Gods of Chaos: a Riot God Quest

Iä! Death comes on the wings of God!
-A Druyul expression of dismay; believed to date from the prehistoric period

Cosmic Acts

Legend Cultivation:

Creation shivers as a new Law of Reality is stitched into its skin. The Law of Legend establishes Legend Cultivation, through which beings may forge Legends of their own to grow stronger and emulate the Legends of those who have come before. The Law of Narrative Satisfaction is intertwined with that of Legend and the Star-Trails of the stellar firmament are fully realized under this new framework.

Now, when mortals overcome challenges, they may become more skilled, formidable and special for it. These changes come in many forms and variations, from greater skill in battle to new supernatural qualities that speak of what they have accomplished. A great hunter might find themselves unlikely successful on their hunts; a champion vanquishing a venomous serpent might be made resistant to all poisons; an emissary negotiating an end to a hundred-year war could obtain a supernaturally soothing and persuasive voice. Yet to grow their Legend, they must always seek to overcome ever greater and greater challenges.

These changes grow into a force of Fate, a power pushing and pulling the Law of Narrative Satisfaction to tweak probabilities around them so that their Legend might continue unspoiled. When mortals of Legend perish, their legacies are imbued in their Stars. Those who come after can seek to gain some of their power and Fate by emulating their lives and communing with their Star in magical rituals.

Cosmic Act: Legend Cultivation.




Grand Acts

Caverns:

The earth's crust shifts and cracks as an elaborate system of caverns is carved into the World. They appear under every continent and much of the oceans - strange and twisting environments hostile to most life, thick with geothermal smoke, pools of magma and dripping brine. Most of them are fully or partially flooded, with airless and noxious waters barring all but the most hardy sea creatures from venturing in. Some are dry, but choking clouds of methane and poisonous gas make them hazardous to enter all the same.

Underneath the Clouded Lands, these deep caverns connect through twisting chasms and rifts into its gorges and ravines. They shift gradually from flooded and noxious to airy and habitable, with many transitional chambers alternating between the two. Beneath the Hot Lands, the volcanic pressures up above are felt down below as well, feeding the continent's geysers and pools and replenishing its stores of metals and minerals. Fewer caverns appear in the Arken Lands and are generally shallower and more habitable, with some long difficult passages connecting them to the wider underground. Grand Act: Carve out caverns in the deep, mostly filled with water.

The Druyul:

The Makers and the Abraxas join forces once more to forge a new sentient species to populate the jungles of the Arken Lands. The Druyul spawn across the breadth of the western Arken Lands, a race of bipedal reptilians at home in the heat. They are tailor-made for their environment and soon become a terror to jungle birds, fish and ungulates, with natural camouflage, high stamina and well-developed hunting tactics. Grand Act: Create the Druyul.

The Druyul prove an industrious race. They fashion spears and axes of sharpened rock and wood as well as crude bows for hunting. Houses of tropical wood and leaves twined together go up in small villages walled off from jungle by sharpened stakes. Some Druyul even use blowpipes to launch darts tipped with plant-derived poison at their foes.

Druyul come to dominate their environments. They are hunted only by the dreaded Horror Birds, some large river fish and one species of large porcine ungulates that by chance develop a taste for Druyul-flesh in particular. Skirmishes between Druyul tribes for quality hunting and foraging territories develop from time to time. Some Druyul also react with hostility to human and Baólian nomads crossing their path – conflicts intensified by difficulties in inter-species communication.


The Suras:

Another race opens its eyes at the same time on the eastern half of the Arken Lands. The Suras are created, a race of six-armed humanoids with reddish-bronze skin, three eyes and pale white hair. They are physically powerful, tall and muscular, but entirely unable to utilize magical powers save for the practice of Vigor. Grand Act: Create the Suras.

Suras are natural warriors thanks to their physique and talent for violence. Their favored method of catching prey is simply to run it down and wrestle it into submission, strangling or cracking its skull with their bare hands. Their strength also allows them to break and shape stone and wood without the use of tools, though this leaves their dwellings rather rough-looking things.

