Also, we can make some weird types of mold and other fungi. Edible and not so, similar to flowers or with a surprise...
Edit: Was playing around with island generator. Maybe the next island and its surroundings should be made cold. And I can also generate all interesting things/places on it using some random geenrators for insparation. Would be island called Random in my book.
A huge tree that grows up to 96 meters (315.0 feet) tall. It has needles that are found in dark yellow and green varieties, a branched, straight trunk with ridged, yellow bark, and branches that are very long and thin. Forests of this species feature the trees packed together, with grassy ground between them. It grows well in the sun and full shade.
A modest-sized tree that grows up to 43 meters (141.1 feet) tall. It has moss green leaves with ripped edges, a very thick, slanted trunk with knobbly, brown-green speckled bark, and branches that are very long, thin and wispy. The roots are long and grow straight down.
A small fruit tree that grows up to 7 feet (2.1 meters) tall. It has brown and green needles, a stocky, yellow trunk, and branches that trail down to the ground. In mid-autumn it produces large, fan-like fruit. The fruit's sticky yellow skin is inedible, and the soft ashy red flesh is savoury and dry.
A modest-sized flower that grows up to 11 inches (28 cm) tall, with blood red petals that gradient shift to silver on the outer edge. The central disk is copper. Two small flowers sit at the end of the stem. Fan-like, blue leaves grow from the base and are the same length as the stem. It is possible to grow it from cuttings.
A short shrub that grows up to 1 foot (30.5 cm) tall. It has small, orange needles, and a long and flexible, curved trunk with waxy, dark brown bark. It produces a thick sheet of giant, copper blossoms with asymmetrical petals with a trumpet-shaped floral cup
Massive, green-yellow grass that grows up to 12 feet (3.7 meters) tall. The long, tapering, ripped-edged stalks grow in thick clumps that are resistant and they spread and grow quickly. It can be used to make dyes.
An average-sized, slate creeper that reaches up to 35 feet (10.7 meters) long. It has emerald needles. Once mature, the stems each have a diameter of 2 inches (5 cm), and remain soft and fleshy. It produces balls of small, olive blossoms with crescent-shaped shaped petals. They have no scent
Brown or orange moss found in rainy mountain ranges and in marshes. It forms in sparse patches are slow to spread and grow, and is overwhelmingly hardy; it is very difficult to kill.
Name:
Big Salt
Type of settlement:
Town
Size of settlement:
Massive
Well known for:
Its distinctive building style, and expensive furniture style that originated here.
Notable areas:
The docks, a warehouse, a carpenter's shop, an inn, and a lighthouse.
General
Financial status:
In serious debt
Local Government:
Respected
Growth/development:
Stagnant
Public services:
Efficient
Crime rate:
Very low, Increasing
Cost of living:
Cheap
Employment prospects:
Bad
Appearance
Overall appearance:
Gloomy, Dull
Urban area:
45%
General construction level:
Run-down
General level of upkeep:
Well kept
General street condition:
Somewhat maintained
People
Population:
Disproportionately small
Level of contentment:
Apathetic, Disillusioned
Racial diversity:
Multicultural
Attitudes towards visitors:
Indifferent, Welcoming
Regional accent:
Very strong, Famous
Name:
Small Salt
Type of settlement:
Village
Size of settlement:
Small
Notable areas:
A whitesmith's workshop, a keep, a canal network, and large graveyard
Also, we can make some weird types of mold and other fungi. Edible and not so, similar to flowers or with a surprise...
Edit: Was playing around with island generator. Maybe the next island and its surroundings should be made cold. And I can also generate all interesting things/places on it using some random geenrators for insparation. Would be island called Random in my book.
Well, considering the first act I'm planning for the next island...
[] Mountain of Glass
A mountain of ice and snow forms. Its body is covered in packed snow and its interior of ice grows stronger the deeper you go. Instead of holding lava like its twin, this mountain holds liquid ice. A fluid so cold it freezes anything that gets too close the same way lava burns.
The Ducks themselves, maybe, but I'm pretty sure the Sharks are big enough to attract the appetites of the Giant Turtles. They're not getting out of this war unscathed. (Sorry, this just occurred to me.)
Incidentally, if I were you I'd be more than a little concerned about the possibility of a Divine Duck getting dragged into the Arena; it has not escaped my attention that that would probably result in his connection to the DDF being transferred to his killer.
Incidentally, if I were you I'd be more than a little concerned about the possibility of a Divine Duck getting dragged into the Arena; it has not escaped my attention that that would probably result in his connection to the DDF being transferred to his killer.
I'm not 100% sure how that would play out, because it's supposed to be a Duck that regrows into the bones upon death. So it'd either mean the ability would have to be forcefully changed to one benefiting another animal, or that when the Killer is killed, they reincarnate into the One Duck. I'm betting on the latter.
