Godhood XIV - Usurper [Jam Edition Turn 4]

{JAM EDITION #1}

The Tattooed Traveler was the first to act, placing a large planet in the cold, dark void. Trovat, he named it. The Dragons of Duality scoffed at his priorities. Together, they brought two suns into existence, Osvet and Zlovest. One emitted heat and light, the other absorbed the same.

The Lost Child looked to the future, to what mortals would see when they gazed at the night sky. He scattered glittering points of light across the void of space.

The Golden King appeared, and in one graceful exertion of will created the earth, sea, and sky of Zemina, Trovat’s planetary moon, and the first planet to bear life--in the form of humble green shrubberies.

The Chipper Otter elected to improve Trovat and solicited the other gods for their aid in doing so. He raised mighty mountains and hollowed out expansive oceans, dividing the planet into five parts. He concocted a grand plan: a world with water where the sky ought to be, and air where there ought to be oceans. The divine critter began by flooding the world. It did not cover the surface completely, but even without a gaseous atmosphere above, it could support life and would not boil away into the void.

The Ever-Lost added photosynthetic algae to the watersphere as he reassured the Divinity of Deception, who was fretting over the doomed future of space travel on Trovat. The Mammal of Mists proposed that the inhabitants could simply swim right out. Both assurances were rejected in favor of a good pout.

The Cyclical Snake created a new planet, Gakba, and set a moon into a cycle of collisions with it. The energy needed to ensure that this cycle would be non-terminating ought to have left the moon a fair bit smaller than it was, more an enormous asteroid than a proper moon.

The Artisan provides a critique as he adds his own divine touches to the young universe. He provides Zemina with a core of molten starstuff, seeds the crust with metals and minerals, and populates the surface with insects and small, semi-aquatic critters.

Having exhausted their creative energies, the Divinities finally begin to introduce themselves.

***

Trovat’s algae multiplies rapidly, tinting the blue sphere a lively green. In many areas the algae grows too rapidly, and this, combined with the crust of ice that forms on the Zlovest facing side, causes deeper blooms to wilt from lack of sunlight. They drift to the bottom and slowly decay.

Zemina’s orbit swings it closer first to one sun, then the other, causing frequent changes in temperature and light. The small creatures that populate it tend to be active only during the more moderate temperatures, resting beneath the water or the shrubs during the extremes. Occasional small earthquakes shake the small planet.

Gakba’s moon collides with Gakba for the first time. It is every bit as spectacular as one might expect, stone shattering and liquifying violently. As the moon slowly peels away from the impact site, it becomes apparent that it is not a solid chunk of rock, as it first appeared. Gakba’s moon is, in fact, a massive geode, filled with oversized crystalline ore of some strange, dark metal.

The Energy of New Beginnings provides everyone with five acts.

The Energy of New Beginnings fades slightly.

Acts

Chamenos: 2+6=8

Dalibora, Abselon: 0+7=7

Pacian IX: 0+7=7

Phwem: 0+6=6

Borlung: 0+7=7

Macian Scelle: 0+6=6

Alakim: 0+6=6

Universal Reference SheetShow

Cosmic ConstructsShow

Starry Sky: Star constructs strewn haphazardly around the universe. They shine, sparkle, and twinkle; providing a nicely sparkling night sky for all planets.

Osvet: A moderately sized yellow sun that radiates heat and light.

Zlovest: A small blue “anti-star” that absorbs heat and light. Distantly orbits Osvet.

Trovat: A large planet with five distinct continents, separated from each other by deep trenches. Has one moon, Zemina. and a watersphere. Temperatures range from tropical to cold.

Zemina: Trovat’s planetoid-sized moon. Zemina has an atmosphere, water, and simple life. active core. Temperatures range from scorching to freezing.

Gakba: Gakgalak Dipba-Yi.. An earth-sized planet, in far orbit around Osvet. Routinely collides with its moon. Temperatures range from frozen to absolute zero.

