Animus Ex Nihilo - A God Quest

Even moving from the reef at all had become a strain, so much had you overexerted yourself, and there was not much that you felt capable of doing about it. Slowly leeching some power from the mounds and waiting for the worship of the Sea People to restore you seemed the best option by far, and so you sent your Herald to ensure that the sea would be kind to the people while you were waiting the pain to lessen some more. Unlike when you had taken the power of the mountains monster, you could still hear the peoples prayers far away and could give your blessings in return, though it was harder to mould the power with any precision at a distance.

Instead of trying to force your will from afar, you focused your attention on things closer at hand. Having seen through the eyes of the dead how they had been used to create the beast you had fought, you had been left with many questions. How had the Devourer gathered all this power? Was it the act of killing the people and animals, or was it their fear that had created it? It was clear that Skerhogis knew more than you and with the bodies of the dead denied to it, you were left to guess at their next actions if you could not figure out by what other method they were now sustaining themselves.

Observing the fish around you living and dying was not the best comparison to what you had seen happening in the memories you took, but it was enough to determine a few things. When you manifested a form to scare them, there was indeed a tiny trickle of power to take from them. That meant the terror of the people at the living dead likely accounted for quite some of the potential they had gathered. Unfortunately, that also meant that the stories that the Sea People told of the Devourer were empowering it. To see the moon darken and to feel the suffocating feeling of death blanked the world must have had contributed quite tremendously to the ritual too. But there was something more interesting that you noticed.

When the Forest People had offered their own and captured Sea People to the pits, it had greatly empowered them. Likewise, the few who had willingly offered themselves to the unliving had contributed far more to their power than their fear alone. You had thought that it was death itself that empowered these things, yet when you used your power over death to snuff out some living things, there was next to nothing to gained from it. It took almost as much of your might to leech the life out of an animal as you could gain from doing so. No. Much like the goats that the Sea People offered to you, it was that act that gave it meaning. A human life offered to you was likely worth more than on you took yourself and greater yet would be the one given willingly. It was something worth keeping in mind, even though you saw little value in having the Sea People slay each other to empower you.


Quite to the contrary, your first act upon feeling well enough to leave the reef was to ensure that they would grow in number again. The famines toll was heavy, but the efforts of your herald had managed to turn the tide. Fish and mussels became more plenty again and the Sea People began to trade smoked and dried fish with the homesteads in the forests again. You added your own blessings to that of the great carp, but he had taken such good care of the sea that you soon switched your attention to the land instead. The people had noticed too and while the fish had long been a motive common in the carvings of the Sea People, especially on the boats, he had slowly begun to attract his own legends in the last few lifetimes. They had begun to call him Hegnevus the Boat Guider, recalling the many times that he had helped fishers, explorers and even the boat makers in their tasks, and of course the first battle against the Devourer in which he had earned his distinct scars.


In the forests, your efforts were met with similar successes. Since you had not blessed a plant in many, many lifetimes, and only kelp at that, the first few bushes and trees you tried to bestow your power upon withered away as your affinity to death crept into your work. Soon enough though, you had gained a feeling for the plants of the forest and the next years, the Sea People found bushes and branches heavy with berries, fruit, and nuts. It also helped greatly that the Sky Child had been blessing the weather and winds at the same time, leading to milder winters and warmer summers, which the plants were just as grateful for as the people. The sudden plenty helped the Forest Villages to grow quite a bit and it spurred some innovation too. In addition to the hearths common to the Sea Peoples longhouses, many in the forests began to add closed clay ovens to their homes to better bake bread from ground nuts. Those same ovens were also useful for drying foods and rendering the fat of animals much more easily than clay vessels over a fire, and so trade between the settlements kept growing as fish and pearls travelled inland while furs, flours and fat was traded to the coasts.