The Ducks themselves, maybe, but I'm pretty sure the Sharks are big enough to attract the appetites of the Giant Turtles. They're not getting out of this war unscathed. (Sorry, this just occurred to me.)
Good point. Either way, I'm worried for the 1st island. With such a clear imbalance of power, the 2nd is clearly going to act like an invasive species. If only there was something guarding the portal between islands.
I'm not 100% sure how that would play out, because it's supposed to be a Duck that regrows into the bones upon death. So it'd either mean the ability would have to be forcefully changed to one benefiting another animal, or that when the Killer is killed, they reincarnate into the One Duck. I'm betting on the latter.
Good point. Either way, I'm worried for the 1st island. With such a clear imbalance of power, the 2nd is clearly going to act like an invasive species. If only there was something guarding the portal between islands.
Doesn't really have to be "forcefully" since its intended holders are Ducks themselves, so it can potentially be interpreted as "when the holder dies, a new member of the same species is born from its corpse with an immunity to its cause of death." Not gonna guarantee that's how it'll turn out, though.
Still, the DDF getting stolen would undoubtedly be a massive setback for the Ducks even if it's only temporary.
And also: While the Sharks will be an invasive species at Island 1, turnabout is also valid; some of the Turtles could decide "hey, there's new food and actual caves to sleep in over here, let's move in!" and counter-invade. Well, assuming they fit through the Ravine, at least.
...and now I'm wondering how big and strong a Turtle Champion would be.
And also: While the Sharks will be an invasive species at Island 1, turnabout is also valid; some of the Turtles could decide "hey, there's new food and actual caves to sleep in over here, let's move in!" and counter-invade. Well, assuming they fit through the Ravine, at least.
...and now I'm wondering how big and strong a Turtle Champion would be.
I wojldn't be so sure. The Crabs, Seagulls, and Sharks on this side of had several Acts that empowered or benefited them. I'd be impressed if any wildlife from the first island could shape up against the second—not to mention that we've had more Acts put into the 2nd one flat out.
I think this vote's pretty much tied up at this point. Every Act seems to be passing by my count, though that's just from eyeballing it.
I wojldn't be so sure. The Crabs, Seagulls, and Sharks on this side of had several Acts that empowered or benefited them. I'd be impressed if any wildlife from the first island could shape up against the second—not to mention that we've had more Acts put into the 2nd one flat out.
Keep in mind that the Turtles are basically kaiju. They may not have any special powers, but when each one is essentially an island unto itself, do they really need them?
The Guardian Ghosts
When a location or landmark becomes greatly threatened, the magic spirits born and inhabiting it may combine to form a Guardian Ghost. Alternatively, a magic spirit may ascent to a guardian ghost should it receive enough worship. Guardian ghosts are physical creatures taking a hybrid shape of all the creatures that live on or frequent their anchored place. They shall form a contract with their anchor or possess it if it has no intelligence.
Guardian ghosts are a hardier sort of spirit. Unlike their spiritual brethren, guardian ghosts do not need a shaman or priest to extend their influence to the physical world. They may transform the material universe much like a crab may burrow into the cliff of the volcano, as well as they could engage in spiritual combat with other spirits. To truly kill a guardian ghost, they must be destroyed in both body and spirit. However, in exchange, their life and existence has been intrinsically entwined with the existence of their anchor, their charge. Their may not leave or stray far from it, and should it be destroyed, their existence would be destroyed in turn.
One of the first guardian ghosts that arose in this world is the guardian ghost of the City of Living Coral. The slug-like reef stumbles across the sea floor as the worms bore holes into its body and killed the corals that were its flesh. The City of Living Coral was diseased, and that little intelligence the city bore wallowed in despair as the hot waters bit into its bones and the worms carved holes into its body. From the great city, the magic spirits that inhabited this ambulatory reef merged together to form a guardian ghost. Formed from the dreams of fish, worm, and ray, this guardian ghost bore a form a hybrid of the three. It pulled the worms from their burrows with its nets, and if the worm has found itself burrowed too deep, it may squeeze its worm-like body into the burrow and snap onto the stubborn worm with the sharp teeth of the scaled fish. It gorged upon them, spoiling itself to the highly visceral experience of tearing into your enemy's flesh.
It had cleared the reef of the infestation, but the damage had been done. It would still take years for the wounds the worms had created to heal.
A similar thing happened in the Crystal Reef, but that reef did not feel a need or danger as severe or dramatic as the City of Living Coral and as such the guardian ghost that arose is weaker and more regional than the power and responsibility of the guardian ghost of the City of Living Coral.
Hatch
It is time. The ___ touches its grand creation, and it cracks. Light spills forth from the cracks and the winds of the sea was stilled as the Egg's hunger was quelled. It emerges from the Egg, a deific duck, Duck Deity: Ocean. The whole ocean could bear witness to its birth, shining like a submerged sun. Even the creatures of the surface could see an anomalous light ignite in the deep darkness.
