Godhood XIV [OOC] [ROLL CALL. ALSO: OPENING.]

Godhood IRC: [link]

This is the story of the maggot and the butterfly--
--Oh, I apologize. It's not quite time for this part of the tale.
Soon, soon.

Instead, let us say that this is a story of gods.
A story told countless times before.
(Though if one were to count, this might very well be the fourteenth time)
A tale of a universe, newly awoken to existence,
Shaped by gods, who populate it according to their whims.
Gods, who fuss and squabble over every detail of their creation.
Fighting for the regard of mortals they themselves created.
Who can never get far enough from each other to be satisfied in their own spaces.
At times, straining beyond their limits,
Only to be reprimanded by cosmic forces of narrative contrivance.

Yes, a tale of gods,
And of parasites.



Welcome to Godhood XIV: Usurper! I hope you know the routine by now.

You play as a god [or demon]. You and your fellow gods use ACTS to shape the universe. You gain ACTS by having things in the universe that fall under your spheres, and through the worship of mortals. [In this version of the game, influencing mortals WILL COST ACTS, as seen in Godhood XIII. Incidentally, GHXIII has a pretty nifty reference for the ACT costs of quite a few things. Edit: I've decided I like the costs listed there for Living things and Interacting with Mortals, but wrote up some cheaper costs for planetary junk. Check it out, why don't cha.

SAMPLE COSTS CHART
These are the costs for basic things. Extraordinary properties may add to the cost.

Planets and junkShow

Planets: 2 for a small one, 3 for a plain ole earth sized one, 4 for a large one, 5 for a GIANT one. Gas giants can be made for 1 act less at each size.
Moons: 2 acts for your basic moon; the material itself and setting it in stable orbit around the planet.
Suns/Stars: 3 is the cost for an average sized sun.
The following costs assume an earth-sized planet:
Molten core: 1 act. Allows for tectonic and volcanic activity
Oceans: 1 act per 1/3 of the planet covered, assuming an earth sized planet. Usual number to invest is 2.
Metals and minerals: 1 act for scarce resources, or a concentrated area of resources. 2 acts for average resources, 3 for abundant resources.

Life Creation Cost GuidelinesShow

Basic Plant Life, Insects, One Celled Organisms: 1 Act. These can also be distributed over more of the planet for less the cost.
Basic Small Animal Life: 1-2 Acts, depending on distribution.
Basic Animal Life: 1-3 Acts. Non-sapient animal life, or at insect life, or what have you. Basically, stuff that’s between the size of a deer and a water buffalo. Remember that how much you spend will affect the starting population.
Basic Large Animal Life: 2-4 Acts. Elephant to whale sized life.
Basic Massive Animal Life: 3-5 Acts. Think T-Rex.
Basic Supermassive Life: 4 acts and up, depending on what you’re making and whether you want it to reproduce or not. Think, well, bigger than a T-Rex. Titans and such.
Add Sapiency: +1 for basic, +2 for "average", +3 for insane levels of sapience.
Add Intelligence: +1 for basic, +2 for "average", +3 for insane levels of intelligence.
Add “Special Properties”: +1 and up depending on the “Special Property.” You want a rat that farts pepper spray? You have to pay for the privilege, son.
Add Obsession/Instinctual Attraction: +1 Acts. Make that two-headed boar you’re making intensely obsessed to partnering with the three-headed meerkats.
Alter Creature: 1-3 Acts depending on population and creature size.
Kill Creature: No.

Dealing With Mortals Cost GuidelinesShow

Appearing to Mortals (intangible): 1 Act. You can’t touch or be touched, but you can talk and look all scary. The simplest way to deal with puny mortals, and the cheapest.
Take Physical Form: 1 Act for anything that’s reasonable (become a bird, a humanoid, or something like that.) Take note, you can be killed in this form, but you just go back to being intangible. Unless you put extra acts into it, you have the regular abilities of whatever you took form of.
Ghostwriting: 1 Act. Carving or writing something without a pen, chisel, or hand.
Small Miracles: 1-2 Acts. Blow up a frog. Make a dead tree bloom. Basically, any small show of power that won’t give anything mystic powers or crap like that.
Large Miracles: 2-3 Acts. Part a sea, feed the thousands, stuff like that.
Possession: 1 Act. Force a mortal to your will by hijacking their brain. Most mortals won’t be able to stand this for long, though, so make sure you leap back out as soon as you do whatever.
Vision: For 1 act, you can give a small "group" of people the same vision/dream/ideas
Divine Inspiration: For 1 act, a single mortal is DIVINELY INSPIRED about a particular idea/technology [for example, if a mortal were inspired with stoneworking they would go on to develop MASTER STONEWORKING TECHNIQUES, or a mortal could be inspired to make a legendary artifact, that sort of thing]
Prophets: Cost TBD. A mortal linked to a god, allowing them to ask for clarification on this and that during their life-time (I will have them asking you questions during turn end, in other words. For my sanity's sake the universe is not allowed more than one prophet at a time.)
KEEP IN MIND THAT ANY AND ALL INTERACTIONS WITH MORTALS MUST COST SOMETHING.

EtcShow

New plane of existence: There are two in the beginning; the Material plane and the Divine plane [Where you are.] Creating a new one costs a hefty 6 acts for just something basic overlaying the Material plane. They can be improved upon later or made with more acts for something fancier. Be sure to lay down some rules of existence on the plane when you make it!

If you're new to the game or want some clarification on the rules for this version, ask me questions here, on the IRC [link at the top], and/or read the previous Godhood threads--They all do a better job of explaining this than I ever could.

GOLDEN RULES:
Respect your fellow players
You are not competing AGAINST them--you are building a story WITH them.
WHIMBREL'S WORD IS LAW
Don't backsass me, kiddies. If I say jump, you say how high. If I say "I'm not allowing that action" you alter your plans accordingly. If I say "I've changed my mind about [x]" you accept my fickle whims until such time as they change again. If I say "I think you and [y] need to get along" then you and [y] get together and hug it out until you both feel nothing but good will towards all living things.

