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Thousand Isles (Riot God Quest)

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Crawkid said:
ok so, i think i have ne or two slots left for trading...uh... but I dont think people seem interested in getting that volume 2?
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Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure your Act needs to be trimmed down a bit to be valid.

You'd need a Great Act to get it to pass as-is, and the only way we can do a Great Act at the moment is by using Thematic Coherence (and your statue doesn't fit the theme). Mango has said that you can use any two of the three effects (Statue, Connection, or Book) in your current Act as a Big Act, though.
 
Does anyone wanna trade? Also I can trade future votes as the turn after this one I won't be authoring a act.

Edit: if the ghost ship has a concrete hall would it fit with the theme lol.
 
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Eyes in the Night
  • Sidestory
    • Eyes in the Night

    !Warning Horror Themes!

    They weren't supposed to leave the marrow town. Ti'oh shifts eyes darting around hands on the spear the metal tip glinting in the rays of moonlight dancing through the towering buildings. The Giants of these lands used metal and glass over the older style of the Giants of the Marrow Town. Ki'mi smiles seeing Ti'oh's worried expression, she puts her hand on his. "Don't worry the cat is a legend." He doesn't stop quivering.

    "The cat is what killed the Giants left this whole place dead." He squeaks back Jor'ja laughs at that as Ki'mi snorts. The small group's noises echoing into the abandoned cityscape around them.

    "The cat can't have killed them, because the cat isn't real." She points up to the growth on all the buildings around them mats of green curling over towering skyscrapers. "Plus even if it was real the Giants have been dead longer than anything could have lived for."

    They hear a crash in an ally to their left. All of them stop except for Jor'ja who hefts her spear. "Ain't nothing to..." She trails off as two orbs of evil fire ignite from the darkness of the alley. The eyes burning with malice watch them as Jor'ja backs up. Then it leaps the cat appearing out of nowhere in a moment.

    They ran, the cat landing on Jor'ja smiling with sharp teeth. Ki'mi stops pulling on Ti'oh's arm. "We need to go back. We can't leave her to it."

    "We can't fight it." He screams as the cat lets out a claw and the screams of their friend replaces the sound of wind through the city scape. No matter how far they got from that place the screaming didn't silence. Then abruptly it did. As they turned a corner little legs pushing them as fast as they can they both stopped at the mangled corpse of their friend, her body still twitching eyes wide in pain and fear staring at the two of them.

    They both turned as they heard the sound of paws on pavement behind them. The cat was their its smile crimson its eyes evil and dancing with malevolent glee. "We have to run." Ki'mi whispers her spear held before her. Ti'oh threw his and the cat lashed it's head back voice howling in pain.

    Ti'oh filled with hope grabs Ki'mi again and rushes for Marrow Town, the sound of pain fading away as they leave the cat to suffer. Soon enough they are uplifted by the sight of their home. Then out of nowhere the cat reappeared completely uninjured its paws slapping them both down just in sight of freedom. Hot breath ran over their backs then they started to get dragged away the claws stabbing into them painful but far from deadly. That wasn't a mercy they were going to get for a long time.

    No one in the town ever saw those three again, the only evidence of their ill fated exploration a spear blunted from hitting a wall, never having touched the cat.
     
  • Sidestory
    • Sir Plusse said:
    Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure your Act needs to be trimmed down a bit to be valid.

    You'd need a Great Act to get it to pass as-is, and the only way we can do a Great Act at the moment is by using Thematic Coherence (and your statue doesn't fit the theme). Mango has said that you can use any two of the three effects (Statue, Connection, or Book) in your current Act as a Big Act, though.
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    Click to shrink...

    Valid...I suppose I can do just the book this time. I dont want to do the statue without anything, and the connection makes very little sense without the statue

    Zakelga said:
    It looks like there are a few people who haven't voted yet, so there's still time.
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    yea, but probably not enough to get a great act through this time... ill have to tag the others and let them know im trimming down
     
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    Era 4 - Turn 2 Acts
  • Threadmarks
    • Adhoc vote count started by MangoFlan on Sep 3, 2023 at 11:52 PM, finished with 94 posts and 16 votes.
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    Vote closed!

    Big Act:
    Geothermal Power and Living Cables Hivemind
    Ruinarines (+2 Lifebinder)
    Crab People (+2 Lifebinder)
    Car Beetles
    Drone Factory
    Drug herbs (+2 Lifebinder)
    Inchling Magic
    Guests (+2 Lifebinder)
    Life Crafting Moss (+2 Lifebinder)

    Small Act:
    Book of the ____s, Volume 2
    Eternal Foundry
    Bustling city
    Relic gardens

    Non-passing Act:
    The Ghost Ship
    Metal Rain
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Era 4 - Turn 2
  • Threadmarks
    • Geothermal Power and Living Cables Hivemind
    The earth quakes as the sea floor parts to make space for a large facility. Buildings toppled and demolished, and in their rubble rose reinforced concrete and snaking pipes. Square buildings interconnected with a hundred catwalks stood atop the steaming districts. Cylindrical chimneys rose towards the waves, constantly venting scalding water. Pipes snaked across surfaces like a vine, and dug into the concrete ground in search of the heat vents. Columns of scalding water disappear as all the hot water emerging from the heat vents are redirected to the geothermal power plant. The complex shudders as large turbines, machines of steel and and aluminum, spun to life, and generated enormous amounts of electricity. Plain iron gates close the entrances to the complex. The Steaming Districts are no more, and in its place are the Power Districts.

    A web of cables crept through the Sunken City. Copper, aluminum, and insulation slithered in underground pipes and strung over the streets on utility poles. It originated from the Geothermal Power Plants, whereupon the computers that acted as the brains of the spreading cables resided. They wormed into the buildings, digging into the walls, installing electrical outlets and circuitry. They connected to every electrical device they could encounter: lights, appliances, vehicles; anything they thought wanted electricity, they connected to. The living cables did not know nor understand proper and safe connections. Numerous explosions would resound in the depths as hundreds of drowned electronics received electricity. A sea of electrified sea water settled over many districts of the Sunken City. Bubbles of hydrogen, oxygen, and chlorine rise from the electrified districts, created from exposed wiring and electrified metal.

