Animus Ex Nihilo - A God Quest

Recovering from the shock of the offer, you dismissed it at once. The thing was mad to even think about you becoming its servant. But the other spirit? The Harsh Mountain clearly yearned to leave the mountain and you could hardly fault them for feeling trapped there. It was probably a good thing you were present to speak some sense to them. If Skerhogis had been free to whisper its poison unopposed, you would likely have had one more foe by the time you even learned of this. But while you could tell that your earlier words had not missed their mark, you could also tell that another push would be needed to make sure the mountain spirit was not blinded by their yearning for freedom.

"Listen to the words the serpent is not speaking. You will trade the bindings on your form to bindings on your self," you spoke quietly. "They will make you nothing more than their meanest servant . One they will most likely discard once they have no more use for you."

"Look upon yourself, carrion feeder." It's neck twisted at it spoke, jaws parting and seeming eager to lunge for you. "Have you not become greater from feasting upon our brethren? What reassurance has the trapped one that you not merely wish to keep then weak and isolated to claim their power for you own when the time is right? You offer nothing but your word. The word of one who led their servant to their doom and their only other ally happens to be lost to the winds they hid within."

There was a pang of fear and worry at those words that you could not help, especially when the Devourers reaction to your distress was a wide and tooth filled grin. The Harsh Mountain looked at you with a questioning gaze and you knew you had to offer something at least. "I pledge to repay you for the loss my rashness caused. Aid in restoring your servitor, or if that can not be done, to craft a new one."

Not an easy burden, not with all the other things you had already pledged, and you felt it was not enough. There was one more thing. "And I pledge all aid that I can offer to see you freed from this mountain. As an ally and a friend. Your equal, not your lord." The words were solemn as you spoke them and you could feel them bind you before the deal was even properly struck.

The pile of stone gazed one long moment at you that felt like eternity and then it turned to cursed beast still watching your every move. "I hear your offer, Skerhogis. I spit on it and I spit on you." Faintly you recalled that wording from the Mountain People. What you did not recall or expect was when a single, tiny pebble flew from the mound of stone and struck Skerhogis on their cheek.

You gathered all the strength you had left, fully expecting the insult to be retaliated against with violence. Yet, no attack came. "Foolish," the Devourer spoke, the amusement in its voice smothered like a fire by the sea. "I shall take joy from your despair when the time comes to end these games." One last time it glared at you, teeth of ice bared, but then it beat its wings and propelled itself towards the valleys beneath.

"Make me not regret this, Proud Waters," the mountain spirit said before the mound of stone turned lifeless once more.

---

You waited a while longer on the mountain, unsure if the Devourer might come back to try and kill you after all, but when your sense kept failing to find a single trace of it, you left. No ambush came, not even when you briefly stopped in the Mountain Village to aid the people there. From what you could gather from the frantic prayers of the people, Skerhogis had swept done on their way and frozen the long lake of the village solid with a single breath. The ice had done some damage to dam that kept the water back and since the brooks feeding it had no other place to turn to, parts of the village had been flooded. It was no attempt to destroy the village, that much you were certain, just to terrorize the people. It was a sign of things to come.

While you focused on the Sea People once more, the Devourer began to make its presence felt much more than in times past. At least once a season they would pass through the night sky, screaming so loud that every man and beast in the Shorelands would wake from it in terror. The people prayed to you for protection every time it happened, but you could not shake the feeling that much of the power their worship created was not claimed by you. Even more alarming was that the Sky Child was nowhere to be seen during all of this. Perhaps the victory in the battle had merely emboldened Skerhogis and frightened the Sky Child into not interfering with their flights, but then you should have seen some signs of the wind spirits presence at least. The storms certainly were hitting the Sea People harder in these seasons, yet it was not the only oddity in the weather.