Surish society becomes one of might makes right, with the strongest and most skilled fighters rising to the top of their clans through violence. Weaker beings are treated with scorn until they prove themselves. They are far from dumb brutes, however, and develop a complex culture where this violence is controlled, harnessed and regulated by traditions and taboos. Leadership challenges, for example, are formalized into yearly wrestling tournaments where the chieftain may be toppled from their seat.


The Ziggurat of Ascension:

The jungles of the western Arken Lands shake and rumble as the hand of the Makers creates a great ziggurat of divine ascension. This massive construction of stone, jade and gold is filled to the brim with treasures, but claiming them is no easy feat. The elaborate labyrinth underneath the ziggurat drains the earth around it of life, leaving trees stunted and the soil barren for a good mile around.

Mere gold and jewels are the least of the Ziggurat's gifts, however. Above it hovers a searing golden light as the Ziggurat gathers the energies of the Unfrozen Sun and focuses them into a divine flame at its apex. Every ten years, a mortal being may claim the Ziggurat's flame and ascend into minor divinity, becoming a god among their kind. Grand Act: The Makers construct a towering Ziggurat in the jungles of the Arken Lands.

The Druyul are the first sentient race to approach the great temple. They are frightened of the unnatural barren landscape surrounding the Ziggurat and hesitant to venture within, but one warrior gathers up the courage and strides through the Ziggurat's open doorway...

...and is promptly devoured whole by a monstrously large, three-headed Horror Bird that crawls out of its depths – for the flame of the Ziggurat may be claimed by beasts just as well. This new bestial god – called the Laughing-Death-Of-Hope by the local Druyul – begins to terrorize the region, no more intelligent for its ascension but all the more terrifying.


Lesser Acts

Slimes:

Out of primordial muck and divine whim arise the Slimes. Slimes are small, simple-minded creatures with bodies of amorphous clear slime. They are weak enough to be dissolved by a simple kick and roam the world mindlessly eating. Slimes grow and strengthen by consuming different materials, such as stone, metal or bone, and divide when growing large enough.

Depending on the type of substances dissolved by a Slime, their remains have different properties. For example, grass-eating Slimes offer a great source of fertilizer when butchered. The uses of Slime remains are discovered around the world by sentient races and clever animals, with some even feeding Slimes certain materials on purpose for a valuable end product. Lesser Act: Create Slimes.


Oech-Rul, the Monster of Many Faces:

To further empower the narrative power of the Questing Beast, the Makers create Oech-Rul, the Monster of Many Faces, to serve it. This living tale appears to those hunting the Beast in many different forms.

As the Savage, a barbarian warrior, they appear to hone the fighting instincts of the hunter through grueling challenges or training. As the Sage, they come as a wise elder with valuable lessons to give. As the Seductress, they appear as a figure of temptation testing the hunter's devotion to their quest and ideals. As the Hunter, they pursue the hero and force them into a confrontation, turning them from the hunter to the hunted for a change.

As the Riddle-Maker, they manifest as a youth asking riddles to test their wisdom and insight, rewarding correct answers with valuable advice, but turning into a ferocious giant should they fail. And as the Apparition, Oech-Rul challenges the hunter as the amalgation of their worst fears, forcing them to overcome that which they dread most if they are to face the Beast. Lesser Act: Create Oech-Rul, the Monster of Many Faces.

The many tests of Oech-Rul make the journey to the Beast a far more difficult one, but they greatly push its seekers along on the path to Legendhood. Those heroes who triumph over each of Oech-Rul's faces and meet the Beast itself have already learned and suffered much; the final confrontation is all the more sweeter for it.