Gakba’s Moon: A small moon that collides with Gakba every so often. Is a geode filled with a strange dark metal.

”Locational Constructs”Show

“Trovat:”Show

Autotrophic Algae: Grow in the watersphere. Photosynthetic.

“Zemina:”Show

Simple Green Shrubs: Short and green. Photosynthetic.

Insects and Small, Semi-Aquatic Animals: A well balanced ecosystem.

Metaphysical ConstructsShow

Energy of New Beginnings: The birth of a universe empowers all divinities with a certain amount of creative potential! The number of acts received from this event decrease each turn, so be sure to establish something under your spheres before it's completely gone.

Phwem jumped around the universe, brimming with new energy. He happily jumped over to Trovat, now with enough energy to continue his work.

Phwem breathed air onto the planet(-3 acts), this air made up of a strange mix of chemicals called Phwemitum, denser than water at room temperature, though forming a solid that is less dense than water when heated, and a liquid that is even denser than it when cooled. This chemical mix contains all necessary nutrients to support life in gaseous form.

Phwem then pulled a block of wood from the folds of the universe, molding it into the shape of an elephant with a mat of leaves on it's back. He duplicated it and spread this new tree across the planet(-3 acts). This new tree, which he called the Elarti Tree, would walk around the planet, mating with other Elartis by brushing their leaves against each other. They would drink the Airwater for nutrients, using about a third of it and storing the other third in bright red fruits that would grow in their leaf mat. The wood these creatures were made is very dense, allowing it to resist even extremely high pressures, but is not dense enough to allow it to sink in Phwemitum.

"Alright, that's all I can do for now. I hope someone else can make it even more awesome by adding an awesome sentient species!"


Phwem added airwater to Trovat(3 acts)
Phwem added the Elarti Tree to Trovat(3 acts)

Alakim smiles and cracks his knuckles. "As you wish, child." His first act is to create an intricate system of caves and tunnels in a mountain range near an especially large group of algae.

He then presses a finger to his left arm, drawing ink from his skin. With a wave of his hand, he traces the image of a fish with four fins on each side, as well as a dorsal fin and tail fin. Then, he adds a large head with three eyes and a mouth full of flat teeth, completing the design of the creature which he will call the Sirona.

Waving his hands around the image, he grants it volume and mass; it retains its bright coloration. He whispers something to it before clasping it in his hands; bringing them to the caves, he opens them to reveal a group of the creatures, which quickly spread out and swim every which way through the complex web of tunnels.

Alakim added a system of caves to Trovat (1 act)
The Sirona Fish now lives on Trovat (Basic Animal Life, 2 acts; Add Intelligence, 2 acts; Add Sapience, 1 act)

Having finished his creation, he observes the changes to Gakba's moon. "Very interesting indeed..." He breaks off a small piece of the crystal and turns it over in his hand.

It seems the material worlds are starting to get crowded. Won't be long until you couldn't wave a godly finger without accidentally killing something alive and also maybe sentient. Where was a mortal to go to be alone? Of course, you could feel alone without being alone, but that was like eating fake crab and equating it to the real deal. At least to a being who partly dwelled on solitude - sheer solitude, not that internal solitude, but the sort of solitude that was the same inside and out.

Chamenos drew up a large amount of energy and started to create a plane of solitude, a place for any mortal to step into, physically step into, if they were feeling alone or needed space away from others or needed to escape or something. And after that was all done, they could come back prepared for the world again. A place that was exactly like the material plane, except everything real was now out of focus and shadowy, as though they were distant. Which it kind of was, she supposed.

For 6 acts, Chamenos creates a new plane of existence. It can be entered physically. It can only be entered when one feels the need to be alone, whether to simply think or to escape. It can only be exited when one wants company or at least does not feel the need to be alone.

And he looked down at it all and sighed and wondered what else there was to do.

Pacian coldly regarded the progress of Zemina and, almost incidentally, Trovat. "Too much variation, I think," he said slowly to nobody in particular. "The reverse-sun is likely to blame. Ah well."