Ice sometimes floated down from the north, jagged mountains of cold blue that even the summer heat took forever to melt down. Whenever they passed the villages, the weather turned colder and the nights darker, making the people afraid to brave the seas whenever these bad omens passed. All you could do was bestow your blessings on their boats and to make sure their nets were full whenever they ventured out. While that was enough in the summer months, in winter, even the slightest lapse in your attention would see the ice claim another person. Soon they tried to avoid the waters entirely when the pack ice began to cover the sea, relying on their goats and stored nuts to stay fed instead. Things were stable for now, but there was no telling how much worse things would go without your aid.


Your herald Hegnevus had all the while kept his attention on the explorer that still stubbornly tried to reach the island in the south. Before the defeat in the frozen seas, their efforts had nearly born fruit. With the new double-canoes of the Sea People, there was much less of a risk that the waves and currents would capsize their boats, yet the island still proved elusive to their efforts. The currents were just too strong, tiring out even entire groups of rowers long before they could reach the island, even though they had begun to come tantalizingly close. They spoke of a ring of steep hills rising from the middle of the island, almost like the rim of a bowl, and of grey beaches that shone in the sun like pearls.

Between your servants aid and the new boats, there were nearly no losses among the explorers and every failed journey just sparked more stories and more longing for the island. Soon enough, the people no longer spoke of glory that the group to reach it first would gain, but also of the riches. The beaches, they imagined, would be made from nothing but pearls, which was where the sheen came from. What was behind the steep hills was even more wild, depending on who told the story. Some said there would be a lush land where there was no winter, others claimed to have glimpsed a village made entirely from silver. With each retelling, the peoples desires grew and it became clear that they would not stop their efforts until they reached it and found the truth of their tall tales.


While a world without winter was beyond your powers, you still took to trying to ease the burdens of the Sea People while they imagined a brighter future. Long ago you had tried to bless the fishes of the Bay Village to make them fatter and more nourishing. There was some success to it, that you could recall, yet not enough to really put more effort into the matter. Now though, a flock of fatter goats could have been quite useful, and so you descended upon the Sea Peoples animals and saw what could be done. The first few attempts were still very cautious, barely a trickle of power fed into living animals and then, when you saw no signs of it doing anything to them, a few yet unborn ones. Outwardly there was no sign of your efforts when they were born and as they grew, all that you noticed was that some of them had developed a fondness for the sea and a hankering for seaweed. So you pushed more power into them.

That next batch caused quite a stir when they were born. Some came out of the womb with seal-like flippers instead of legs. Others had no lungs, but gills in their chests. At least the mothers somehow knew what was to come and unerringly marched to the sea before delivering them, though the sharks found the awkward billys easy prey and none of them lived all that long. Those that the people found were universally seen as signs from you, though for what, nobody could quite agree on. They were all sacrificed to you in short order in the hopes that it was seen as a sign of respect and would forestall any punishment. It was a right mess and you stopped your efforts than and there to ponder what it meant before making more of the goats suffer needlessly.

It seemed that the reason that you had so little influence on the fish was neither a lack of power, nor of your skill. A fish was a thing of the sea, so when you had blessed it with your power, you had inadvertently tried to make them more sea-like in their nature. You might as well have tried to make water more wet. No wonder the effects were so muted, no matter how much power you crammed into their bodies. The goats though? They were things of the land. The mountains even. So, when the power of the sea acted upon them, they would become more like fish and seals than usual. Would it change the effect if you were more precise with your work? Maybe you could make them breath both air and water if you were careful? A thousand ideas swirled in your mind and you had to try just one more time.

A few pregnant goats were quickly found and this time, you left nothing to chance. Instead of just cramming power into their lungs to make them gills, you carefully moulded them so that they would have both. Their front legs you left well enough alone, since two proper legs would be good for them to walk on land, but their hind legs you imbued with so much power that they turned into a strong fish tail. Their coat would be smooth and slick to keep them warm even in the cold winter sea, but on their tails they would have shining scales to better push themselves against the water. It was a fine work. And inspiring work you dared to say. The day of the births came, the mothers gathering on a beach without your directions once more, and then, after you had waited months for your creations to be born, it was over almost in an instant.