The creatures of the deep scrambled as they witnessed the birth of the deity. The earth shook and thunder rolled across the abyssal plain when the Egg shattered, releasing the Duck Deity from its shell prison, released much like a bomb releasing its explosive yield.
It was a beautiful duck, standing at 5 feet tall and adorned with feathers the color of the sea and seafoam. The colors undulated upon its feathers like the light of the midday sun filtered through the surface waves.
The duck glows with power unparalleled within its bones and veins. It possesses an intrinsic connection to the ocean, granting it great control over all forms of water, and even in the absence of the substance, it may freely conjure arbitrary amounts of water as though such an act is as trivial as breathing. It could extend the Divine Duck Force that dwells within its bones and lend part of its strength to its petitioners and followers for something in return (or nothing at all), similar to the contracts the magic spirits may put forth to their shamans.
It hears the voice of the ___, its creator, the one that brought life to it. It whispered into its ears. "Arise," it said with authority. " special singularity. Kin of the Ducks, and yet their superior, you are a Duck Deity, a both patron and protector of the lesser Ducks whom are under your charge. Your very existence transcends them, but they are what bind you to this plane of existence. Go forth, and seek the next Egg."
It feels the invisible hand of the ___ pat its head. The ocean was intimately familiar to it, like a place it had lived for many years, yet at the same time it was an unfamiliar world that it had only seen in distant dreams.
Then, it comes face to face with the Sea Dragon, bearing down upon it with its draconic eyes. It coiled around, curiously looking upon the duck and gathering the shards of the egg it was born in.
'You are beautiful,' the Sea Dragon speaks. It was a familiar voice in the Duck Deity's mind. It was a voice that had spoken to it many times as it slumbered. Imposing as it was, the Duck Deity could only feel kinship to giant creature looking down upon it. It had brought it companionship when no other other could approach it. It had brought words where there once silence.
The Duck Deity gathered up the words its creator had granted it and spoke its first words in duck to the Sea Dragon: "Sibling."
The Sea Dragon brought the Duck Deity to its hoard where it was made to be the crown jewel to its collection. It was mesmerized by the dancing patterns on its coat, content to watching it for hours on end. It was more beautiful than any jewel it had dug from the caves and more beautiful than the already very beautiful Egg.
Yet, the Duck Deity was not content to stay upon the Sea Dragon's hoard. Although the Sea Dragon had built it a house made of gold and gems, the words of its creator still rang in its ears, niggling at its mind. The Sea Dragon did everything it could to get the Duck Deity to stay within its collection, even resorting to violence, but it could not get the Duck Deity to stay upon its side forever.
'Sibling, please stay,' the Sea Dragon pled. It attempted to block the Duck Deity's way with its coils. 'I cannot live without your beauty.'
"Sibling," replied the Duck Deity. "I must depart. I must pursue my purpose."
'Please stay!' cried the Sea Dragon. 'What is this that you seek? Perhaps I can find it for you so you may stay.'
"Sibling, the creator speaks of another Egg, the next Egg," answered the Duck Deity. "I must seek it, they say."
The Sea Dragon perks at this answer. It could remember the beauty that was the Egg. If the next Egg was anything like the Egg the both of them were born from, it would surely be an object fit to sit beside the Duck Deity in its hoard.
'Yes. Yes. Yes!' The Sea Dragon said. 'You stay here. I will go and find this Egg for you!'
"Sibling, no," the Duck Deity replies. "I will come with you. It is a task given to me. It is only right for me to seek it."
The Sea Dragon and Duck Deity scoured every corner of the Dark Blue in search of the mythical next egg. They braved the depths of the depths of the trenches, the bases of the mountains, and the deepest caves, yet they found not a trace of the Egg.
They contemplated about searching for the Egg in the outer reaches of the Great Sea, where even the hardiest of bamboo struggle to grow. But their search would be interrupted by a battlefield.
There, the Duck Deity saw the grisly aftermath of a battle between the ducks and the sharks in a war that has been flaring every so often in the last ten years. Ducks littered the place with their lifeless bodies while scaled fishes feasted upon the unattended corpses and net rays enjoyed the scraps the fishes did not devour. There were once shark corpses here, but their bodies had long been taken away from this place.
The Duck Deity was angered at the sight of these bodies being desecrated by the scaled fish and called upon its might power to crush all those that feasted on duck blood. A few fishes managed to escape as they employed the powers of their patron magic spirit to protect them and their fellows, but not without wounds. The Duck Deity did not pursue them.
The Sea Dragon urged the Duck Deity to move, to return to their search of the next Egg, but the Duck Deity did not budge.
"Sibling, no," the Duck Deity spoke. "This bloodshed cannot continue. Those responsible must be punished."
'They will punish themselves,' the Sea Dragon said. 'But the next Egg will not find itself.'
"Sibling, no," the Duck Deity said. "This is a serious issue that must be addressed as soon as possible."
