.)   Meanwhile, the lord of Undeath turns to Star Elves as well. He drops down into Starlit Valley intending to gift these creatures with the powers of Necromancy… but having learned not to trust foreign gods, the Star Elves adopt a completely different philosophy… (The Star Elves gain Blood Sacrifice, many of them cutting their own lives short in desperation to return to the Stars. The Star Elves become a minority People, haunted by their fallen past, they wander the earth telling strange mystical tales forevermore.)  Sitting amongst his waddling creatures in an empty quarter of Starlit Valley, Ca-Ra-Oh finally felt some sense of peace. This was a good place, and in thanks, the divided god took one of the many Mu-Dhroll in hand and pressed a finger into their eye, hoping to endow them with the same calm tranquility that they felt. Only, um, maybe some parts of the god were working against the rest. (The Mu-Dhroll worship a new religion, the Way of Clay and Stone, centered on primitive and violent expansion.) (Using the Warwaps, they will conquer vast swathes of the world within a century before turning on each other in a series of great civil wars.)   Feesh was also looking for believers before he was completely forgotten, deciding to spread word of his Pantheon to the godless fish that roamed in the dark caverns of the sea floor. But these were a wild and mystical breed of the Nomadic Piscans, and remembering stories of the Great Chase, they had been waiting for the return of Feesh. Without missing a beat, they hurled nets and threw chains and trapped the god in a whirlpool of steel and twine, pulling and squeezing and crushing… (Awful roll, Feesh is Killed by the Piscans, exploding into all manner of creatures – snails, fish, squids, but mostly Crabs, thousands and thousands of tiny Crabs.)  Around this same time, Khurol was busy in the Easterplaces, where the Sap Sickness swept across the Great Wilder time and time again, clinging to the insides of Trees until they weren’t Trees any longer, only Sap. And the god of Life chose a large, open clearing as the place where that these Living Sap could call their own, a place where they could make a home for themselves. (Sap Sity, a Walled City of Living Sap is founded and immediately attracts a large Population, enough so that a smaller Town, Second Sap, is founded nearby. These cities will eventually grow to become the metropolises of the world.)  But while Khurol was working alongside his creations, clearing rotten Trees and scavenging Wood and raising Walls, the Great Trees that survived the Sap Sickness were watching. They watched this god that took so much from them, until they could watch no longer. Gathering under their King Oakenroar, who had crippled himself in peeling Living Sap from his bark, the Great Trees attacked, ferociously fighting Living Sap and their god until… (Khurol is Betrayed by a cowardly Living Sap, and is Killed by Oakenroar, speared in his branches.) The god of Life, the greatest enemy of Tree Folk, was finally dead. When the Trees finally retreated, a survivor by the name of Sabersap took the body of the broken god and carried it back to Sap Sity, where he held vigil as Sap everywhere came to glimpse at their fallen creator. (Sabersap, a Champion of the Gods, becomes a revered Sage and King of Sap Sity. His lineage will rule for many millennia down the line.)   But in some places, isolated from the rest of the world and by brute force alone, the gods hold power still. In the harsh terrain called Rock Country and bustling city called An, the ever-shifting form of Bet-Erin – now God-Queen Bet-Erin – ruled with an iron hand. Bet-Erin was a two-faced god, however, and her slaves had their good days. Wearing the face of creation, Bet-Erin imbued them with a sense of creativity, a sense that they translated into their work, burrowing deep tunnels and raising intricate towers that soon linked the entire city of An. (The Fire Ants gain Architects, and An becomes known as the City of Spires and Shies.) And wearing the face of destruction, Bet-Erin took Ant after Ant into his bed and fashioned heirs for himself, enough heirs to control this vast populace, enough heirs to rule until the end of time - the Era. (Only just successful, the Era are Demigods borne from union between Ant and god. The Realm of Bet-Erin holds control over Rock Country for most of memory and time, their prophesied overthrow always a generation away.)   Traversing the wooded Land Bridge joining the Center of the World to the Easterplaces, Rager managed to concoct a People of his own. He was growing weaker and duller, but after much tinkering, the god of Celebration finally managed to shape something that would protect him, love him, celebrate him, even after he was gone and forgotten. The Satyrs. (A new race become Sentient, the Satyrs populating parts of the Easterplaces.) (Partaking in deeply spiritualistid and hedonistic festivals, the Satyrs keep the memory of Rager alive even when he is little more than the voices heard and spectres seen by drunken fools.)   