Animus Ex Nihilo - A God Quest

@Azel Thank you for the clarification.

@nat_401 Thanks for that sign-off. I always hesitate to spend reserves, but their purpose is to be used on a rainy day I suppose.



[X] Plan - This is War.
-[X] Cleanse the Blighted Lands. - 8 Power
-[X] Heal the people. - Mountains - 1 Power
-[X] Build a home in the reef. - 1 Sea Power/ Herald Action
-[X] Explore the southern island. - 1 Power
-[X] Search the Sky Child. - 1 Power (Reserves)

It's a deal

[X] Plan - This is War.
 
[X] Plan - This is War.
-[X] Cleanse the Blighted Lands. - 8 Power
-[X] Heal the people. - Mountains - 1 Power
-[X] Build a home in the reef. - 1 Sea Power/ Herald Action
-[X] Explore the southern island. - 1 Power
-[X] Search the Sky Child. - 1 Power (Reserves)
The talley is struggling with 2 different plans by the same account with the same name since voting has already started. If you edit your original plan post to the new plan then the talley should sort itself out.
 
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I stand by my belief that it is absolutely imperative we lead with learning actions. This is the way we learn to use our power better. The way we learn to affect the world and how it affects us.
 
Plus, going in blind is what got us into this mess. Going in blind again is not going to get us out of this mess.
Precisely.

Having zero learning actions this turn will set us up for failure yet again. We will be stuck with the same level of comprehension as before, and the bigger projects like freeing the Harsh Mountain or combatting the effects of the Devourer will be beyond our grasp for longer.
 
Learning actions are necessary however I feel right now that cleansing the blighted lands is more important and more immediate.
Besides, putting it off just means we will have to clear the next turn anyway.
Sure we can renegotiate the agreement however the devourer will continue to gain more power (either through the lands or the fear they cause).
 
Sure we can renegotiate the agreement however the devourer will continue to gain more power (either through the lands or the fear they cause).
He can just do a flyby and steal power from us. Cleansing the land won't make that much of a dent, as far as we know. Learning actions will help make all future actions easier as well as giving us knowledge on how to fight Skerhogis beyond just cleaning the shit he throws at us.
 
Learning actions are necessary however I feel right now that cleansing the blighted lands is more important and more immediate.
Besides, putting it off just means we will have to clear the next turn anyway.
Sure we can renegotiate the agreement however the devourer will continue to gain more power (either through the lands or the fear they cause).
Learning actions have the potential to mean we can figure out how to clear the blighted lands more efficiently, figure out a way to combat the Devourer's encroaching control over the world at large, etc.
 
He can just do a flyby and steal power from us. Cleansing the land won't make that much of a dent, as far as we know. Learning actions will help make all future actions easier as well as giving us knowledge on how to fight Skerhogis beyond just cleaning the shit he throws at us.

Part of the reason the Devourer showing the flag is so terrifying to the people is due to the settled Spirits being on a set back streak.

Learning to potentially win more efficiently is no use if you dont't actually bother to exert energy to win in the first place.

Research can wait one more turn. Both Proud Waters and the Sea People deserve to see that it's not a hopeless fight. Then after that ways of making the fight more efficient would make sense.
 
The Blighted Lands are the remnants of a remote settlement in the northern mountains, so the Sea People and Mountain People are unlikely to even notice if it is still there or not. You have taken care of the previous undead infestation with quite some prejudice, so even with the Blighted Lands still around, it would take a few turns for that to become a problem in settled areas again.
 
@Azel, what's the IC opinion of successfully spying on the Devourer? I'm trying to gauge if that power is better spent on a scouting action or just to donate to the Harsh Mountain instead.
 
@Duesal, vote has been closed. I just didn't feel the need to announce so beyond removing the "Open Vote" banner since it was entirely quite here.

Adhoc vote count started by Azel on Dec 8, 2021 at 2:07 PM, finished with 96 posts and 18 votes.