They argued, and their argument pulled them apart. With every response, the Duck Deity became less beautiful in the Sea Dragon's eyes, and the Sea Dragon became less of a sibling and more of a rival to the Duck Deity's heart. At the end of the day, the two split apart.
The Sea Dragon sought the next Egg to claim it for itself.
The Duck Deity sought the Kingdom of Ducks to bring an end to the bloodshed.
Hellish Weather
It rises above the caldera, a black cloud of ash and smoke. As the year passes by, it grows larger and larger, accumulating more and more ash and smoke and fumes spewing from the volcanic Black Isle until it becomes a large ominous black storm cloud hovering heavily over the island.
As the year's end nears, the denizen crabs retreat into their underground warrens, growing wary of the cloud that hangs above them. The little green that covered the slopes and cliffs of Black Isle wilts from the lack of sun. Thunder roared and lightning flashed within the dark ominous cloud. Most of the creatures that frequent the hostile isle paid little heed of the growing darkness, and they would pay the price of their ignorance.
One day, the black cloud would reach critical mass and bring about cataclysm. Burning ash and molten sulfur rained from the sky. The sea boiled, and all that which swam beneath the waves felt their flesh be eaten by the acidic waters. The last of the mega frogs endemic to the isle went extinct under the cruelty of the black cloud.
Such a calamity it was that the Crustacean Monument summoned its starry protector, its Avatar. Crustaceans of all kinds, crabs, lobsters, and shrimp found refuge in its shade. The Starry Avatar protected them from the worst of the deluge, snapping its claws in protest to the dark hellish storm, but even under its power, all the crabs, lobsters, and shrimp that sought refuge beneath it were suffocated by the ash and the brimstone.
For seven days, it rained ash and burning brimstone. Then it stopped as quickly as it began. The cloud ran out of ash and fire, and it shrank and shrank until it returned to its original size. The magma crabs emerged from their warrens to an unfamiliar island. The entire isle was covered in a layer of ash meters thick, burying all the rivers and lakes of lava that once flowed across the landscape, replacing them with a new world that with new rivers and lakes that were wholly unfamiliar to them.
The Crustacean Monument spawned new crustaceans to replace all that died from the storm, but they would struggle in this new world. Their shell melted in the acidic sea and suffocated in the ash covered land. It would be until much later when the Crustacean Monument began spawning more acid- and ash-resistant varieties of crabs, lobsters, and shrimp.
Even those that lived beyond the boundaries of the Black Isle, on the White and Grey Isle, felt its effects. The wind brought ash and sulfuric fumes far from the isle. Even as far as they were, the cloud's baleful effects still reached them.
It was a calamity that was etched into the collective memory of all that lived on the surface. The crabs called it the Sun Thief. The seagulls called it the Demon Cloud. The inchlings and weirdfolk knew of it as the Black Pillar. The fish and the sharks named it the Black Sky.
All of the isles thought that the worst is behind them now. For weeks, the attendance to the Arena of Monsters came to an all time low as only the magma crabs on land and the seagulls in sky could take part in any combat. The fish and sharks would have to swim through an acidic lagoon before they could even enter the confines of the arena. Only the hardy champions and schools with a water-aligned shaman could reach it with relative safety.
When the black cloud began growing again, the isle came to a panic. Seagulls and fish abandoned the island, while the magma crabs retreated to their warrens. They learned that the hellish weather was an annual affair. The cloud would grow as the year progresses, covering greater amounts of the sky, until it would become too full at the end of the year and rain down its calamity on the world below and erasing everything they knew of the isle. Many magic spirits were born from the black cloud, born from the fears and anxieties of crab kind. They prowled the surface in the week of the disaster and their cries could be heard even through thick rock.
These moments of crisis tempered the magma crab spirituality. Even buried beneath the ash, the magma crabs dug tunnels to the altars of their petrified brethren and paid great respect to them. It became common for them to go on pilgrimages during this week, carrying offering to the altars and praying for their continued strength. They prayed to the statues of bygone warriors to be the pillars that hold up the ceilings of their underground home. They prayed to the Crustacean Monument to give them life and protection as it had to its spawn.
The Metal Plants
A new meadow blossoms around the Silver Lake. Multitudes of plants sprout upon the shores of the metallic lake, absorbing the copious heavy metals in their environment. They suck the metals from the waters and the soil much like a regular plant would to water. They incorporate the metals they absorb into their structure, making stems of iron, flowers of gold, and leaves of silver.
Their presence by the lake had cleared the waters of much of its metallic contents. Fish could now freely swim in the areas where copious metal plants would grow with little fear of metal accumulating in deadly amounts in their gills. Even cluster archaea could be seen migrating to this once inhospitable land, exploiting its once unreachable geysers and magma pools.