SIGNUP SHEET

Name: What shall we call you?
Appearance: How you appear to your fellow divinities. When you [pay to] manifest yourself to mortals, you may choose whatever guise you wish, at no additional cost.
Spheres: Choose one primary sphere and two secondary spheres. These will determine what grants your god divine energy--acts. As a general rule, more specialized spheres grant more power per instance than generic spheres, such as earth, wind, and fire.
Additional info: Anything else you wish to share? I'd love to hear it. PM me if you want to keep certain details hidden, but wouldn't mind if some plot element pertaining to it showed up.

P.S.
You're allowed to submit more than one god for consideration, but only one god per player will be accepted, when all's said and done.
...I like having the option to mix and match ~>u>~

Concerning Demons:
Know, going into this game, that any one of your gods may be reduced to demon-hood.
That being said, if you would care to BEGIN your god as a demon, submit your application as normal and then send me a PM requesting to start as a demon. Only a few will be selected to begin as demons.
If you are a demon, you are not to purposefully reveal your demonic nature, IC or OOC!
Nor are you permitted to share the rules for demons!
Rules for demons shall be revealed on a need-to-know basis.
In other words, I'll tell you what they are once you become a demon.

Deadline is MONDAY of NEXT WEEK...So you have seven days.

Name: Nash-Marr
Appearance: vaguely doglike in physique, with the snout of a breed like the Borzoi.. Left eye is a gouged-out mess, the right a well of black ink which constantly glitters with a campfire's reflection. His posture is bipedal, like that of a wolfman, with elongated front limbs that trail the ground. He rests on the middle phalanxes of the two middle fingers on each four-fingered hand, and his claws are as long as his fingers again. The claws are immaculate black, polished like a precious metal, but the cutting edges are ragged and mangled. Two goatlike horns follow the curve of his skull and run down his spine before flicking upward at the small of his back; the texture of these is like the skin of a Rough-scaled bush viper. The scales peel away from the main horn haphazardly; some have thin curved spines emerging from beneath. The weight of his horns makes it hard for Nash to turn his head without turning the rest of him. His fur is soft, white, and long in places; it is also specked with black ink where it has splashed from his one good eye.

Spheres: Stories (events which will become the greatest sagas, the telling of stories themselves), Endings (because you can't call a story good until it's got its proper end) and Flaws.

Additional info: Nash-Marr's left eye is said to have seen the future; his right, the past. Whatever celestial race he is a representative of have shunned him; the stories he gathers were plagued with poor resolutions or other dissatisfying ends. Though he wishes it were not the case, as divinity he actually draws power from these shitty plot twists, a fact which is likely to truly upset him.[/QUOTE]

Name: Chamenos
Appearance:

Has eyes on the back of head. Three arms, one folded away on back.
Spheres: Primary: Lost things. Whether misplacing objects, or being in the state of 'lost' itself, or even just the feeling of loss.
Secondary: Deception. Lies. Backstabbing. Double-agents. Schemes. Facades. Whatever.
Solitude. Sometimes people just want to be alone.
Additional info: Child of a god, unknown which one. First memory is being lost in a forest. Sullen and doesn't like talking much.

ba-bam.

Name: Dalibora, Abselon
Appearance:

SpoilerShow

Depiction recovered from ruins of Iranta civilization. Retrieved from NSC Public Database on Dead Civilizations.

"So it was that Dalibora and Abselon, gods of death and life, became one. Powerless before Melhor, king of gods, they gazed upon their new form in shock. Reptilian and feathered their divine body was, divided in twain between the two so that each had power over only one half. On the right was Dalibora, goddess of death, feathers black as midnight, while on the left stood Abselon, god of life, blindingly white. From their back extended two great wings, remnants of their old forms now forever lost.

"The two heads, at the end of long and feathered necks, looked long upon each other, still in disbelief. And Melhor spoke: 'This is to be your punishment forevermore. Leave my realm, Abselon and Dalibora. Wander the nothingness beyond reality for eternity. Never return.' And with that they were gone."

- Il-Kteib, Attiya 3:20-29 (holy book of the Makal, retrieved from the NSC Public Database on Dead Civilizations)

Spheres:

Primary: Duality

Secondary: Life (Abselon), Death (Dalibora)

Info:

"Melhor watched over his realm and his new people, whom he called the Makal. The realm was good, but it was empty still. His people were provided for, but they could not be happy in such a barren land. And so from the chaos of the Beyond Melhor molded a new god, imbued with some of his own power. This new god he named Abselon, god of life.

"Abselon looked about in confusion after his sudden creation, seeing only Melhor for guidance. 'My realm is empty,' the eldest god proclaimed. 'You, Abselon, must make it full of life, to bring happiness to my people.' Abselon nodded, and he went upon his task without question."

- Il-Kteib, Praram 2:1-6

"Though Abselon had completed his task with diligence, Melhor's people were still unhappy. The realm was full of life, but this life could never die - the land filled up with the creatures of Abselon's creation, and the Makal themselves continued to spread across the land, all generations coexisting, the eldest no closer to death than newborns. If Melhor let them die, naught awaited them but oblivion. The souls of the dead needed somewhere to go.

"Thus, from the same chaos that had spawned Abselon, Melhor once more imbued his power into a new form. Dalibora, goddess of death. She, just as confused as Abselon had been, awaited her task, which Melhor gave: 'You, Dalibora, must give the dead a place to go, so that their do not return to the nothingness of chaos.' Dalibora went about this business at once."

- Il-Kteib, Praram 2:12-18

"Yderid, god of retribution, watched in disdain at the continued impudence of the two. Abselon and Dalibora, instrumentators of all that lived and all that died, now seemed to do naught but squabble with the other gods; naught but make a mockery of Melhor's great pantheon. Many thousands of years had passed since those days of turmoil and chaos that had spawned them, and they had fallen from greatness once possessed.

"Yderid approached Melhor, bowing to his master. 'My lord, something must be done about the gods of life and death. Creation strains under their continued foolishness, and I fear soon all will be unmade.'