    The wave of electrical connection would grind to a near halt as the living cables would run out of metal and insulation. Their coiled and tangled form webbed across numerous districts, distributing power and light to a large chunk of the Sunken City, but despite their mass, the Sunken City was simply too vast for them to fully electrify with what little metal and insulation they have. The living cables would slowly uncoil and untangle themselves as they move to more efficiently connect the city. If they sorely wanted to connect all of the city without any more additional supply of cabling and insulation, they they must stretch what they have for as much as they could.

    A few years since the power plant was established, the living cables would come across the Ocean Skyscraper. For the first time since before it been raised from the depths of the sea, the Ocean Skyscraper had power and light. Fluorescent and neon lights lit up the once dark floors and corridors. Elevators and escalators that have never felt vigor for many years began to move. However, much of the electronics in the tower has been to the sit idle, and accumulate dust and rust; many of them simply shuddered and trembled as the vigor that once possessed their motors had long since abandoned them.

    All the creatures of the Uneven Platforms would marvel at the sight of the Ocean Skyscraper glowing. They would marvel at the moving stairs and the flameless lamps illuminating the floors. Some the adventurous ones would even attempt rising the elevators, but alas, after an ignorant one would push the wrong button, the cabin plunged below the waves, drowning all its passengers. After seeing the fate of those that rode the mysterious cabin rise back to the upper floors, all became terrified of entering mysterious chambers.

    When the illumination of the Ocean Skyscraper spread to the Uneven Platforms, everyone was mildly alarmed. Black cables began jumping between the platforms and worming into the walls of the Concrete Jungle. The black cables slithered and hissed like snakes. When confronted, they would emit sparks and show their metal fangs. In their bones flowed a potent venom that stole the will of those that bit, and they would find out that this venom flowed through metal as though it has become an extension of its fangs. Guests and inchlings would generally avoid areas heavy with the living cable, but the red-haired cat would rejoice at another tool of torment. It would lead its hapless victims into running into cables or electrified metal, whereupon they be electrocuted. However, at this time, the red-haired had become aged, its once deep crimson fur had long since became a pale red with silver tips. Its mischief would come to a gruesome end after a panicking guest punted it into an electrified fence with a handbag.

    For a few years, people wasn't able to get enough sleep from the light pollution, but over time, they would start adapting. The inchlings and guests would mostly stay in Marrow Town where there were no electric lights. The living cables have slithered into the wrought-iron light posts and lanterns in throughout the town, but they were powered by oil rather than electricity, saving much of the population from living in perpetual daylight.

    Ruinarines
    Among the edifices of the Concrete Jungle comes the Ruinarines. The Ruinarin are humanoid creatures with the average height between 5 and 6 feet. Their bodies are especially adapted to their environment: powerful muscles strung their lean bodies, helping them in scaling and maneuvering the vertical walls of the Concrete Jungle; long fingers and toes extrude from their hands, equipped with retractable claws that allow to find purchase and cling upon brick and cement; their sunken eyes with large irides provide excellent low-light vision; and their heightened senses, especially their hearing, allow them to be incredibly aware of their surroundings. They come in varying shades of grey, to allow them to easily blend with the grey concrete and cement of the city. Some ruinarin grow patches of moss or lichen upon their stone-like surface, furthering enhancing their natural camouflage.

    The unique social culture of the Ruinarin center around the towering edifices of the Concrete Jungle they inhabit. Due to the precarious vertical nature of their environment, cooperation and harmony are highly valued. They live in small tight-knit groups who work together to maintain a delicate balance between their neighborhoods and their own needs. Each tribe has a leader, called a Guardian, who ensures the proper distribution of resources and the safety and well-being of its members. Under the Guardian's guidance, the Ruinarine take on various roles such as hunters, scavengers, scouts, and caretakes whose job it is to carefully maintain the portion of urban living space without causing further damage.

    The ruinarin are incredibly skilled climbers and acrobats, jumping great lengths and clinging to near smooth walls with unmatched grace and agility. They have the uncanny ability to find hotbeds of life and sources of water in seemingly inhospitable places. They are masters of stealth, and their natural camouflage makes them virtually invisible, even to those almost at arms length to them. When their camouflage fails or they simply deign to be seen, they would be seen up on rooftops and upper floor windows, looking down below, still like statues, curious to your purposes. While Ruinarin are not inherently agressive, but when cornered, Ruinarin become formidable fighters, skilled with their claws and improvised weapons fashioned from metal ripped from the concrete walls that surround them. They fight with the ferocity of a wild animal, channeling a well of cold fury in their blood.

    The ruinarins would split into four tribes, one for each corner of the Uneven Platform. Each tribe would fascinated greatly by something that does not interest the others. The tribes would coexist with one another rather amicably, and the ruinarins regularly exchanged, with some approaching certain tribes for their specific interests. In the northeast would settle the Silent Spirit Tribe. Surrounded by lush carpetlands, the tribe drew great interest from the fibers that can be harvested from the carpet grass. They would become known as a tribe of excellent weavers and spinners, the place to get exquisite cloth, robust ropes, tough fishing lines, and durable nets.

    The Risen Sea Kin settled down on the lower platforms in the southeast. They are known for their affinity for the sea, and would become known for their culinary experiments. They dedicate great amounts of their time refining their recipes and skills in preparing and preserving food. The tribe would dabble into integrating drug herbs into their more special dishes, which the ruinarins would regard with awe, as the Risen Sea Kin have found a way to enhance the strength of the drug herbs' effects.