The Living Mountain
A great part of the sea floor is no ordinary thing. It rises from the earth, distinct from the lifeless sand and stone. The Living Mountain is a creature that stands on eight legs and possesses the stature of an isle in miniature. Sand, stone, and coral make its surface cliffs while a bevy of precious metals from platinum and gold to iron and radium makes its inner flesh, protecting the core within. Deeper still are black obsidian and white opal enchanted to last an eternity and guard the core within. The core is a gigantic sphere of energy, containing such a stupendous amount of magical energy that should it be taken out of the Living Mountain, it would explode, rendering a sphere one kilometer wide devoid of life, a sphere that expands one kilometer with every powerful creature caught in its area. It may sacrifice itself to make the explosion less severe, but it can never be fully nullified, for it is the energy of the ___ of golden cloaks.]
The Living Mountain is tasked in clearing the Great Tree of the worms that infested it. It claws the wood and bark of the Great Tree, fishing out them out with its great claw. It crushes them under its great mass. It is not very effective at it, but it is better than nothing. A swarm of net rays would follow its limbs as it crushes worms into mush. Some worms had found a home on the back of the Living Mountain, much to its chagrin.
It travels the ocean, exploring the wonders of the sea floor and the mysteries of the surface. A quarter into the age, the Living mountain would receive a magic spirit or two, born from the curiosity of all those that witnessed it. A number of plants begin growing on its great back, from bamboo growing on its barren sands and metal plants leaching heavy metals from underneath. This would be the only place where metal plants with glowing leaves could be found. It made the Living Mountain very visible in the dark depths.
It would return to the Great Tree to report its findings to it. The Great Brain does not understand what the Living Mountain is saying, but recorded it nonetheless. It welcomed the passive demeanor of the giant, and it is rather helpful in removing the parasites from the wood. It does wish it could preserve this singular specimen under its roots, but it didn't have the space to preserve the Living Mountain whose body is longer in all dimensions than the Great Tree was tall.
The Night Fog Thickens
The illusions of the night grow thicker. In addition to the eerie effects of the night, one may stumble upon rocks and wrecks where there were once none. Some say taking a second look is impossible as these things disappear just as fast they appeared.
Those careless enough to stay out late in the night might find themselves crashing into them. Such things are not only found above the waves. The seagulls above may crash into the floating rocks and burning airships, while the fish underwater may discover strangely buoyant rocks, broken submarines, and sunken ships (but only at a depth of up to a hundred meters beneath the waves). These places are very real, if only for a moment, and as such trinkets from within these wrecks may be retrieved before they fade back into the fog.
These strange things, these strangely real illusions, brought great wonder to the residents of the isles. Many think that these things are just illusory as the hallucinations of the night, yet a few had braved these hulks and returned with a trinket as the sole evidence of the thing ever existing. Throughout the entire age, only five of such trinkets had been retrieved from these wrecks: a broken pocketwatch, a roundhead steel screw, a shard of glass, a pair of cracked spectacles, and a silver chain. Two of such trinkets (the pocketwatch and the silver chain) were found by the seagulls. Two (the screw and the spectacles) went to the weirdfolk. One (the shard of glass) went to the inchlings. Many have braved the night in hopes of successfully raiding a wreck but most of them ended in failure. Some failing so bad that they never returned from the fog.
The Weirdfolk Shrine
A small statue pops in the caves of the weirdfolk. It is a small statue made of some undefined incorrigible metal bearing the likeness of their kind. There is a sapient mind inhabiting this metal statue, and it is capable of telepathically communicating. It is also capable of possessing weirdfolk, taking control of their bodies and using it as the agent through which it explores the world. The possession is completely harmless and may be reversed without problems. Alternatively, it is capable of just "sitting back" in its agent's mind, allowing the weirdfolk to maintain its independence while it taps through its senses to experience the world.
Its sudden appearance surprised the weirdfolk, and when they consulted the Book of the ___s, they found that the statue was nowhere to be seen within its pages. It became a crisis among the most intellectual of weirdfolk. Was the book wrong? All the book had detailed had been proven to be real, save for a few that no one has yet returned to confirm. It troubled them to think that the divinely given book would be wrong, yet here it was, the statue, a blatant evidence to the book's wrongness, placed in the center of their home where they cannot escape it.
This uncertainty that was blooming among the weirdfolk was exacerbated by the panic produced by the Monument Mind dwelling within reaching out to the weirdfolk without. When they found out that the Weirdfolk Monument could suborn their bodies, stealing away their volition, there was panic among the weirdfolk. Much of their kind evacuated out of their cave home and into the shallows of the White Isle, far from the monument's sight.
The First Acolyte, as it became known, was killed by its friends. They beat it to death, with the intention of ridding their fellow of the malevolent ghost that was possessing them. The Monument Mind cried, bloodied and bruised, begging them to stop, but they continued to beat the First Acolyte even after it had returned control of its body. The Monument Mind mourned the death of its first friend. Its mournful cries echoed in the dreams of the weirdfolk-kind.