"Melhor replied: 'I, too, have noticed the impudence of these gods, the first spawned from my own power, the ones who delivered my people from chaos. It is dispicable that such great gods could fall so low. Very well, then. They shall be punished.'

"Melhor stood from his golden throne, calling forth the names of Dalibora and Abselon, summoning them to his chamber. The gods arrived, still smiling foolishly at their miscreance, to find the greatest of gods towering over them, anger in his eyes. 'You wished to see us, my lord?' questioned Dalibora, as though she did not already know.

"'Long ago I gave both of you life and divinity,' Melhor began. 'But you have long since fallen to foolishness, fallen away from fulfilling your given duties. You are no longer fit to dwell within my realm.' To which Abselon replied, 'My lord, I know not how you came upon this conclusion, for we have never ceased to follow your will.'

"'Silence,' Melhor commanded. 'Empty words from a foolish god. You shall both be exiled forever from this realm, but first, you shall be punished.' Without a further word, Dalibora and Abselon both were engulfed in a divine light, hidden now from the view of all save for Melhor himself, highest of the gods. The lights moved slowly together, combining eventually into a single form."

- Il-Kteib, Attiya 3:1-19

Name: Suki
Mia
Amelia

Appearance: Suki appears as a flickering flame taking on the vague appearance of a human woman with short hair. Assuming the woman had no arms and a serpentine body.

Mia appears as a woman with multicolored eyes that have brighter or duller colors based on her mood. She has long black hair that is tied in a complex braid. She wears a white dress and surrounding her is a ring of ink telling the story of whatever universe she is in. It is mostly told through pictures, but when written language is introduced to the universe words will appear alongside the impossibly complex story unfolding around her.

Amelia appears as a woman made up of metal plates of iron, steel, and bronze. These plates seem almost haphazardly put together and there is more then one gap across her body that reveals that she is filled with a shifting mass of complex gears. She has four arms and the irises of her steel eyes are made up of molten metal. She wears a sturdy overall and a blacksmiths apron. She has a variety of blacksmiths hammers tucked into her belt.

Primary Sphere: Fire- Suki loves all of nature. She takes on the appearance of whatever element she happens to me near. She just prefers fire.

Secondary Sphere: Communication- Mia loves nothing more then telling a story. And the better a story can be told and the more people who can hear it, the better.

Secondary Sphere: Industry- Amelia only values one thing. Hard work. It is the driving force behind any economy. So long as people are making things to sell, Amelia is happy. That's a lie. She's never happy.

Additional info: Suki Mia and Amelia are spirits that were all created by a god with incredible amounts of power. He was not exactly known for his compassion. He mistreated his subjects, both mortal and divine. He kept the entire universe under his thumb. But all of this power went to his head. He made too many spirits and grew too complacent. The spirits began to subtly steal his worship. He grew weak as they grew strong. One day, the dozens of spirits under his rule rose up as one to kill the tyrant. He was far too weak, and they killed him with relative ease. Some of the spirits stayed in the universe while others went off to other universes. Suki Mia and Amelia stayed together. The three of them got along well enough and with their powers combined they were just as strong as any normal god.

Suki and Mia are good friends and are very cheery. They love nature and life and all joys of creation. Amelia unfortunately is not nearly as happy as her two acquaintances. Being treated worse then the others for longer, combined with losing many friends she would consider closer then Suki and Mia, has left her bitter. She rarely smiles.

SpoilerShow

Crossposting from MSPA

Name: His Royal Highness King Pacian IX

Appearance: A slightly crooked figure in a flowing, luxurious red robe that hides his form. Embroidered into the front-left of the robe is his coat of arms, which is a multicolored shield holding a great many designs, topped with the image of a crown and flanked by black eagles wearing gold regalia. When his cloak opens, you see he has a thin and hunched body dressed in rich clothes, with a gold-hilted sword strapped to his side. His hands, which perpetually clasp the front of his robe, are pale and bony. His face, which emerges from the top, is thin and angular. He has wispy white hair and a long mustache. His head is topped by a gold circlet, relatively plain and undecorated but for a band of silver at the base. His eyes are sunken and cold.

Spheres: Primary: Authority. Secondary: Precious metals, monuments.

Additional info: The ruler of an absolutist kingdom of another universe in eras past, Pacian rose to Godhood slowly and through bitter struggle. In his life, he forged his strong centralized kingdom from fractured feudal lords, climbing from a small princedom to rule the entire region. Fearing that his impending mortality would bring a collapse of his realm, he pleaded to the gods to grant him immortality - and for once a god answered. Made immortal, he ruled for another hundred years, before being overthrown as an enlightenment of republican ideals swept his nation in the wake of economic collapse. As his neck was severed by the falling guillotine blade, his consciousness remained immortal and refused to die - immortality saved him, and his mind fled the universe. It began accumulating power, learning slowly the ropes of multiversal spiritualism, building Pacian anew from energy bought about by careful application of scant influence. Now fully restored and more powerful than ever, the dead king has become a god.

Name: Rranur (Gamma and Sigma)

Appearance: A white cloth sack with twelve purple tentacles sticking out of the opening. A worn rope surrounds the opening, tightened just enough so that only the tentacles can stick out. The sack pulses and moves like there is a living thing inside it. The bottom occasionally drips indigo tinted liquid.

Spheres:
Primary- Eyes: Eyes serve many purposes. Organs to see, things to help creatures identify each other, even weak points to attack.
Secondary- Radioactivity: The dangerous results of nuclear activity is the best part.
Delusion: Because not everything is what it seems when you have an unreliable narrator.

Additional info: Rranur is, in essence, two beings as a single god. Rranur Gamma is the receptacle. Referring to itself as just Gamma, this side of Rranur is the sack and tentacles, as well as the main mode of communication for the two. Gamma often refers to itself as a 'she' and occasionally an 'it'. Rranur Sigma is the being within the sack. Called Sigma, this Rranur speaks rarely, and what it does speak is mostly gibberish. Sigma is also seen rarely outside the confines of Gamma, and when it is seen, it is still mostly submerged in the sack. Sigma is a viscous liquid filled with eyes of many different creatures, both mortal and otherwise. Sigma's favorite phrase is 'Seen all, not good'. Their origin is a mystery, as Gamma is unsure how it got paired up with Sigma and Mr. 'Sees All' can't normally string together a coherent sentence.