With a gesture, the upper atmosphere of Zemina momentarily roiled and seethed, before settling back down. However, it now featured additions at high altitudes possessing of more complex substances, such as high-albedo aerosols, greenhouse gases, and ozone. This complex concoction would improve the atmosphere's ability to retain heat, whilst shielding it against absorbing too much of it, effectively regulating the temperature to something more stable and less liable to fluctuate.

A long pause. "That will help. What to do next..."

Pacian fiddled with Zemina's atmosphere to reduce temperature variation. (-1 act)

Alakim just sort of stares at Pacian like he's a madman, slowly mouthing the words "too much variation" in bafflement.

"More diverse life. On both planets, preferably, but for now..." Although Macian Scelle focuses on Zemina as he speaks and acts, he frequently finds his eye wandering to gakba's crystal moon.

"Plant life, especially large or very common, will help modulate what temperature fluxes your veil isn't already fixing. More water couldn't hurt, either, but..."

He reaches down through Zemina's newly-thick atmosphere, hand filled with tiny seed-beads he draws from his pocket; he presses them into the soil, primarily focused on the most temperate regions but scattered somewhat evenly across the surface. As he withdraws, they burst from the ground in stands of trees and tangles of vines. He has established breeding populations of primarily-evergreen trees and a shrubby vine that produces clusters of very sweet and brightly-colored fruit across Zemina [1 and 1 acts] in the hopes that they will thrive and spread without his influence. He plucks one of the fruits from the vine, watching it become god-sized in his fingers, and smiles down at the foraging creatures.

"One day they will have the self-awareness to to see the world around them. I wonder what they'll call these?"

He pops the fruit in his mouth and turns back to Trovat.

"But, I see they won't be the first. For this new universe's first breath of true intelligence, I must provide a gift."

He disappears briefly and returns with a handful of long crystal spires plucked from the cyclical moon. Several of them he crushes to glittering powder, which he scatters across and under the surface of Trovat, and several of them he merely splinters before seeding; with a massive effort of divine will, he fills Trovat with wealth and materials, both standard mundane fare and growing deposits of the dark ore of gakba. He funnels all his power into providing as much as possible for a planet of Trovat's size. [4 acts]

"The Sirona will have all they need to build their civilizations when the time comes. Although in your position, I might have considered slightly finer appendages."

He shrugs. "I simply hope they can survive and thrive on such an as-yet inchoate planet."

Alakim grumbles, but continues to examine his piece of crystal. Something about this seems suspect, though he can't quite place it; he does his best to write it off as his dislike of Macian, but it keeps poking at the back of his mind. Sighing, he slides the sample into his robes before striding over to Phwem and leaning on his walking stick, forcing a smile. "Do they meet your standards, at least?"

Pacian spends some time staring into the ever-shifting watersphere of Trovat, and the life within it. "Intelligent life without limbs..." he said flatly, emotion unrecognizable. After a few more moments, he went on. "A beast that is a tree... An atmosphere without true gases... An ore of unknown properties..." He shook his head, drifting back into a sitting position, held aloft by the void. "I do not think I understand that planet." Another long pause. "Or like it. Maybe it's a work in progress. It certainly seems half-formed."

That seemed to remind him of something, and he stood upright once more, drifting out to Zemina. "There is still work to be done here, too," he said. He raised his arms.

From the surface of Zemina came forth a number of small herbivorous creatures, walking the surface. They were about the size of a dog, with a trunk like an elephant and stout legs like a rhino, covered in fur in a variety of blended woodland colors depending on the genetic code of the creature. They would be Kufr, and they would be the simplistic foragers of the world.

Next would rise larger grazers, feeding off of the shrubs and trees. The Pastze, as they would be called, could run quickly on their long legs, and their ears were large to catch noise from the undergrowth. They would be fleeting and use speed to escape danger, and looked like a hornless deer but covered in feathers.