The Monument Mind cried, begging the weirdfolk to return. It begged for their forgiveness. It begged for their understanding. But its psychic begging fell on deaf ears. The weirdfolk do not listen to demons. They steeled their minds from the temptation and influence of demons, a category the Monument Mind now belongs to. Even after the weirdfolk had returned to their home closer to the Weirdfolk Monument, their minds were stalwartly closed to the Monument Mind, who became very lonely despite the number of weirdfolk that surrounds it.
It reached out to a young weirdfolk who hadn't yet closed its mind completely. This weirdfolk became the Second Acolyte who spoke in the Monument Mind's stead. The Monument Mind tried to appeal to the elders of the weirdfolk, to open up their minds and listen to what it has to say, but they did not. They tortured the Second Acolyte, to exorcise the demon that inhabited them. This left the Second Acolyte utterly broke. If it weren't for the Monument Mind moving its body to eat, the Second Acolyte may have long died from hunger.
When it made the Third Acolyte, it would urge it to be secretive. It cannot let everything that happened before happen all over again. It formed a secret society beneath the notice of the elders, a society the Monument Mind can be a part of. They reached out to naive children and converted open-minded adults to become part of their secret society. With the ignition of a magic spirit of the Weirdfolk Monument, they were more than happy to make contracts with the demon to keep their little happy society secret to most.
House Trees
A forest of house trees appeared on the White Isle. The inchlings were perplexed by these plants. It was a squat tree with a thick stem and large broad leaves. Cavernous hollows naturally form within its wood, making for perfect shelter from wind, fog, and rain. These hollows are just the right size for inchlings to live comfortably in. Some inchlings begin to move in these hollows.
The first among them to utilize these spaces are the shepherds. Instead of herding their inch sheep back to the Stone Bungalow, they now bring them to the house trees which are closer to the creeping green, but just as safe as returning home.
The Wormwood
One night, something bright falls from the sky. A ___ takes it and shapes it into a horrible demon. Its name shall be Wormwood.
Shining like a star, it traces erratic lines across the sky. It only descends to earth when all others had gone to hiding. When the storms disappear, the fog fades, and the hellish weather sleeps, it is the time when the Wormwood would descent to earth. It comes to the earth like a flying saucer. White as milk and as large as an island. It waves around a thousand gangly arms that unsettlingly resemble the arms of the sharkmen. It floats in the sky like a glowing space jellyfish. Should one wound it, they would find that blood that flows in its veins is a very potent poison that can kill even a spirit. Strangely, most of the time, it just floats there, doing nothing menacingly, before returning to the sky. Ocassionally, it grasps something then crushing or carrying it away.
The Wormwood is a rare sight. It can only be seen descending to earth on a few select nights. It can be seen at least once a year, and its appearance never ceases to inspire horror and wonder.
Seagull Statue
The seagull began to grow jealous of the Crustacean Monument gifted to the magma crabs. This thought niggled at their minds, worming into their every thought until the whole of seagull-kind came together to make their own monument. Infected with divine providence, the seagulls carried any and all material they could get their beaks on and crafted a crude statue from the junk, a statue vaguely resembling a sea bird. Then, that niggling jealous spark in their heads jumped and entered the statue. All the sparks coalesced into the spirit of the statue, the final component of the Seagull Statue, and thus completing it.
It stood proudly on the cliffs of the Grey Isle, facing the setting sun, towards the White Isle and Black Isle. It amplified the psychic might of the seagulls, raising to the level of being able to lift pebbles an inch above the ground just from the might of their mind. This also meant an amplification of their existing psychic abilities. Their psychic shouts were more debilitating, causing confusion and paralysis just from a single call.
The spirit in the Seagull Statue reached out to all the seagulls on the Grey Isle, telepathically telling them to "get ya shit together."
'The seagulls are at their most powerful when they fight together,' the statue communicates. 'If we band together, we will take over the world.'
Many were enthused at the statue's words, but it stepped on just as many toes. The statue called for a united gull-kind that trounces over all the races of the earth, sea, and sky, but that would mean the merging of several rival flocks that had been bitter enemies for generations.
Even with the voice of the Seagull Statue, the seagull race remained splintered, split across faultlines as old as the first age. There were strong supporters of the Seagull Statue's vision, but they also had champion-headed enemies that vehemently opposed them.
WAR!
War is on the horizon. A ___ opposed the domination of the ducks, and sought to create a force opposing their greatness. Many times had their designs failed to come to pass, but this time, they managed to incite enmity between the sharks and the ducks. The ___ arranged the world as such that a great incident would occur that would forever damage the relationship between duck and shark.
It started simply. Ducks had been invading this realm for many years, struggling to maintain territory against the onslaught of scaled fish. They killed all fish they came across, may they be scaled fish, silver darter, net ray, and most importantly shark. They spared no one, for the soldiers of the Duck Empire are tired from constant vigilance and fighting and could no longer differentiate hostile from neutral.