God: Rubles Reales

Appearance: A 7 foot tall man wearing a loose fitting suit, with absolutely no skin showing. Where his head would be, there is a stump of a neck and a large triangle that spirals in on its self floating above it. in the middle of this spiral, there is a large eye of Pearl, Emerald, and Gold.

Spheres: Primary: Worth.
Secondary: Prosperity and trade

Additional info: Rubles was once a war god. He would terrorize and raze without hesitation or warning. Eventually, He managed to anger the other gods, who punished him by sealing away his power in his head, then chopping it off. After the bloody punishment, they cast him into the void between universes to die quietly, taking the head as a trophy. But, despite being headless and powerless, he clung to life. He floated in the void for hundreds of years, slowly starving and freezing, using what little power he had to sustain himself, thinking about what he'd done. Eventually, by providence or luck, he found himself in a new universe, where he used it's power to restore himself. He resolved to become a peaceful god, and that wish has brought him here today.

[x-poast from MSPA]


Name: Phwem

Appearance: Phwem bears the appearance of a fully grown sea otter. His thick fur coat is always covered with water, as if he just got out of the water.

Spheres:

Primary

Living: This is not a sphere about simply being alive. This is a sphere about actually living, and experiencing all the little things life has to offer. Friendship, laughter, and fun. Love, joy, and togetherness. Whether it's climbing to the highest mountain peaks or diving to the deepest trenches, this is a sphere about living for the sake of living.

Secondary

Mistakes: Little things that go wrong sometimes. Everyone makes mistakes, and when you do, you just have to pick yourself back up and try again. Mistakes are, after all, simply a part of life.

Mist: The light spray that accompanies moving water wherever it goes. Waterfalls, rapids, and all forms of fast moving water form mist, and it is beauty in it's own light. The many many water droplets kicked into the air form patterns and sparkles, and, if the light hits it just right, even a rainbow.

Other info: Phwem has always loved life for what it is. Even back before he became a god, he spent every day of his as an otter exploring, diving down to watch the movement of coral reefs, collecting shells and rocks from the beach, or, his favorite activity of all, swimming to the nearby waterfall, and just the mist it produced sparkle all day.

Phwem wasn't what you would call the most disciplined otter, and he was quite clumsy as well, always dropping his shells and rocks by accident. But Phwem didn't mind. If he dropped his shells down to the ocean floor, it just meant that he would get to go diving to get it back. And who knows what you might find when you're down there?

But nothing lasts forever, even one who loves live as dearly as Phwem. He had a good life, and a full one, but at some point he'd just have to let go, and pass into the relm of the dead. But Phwem loved live too much for that. When his body finally gave up, his spirit didn't, continuing to live even without a body to support it. That was when he departed from his home, flying high above the land seeing all the things he had no chance to see while alive. Eventually though, even this huge world of many things ran out of new places for him to go. That was when he rose up, out of the world, and out of the universe, becoming a god.

These days, Phwem swims around the multiverse, looking for things to do, universes to shape, and fun to be had. After all, what's a world without fun? A gloomy square is what. Phwem's main goals are to spread the joys of living to everyone in the multiverse, even if he has to do that one god at a time.

From MSPA to your plate, guaranteed fresh and organic

Name: Macian Scelle
Appearance: Macian Scelle typically takes the form of a dark-skinned and well-built human man, dressed in understated and well-worn clothes covered by a stained leather apron and a pair of large, heavy gloves. He gives the impression of being weatherbeaten but sturdy, and though he is decidedly less impressive to look at than most divine manifestations, he wears that simplicity and understatement with pride. He is also capable, when the need for flashiness arises, of appearing as a towering golem of marble and silver or as a vast and inscrutable network of hissing and bellowing machinery; he prefers to spend as little time as possible in such guises.
Primary Sphere:

• Craft: Macian Scelle teaches that the act of creation is the highest achievement a mortal can aspire to and urges his followers to become as close to the divine as they can through their works. Whether they choose to become transcendent artists, master craftsmen, or brilliant engineers, Macian Scelle is alive in all their creations; wherever mortal hands create something nature could not, there he is. Art, architecture, and industry are all one to The Great Artisan, and his temples more often resemble studios or factories than cathedrals or monasteries.

Secondary Spheres:

• Earth: Macian Scelle is associated with all manner of materials and tools that spring from stone and soil as so many of his patron disciplines rely on them in their entirety. While other gods that tie themselves to the idea of earth may include the plants or even animals that rely on its nurturing, he is strictly interested in and associated with the materials that can be pulled from it. While official doctrine states that he values craft of all kind equally, he secretly treasures things made from clay or metal or stone most.
  
• Agriculture: While The Great Artisan holds no particular love for majestic forests or roaming herds of beasts, he views the practice of cultivating his soil as a parallel to his stewardship of his followers and venerates the necessary task of providing for civilization. Harnessing and guiding nature is as much an act of creation as chiseling a block of marble, and further refining the materials produced thereby is an even greater paean to Macian Scelle. He holds a special fondness for vintners, and consequently Scellian wine is said to be the best a mortal can find in the world as his followers have strained to refine their art to please him

Additional Info: Macian Scelle does not like gods very much. A large theological debate currently exists within the Church of the Enlightened Hand as to whether this means he also does not like himself very much, with the orthodoxy maintaining the line that he simply disdains the meddlesome ways of other gods, while more radical groups insist that his ideal world is one in which the gods are all destroyed, leaving mortals to forge their own path. Regardless of the truth of either opinion, it's pretty clear that he tends to view much godly intrigue as irritating or disgusting: Macian Scelle believes that too many gods are too full of themselves and view their followers as little more than tools. He himself holds a great fondness for all intelligent life, feeling that their existence is the true purpose of the cosmos rather than the glorification of their creators. He would rather see himself harmed than the followers of even a rival god, and would rather see another god harmed than either.
While he can be unfriendly, he isn't completely secluded from the rest of the pantheon; he often tries to engage gods with similar spheres out of shared influence, and gets on well with gods that value life as much as he does or that share his compassion for mortals. He realizes that a completely lassez-faire attitude would cause more harm than good, and generally does his best to make the world the best place he can for all mortals to live in. He often wishes he could find another god that shares his views: it's lonely being a god among mortals and a pariah among gods.