Green shoots, next, marked some areas of Zemina, and a new plant would emerge. A long form of grass, its stem was fibrous and it would bear a delicious cereal grain. Green from shoot to seed, it would be called Zelenazra.

Next, the trees of the planet would bear the creation of a birdlike species, a flying assortment of animals that would primarily eat the fruit from the trees. These Letani came in every color imaginable but were very simple beyond their airborne nature.

Finally a carnivore populated the surface of Zemina. Known as Maso, they were ambush predators who slunk through the low brush. They appeared to be a kind of big cat with exceptionally slick fur and slightly bioluminescent eyes.

Together, they formed a stable ecosystem, to bring more life to Zemina.

Zemina now has a population of Kufr (-1 act)
Zemina now has a population of Pastze (-1 act)
Zemina is seeded with the Zelenazra plant (-1 act)
Zemina now has a population of Letani (-1 act)
Zemina now has a population of Maso (-1 act)

The twin dragons gazed upon the burgeoning life of the two worlds that weren't actively exploding with a limited degree of satisfaction. It was a start, they supposed, but no more than that. Abselon shook his head at the sight of the universe's first sapients, the aquatic fish known as the Sirona.

"Not good enough. I hate to agree with Macian, but sickeningly pompous as he is, he's right. How does anyone expect a species to flourish when they cannot even manipulate their own environment more than superficially? They will need appendages. I don't care what type. Arms. Tentacles. Perhaps simply telekinesis. But something must be done. We must take this up with their creator," Abselon declares, attempting to pull the shared divine body in the vagrant's direction but failing miserably.

Dalibora gazed into Abselon's bright orange eyes. "Not so fast," she declared, pointing back to the Sirona. In particular, a young member of the species, trapped upon a craggy peak just a few feet from the water. The pathetic creature, suffocating in the vacuum so close to the water's edge, struggled in a hopeless attempt to wriggle back into the water.

Abselon stared in perplexion. "What point are you trying to make, Dali? You've just proven my point that these creatures are helpless. Perhaps we should simply effect the changes to the species ourselves.

"The point is, nothing awaits them except for oblivion right now. I mean, death is great, but it's a bit harsh to leave them without an afterlife as we spend our power elsewhere. They can manage with a lack of appendages for a little while."

Abselon sighed. "Very well. Just don't go overboard. Our power is quite limited right now."

"When have I ever gone overboard?" Dalibora grinned, stretching her wing out behind her. In a burst of light, a layer of reality imperceptible to all but the divine was willed into existence. Each sapient being's soul would reside on this plane subsequent to their deaths - a rather plain plane for the moment, terrain vague and mountainous. This simplistic afterlife would be called the Realm of Souls. [-6 acts]

"Not bad," Abselon observed. "Simple, but good enough for now. Next time we focus on life, though."

"Fair enough. Now, then, you wanted to speak to the vagrant?"

Abselon found himself face-to-face with Alakim again. After an awkward pause, he began, "...Hello again, vagr- er, Alakim." He gazes to the side, noticing the hyperactive otter apparently distracted by something shiny. Typical. "I wish to discuss with you about the Sirona, as you call them."

He really hoped the otter wouldn't interrupt.

Alakim nods. "No doubt it is about their lack of hands, yes? I will consider adding them later. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, of course, I would like to emphasize that 'later.'" He shifts his weight slightly, still leaning on the stick. "I'm curious what they'll develop without such limbs. A storied oral tradition, or a different way of using tools."

He gives a small frown. "Then again, I fear that the others are right about the lack of diversity on Trovat, and moreover... there's little challenge for them as of yet. That noted," and he smiles widely to the Dragons, "might I trouble you to either give their diet a bit of intelligence, challenge their intellect? Or perhaps - if not now, so that you can make two at once, or something more complex, then I understand, but later - help me populate the planet a bit more. Spruce it up that it might meet the standards of our friends."