The Muses:

Spirits of the Unseen particularly suited to artistry are chosen by the Makers and made into the Muses, embodiments of artistic beauty and achievement. These beings seek out mortal artists and whisper to them from across the Veil, inspiring them to great works and granting them abilities allowing for extraordinary feats of performance and creation. Once such an inspired creation is completed in the Seen, its reflection takes shape in the Unseen and becomes the home of the Muse. New Muses are born from these reflected works to ever seek out creators in the other world. When perceived directly, Muses appear as embodiments of all that the watcher finds fair and beautiful - leading to no end of longing and obsession by mortals for them. Lesser Act: Create the Muses, purveyors of all forms of beauty.

The power of Muses is limited by the barrier between the two Realms. They might grant even greater blessings if they manifested bodily in the Seen - a feat made difficult by the barrier of the World-Tree's roots blocking their passage. As such, desperate artists may well end up seeking magical power to create openings in the roots in order to bring their Muses to them in 'the flesh' - for better or worse.

Elemental Salamanders:

Magical lizards come to being around the world, imbued with sparks of elemental power. These elemental salamanders are small creatures with slick, poisonous skin. Each grows to harness a spark of innate elemental magic, most commonly fire, and as they age they grow small antlers on their heads. They are enthralling and may draw attention and affections from other creatures. Elemental salamanders have an inborn desire to fly through the air and Void, though they are sadly wingless and flightless. Lesser Act: Create elemental salamanders.

The little animals' dreams of flight lead them to often jump on the backs of birds, even predatory ones, and to hitch rides on Skrayt. Most of the time, this ends up with them being eaten or cast off, but their entrancing looks lead to them developing symbiotic relationships with some animals and creatures – though the poison on their skin limits these relationships to those with some resistance to it.

The Goliath Bird:

A perfectly mundane giant teratorn in the Clouded Lands is struck by a divine spark and empowered with immortality, sentience and solar magics. It is reborn as the Goliath Bird, an enormous monster growing further without end as it ages. Great greed consumes its mind and it begins to hunt as much for glittering and precious things as food. Lesser Act: Empower the largest and strongest bird in the world with sentience and powers over sun magic.

Hunting alone for such things is hard and tiresome work. The Goliath Bird – a male of its species - first mates with mundane females of its kind, but is disappointed when the resulting offspring hatch without its divinely blessed intellect. These large and golden-feathered chicks do go on to become the new species of 'sun birds' that sometimes manifest sparks of solar magic on their own, but they are still merely clever animals.

The Goliath Bird sees far more potential, however, in the Skrayt. It captures wandering Skrayt and forces them to teach it their language, then descends upon one of their villages and begins to terrorize its tribe into doing its bidding. Those Skrayt who resist are summarily eaten or burned alive by the Goliath Bird, after which the rest fall into line. The Bird's subjects, who become known as the Burned Tribe, begin to roam the Clouded Lands seeking treasures to offer to their master. The Bird for its own part comes to see the Skrayt as valuable possessions and reacts violently to any attempt to hinder, harm or steal them from it.


The Tyrant of Gold:

A flash of golden light sees a monstrous solar elemental manifest on a peak in the Clouded Lands. This creature is the Tyrant of Gold, the Lord of Sol Mountain. The Tyrant has great curling horns and flesh of light and molten gold, so bright it is difficult to discern its proportions or shape. It is a strange creature, capable of moving through sunlight and shooting deadly tendrils out of its body. The Tyrant is territorial and quick to violence as it rules over the peak known as Sol Mountain. Each intruder it consumes adds to its throne atop the Mountain. Lesser Act: Create the Tyrant of Gold, first of the Solar Elementals and Lord of Sol Mountain.

The appearance of the Tyrant and its hostility to any lingering within its 'territory' cause Sol Mountain and its surroundings to empty of intelligent life. The Skrayt tribe in the region is devastated in its attempts to fight the Tyrant and at last disperses, the survivors joining other tribes further away instead. Tales of the Tyrant spread, and many young braves swear they will climb the Mountain and be the one to destroy it for good.


The Miho Bloodline:

Certain families among the lowland Myridna have come to specialize in handling animals for their clans. The Hrududu and the Nym-Haggis have taken well to regular feeding and guaranteed shelter. Egg-laying birds are easy enough to pen up and keep cowed, even underground. Certain ungulates found in the Hot Lands are naturally docile and accept even rough handling by Myridna as long as they are kept distracted by feed. They are still far from domesticated – but with each generation, the business of socializing and familiarizing these animals to coexistence gets easier.