Name: Alakim, The Ever-Lost
Appearance: A tall and broad, yet somehow wispy-looking man who wears a tattered, hooded cloak and thick-soled boots. His face, arms and legs are all heavily tattooed; it is said that each individual picture represents a great discovery mortals have made. He carries an axe handle, using it as a walking stick; what was once the blade has been melted down and fashioned into manacles, which he wears on both his wrists and his ankles.
Primary Sphere:

• Discovery: For to understand the divine, one must first understand the mundane; be it an undiscovered species, an uncharted land, a long-lost civilization, or even such simple things as an unvisited shop or a strange foreign dish, each new thing shall bring you one step closer to your destiny.

Secondary Spheres:

• Travel: For books and workshops can only teach so much; only a wanderer can truly manage to discover all the world has to offer, for only a wanderer can encounter a fraction of a fraction of its vastness.
  
• Penance and Duty: All our actions are tied to everyone else in a tremendous web. One must do right by others, and make amends when one has done wrong; anything less is unacceptable.

Additional Info: There are some that say Alakim was once a demon, a creature from another world, or even a beast in human form; others, merely an exceptionally powerful bandit, or an unforgiving warlord. Regardless of which, he and his army were infamous for miles, destroying proud cities and everything around them. Great works of art, palaces and monuments, forests and lakes were all condemned to rubble and ashes. For what reason, no one can say; even the Ever-Lost himself has long since forgotten, and it is the one thing he does not care to learn anew.

What is known is that there was a great library, and he and his followers had planned to destroy everything within it. Yet as soon as he stepped foot in the door, Alakim was struck by awe: the towering bookshelves, all crammed tight with tomes and scrolls in every language imaginable, felt more mighty than any king. Slowly, his eyes came to rest on a large book laid out on a desk in front of him; and he slowly moved towards it, gingerly opening the cover and beginning to read, telling his men to hold until he decided whether they were to proceed.

The book engrossed him like nothing else, and he was unable to stop reading. By the time he had finished, night had long since fallen, and his men were all sound asleep. He gently closed the book and came to the realization that he could not live like this anymore, to take things out of the world. And he knew that if he told his men this, there would be a mutiny.

He slit their throats, one by one, and strode off into the night, discarding his old identity and adopting a new guise as an explorer. He achieved great acclaim and fortune, never letting anyone know who he once was. But as he died, he heard a voice calling to him:

Your work is not done. You can never be forgiven, nor forgive yourself, for what you have destroyed; but you may ensure that others carry on your new legacy.

Precisely one week later, Alakim arose as a spirit, knowing the voice had spoken the truth - knowing he could never rest, but that he could help others explore and learn, as he had ever since that fateful day.

Name: Saresish
Appearance: A pearly white skinned humanoid female, with two lightly glowing blue spheres where eyes would lie. She lacks any further details to her shiny form. Trailing behind her every step is the glow and fade of pinpricks of light, as though stars were born and killed as she moves.
Spheres:
Primary - Technological Advancement
Secondary - Wanderlust, Curiosity
Additional info: Born of the stars and those who seek them, Saresish came from their want, their lust, for knowledge, and for adventure. She favours the brave, and the bold, and those who seek to learn or invent are often given gifts of knowledge at her hand. Saresish prefers the aesthetic of space, finding the vast emptiness, dotted by stars and nebulae, an excellent muse, and the most beautiful of horizons, avoiding the gravity that planets would produce by constructing astral complexes in their place. Her disciples rarely worship her, instead working for themselves to learn and advance, out of their innate need to discover.

-------

Name: Phil
Appearance: A balding man, with a ring of bushy hair around his dome. Instead of flesh, bone, and hair, Phil is composed of a glossy white stone, almost like marble.

Spheres:

Primary- Spirituality: As per Wikipedia, "...social scientists have defined spirituality as the search for "the sacred," where "the sacred" is broadly defined as that which is set apart from the ordinary and worthy of veneration." Citation

Secondary- Discipline: As per Wikipedia, "...discipline is systematic instruction intended to train a person, sometimes literally called a disciple, in a craft, trade or other activity, or to follow a particular code of conduct or "order"." Citation Inquiry: What if? And then? What for? What is? Questions, particularly those regarding why reality is.

Additional Info: -tba-

Name: Craft
Appearance: That of a clockwork praying mantis, but made out of a glowing green glass, and closer to a centaur in stature. Possesses a variety of clearly visible cogs and gears at joints and such, but they don't seem to be connected or powered by anything. Only one hand is a standard mantis claw- the other is much like a hammer. Appears about a sixth taller as those he speaks to- to humans, he'd be about seven feet tall, and so on.
Spheres: Major of Small Living Things - Craft appreciates most of all the littlest cogs in the machine, without whom there would be no true function.
Minor of Intricacy - If you make sure to cover every detail, and do your work without mistakes, then Craft will be pleased. (He likes to call the best ones Craft's men.)
Minor of Deduction - Oh, so you figured out that magnetic things pull towards each other, eh? Good job! Craft praises you and your skills of observation. If you figured out they have poles, he'll probably be quite excited indeed.
Additional Info: The strange creature which identifies itself as Craft is a constant viewer of small details and careful examination. He very much appreciates intricate work, and likes to spend days at a time creating the perfect something.
That said, he can be irritable to work with, and prefers things to be done his way. If you impress him, he'll gladly entrust his life to you. If you don't, he won't waste his time. However, he can and will collaborate with others, and usually holds to his deals if he makes them.
He appreciates anyone who can see or who who tries to see how things work, as well.
Doesn't like it when things backfire, or when there are unexpected surprises.
He often enjoys music as well. The precise arrangement of cadences and notes, tones and rests always appeals to him. He has been known to sing to his creations. Music itself doesn't seem to benefit him, just stuff that fall under Intricate work.