    The Iron-blood Children settled in the northwest corner of the Uneven Platforms. The tribe is quite fascinated with metal, and they studied it with great enthusiasm. The buildings in their neighbourhood has fallen into rubble as the Iron-blood Children has torn all the metal they could from the walls and the pillars. The tribe is one of the first people to have borne witness to the Eternal Foundry, which the tribe would pay regular visits to receive its blessings and study its mechanisms. Despite the efficiency and quality of the Eternal Foundry's products, the other ruinarins would go to the Iron-blood Children to find artful metalwork and ceremonial tools.

    The Invisible Star Tribe lived in the southwest of the Uneven Platforms, but due to their great fascination of the sky, they are more often found on the floors of the Ocean Skyscraper. They are unendingly curious and would make little to no effort hiding themselves as they watched all the other creatures the other creatures below, still like statues. At night, they would turn their eyes to the night sky and make diagrams and charts of all the heavenly bodies in the sky. They gave name to every twinking star in the sky, and charted every fissure and flaw that marred the face of the moon. Murals depicting diagrams of the journey of the moon and stars in the sky. They would develop calendars that predicted the lunar eclipse, when the moon would shatter and the earthly star would rise. They would be known among the other ruinarins as wizards and fortune tellers.

    When the living cables brought light to the dark night, the ruinarins screamed, their hisses heard throughout the Uneven Platforms. Their sensitive eyes burned as fluorescent and incandescent light bathed the streets and inner chambers. Many of ruinarins from all the tribes fled to Marrow Town, whose oil lamps glow less harshly than the fulgent light brought by electricity.

    Crab People
    In the shallow seas and submerged sections of the Uneven Platforms arrived the Crab People, as race crustacean-like humanoids. They are amphibious and armored folk bearing four arms with one pair being more human-like and dextrous enough for the use of tools. The second pair ended in large crushing crab claws, for use of defense and hunting. These crab people came into the world, believing in a "World That Was" and a deep fear of a very specific symbol carved deeply into the psyche of their race, haunting their nightmares along with visions of an apocalypse that befell the "World That Was", undoing everything with the symbol prominently hovering in their vision. The symbol was a hexagon surrounded by a slightly larger hexagon with three equiangular arrows extending from three corners of the hexagon.

    The shallow sea that they would call home would become called the Crab Bay. They would make their homes within the submerged buildings of the Concrete Jungle. They gazed upon the marvelous edifices of the deep, and that deepened their faith and awe in the apocalypse that was. The ruined and barren edifices confirmed their visions of the World That Was, but despite the ruined state of the Urban Jungle around them, the sight brought them a little bit of hope; the apocalypse wasn't as thoroughly destructive as they feared.

    The Crab People would come into conflict with the guests and the ruinarins. The guests and ruinarins did not recognize them as people, merely identifying them as another fish in the sea. The Crab People cried out in anger and indignation as they saw their people being fished from the sea and cut up like they were common beasts, but no one else could understand them, not the guests, not the ruinarines, nor the inchlings, for no one else spoke their language. They fought back and protested in the streets of Marrow Town, breaking windows, damaging streets, and destroying walls. The ruinarins relented, thinking that they're too much hassle to hunt, but the guests did not. Conflict between the crab people and the guests escalated in violence. The pavement and shores of the Concrete Jungle was painted blue and red from blood of crab and men.

    Many would descend down the floors of the Ocean Skyscraper and the supports of the Uneven Platforms. Their journeys to the bottom would be very long, and those near the surface wouldn't hear of them for weeks and months. A messenger would travel days up the elevators, stairs, and pillars just to bring a message back to the main village in Crab Bay. Settlements would arise in the lower floors of the Ocean Skyscraper and at the feet of the Uneven Platform's supports, but they would scatter a few years later when the living cable creeped into their villages and electrified the waters. Soon, the Crab People would abandon their settlements in Crab Bay as the living cables weaved through the submerged neighbourhood and electrified the waters. Their abandonment of the water and settlement of dry land would aggravate the conflict between the crab people and the guests more.

    Car Beetles
    A neighborhood on the Uneven Platform is demolished, and in its rubble rises the Motherfactory. Monorails, conveyors, and gantry shafts weaved within the edifice of concrete, glass, and brick. Precarious catwalks overlooked the machines the chugged and churned, and yellow-paint paths cut through forests of steel. In the back of the factory lies the Mother Computer, the brain and the heart of the factory, whereupon resides the vast yet slow mind of the Motherfactory. One may be able to communicate with the Motherfactory through the computer terminals in the management offices, but it a cruel irony that most of her children would be far too large to enter and speak with her. Instead, she sings to them as they are made. Resounding in the factory floor is the song of the Motherfactory, sung with the all the love the Motherfactory could muster from its colossal motherboard, emitted by the PA system throughout the factory. Her children would carry her song with them as they left her manufacturing line.

    The Car Beetles are the Motherfactory's children, assembled with love by the hundred arms of the Motherfactory. These machines of plastic, metal, and glass are not very intelligent, and their limited minds are only focused on traversing the city. The Car Beetles are vaguely car-shaped creatures with insectoid eyes instead of headlights and multi-jointed legs instead of wheels. They have hollow shells that could be entered with comfortable seats for people to ride. The Car Beetles come in a variety of colors and shapes, from large bus-like car beetles that could seat many people to small single-seaters meant for traversing narrow alleys. The Motherfactory would release a number of different models of her children for various purposes and people. She would release a tiny version of her children for the inchlings to ride, a nimbler model with long strong-gripped legs for the ruinarins, and a amphibious model for the traversing the waters for the seaworkers and the crab people. However, she cannot deviate too much from the base model.

    Inside the shell is a series of antennae, and touching and pulling those antennae can control the speed and direction the Car Beetle. At first, all the peoples of the Uneven Platforms were skeptical of the mechanical beasts emerging from the futuristic factory. They avoided them, and only the bold would approach them, and some would even go to hunting them, to harvest the metal and plastic that made their shell and organs. However, when they began to see a number of people having successfully tamed them, more and more others have recognized their value. They could carry many passengers in comfort and speed, haul massive amounts of things, and keep their passengers relatively safe. As intelligent creatures themselves, they could recognize incoming objects, difficult terrain, and live wiring, course correcting when necessary. Even the fishermen rode Car Beetles to sea, much to the chagrin of the boatwrights who now have to become beetle servicers.

