Okay, this means we could potentially wind up with having a Dominion that benefits our worshippers enough to make up for the whole 'deathly magic probably means shorter lives for whoever lives in our dominion'. I'm still worried people will look at the impacts of our Dominion and will derive the wrong conclusions based off their own limited information, but at least we might have willing takers.
So, we could in theory go work for a king. Building on the mercenary idea. (tho tbf my knowledge of Worm and Dominion is low)
If we do mercenary work, we'll be wasting gems and time on petty things. King would be better than that.
Tho we could also combine selling our services to entire nations etc and being a god.
or like, we could go be a god of a place with a king/queen so we don't waste our time on management. Bonus points if he/she accepts us as a god then the peasants will get along.
The only reason not to do the god thing is it makes it really obvious where we are. Thoughts?
Willing to change my answer but for now-
[X] Do the god thing but ask SKITTER of a place with wealth and a ruler, so that we do not have to do management ourselves unless necessary. Begin stockpiling resources, perform miracles, make a tithe, help the ruler with issues or access to things that make them money. Place up protections against things that could actually harm us- like making a secret place for just us no one knows-, and after all that protect our power base/money making kingdom- if it is worth protecting. Make other nations BEG for our favor.
Even if I'm pretty sure given our backstory our Death scales aren't quite as inimical to human civilization as others (I'm looking at you fucking Ermor)
Uh, Dapperlad has actually said in the SV Discord that the PC's nation back in Dominion-world *was* MA Ermor...
Anyhow. We need to get set up and start re-building our power base and getting ready to challenge the other Pretenders (surely there are other Pretenders? No Pantokrator would allow beasts like that big lizard thing to just wander around). That means we need to find out who the other Pretenders are, and the best way to do that is of course to set up a seat of power and let them come to us.
[X] Find a local center of civilization, enlighten them to your infinite power and re-establish Dominion. Easily done! (1x vote strength)
Uh, Dapperlad has actually said in the SV Discord that the PC's nation back in Dominion-world *was* MA Ermor...
Anyhow. We need to get set up and start re-building our power base and getting ready to challenge the other Pretenders (surely there are other Pretenders? No Pantokrator would allow beasts like that big lizard thing to just wander around). That means we need to find out who the other Pretenders are, and the best way to do that is of course to set up a seat of power and let them come to us.
I see... so we were the real Baddie all along. I'm not sure how the fuck you square the circle of disliking unnecessary death while heading a nation whose Dominion will eventually kill anyone who lives in it.
That's not a bad thing mind you, I can start workshopping how to prep to cast Utterdark for one thing, but it does feel like a bit of a non-sequitur given we didn't just... y'know turn Leviathan into an undead monstrosity and sack the city to get the corpses for an army of the damned.
I see... so we were the real Baddie all along. I'm not sure how the fuck you square the circle of disliking unnecessary death while heading a nation whose Dominion will eventually kill anyone who lives in it.
I see... so we were the real Baddie all along. I'm not sure how the fuck you square the circle of disliking unnecessary death while heading a nation whose Dominion will eventually kill anyone who lives in it.
That's not a bad thing mind you, I can start workshopping how to prep to cast Utterdark for one thing, but it does feel like a bit of a non-sequitur given we didn't just... y'know turn Leviathan into an undead monstrosity and sack the city to get the corpses for an army of the damned.
Ermor is a terrible nation which, in the years preceding the Ascension Wars, killed itself and resurrected the population of the nation as servants. The Pretender, an accomplished necromancer, then took ahold of this empire for their own aims.
The Nameless One is disgruntled with needless death. He is, however, more than willing to kill to achieve omnipotence. Does death and carnage really matter if you'll have the power to just unmake anything that happened?
Ermor is a terrible nation which, in the years preceding the Ascension Wars, killed itself and resurrected the population of the nation as servants. The Pretender, an accomplished necromancer, then took ahold of this empire for their own aims.
The Nameless One is disgruntled with needless death. He is, however, more than willing to kill to achieve omnipotence. Does death and carnage really matter if you'll have the power to just unmake anything that happened?
It just kinda feels weird when Sceleria is right there, is about responsible Death magic use (or dying trying), and is fairly Astral+Death themed in the first place. MA Ermor is one of the most unambiguously evil factions in the setting, and while yes- It's entirely possible for a Pantokrator to fix 'I accidentally killed everyone on the way to true Divinity', I'd expect a lot more seething over the fact he did that for no point considering he got isekaid before he claimed the Throne.