All of them were hale and healthy, not a single mother having struggled with their weird offspring. For a few hours, they remained on the beach and then they plunged into the waves for the first time. It was marvellous to behold. They were just as fast as a porpoise and while their hooved front legs looked somewhat awkward as they swam, but they hindered them not the slightest bit. A season later, they had made a home in one of the deep kelp forests near the Bay Village and the Sea People occasionally glimpsed them on sunny days playing in the waters, immediately knowing that they were blessed by you. And a year later, some of them became pregnant and had their own billies, who looked just like their parents. You had meant for them to be a single experiment, but it seemed they would stay around for a long while to come.

Learned to create Domain-Aligned animals.

Created Sea Goats.


During the wait for the pregnancies, you had spent some of your time near the River Village, investigating the divergence in the rites of the fishers. At first, it all had seemed benign. The words of the prayers were slightly different, and so were the common offerings, but power had flowed all the same and you cared little about the trappings beyond their utility. Yet the change in the nature of the power was worrisome, especially now that you would need every scrap of it, even if you could still claim it just fine. The same was true for what you gathered from the healing rites after all and yet you were certain that if a spirit aligned with healing came along, they could snatch that power from you easily, just like Skerhogis had stolen from your burial rites.

For a long while, you just watched the mortals, trying to figure out what prompted the change. Was it the small shrines they had built? The different words? None of it seemed of consequence. The lone homesteads around the Forest Villages only had their small shrines too, but their prayers did not turn strange. The Mountain People had different prayers and rites too. They even had begun to call you Merwedor the Proud Waters and it made no difference at all. So, what was it then that made things so strange along the rivers and nowhere else? It was only after the sea goats had been borne that you realized how silly that question was in hindsight.

When you returned to your investigation anew, the signs were hard to miss. The shrines in the forests all showed you dwelling in the sea, while those along the rivers and lakes had you rise from the smaller bodies of water. In their prayers, they spoke not of the final resting of the dead in the deep sea, but of the last journey down the river currents. For them, you were not salt, waves and kelp, but refreshing streams and reeds swaying in the breeze. The power was both familiar and strange at the same time because it began to align itself with the rivers and not the sea. That quieted some of your more paranoid thoughts that had looked for a plot of the Devourer in all of this, but it still left the question if it would be better to embrace this development or to stamp it out.


But still, the worries remained. The sea was still chocking with ice every winter. Skerhogis still proudly claimed the skies whenever the blighted serpent pleased. Worse yet, the power from the burial rites was waning again. At first you assumed that you had merely been lax in your work, and it had begun to feast on the dead again, but their bodies were undisturbed. It's presence alone seemed to be enough now to steal a part of the potential resting in them. The newfound faith of the Mountain People made more than up for it, but the question was for how long. You would have to wring as many advantages from every scrap of it as you could.

---

You have 11 Power to spend.
You have 1 Power stored awayin sealife.
You can have your Herald perform / assist with one action that has the Sea domain.

You agreed to perform the following actions:
- Cleanse the Blighted Lands within 2 turns.
- Heal the people in the Mountain area with at least 1 power for the next 2 turns.
- Aid Harsh Mountain to gain a new servant.
- Aid Harsh Mountain to become mobile again.

Format:
[] Plan Name
-[] name of action – area to perform it in – amount of Power to spend / if Herald shall perform or assist this action
-[] next action – area -Power / Herald
-[] etc.

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Blessings
Bestow a boon without expecting something in return.

[] Bless the plants.
Description: The Sea People have taken up the practice of growing nut trees and berry shrubs in the forests to gain more food. Bless their efforts to ensure a good harvest.
Area: Shorelands, Mountains
Domains: None
Power: 1 max

[] Bless the explorers. (Southern Expedition)
Description: The Travelling People talked of a village in the far south and the explorers are trying to explore the coasts until they find it.
Area: -
Domains: Sea
Power: 2 max

[] Bless the explorers. (Northern Expedition)
Description: The ice and coldness of the northern waters is troubling the explorers, so they ask for your boons to range ever further.
Area: -
Domains: Sea
Power: 2 max

[] Bless the explorers. (Island Expedition)
Description: The island on the horizon has been taunting the southern explorers for a while and they ask for your aid to survive the journey over the open sea.
Area: -
Domains: Sea
Power: 2 max

[] Bless an exodus.
Description: These lands are doomed and there is no denying it. You can feel it in the cold waters and so can the people. Give signs and bless those of the Sea People that wish to leave these lands before the frost claims them all.
Area: -
Domains: Sea
Power: 2 max

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Prayers
Answer the requests of the people making sacrifices to you.