  • [X] Plan Patching Up
    - [X] Heal the people. 1 Power, Mountains
    - [X] Bless the dying and the bereaved. 1 Power, Mountains
    -[X] Bless the river and lake fishers. -- 1 Power, Mountains.
    - [X] Imbue power into your shamans. 1 Power
    -[X] Give Harsh Mountain power to make a new servant. -- 3 Power, with the promise to dedicate a further 9 for an upgrade later.
    - [X] Try to learn more about the nature of your power. 1 Power
    - [X] Try to learn more about the nature of the world. 1 Power
    - [X] Try to learn more about Divine Servants. 1 Power
    - [X] Search the Sky Child. 1 Power
    - [X] Monitor Skerhogis. 1 Power
    -[X] (Herald) Bless the explorers. (Island Expedition)
    [X] Plan - This is War.
    -[X] Cleanse the Blighted Lands. - 8 Power
    -[X] Heal the people. - Mountains - 1 Power
    -[X] Build a home in the reef. - 1 Sea Power/ Herald Action
    -[X] Explore the southern island. - 1 Power
    -[X] Search the Sky Child. - 1 Power (Reserves)
    [X] Plan Prepared Withdrawl
    - [X] Inspire the boat makers. 2 Power, Herald, Shorelands
    - [X] Heal the people. 1 Power, Mountains
    - [X] Bless the river and lake fishers. 1 Power, Shorelands. 1 Power, Mountains.
    - [X] Bless the dying and the bereaved. 1 Power, Mountains
    - [X] Compel sacrifices. -4 Power
    - [X] Imbue power into your shamans. 1 Power
    - [X] Meet another spirit.
    -- [X] Harsh Mountain.
    -- [X] We're planning an exodus from the area, and plan on taking all our peoples with us along with him, and the Sky Child. We'd therefore like to renegotiate the deal we made in the past so that he's no longer required to build the forest road, and we're no longer required to cleanse the blighted land as it would be a waste of power due to neither of us staying in the area for very much longer.
    - [X] Give Harsh Mountain power to make a new servant. 4 Power, with the promise to dedicate a further 8 for an upgrade later.
    - [X] Try to learn more about the nature of your power. 1 Power
    - [X] Try to learn more about the nature of the world. 1 Power
    - [X] Try to learn more about Divine Servants. 1 Power
    - [X] Search the Sky Child. 1 Power
    - [X] Monitor Skerhogis. 1 Power
 
@Duesal, vote has been closed. I just didn't feel the need to announce so beyond removing the "Open Vote" banner since it was entirely quite here.

Adhoc vote count started by Azel on Dec 8, 2021 at 2:07 PM, finished with 96 posts and 18 votes.

  • [X] Plan Patching Up
    - [X] Heal the people. 1 Power, Mountains
    - [X] Bless the dying and the bereaved. 1 Power, Mountains
    -[X] Bless the river and lake fishers. -- 1 Power, Mountains.
    - [X] Imbue power into your shamans. 1 Power
    -[X] Give Harsh Mountain power to make a new servant. -- 3 Power, with the promise to dedicate a further 9 for an upgrade later.
    - [X] Try to learn more about the nature of your power. 1 Power
    - [X] Try to learn more about the nature of the world. 1 Power
    - [X] Try to learn more about Divine Servants. 1 Power
    - [X] Search the Sky Child. 1 Power
    - [X] Monitor Skerhogis. 1 Power
    -[X] (Herald) Bless the explorers. (Island Expedition)
    [X] Plan - This is War.
    -[X] Cleanse the Blighted Lands. - 8 Power
    -[X] Heal the people. - Mountains - 1 Power
    -[X] Build a home in the reef. - 1 Sea Power/ Herald Action
    -[X] Explore the southern island. - 1 Power
    -[X] Search the Sky Child. - 1 Power (Reserves)
    [X] Plan Prepared Withdrawl
    - [X] Inspire the boat makers. 2 Power, Herald, Shorelands
    - [X] Heal the people. 1 Power, Mountains
    - [X] Bless the river and lake fishers. 1 Power, Shorelands. 1 Power, Mountains.
    - [X] Bless the dying and the bereaved. 1 Power, Mountains
    - [X] Compel sacrifices. -4 Power
    - [X] Imbue power into your shamans. 1 Power
    - [X] Meet another spirit.
    -- [X] Harsh Mountain.
    -- [X] We're planning an exodus from the area, and plan on taking all our peoples with us along with him, and the Sky Child. We'd therefore like to renegotiate the deal we made in the past so that he's no longer required to build the forest road, and we're no longer required to cleanse the blighted land as it would be a waste of power due to neither of us staying in the area for very much longer.
    - [X] Give Harsh Mountain power to make a new servant. 4 Power, with the promise to dedicate a further 8 for an upgrade later.
    - [X] Try to learn more about the nature of your power. 1 Power
    - [X] Try to learn more about the nature of the world. 1 Power
    - [X] Try to learn more about Divine Servants. 1 Power
    - [X] Search the Sky Child. 1 Power
    - [X] Monitor Skerhogis. 1 Power
Never mind then, I guess we'll see in person.
 