The problem is that MA Ermor literally can't do anything without the Undead. It's a nation predicated on killing everything and everyone, and the squishy mortals who side with you merely have the privilege of dying slower.
It just kinda feels weird when Sceleria is right there, is about responsible Death magic use (or dying trying), and is fairly Astral+Death themed in the first place. MA Ermor is one of the most unambiguously evil factions in the setting, and while yes- It's entirely possible for a Pantokrator to fix 'I accidentally killed everyone on the way to true Divinity', I'd expect a lot more seething over the fact he did that for no point considering he got isekaid before he claimed the Throne.
Imagine The Nameless One currently as a clock. The clock is ticking downwards every time he is engaged in a way that reminds him of his defeat. IE, engaged at all. As the clock runs down further and further, there will be a growing unfathomable rage bitterness in his cold, dead and slightly rotted heart.
A safe bet is to avoid being around him in any sort of way when the clock runs out.
Edit: I promise, I've thought the character through! They'll act in a reasonable, logical way the moment they have more than a few concerted minutes of free time to think through things.
No, like I said, Dominion is as much culture as God. Your Dominion will always tilt towards Death, but an actively murderous Dominion was a cultural facet of Ermor itself.
[X] Mercenaries are a fine staple in any Creation worth the term in your experience. It would be a bit gauche, and mayhaps demeaning- but you could ask Scuttle if there are any nations interested in hiring on a skilled mage for a season. If the locals struggle with such a meager beast as the one you slew, then surely they will clamor for your aid.
[X] Do the god thing but ask SKITTER of a place with wealth and a ruler, so that we do not have to do management ourselves unless necessary. Begin stockpiling resources, perform miracles, make a tithe, help the ruler with issues or access to things that make them money. Place up protections against things that could actually harm us- like making a secret place for just us no one knows-, and after all that protect our power base/money making kingdom- if it is worth protecting. Make other nations BEG for our favor.
No crazy plans for later? What does a lich/death itself get up to? I assume everything will be about the throne. So how do we go about that? Maybe have to wait until we learn more about the world.
I'm just saying, a social powerhouse harem to stop problems before they happen and get us the hot goss on other Pretenders etc.
I wonder how hard it is to build our own nation, like can we pop out a castle overnight? Free labor with undead...
"Now, we need to rebuild my majesty." You say, unfocused as you scan the horizon for smoke trails and other signs of life. "Do you have any idea of where we are, Scuttle?"
"It's Skitter." She says, looking around at the tall grass and punishing heat that you just now notice. South of an equator, if this world has one of those. "From the insects, I think this is Africa?" Unsure, but educated. That academy of hers must have been impressive indeed to teach such specific facts.
"Any notable features about this land?" You ask, hoping for information on a people ungoverned by a God of any kind. "It's supposed to be ruled by warlords and really violent in general. We didn't cover it much in school." She admits. Fair, it is a foreign realm and she is yet young. But this sounds excellent, an unstable land, full of strife and misery!
A fertile breeding ground for your faith. As you note black smoke in the distance, rising up and to the sky in a constant pillar. Coal burning, industry! Excellent, you are dealing with civilized people aware of the glory of iron.
You begin to walk towards it before a realization strikes you, Ah damn it all, the mortals legs tire. "You require a mount, mortal, or your legs will tire making the journey to the smoke." Scanning the horizon again, you look for a convenient horse to kill and raise as a mount.
Something catches your eye, not a horse sadly, but close enough. "Do you think you could ride that?" Pointing at a lone hippopotamus, like the ones you saw summoned for battle in hordes that one time. "That thing will try and kill me." Skitter deadpans just behind you. You speak a terrible word, causing a ball of unlight to form. It seems to darken the surroundings as it assaults and consumes the light in the grass-covered plateau you stand on.
It raises and then, at the speed of death, impacts the hippopotamus. It shudders, its interior rotting away at speed as entropy quickens its deathly grip to absurd speeds. As it falls over with a subtle crash, heard even at this distance, you link to it, followed by the fluttering of its soul into your mind, lashed down by chains and brought to heel.
You command the corpse to rise up and trundle towards you. It achieves an intimidating speed as it nears before coming to a halt which digs furrows into the earth. The creature already is beginning to decay in the sun, but maintains its physical capacity in totality.
"Mount the beast, disciple." Is your order as you begin the long tread towards your target. Hoping that the rhythmic walking will take your mind off existence. Spitter-is that the name?- asks something, but you can't be bothered currently, feeling a sort of exhaustion in your bones that you've never had to contend with before.
How annoying.