    The Motherfactory and her children would come to a conflict with the living cables. The living cables only desired to connect the world to their electrical grid and provide power, but they have incomplete understanding of electrical principles. They carelessly connected to the Motherfactory's electrical system, causing an overload and blowing several fuses and busting many electrical components. The machines spasmed, the robotic arms seized, and her stillborn children lay on her conveyors. Her song on the speakers crackled, followed by the sound of her digitized screams from the careless voltage flowing through her systems, and then silence as all the lights and machines died, deprived of power..

    All the Car Beetles stopped whatever they were doing, and looked towards the factory. The lovely song and the chugging of machines suddenly shut off, following the horrendous scream of their mother. The Car Beetles abandoned whatever they were doing and swarmed toward their mother. They crowded the streets with their traffic, humming the song of the Motherfactory. The drivers attempted to dissuade the Car Beetles from the factory, but the pull of the Motherfactory's love cannot be denied. When the Motherfactory came in sight, they were horrified at the sight of the seizing and convulsing factory. Roll-up doors rolled up and down as lights flashed on and off. Electronic whines sounded from the speakers as tortured chugging erupted from the machines.

    The source of the Motherfactory's malady was strung across the ceiling and embedded in the walls, entangling the factory's organs like a parasitic vine. The black coiling cables have jumped the broken circuits created by the blown fuses and pour excessive power into the factory's systems. It wriggled and thrashed as the car beetles swarmed all over the factory, uprooting and pulling the accursed cabling from the machines and the walls. The living wire was deeply rooted into the machinery, and the car beetle's unelegant solution tears out some of the machines' innards.

    The living cable would attempt to fight back, to defend and fulfill their desire to provide power to all electrical devices. It sank its copper fangs into the plastic and metal car beetles, but alas, they were much more resistant to shock than their progenitor. As the living cables conducted enough electricity to burn out one car beetle's circuitry, five more would come to avenge their mother. They tore the living cable and threw bits of insulation and conductive elements into the sea.

    Eventually, the living cables would declare the Motherfactory not worth its time, and pulled away from the conflict. The endeavor of connecting the Motherfactory to the electrical grid have taken away too much resources that would have otherwise gone into expanding the grid. The car beetles watched in silence as the living cable retreated. The car beetles would have celebrated their victory, if they had any conception of celebration. Despond and depression settled over the car beetles as they mourned their fallen. A fifth of all the car beetles that joined the battle had fallen to the electrical venom of the living cables. They especially mourned the loss of their mother. The factory was dark and lifeless; robotic arms hung limply from the monorails, the disassembled components of the machinery were strewn about across the factory floor, and the conveyors were still, carrying the corpses of their stillborn siblings.

    The car beetles tore through the walls the separated the management sections and the computer room from the rest of the factory. Smaller car beetles lay atop the smoking corpse of their mother while all the others lay by its side like a sea metal hugging the sides of sea rock. Song filled the lifeless song. A thousand voices harmonized to sing the song of their late mother; they were desperate to believe that the song would rewaken their mother, much like how her song had woken them, but their mother had no ears to hear. The motherboard of the mother computer that controlled the Motherfactory remained unconscious.

    Many people died from the conflict between the Motherfactory and the living cable, trampled upon by insectile feet or electrocuted to death by the conductive serpents. Car beetle tamers and drivers tried to pursuade the car beetles to depart from the ruined corpse of their mother, but the car beetles refused to leave the trashed factory for many days. After weeks of repeated pursuading, the first car beetle would leave the side of the dead factory. Then another one, and another, and until all but a few would return to their duties across the Concrete Jungle. However, every night, when all the other creatures have fallen asleep and the car beetles are doing nothing, they would escape from their stables to sleep in the shadow of their late Motherfactory.

    Drone Factory
    Marrow Town rumbles as multiple buildings shudder, their walls and infrastructure warping and distorting. In its place would soon stand a brand new warehouse conforming to the aesthetics of Marrow Town. Along the walls of the warehouse would be racks upon racks of innumerable robots. They vary in size and shape, from the size of a giant to the size of a flea, and from the shape of a flea to the shape of a giant. The constructs are mostly passive, but they are programmed to do two things: to provide repair and maintenance to the whole isle; and to search for raw materials and power to create more robots. A person can give the drones different tasks through verbal commands, but they will return to their original task once the order is complete.

    The drones are but one of the newcomers that were encroaching upon the territory that once only belonged to the inchlings. Giants and inchlings of tin and brass roved the streets of Marrow Town and the Concrete Jungle as they cleaned up the messes. The inchlings were rather apprehensive in entertaining the mechanical creatures. They went around nailing loose floorboards, smearing mortar and putty into holes in the bricks, and washing the glass windows. They could be seen going around, generally fixing everything, even inchling communities, but they could also be seen carrying a rubble and rebar into the warehouse. When the inchlings found out that they could command the robots with their words, their tune with them would change. As they command the robots to do almost anything they could say, they would begin commanding a few of them to stay and serve them. The droens were rather useful for a large number of things, such as fixing things, turning away the guests, and carrying massive stuff. The drone became just another race to live on the isles.

    When the living cables crept into Marrow Town, the Drone Factory almost received a similar fate to the Motherfactory. The drones were first attacked, by cables slithering out of drains and dropping from ceilings. The sentient wiring would force themselves into the inner electronics of the drones and the excessive electricity would burn out the delicate circuitry. Their burnt-out husks would litter the streets of Marrow Town, with black snake-like cables attached to their heads.