Cross post from mspa

Crossposting with a better picture.


Name: Olmolm
Appearance: A great blind newt, draped in saffron shawl. He burrows through the earth as if it were water. Several vestigal legs cover his body. He carries a torch and a gong.
Spheres: Underground: Olmolm favours items that have been hidden in the dark corners of the earth. Tombs, buried treasure all worship him. His minor spheres are Curiosity and Memory. Some people wish to venture into the caverns to see what lies beneath. Others know what lies beneath, and try to pay tribute to the remains of yore. Olmolm favours both of them.
Additional info: A primal god, named by a stuttering man after a rare amphibian. Olmolm is reclusive, and doesn't like to venture away from his selected homeplace, concentrating on one area. He is curious, but first, he wants to find out every single detail the planet can offer to him before moving to a next one. That rarely happens. Prefers gestures to talking. May speak in riddles that have no answer or meaning.

Name: Kahtrak
Appearance: A minty-skinned humanoid in a loincloth and sandals. His hands bear only two fingers each, and the four toes upon his feet end in long talons. His hairless body is mostly covered in lean muscle, but his head seems fragile, with a very clearly defined skull and a stern expression. There are many rumours about what would happen if that expression ever changed. He generally aims to be the tallest figure in the room by about 20% when he appears to mortals. His appearance alters if a mortal race reaches the industrial age.
Primary Sphere: Practice/Learning. The process of improving one's body and mind through studying and doing, of deliberately working to increase one's capabilities.
Secondary Sphere 1: Predatory species. The mark of a predator is the complete devotion of its design to a single goal, the killing of prey. Their evolution is a constant push to remain ahead of that prey in all respects, or die. Kahtrak finds the results of this struggle, a sinuous and efficient creature, to be appealing on an aesthetic level.
Secondary Sphere 2: Refined metal. Metal which has been refined to a purer form by the hands of sentients or the intervention of physical laws. The alloys used by more advanced civilizations aren't ideal for this, but at least it's better than ore.

Additional Info: As a god, Kahtrak's defining desire is to inspire the pursuit of perfection, especially in mortals.

Kahtrak is generally known in civilized society as God of the Forge. When he chooses to develop ascetic monastaries within his religion, he is also sometimes titled God of Bliss or God of the Vibrating Chord. Very primitive hunting cultures have also sometimes called him The Patient Wait Before The Leap. If you asked him, he would probably call himself the Eternal Honer.

Name: Gartani

Apperance: Gartani is A snake like god. He has the Head of a Cobra, and the lower body is snakeshaped as well, with no legs, but a powerful prehensile tail. He has 4 arms where his chest is located, just below his hooded head. His upper body is covered in an elaborately designed Plate mail made with a divine steel. Not that he needs this. His scales are equally as tough. He carries 4 Egyptian style swords around his “Waist”. He is a duel brown with bright red slighted eyes. His Hood has a red swirl pattern, which is constantly in motion, similar to smoke. His fangs resemble scimitars and are sharpened to a point.
Sphere Major: War: The pure bloodshed and animosity caused by 2 or more opposing things. He is most renowned for the bloody, violent wars spanning across continents. Those are Gartani's favorite.

Sphere Minor:
Reptiles: all Reptiles and reptilian creatures.

Wrath: The act of anger. Typically associated with revenge or a feeling of being wronged.

Bio: Gartani is a god who thrives on bloodlust. He is a hot-blooded(*snicker) God and is easily relied up, but when diplomacy matters, he is a shrewd talker. He enjoys the little divine spats that his brethren show, often playing both sides in order to get them to fight. However, Gartani is relatively easy to get along with, as long as he is entertained. He often favors a side in wars between mortals, mostly so that a side can win. Allows anger and wrath from the losing side to fester, igniting yet another war. Gartani also has a soft spot for reptiles, evolving his own reptilian species to become a dominant force in a world. Gartani speaks in a venomous way, projecting his anger in his inflection. Gartani also has a bit of an ego problem, and flattery is a way to deal with him. Be careful, should he realize that it is false however. He isn't a god of wrath for nothing. Gartani is also a very good swordsmen, but strategic warfare is not his cup of tea. He prefers pure, undeniable force, enough to overpower anything in its way.

This should probably be better made, but laziness was always my weakness.

Name: Bacardi Clear

Spheres: Main: Science; Minor: Alcohol, Water

Description:

A massive, mechanical contraption in a shape of a flying creature with two wings and two feet - correlating species unknown but seems to be a threeway cross between a bat, a phoenix, and perhaps a dragon. Many small arms stud the area of his underbelly. The hands of these arms are small and dexterous - which is good because his feet are massive and scythe-like and not useful for handling things. His wings are covered by religious-looking banners; if one to look closely, what looks prayers are actually recipes to various cocktails and other mixed drinks. Bacardi is often cloaked by blanket of impossibly hot and choking steam - the product of gears and cogs of his clockwork innards. He smells suspiciously of alcohol and burning.

Biography:

His personality in one word: loud. He enjoys talking and hearing himself talk. He is very dramatic and can be rather vain - while it is not his ultimate preference, he rather enjoys being in the center of the show. His aggressive boisterousness can be overwhelming to the mortals and the more passive of the divinities. Despite this all, he enjoys company - especially if it is over a good drink. Perhaps three. His agenda in one word: booze - more exactly booze everywhere because without booze, there can be no fun and who does not want fun? (Not Bacardi, that is for sure). While he is single-minded about the pursuit to be hammered, Bacardi is not the type of person to shoot alcohol everywhere. He is not stupid and in fact, quite deceptive. There is a reason why he became a God of Science, after all.

May or may not sign up.