[] Inspire the boat makers.
Description: The canoes of the people have greatly improved, but further blessings might yield new inspiration for the boat makers.
Area: Shorelands
Domains: Sea
Power: 2 max

[] Bless the sea fishers.
Description: Steer fish to the fishers and protect them from the dangers of your sea.
Area: Shorelands
Domains: Sea
Power: 2 max

[] Bless the river and lake fishers.
Description: Instead of working against the differences in the rites, you could always try to encourage the heterodoxy and see what becomes of it.
Area: Shorelands, Mountains
Domains: None
Power: 1 max

[] Heal the people.
Description: The healing rites have become a cornerstone of the Bay Villages seasonal cycle and the people pray regularly for you to take away their ailments.
Area: Shorelands, Mountains
Domains: None
Power: 1 max

[] Bless the dying and the bereaved.
Description: Your burial rites are unchallenged in the Shorelands, though in the Mountains, they still practice old rites that likely feed the Devourers power.
Area: Shorelands, Mountains
Domains: Death
Power: 3 max

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Punishments
Smite your enemies.

[] Find the Devourers servants.
Description: Your latest efforts have found no signs of servants of the Devourer in the Shorelands, but that does not mean that there are none.
Area: Shorelands, Mountains
Domains: None
Power: 1 max

[] Compel sacrifices.
Description: Use curses and other means to force the people to make greater sacrifices to you, thus gaining power from them.
Area: Shorelands, Mountains
Domains: -
Power: -4 max

[] Curse the raiders.
Description: Find the people responsible for the raids near the River Village and punish them for their attacks.
Area: Shorelands
Domains: Death
Power: 3 max

[] Enforce orthodoxy. (Sea)
Description: Some of the people have altered the rites they use to pray to you, and it is beginning to have an impact on the power you gain from it. Curse those who stray to far from established rites to put an end to this.
Area: Shorelands
Domains: Sea
Power: 2 max

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Diplomacy
Meet your fellow spirits and see to improve relations to them.

[] Meet another spirit.
-[] Write-In whom to meet with.
-[] Write-In with what goal.
Description: Approach another spirit to make them an offer.
Domains: -
Power: varies (will be given by QM depending on goal and scope)

[] Give Harsh Mountain power to make a new servant.
Description: You have promised to aid the Harsh Mountain to gain a new servant and since it is unlikely that you can reclaim the body of the Walking Mountain any time soon, your only recourse is to offer your own power to help the effort.
Domains: -
Power: 12 max

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Imbuements
Anchor your power to a thing or creature to change their nature and aid your efforts.

[] Align a location. (Write-In Domain)
Description: Imbue your power into a place to align it with one of your domains.
Area: Bay (Shorelands), River (Shorelands), Write-In
Domains: -
Power: 4

[] Cleanse the Blighted Lands.
Description: The attack of the Devourer left the area of the former village drenched with the power of Death. Use your own mastery of this domain to undo that alignment.
Area: Blighted Lands (Mountains)
Domains: -
Power: 8

[] Imbue a shrine.
-[] Shrine
--[] Bay Shrine
--[] River Shrine
-[] Write-In which Blessing / Prayer / Punishment to imbue. (must be a Domain action)
Description: You can mould your power to shape itself to a limited degree and anchor it to a shrine. Thus, you can have that shrine provide some of the same benefits as your own acts.
Area: Bay Shrine (Shorelands), River Shrine (Shorelands)
Domains: -
Power: 6