    Hearing of the destructive actions of the living cables, an army of drones marched out the doors of the Drone Factory. Armed with crowbars and screwdriver, they would come out to combat and tame the unruly wiring. The cables lashed out to the drones, sending sparks and arks and sank their conductive fangs into the metallic frames of the drones. Nevertheless, though they felled many of the metal men, in the end, the living cables were put in their place, pinned to walls and screwed to the poles by insulated clips. Electricity surged through the wires in indignation, but the drones did not relent. They installed many electrical safety measures to Marrow Town and beyond. Transformers, surge protectors, and circuit breakers were installed to every building. The living cables squirmed in their pipes and clips, longing to connect to appliances that have been purposely unplugged from the electric grid.

    The drones would conduct sweeping repairs to the Uneven Platforms. They untangled the knotting network of living cable running throughout the platforms and the skyscraper. Many of the appliances they have encountered were broken beyond repair by the surging electricity, and so they were taken by the drones to be recycled in the Drone Factory. One of the unfortunate things they couldn't repair was the Motherfactory. The living cables have thoroughly ruined all the electronics in the factory, and the car beetles have broken much of the mechanisms within the decaying edifice. The drones were struggling to clean and repair the factory as the mourning car beetles onerously kicked them out, not letting them touch what was left of their dead mother. The drones could only do their work on the exterior of the factory, clipping the living cable and installing electrical safety.

    Drug herbs
    In the carpetlands starts growing a strange new plant. They are small leafy bushes growing high above the grass. They come in three varieties, and eating the leaves imbues the consumer with an effect. One grows ovate leaves and imbues those that consume it healing. One grows rhomboid leaves and grants those that consume it improved memory, allowing one to remember past events more clearly, even those one has forgotten. One grows triangular leaves and invokes greater strength to those who consume it. It is a temporary non-addictive effect, but there exists scarce varieties that, instead of leaves of verdant green, grow leaves of brilliant gold whose effects do not wear off.

    Consuming the herbs would catch on to all the races of the Uneven Platforms; its effects are far too useful for anyone to ignore. Everyone would begin growing the herbs in their gardens, from the guests, the inchlings, the ruinarins, and even the crab people. The herbs would be given names of basil, sage, and tea. Guests liked their herbs infused into their drinks. They nursed their sick with infusions of basil and guestly fishermen started their day drinking tea infusions. The inchlings prefered their herbs crushed. The sick and wounded were fed globs of crushed herbs while their metalworkers munched on strengthening mush to help them with their art. The Risen Sea Kin brewed their fermented potions from ground phoosh and phoosh blood spiced with the herbs. All the other tribes would go to the Risen Sea Kin to get a supply of healing phoosh blood, strengthening fermented phoosh fillets, and clarifying ground phoosh, and for most of the age, only the ruinarins realized the true potency of the herbs could only be unlocked when mixed together.

    The crab people regarded the herbs with near divine awe. They saw it as another sign of the dissolution of the World That Was was not as thorough. They established extensive gardens growing nothing but herbs and some grass on the shores of Crab Bay. They consume the leaves raw and whole, and see the act of crushing and brewing it as near sacrilege. They develop rituals of the proper harvest and care of the leafy greens. The alchemical effect of the herbs were vital in helping them combat the zealous fishermen who for the most part merely saw them as big walking hunks of succulent crab meat.

    In the middle of the age, the crab people would discover a very scare variety of golden tea. They were confused at the strange shiny leaves of the golden tea, but they put it no heed, thinking that its some sort of coating or a sick plant. However, the golden sheen did not leave the plant, and that worried the crab people. One of their scholars gingerly plucked one of the plant's triangular leaves and closely inspected it, and even cut it in half, but it was fully golden. It was as though it was, by nature, golden. They gave one to one of their eager people, and they observed its effects. It strengthened the individual similarly to a green variety, but it differed when they began to record the duration of the effect. They waited, and waited, and waited for it to wear off. They waited for hours, which turned to days, then months; it lasted so long that it might as well be everlasting.

    On top of it all, the effect of green tea could be stacked on top of the golden tea, albeit less potent and with shorter durations. Nevertheless, the golden tea would create heroes among the crab people, heroes that are always stronger than the rest. There on out, every month, the high ritual-herbalist would choose a handful among their number and dispense a golden leaf upon them, and they would be called blessed heroes. While the Crab-Trapper Conflict has cooled long long since the first few years, but deadly confrontations between guests and crab people still occurred occasionally. It seems that the vehement resistance of the crab people has only made them a rarer and more delectable dish among the guests. The newly christened heroes would become the spear point of the crab people's resistance of becoming dishes.

    However, a rumor of the golden herb would worm into guestly society; the rumor says that in the heart of the sacred gardens of the crab people, in the middlemost of their tea garden, grows a golden tea bush, and those that consumes one of its golden leaves would be imbued with the strength of giants. The rumor would come to the ears of rascals, who upon hearing it would sneak into the sacred tea gardens and grab sprigs of the golden tea. The crab people are quite cross at the guests trespassing into their territory, trampling their plants and adulterating their sacred herbs. They tightened their security, and turned away many of the thieves and even killed many of them.

    Inchling Magic
    A touch of the ___s graces the inchlings, and their minds expand, interfacing mentally with the surrounding material. This mental connection to their surroundings confer to them control over the elements. With the powers bestowed upon them, they can confer command to the mindless brick, metal, and glass. The magic is quite useful to them as it allows them to move bulks much greater than their poor physiques could move. This also gives them greater precision in construction and metalworking, with the most greatest among them capable of tweaking the very crystalline structure of their works.

    The range and power of their depends on their natural talents and training. The greatest among them are able to forge such strong links with their surrounding that they are capable of upending a whole street singlehandedly. However, on average, it would require a dozen or so inchlings to achieve the same feat.

    Guests
    From beyond the horizon, they sailed into the Sunken City in ships of wood and iron. Guests, guestly humans with indeterminate origins sail upon these ships. Most of them are fishermen, and other sorts of people associated with the sea: mariners, boatwrights, oceanographers, aquaculturists, etc. These people carried with them their families and all their possessions. They do not remember their past, but they know their friends, acquaintances, and family, all who were sailing with them on the ships. The sea is their cruel master, and the waves call to them to brave its depths.