Having plenty of food again cut down greatly on the deaths among the people, though that hardly meant that there was no sickness or death. Your efforts to stave off the deaths of the sick and the old were not greatly successful, so you manifested your body a few times to attend the greater rites again to ensure that the people kept believing in them. Instead, you focused your efforts on those left behind and to ease the passing of those whom you know could not be helped. Many of the Sea People had prayed for salvation from their suffering in the past, but with your power over death having grown and so many memories of painful deaths claimed from the Devourers foul kin, you had gained new perspective on the last moments of mortals. Staving off their end had always seemed the most important thing, yet if there was nothing to be done, it was also valuable to let them pass in peace instead of agony. So, when the healing failed, you took their pains away another way and while the people grieved over the loss, the dead were grateful for the mercy you had offered them.


All this time, you also made sure to keep some attention on the Travelling People too. Their attendance to the healing rites was common by now and they practiced the lesser rites on their own among their number, they still clung to the old burial rites and left their dead in the forests. Some wandering shamans of the Sea People had begun to try and convince them of merit of your rites, yet it was not all that practical for nomads with them to the sea, so it had not caught on all that much. Still though, some did and those you blessed plenty. You also eased the passing of those for whom death was inevitable, though the Sky Child seemed somewhat alarmed by that for a while, following you around whenever they noticed you near their people. They tried to stay hidden while doing so, though their efforts failed quite badly, and the few times you spoke, they only vaguely asked about your actions. Whatever had caused their suspicion though, it lessened with time again, and while your burial rites were still far from common among the Travelling People, they at least had begun to have the rites performed when they were close to Sea People settlements when one of their passed.


It was somewhat reassuring that at least none of the Travelling People seemed to object to their old rites being replaced, clinging to them more out of practicality than great conviction. You had made sure to pay close attention to their burials in the forests and likewise if any among the Sea People were doing things they should not, yet you did not witness anything of note. Though if that was because the Devourer had no servants among your people, or because you had failed to find them, that you could not determine with any confidence. At the very least you could not sense any great gatherings of power aligned with death anywhere near the Sea People, so a repeat of the events in the mountains seemed profoundly unlikely.

What you did find though was signs of purely mortal strife. Along the rivers of the River Village, homesteads had been raided in recent lifetimes and their occupants slain. You had long tried to find any sign of a spirits involved with these events, first expecting to find evidence of undead attacking in the name of the Devourer, but not even faintest trace of spent power could be found clinging to the empty longhouses. You then assumed that it might have been a different spirits work, whose followers were raiding for sacrifices, yet the power had not been drained from the dead, so that seemed not to be the reason for the raids either. A few wandering shamans had rounded up some warriors to protect the homesteads and to hunt down the attackers, and while they had no success in apprehending any of them, they did spot unknown groups of people moving through the dense forests now and then. It was strange to see mortals struggle for apparently no reason at all, though with no sign of a spirit attacking the Sea People, you let the matter rest for the time being. You still had to deal with one matter left from your last battle.

---

When you approached the Harsh Mountain, its home was filled with the sound of rock striking rock in an even rhythm. On the same slope that you had met them last time, the mound of stone had formed again and its eyes were focused on a set of huge stone slabs laying there. Smaller stones were lifting and falling of their own accord, striking the slaps and digging deep gouges forming intricate patterns into them. Some of the gouges were strange though. They were filled with something grey that seemed to shine like the sun, until you noticed that it only reflected the sunlight like the calm sea did on a clear day. "You have come to repay your debt," grumbled a familiar, deep voice. The mounds eyes did not move though and neither did the rocks pause their work.

If it was a debt, you were not sure, and so you did not gainsay the mountain spirit. You had agreed to keep their servitor safe after all and it had come to great harm. "I have come to offer my aid to heal the Walking Mountain," you replied carefully. Causing offense was hardly your intention, but neither was submitting to the Harsh Mountain.

The other spirit said nothing for a while, only the pounding of rocks filling the silence, until small chunks of the silvery material floated into the gouges made in the slabs. "Silver," the spirit said at your curious gaze as the stones began to hammer the material into the gouges. "My people pry it from the mountains for me and I intend to strengthen my servitor with it. You can aid with attaching the new limbs to it when they are done."