Macian Scelle spends some time examining Zemina's new inhabitants through his loupe, particularly admiring the elegance of pastze's design. Without looking up, he eventually rumbles in the general direction of no-one specific "There's no need for defensiveness or insults, frankly. It's a poor craftsman that can't accept criticism or creative dissent without taking it personally."

"I am glad to see an afterlife, though. The loss of a soul is a tragic thing." He pauses for a few beats. "I hope you won't find it too sickeningly pompous of me to point out that it's a bit plain, yet. Do you have any plans for its future?"

Phwem looked around the universe. Though the universe was beginning to fill up, he felt like he didn't really know anything about most of the gods in it. Looking around, he eventually spotted a small fuzzy looking god standing a bit aways from the rest. Phwem quickly swam over, trying to strike up a conversation as he arrived.

"Hello there other god!"

Chamenos cringes, but still manages out a "Hi" in return; but nothing more. It wasn't like there was much to converse about, not for someone who was reluctant to converse in the first place.

Instead, Chamenos looked away, mumbling about forests and what would make trees be able to attach to a water atmosphere and survive.

Had Dalibora had this ridiculous mammalian trait known as "hair", she'd have raised an eyebrow at Macian's query. "It is indeed plain, I'll grant you that. We have no intention of keeping it that way, of course. The souls of the dead deserve something more than a boring, empty, infinite expanse for eternity. Needs some more definite features, and soon. Something for the dead to do with their afterlives. And, of course, punishments for the unworthy - maybe a completely different afterlife, or maybe just a reincarnation cycle. I'm sure the rainbow snake would like that. We'll figure it out when we get there!"

Dalibora cracked a mischievous smile, met by Abselon with an annoyed frown. She ignored him.

"Of course, we'd be up for cooperation with any interested gods... Y'know, Macian, I think we got off to a bad start. I'm Dalibora, goddess of Death, and this is Abselon, god of Life. Isn't that right, Abselon?" she asked, nudging Abselon's head with her own.

"Guh. Yeah, a bad start... Better to make friends than enemies, I guess."

Abselon considered holding his arm out for one of those "handshake" things, but thought better of it. Surely no other god would recognize the gesture anyway. He pointedly turned his attention away from Macian and to the waiting Alakim.

"I can certainly focus my attention on creating new life, given the current lack of diversity. But I have to disagree with you about the development of the Sirona without any substantial way to manipulate their environment. Either we wait millions of years for evolution to take its course, or one of us gives them a means of doing so immediately. And I'm not one for watching intelligent fish flop their fins around uselessly in an attempt to form a society without even the ability to create the most basic of tools. I will let you decide what to do - it is your species after all - but I'd have to strongly disagree with leaving them alone."

{JAM EDITION #2}

Renewed of energy, the Exuberant Otter puffed a special gas onto the watery world, naming it for himself. It pooled beneath the watersphere, forming oceans, lakes, rivers, and even clouds, all of air that behaved as water, just as sky was of water in place of air. Next, he molds a block of wood into a leaf-backed pachyderm, and sets it to settle across the continents of Trovat.

On the same world, the Dutiful Traveler creates an intricate system of caverns throughout a continent’s mountain range, to be the home of his next creation: the first sentient and sapient creatures of this universe, the colorful Sirona fish.

With life filling up the material worlds, the Hatted Hermit gifts them the means to escape each other, at least for a while. He forms the Plane of Solitude, where mortals can step away from reality for as long as they wish to be alone.

The Rainbow Speaker lines Gakba’s path with debris, and fills a portion nearest Osvet with a bacteria--which he quickly enhances to a fungi that spores towards warmth. It appears to work exactly as planned.

The Undead King stabilizes Zemina’s atmosphere, to the bafflement of certain peers. The Dark Craftsman seeds evergreens and fruit-vines across Zemina, and gifts Trovat with mineral wealth of all sorts--including deposits of Gakba’s strange lunar ore. The Divinity of Authority diversifies life on Zemina, adding simple foragers, large grazers, long grains, fruit-eating birds, and slinking predators.