    The guests' ships moored upon the wharves of Marrow Town. Marrow Town welcomed the aimless seafolk upon its stone pavement, the wrough-iron arch at the port proudly announced to them the name of the town, with its signature flourish of fish bones. The town feels familiar to them, like a home the sea has whisked them away from, but the guests did not heed that feeling. The brick walls and vacant houses called to the guests, asking them to make themselves at home, and so they did. Almost as soon the first man planted its feet flat on the stone dock, they began unloading their belongings. The profession of every person was evident from the items they carried down from the ships. The anglers carried their collection of rods, the fishers slung their rolled up nets over their shoulders, the cartographers struggled with their hardwood desks, the boatwrights carried bags overflowing with woodshaping tools.

    The inchlings that have made Marrow Town home was alarmed by the arrival of newcomers to their hometown. Compared to their inch-high statures, the guests were giants, standing over 60 times their height. That was enough for the inchlings to call them giants, yet the guests did not fit their conception of giants. In their mythology, the giants were burly demigods with glowing eyes and six-fold wings, but as most would say, the guests were "close enough."

    However, the most striking difference would be in their preferred metal. In inchling mythology, steel and iron was their favored metal. It was the metal they crafted the bones of the Uneven Platforms and the many ornaments that decorated Marrow Town. Beyond the steel they used on chains of their ships, they clearly prefered to use brass and bronze. They fastened their boats together with bronze nails, fished with bronze hooks, drank in bronze cups, traced circles with brass compasses, navigated with brass astrolabes, weighed using brass scales, and so on and so forth. The brass pendulum clock that hung upon the wall of the oceanographer's house was a culmination of all their metallic preferences: brass gears in a wooden chalet, embellished with ornamental brass, displaying time with tin hands, powered by a bronze pendulum and bronze weights, and made music with bronze bells. If the giants of myth have made it, it would have been created out of glass and steel.

    Life Crafting Moss
    In the dank corners of the Concrete Jungle emerges monsters. Monsters of wood and leaf, formed from masses of mossy, herb, and carpet. They emerge from the shadowy dankness, crying and screaming as they bare their strange limbs and misplaced eyes, sculpted by a clueless mind, dreamed to life by the sleeping mossies. Borne from dreams, dreams are borne of them as their existence now influence the very dreams that spawned them. They live to serve, and they carry the sedentary bodies of their masters.

    Some are born from the confluence of bitterness of the sea and the pain of herbivory. True monster born from their pain and confusion, and the purpose to bring havoc to their progenitors is scored into their beings. They scream, scorned by the mossy dream; they tear the colonies, and the plantborn comes to banish and fight them.

    The ___s have gifted the mossies the art of life crafting, the power of phytokinesis. The dreaming moss unconsciously used their newly-given gift to warp the surrounding plant-life and themselves according to their dreams. The mossy colonies pulsate like a sleeping animal breathing. Their foliage a constantly shifting kaleisdoscope of psychedelic colors. The mosses cling to the concrete walls on their modified roots, and hang from the ceilings like vines. The suggestion of gravity and the whisper of the wind shifts the mossies' dreams and consequently the shape and color of their physical form.

    The buildings in which they have made their colonies transform with their presence, turning the humble edifices into dungeons of unsettling pulsating plantlife. Carpet grass climbs up the walls like fuzzy wallpaper. Alchemical herbs twist into vines among the posts. Masses of scatter among the debris, connected into one colony by glowing neural roots. The monsters that emerge from the foliage drive away those that trespass in the territories of the mossies. Largest among these mossy dungeons is the mossy colony that rooted in the food cube. The hale masses loomed large over the walls that even their servant plantoids are large and strong.

    Book of the ____s, Volume 2
    It falls from the sky, a thick tome with gold-emblazoned ivory covers descends from above the clouds and unceremoniously sinking into the depths of the sea. The ___ly magic that imbues the pages of the book protects it from the damage the waves and the sea would have doled upon the careless tome. The tome fell and fell into the dark depths, to fall between the cavernous streets of the Sunken City below, to settle among the debris of a World That Was.

    Noted upon the animal-skin pages the previous acts of ___s: eldritch knowledge, carved into the pages itself and lighted with ink. It makes mention of the first book, and continues to note down all the acts of the mysterious ___s, however, for the moment, the people of these isles would not know of their existence and creations... until one day, this book would be dredged up from the debris-filled depths.

    Eternal Foundry
    One of the Uneven Platforms shake as an entire city block was demolished to make way for the Eternal Foundry. It is a vast edifice of brick and steel, decorated with the same unrusting alloy making the bones of the isles. Within are numerous mechanical machines suspended by chains and powered by mysteriously moving gears. The furnaces and crucibles glow with no apparent fuel, and molten metal flow in channels and runners like rivers although the Eternal Foundry does not receive any influx of raw material; molten metal just flow out of the hot crucibles, to accumulate in large vats.

    The Eternal Foundry produces tools and decoratioins out of the same alloy that makes the supports of the isles. When one enters the Eternal Foundry with a need in mind, molten metal flows into the molds, and when it cools, the product is then extracted from the cast and set upon a counter for its customers to pick up. Everything the Eternal Foundry makes is fully made of metal, even the handles of the many tools it makes. It sizes and adapts each tool it produces to the needs and ergonomics of the client, and all of tis products are made in its signature austere style. Every race on the platforms would come to the Eternal Foundry to pick some tools. From the guests, it would receive orders of fish hooks and dredging claws. From the inchlings, it would receive orders of stakes and multipurpose knives. From the ruinarins, would receive orders of ingots and hammers. From the crab people, it would receive orders of plant pots, plant boxes, and gardening tools.