————————————————————————
The day turns to night in hours, smoke much larger in the sky as you have to stop with your disciple reaching the ends of their endurance. With a mental command, the raised corpse stops moving.
Skipper takes a moment to get their bearings. Having practically nodded off in a combination of heat and regular exhaustion. "Wher-"She is cut off by a yawn,"Where are we?"
"Stopping for the next, you require sustainment." As you take a moment to look above, to the stars themselves, but find no secrets or omens in them. "Something I cannot provide for you. You would be most welcome to find it yourself, before my disciple embraces an early grave."
She wakes up quickly at that, likely feeling her parched mouth, "The water's not going to be safe, how do I filter it?" A worry you've not had for centuries, you simply shrug through the robe. "Drink all you need, I will not allow your death from mere bacterium."
The mask reveals precious little, but the tired, and likely dehydrated, way she languishingly peels off from the top of her mount and starts moving towards where a buzzing sound is coming suggests she is aware of at least a source of somewhat clean hydration. Excellent.
You allow yourself a moment to sit down, mental fatigue having built up more so than anything physical. And finally have a moment in which your mind wanders, resting in uncontrolled thought.
Everything begins to impact. Failure, death, decay and the ruination you wrought in the chase for power all rendered worthless. A thousand flashing images of desolation, of worlds rendered utterly dead in your endless pursuit for the Throne of the Pantokrator. A feeling like chest pain presses into you, unfamiliar and aggravating, pushing forth a pinprick of heat upwards and settling it into your marrow.
The itch of blades of grass on your legs aches, lost life, a memory you had forced down in the centuries of war and death and ambition. Boiling hate, rage, cruelty all crawl into your spirit, mind whirling with a desire to destroy something. To get your mind off failure and to anything else.
Awareness of your surroundings returns as dead grass, aged decades in seconds, surrounds you. Earth calcifying and the corpse of the hippopotamus looking somehow even more dead than before, with the evil gleam of a tortured spirit ever brighter in its eyes, feeding off your rage and desiring harm to ease its own suffering. A kindred spirit and a possible fate of yours, should you ever lose your mind.
Clamping down on emotion with the weight of experience, you push them down and lock them away for another day. You let your mind wander to more enticing topics. Magic and wizardry, the secrets of the universe and other such niceties. Noting the limits of your personal knowledge, the barriers which previously you overcame with book and gem. So much to build, the journey ahead lies once again, titanic in its scale. The crush of dead grass by a boot snaps you to reality again, making you realize you are currently laying on the ground, at some point having forgotten to control your frame.
"You…okay?" The uncertain voice of someone unaware of how to engage with the topic at hand properly. Skitter, that's her name, sounds so very young. Like so many apprentices and prophets in the past.
"Excellent, indeed. Rest and prepare for the journey." You respond, it's only been a few minutes. "I did." She answers you, sparking an annoying bout of confusion. "Come again?" Turning to stare at the silk-coated bug-mortal in wait for her response.
"I slept for hours, thought you were sleeping too?" A confused question transmutes sparks of annoyance into a wave of thrumming anger. Your consciousness is altered, a curse? Shaking off the issue, you speak, "It's a matter of unimportance, we must arrive at civilization before we undergo any other nuisances."
She shares no words in answer to that.
————————————————————————
The city is in sight, a vast edifice of their stone surrounded by more familiar shanties and slums under the beating heat of the star above. Humans with dark skin roam about taking their daily duties as your robe hides much of your figure. Still, they react in fear and discomfort, moving to their homes once they see you and your disciple.
Children run to their corners- hopefully not one of those cases where they are a network of spies and thieves. Ever so annoying to deal with. You can't kill them, because that'd be particularly evil even by your standards, but you can't co-opt them either due to their childish loyalty. Always difficult to deal wit-
"Hey, there's… something around here." Her voice is on guard, a neophyte warrior's nerve shuddering in the danger of an unknown. All you can muster is an annoyance at the continued issues this world presents. "More than one person, I think,?" Her extra-sensory capacities are useful- are they related to insects?
After another split second, she speaks, "It's a Stranger! I can't tell where they are!" Some term for a hidden creature, you presume. Very well.
"Show yourself, hidden one." Your demand creeps into the air as you scan your surroundings, hoping to spot-something just passed through your skull. A loud crack followed it. Reaching up, you feel a hole on one side, and then the other. Projectile magic. Skitter herself has gotten to cover behind one of the many horseless carriages, slinking off the zombified hippopotamus which now gnashes its teeth, searching for the enemy.
One peaceful moment, can that not be afforded?
What's Next?