"The Blighted Lands are the remnants of a remote settlement in the northern mountains, so the Sea People and Mountain People are unlikely to even notice if it is still there or not. You have taken care of the previous undead infestation with quite some prejudice, so even with the Blighted Lands still around, it would take a few turns for that to become a problem in settled areas again." (from Azel)

Since patching up won and the focus is on helping Harsh Mountain rebuild his servant...
Maybe next turn we renegotiate about taking more time to cleanse the blighted lands as it isn't as dire as I first thought?
 
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I stopped reading this back in the very early turns, feeling it was a little aimless. Glad to have been wrong! Catching up was a fun binge!
 
Oh huh. When did we get names?
When your names crashed into the language barrier between the Mountain People and the Sea People. What sounds like a description to one group is ever slightly off enough to be interpreted as a name by the other group, hence the creation of names.
@Azel, what's your policy on omakes?
There are no mechanical rewards for omakes if that is your question.


Finally destressed enough to move the writers block out of the way. I'll hopefully have at least a short chapter up within a few hours.
 
There are no mechanical rewards for omakes if that is your question.

That's a shame, but I was really concerned about you being touchy about them. That said, this is an answer in its own right.

I'd like to write an omake for this quest, but I need to know what this group of people would be called in the modern day, though I've already narrowed their location down to eastern Siberia.
 
That's a shame, but I was really concerned about you being touchy about them. That said, this is an answer in its own right.

I'd like to write an omake for this quest, but I need to know what this group of people would be called in the modern day, though I've already narrowed their location down to eastern Siberia.
Not all. I appreciate all omakes.

If the omake is not canon compliant for some reason, I'll threadmark it under Apocrypha. Canon ones go to Sidestorys. Anything written from a modern-day perspective will most likely go to Apocrypha, simply because it would be impossible to not contradict something at some point in story updates.

As for the Siberia hunch, the world looks significantly different than the real one, so there is no direct parallel that can be drawn. For the name I would suggest "Seashell Culture" as that is a common material and motif in Sea People art and thus their material record.
 
Omake: Useful Notes - Seashell Culture Mythology
Not all. I appreciate all omakes.

If the omake is not canon compliant for some reason, I'll threadmark it under Apocrypha. Canon ones go to Sidestorys. Anything written from a modern-day perspective will most likely go to Apocrypha, simply because it would be impossible to not contradict something at some point in story updates.

As for the Siberia hunch, the world looks significantly different than the real one, so there is no direct parallel that can be drawn. For the name I would suggest "Seashell Culture" as that is a common material and motif in Sea People art and thus their material record.

I gotcha, and seeing as there's no direct comparison to be made, I'm just going to plop them down in northeastern Siberia, a little west of the south edge of the Alaska land bridge. (Don't remember what it's called.)


Tv Tropes
Mythology and Religion - Unbuilt Tropes

-The Seashell people of coastal Siberia have a lot of this in their folklore.
—Merwedor, their sea goddess who gave them the gift of boats, is one of the earliest examples of a Science Hero, straight out of the mid-20th century. Yet not only is she a woman, but the problems she faces are not transient, one-off threats, but persistent, adaptable forces in their own right, and Merwedor struggles to keep up. She always manages to avoid a Pyrrhic Victory, but the death toll can be quite high before she manages to implement a solution - a far cry from the "Science Solves Everything" attitude of the 1950s-60s. Some experts believe that her struggles are an allegory for the desperate fight for survival against the harsh Siberian winters.
—Skerhogis is a dragon - one of the earliest known examples in folklore, in fact - and yet in his earliest appearances, he's a giant eel. Adaptation Species Change? Well, yes and no - Skerhogis created his physical body out of bits and pieces of animal corpses, so it's pretty clear he just upgraded to a better body. Furthermore, despite being a dragon, he breathes ice, not fire.
—-Speaking of Skerhogis, he's a pretty tough customer - so tough, in fact, that he single-handedly justifies the Villains Act, Heroes React trope. This is clearly demonstrated when Merwedor gathers up her allies, Segbherg and the Sky Child, for an assault on Skerhogis's frozen fortress at the edge of the underworld, and are soundly beaten despite triple-teaming him. The heroes react, because against a threat like Skerhogis, it's all they can do.
 
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