[] Create undead.
Description: The dead have served the Devourer, but now you can make them serve you instead. If nothing else they will make a good way to store power for later use.
Area: Shorelands, Mountains
Domains: Death
Power: 3 max

[] Imbue power into sea life for later use.
Description: You cannot hold onto your power on your own, but you found a way to sidestep that problem by instead storing it in the creatures of the sea.
Area: Shorelands
Domains: Sea
Power: 2 max

[] Imbue power into your shamans.
Description: You have shared your power with many mortal things by now, but one kind of being is yet notable absent. Humans. See what happens when you give a bit of your power to your shamans.
Area: -
Domains: None
Power: 1 max

[] Alter animals.
-[] Write-In plan
Description: You have found ways to alter the form of animals through your power. There must be something useful you could do with this. Or you could just create something for the sake of having it.
Area: -
Domains: Sea / Death
Power: varies (will be given by QM depending on goal and scope)

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Growth
Spend power to change yourself and to increase your might.

[] Obtain the Healing domain.
Description: You have healed many wounds, both of our followers and even your own herald. The power you gain from the healing rites of the people is changing and you can change too.
Area: -
Domains: -
Power: 12

[] Meditate on the Sea.
Description: Your recent acts have shown you that your might knows limits, even when commanding the sea. Try to find a way to surpass them.
Area: -
Domains: -
Power: 6

[] Deepen your power over Death.
Description: While you learned much from consuming the Carrion Bird, you still feel that you power could grow more. It will take much time and effort to unravel the deeper mysteries of Death though.
Area: -
Domains: -
Power: 16

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Other
There are a lot of things you could do with your powers that would not directly involve the lives of the people.

[] Build a home in the reef.
-[] Write-In Death Power to spend (3 max)
-[] Write-In Sea Power to spend (2 max)
Description: It has now been twice that you became so engrossed in a task that you forgot your surroundings over it. Given that the Devourer is still at large, it was likely not quite safe to do so. The mortals build houses to protect themselves and maybe you should do the same. At the very least it would be a safe place for you to store physical things.
Area: -
Domains: -
Power: special

[] Explore the land.
Description: Move further inland and see what you can find there.
Area: Shorelands, Mountains
Domains: None
Power: 1 max

[] Explore the sea.
Description: While you know every detail of the bay, you could always explore the wider sea and its coasts.
Area: Shorelands
Domains: Sea
Power: 2 max

[] Explore the southern island.
Description: Given how the Sea People have grown enamoured with that island, you might as well travel there and investigate yourself.
Area: -
Domains: None
Power: 1 max

[] Try to learn more about the different fishing rites.
Description: You could try to spend some of your power to investigate the matter of the fishing rites more closely. Maybe you can find out what this strangeness means before you have to make a choice on the matter.
Area: -
Domains: Sea
Power: 2 max

[] Try to learn more about the nature of your power.
Description: You still don't really understand how an offering gives you power and why there are so many things that can make the effect weaker or stronger. Experiment a bit and see if you can find out more.
Area: -
Domains: None
Power: 1 max

[] Try to learn more about the nature of the world.
Description: The world is a vast place full of mysteries and you have seen and know little about it yet. Spend some power on trying to understand it better.
Area: -
Domains: None
Power: 1 max

[] Try to learn more about Divine Servants.
Description: The Devourer promised that they could make a vessel for the Harsh Mountain out of their servants body. Maybe the secret to make the other spirit mobile again can be unravelled by learning more about your own servant.
Area: -
Domains: None
Power: 1 max

[] Monitor Skerhogis.
Description: The attack was a disaster, and the Devourer can now do as it pleases, but that doesn't mean you can't at least try to find out more about its plans. Hide near its lair and try to learn about its actions.
Area: -
Domains: Sea
Power: 2 max

[] Search the Sky Child.
Description: Since the failed attack, the Wind Spirit has not shown itself. Try to find out where they are hiding or, if the worst has happened, how they found their end.
Area: -
Domains: None
Power: 1 max

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AN: The usual 2 hours voting moratorium apply.