From what the Sky Child had told you, this likely was kindest treatment you could expect from the usually quite domineering spirit. "Gladly," you said in return, quietly happy that you had lapsed into some form of workable relationship with the Harsh Mountain. The last thing you needed was another enemy so close to your people, even if the mountain spirit seemed perfectly fine with staying on their summit all the time.

As it seemed that the work would soon be done, you stayed and watched some more. It likely had taken quite a while for the Mountain People to gather this much of this silver substance, as the spirit certainly worked it quiet quickly. When the Sky Child had told you that the Mountain was also worshipped as the patron of the Mountain Peoples craftsmen, you had been surprised at first as it seemed at odds with the impersonal being, though now it made perfect sense why the stone carvers sought the spirits blessings.

When it was all done, the Harsh Mountain slowly floated the slabs into place. Only now did you notice that part of the pile of those already finished was the torso of the fallen Walking Mountain, now reworked with finer carvings and silver inlays. Once all was in place, both of you poured your power into the stones. Healing a set of animated stones was strange at first, though you quickly learned the basic ways that this odd body worked by watching the mountain spirit do their work. Connecting the limbs to the body was beyond you, the odd way in which power and intent aped life too different from all you had seen so far. Once it was made though, you found it easy to strengthen these bonds to become more solid, letting the other spirit move on to make the next connection.

After only a few days of work, the Walking Mountain stood once more, now looking even stronger than before. Its master quickly sent it off though as there were apparently plenty of tasks that had needed the stone beings' hands to be completed. You were just about to take your leave when the Harsh Mountain surprised you. "We should find an agreement," the spirit suddenly spoke, and you knew that the surprise was radiating off you when it continued. "It is clear that you will not submit to my will and the Child is growing in power to the point its servitude is likewise in question. An agreement then. I was told this is the way you favour, and it is acceptable to me."

"That is an unexpected turn," you hedged. "I take it that an alliance against the Devourer will be part of such an agreement?"

The stones ground as the mound's eyes turned to the north, where you all were certain the beasts lair could be found. "That much is a given. Skerhogis is the enemy of us all and it would be folly to not aid another against it now and in the future." Then it focused on your form again. "There are other matters that we can cooperate on though."

What deal do you offer the Harsh Mountain? (Harsh Mountain may decline the offer. The higher the value of the agreement, the more likely they will agree.)

[] Spread Harsh Mountain to the Sea People. (+4)
Allow the Harsh Mountain to send their shamans to the villages of the Sea People and to be worshipped there without your interference.

[] Spread Proud Waters to the Mountain People. (-3)
Have your own shamans move to the mountains to spread your rites there. Harsh Mountain will not interfere with your efforts.

[] Cleanse the Blighted Lands. (+2)
The settlement destroyed by the Devourer is still tainted by the power of Death and occasionally dead things raise as undead there. Offer to cleanse the area within 3 turns.

[] Cleanse the Unliving. (+2)
There are still some undead roaming the mountains and harassing the trade routes there. Offer to spend at least 3 Power on cleansing these undead within 3 turns.

[] Forest Roads. (-3)
One of the things that the Walking Mountain is rather good at is clearing walkable roads for the people through the mountains. It could do the same in the forests.

[] Forest Dams. (-6)
Apparently the long lake in the Mountain Village is not natural, but the result of the Walking Mountain building a dam. You could have similar made in the forests to aid the Forest Villages' growth.

[] Healing for the Mountain People. (+2)
The Mountain People have some persistent troubles with sickness lately. Alleviate the problem by spending at least 1 Power on it for 3 turns.

[] Inspire boat makers. (-2)
Have the Harsh Mountain bless the boat makers to improve your boat designs further. This is equivalent to a 3 Power blessing with a Tier 1 Domain.

[] Teach stone carvers. (-2)
The Mountain People are very skilled at carving stones and building with them. Have Harsh Mountain order some of them to teach their skills to the Sea People.

---

AN: Take note that you can also make no offer at all. The alliance against the Devourer would still be on in that case.