First Request

Illias smiled when she received the nomination from one of her fellow brothers. As she soon turned attention over to Hum again.

"Face it, Hum. You can't control both at the same time. I did promise a favor later. So please surrender Life to me..." she asked, a rarity for her due to her pride and all. "...or what do you want in exchange then?"

"I'd vote Hum for Death, since we know he already would use it for jokes and giggles - compared to our other brothers. Like the King and the God of Nothingness..."

@Ascendant

Amelia Responds to Alcadeas' Proposal

Amelia was sitting on the ground playing with a stick writing things on the ground listening to Alcadeas' proposals and Illias' response. The irony still remains that all her brothers and sisters around her see Amelia as a young little girl who is as powerful as any of them. She thinks to herself, "Does how I look and my demeanor still make them underestimate me? Does my bickering on the outside truly hide my inner intentions? Does my 'fiery' disposition still not make them take me seriously even though I am the third created out of all existence? I think it does." Amelia stops writing on the ground and slowly looks up. She then rises up from the ground and floats above everyone her whole body starts to fill with intricate patterns of light that it was initially hard to look at her directly. Her outward disposition seemed to have changed completely that she seems to be someone else. She responds with a voice that sounds like it has been from the abyss of the millenniums, "Dear brothers and sisters, I Amelia third created by the First Father agree with what Alcadeas has said. If all are in agreement then let it be so. However, let us not forget that we have limited time to agree before Hum is able to accommodate life and death. So Hum what say you?"

The Throne of Salt

The King wandered the near-nothingness of the world. Already, its brothers and sisters quarreled and lamented, made deals and promises, pleaded and lied. It was not interested in such petty games. In the micro-seconds followings its conception, the King in the Waste had been given a purpose; to unmake existence. Sometimes, the King wondered if their very Father, the Great Creator, had put this spark of hatred within it. The Father had given the King a "real name". Xanaros. He had said its meaning would become apparent in time.

"Whatever THAT means..." The mists turned black and swirled away from the King in reproach at the venom in its voice.

Xanaros stopped in the heart of the blank expanse of the world. Nothing, for hundreds of miles around. No lakes, no rivers. None of these disgusting forests, or mountains, bringing their terrible noise and vibrant color. It gave the King a frightful headache, all that...something. But the King new the terrible truth of the matter. For it to unmake the world...the other gods...even their own FATHER...it would have to participate. It would have to join in. Play along.

Create.

It looked down at its hands, hating itself, hating the form and function of its own body. They currently throbbed with power. Primordial essence, more than any other god could currently bring to bear, the leftover spark of the Father's first breath, positively leaked from the divine harbinger of nothingness. Slowly, the King knelt, and dug those ugly calls in to the whiteness below. It felt the Earth shudder slightly, in pain and confusion. It dug deeper, feeling for SOMETHING...it wasn't sure what. It dug and scrabbled and labored. What was it looking for? Its hands touched something solid. The King PULLED. The earth cracked and shook in agony. The King kept pulling. A...thing...emerged from below. It was crude, and simple. A chair, carved from a mineral that did not have a name yet. It was stark, abrasive to the touch, but necessary to this world. Much like the King itself.

The King in the Waste clambered awkwardly in to its Throne of Salt and collapsed, spent...for now. Slumping down in the massive primordial chair, it gazed out upon the great near-nothingness of the world. It feared, but also relished what was to come.

(Xanaros, the King in the Waste, Consolidates its Power and claims the Domain of Destruction)

The events of the meeting had ended in failure. Ira watched as her father came and without word stole away with the mischievous brother. A brother who had in his hands taken both the right to life and death from his siblings. Ira boiled. Her anger and fury visible for all to gaze upon. A frightening image of pure hatred. Not necessarily towards her brother, but towards the slow, methodical, inaction of her siblings. Those who had their chance, but did not act. Maybe even a semblance of anger towards herself, but these were not thoughts she pondered.