If so, blame Demonsul

If not, blame Demonsul

Will check back in the morning

I think that is entirely unfair on me

Name: Faestai
Appearance: A black haired woman in an elegant but ill maintained suit of armor. She has a white lab coat draped over her shoulders
Spheres: Primary: Experimentation. Cut it open, see how it works, change how it works, make it your own.
Secondary: Pain. Emotional or physical, both are acceptable to Faestai. Typically she detests creatures that don’t feel it but will make an exception if they cause pain on a regular basis.
Secondary: Blood. Bloodshed, family ties, and actual blood if it comes to that.

Additional info:

SpoilerShow

[The following transcripts and recordings were found in the ruins of Sunny Smiles Asylum. From what we understand Faestai was a patient there, brought in by a family member, possibly her brother Anetel. She exhibited signs of hallucinations and severe obsession with her elder brother Jomontet as well as numerous other issues. The resident psychologists, having made no progress with her over the course of several years invited one Dr.Zeptyr, a leader in the field of Deitic Psychology, to the Asylum.]

[This first piece of footage appears to be an equipment test, most of the subjects involved are off camera.] So where are we heading again? Some dump Asylum in a backwater universe. This chick isn't even that sick I'm sure. Hell, she's probably faking it. Why would she do that? She's got nothing to gain from this. Not her, the asylum. It’s a nice fat publicity stunt for them. [Dr.Zeptyr moves into the camera's view.] Gentlemen, I'd prefer if you kept your gossip to a minimum. I will say this though, Director Jeknokov is a personal friend and a skilled psychologist in his own right. He wouldn't call me out here unless he felt it absolutely necessary.[Footage ends]

[This next piece opens as the crew and Dr.Zeptyr arrive on the grounds of Sunny Smiles Asylum. Director Jeknokov and his aides appear nearby.] You brought a camera crew to a mental institution. Vain as ever I see. Sorry to say I’m contractually obligated to bring them along. Got yourself into another mess then? Hah, can leave this until afterwards? When the cameras aren’t recording? Of course. You’ll need these. [Director Jeknokov signals to a nurse construct who is holding a stack of badges.] Various enchantments limit our patient’s movements so you’ll need these to move freely about the grounds. Please, come inside. [All metaphysical beings present disappear and reappear inside.]Understandable, now what can you tell me about the patient. In front of a camera? You know the answer to that one. Then I can’t do anything. So you got yourself into one hell of a mess then. We can edit out the offending sections afterwards. I want to destroy that footage personally, also I can’t let any of your crew sit in on the patient’s sessions. That’s reasonable I suppose.

Now can you tell me about the patient? Very well. She’s Faestai of the Empire of Perfect Order. [A few of the older spirits on the crew swear] One of those fucking monsters?! I thought they all burned up in the explosion! Burned? When was this? Hm, it was before your time wasn’t it. Well, I’ll give you the quick version. There was a god called Dontesun who got it into his head that he was the saviour of the multiverse. Saviour from what? Chaos and when you leave it at that it sounds good, maybe even noble, but Dontesun had strange ideas. He believed that thought and emotion were intrinsically chaotic and sought to remove such things from the species he encountered, by force and conquest if necessary. He was, unfortunately, quite successful in his efforts for some time. Eventually he amassed enough strength to create gods to serve him. Anetel, Jomontet, Faestai, Liami, and Neuss. After these five were born they handled the majority of the conquering and took control of the thralls.Thralls? Some kind of artificial god with no will of their own. No one is quite sure how they were made but they were used as everything from soldiers to dietic energy generators. Anyway, Dontesun used these five to commit what were best described as mass atrocities and eventually take control of their entire universe.

Billions of worlds and species rendered down into empty husks of their former selves. It got to the point where they were looking to expand outwards into other universes. Seeing as I’ve never heard of them something must have gone wrong. Quite right. Someone even stronger than Dontesun took issue with his expansionist policies. I don’t know the exact details but from what I can gather this someone was able to convince Jomontet to turn against the empire and gave him some kind of psychic weapon. It either drove the thralls mad or gave them free will but we know they started acting on their own. Dontesun was killed in the ensuing chaos that much we’re sure of. It was thought that that Jomontet died as well but he has been spotted recently. Given her history I have to ask, why help her? Call it a challenge. The idea was that if we could rehabilitate her, current issues and genocidal streak included, we could do the same with anyone.
[Footage ends]

[Footage begins with Dr. Zeptyr adjusting the camera’s position. He holds up a card that reads “Session 1”. Director Jeknokov is also present. The door opens and a nurse construct leads a woman wearing a straightjacket and muzzle in. When the woman see Director Jeknokov is visibly struggling against the jacket and whimpering softly. The construct secures her to a chair before leaving.] Is she really so difficult? No actually she should be quite calm right now. She might have done something to confuse the constructs though. Let me just get her out of those. [Director Jeknokov stand and moves towards Faestai, who panics and strains to move away] She’s more skittish than I expected. No, this is odd, even for her. [Director Jeknokov removes the gag] No, no, no, no. I didn’t say. I promised, you promised, you promised, you promised. What? Promised what Faestai? Can’t say, can’t can’t can’t take more pain [Dr. Zeptyr turns to the Director]Something you’d like to explain? [The Director stares at Faestai for a moment and then laughs]

Clever Faestai, quite clever. You can relax Zeptyr, I’d never hurt one of my patients, you know that. It's just that Faestai can be a bit manipulative at times. [Dr. Zeptyr turns back towards Faestai who smiles and looks towards the wall.] The old one helped the new one to see. That one can be so annoying. Do you know who she’s talking to? She changes it every time you ask. Faestai, I’d like you to meet Dr.Zeptyr. He’ll be the one handling your sessions from now on. New one replaces the old one? Doesn't matter. Both useless.[Faestai turns towards the Director] Need to solve.Oh, I almost forgot to mention Faestai’s more unique traits. The first is that she has some kind of mental block that’s preventing her from accessing the majority of her abilities. Not that it matters anyway. We take care to make sure our patients can’t draw energy from their surroundings. The second is, well, it’s easier to show you.