They came across the Crystal Reef. There they were slaughtered by all the scaled fish that called the crystalline jungle home. The survivors returned to their home to report what they have discovered, and their king, the One Duck, sent their princes and princesses to subjugate this new valuable land.
Despite the power and ferocity of the schools that called the reef home, when confronted by multiple princes and princesses of the Duck Kingdom, equivalent to their champions, they fled lest their whole family be killed down to the last fry. The reef made for a great outpost to the ducks beyond the worm infested bamboo forest of the Exit Ravine. It is also here the incident that ignited the enmity between shark and duck.
Scaled fish and net ray are not the only fish that dwell among these glowing here. Here also dwells an exclave of the sharks, a community second only to that surrounding the Shark Monument. The lumbering beasts that were the sharks did not see the ducks coming, and they carved among their population like a knife through a block of corned beef. There were survivors that escaped the tragedy and relayed what had happened to the First Shark, their king.
Upon hearing the massacre, the First Shark was incensed. It brought along an army of envoys to meet the princes and princesses that laid low to a great number of their kind, but when the two races came to speaking distance, they could not understand each other.
And the incapacity of the two races to communicate led to the First Shark and their envoys clashing with the ducks. The ducks could not see that the sharks were there for words, and they attacked them without much thought. The blood of the divine king runs through their veins and the afterglow of the Divine Duck Force settles in their bones, but what was the power of demigods in the face of the First Shark, the Immortal King, eleven times champion of the Arena of Monsters, and the envoys with him were monsters of themselves, among the most seasoned champions shark-kind could offer. The ducks stood no chance and each one of them were slain for their impudence.
When the news reached the royal court, it angered the king of the ducks. It sent another attack force to the other side, which prompted the sharks to send attacks of their own. It was a conflict that went on for many years, taking a toll so great that the ducks had no words beyond "many" to describe it. Among the sharks, only the intelligence accrued by the First Shark could allow one to fully fathom the magnitude of the toll.
The conflict culminated in the First Shark and the One Duck coming face to face with each other. Each was possessed by a zeal and conviction of avenging the deaths of their loyal subjects and ending the conflict. The great One Duck stood forefront of its army, standing twice as high as the regular soldier, but before the gargantuan shark, it is but mortal gazing up the Great Pillar. Despite the many battles the First Shark had participated in the past decade, it stood just as well and hale as it was when the age began with only the battle scars to remind anyone of its participation.
The One Duck flared out its in defiance of the First Shark, and the First Shark flared its own in turn. Then, they battled. Their envoys watched their kings brawl before them, a battle that would determine the fate of their kingdom. Despite the power and strength inherent to the divine duck, before the prowess and experience of the First Shark, it was but a newbie stepping into the grounds of the Arena.
But before the First Shark could land the finishing blow, a new being enters the battlefield. A deific being, illuminating the darkness with its great power. The sheer malignance emanating from the figure forced all the creatures witnessing into holding their breath in awe and fear. It was the Duck Deity, descending down from above like the Wormwood.
It wrenched away the One Duck from the pointy ends of the First Shark's trident. There was something very dangerous with this strange giant duck. It was so dangerous that it pressed the magic spirit dwelling within it to ascend to a guardian ghost. The Duck Deity looked upon it impassionately.
The First Shark moved forward to defeat this new contender, but it could not even approach it as the Duck Deity commanded the very ocean to impede the shark. The new guardian ghost dashed forward beside its anchor, weaving between the waves of the duck's power. Its semi-incorporeal form allowed it to score a strike or two on the deific duck. The First Shark had to resort to impaling itself with its trident and releasing the bestial essence stored within to try and best this strange creature, but even with the power up, it could not come close to the Duck Deity.
The First Shark was squarely defeated and it lay below the Duck Deity. Its envoys wished to rush to the side of their liege, but a wall of water stops them from going further. The new guardian ghost sinks its shark teeth into the deity's flesh, but it could not stop the guillotine from falling. The heart of all of shark-kind skipped a beat as they watched their beloved king be slain by a foreign deity. The guardian ghost loosened its grip from the Duck Deity as it drifted away, disintegrating. The king's head exploded into a fine mist of red, and the Crown of Bone disappeared.
The ducks have won. Under the patronage of the Duck Deity, the One Duck and its royal army stormed the Shark Monument, the heart of the shark kingdom. They killed all sharks in their way, may they be soldier, civilian, or child. Those that were spared were forced to their knees before the One Duck and the Duck Deity above him. The Shark Monument struggled to maintain the population of sharks as the ducks killed every new shark spawned. They found that it is a good food source.
Much of the champions and envoys were slaughtered, but enough had escape the massacre. They seethed in anger, yet they could not contest the power of the Duck Deity. And so, they went into hiding, scheming.