The Intertwined Gods contemplate oblivion. They wrap the Realm of Souls around reality, ensouling all sapient creatures, and proceed to speak with the Inky Traveler on the subject of hands, and intelligence.

The divinities cautiously fraternize, and speak on plans for the future.

***

With Zemina’s temperature stabilized, there are creatures active throughout the day. The populations steadily increase, and all is well on the little moon planet.

On Trovat, slow but steady development occurs. The Sirona, intelligent yet handless, begin to develop language. When they are far apart, they signal general information to each other with exaggerated fin and full body motions, up close, they combine subtle fin motion and teeth clacking to convey more nuanced conversation.

Two social groups begin to form. Some Sirona remain in the cave systems, subsisting on algae and exploring the caverns. Others become nomadic, following the wandering Elarti Trees across the unthreatening landscapes of Trovat. They are social creatures, but on occasion a Sirona finds its way into the mysterious Plane of Solitude, leading to much speculation about the nature of the place, and its inclusion in many of the stories that will become myth.

For years, Gakba’s unique cycle appears to be sustaining itself perfectly; the fungi are flourishing, before dying and becoming food for future generations. However, it is only after many such cycles that a horrible mistake revealed itself--In one cycle, Gakba’s collision with its moon happened to coincide with its transit through the liquid water zone. The living fungi are almost exterminated, but enough survived around the edges of the liquid zone to give the species a shot at a slow recovery.

The souls of the dead Sirona drift aimlessly through the Realm of Souls, feeling overwhelmingly lost and confused.

The Energy of New Beginnings provides everyone with four acts.

The Energy of New Beginnings fades slightly.

Acts

Chamenos: 2+6=8

Dalibora, Abselon: 1+10=11

Pacian IX: 1+6=7

Phwem: 0+7=7

Borlung: 0+8=8

Macian Scelle: 0+6=6

Alakim: 0+6=6

Universal Reference SheetShow

Cosmic ConstructsShow

Starry Sky: Star constructs strewn haphazardly around the universe. They shine, sparkle, and twinkle; providing a nicely sparkling night sky for all planets.

Osvet: A moderately sized yellow sun that radiates heat and light.

Zlovest: A small blue “anti-star” that absorbs heat and light. Distantly orbits Osvet.

Trovat: A large planet with five distinct continents, separated from each other by deep trenches. Has one moon, Zemina, a watersphere, and oceans of air. Temperatures range from tropical to chilly. Contains a great amount and variety of mineral wealth, including the mysterious ore from Gakba’s Moon. Home to sentient and sapient life.

Zemina: Trovat’s planetoid-sized moon. Zemina has a complex, shielding atmosphere, water, and simple life. active core. Temperatures range from quite hot to cool. Home to many diverse life-forms.

Gakba: Gakgalak Dipba-Yi. An earth-sized planet, in far orbit around Osvet. Routinely collides with its moon. Ice, iron, oil, and the mysterious ore are embedded into its surface. Temperatures range from frozen to absolute zero.

Gakba’s Moon: A small moon that collides with Gakba every so often. Is a geode filled with a strange dark metal.

Gakba’s Belt: An asteroid belt of ice, oils, and iron that traces Gakba’s orbital path. Travels slightly faster than Gakba. Contains some fungal life.

”Locational Constructs”Show

“Trovat:”Show

Alakim’s Caverns: A complex cave system threaded through the mountain range of one of Trovat’s continents. Home to the Sirona.

Phwemitum: The official name for the dense air-water of Trovat. Able to support life.

Autotrophic Algae: Grow in the watersphere. Photosynthetic.

Elarti Trees: Mobile trees in the form of elephants. They drink the Airwater and produce bright red fruits in their canopies. They float in Phwemitum, and are photosynthetic.

Sirona: Intelligent and empathetic, these fish are the first intelligent creatures in this universe. They are colorful herbivores, with three eyes, four fins, and flat teeth. They are social creatures, with rudimentary language.