One family of the Rootbiter Myridna is particularly skilled, known for their comfortable and confident touch with captured wild beasts. Their patriarch, Miho Longfoot, stirs from strange dreams and realizes that his bloodline has been blessed with the ability to communicate telepathically with animals. Lesser Act: Grant a lowland Myridna bloodline who are notable for taming animals the ability to telepathically speak with them.

The minds of animals are simple, but Miho and his children quickly learn how to communicate concepts and images that calm and comfort their charges, even when they are being conveyed to the butcher's ax. They bring entire herds to live alongside their tribe. Miho becomes chief, and the Rootbiter Myridna adopt a fully pastoralist lifestyle. This stable source of food allows the Rootbiters to absorb other tribes into their midst. Those who covet their large herds are in for a nasty surprise when they try something – for at the order of the Mihoza, the Blood of Miho, the herds will stampede and rage against them.

The Mihoza develop a paternalist and unsentimental philosophy. When one spends their days whispering sweet lies and promises to cattle that is to be butchered and used at one's will, it becomes logical to see your subjects as something to be sacrificed for the greater good as well.


Wyverns:

The skies of the world are filled with more beating wings, as Wyverns are created. These large flying two-legged monsters are immensely strong, with considerable animal cunning. They are carnivorous and prefer to take large prey, be it ungulates, land birds, fish, cetaceans, K'orlannsch, or even leviathans. The Law of Constant Evolution guides their creation to distribute various subspecies around the world: sea-hunting cliff wyverns, cloud-circling high wyverns, canopy-dwelling forest wyverns, burrowing sand wyverns and others. Lesser Act: Create Wyverns.


Sphinxes:

The dry desert wind blows into being a new kind of creature. Sphinxes are created, winged amalgations of humans and the felines of other worlds. These wondrous monsters roam the deserts and mountains of the world in states of deep contemplation (and of rather more mundane hunger). They crave new knowledge and mental stimulation, and thus often engage travelers in games of riddles and telling of stories. Their company is enriching, but to anger these normally docile creatures means having to fend off an enormous monster easily capable of devouring you whole. Lesser Act: Create Sphinxes.

Most Sphinxes come to dwell either in the southern Hot Lands, where badlands and arid wastelands feel far more comfortable to them than the plains and woodlands of the north, or then in the steppe, savannah and scattered deserts of the Arken Lands. They make meals out of uninteresting dumb animals that they come across and meet one another in elaborate courtships where courting males seek to prove their intellect and knowledge over many years.


The Last Call of Ithzunchult the Fleshless:

The Makers send out a call for one of the Outer Gods, Ithzunchult the Fleshless, summoning it to the Unfrozen Sun to be bound and harnessed to their use. The gravely weakened Outer God finds itself unable to resist this call. It digs itself out of its hiding place and warps itself to the center of Creation, seeking to enter the Sun. Lesser Act: Call an Unseen God to the Unfrozen Sun, and once there, bound it.

It is a course of action it would not take willingly. There is nowhere for it to hide. As soon as it appears, the Custodians muster and fall upon it with lances of divine flame. It thrashes and burns away, seeking desperately to make it to the Sun - and then the Void Huntress arrives in her terrible glory and tears apart what remains of Ithzunchult.

The remains of the Outer God drift into the Unfrozen Sun, but there is nothing living to bind any more. Nehu is perceived staring for a long time into the Sun before departing the way she had arrived.

I feel a bit bad about this, but without any concealment or protections for the Outer God, there was no other way for this to go...

Ogres:

The lost human diaspora has to suffer all manner of strange fates as it seeks to get back on its feet. Some of them are lost to the elements, some to predation, some to despair and longing for home. Some, however, become the playtoys of Makers. A group of humans are transformed into monstrous Ogres - creatures resembling ordinary men, but possessed of brutish strength, large stature and hardy bodies.