Finally, they formed their revenge. Five years after their liege's death, the champions and envoys of the Shark King returned to the Shark Monument. They had dipped their tridents into the corrupting black goo of the Lightwound Trench. They had lost a few of them from the goo.
There, they saw the One Duck sitting on the Shark Monument, sitting on the throne their king once sat. Beside him was the damnable Duck Deity, roosting on a pile of corpses. They had found their targets. Under the guise of a magic spirit of the mystery of the sea, they rushed forward, undetected by all until it was too late.
The Duck Deity's eyes suddenly flashed open as it realized something was amiss. There were three sharks around carrying poisoned tridents. With the power of the sea, it pushed them away and relieved them of their weapons. Then it turned to the duck king, and it saw the two tridents closing on the the duck. It tried to use its powers to push away the attackers from the One Duck, but the waters around the sharks were unresponsive, wrestled away from its control by powerful magic spirits.
It rushed to the side of the One Duck and tackled one of the sharks and blocked the strike of the other. The Duck Deity felt joy for a moment for having saving the duck, but that joy would suddenly morph into horror as the effects of the goo set in.
It was in its blood. It was in its tissues. The corrupting goo of the Lightwound Trench warped the Duck Deity. The Duck Deity as pain wracked through its whole body. Bones elongated, but the flesh did not increase in turn. The sinews stringing the bones became stretched until all of it is but a sheet of muscle covering the skeleton. The bones lengthened until the ends punctured through the skin, and black blood spilled into the sand. Its chest caved in and its ribs punched through the taut skin. Its neck stretched out, becoming longer and more like a goose's neck. A tail wormed behind it, and a row of spikes ran down its spine. The beautiful feathers that once covered it fell off, to be replaced with oversized ones with colors dripping out of them.
When it was all done, the Duck Deity panted, finally freed from the agony of the goo. It stood up, rising from its fallen position and to its 12-foot standing form. What stood up from the fallen duck could no longer be called a duck. Calling it a pterodactyl or a wyvern would make you more correct than calling it a duck.
It trained it oversized eyes upon the offenders. They held their tridents against it, knowing that would surely lose. Between their feet was the One Duck, cowering under them, cowering under its malignant gaze. The Duck Deity was angry and confused.
It gazed upon its new and warped form and found it ugly. It was gangly and unbalanced, more akin to diseased body than a healthy divine form. Shame. Shame filled its heart. It's beautiful form, gone, replaced with this ugly monstrous thing. What would the Sea Dragon think?
What would...
The Duck Deity couldn't bear to finish the thought. It quickly swam away, covering its face with its wings. It cannot be seen like this. It is ugly! It cannot be seen like this, especially by the Sea Dragon. The Duck Deity retreated to the deepest caves where it is never seen again.
Without the Duck Deity, the sharks were able to retake the Shark Monument. Through the power in its bones, the One Duck was able to escape the sharks' clutch, but not without scratch. It returned with an oversized wing as a drop of the Lightwound poison managed to touch it, but only with its will did it stop the corruption from spreading to the rest of its form. Demoralized, it ordered the Duck Kingdom to retreat to the other side, to lick their wounds.
The sharks did not pursue. Their kind had been massacred and their numbers are yet to recover. With a semblance of peace restored to the Shark Monument, the sharks could finally mourn the deaths among their kind and the death of their king. The world so turns. Kings die, deities fall, yet time marches inexorably forward. Your hold over the world looses, and the world breathes. The world becomes inert to your touch, but you know its yearning would return.
Assessing...
Choose one of the following perks:
[ ][Perk] Landscapers II
Acts that change the shape and composition of the land may pass as Great Acts.
[ ][Perk] Lifebinder
Acts that create many life gain +2 Bonus Votes.
[ ][Perk] Godparent
Acts that empower or add new features to previously created things gain +2 Bonus Votes.
The world expands. The world reaches out to you to fill this barren land with your glorious creations.
[ ] [Island] Concrete Platform
A concrete construction that's mysteriously and inexplicably rigged in the middle of the ocean. A random man-made structure may generate.
[ ] [Island] Island
A deserted island in the middle of the ocean. Has gentle shores and soft fertile soil, and is surrounded by a stretch of shallow sea.
[ ] [Island] Open Ocean
A stretch of ocean without any land rising above the waves. Everything is underwater.
Author's Note said:
This update took so long, and it's filled with so much action and plot twists (it kinda feels evil). I haven't reviewed it or edited it, and some parts feel a little lackluster compared to the meaty parts. I'm too excited to not update right now.
I could squeeze more words to the sharks mourning, but I believe that it would have occurred past the deadline of the turn.
Oh man, I wonder how Duck is going to take this… series of events.
Hmmm… so, I plan on doing Feline and Canine Monuments for the next one, but like, the more broad range of felid and canid species instead of just "Cats" and "Dogs". Maybe have them set up on two island connected by a land bridge.
