World Creation Superdraft 2: July 2018

[Pariah]

1 hour ago, Hermit said:

Does that count as your interference pick?

 

Or are you, as I suspect, just pulling rank on sunsbaked goods?

 

It was not intended as an Interference pick.

 

(Although, if I don't come up with something better in the next couple of days, it might just have to do. We'll see.)

[Lucius]

On ‎7‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 2:51 PM, Hermit said:

 

 

 

Hermit: I don't know how to make it stop quoting you.

 

Geography pick:

 

Sacred Spaces, including temples, burial grounds, and pyres.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Fauna: Palindromedaries. Fiction may follow.

[L. Marcus]

Hermit is eminently quotable, even when he has nothing to say.

[Cancer]

7 hours ago, Pariah said:

Patience, everyone. You'll get your gadolinium when it's good and ready.

 

<whine> But ... you mean you lied when you called it the r- for  rapid process?</whine>

[Pariah]

"Rapid" means something slightly different in astronomical and/geologic time scales....

[Hermit]

Wouldn't rapids belong to the god of waterways?

[Hermit]

3 hours ago, Lucius said:

 

Hermit: I don't know how to make it stop quoting you.

 

Geography pick:

 

Sacred Spaces, including temples, burial grounds, and pyres.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Fauna: Palindromedaries. Fiction may follow.

 

Next time you start to post, see if it gives you an option to clear editor

[Cancer]

Anuanu creates and manifests in the world Its Gift to the civilizations of the world: the camera obscura, an oracle born of Darkness, Light, and Illusion.

__________

"Great Darkness, there is some vague but pervasive discontent among the mortals dwelling on the surface of the World, that the smaller brethren of the Sansez Kthp have heard as they traverse the night."

 

"Speak on, O Nine Billion and Thirty-seventh Camazotz, about the things that have been heard."

 

"The protective Dark between mortals and their future is more impenetrable than the mortals want.  They peer into the future in vain, understandably seeking guidance against the vagaries of Chance."

 

"It is not given to Us to remove the veils of Time, though I can well perceive the discontent.  True and complete vision would, however, destroy them, and that too is not given to Us."

 

"Of course, Great Darkness.  But there is more than vision."

 

"Well We know that, but humans and things sharing their shape are most dependent upon their eyes; independent of the wisdom therein, that is the sense they trust first and most.

 

"They desire an oracle.  So be it.  We can provide that.  But as oracles must be, it will be unreliable, nuanced, and limited: one will be able to trade brightness of the view for clarity, and back.  Not really a reflection, not really an illusion, Our oracle will need Darkness and a very little of the Light, and which of those brings the greater Truth is something the user will have to decide for themselves."

Thence started a phenomenon where mortals in a darkened space in which light was admitted through a single small aperture could see dim, blurry images where the light entering through the aperature impinged on a surface in the dark.  Studying these, most often the mortals saw images of what was nearby outside the camera obscura, dim, inverted, blurred, but they could perceive quickly that the first images did indeed represent the view outside with some undeniable Truth.  

 

But those who watched at length, and studied the images they saw, had other glimpses appear on the wall in the dark room, visions that were transient, sometimes oddly vivid, often laden with an emotional content that transcended the sense of vision.  Over time, they recalled some of these visions from earlier in life, and were able to see they related to experiences and scenes that transpired after the seeing in the camera obscura, and eventually realized that there had been a view of the future, albeit one that required wisdom and insight to recognize and use.  The visions did not respond to any of their commands or entreaties in any way they could discern; nor were they restricted to those of powerful station, or those trained in the arts of priestcraft, or those who most urgently felt a need for guidance; nor did the magnificence of the furnishings in the room itself seem to matter.  But for those who chose to peer into the darkness, sometimes the Darkness peered back with a token from the future.

[Hermit]

 I think interference is all I have left.

 

Mmm, World War,  Civil War, Create chocolate in some far off land so some western power queen will send conquistadors after it? 