With a swift movement, Ira left the Island and traveled far. Traveled as far as she could until she grew bored of her rage. The seas around her boiled. The clay around her began to mold. Fire began to spew from newly formed stone. Earth began to be molded by flame. Birth, after rebirth, the land grew and was promptly destroyed by her rage. The land was scarred with the ashes of her creation. It was then that she knew her purpose. It was thing to claim the realm of fire. Another to embody it. She grew comfortable with her beautiful creations of forest and stone burning in the fires of hatred. She wept when they died and wept when they regrew. This should be embodiment of creation. Mesmerized by this process, she could not look away. Until her creation became obscured, rain, sleet, and snow. Obscuring a process so beautiful, so refined. That made her grow furious. With her fury she ensured that none would be able to look away from her creation. That the sun itself would always shine brightly upon these lands, never hidden.

As she looked upon her creation, perfectly beautiful. Finely molded into a statement upon the ideal form of creation. Life born of both destruction and death. The new standing upon the ashes of the old. The old sacrificing itself for the new. She impressed upon these lands the name Phyra. A name that would echo for generations. A name that would be remembered by all who gazed upon these lands and who lived within them.

Ira attempts to consolidate her claim over the realm of fire

Duhyxbin felt for a slip moment that Hum had become the new god of life and death and with Ira going away with rage he took a deep breath and said "Well looks like our brother is the new god of 'death and life'..." he took moment to think, he then looked at his siblings and said "just because our brother gained something we agreed is wrong, doesn't mean we should go back to acting on our behalf and going straight into anarchy" he took some steps away from his siblings and said "I need a moment" Duhyxbin then floated away to the orbit of the planet with anguish in heart.

Meanwhile Duhyxbin in orbit for a few moments, he meditates remembering his birth from chaos and order and how his father adopted him, although Duhyxbin believes himself an accidental creation, he will never know what happened that day yet the past seems so sweet for him he then wondered how much time until someone took the domain of time but then he whispered "It is just a matter of time before they decide to do it themselves rather than cooperate, sometimes I wish things where different..."

Duhyxbin meditated in the void and sensed the time, he then left his meditation and said "I can not control my sibling and truth be told I don't wish to... but I still seek answers" Duhyxbin wondered about his name he named himself as a choice of his in secret while his siblings think his father named him as he thought about what his father possibly made this world and why he even existed he come to the realization that who ruled time could easily find the answers that he could find but since nobody ruled time he also knew that his siblings would get angered or simply annoyed by that but since Hum was in control of two realms someone had to have equal power to him even more then two should hold two domains.

He then began to concentrate on his staff again and using some of his powers he began to concentrate on his staff even more until he unleashed the power on his hand forming a lamp and inside it an Hourglass as the domain of Time was now being consolidated by him he then focused back on earth as once again he begun to meditate.

Antay finishes his new creation

The Rifted Sea will forever be remembered as Antay's first creation, he had shaped the lands with artistical dedication trying to finish what he had once started. Of course, that's what Antay's own mind thought about it. Following his other fellow deities, Antay also shaped the land to make it a ripe place for living for the simplests of beings creating two new things in this world, the savannah and the jungle. The jungle a place filled with trees that are dozens if not hundreds of times taller than the grass that could be found somewhere else, and the savannah a plain with yellow grass, a color that had become Antay's favorite for a while.

This new creation was not only filled with physical things but also those things that couldn't be seen so easily, for Antay gave these new lands his warmth and rain so that they flourish, he also made rivers that penetrated the mainland and when he was done. He finally decided to formalize his claim on what the consensus of Gods had agreed upon. He concentrated his power for the purpose of claiming the dominion over the smithing, a dominion for those that sought to one day create the perfection that the all-father had once made even if in much lesser magnitude.

