Bright_Ops

Passion Kiss's Pokemon Adventure is nigh. (Interest check)

(Deleted due to being in the wrong place.)

The Grim Crusade - A Warhammer 30000 RP

In Pursuit of Science and Truth.

With the matter of the Edict of Tolerance and Xenos rights defended on the Council floor, Micholi's presence at the Council meetings took a more observational role in proceedings, with the Primarch taking the opportunity in order to get some much needed work done. That wasn't to say that he wasn't listening and paying attention to all matters being discussed by the Council at any given time since any issue being raised so that the Emperor and the Primarchs could weigh in on it was generally an important one and deserved being paid attention to, but few subjects required his direct input. The issue of Braining was one in which he didn't really care one way or the other to much and while Augor and Eiosha clashed over it, Micholi had been simply working on a dataslate.

It was after the Council had retired and in the privacy of his spartan offices that what Micholi was working on was finally brought to completion. However, despite being able to recall every word of the document with accurate precision, the Primarch took the time to review it again in order to check his wording with great care.

The document in question had been in the making for a surprising long time, through only once the Council was announced did it finally start to take a physical form. History had always been a passion of the Primarch and the chance to try and shed some light on one of the key moments of galactic history (even if only from a human perspective) had long been on his mind, but Micholi had re-framed from doing so sooner for political reasons.

Sparking scientific discussion about the early days of the Age of Strife and the possible causes of the Warp Storms that were truly the final nail in the coffin of Humanities former galactic ambitions could be viewed in a negative light by some; While it had taken a long time, Micholi did believe he had managed to find the correct wording for the document to ensure that the reader would clearly be able to see that all theories and ideas presented within were developed via the recovering of data and information much like an Explorator Fleet rather then actual first hand experimentation would ensure that any case made that he had breached the Treaty of Mars would fall flat on its face... but he had already factored in that there were going to be those who claimed such anyway.

The foreword was respectful and humble, written to appease the Mechanicum of Mars and make it clear to the reader that Micholi's intentions were purely those of a fellow historian and scientist seeking to start earnest discourse and promote the sharing of information so that an accurate picture of what happened to bring an end to the Dark Age of Technology and herald in the Age of Strife could be reached. It also made clear that the data and information that the following theories were based on were from incomplete and (at times) questionable sources and as such should not be treated as absolute truth, even if they were penned in the words of a Primarch. Instead, it should be viewed as Micholi sharing what information he had picked up during the cause of the Crusade and that based on it, these were the most sound theories he could establish with what he had access to. As new data was found, such theories would either be updated or disproven and cast aside as required.

The first theory to be presented for judgement was that the storms of the Age of Strife were triggered as a result of an over usage of warp drives and warp travel technology on a galactic scale over a (relatively) short period of time. This was clearly a topic that had the potential to be highly controversial and Micholi treated it with the respect and care it was due. The Primarch tried to establish the action of tearing open a rift between Reality and the Warp as akin to that of soil degradation in mass scale farming; There is the possibility that the more one tears open a rift between the dimensions, the less stable local space around the area will become and that doing this over and over again over an extended period of time would cause negative results.

The second theory was a brief look into human nature and the stresses of desperation. Namely, evidence suggested that the Age of Strife proper began before the Warp Storms that isolated or consumed countless planets due to conflicts such as the war against the Men of Iron, civil wars within humanity itself and invasions by hostile xenos species such as the Orks (which evidence suggests were a blight on the galaxy even back in the Dark Age of Technology) taking advantage of the general chaos. Being assailed by threats, the powers that be of Humanity might have started to explore projects to turn the tide that would have either been ill advised or outright insane under normal circumstances. The theory suggests that the warp storms might have been the result of a currently unknown experimental device that went horribly wrong... or, considering humanities history of weaponizing technology, horrifically right.

The tone of the second theory was that of a cautionary tale. The desperation and panic tended to create more mistakes and disasters then miracles and that trusting completely in an experimental, untested idea over tried and proven methods to win the day can easily lead to catastrophic results.

The third theory was almost certainly the one that had the possibility of causing the least controversy. Supported by the facts that a great number of Dark Age technology was clearly produced with the assistance of the Men of Iron before they betrayed humanity and that prior to the warp storms of the Age of Strife that humanity was winning the conflict against the Men of Iron, even if it had come at great human cost, there was a strong possibility that the warp storms of the Age of Strife were created by some unknown weapon or device developed by the Men of Iron as a last ditch effort to wipe out humanity and all other organic life. It is unclear if this might have been done with some idea of the Men of Iron capitalizing and trying to win the war once the storms abated or if it was done as an attempt to take organic life down with them out of spite, but since the Men of Iron's grand new campaign never manifested and organic life is still here, it can safely be said that either way their final gambit failed.

The epilogue itself retreaded the ground that the three theories presented were done with incomplete data discovered during the cause of the Crusade. It stressed that at the time of writing, actual experimentation into any of these ideas would be illegal in the Imperium and by the Treaty of Mars. Uncovering data and information in pursuit of knowledge to further bring understanding to this dark and bloody period in history was clearly alright through.

There was a recent addition to the epilogue that Micholi found himself debating keeping in through because it was about the Emperor and the Treaty of Mars:

'I am aware of the fact that the Mechanicum has long held the view that one day the Emperor would review and ease up on some of the restrictions of the Treaty of Mars once Humanity was prepared to handle these otherwise dangerous fields of study. I feel the need to offer the possibility of hope to support your faith in that belief. I do not claim to be able to understand the motives of the Emperor, but while he is a warrior and diplomat of unmatched, legendary skill... the Wars of Unification on Terra and the Crusade we are currently fighting were first and foremost won in the Emperor's laboratory due to his skills as a scientist.

At the time of writing this, the Emperor has deemed to promote one of the Primarchs to continue leading the Crusade in his stead as Warmaster so that he may return to Terra. While it is true that he has countless duties and responsibilities to take care of, I earnestly believe that one of them will be to return to the laboratory in time. I cannot begin to guess what the Emperor might deem worthy of his attention to investigate, but if his insights can discover a means to make these dangerous and restricted fields of study safe enough for humanity to explore them properly, we might see some restrictions eased in time.'