[X] Kill them all. Everyone in this street. An example must be made of what dissent brings. Fear is as good as love for rulership's sake. (1x voting power. Appeals to rage.)
Undead Command Slaughter all who are not on your side.
Initial Proposed Spell Order
1-Power of the Spheres (Conjuration 3/Astral 1) (1 Astral Gem Required)
Grants a +1 bonus to all magic paths by drawing on astral energies.
3-Summon Lesser Air Elemental (Conjuration 3/Air 1) (1 Air Gem Required)
Summons 10 Lesser Air Elementals, a small but very fast fighter, able to move quicker than the eye can see at close distances.
4-Eagle Eyes (Alteration 1/Nature 1)
Grants the user +5 Precision, allowing spells and attacks to hit far more accurately.
5-Bolt of Unlife (Evocation 4/Death 2) At nearest targets
A bolt of dark light that is tremendously damaging and, if it slays the target, raises them as a soulless warrior. Damage-20
Range-30m*Death level
If the target dies, raise as Soulless Warrior with previous physical capabilities.
[X] Find the subject, rip them out of their hiding and take their lives. (1x voting power. Appeals to reason.)
Undead Command Protect Skitter until enemy is identified, then kill them.
Initial Proposed Spell Order
1-Power of the Spheres (Conjuration 3/Astral 1) (1 Astral Gem Required)
Grants a +1 bonus to all magic paths by drawing on astral energies.
3-Eagle Eyes (Alteration 1/Nature 1) use to find attackers.
Grants the user +5 Precision, allowing spells and attacks to hit far more accurately.
4-Windrunner (Enchantment 1/Air 1) on self.
This enchantment doubles the Speed of a target.
5-Paralyze (Thaumaturgy 4/Astral 2) on attackers.
Overloading the mind of the target, they are stunned for an extended period of time. Paralyze: 60 minutes+(9*Death)
[X] Clear your mind, focus on what is important. Your disciple is in danger and you've a duty to protect them. Engage the enemy while keeping them safe. (0.8x. Unused to focusing on others.)
Undead Command Protect Skitter with your unlife.
Initial Proposed Spell Order
1-Power of the Spheres (Conjuration 3/Astral 1) (1 Astral Gem Required)
Grants a +1 bonus to all magic paths by drawing on astral energies.
2--Flying Shield (Enchantment 2/Air 1, Earth 1) on Skitter.
Create a flying shield that continually moves around a target, providing reasonable defence, stopping 50% of attacks of up to 20 damage.
3-Windrunner (Enchantment 1/Air 1) on Skitter.
This enchantment doubles the Speed of a target.
4-Windrunner (Enchantment 1/Air 1) on self.
This enchantment doubles the Speed of a target.
5-Eagle Eyes (Alteration 1/Nature 1) use to find attackers.
Grants the user +5 Precision, allowing spells and attacks to hit far more accurately.
6-Paralyze (Thaumaturgy 4/Astral 2) on attackers.
Overloading the mind of the target, they are stunned for an extended period of time. Paralyze: 60 minutes+(9*Death)
Spells Used Bolt of Unlife (Evocation 4/Death 2)
Damage-20
Range-30m*Death level
If the target dies, raise as Soulless Warrior with previous physical capabilities.
[X] Clear your mind, focus on what is important. Your disciple is in danger and you've a duty to protect them. Engage the enemy while keeping them safe. (0.8x. Unused to focusing on others.)
[X] Clear your mind, focus on what is important. Your disciple is in danger and you've a duty to protect them. Engage the enemy while keeping them safe. (0.8x. Unused to focusing on others.)
[X] Clear your mind, focus on what is important. Your disciple is in danger and you've a duty to protect them. Engage the enemy while keeping them safe. (0.8x. Unused to focusing on others.)
[X] Clear your mind, focus on what is important. Your disciple is in danger and you've a duty to protect them. Engage the enemy while keeping them safe. (0.8x. Unused to focusing on others.)
[X] Find the subject, rip them out of their hiding and take their lives. (1x voting power. Appeals to reason.)
Skitter needs to prove herself able to handle danger. She got into cover well enough. If she can't handle obstacles like this we might be wasting teaching.
While killing everyone on the street would certainly make them fear us an potentially lead to easier godhood in this city, it's resource heavy. We can't afford the coming resistance from that currently. It'd also give an excuse for them to call for help.
[X] Kill them all. Everyone in this street. An example must be made of what dissent brings. Fear is as good as love for rulership's sake. (1x voting power. Appeals to rage.)
We are running pretty low on astral gems. So we probably should keep one or two until we need them to search for more magic sites.