Antay claims the domain of smithing

Poor Little Amelia

Poor little Amelia, not fast enough to stop Hum in consolidating Life and Death. With all of the speed that she tried to rally her siblings there was just nothing she could really do. She was outwitted and outmaneuvered at every turn. There was a lesson to be learned here. She was also worried Xanaros and what he would do with the power of destruction. Yet in that she was too weak to stop him, since he tried to accumulate his the power to this time. Poor little Amelia, not fast enough and not strong enough. Although, a warrior never gives up. She is driven and she is determined. The only way she thought to be able to rival the powers of Xanaros and Hum is to consolidate another domain. She flies up into the air above the heavens the burst out all the power she has left. Light shines from her body that the sky from end to end lights up for minutes after she starts releasing her power.

She then falls to the ground. Her little body exhausted by everything she has experienced. She sees the faces of all her siblings, Antay, Illias, Hum, Ira, Duhyxbin, Xanaros, Yllwythyr, Alcadeas, and Morvakin. Who's going to try and stop her this time. She's on the ground, truly she's given everything she has this time. She thinks to herself, "If anyone can wrestle the Domain of Air from me then they deserve it." Poor little Amelia takes a nap in the vast grasslands that her father made. She says in a hushed voice looking to the sky, "What exactly do you want from us father?"

Amelia Consolidates the Domain of Air

The result of the discussion greately upset the Archangel. Knowing that Hum has a firm grip on life and death is a thought that will make Alcadeas unsettled for years to come. Still, it is the order of the All Father, and whatever he orders, it is bound to be made reality by righteousness. Without further due, Alcadeas took it's flight over the skies and the sea, leaving behind a faint trail of feathers that gently blew through the wind and the clouds, reflecting at times the strong shine of the sun, travelling angelically back towards the peninsula that now bears his name, in order to resume his work.



In the years that followed, Alcadeas began to contemplate further and further with the concept of time. Endless meditation sessions proved to be fruitless in a proper understandment of 'time'. What purpose does it serve? Why aren't we affected by the weariness of time? Why did the All Father create it? Nevertheless, Alcadeas pursued further contemplation...until one day. While walking through the fertile fields of wheat and olive trees beneath the strong sun, the Archangel materialized time itself on him without knowing at first, but he soon came to realise the power and effects of time. The countless hours of meditation and concept creation regarding time materialized through the celestial powers of Alcadeas on his very self. With every step forward, he felt the weariness of old age through the knees and bones. Almost half of his feathers began to fall down through the wheat spices. His sight began to deteriorate, as he struggled to view the horizon properly. Rising both of his hands forward in order to look at them, his right hand was still as youthful as he normally looked, but his left hand was plagued by stern and deep trenches through the skin, his olive skin being replaced by a grey and dull nuance steadily. In a split of a second, after witnessing the destructive power of time, Alcadeas used his powers in order to return the vitality of youth back to his body, replacing the aged weariness over him with the youthful aspect again.

Suddently, an image began to take shape inside his mind, as if it was reality before his eyes. He saw the vastness of the sea and it's waves pierced by the bow of large wooden ships, carried by the wind towards faraway lands. Colossal monuments dedicated to the pantheon of gods, of marble and gold. Great cities of stone and brick lay before the Archangel's eyes, filled to the brim with people in his image. The last vision he saw was the suffering of war, with arrows and swords clashing with thunderous sounds against the armours, expanding the kingdoms of earthly leaders. The potential of such greatness could not be avoided, at least by Alcadeas. His present family was disfunctional, except for the All Father, in the eyes of Alcadeas. He needed a new family, a family composed of many nations, each being a world of it's own. At the base of each world has to stay one microorganism, so tiny in comparsion to everything, yet so powerful and necessary that without it, it would mean nothing: a family. A family in the image of his own. A father, to rule the household and bestow honor, leadership and masculinity over his loved ones. A mother, the hope and guarantee that the linage of men shall pass on, a delicate and strong character that will be the precious blessed caretaker of the household. And finally, the child, which will ensure that values of the past shall be the foundation of the future, the very guarantee that there is a future. They will form the communities that tomorrow shall rule the lands in the name of all the gods.