They are urged to go among Men, masquerading as great heroes in order to trick humans into their cookfires to be eaten. By consuming humans, the Ogres gain fragments of the primordial power of Askr and Embla, and thus grow stronger still. Lesser Act: Transform some humans into Ogres, monsters masquerading as heroes among men.

The Ogres are a subtle danger, despite their size and unnatural strength. They pass easily for simply ugly and large humans. Some human communities soon fall prey to Ogres who appear claiming that they can lead them to great glory or to a place of safety, only to eat them all once they have them at their mercy. As they grow stronger from this butchery, some Ogres even begin to dream of eating Mother Embla or Father Askr...

The Temple of Broken Angels:

A shattered ruin rises from the earth in the steppe of the eastern Arken Lands as a broken temple site forging terrible angels is created. This elaborate complex of stone appears as if it was once something whole and greater, but that is a cruel illusion - the Makers have created it broken and broken it shall ever be. Carvings and writings in eldritch tongues can be found throughout its walls, speaking of things that have never come to pass and gods that have never existed. A palpable sense of corruption permeates the place.

The Temple straddles the barrier between Seen and Unseen, accessible simultaneously from both. The servants it creates - corrupted angels in broken armor, always twenty-four in number - maintain this 'clearing' in the World Tree's roots by hacking them with their tainted weapons, sickening even the World Tree itself.

These angels leave the Temple to attack other beings and poison them with their afflicted blades, reforming within if destroyed. They seek to restore the Temple, unable to understand the impossibility of rebuilding something that was never whole, and are broken further by their eternal, futile task. Lesser Act: Create a broken temple site.

The Suras come to know the danger of the Broken Angels. Their warriors are left drained and sickly by the tainted weapons of the Angels, the greatest imaginable shame for a race of the mighty. A host of them destroys many Angels in vengeance, but it is a temporary reprieve at best.

The Winged Lizard of Potential:

A small flying lizard is created, full of potential. It begins its life as tiny and harmless, but with the power to absorb qualities and grow larger from everything it manages to eat. Its first days are full of close calls and narrow escapes from larger birds and fish, but its divine birthright lends it a hefty dose of luck. The lizard ends up developing some rudimentary camouflage from consumption of grass stalks, gaining an appearance that allows it to blend in with them.

From there, it feeds on a variety of plants and berries - growing tasty flowering growths on its hide - then moves onto fish eggs for aquatic adaptations. Every success and meal grows it a touch larger and more capable, and so its future seems bright. Lesser Act: Create the winged lizard of potential.

Demi-Acts

Guidance of Askr and Embla:

The Makers grieve for the separation of Askr and Embla and seek to aid them. A divine vision reveals to the two demigods where their counterpart is and how they may be reached, providing a moment of connection over countless miles of distances. The pair give thanks to the Makers for their blessing - simply knowing the other one lives would have been enough for them. Demi-Act: Whisper the locations of Askr and Embla to the two of them, as well as the means of safely reaching each other.

Though they now know how to reach eachother safely, neither Askr nor Embla makes to leave just yet. They have both founded sanctuaries for their scattered people in their new homelands; new lost humans arrive daily and they could never simply abandon their children. Perhaps in time, when things have settled - for now, they are content to know their love is safe and waiting for them. Time is of no great concern to those of divine blood.

Glacis the Mountain-Carver:

In the high peaks of the Hot Lands, the enormous serpent Glacis is created. This incredibly slow and rather dim-witted behemoth grinds valleys into existence with its passing across years, winding its way against the warm sides of volcanoes. It is next to impossible to fall to victim to such a being, but it is dangerous to settlements and constructions due to its sheer size and weight. For hunter-gatherers, Glacis is more of a curiosity; for sedentary peoples, it might become a far more serious nuisance. Demi-Act: Create Glacis the Mountain-Carver.