[Cancer]

Stack some more earthly pleasures to be harvested at that location and that's plausible.  Recruit from Vyago's Gift, add some ambition, some bits that sound good but aren't really so, and you've made for some enduring turbulence in the world, even if it is infinite in extent.

[death tribble]

One afternoon, as we rested, a number of worshippers had joined us in order to further their knowledge of The Way.  They were asking the Master questions both inane and at other times profound. They wanted to know whether they had the rituals right and whether they had offended the Master in any way. 

 

'And can any ask of you a question even if they are not a worshipper ?' asked one earnest soul.

 

"Yes" Vyago replied 'As you are about to see. Hello my dear'.

 

We turned to see who the Master was talking to and were dazzled and left speechless by the appearance of the being before us. "Sorry, is this better ?' she said and suddenly we were able to look upon her. I realised then that we were looking upon Amora, the Goddess of Love. 'Vyago, you are a god able to appear anywhere and anywhere you choose, so why do you choose to walk everywhere ?' she asked.

 

Vyago smiled.  "I could give you any number of reasons and our audience here would hang on every word I said. But I have a better idea, walk with us and you will find the answer yourself'

 

 Amora nodded and joined us. She sat around with us and the pair answered questions that we put to her as well as questions we posed to the Master. 'Is it possible to find love, beauty and pleasure in anything ?' she was asked as we sat around a fire.

'Oh yes' said Amora, ' You can find love, beauty and pleasure in the portfolios of all the gods. In the Oceans, in the Wild, in the Darkness and in the Light. In Order and in Chaos. In Secrets, in Death, in War and in the Journey. But it may take you Time for you to Discover this and when you do so be sure to tell Tales of it'. And as she said this she turned and smiled at the Master.

 

Amora and Vyago would walk side by side as we followed them answering any questions we had and indicating things that we noticed as we passed by. Days passed in this fashion until late one afternoon as Amora was talking to Vyago when she abruptly stopped as realisation hit her. 'Now I understand' she said to Vyago and kissed him before taking her leave of us all and taking to the sky.

 

'The answer to your question is this. In Time anyone can Discover the Way to an answer. Even a god' Vyago announced to us all. 'She did not need to come here and be among us, she chose to. She could have observed from afar and give her own conclusions to her worshippers or to others. But that is not how she likes to do things.'  

 

--the Forgotten History of Vyago the God

[death tribble]

It is said that when Amora roams the Wilds that Ut-Mark will take her hand and say 'Come with me'. They can be seen in the Unmeasured Forest, drinking alcohol and taking part in The Wild Hunt. some however say that this is merely a dream caused by Di Sma Undarjordi.

[Cancer]

Anuanu performs Its final great act of creation, and creates and proclaims Its Interference.  In a foreshadowing of Its own certain defeat, and, perhaps, that of all of the gods, it creates Godmaker and sends it forth into Creation.

 

A proud but worthy soul raged alone in the Waiting Darkness, the Second Hell, where the souls of those whose turbulent lives are largely of their own making are sent to abide for a time.  The angry voice was that of a conquering queen who had raised her folk from illiterate nomads to rulers of a sprawling empire, who had gone from peerless warrior to patroness of learning, and grown from a wise tribal leader to a giver of laws so just that the courts ruling in her name were hailed as the fairest of all mortal lands.  She had had the foresight to render the rules for her succession clear long in advance, and to train those upon whom the imperial mantle would come to rest in statecraft, law, and the husbandry of trade, commerce, and prosperity.  Beloved by her people, she lived a long and celebrated life, before dying peacefully in her bed well past the usual threescore and ten years allotted to her race.

 

And yet, her ambition was greater than this, to have been more than the founding empress of the greatest state the world had yet seen.  She had dreamed of transcending mortal flesh, of truly undergoing apotheosis and joining the panoply of the gods in fact and not merely in empty prideful boast, as so many heathen god-emperors has done in history.  Surely, she believed, there was something better for a soul who had achieved so much, and yet had still labored for the greater good of her folk -- indeed, all folk around her -- for all but her last few mortal days, when her aged body finally could not obey the commands of her will.  