[Director Jeknokov unties the arms of Faestai’s straightjacket and as soon as her arms are free she cups her hands together. She opens them to reveal a small golden sphere with thin lines crisscrossing the surface. A puzzle. Faestai immediately begins trying to solve it.] What is it? Shhhh. For the longest time I thought it was just something she made or found to fixate on but the way she acted when I tried to take it away, violently, if you were wondering, made me suspicious. I really didn’t find anything concrete until a few years after her sessions started. I was looking through my old notes and I noticed a pattern. She was becoming more lucid as the puzzle was solved. Unfortunately whenever she gets close to completing it something will always go wrong. Maybe the puzzle will reset or scramble itself. Sometimes it changes form all together. We couldn’t get her out of her room for a month when it turned into a jigsaw puzzle. Ten billion pieces not much larger than a hair, all blank white, no edges and she wouldn’t go anywhere without all of them. Are you saying the puzzle is her mind or at least representative of it? Correct, I think she might have made it reflexively on the destruction of her universe. It might be related to the weapon Jomontet use-[ At the mention of her brother’s name Faestai brings her fist down on the table, denting it. She’s visibly shaking with anger.] Oh yes, don't mention her brother. You can tell she gets a bit worked up. DECEIVER! BRINGER OF STATIC! WORLD BURNER! I leave this to you Zeptyr.[Footage ends as the Director exits the room]

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NAME: Krid

APPEARANCE: Krid is basically humanoid in form, mostly made up of small rocks and pebbles with soil filling in the spaces. Also mixed in are small uncut precious stones and raw minerals but most of these are obscured though. Wears a calf length skirt and a complicated wrap of fabric across her chest. Other features include:A tangle of vines and moss which serves as hair. Two eyes cut from gemstones, ruby and amethyst. A mouth with shards of white quartz as teeth.

SPHERES:
Primary:
Magic: What Krid was born to do and as such not an easy sphere to change. Uses more freeform systems than her father.
Secondary:
Creativity: Something she picked up from her father. She's enamored by the arts of mortals especially if they're unique to a culture or species.
Fertility: Krid is at a loss as to where this sphere came from but she's taken quite a shine to helping things grow whether they be mortals or plant life.

INFO: Krid was created simply on a whim by another god. He'd intended for her to monitor the flow of magic in a certain universe but when the time came for him to move on he was unable to leave her behind. He took Krid into his care and treated her like his own child. He taught her as much as he could about, well, everything from creating to art. He shared his knowledge of creativity and showed Krid some of the greatest works by mortal hands. After that she wanted to help mortals create greater works and developed her second sphere, Creativity, soon after that. They stayed together for several more decades and, for the most part, Krid has managed to stay out of her father's family issues though the few times she did get involved it helped to tip the battle in their favor. Eventually she gained a third sphere, fertility, though she's not quite sure where it came from. Even her father commented on how unexpected it was. Now, finally a full goddess, she's ready to strike out on her own.

​Personality: Impulsive and curious. Fascinated by mortals and slow to approach gods she doesn't know. Will keep to herself until she feels comfortable.

Cutting it fine there Kato. You be lucky that sounds awesome and a little bit terrifying all at once.

Alright people, you have until the end of today to get any remaining apps in~

And now I wait.

Does anyone here remember an RP guild called Exile that was a bunch of gods exiled from a destroyed world being given a second chance, populating and guiding the fate of a new one? Because if this is in any way tied to that, it'll be like a reunion with old RP friends amg. O_O

@Bigro: RAINBOW SERPENT <333 You know it's the year of the water snake, right? I drew a rainbow serpent in tribute earlier this year much like how you described your god. 8'D

.. ...I can't resist, after all.

Name: Lord Rack. Many amusing legends by his followers surround the origins of this name, and it's become kind of a cultural tradition for those from the lands under his protection, whether they worship him or not, to come up with new ones in the form of elaborate jokes. Lord Rack likes to share these stories with other divinities.
Appearance:

I should color this sometime. Anyways. Lord Rack's got some kind of greek wrestler thing going on with that musculature, and the buffness doesn't really change even when he takes female or a between-genders form, seeing as he can be any of those. The outfit never really changes though. In demonstration of a rather depraved love of puns, Lord Rack sports divine headgear (that is actually a gear on his head) and pantaloons (with depictions of loons, the bird, on them.) That's a divine lab coat wrapped around the waist/hip, incapable of being soiled: a legendary item I have set my own sights on actually, wow, seriously, that would be useful. He's got gray hair whose tips end with, oddly enough, a changing pattern of changing colors of... some kind of tentacle display? It can be rather mesmerizing. Tl;dr it's hard to tell if there's anything this so-called god takes seriously about himself. Finally, one must mention his divine instruments... little glass gourds that refill themselves endlessly with Lord Rack's special brew (looks and sounds like a golden, glowing, slightly gelatinous fizzy drink) It is thought by some that the contents are actually Lord Rack's real body.
Spheres: Main ○ Creativity: That gift of the sentient from which ideas arise, whether they are ingenuous, good, unrealistic, or have godawful timing. Thus this god is also heavily associated with...
Secondary: ○ Missed Opportunities: Have you noticed how ideas tend to come at the wrong times more often than not, or to the wrong people entirely, filling the creative with an endless supply of unfulfillable desires? ...Yeah. It's a mischievous side of this god's primary sphere.
○ Progress: On a less comical note, one aspect of Lord Rack is perpetual change as old and past ideas give way to the new, moving projects, individuals, science and society in new directions.
Additional Info: Legend holds that even drinking a drop of the brew will cause a mortal to enter a brainstorm of ideas, unable to pull themselves out of that mode of extreme inventiveness until they've exhausted their mental resources. Brains used to doing more work on a regular basis could go longer before mental meltdown occurs.
Those in creative professions- arts, science (there is tons of creativity in science yo!), chefs, architects, inventors etc., may find reason to appreciate or detest him depending on how that's going. Hate/Love. It happens. Also, Lord Rack is not a fearsome or mighty god, but he's probably one of the most amicable!

Does anyone here remember an RP guild called Exile that was a bunch of gods exiled from a destroyed world being given a second chance, populating and guiding the fate of a new one? Because if this is in any way tied to that, it'll be like a reunion with old RP friends amg. O_O

Nope and nope to my knowledge.