At the moment's urge, Alcadeas set forward the grand plan, but for this, he needed nobody else than the Lord of Creation himself, his father. Alcadeas set forward to meet his father. Bowing down as he faces Alnaeus, before stating bluntly in the cold and stern nature of the Archangel's words. "Father, I've came to you with a personal request. Imbue me with the gift of creation, so that I may use my power in creating a race mirroring my image. They shall be my legacy and blessing to this uninhabited world. They shall rule the lands in our family's names. They shall pray, they shall sing of us. They shall respect us, and they shall live for us."

Alcadeas attempts to consolidate his claim on the dominion of time.

Hum had been so mischievously attempting to incite his sister Illias' emotions, but this incitation failed to hit its mark apparently. Illias' request had begun to soften his hold over Life, especially considering her push for Hum to hold Death's sway. He stayed silent a moment, feeling a momentous occasion coming as he listened to Amelia, and just as he was about to speak, Hum disappeared from Edenia.

It was in that moment that Hum suddenly felt anxious, nervous even, in the face of the First Father, whom he had never directly felt the presence of before. At least not seeming to look directly at the shadow God's face. He felt as if he were but a pebble of sand on a beach in comparison to the entire ocean. Was the First Father angry with Hum's antics? Annihilation, it seemed, was in Hum's future at that moment.

Yet the First Father seemed to eventually regard Hum with acceptance, closing the shadow God's hands over the dual orbs of Life and Death. It was at that moment that Hum felt an upwelling of something he couldn't quite name, and thus was transformed into HUM, Handler of Souls, God of Life and Death.

A moment later, HUM was standing once more in what seemed to be Edenia. Confusion overcame him before he made the connection between his sister's request and his father's words, and an impulse flooded his senses. Taking up a meditative, floating posture, HUM looked upon what was distinctly his Realm, and smiled, uttering a simple name, Sanctuary.

And there he remained, meditating, considering the next course of action.

First Tear

Illias was surprised when Hum suddenly disappeared away only to return a moment later. Granted when he did so, she almost boiled in anger - namely he had returned as the Patron of Death and Life now. Something she had desired as by her own Creation.

In a way, she almost snapped at the cosmic rules and would have immediately gone to tear Hum apart for his insult to her. So much so, that Edenia rumbled for a moment before she calmed down at that. In a way, she respect All-Father too much, being someone she wanted to immitate with her entire existence. Thus she merely sighed in reply - looking at the former jester of the group.

"I hope you won't abuse the authority given to it..." she said, bitterly to the new Master of Souls. For her own trouble she merely shed a single tear, for the loss of her chance to create a paradise for the deceased. Although she quickly caught the tear she cried, and instead gained a new focus.

She would create a paradise on this plain then - as Illias, soon allowed a fraction of her energy to flow into the essence of life: water.

"...if I can't have Life. Then I shall lay my hand upon the Domain of Water. The Essence of Life itself..." she declared to her fellow deities.

Illias begins to consolidate her Dominion over Water

Gods, Men and Everything in Between

Continuation of Turn 2 (1,000 F.A - 2,000 F.A)

The Children of Alcadeas

It was no long before the short lived Humans encountered Death. Some starved. Others wandered too far and lost their way back and strayed until HUM would come to meet them. The first task as Handler of Souls, HUM would need to accept those humans coming to enter Sanctuary or reject them, a frivolous task to be sure.

War

The north stirred. The formless clay of creation began to take shape, but its shape did not much change. No life emerged, no heat appeared, and no mountains or valleys were built or carved. Instead, a frozen tundra began to appear unto the world, piece by piece, gradually taking its shape as the colourless and shapeless matter of Alnaeus was slowly claimed and turned by a new god. Solumna had awoken, and wasted no time in changing the plane to their own design, such that it could not be deigned whether this new god spawned their home or their home spawned this new god. Whatever the order, the north of the main continent of the world would be Solumna's snowy sandbox.