The Book of Maker Support:

To better heed the wishes of mortal things, some Makers come together to create the Book of Maker Support. This divine tome appears to intelligent beings with great desires at random, offering a chance to directly beseech the Makers for aid. Previous requests, whether honored or not, are recorded on the book's endless pages as well. Demi-Act: Create the Book of Maker Support.

The first to receive the Book is a Deep Algal colony in the seas off the eastern Arken Lands. The sentient algae struggle to understand what to do with the book which, fortunately enough, remains dry and whole even deep underwater. The Deep Algal, Shlim-Boolt, embraces the Book within itself and produces a desire: I WISH TO ENTER THE VOID.

A strange dream for a being that has never seen the surface, much less the Void, but one felt deeply by Shlim-Boolt. Through its amalgated mind drift visions of growing in the nothingness between stars and circling the stars themselves to feed directly upon their radiance. The lethality or plausibility of such fantasies do not come into the account.

Melkiades, the First Undead:

In the Clouded Lands, the First Undead, Melkiades, is created. They come into being as a rotten, withered figure resembling a mix of many sentient races – with the facial tentacles of a Baólian, the third eye of a Sura, the prehensile feet of a Skrayt, the hairlessness of Men, the digging claws of a Myridna, and other such amalgations. Melkiades knows nothing of itself or the world and wanders for a while, bewildered by all that they see.

When he touches living beings, however, they begin to weaken and eventually die. The process can be stopped, but only with magic, Narrative Satisfaction or other extraordinary means. Melkiades, not understanding the very concept of death, leaves quite the trail of dead things behind him as he drifts around the continent. Demi-Act: Create Melkiades, the First Undead.

The Star Eater:

Some beings sound harmless but are terrifying; others sound dreadful but pose little danger. The Star Eater is created as one of the latter category. This small void-dwelling creature with wings of stardust and luminous eyes, its proboscis made of molten metal and sheathed in electromagnetic currents. It grows legs as it eats stars... a process that, due to its diminutive size and weakness, will likely take a very long time. In stellar light, it may give birth to others of its kind. Demi-Act: Create the Star Eater.

The mighty fusion engines of stars give out more energy at any given second than the Star Eater can hope to consume in its entire lifetime, but the creature is not bothered. It goes to feed with great pleasure. Every bit helps, is it not so?

Enrichment:

Vadhu in his lonely refuge in the Unseen is startled to find a wealth of pliable clay appearing in his chambers. The Makers in their great wisdom have seen fit to enrich his existence by encouraging a hobby of pottery. Alas, Outer Gods are creatures of change and corruption, not creation, and Vadhu's attempts to work his clay are... problematic. The fact that nothing created by Vadhu has any kind of discernible pattern, shape or use does not seem to bother the once-mighty God. It continues breaking apart and putting together shards of clay in some imitation of Vanti's eternal work. Demi-Act: Enrichment.

The Unseen is a strange place, and things worked by divine touch may be stranger still. Some of Vadhu's discarded creations manifest spirits of their own, and shuffling, shapeless servants rise to entertain their master. Some of these clayborn spirits wander out of the Truth of Betrayal to speak of Vadhu's gifts and powers over causality to all who will listen, some congregating at World-Song Stones to whisper their promises to the mortals of the Seen as well.


A moratorium on Acts is now in effect. You may begin Voting for the next Epoch in 12 hours. The following Epoch shall be the Age of Landmarks. Acts to create landmarks mundane or magical shall receive a free +1 Vote.

Feel free to give me ideas for Epoch themes. I didn't think up quite enough, or rather expected less stuff to happen per Epoch.

Developments

Bronze and Horn, Sail and Seed:

The Myridna, blessed by Makers in ways direct and indirect, continue to develop. In Ironmount, a rudimentary forge is built where ore is melted into metal and shaped for the first time. Copper tools and spearheads come first, but quickly the leap into bronze is taken with the addition of arsenic and tin. Experiments with iron ore are failures – the furnace at Ironmount simply does not burn hot enough – but these new materials are already powerful. Gold and silver are also worked, though the practical Myridna have far fewer applications for them.