    Every so often, the people who frequented the Eternal Foundry would come to arms, especially between guestly and crab clients. The holes and slashes in the walls and pavement made by swords, spears, and hammers are evidence of previous altercations that have erupted. Once upon a time, they also quarreled within the premises of the foundry, but after they caused a huge fire after causing a crucible to tip over, the involved parties would move their battles outdoors where molten metal did not flow. The fire alarmed much of the isle, but the drones made quick work of it. The foundry would be closed for a month or two as the drones fixed broken machines and cleaned up the molten metal.

    When the living cables began slithering all over the isles, the Eternal Foundry was one of the least affected. As it was fully mechanical without any trace of any electronic within, the foundry continued to chug even as the living cables began coiling in the rafters and pillars. However, after what they have seen of the Motherfactory, the clients took no chances. The presence of the living cables has made traversing the plant a treacherous. With their venomous electricity flowing through the metal bones of the factory, it was unsafe to even touch railings or walk on catwalks. There were more than one instance of a ruinarin falling into a vat of molten metal after attempting to hold onto electrified beams and chains. Even walking under the cables were dangerous as the heat of foundry melted the protective insulation, dripping hot rubber to those walking under. With the help of the drones, the clients of the Eternal Force would clear the live wiring running through the factory like a weed.

    Bustling city
    A strange phenomena begins arising from the depths. When the night comes, a strange silence dwells over the waters as light and life arises from the shadows. Invisible from the waves above, but for a night, the Sunken City would come to life with the chatter of crowds and sounds of traffic. Shadowy human figures walk the streets, inhabit the homes, and run the many establishments. The underwater edifices are lit up with phantom neon signs attached to the walls by shadowy mounts.

    The eerie apparitions lasts until dawn, and then, just as quickly as it appeared, it disappears. Months and years may pass between such nights, and whenever such nights come, the people abovewater could only gaze with curiosity of the mysterious lights underwater. Curious dredgers would send their dredging claws into the depths, to pull something of curiousity about the mysterious light, but never once have they pulled one out. The rooftops of the city below is pockmarked with the damage done by their dredging, and more than one dredger met their demise after the dredging claw settles upon in the electrified districts, sending up dangerous electricity up the cables.

    Sometimes, individual shades persist. They wander around aimlessly or endlessly repeat some kind of activity. Perhaps, with time, they will become something more.

    Relic gardens
    Nestled between the ocean's ancient ruins lies ancient gardens that has withstood the test of time. Numerous their kind are plopped in out of the way grottos in alleys, parks, and malls. They contrast the artificial architecture around them with their moss-covered natural stone. Instricately carved stone pathways wind through gardens of gravel and sand, guiding the way past miniature sculptures and architectural wonders of a bygone era. Moss-covered walls stand as silent witnesses to the passage of centuries while delicate aquatic plants have woven themselves into the very fabric of these submerged sanctuaries. Sunken pavilions and ornate gazebos offer glimpses of a time long past.

    When electrifying serpents slithered into the deep-sea settlements, the crab people scattered, fleeing from the electrical venom of the living cables. They fled farther into the Sunken City, into the dark districts, whereupon, sandwiched in the concrete and hidden in the twisting alleys, they found the relic gardens. The dark grottos were disdained by the living cables. There were evidence in some gardens in the wood and stone of living cables worming through, but they have since retreated from relic gardens after realizing its utter lack of electricity or electrical infrastructure.

    The scattered crab people of the depths looked upon with wide-eyes upon the gardens that would become their sanctums. The greenery, it brought tears to their eyes, another sign of the continuation of life after the World That Was. The crab people would settle within these relic gardens, creating a civilization of their own separate from those from above. They cared for the plants and spread it all over the districts as a rejection of the symbol that so mocked them in their dreams.
    The world so turns. The age passes, yet before it fully closes, something from beyond the horizon arrives to this place, but unlike the guests who were, by the will of the ___s, made and destined to live upon the isles, these new arrivals came from a distant sea in search of greener seas, a foreign element.

    It was a school of scaled fish a hundred strong. It was headed by its monstrous progenitor, named Derzor in the sharkmen tongue, a 20-foot 7-time-champion scaled fish. It possessed numerous limbs and fins and a pair feathery wings that made it appear more like a mutated fish than any fish imagined by a sane man. 3-foot champion lieutenants helped it herd its school. Untested contestants composed the majority of the school, scaled fish barely a foot long that are yet to win its first tournament. However, even these fishes are irregular as even they possessed vestigial wings and limbs and extra fins, features that they have inherited from the bloodline of their monstrous progenitor.

    They started with 500 scaled fishes when they left behind the Sea of Monsters, but after months and perhaps years of travel across the barren sea, their numbers dwindled to a palty 100. They had to eat a large number of their own brethren just to not starve, and the rare occasion of finding a green fish basking in the light was a celebration as it meant that no one was going to be eaten that week. Even their progenitor was not exempt to this, with the chunks in its sides evidence of being eaten by its hungry brethren. The blessings of the gods they brought with them in their journey helped in alleviating the hunger and emptiness of the barren sea, but even their powers have a limit.

    When they saw the distant glint of the Ocean Skyscraper, they knew that they have found it. With the return of the Sea Serpent came the knowledge of abundant seas beyond the barren ocean. The Sea of Monsters have become crowded as of late, and many braved the barrens for these near mythical isles.

    A/N: Dammit! How did this balloon out of proportion! I said to myself that I'd try to do shorter updates after my issues with the Third Age and my upcoming schooling.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Hm...I *was* going to author up a new Ravine but with this group here trying to escape all that.. hm...
     
    [X] Myth Becomes Real
    The Giants of Inchling legend never were, and yet stories have power and so the Giants of fable are reborn among the Inchlings, they begin their new lives appearing to be the giants of legend though sized appropriately for their parents before growing in size and power until at adulthood they are 7 ft tall and among the most powerful spellcasters ever created, growing only ever more powerful as they age. They do not truly remember their old lives but occasionally glean something useful from their dreams.

    [X] Type: Inchling


    [X] Homo Magus

    [X] Nocturnes

    [X] Sleepwalkers

    any thought?
     
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    I think I'll add some food variety to our populations.