For a moment, Micholi considered removing that section. It was purely observational, but he still remembered Augor's annoyance with him for 'claiming to know the motives of the Emperor' during the debates. Then again, Augor was smart and prescriptive enough to recognize that what he had written was likely true.

If nothing else, it would help the document do its job of distracting the more hard line members of the Mechanicum from the results of the Council about the Edict of Tolerance. Sending copies of the document to his various siblings for peer review, Micholi submitted a copy to Mechanicum channels like any other thesis developed by a Tech Priest in order to be reviewed.

Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk. VI

Aethel

Having long left Mish and his spiritual companion long behind, Aethel had decided to travel the world a little bit before heading back home to their tree. As far as what generally happened when deities decided to go for a walk across the land, it was actually a rather tame affair; Sure some of the local sentient mortals would never get answers to why the animals nearby their homes decided to randomly either flee in what was clearly terror, suffer a temporary catatonic state or actively find the fastest method they could to end their own lives on mass, but such things made for interesting stories.

It had been as they had been prancing through a forest glade when Aethel came across a sight that hadn't been seen since they first came into being on the Palace Grounds. Granted, it was a circle of different shaped mushrooms rather then the beautiful cascade of flowers that heralded their birth, but as the equine deity stared at it the circle started to give them ideas. They could have easily just blessed the random site and moved on, leaving it for the locals to deal with and most likely forgetting about it soon after making blessing it... but the seed of an idea in Aethel's mind had not only taken root, but proved to be a rather big idea that required following a few different branches before the true scale could be properly appreciated.

It was true that Aethel was fickle and easily distracted at times. Even as they followed the plan for the mushroom circle to the end, the knowledge that it was going to take so much energy that they would likely have to return home and have another sleep had caused their thoughts to branch off into how they might be able to make the act of sleeping more entertaining and interesting for not just themselves, but for everything else as well. Both ideas had their merits, but they would only have enough power to really put one of them into effect at this time.

Deciding that chance might help resolve the dilemma of which project to invest their time and effort into, Aethel calmly walked over to a nearby mushroom that wasn't apart of the circle and pulled its top of, taking a few seconds with the hands of their humanoid form to reshape it into a disc in which one side was the off white of the top of the mushroom and the other was the dark brown of the underneath. Now that there was a flat disc with easily different sides, Aethel flipped it into the air before catching it again... and again... and a third time to complete the best out of three result.

White. Dark Brown. White.

By the rules they had thought up in their head, that meant that the original idea of what to do with the mushroom circle (and other circles like it) had won out... but the more they thought about it, the more that the second, newer idea appealed to their heart. It also didn't hurt that of the two, it was the one more likely to be noticed and respected by their siblings and praise was always nice. So disregarding the results of the disc and casting it aside, Aethel mentally went 'stuff it' and clapped their hands together as they closed their eyes and focused on a surprisingly big project.

Coming to the conclusion that the mind of the individual sleeping would be the best suited to, on a deeper level, decide how best to entertain itself and thus all they needed to do was give it the tools to do so was rather simple. The logistics of exactly how to parcel out this gift was a lot harder. The original idea of just going around and giving it to every individual encountered was discarded fairly quickly because it was both time consuming and boring. Aethel didn't want to put that much effort into this after all.

Bouncing around a few ideas of how to make things work in a timely manner that would cover the most beings in the process, Aethel discarded several ideas... before they found one that they liked. Instead of going out and giving every individual creature the improvement to better enjoy the act of sleeping,, they would create a singular mental landscape in which all things that could sleep would enter whenever they did so; A mental ocean filled with nothing but bubbles, with each bubble being an individual who was asleep at the time, their mind creating the means of entertainment within for the benefit of itself. An ocean filled bubble isolated from the physical world filled with bubbles filled with whatever the mind of the dreamer within came up with.

And so, Aethel poured their energy into it and made it so. There was no noticeable difference made to the world, but deity and mortal alike would feel... something change. As if something that had always existed had come into existence and because it had come into existence, it had now always existed. Mortals of course would likely dismiss this as merely a strange and silly thought that made no sense while even some deities would follow suit... but the Monarch would almost certainly have a grasp on the new situation.

Having brought the ability to dream to the world, Aethel walked over to the circle of mushrooms and laid down in the middle of it to have a well deserved nap... after a brief flick of their tail to ensure that said nap wouldn't be disturbed anytime soon.

Summary

After having 'helped' Mish, Aethel went for a largely event-less walk in the world (well... event-less compared to most divine wanderings). Coming across a circle of mushrooms that reminded them of the circle of flowers that served as the point of their creation, Aethel considered doing something with it and things like it... but soon grew sidetracked by another idea that sprung up. Flipping a mushroom a few times to try and break the stalemate of which idea to invest the time and resources into at this stage, the results proved in favor of the original idea which Aethel took under advisement... before promptly going 'stuff it' and working on the second one.

Taking inspiration from the ocean of their departed sister, Aethel created a purely mental 'ocean' completely separate from physical reality in which all entities that can sleep will slip into when they do so, appearing within the 'ocean' as a bubble protected and isolated from the influence of other dreamers. The contents of the bubble (IE, the dream) are created from the individuals own deeper mind under the belief that it would know the best way to entertain itself.

An interesting quirk of the 'Ocean of Dreams' is that due to its existence as a purely mental construct devoid of physical laws, it is a timeless creation; It exists outside the standard flow and influence of time, meaning that despite the fact that it had only just been brought into existence properly, entities (and people) that existed before the Ocean of Dreams was properly created lived their lives connected to it and thus had dreams and nightmares.

Aethel then laid down in the middle of the mushroom circle to have a sleep and enjoy what they've created.

Vigor

Started with 3.

Spent 3 to create the purely mental construct of 'The Ocean of Dreams', thus allowing all entities from the Monarch of All to the lowest lifeform that can sleep to have dreams and nightmares.

0 Vigor left.

Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk. VI

_{Mish-Cheechel the Avenger}

&

Zima the Zimmer

In

Death Song Adagio

---

Zima the Zimmer zoomed about Mish-Cheechel as the two wandered through the forest. They had traveled a ways after stopping for the hunger that ate at his belly, and the thirst that parched his throat. Then the inevitable curse of sleep- all of Mish-Cheechel’s words at the time were lost on his spirit companion. It was true, she did not need to eat, to drink or to sleep- but she did sleep willingly from time to time. Indeed, Zima was beyond the whims of Bjork needs but all the free time meant one thing.