The flatness came first. Divine energy dispersed from the northern tip of the land, from Solumna's own mile high icy pillar, and spread down and throughout the world. The warping shapelessness of pure creation changed, solidified into a flat expanse of emptiness, devoid of warmth or vegetation. Only after the world was shaped did the cold come in—bitterly frigid wins, sweeping in from the north, spreading all across this new realm and bringing with them a blizzard of titanic proportions. Snow littered the earth here, and the soil, so new to its life, was turned forever into permafrost, as cold and as hard as solid ice against the feet of whoever would come to tread on it.



The changing did not end there. In places, ice accumulated, seeming to rise from the ground as much as to accumulate from the clouds above: gigantic pillars of ice—frozen obelisks in the form of Solumna themself—sprouting all over the terrain, breaking up the flat, cold emptiness with the stark beauty that Solumna most appreciated. These would be their signifier. This land would be the land of Solumna, and the icy pillar would be the symbol of both.

The name 'Naschya' echoed throughout creation, emanating from these pillars and snaking throughout them with the wind, calling out to all the gods and goddess the name of this new land. The frozen tundra of Naschya and its pillars of snow and ice would now permanently affix the landscape of creation, embedding with them Solumna's power and presence in this less-and-less-new experiment of Alnaeus. Solumna had emerged as a deity, and Naschya its earthly domain; created in its own image to forever mark the arrival of the god of ice and solitude.



Still, it was not yet finished. Still, the flat expanse of land began to formulate, the cold and the wind expanding ever more. Naschya was not yet bestowed of all that expanse of creation that was owed it, and Solumna would not cease until it was done. Her grand edifice would tower over Naschya, and Naschya would envelop all of creation that it willed to envelop. The task was not yet complete, and for hundreds of years more it would continue. All until Solumna was satisfied that no other god could mark themselves upon the earth near to his tower. Solitude would be his contentment. The quiet would be her beautiful song.

HUM felt it not long after the Humans had come into existence. At first, their creation was of little consequence to HUM, until suddenly one perished. Within an instant, HUM found himself facing the soul of the deceased, a nervous, fidgeting man who looked left and right, unsure of what was going on. Just a moment ago he had been starving to death, and now his body seemed perfectly fine, standing alone in an unusually dreary, color-drained land. HUM rose a few feet into the sky and placed his hand upon the man's forehead, "All is okay now, human. You are in Sanctuary, a land of rest and peace. Do as you wish. If you have need of water, it will be provided. Of food, it will be provided. Of shelter, it too, shall be provided. MY Realm is surely endless in nature, for I am LORD of it," communicated HUM to the man.

Within a moment, HUM had decided to welcome all souls to Sanctuary, twisting the Realm to become as close to a paradise as he could. When more humans arrived, HUM hoped they would play games, drink and eat their fill of the perpetually present fruits and water, perhaps even fight with one another yet have their wounds heal once the battle was done. But it was still not quite Life, lacking the true struggle, the true risk of Life in the Natural Realm.

There was one issue though, and that was that HUM would likely soon need his own underlings to greet the humans as their numbers increased. But that day had not yet come. First, HUM had greater plans.

AMELIA THE HARBINGER OF A GLORIOUS DEATH

AMELIA was still starry eyed as she tried to come to grips with how she has changed. She had wanted to control the domain of war for so long that she felt like first father ALNAEUS created her for this very purpose. Since she can remember all she wanted to do was to fight and to prove herself worthy. As she considered it though, she asked herself, "Worthy of what?" After pondering for some time, she answers herself, "Well we all must prove ourselves worthy of nothing less than our existence of course." She considers what good is it to be alive, to breathe, to be conscious if one cannot live pushing themselves to their truest potential? To prove their creator that their existence was not wasted on them. She wrings her fingers and says, "I'll give every one of them, a reason, a purpose, a glorious death to prove their worth. Then should an individual be worthy then I will etch their names in this SCROLL OF GLORIOUS DEEDS that they may prove in their afterlife that they actually belong there." She held the scroll in her hand threw it in the air and the names of the first two men that ever fought to the death started to appear on its surface.


Scroll of Glorious Deeds records all that have died in battle, had a life full of combat, or who has achieved a legendary feat in their lifetime.