 

Her anger was not that of empty pride, of selfish desire for overarching power, or a desperate need for the adoration of millions.  She saw ways to elevate all sophonts even more, extend the benefits of justice and freedom across all of Creation, and abolish pain, want, woe, and fear.  And yet Death had come for her as it came for the most brutal murderer, the greediest usurer, and most heartless slaver.

 

Alone (it seemed to her) in the Waiting Dark, after expending the initial outburst of frustrated wrath, she expounded on what she had wanted to do if she had had the opportunity, and how that would have exalted the lives all those in her domain, and may beyond it.  Yet all she had dreamed was for naught, it seemed, and the great opportunity for so much good was brought down, for the Gods were incomplete in their beneficence.  But for her death the greater glory of Creation could have accrued so much the faster; but only an immortal could accomplish that, and the Gods had not created a way for another to join them.

 

Anuanu, of course, had listened to it all.  While touched with the bitterness of mortality, the woman's words had merit.  She was indeed (as she had been named in life) Great-Souled, and what she had achieved transcended mere mortal design.  Fewer than one soul in a hundred generations manifested with such merit in the World, and even the gods took note of such a one.  But it was not really given to Anuanu to transmute a mortal soul into one which might endure undiminished for all of Creation.

 

From the uttermost core of the Dark came an unfathomable germ of design.  Anuanu could not transmute a mortal soul into an immortal manifestation.  Unless ....

 

"Greatsoul," whispered the Darkness to the woman in the Waiting Dark, "your prayers have been heard."

 

The woman startled, taken suddenly aback at the response, and immediately regretful at what she deemed had to be nothing but fatal hubris, challenging the Divine.  She had been speaking for her own comfort, trying to stave off the terror of aloneness, to hold the fear of imminent Unbeing out of her mind, and present as she had in life the appeal to justice and goodness, and manifest courage in the face of a final End.  She had taken as given that the lamentations of the dead would go unheeded into the eternal Void.

 

"After a sojourn in the Underworld, you will be sent, as Arepo requires, for rebirth.  That will be, most likely, as a mortal: there remain choices to be made, by you and by Others, and more should not be said now.

 

"When that next life comes to its end, you will again be collected here in the Underworld.  If again you have shown great merit, and again your most heartfelt wish is to magnify the glory of Creation as no mortal can, then there will be a chance.

 

"You will have to overcome a god to become a god, however.  How you do this is yet to be determined, for the Darkness conceals from all things their end.  But when you return here again, there will be something which does not now exist, something with which a mortal can overcome a god, assume their place among the Eternals, and push the overcome god into the cycle of rebirth and death.

 

"The thing which will be ... and I, Anuanu, will make it ... will be named Godmaker.  I will go to the edge of Creation, and encapsulate a bit of the Void within a barrier of Darkness.  For the gods were born of the Void, and only the Void is of the same substance as they, and so only the Void has the capacity to interrupt godhood and carry it to another vessel.  Even Darkness cannot contain the Void forever, however; while Darkness cannot be absolutely destroyed, it can be driven away.  What happens beyond that, I will not say.

 

"Even that encapsulated bit of Void will be insufficient the first time, however.  To become fully capable of overcoming any god, it must first be anointed with the blood of a god.  But a god can be overcome by their own designs; so it must be, or absurd contradictions resulting from the works of an impulsive god will dissolve the Creation back into Void.

 

"Therefore: after your rebirth, and subsequent death after a life which has transcended mortal limits on magnificence and goodness, you will have the option to contend against Me.  Find Godmaker, wherever it might be, and however it might manifest.  Pull Me down, and you will achieve full godhood, and My soul will pass into the apportionment of Arepo for rebirth.  I promise you: it will not be easy."

 

And so it was.  Anuanu went to the foundations of Creation, and caught a sliver of Void in a capsule of Darkness, whose shape and size were as mutable as the extent of all Darkness.  In the form of a sword, it would appear as blade of absolute Dark, and the Void at its core would sever any thing in Creation.  In the form of a book, it would have utterly black pages and have a binding of palpable Unlight, and the words enscribed in it would banish any entity back to the very limits of Creation.  As a spade, it would excavate mountains; as a yoke, it would harness a leviathan; as a scythe, it would with a stroke cut down a forest from horizon to horizon.  Having made it, Anuanu cast it away, choosing to avert Its vision from where it might go.