“Zemina:”Show

Simple Green Shrubs: Short and green. Photosynthetic. Eaten by Pastze.

Evergreen Trees: Tall, grow year-round. Letani nest in these. Eaten by Pastze.

Fruiting Vines: A shrubby vine that produces sweet, brightly colored fruit. Eaten by Kufr.

Zelenazra: A type of long grass with a fibrous stem. Green, including the seed. Produces a delicious cereal grain. Eaten by Kufr.

Insects and Small, Semi-Aquatic Animals: A well balanced ecosystem.

Kufr: Furry, woodland creatures roughly the size of a dog, with an elephant’s trunk and stout legs. Simple foragers, they prefer to eat fruit and Zelenazra.

Pastze: Hornless, feathered deer with long legs and large ears. They are fast, and feed on the leaves of shrubs and trees.

Letani: Flying, bird-like creatures in a wide variety of colors. Eat fruit and occasionally insects.

Maso: Slick-furred felines with slightly bioluminescent eyes. Ambush predators who hunt mostly ground-bound creatures.

“Gakba:”Show

Bacteria [extinct]: Lived in the watery zone of Gakba’s Belt, breaking down heavy oils. Formed into heavy oils with pressure and heat from the moon collision. Died out.

Fungi: Live in the watery zone of Gakba’s Belt, breaking down heavy oils. Form into heavy oils with pressure and heat from the moon collision. Spore towards heat so that there would always be some in the watery zone of the belt. Nearly extincted during one of Gakba’s collisions.

”Cultural Constructs”Show

”Sirona”Show

Alakim’s Caverns: The Sirona’s first home, a cave system in a mountain.

Early Language: The Sirona speak through subtle fin gestures and teeth clacking, or exaggerated body movements.

Elarti Nomads: Some Sirona have begun to follow the wanderings of the Elarti Trees.

Metaphysical ConstructsShow

The Plane of Solitude: A plane identical to the material plane, save that everything seems shadowy and distant, and there are no other creatures. Mortals can physically enter the plane, but only when they feel the need to be alone, whether to simply think or to escape. It can only be exited when one wants company or at least does not feel the need to be alone.

The Realm of Souls: A vaguely mountainous plane, where the souls of sapient beings reside after death.

Energy of New Beginnings: The birth of a universe empowers all divinities with a certain amount of creative potential! The number of acts received from this event decrease each turn, so be sure to establish something under your spheres before it's completely gone.

Divine Concerns:Show

Mysterious Ore: First discovered inside Gakba’s moon, has since been spread to Trovat.

Alakim nods. "Far better than I ever could have expected. Now then, I believe manipulation of their environment was a concern, wasn't it?"

With a flourish, he sends sparkling dust through the caverns, granting their Sirona telekinetic powers; with another, he grants the Elarti nomads arms and legs, as well as slightly changing their overall body structure.

The Cavern Sirona have gained the power of telekinesis (1 act)
The Nomadic Sirona have been altered: Arms, legs (1 act)

Macian Scelle grimaces.

"As practical as the design is, and as appealing the balance, I worry that you have just consigned your children to generations of hatred and warfare."

Alakim suppresses a frown. "Warfare, appalling as it is, is inevitable. Had I not changed them so, they would have concocted their own excuses for war, invented differences to demonize, within a few generations."

He sighs, fiddling with his manacles. "Regardless, it is all another road to discovery; be it discovery of weapons, or discovery of tolerance. Most likely quite a bit of the former, before, eventually, the latter."

"I hate to see them fight."

He just gazes down at the planet for a while.

"But you're right. They always do."

He drums his fingers on his other forearm as he watches the sirona discover their new bodies and minds.

"The least I can do is mitigate the conflict. It all comes down to resources eventually, right?"