Questions.

They flowed from her brimming tongue if she had one, and she would ask about anything. ‘Why color green? Why red? Why wet? Dry? What bird?’ On and on they went, without rhyme or reason. Like the incessant mewlings of a newborn kit, or of a manbjork whose head got hit by a tree one too many times, only devoting his life to simple questions of whys and what ifs near the end of his days. One no longer fit to act and only trying to find a deeper meaning in his time left, when there was truly none. Zima was just like that, except, as far as anyone knew, she would live forever. Would she still ask questions?

There was at least a small victory to be had, for her speech was improving and talk between the two was flowing better. Perhaps she truly was as a kit, just a child set out on the same path of vengeance as he. Now that was how one should act. There was only doing! The Green Murder was out there somewhere and it would be vanquished once and for all.

So Mish-Cheechel thought at least, but Fate had other plans, as Fate often did.

“Misssshhhh.” Zima called out. “Missssshhhhh Cheeechellllll. Mish-Cheechel!” She floated around a tree and found him at last with an excitable giggle. “There you are! Look!” The mist that made up her body transformed into a small otter-like creature, but it was much smaller and incredibly skinny. Narrow, as if made for tight spaces. “What this?” she inquired, jumping around his head.

The massive manbjork sniffed and blinked his red eyes at her, barely restraining a yawn. “Youra a zimmin hround doomus Zinma. Wassa ming or somin?” His stomach rumbled and the bear sat beneath him shook its great head and shuffled side to side. Scratching at his chin, Mish-Cheechel allowed himself to fall from the saddle and landed awkwardly, leapt now on this foot and now on his tail, then righted himself and stumbled towards the tree and placed a palm on it. “Danggreen muhr,” he mumbled as he brought his chisel-like teeth to the bark and tore groggily at it, then spat the wood out. He left a few unclean gashes in the bark and then huffed and sat down against the tree. “Imma te yasummin Zemehhh,” he rubbed his face and restrained another yawn, before stretching so that his ribs cracked and small tears bubbled in his tear ducts but did not quite fall, “ahwa zayin,” he leaned back and made himself comfortable against the tree. He paused for a second, frowned, then got up. He stood there for a few seconds, staring at Zima, then sat back down and lay as though to sleep - but he had no sooner closed his eyes before he leapt back up. “Zima!” He declared unsteadily, “let’s go!” He clambered onto the bear and sat in the saddle again, staring vacantly ahead.

He had been doing that for two days now. Zima didn't know for sure what was going on with the bjork but she knew something was more amiss then he was letting on. She stayed close as they set off at last, Mish-Cheechel rocking side to side dangerously as the bear made its way through the trees.

As the pair traveled they started to notice… movement nearby. Something big that was moving as quickly and without caution through plants as physically possible. It wasn’t coming towards them… it was just fleeing from the direction they were heading in and happened to just pass them by. A strange occurrence to be sure…

Then the rest of the stampede started. Though calling it a stampede was wrong… It was more of an exodus of animals of all shapes and sizes, running as quickly as their bodies, and the terrain, would let them away from something ahead of the pair. It wasn’t just land animals either; Flocks of birds could be seen and heard flying away… and a close eye at the river might even spy some fish that were strangely all heading in the one direction as well.

Zima went on the alert quickly, gasping in surprise at the stampede and exodus of animals. She began to growl in a high pitch. "Something is wrong. Something bad." She swirled around Mish's head, her shape losing any identity beside the usual fog. For his part, Mish-Cheechel opened his eyes wide and leapt to his feet even as the bear (whom they had named Bear on Zima’s insistence) continued plodding forth through the snow.

“I’ll show ‘em bad!” He cried as he pulled his spear from the saddle and leapt on the nearest fleeing wolf. The animal easily darted away and continued fleeing, however. Mish-Cheechel rose just as a bear dawned on him. He stared at it bleary-eyed and its great panicking snout rammed into him as he thrust his spear right between its great legs and missed entirely. He fell over backwards and squealed as one of its paws found his stomach and pushed him deep into the snow, leaving him wide awake but otherwise unharmed. “Fuggin Green Murder scum.” He managed as he rose and the great stampede was behind them. He glanced over at Zima. “What was that about now, eh?”

Zima did not share a giggle like she would normally at such a display, in fact she had become rigid in form. Almost like a rock in shape but not of texture. "Danger. Something… Someone coming. Can't you hear…?" She said cryptically. The manbjork glanced at her, adrenaline pulsing through him and bloodshot eyes wide.

“Are they now Zim? Well, let’s get it over with then.” And with that he strode forth clutching the spear in his numbed hands and wearing a terrible frown. His eyes burned, but the memory of sleep was gone. His stomach rumbled but there was no thought of food. His muscles ached but rest was for those without vengeance.

He snuck from tree to tree, glancing warily into the snow and darkness, leaping from shadow to shadow into the heart of whatever it was that caused the forestlife to panic and flee. He did not pause to wonder why bears and wolves and deers would flee the eagle god - for there was no doubt in his mind that they were now approaching that horrorsome thing. He was not without fear - that nagging voice clawed and pulled, but he brushed it off and did not hear: he only ventured forth and stalked to revenge himself and Clan Rod’s folk.

As Mish-Cheechel continued, Zima close behind, they still heard or saw the occasional slower animal that was trying to flee or make its speedy exit… but as they stalked or floated it started to finally be heard on the edge of their hearing. It was… difficult to put into words what the sound actually was: There was no rhyme or reason to it, loud and energetic but terrible and horrific at the same time as it assaulted the ears and seemed to reach deep into the part of the soul that enjoyed art and music before stabbing a knife into it and twisting the blade.

The true horror of the terrible din through was, for those lifeforms capable of higher thought… Despite how unworldly, terrible and tortuous it was to listen to, it also provoked a degree of curiosity and fascination. It was captivating in the same manner that a public execution tended to draw a crowd to witness it. Fascinating because this was what it meant to discover truly terrible music and sound, rather than just listening to songs you didn’t like or amatures that had only just started to learn how to play their chosen instrument and still weren’t very good at it yet.