 

And so Godmaker rests somewhere in Creation, awaiting that day when a worthy Greatsoul mortal needs an implement to permit them to perform greater works and bring into being an immortal's contribution to Creation.  When that happens, Anuanu will be pulled down from godhood, though Its soul will be able to accrue merit and, perhaps, subsequently challenge another for assuming Its godhood.

 

And so even the gods may be forced to endure the ebb and flow of vitality that is a manifestation of Time, experience death and rebirth, and pass through the cleansing of the Underworld.  And if any of them does, Anuanu will be the first.
 

[death tribble]

Aerobell met Amora by the Ooze Ocean. 'What do you wish to see me about ?' said the War God.

'You once told me that I could find Love, Beauty and Pleasure in anything and everything' Amora replied as Aerobell acknowledged her and then she gestured toward the Ooze Ocean and said simply 'Yuck !'

Aerobell roared with laughter and when she calmed a little asked her 'Why not change it ?'

Amora looked horrified 'No ! That would set Dee-Eli's worshippers and mine at each others throats. You and I have enough of that trouble if certain of our worshippers are to be believed. Your priest Walon often says in his sermons', and here Amora impersonated him looking grim and mean 'There is no room for Love, Beauty and Pleasure in War.'

Aerobell nodded sagely. Walon the Dour was one of her most devout but severe and unyielding priests. She recalled him lecturing her about how she should go about her duties to the faithful and how unfortunate that she was a female and not a male deity. It was one of the main reasons he was confined to one place and not allowed to proselytise outside of that.

'Then', continued Amora 'there is my priest Arathon' and here again lapsed into parody taking on the earnestness and self serving characteristic of her priest, 'We have no need to fear War and Weapons and Gargoyles for Love conquers All !'

'Tell that to Gelmir' retorted Aerobell

'Exactly' said Amora 'If this sort of thing is allowed to continue your worshippers and mine would come to blows and mine would be slaughtered. And if we can be set against each other what of Gravitus and Brother Chaos or Yshic and Anuanu ? We could end up with only one god which is what those all life created by a single deity lunatics believe.'

 

'What do you propose then ?' questioned Aerobell

'I believe that we can thwart both of these worshippers and those that share similar beliefs. There must be something that my faithful can do for yours but what ?' posed Amora

Aerobell's reply was stifled as she suddenly noticed Dee-Eli and Vyago.

'Watch' said the God of the Way to the God of Secrets 'Here it comes'

'What happens after a battle or a campaign ?' asked Amora

Aerobell noticed that Amora seemed oblivious to the others. 'They go home. They celebrate.' said Aerobell

'But what of the wounded ?' said Amora

'They go home as well. Remember Matreun the Maul, he ended up missing an eye and an arm yet still fathered children and was able to look after and support them' said Aerobell

'True but some of those that do not have severe wounds end up dying.' said the Goddess of Love, 'What else causes the death of your warriors outside of combat ?'

'Malnutrition, dehydration which might lead onto another cause disease', said Aerobell 'Have you something in mind ?'

'Yes, I do now', said Amora, 'I shall take on the mantle of healing and create hospitals. My worshippers shall service yours !'

'No !' said Aerobell as Amora looked puzzled 'Your worshippers can aid or help mine. With you being the Goddess of Love, if your worshippers service mine people won't think of it being healing if you know what I mean.'  

'Oh' said Amora looking bemused and then 'Oh' as she realised what Aerobell meant. 'I see. You mean like in the poetry of Jarod who makes allusions to the welcome I give you when you return from campaigns.' 

Aerobell looked surprised as Amora then showed her some of the dense prose 'It's much clearer in the explicit drawings that Yalg of Galos made to go with some readings of them'

'I'll pay them a visit' said Aerobell but Amora shook her head 'No need. Anuanu sent them something on our behalf' 

 

Amora sailed off to implement the new domain as Aerobell turned to Vyago and Dee-Eli.