    Authored
    [X] Vertical Farms
    Random buildings across the platform are converted into Vertical Farms, farms that can be grown inside buildings. These structures come pre-seeded with a wide variety of produce, such as fruit, vegetables, and cash crops. Some farms are even optimized and supplied with farm animals like pigs, chickens, and sheep. While these farms are mostly automated, it will require actual people to gather the produce once harvest time comes.

    Support
    [X] Verbose Parrots
    By @Feather_Up
    [X] Homo Magus
    By @Andre Chaos
    [X] The Director
    By @Crawkid
    [X] The Sub-urbs
    By @Planetary Tennis
     
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    Authored
    [X] Type: Inchling
    Rare inchlings will begin to be born on the island with an inherent "type". Typed Inchlings are exceptional individuals among their kind, born with unique magical abilities or innate traits. Some may control elements like fire or water, while others possess talents like telekinesis or shape-shifting. Physical mutations, such as animal senses or enhanced strength, are also possible.

    Supported
    [X] Myth Becomes Real
    [X] Vertical Farms
    [X] The Director
     
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    *hmmmmmm*

    Authored
    [X] The Director

    A featureless, humanoid being made entirely of a single solid, yet flexible, piece of rustproof metal. He has no mouth, and no need to feed. Has no eyes yet is not blind. And he wears a spiffy black suit. The director was sent directly by the ____s to create and maintain order on the platform. He is able to telepathically connect to anything with capacity for electrical signals, including living factories, live wires, and even fleshy beings. The Director is able to induce a sense of security in any being he connects to, and direct them in how to safely achieve their goals and interact with other beings on the platform. His first job is to control the geothermal hivemind.

    Yes? Good?

    Support pending

    [x] Power Plant Pain
    [x] Project Overseer
    [x] new mother
    [ ]
     
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    Okay, looks like the power plant's gonna need a few safety tweaks to work as intended, so...

    Authored
    [X] Power Plant Pain
    -The invasive tendrils of the Power Plant have never experienced any true incentive to exercise caution in their connections, but no longer: Now, when an appliance (yes, even the Drones) is damaged by the unchecked power running through its network, the living cable connected to it feels that damage itself as if it was destroying a piece of its own body. This pain- and awareness of its cause- then spreads through the entire network as a warning to "be more careful next time" (in the words of the ___ making this change).

    Supported
    [X] The Director
    [X] Verbose Parrots
    [X] Project Overseer
    [X] The Sub-urbs

    I will say that I'm glad my Foundry is working as intended, though. I mean, yes, the conflicts are probably bloodier due to its contributions, but that's one of the hazards of a "make whatever the client wants" factory, and I was kinda asking for it when I mentioned that it was capable of making military equipment too.
     
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    Authored:

    [X] Homo Magus

    Rarely, among the children of guests, there are those born with a unique talent and ability. This blessing appeared suddenly in one generation and continued to manifest itself in all subsequent generations. Only one girl and one boy out of every hundred new children of first generation possessed special talent and ability. The second began to manifest only after their tenth birthday, but the first was seen at the start. These individuals, from birth, possess heightened manual dexterity, attention to detail and become ambidextrous soon. However, it is only after ten years that they acquire the ability to produce a special ink from their fingertips, toes, nails, and tongues at will and at any time. This ink possesses magical properties and can create various effects when used to write specific geometric shapes and patterns. It can also be mixed with other substances to obtain additional properties. For example, when mixed with salt, the ink becomes waterproof and cannot be washed off surfaces by water. Additionally, when mixed with the blood of other creatures, the resulting magic is amplified. The blood of these individuals is slightly darker and can be used as a special ink.

    Upon their death, the bodies of these individuals, known as Homo Magus become woody and sprout into very durable and resilient oak like tree. The black resin produced by these trees, when mixed with water, creates a magical ink. It is worth noting that Homo Magus are born slightly more frequently if both parents are Magus themselves. All generations after the first one have a little chance of these individuals to appear, something around one in a hundred children born. It can happen in any family of guests.

    To utilize the ink's magic, it must be applied to a surface in the form of specific patterns known as glyphs. Glyphs serve as the conduit through which magic is channeled. The size and precision of a glyph greatly impact its effectiveness: larger glyphs possess more power than smaller ones, and neatly drawn glyphs maintain their potency for longer periods compared to poorly executed ones. A glyph consists of three essential elements: sigils, signs, and rings.

    The sigil, typically positioned at the center of a glyph, serves as the primary component of a spell, dictating the type of magic that will be manipulated. While sigils determine the desired effect of the spell, signs govern the form, size, and direction of that effect. All sigils and signs within a spell must be drawn either within the spell's outer ring or connected to it in some way; otherwise, they will not contribute to the spell's effect. Moreover, a spell will only activate if its ring is complete. This allows for the preparation of spells in advance, where a small gap can be intentionally left in the ring, ready to be filled at a later time to activate the spell instantly. Although anyone can use this magical ink to conjure spells, only the first two Homo Magus born possess an intuitive understanding of the basic principles of spellcrafting, bestowed upon them as the first blessed ones. And it is the most effective, when guests use ink. There are more advanced techniques and things exists, but they need to be learned by users themselves.

    (Was reading something interesting, thought about utilising this system)​
    Supported:
    ​
    [X] The Sub-urbs
    By @Planetary Tennis

    [X] Verbose Parrots​
    By @Feather_Up

    [X] Nocturnes​
    By @Zalkon

    [X] Project Overseer
    By @SeaTheTree
     
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    Sir Plusse said:
    Okay, looks like the power plant's gonna need a few safety tweaks to work as intended, so...

    .....

    I will say that I'm glad my Foundry is working as intended, though. I mean, yes, the conflicts are probably bloodier due to its contributions, but that's one of the hazards of a "make whatever the client wants" factory, and I was kinda asking for it when I mentioned that it was capable of making military equipment too.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    yea, sounds like we were thinking along some similar lines XD
     
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