The animals living in the area clearly did not enjoy it, whatever it was. The bear that Mish-Cheechel had left behind seemed to be… struggling with itself. It clearly wanted to turn around and run, but the divine will that had bound it into service compelled it onwards regardless of its natural instincts.

The closer they got to the source and the louder the noise got, the more they started to notice other animals. Some were standing, others were on the ground, but they were still breathing and rigid with their eyes glazed over. Unresponsive to anything and everything around them.

They were a creepy but more pleasant sight than the dead animals though; Birds and animals that had clearly slammed themselves into tree trunks until they had expired, horrific self-inflicted claw marks to the neck and chest… several animals, including one of the largest bears the pair had ever seen, had opted to go to the river and stick their heads underwater before breathing deeply.

Mish-Cheechel, at that point, finally paused and took in the scene. He scrunched up his snout at the smell of death and glanced at where the blood of the forestfolk dripped down the bark or grew in lazy pools on the loamy earth. It dawned on him only then that this could never be the Green Murder’s doing - it was the sort to kill wantonly, no doubt, but somewhere in its demented head there was reason to it and purpose. That was to say, some kind of rationale that Mish-Cheechel had seen and which the Murder had deigned to explain. There was none of that here. He glanced ahead, where the noise seemed to roil up like some terrible wall, and then behind him, where there was safety. After a brief moment, he shrugged and turned away. “Fuck this Zima, I don’t know what’s up there but I sure as hell don’t want to find out. Let’s go.” And with that the manbjork backed away at speed, leapt onto Bear’s back, and turned the relieved creature away from the noise and stench of death.
Zima gave no complaint to that suggestion and eagerly followed after Mish. “Sound… Wrong. Very wrong.” She murmured as she seemed to focus on all the death and insanity around them. “Death…” The mist seemed to shake a little back and forth before zipping around Mish’s head once more.

And then… the sound ceased.

There was suddenly silence… for the most part. The river still ran and the wind still ruffled the leaves in the trees, but there were no more animal noises since they had either fled, were in a presently catatonic state, or were dead. And then…

“Hi. Did you like my song?” A youthful and energetic tone asked them.

...They weren’t alone anymore.

The figure that had joined them had simply… appeared before them the moment that they looked away, be it turning to look in a different direction or blinking. There had to be some kind of magic or witchcraft afoot because there was absolutely no way that the figure could have naturally snuck up on anyone without being spotted in any sane world.

Neither Mish-Cheechel nor Zima had ever seen a being like this before. Standing on two hooved legs and wearing a beautiful white gown, the humanoid equine offered them a smile as their multicolored and ridiculously poofy mane and tail shifted slightly behind them, even as a horn rested on their forehead, jutting out. They were beautiful in their way, but if they were a male or female was impossible to pin down. They seemed to be significantly smaller than Mish, causing them to have to look up at the larger manbjork.

And held proudly in their hand was a flute made out of wood. It seemed to just be that; a flute whittled out of wood… and not even done in an artistic or masterful way. Still, the strange entity was staring right at them, eyes wide and filled with a desire to get some earnest feedback or praise for their musical talent… and completely ignorant and blind to the insanity and death that had been inflicted on the area.

Mish-Cheechel stared at the odd creature for a few silent seconds. “No, it was the worst thing I’ve heard in my life.” He said frankly. “In fact, if I were you I’d find some way to never play music or sing ever again - I dunno, rip out your tongue or something.” Lack of sleep had made him oddly loose-tongued, and any apprehensions about speaking so brusquely to this strange being - clearly more powerful than he was, and mighty enough to strike fear even into Zima’s great swirling form - was non-existent. His stomach rumbled and he cracked his own neck with a quick twist. “You know, I sometimes wonder to myself if there is some kind of torturous hellscape the likes of you can go fuck off to if you die - or even better, if we kill you off. It’d mean death wouldn’t be a mercy for you, y’know? I mean, I don’t even mind that you were killing all those scum back there, but then you come along all happy like and ask me in that stupid voice: ‘DiD yOu LiKe My SoNg?’ - no I fuckin didn’t. And, like, what even is the point? Why the hell did you do it? Was there any reason at all? Here I am, splitting my backside tearing at trees and trying to kill even one of those fuckin beasts, and you come along all frivolous and smiley and knock out half the damn forest - and there’s not even a reason behind it. Y’know, as soon as I’m done with the Green Murder maybe I should turn to wankers like you. In fact,” he turned in his saddle, brought one foot over and jumped down, spear in hand.

"Mish-" Zima tried to say but his rant continued.

“What do I care, it doesn’t even matter. Here, I’ll do you in right now. Go on, play your stupid song - whatcha gonna do, blow my brains out? Help me drown myself? Assist me in bashing my head against your skull so that maybe I’ll bash your brains out as I bash my own? Whatcha think? I like that last one, personally.” The manbjork continued raving away as he hefted his spear and casually approached the equine, a smile growing on his face, bloodshot eyes wide and pupils grown to the size of little moons.

For their part, the strange Equine seemed inclined to let the manbjork rant and rave in a polite silence, the smile never leaving their face… but their eyes slowly narrowing with what appeared to be anger. The sleep-deprived Mish-Cheechel had clearly made a mistake… through exactly what that mistake was and when he made it was debatable. As the rant came to a pause, the equine finally spoke… and did so in the exact same tone of voice they had before.

“Oh, I didn’t kill anyone. I was just playing a song to pass the time while I was waiting for you to get here Mish-Cheechel. But since you’re clearly not in the mood for explanations, I’ll just give you the gift I intended to give you to help you fulfill your oath to me and let you be on your merry way.” With the statement given, there was suddenly a multi-colored blur as within less than the blink of a mortal eye, the equine figure had moved from where they had been standing to cover the distance between themself and Mish-Cheechel, before leaping off the ground in order to impale the manbjork through the heart with the wooden flute, driving it through fur, skin, bone and muscle as if it were nothing and out the other side.