'How long have you two been plotting this ?' she demanded

'I can't tell you that, ' said Vyago, 'It's a secret'

And Aerobell roared with laughter again.

 

Last Domain: Healing/Hospitals

[Pariah]

8 hours ago, Cancer said:

Anuanu performs Its final great act of creation, and creates and proclaims Its Interference.  In a foreshadowing of Its own certain defeat, and, perhaps, that of all of the gods, it creates Godmaker and sends it forth into Creation.

 

Apotheosis via Klingon Promotion? Wow.

 

That’s gonna be hard to beat. 

 

Nicely done.

[Cancer]

Well, I explicitly did not claim exclusivity in how mortals might join the pantheon.  There could be other ways.

[Pariah]

Emmunt reached down to her companion to help him over the final ridge. Lusan took her hand and scrambled to the top. Closer than brother and sister, and so much more than lovers, they had searched and struggled and journeyed together for years to reach this moment. Now, the object of their quest lay within their sight. They approached with awe and reverence, their hearts filled with excitement.

 

Emmunt spoke. "You are the Tree of Knowledge."

 

"I am," the tree replied. "You are Emmunt and Lusan, whose souls are knit together as one."

 

This startled them. "You know our names?" Lusan asked.

 

"I know many things," the Tree replied. "It is my calling, and my burden."

 

"Do you know why we have sought you out?"

 

"I know what you seek. Do you?"

 

"We know," Lusan said, trying to sound more confident than he suddenly felt. He had heard the stories, of course. They both had. 

 

"Then ask of me what you wish, and I will answer."

 

The two looked at each other, sharing an apprehensive moment. Them Emmunt spoke.

 

"Tree of Knowledge, my Companion and I have traveled this World for decades. We have seen its Peoples, walked its paths, enjoyed its pleasures, and learned many of its secrets. We have enjoyed great triumphs and overcome staggering losses, and we have learned the arts of long life. If we would, we could explore this infinite World for centuries to come, and perhaps we could see it all."

 

"You have lived good lives," the Tree acknowledged. "What do you seek from me?"

 

"We seek a new adventure," Lusan answered. "We have grown weary of our travels. Is there nothing more for such as we to experience?"

 

"There is," the Tree responded, a touch of sadness in its voice. This did not go unnoticed by the seekers. "There is a place with new adventures and new experiences, such as even you have never imagined. There are great islands that float in the sky, and dragons that fly between them. There are caverns that underlie entire continents. There are mountains that scrape the top of the skies, and an abyss that reaches beyond the depths of the oceans. There are wise, elephantine creatures that contemplate the heavens and the mysteries of life. There are all manner of beings, each with their own views and their own special wisdoms. There are experiences there that you can never have in any other place."

 

The two travelers were confused. "Great Tree, we have traveled the length and breadth of this World, and have heard no stories anything like this."

 

"That is because the place of which I speak is apart from this World."

 

The two stood in silence for a moment, trying to understand what this news meant. At length, Lusan spoke. "There are...other worlds?"

 

"Worlds without number," the Tree confirmed. "A new World for every grain of sand on every beach and every riverbank on this one. I have described but one of them."

 

"And...we can travel to this other World?"

 

"There is a way."

 

The Tree opened to their minds the vision of a Pool of Radiance, lying in a cavern beneath a faraway forest. The two travelers had never seen it before, but they knew instinctively where to go to find it. The journey would be longer and more arduous than any they had ever attempted, but they knew they could do it.

 

"So, if we find this Pool of Radiance, we can step into it and step out in another World?"

 

"You can," the Tree confirmed. "But you can never return to this World."

 

"We would not wish to!"

 

"Are you certain? Never is a long, long time."

 

"We are certain. This World no longer holds any interest to us."

 

"Then you may walk into the Pool of Radiance. But there is a price."

 

"Name it," the two said as one.

 

"The price is the greatest of that which you possess."