Knowledge of metalworking is hoarded as a royal art, its secrets carefully guarded, but the pieces spreading from Ironmount allow earth and stone to be worked far more easily than ever before. Needless to say, they also make for far deadlier weapons as well. Production remains ,minimal, limited to a handful of specialists in the small semi-nomadic population of Ironmount.

In the lowlands, the power of the Rootbiter Myridna and the line of Miho Longfoot grow. Enormous herds are gathered and pacified by their animal husbandry and telepathic persuasion. Unfortunately, these large herds prove a hindrance as well. Such a concentration of food attracts predators from miles around: large birds of prey and powerful river fish, but also monsters like the impossibly strong wyverns that appear out of the night to snatch fully-grown Hrududu and Nym-Haggis bulls away in their claws. Many Myridna fall to predator attacks as well.

Despite these troubles, the power of the Rootbiter tribe draws many others to join forces with them. An alliance of tribes known as the Federation of Horns – its symbol being the horns of a Nym-Haggis male – forms and begins to share knowledge and resources. They become skilled workers with leather, wool and fur, with artisans competing in crafting ever more elaborate clothing to mark status and wealth. These products are also traded to the highland clans for metal tools and things of silver and gold, though the lowland clans share their disinterest in things that are purely ornamental.

On the coast, the shorebound clans develop something else entirely. Population growth and the expansion of coastal clans puts pressure on fish stocks – not helped by the arrival of new ravenous predators such as cetaceans and wyverns – and depletes traditional fishing waters. Inter-clan conflicts increase, as do battles with Baólians competing for the same waters. It is a bloodier age than what has come before.

While skilled swimmers and divers, the Myridna cannot match the Baólians on the open water. Competition drives innovation, and coastal Myridna begin to develop their simple canoes of hide and wood into something more. Larger and more sophisticated boats are built to carry Myridna fishers further out to sea in pursuit of prey: finally, the first crude sails are woven out of traded Nym-Haggis wool and wild plant fabrics. The coastal Myridna set sail – and in the north, cross the difficult Kelpwild Gap between the Hot Lands and the western Arken Lands, bringing Myridna onto another continent for the first time.

Many of these innovations are adopted and developed further by Baólians and Men. The Baólians in particular are intrigued by the potential of sailing craft and soon raise up their own outrigger vessels with more maneuverable crab-claw sails. Their efforts are limited by Myridna possession of prime woodlands and resources, however.

It is neither the Myridna nor the Baólians who make perhaps the most revolutionary invention of all, however. Humans, newcomers to the Hot Lands, find the continent already well-populated and attempts to dislodge Myridna from the best foraging and hunting grounds doomed to failure. But what if instead of going to the plants, they brought the plants to them?

A small human settlement in the northern Hot Lands becomes the first to attempt large-scale cultivation of plants all year round. The children of the World Tree's garden understand things that grow unlike any other mortal race. They plant wild millet and rice, peas, lentils, groves of dates, citrus and figs and others in hopeful experiments, choosing carefully which seeds to plant and where. Some still carry seeds from the divine garden itself, which take eagerly to the fertile soil of the Hot Lands.

With each generation, spurred on by the Law of Constant Evolution, the plants are more bountiful and suitable for consumption. It does not take long for these innovations to spread through sometimes desperate trading and teaching by humans who are in dire need of additional food and resources from the Myridna and the Baólians. While the vast majority of peoples in the Hot Lands are still nomadic hunter-gatherers or pastoralists, agriculture begins to play a greater and greater role in their lives. Humans become valued as growers and planters – a specialized skill not yet grasped by Myridna or Baólians – and are increasingly welcomed into Myridna tribes.


A Tale of Twilight and Sea:

Siriine, wielder of the Oceanic Trident and matriarch of a great Baólian host, passes away in the waters of what her people now call the Sea of Shadow, between the eastern and western Arken Lands. In the way of her people, she is adorned with pearls, shells and precious things, then given to the tide.