Yanking the flute out and holding the blood covered thing in a now blood covered hand, the Equine’s smile seemed to grow a little as it reached out and placed a hand over Mish-Cheechel’s heart… and the angry manbjork would feel something anchor itself to his body and soul as the light of his life faded and a body without a working heart started to fail. “Enjoy the brief respites of darkness that death will offer you Mish-Cheechel. It is the closest thing to rest you’ll have until your oath to me is fulfilled and you successfully slay the Green Murder.”

Zima screamed. "No no no! Mish!" She yelled, taking the form of wind and trying to push the Equine back. There was anger in her voice now. "You leave now Song Demon!"

The Equine didn’t budge… though their mane and tail was blown around a little bit. “Don’t worry… he’ll get better.” They insisted with a surprising amount of confidence. “I was here to give him this blessing anyway - so he could go on his way without starving or dropping from lack of sleep, because he’s been trying so hard to keep to his word but his body was slowly betraying him… So I decided to take pity on him and made it so that his body won’t slow him down anymore. He won’t need food, water or rest to function… and even death is more of an inconvenience then a stopping point it should be now.”

Glancing down at the blood coated flute in their hand, the Equine added “As for that… I’m actually okay with honest criticism because… well, lies are bad and if someone doesn’t tell you an uncomfortable truth how can you deal with it? But he didn’t have to be a jerk about it.”

The spirit growled all the same but stopped her aggressive blowing upon the being as she realized it was fruitless. She seemed to still for a long time, floating around the body of Mish like some lost thing. “Death is… Death. No reason to kill. Cruel. No reason to die. Death is undoing.” She paused in thought before adding, “If what said is true, then Mish is corpse. Walking. Undead. Undying. Abomination. Against cycle.” She said in a voice like ice before her form began to coalesce into the shape of animal bones. “Mish words truth but harsh.” She seemed to agree, her shape changing to that of a small misty dove. It looked upon them. “You are like papa? Creator. God? What is your name?”

“In my defense, he had become an abomination against life long before I got to him.” The Equine answered earnestly. Before a little smile appeared on their face again. “You are very clever. Never let anyone tell you otherwise.” They took a moment to clear their throat. “When Mish-Cheechel made his oath, he swore it on the names of all the gods, known and unknown to him. As for my name… well…” A small, good humored chuckle actually escaped before he continued “Names are important little one and I have many. But for the sake of this conversation, I am the Keeper of the Tree of Harmony. It’s an utter delight to meet you.”

Zima kept a safe distance from the Keeper, never letting her eyes off him. “Delight. Perhaps. Papa said, if ever to meet another like him, to be true. To be polite. Never assume. But… It is hard. Mish was no abomination. Do you think he knew? Of such an oath made? Just misguided. Lost and afraid. Rage… Vengeance consumed. No question such what you did, not my place. Only wonder if truly deserved.” Her form changed to that of a mink. She hopped around Mish’s body. “When will wake?”

The Keeper shrugged slightly at the question. “I have no idea. His body will heal and he’ll awaken, but I’ve never done something like this before so your guess is as good as mine. Shouldn’t take too long though… I mean it was just a stab through the heart.”

As for the rest, they tilted their head… and the poofy mane flopped cutely to the side because of it. “I doubt he did at the time… but just because an oath is made with haste and pain doesn’t make it any less valid. I confess part of my motivation in this is to serve as a warning to those who hear the tale of your friend that one should be careful when calling upon the attention of the gods. I was meeting with the Lord of Parasites when we both heard the call… and your friend should be thankful my brother decided he had better things to do.”

Zima flashed between a handful of animal shapes, undecided on what to settle on. “Parasites…” She said aloud to herself before focusing her attention back at the Keeper in the form of doe. “Warning is received. I, Zima, will make that he know better. And any we meet.” She looked at Mish again. “Hurt runs deep.” She looked at them once more. “Do you, Keeper, know the Green Murder?”

There was a small ‘hmm’ of thought from Keeper as he considered the question. “Who’s that? I haven’t met them personally yet. Maybe if you tell me about them it’ll jog my memory.”

She became an eagle in flight. “Mish says green bird. Large. Terrible. She spoke anger. Kill many bjork. Many young.” She became a small bjork kit looking up at the Keeper with large eyes. “Is why he hunts Green Murder.”

It was with a degree of sadness that Keeper shook his head. “I have many kin and we generally have many different forms and names. All I can say for certain is that this was not the work of the Lord of Parasites, the Master of the Hunt, the Mistress of Destruction or myself. While it is true that all of us are able to inflict chaos and destruction as our duties and whims dictate, this Green Murder’s methods run counter to their desires and goals.”

“The Lord of Parasites’s hunger is great, but they prefer their meal being consumed over a period of time. The Master of the Hunt would not be involved in a messy mass slaughter, even more so when the target cannot offer a challenge by fleeing or fighting back. The Mistress of Destruction, despite her title, takes her duty seriously and strives only to test; She would have made it clear that she was only doing it to test if the bjork were strong and adaptable enough to survive in the world with no hate or anger behind her actions.” Keeper explained, before offering a small smile of their own.

“As for myself… I didn’t do it. Not only is the fact that I value my word and hate lies more than enough proof of that statement, but I can assure you that your companion would know if I had done it or not. A green eagle is such a tacky form to take after all.”

Zima shrugged. "Obvious. You are different shaped. Not green. You kill with song, not talon and tooth. Is there more to give now or would you leave before he awakes?" Zima asked, becoming like a cold serpent, somewhat reminiscent of a certain heat goddess if any knew. "He will be angry and attack you, I know. Safe for you, not for him. Understand?"

Keeper tilted his head in confusion. “What do you mean, kill with a song? I’m willing to accept that I might be something of an amateur when it comes to playing music but I honestly can’t help but think you’re being a bit over dramatic by claiming I’m so bad people who hear it die.”

The question about if they planned to stay until Mish-Cheechel’s awakening was a valid one though as Keeper rolled their shoulders a bit. “I think I might as well take my leave. I’ve done what I came here to do and as amusing as it would be to continue to come up with ways to protect myself, that would kind of be counterproductive to the whole ‘helping him keep his oath’ thing. Tell him I would wish him luck, but Luck is dead and buried.”

Zima became the flute he held. "Flute." She said. "Killed with song. Through heart." She became the small dove again. "I mean no disrespect Keeper. I will pass message along."