He finds the closest he can to a chieftain or priest among each clan of fishpeople and sends a fragment of his essence into each, appearing as a vision of himself with helpful visuals as he sees fit during his communication [1 and 1 acts for divine inspiration]. He first reveals himself as a god and briefly reveals the other members of the pantheon before getting down to business: he gives the gift of agriculture to each clan, focusing on ranching and herding for the nomads and horticulture and preservation for the cave-dwellers, but gives broad knowledge to both.

As he withdraws back to the godly plane, he absentmindedly mutters "I hope they learn to write soon..." before becoming lost in thoughts of plants and animals to introduce for the sirona's benefit.

Phwem, invigorated by the sudden rush of power, decided to finish up what he had started earlier. Touching the surface of the aquasphere, he pulled it out, increasing the level of water to full atmospheric level. (-3 acts)

Soon, however, Phwem noticed the creatures below becoming distressed at the sudden increase in pressure. As a result, Phwem spent another act to make the water not affected by gravity as much, thus causing it to press down on the poor creatures a bit less. (-1 act)

He then swam off, looking for more things to do with his remaining energy.

Phwem fills the Aquasphere to the top. [-3 acts]
Phwem causes the water to be affected less by the planet's gravity. [-1 act]

Alakim raises an eyebrow, smiles, and sidles up to Phwem. "Say, I quite like what you did with the Elarti. Might you do me a favor and make a few more? As well as, perhaps, some other sorts of plant? It would, in my opinion, make the planet much more interesting."

Pacian drifts above the atmosphere of Zemina, standing straight as a pillar floating through space. He regards with caution the growing societies on Trovat, and decides that he needs to have more of a hand in their development. He had always tried to place himself in control, and in doing so he could work out a beneficial outcome. With his age had come wisdom, and he had always been a strong leader in life.

Turning to Zemina's mother planet, Pacian drifted down to the surface of Trovat, and took a deep breath before plunging into its watery atmosphere. Robes billowing in the currents, Pacian reached out to touch the minds of the Sirona. Despite their advanced intelligence, they lived simple lives, as the gods who created them had done so on a world with very little actually present beyond algae and the odd wandering tree.

By advancing the Sirona, Pacian could create complex societies which might help them become truly civilized. It would be a first for him, as although he had observed the rise of species whilst he was gathering his strength in the multiverse, he had never seen a world quite as bizarre as this one.

Reaching out, Pacian laced advanced concepts over the minds of the Sirona. They would begin to understand the nature of authority and subservience, the efficiency of organization and command, the strength of loyalty and obedience. They would understand the need for leaders and followers. The change would undoubtedly permeate their society.

Pacian made the Sirona more inclined to follow leaders and respect authority. (-1 act)

Alakim paces back and forth, muttering under his breath. Perhaps he would have to reconsider his opinion of the craftsman and the king; certainly, they had lent him assistance. Turning to Pacian, he gives a little bow. "I'd like to thank you, and Macian as well." His pride attempts to force the words back, but fails; now is not the time for posturing, he thinks.

He now turns to Trovat, and frowns. He supposes that the place could stand for a bit more diversity, and so quickly whips up two simple creations. The first is a vine with supple but sturdy fibers, spreading quickly as it clings to the outside and roofs of the Cavern Sirona's home. Then, he adds a small forest of fairly uninteresting (save for their tangled roots and trunk) trees suspended in an air-river that the Elarti regularly pass; they rhythmically float up and down on their raveled roots.

Trovat now has Woodvines (1 act)
Trovat now has a small forest (1 act)

Apparently giving up on previous contemplations, Chamenos dips down towards Trovat and messes around with the new forest. Space seems to warp within it; any clearings or paths seem to move about, changing as soon as one turns his head. Trees seem to shift far more than mere bobbing would allow. It is an ever-modifying maze. (2 acts)

Now turning towards Zemina, he looms over a forest of evergreen trees, and does the same. (Also 2 acts)

It probably seems outright malevolent to make forests that explicitly disorient and confuse. Maybe. Chamenos simply steps back and says, "Might be an interesting environment for carnivores."