AMELIA started to smile to herself and thought, "Well done ALCADEAS, I like these humans that you've created. So full of potential. I think I am going to pay them a visit." She strolled the grassy plains towards the human enclave as a young child filled with innocence would. But little does the world know who this little girl is.


Amelia strolling around the grassy plain.

Then from the distance she could see them. She then said to the wind, "You see they all seem so miserable like bugs and worms indeed. Just living to survive. What they need is a purpose and a direction. Like I said being alive for the sake of being alive is no reason at all." She goes up close to a woman who was preparing food for her family. AMELIA says, "Hi I am Amelia what's your name?" The woman was slightly startled responds, "My name is Alala. Are you lost little girl?" AMELIA responds cheekily, "I am not lost, but I think you are. Can I have some of that delicious looking food please?"

Yllwythyr traveled to the grasslands of Nudriss

Edenia was the first time the young god experienced physical matter which inspired the elderly looking creature to explore the rest of Creation. He drew mountains, rivers, trees and greenery. He filled entire libraries worth of picture books in the following centuries. Yet he felt a certain void from the journeys. Something was missing. He began playing in the mud, forming various shapes. It filled him with accomplishment, however small. Numerous times he had a nagging desire to create a land for himself yet resisted the urge. Such creation would be no different from what his siblings already accomplished. It'd bring him no new joy. He wanted something to move, not through his power but by the will of its own. Though he had yet to understand it but he wanted life. Yllwythyr approached a mud dome, re-iterating his motions of creation. He shaped an odd statue, rough looking and unlike his own impressive stature. Then suddenly by some divine inspiration the statue began to move, mud became flesh, gaining colors. A tiny creature barely reaching midwaist began to make its first steps before collapsing into a pool of ooze. Perhaps he'd have much more of a success after some consultation with ALNAEUS.

Yllwythyr attempts to create a new race.

Gods, Men and Everything in Between

End of Turn 2 (1,000 F.A - 2,000 F.A)

Creation Continues


The Race of Gnomes


The God of Smithing

As the dawn of mankind set upon the Alcadean Ridge, the Archangel would retreat on top of Mount Ayleius, for he was greatly starved of power due to the immense effort he gave in creating mankind and their cradle of civilizations. Alcadeas would go on to slumber himself within the darkness of his cave, in order to regain precious power, biding his time in the hundreds of years to come.

Father of Shadows

HUM finally emerged from Sanctuary once he felt his power had grown substantially, leading him to the first Gnome to reach the end of its life upon the Natural World. A small, unusual creature it was, very similar to Humans. Boringly similar. HUM embraced its distraught soul in his shadowy arms and sent it off to Sanctuary, before soaring above the grasslands of the Gnomes. To the east, HUM's attention was drawn to a heavy pine forest, and into it he set off.

Flying between the trees, and at times through them, HUM casually meandered about until he came to rest on a branch. The embodied shadow looked around before its eyes settled upon a spectacularly beautiful work of nature, a spiderweb. He gazed upon it admirably as he watched a fly become trapped in it, the web's owner quickly setting to work wrapping its prey up. HUM lifted this skilled predator up into the sky in his palm, bringing it closer to his face. Despite HUM's size, the spider reared up at the God's face, ready to fight to the death.

HUM laughed deeply, his voice resounding through the forest as he returned to spider to its place, declaring so loudly that the trees themselves shook, "Truly, this one is more worthy to become a great Race than the pitiful Gnomes and squishy Humans." And so HUM set to work, analyzing the spider's body, replicating it, morphing it. To it he gave proper lungs so it could breath more effectively. Its pedipalps, he turned into limbs with graspers capable of careful work, much like the humans. Its size, HUM increased to that of a human, at least equivalent in terms of mass. To ease feeding the population of spiders, he gave to them an omnivorous digestive tract. To allow them to work together, HUM twisted their minds towards socializing with one another in communal groups. And finally, HUM gave to them his own Blessing in hopes that they would become one of the most physically capable species upon the planet.

Thus, the Arachnids would be born, children of the shadows.