There was a moment of understanding as Keeper made an ‘oh’ noise before looking at the flute in their hand. “Oh right… that was a thing.” And with little more than a shrug the equine turned to trot away at a calm and steady pace, offering a final wave as they departed. “Take care little one. I’m sure there will be others keeping an eye on you and your friend as the performance continues.”

Zima said nothing else as the Keeper left and went back to circling over Mish's body. Not long after, the mighty bulk of the cave bear came and sat down next to Mish and nuzzled his body as a bear might nuzzle as a newborn cub.

"There there Bear.” Zima cooed. “Mish will be okay. Just angry. Very angry.” She twirled above their heads in the shape of a fire. “None shall now stop his vengeance."

Summary

Mish and Zima travel some more, Zima learns to talk better like the newborn spirit she is. Mish is basically dying from lack of sleep and food but his vengeance still burns. Soon enough animals begin to stampede, running past them as if fleeing something. This spooks Zima, who begins to act strange. Eventually they begin to hear music and more animals acting strange, as if trying to drown the music out. The two begin to leave upon Bear but stop when Aethel comes forth in the form of a pony/human with a flute. Some talk begins and Mish blasts their performance as absolutely terrible, which then prompts Aethel to run him through the heart with their flute, killing him. Not to worry though, after a tense talk with ZIma it is revealed Mish is now cursed for all time, until his quest for vengeance is sated. Zima and Aethel, whose name to them is Keeper of the flute or something, talk some more before parting ways. Leaving Zima and Bear to await Mish’s awakening.

Vigor Costs

1 Vigor to make Mish a Champion.

Aethel blesses/curses Mish: 5 Vigor all up.
1 Vigor in order to make it so Mish doesn’t need to eat or drink in order to survive or function effectively.
1 Vigor so that Mish doesn’t need sleep in order to survive or function effectively.
2 Vigor so that Mish can die or be killed in just about any horrible manner one can think of and despite being dead, his body will simply regenerate and he’ll return to life in due time.
1 Vigor for a hidden feature. [spoiler]In the event that Mish kills the ‘Green Murder’, her godly shard will be transported safely and intact to Aethel[/spoiler]

Spirit

Zima started with 4 spirit

+2 for post
=6 spirit

Mish-Cheechel is now a champion. Started with 0 spirit

+2 for post

= 2 Spirit

Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk. VI

Aethel

Interacting with:@King of Rats Yesaris @Double Capybara indirectly.

The plains stretched on...too long. Yesaris was starting to get bored of them all things considered. That painful hunger in their stomach had barely subsided even with their work, it made them wonder if more direct feedings were needed. They would have to think on that, for now, they just trudged along, their hooded form walking through the endless plains, their tail swishing about, continuously kicking up the dirt and grass that laid out behind them.

The hooded figure would not find themselves alone for long. Exactly when the state of affairs changed was hard to pinpoint exactly, but one moment Yesaris would have been walking alone… and in the next a colorful, poofy figure would be trotting slowly beside them, glancing around with an air of wonder for a moment as they admired the scenery before focusing their attention on their new company. “Hello kin. Forgive me for not knowing your name, but you are the sibling I’ve been looking for.”

Yesaris jumped in shock, hissing at the sudden appearance of their sibling. It took them a moment to compose themselves and get a good look at the, eccentric, form next to them now.
”You look for Yesaris? Who are you?”

There was a brief moment where the eyes of the equine being went wide before one of their hooves met their forehead… not where the horns were, of course. “Oh how silly of me. My name is Aethel. As much as I would like to say that I’m going around, introducing myself to my family just for the sake of it…” a sigh escaped them “...Alas, I have sought you out because one of our siblings has been terribly rude to me and in my planning to extract just retribution against them, the scheme I deemed most suitable seems to cross into your domain.”

Aethel smiled at their hooded brother as they finished “I did not wish to be rude by going ahead with it without seeking your counsel and approval first.”

Suffice to say, the god of parasites was, confused, but hey, at least this was some form of entertainment. Even if their stomach was still yelling its disapproval at the lack of food.
”We see…You wish to use our spawn for revenge scheme? What is scheme? Yesaris would like to know before agreeing.”

Aethel nodded, the urge to move sinking into their tendrils as they swayed in winds both physical and unseen. “A wise and fair decision. One of our siblings by the name of Tuku Llantu decided to steal a branch from the great tree I created while I was sleeping after its creation. Now, had they decided to ask me for a branch I would have been more then happy to offer one as a present for a sibling, but instead they decided to steal from me. That cannot be allowed to stand.”

“Since our mutual sibling is the deity of the hunt, naturally I decided that the best way to get back at them was to find a way to ruin the hunting experience. However, I must confess that a lot of my early plans were a bit… overzealous in their scale and design.” The fact that Aethel was willing to admit that and actually looked bashful about it said a lot about what those earlier plans might have been.

“However, after some consideration… I came up with a simple yet, might I say, brilliant plan. I want to work with you to create a special kind of your spawn that actively seeks out the kinds of animals that a hunter would strive for. Healthy, strong, covered in useful things like fur and skin and meat… and hijack their minds so that they actively seek out the hunter as docile and harmless as a baby, presenting themselves to be slaughtered. Take the thrill of the hunt and the stories it creates away from it.”

Looking rather pleased with themselves, Aethel did add “Of course, I’m certain that you can already think of a number of ways that your spawn could benefit and thrive by doing their part in this scheme. After all, I’m not going to ask you to help with this and not let you benefit somehow. That would be rude.”

”We see” Yesaris nodded, the ever present smile of their teeth having never faded whatsoever. They thought about the proposal, the hunger reminding them of the sustenance that could come from it. ”We can agree to this, the mere existence of more of our spawn will appease Yesaris and our, hunger.” They turned their head upwards towards their kin, the slasher-like smile still there.

Aethel took a seat on the ground, allowing them to free up their two front legs so that they could clap their hooves together in joy. “Wonderful! I’m happy to mix some of my power with yours in order to infuse these new spawn properly, but since this is your field I feel it is only fitting to let you take the lead in our joint project.”