Vivien-Alterra looked down at the Trees of the Great Wilder – rabid, diseased, godkilling beasts that they were – and realized that the only way to cut them down was from within. So the god of Cleansing turned to their cousins in the Willowood and blessed them with Symbiosis, allowing those Trees to meld with other Peoples in strange ways that (The Great Trees of the Willowood gain Symbiotic, allowing the Trees to literally meld with other species to a create a new, unique individual.) And then the god commanded these blessed Trees to go forth from their Woods and meld with the cursed and unfortunate… but the Trees had ideas of their own. (The Authority of Symbiotic Mixing is formed, an Order that rises to dominate Willowood and strictly controls Symbiosis with other Peoples to retain benefits for the Great Trees. Using this form of selective melding, the Symbiotes eventually becomes the governing power of the northern continent, with the sole exception of Mór Domhain.)  At the same time, the Wandering God was enjoying himself in the dark depths of the seas, where the Piscan Nomads roamed. He had his way with their females, and once they dropped their clutches of eggs, Riplastene lovingly caressed them with a slender, pointed finger… (A subrace of the Piscans, the Landbound Piscans are formed. They are born in the water and climb onto the surface of land upon adulthood. The Landbound Piscans gain Demigod.)  The god of Demigods then turned to his other children – the Angels soaring above the Topless Tower – and commanded them to cross the craggy waters and raise another Tower on the slopes of the Volcano, at the Center of the World. (Another settlement of Angels is founded on the slopes of the Volcano, the Slender Tower.)  And finally, Riplastene looked to his favorites. To the strange and wondrous Jinn, he gave a simple command – to rebel against Heaven, and migrate from this world altogether. But these mystical creatures knew that this command broke the natural law, and three of them – the Jinn of Fires, the Jinn of Steel, the Jinn of Winds – grasped their mother in their fists and savaged her, tearing and clawing and biting until the Wandering God was still, and lifeless. (Disastrous roll, Riplastene is Killed, and the Jinn gain God Complex. They see themselves as the natural gods of this earth, only a rung beneath the gods above. The Jinn migrate to the Center of the World, declaring the Volcano as their house, and the world as their Destiny. Using the Warpways, they will wage the Great War on the rest of the world, the most terrible conflict to take place without the direct involvement of the gods.) By now, surely, it is clear that the time of the gods is coming to an end. A chaotic, disastrous, bloody end, but given the way that the Five Days have gone, that's not much of a surprise.  Still, gods are born out of need, and in these desperate times where gods are not needed, the last of their kind was birthed. Miney, god of Friendship, quickly got to work in bringing folks together by raising a longhouse in which everyone could be friendly and happy. (Vän, the Longhouse of Friendship, is raised as sacred holy ground in which none – even sworn enemies – can spill blood.)  And, sensing his shortened lifespan quickly ebbing into the airs and attitudes and strange things called manners, Miney cast about a flourish that would resonate through the Days-to-Come, uttering the words of a Spell that would, if successful, bind Peoples into Pacts that cannot be broken, not until their tongues and eyes were one with dirt. (The Friendship Pact is made Natural Law, an unbreakable vow that literally cannot be broken, thus ensuring that all truces and agreements and alliances are set in stone. The power to betray is thus revoked from mortalkind.)  And that was the last act of the gods. The last act of any consequence, at least. No good comes with fraternizing with the gods, that much is clear by now, in the Fifth Age of the World. The gods that weren't pulled down and slaughtered would simply wither away, some into minor spirits and others into odd customs and others still into strange things hiding in the dark corners of the world. Their time is over. And all that remains is the world they made.  Someplace far from here and Sometime far from now, a spirit was born from the ashes of another. As the Hag of Ages sank into the soft soil to be gnawed by beasts and burrowed by maggots, her crueler and grimmer sister looked down with a wrinkled nose. Moira, goddess of Necromancy, would avenge this death… with undeath. And she would begin right here. This place where she was standing, called the Center of the World, was older than many gods and had sustained many Peoples, and yet nobody walked on her soft grass or swam in her glassy lakes any longer. Not until Moira stretched out a hand, and clenched. (The dead rise! The Lich, bones that once formed the skeletons of Exiled Humans, knit themselves together and rise from their graves.) (The Lich Invasions begin.) 
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Sep 11, 2020 03:33
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