No-one dares to simply claim the Trident. If it rejected them – if the Sea-Spirit rejected them – they would be forever shamed among their peers. Instead, the Baólians agree on a challenge. Any who wish to take the Trident must step forward and tell a tale to the Sea of the deceased and the great journey which brought them here. The Sea-Spirit itself shall then decide who is the most worthy to succeed Siriine as the Trident's champion.

To sing stories is the greatest joy of the Baólian race. Many are the tales told that night, wild, sorrowful, thrilling, angry, amusing and sweet. When dawn breaks, however, the ocean's waters reach forward and touch one claimant and one only – Azúl, the youngest son of Siriine. With the Sea-Spirit's blessing made evident, Azúl steps forward and claims the Trident, swearing to continue his mother's mission and seek out the Twilight Arc in this land.

Azúl the Faithful is accompanied by eight of his brothers and sisters as they delve deeper into the Arken Lands, hunting for the weapon that has now passed beyond the World-Sea's sight. They journey is in itself worthy of many stories. There are battles with wyverns, daring rescues, ambushes by cold-blooded Druyul, clashes against towering Suras, spirit communions at World-Song Stones, last-moment escapes and acts of boldness and cunning.

The Law of Legend elevates the nine further and strengthens them in its peculiar ways. Miraani begins to develop Vigor in her veins; Lónul steals a wyvern hatchling to raise; Narió wins himself a shield of near-impervious iron Iktai scale. They gain skills and qualities beyond ordinary mortals.

At long last, then, the Nine arrive at Askrheimr – the sanctuary of Askr, a garden in the image of the one lost to Men, and the home of Sigren who wields the Twilight Arc. Even after all they have seen, the Baólians are astonished to walk among the divine trees and flowers flourishing on the island, rendered mute by the presence of the demigod Askr. The Father of Men bids them welcome, but grieves when he hears of their quest – for the Twilight Arc they seek is in the hands of his daughter Sigren, and he knows she will not part with it willingly.

Sigren the Fury is a stubborn soul, but not beyond persuasion – but here the Grand Law of Narrative Satisfaction makes its strength known. It is too soon for this tale to end. Her heart is hardened, and she girds herself for violence. With the twilight hour approaching, the Nine Heroes of Baól and the Fury of Men face off for battle. Outside Askrheimr, in the shallow waters of the Sea of Shadow, the Trident of the Ocean and the Twilight Arc prepare to unleash their might.

Then, in the silence before the first drop of blood spills, the screams begin to carry from Askrheimr. A great shadow falls over the opponents as the Beast-God of the Great Ziggurat descends upon the battlefield. Drawn there by the gathered power of two artifacts, the Laughing-Death-Of-Hope begins to kill and destroy in a mindless frenzy, its animal mind seeing only prey, prey, prey. In that moment Sigren the Fury and the Nine Heroes look upon one another and realize they are facing the wrong foe.

Side by side, they bring the monstrous three-headed abomination to battle. The ascended Horror Bird abandons the slaughter and brings its full might upon the wielders of the Trident and the Arc. The terrible forces of Legend and Satisfaction press their full strength over the battlefield as the mortals reach impossible strengths.

Oceanic might, solar fury and lunar trickery crash against the deadly Flame of Chaos. They are joined by the strength of Askr of the Garden; by the cunning of Shimmerer the Canidae; by blows of Vigor; by the meager strength of many ordinary mortal men and women throwing themselves at the monstrous god in defense of their home.

So it is that the Beast-God of the Ziggurat falls, overcome by the power of two races and intertwined magics. Its sundered flesh burns away as the Flame of Chaos is released. Its black corrosive blood gushes out only to be washed away by the tides of the Sea. Its terrible power slips away – and above, the clouds part to reveal the Triumphant Comet in its full glory.

In the aftermath, feasting, resting, with new bonds of fellowship, the Baólians forfeit their claim on the Twilight Arc. In turn, Sigren the Fury swears eternal friendship between the Men of Askrheimr and the Children of Siriine. And in the ending of one tale, a hundred others are born...