”Very well, we can do that.” They opened their mouth, and began to make heaving sounds. Eventually, a thick mass of white goo emerged, and plopped into one of their hands. They briefly brought it up to their face to inspect, before squishing and stretching it with all four of their arms, until it took a new form, thousands of protosoa, all clumped together. "There we go, that should be a good form, small, so hard to see, able to docile a beast in order to spread, but, will need to recognize proper hosts and hunters." They handed the mass over to Aethel, implying that's where they came in.

The deity of Mana did not take the mass of protosoa from Yesaris physically, instead accepting them via grasping the ball in a soft, mind telepathy as the ball hovered in the air before the equine. Selecting the kinds of hosts they should be striving to find was somewhat difficult at first due to the knowledge that the world was still in the early stages of creation and flux; Even if they knew every viable animal that the hunters of the world would desire by name, more would almost certainly be added in the near future. So instead Aethel focused on traits.

Some traits were easier than others. Animals that would be suitable for resources like meat or their pelts would provide clear targets for hosts, but the concept of trophy or glory hunting and the creatures that would play a starring role in such events were somewhat harder to convey. In the end, Aethel came to what they believed was the only real workable solution for long term success; The spawn would start off with a general idea of what traits to look for in a host, but they needed to be smart and observant enough to notice what kind of creatures were being hunted in their local area and why… and then using that information to adapt and seek out ideal hosts for their local region.

The ball of the spawn seemed to glow as it was infused and altered by Aethel’s influenced… before at last the glow subsided and the ball was floated back to Yesaris. “They have some basic values to look for, but I believe I’ve given them enough intelligence to properly adapt and grow into their role wherever they might end up.”

"Perfect, now come big question, where shall they go? We are unsure of where this kin of the hunt frequents, so might be best to spread it around a bit." They cradled the ball in their hand, seemingly checking on it to ensure it was still suitable for the task.

Aethel nodded their head in agreement at the assessment. “That seems like the best idea brother. Do you wish for the honor of naming them?”

Yesaris turned to look at the ball of parasites in their hand ”Hmmm, lets see...let us call them, Hunt’s Bane!” They seemed quite pleased with that name, and looked back towards their strange looking kin for approval.

A small, almost musical chuckle filled the air as Aethel answered back “Yes, that fits them perfectly. Thank you for the assistance, Yesaris.” Offering his kin a polite bow on top of their thanks, the equine quickly corrected themselves before saying “As much of a pleasure as this is, there is at least one other creature I need to pay a visit to before I head home. You might have heard their vow in fact… they did make it in all of our names after all.”

When compared to Aethel’s musical chuckle, Yesaris’ was far more harsh, almost akin to the buzzing of an angry swarm. ”Yes yes, Yesaris heard, we care not for that thing, barely even worth getting food from, we look forward to seeing their quest though, should be quite fun. Why you care for such creature?”

Aethel almost looked shocked by the question, as if it had never occurred to them to ask themselves before. “Because they gave their word to me and the least I can do is make sure they have the means to keep it. To break a promise once made is a terrible thing after all.” There didn’t seem to be any ill will to the equine’s words; A promise had been made to them and they intended to hold the maker accountable to it.

For their part, Yesaris merely shrugged ”As good reason as any, Yesaris sees no purpose in holding that vow, vengeful mortal is fool, will just be food for something else, but Kin Aethel is free to do as they wish.” They brought the ball of Hunt’s Bane up to their face once more ”Suppose should let spawn have their fun,” And with that utterance they tossed the ball upwards, allowing it to explode, sending the protozoa within across the sky, off to find their homes in the reaches of the world.

”Does Kin Aethel have anything more of Yesaris?

For their part, Aethel politely shook their head. “This has been more than enough brother. It has been a pleasure working with you and if you ever find yourself venturing near my tree, you’re more than welcome to stop by and visit.”

Yesaris nodded ”We shall keep that in mind, for now, we shall return to our feast.” Yesaris offered an, incredibly, clumsy bow, before trudging once more into the plains, intent on whatever this feast was.

With business concluded and the social niceties used for the time being, Aethel politely parted ways with their sibling, their need for vengeance against the Deity of the Hunt satisfied as they now focused on visiting one who had made an ill advised vow.

Summary

Yesaris was just minding their own business when Aethel pops in to have a visit. After the two have a pleasant chat and Aethel discusses their idea for a collab project to spite Tuku Llantu for stealing from them, the two work together in order to create 'Hunt's Bane', a breed of parasite designed to seek out and get into the heads of animals most likely to be hunted and rewire their brains so that they just walk up to their hunters without fight or flight in mind, waiting to be killed and removing the thrill of the hunt from the experience.

Once their work is done and the new life forms are sent out into the world, Aethel and Yesaris part on good terms.

Vigor

Yesaris, due to using vigor for their aspect, has the price discounted from 1 to 0.
Aethel spends 1 vigor so that the 'Hunt's Bane' parasites can be smart enough to work out which animals they should target in their local region and adapting as required going forward.

Aethel has 5 Vigor remaining for this cycle.

The Masque of the Dragon || Fantasy Dragons hiding among Humans

And up goes the Droka post.

The Masque of the Dragon || Fantasy Dragons hiding among Humans

Droka
Near Whistle Hill

There had been several layers of wisdom to Droka's illusionary distraction. The first and most basic had been as an intimidation tactic, since as far as humans seemed to be aware dragons were little more then mindless, destructive beasts with a great deal of power behind them and thus any sane bandit in this situation would have recognized that the village and everything in it was doomed so they should grab what they could and run while the fire breathing lizard was distracted because you couldn't enjoy your spoils if you burst into flame. The Marauders were not doing this.

The second layer was to bait out exactly what kind of arsenal the Marauders had access too. Any militant force that was confident enough in their ability to try and take on a dragon head on would, logically, revel their trump card as soon as possible because the kind of zealotry required to knowingly throw ones life away trying to stall an overwhelming enemy was difficult to instill in the average solder. While its doubtful the illusion would actually survive any actual attack sent at it, baiting the enemy to revel what they had that might counter a dragon did mean that 1) He now knew what it was. 2) It had just been used to try and attack a fake dragon, so if it was a spell or a weapon it might need time to recharge or reload. 3) Whatever it was, it was now facing the opposite direction of an actual dragon. This also didn't happen, but this could be attributed to the fog cover someone had created.