 

"Great Tree, we have but few possessions--only that which we carry. We have gained and lost a dozen fortunes in our travels. We have come to realize of how little worth they are."

 

"I do not speak of the things that you carry. I speak of that which you value most."

 

Emmunt spoke haltingly. "You mean, our...lives?"

 

"No. Your lives are as transient as the clothes on your backs. You know that by the gift of Arepo, Rebirth awaits you when your life in this World is over."

 

"What can a man value more than his own life?" Lusan asked.

 

"His own self," Emmunt responded. "To cease to be oneself and to become someone else is the greatest sacrifice one can make."

 

"For anyone else, this would be true," the Tree answered. "But not for you. You each possess something more precious than your own self."

 

"What is it?" Lusan cried, at the edge of despair. He suspected.

 

"Each other."

 

Lusan wept openly. Emmunt stood in stunned silence. "You're saying that we cannot both travel to this other World."

 

"Should you come to the Pool of Radiance, one of you will step through, at the sacrifice of the other."

 

"I would never do such a thing!" Lusan protested. "Nor would she!" Emmunt nodded in silent affirmation.

 

"This is not a bargain to be struck, nor a prophecy to be unraveled," the Tree said. "It is simply the answer to the question you have asked me. I see that it brings you no joy. Thus it is, by the decree of Dee-Eli. It brings me no joy, either."

 

The two travelers stood in the shade of the tree for a long, long time. At length, Lusan spoke.

 

"You should go."

 

"What?!" Emmunt cried.

 

"I love and esteem you as my own soul. I will make the sacrifice, that you may go. And when our lives are over, we will meet again in the realm of Anuanu, and you may tell me of your travels in this faraway World."

 

"No," the Tree declared.

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"If you walk the Pool of Radiance, you can never return to this World. Not in life, not in death. You will not be reborn into this World."

 

The two companions fell to their knees and embraced each other as they cried. The Tree desired to weep with them, but could not.

 

 

Interference: A Pool of Radiance that can remove people from the Infinite World (and the cycle of Death and Rebirth)

 

 

[Psybolt]

No wonder I am having such a hard time finding an interference fitting Brother Chaos.  Both Cancer and Pariah are doing Brother Chaos's work for him.

[Pariah]

Um...thanks? Sorry? What’s the appropriate response here?

[Cancer]

Something like this would work.

[Psybolt]

49 minutes ago, Pariah said:

Um...thanks? Sorry? What’s the appropriate response here?

Brother Chaos is absolutely pleased.

 

I'm still thinking

[Psybolt]

Brother Chaos watched over the world as it is born, his sibling Gods doing much of the work for him.  What can spread more chaos upon this world than that which has already been unleashed?  The thought troubled him, while also entertained him.  His position would always be there as the rest of the Divinity seem to be ensuring the reign of chaos around the world.

 

And a thought crossed the mind of Brother Chaos.  What would cause the most disorder....chaotic behavior...

 

He got it.

 

So, he reached out and created a man, one of these "humans" that now populated the world... and he named him Stanton.  And he gave Stanton some strange abilities... unexplained abilities... abilities of his mind. 

 

And he touched the minds of many followers of Stanton... and by doing so... created a new religion.  A religion that is monotheism... that of a single god. 

 

And Chaos released this new religion upon the world.

 

Interference Pick:  The creation of a new religion to not include the Gods of this world.  A monotheistic religion called Stantonism.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Damn, even I didn't see that coming... that's diabolical.

[Sociotard]

Dee-Eli notices that a growing number of people aren't even sure he is there. He finds this oddly satisfying and inspires the psionic schools to not persecute the cult of strange mind powers.

[Old Man]

"Master," I asked one day, "you have wisely gifted Tales to the people of the world, so that they may share their journeys with one another.  Yet tales are merely words and memories, that do not warm them, or protect them, or love them as they travel.  Would it not be better for the people to have an actual companion to journey with?"

 

"Of course," Vyago replied, scratching the back of my neck.  "That is why I created you."

 

--from the Forgotten History of Vyago the Worldly

 

 

Flora/Fauna/Ore: Dogs