The third layer, connected to the second, was the discovery of information. These men had heard that there would be dragons here, protecting the village. Granted, the fact that they clung to this idea despite the fact that the only dragon they had clearly seen had made its entrance by attacking said village suggested the humans in question were a bit one minded and stupid, but this betrayed that they had been sent here for more then just to raid and pillage; They had been sent to confirm or dispel the rumors.

With this in mind, Droka did not jump into the defense of Whistle Hill. Instead he stalked off in order to scout out and prowl the surrounding area instead. The fog cover of the village meant that he didn't need to put anywhere near as much detail or effort into maintaining the illusionary dragon as before since all he really needed to project was a vague outline in the smoke, loud hangry roaring and the occasional burst of bright, fire like light in order to maintain the illusion that there was a angry dragon present.

Droka now had two goals in mind. The first was to ensure that none of the scouting marauders who would flee Whistle Hill (and considering the number of masked creatures and unmasked dragons who were subtly defending the place, that rout was likely to start soon enough) escaped with their lives. The only thing a dead scout reported to their master was that an area was dangerous. The second was more a theory, but if these scouts had been sent in by their commander with the foreknowledge that there was a good chance they would not be coming back, an effective bastard would ensure that there were other scouts a safe distance away from the village, observing what happened to the group being sent in. If this was the case, they needed to be hunted down and killed before they could flee into the night.

Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk. VI

Aethel

Location: The Tree of Harmony
Interacting with:@Double Capybara indirectly.

Having slept since shortly after their impact with the planet of Galbar, Aethel had been blind to the developments and progress of the planet around them as their counterparts and kin went to work. The booming proclamation of the Monarch of All caused a brief stir from their slumber, but rather then break from sleep they instead merely turned over on their branch and drifted back off again. In the end it was Ruina's mental warning that finally made the sleeping deity open their eyes... even if it was with a degree of grumbling as they slowly rolled off their side in order to rise back onto their hooves with a yawn.

Feeling newly invigorated, Aethel considered the possibility of improving upon the activity of sleep. They had just started to debate with themself how this could best be done with they suddenly stopped moving completely. Whatever good cheer that had been on their face had disappeared in an instant as they slowly turned their head towards a seemingly random direction before, with barely the slightest twinge of one of their legs, they blurred from one section of their tree to another.

A part in which two branches had been gnawed off.

Aethel glared at the defilement of their creation with an intensity that might have threatened to set something on fire if they cared to do so... but as they sniffed the air a softly muttered "I smell a rat." escaped their lips before their senses reached out across the planet, scouring it for... there.

In a blur, Aethel disappeared and left their tree behind completely.

.................................................................................

As Aethel reappeared, there was a sudden surprised squeak before one of their hooves pinned the squeaker down onto the ground; Not in a harmful way at the moment, but firmly enough to not only keep the subject pinned underhoof, but make it very clear that a fatal amount of pressure could be applied at Aethel's leisure. For their part, Aethel took a look around at the plant life around them before at last they turned their attention downwards towards The Rat that was currently pinned.

Leaning down so they didn't have to speak loudly, Aethel offered a predatory smile as they said "Hello there little one. My name is Aethel. I would say that it is a pleasure to meet you under any other circumstance, but right now I'm rather frustrated. After all, you broke into my home and stole what was mine. I admit, the only reason you're currently still alive is because I can only detect one of the branches you stole from me. So here is the deal I am willing to offer you, my dear little rat: You tell me where the other branch is hidden and I'll give you a shift end. If you tell me how you managed to reach my tree in the first place and how you've hidden the other branch from me, I'll let you live with no repercussion for your actions."

The Rat gazed into Aethel's eyes with a mixture of fear and hate, tempted to defy the Deity of Magic's requests at the cost of her own life out of spite. However, with her unborn children at risk of never being born, The Rat gulped as she closed her eyes and spoke the truth. "A-After you murdered my husband, I went to my creator Tuku Llantu for help. In exchange for letting me have children alone, Tuku Llantu asked me to steal one of the branches of your tree for him...w-which I did. He gave me a necklace that allowed me to get to your tree... and I took a second branch for myself because the only reason you were able to make that tree was by killing my husband!"

For a moment after that loud, angry squeak, The Rat believed that she was going to die. Despite the word of the deity not to harm her if she told the truth, she had her doubts about the murderer of her husband. So when the hoof was removed from her body, she tensed up for it to come back down again before daring to open her eyes when the stomp didn't come.

Aethel themself gazed down at the rodent in contemplation... before shrugging and saying "You know what? Fair enough. I put you in this situation and Tuku Llantu took advantage of it. In fact... as payment for taking your husband from you..." Aethel's eyes seemed to glow for a moment as he gazed at The Rat... before she herself glowed briefly. "...There. Because of the part your husband played in my bringing Mana to this world, you and your children will always have access to it to use as you see fit. Now if you'll excuse me..."

And with barely a blur, Aethel was gone. They needed to think about how to respond to Tuku's actions properly.

Summary

Aethel wakes up. Aethel quickly discovers that someone has stolen branches from their tree and track one of the branches back to the thief, The Rat. Making The Rat a deal not to kill her if she told them how she got to the tree to steal the branches in the first place, coupled with how she was hiding the other branch from him. In fear of her unborn children, The Rat told Aethel everything, including Tuku Llantu's involvement and why she went to him in the first place.

Not only did Aethel keep their word to spare The Rat, but considering that they had sacrificed the first male rat to create black/death mana to give to the world, Aethel gave The Rat and her future children the boon of being able to wield Mana naturally however they saw fit.

Aethel then leaves to plan his vengeance against Tuku Llantu.

Vigor

7 Vigor.

1 Vigor spent to bless rat kind with the ability to naturally use Mana (Since this is apart of Aethel's domain/aspect, the blessing is likely 2 or 3 points of Vigor strong rather then just single point of Vigor.)

6 Vigor remaining.

The Masque of the Dragon || Fantasy Dragons hiding among Humans

Sorry for the delay. Was distracted by Real Life. I'll get a post up as soon as I can.

Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk. VI

Aethel

Location: The Celestial Palace.
Interacting with: Ruina @Squad 404 (Briefly)
Mentioning: Pretty much everyone else.

Aethel was happy and supportive of their new best friend. Ruina was amazing in just about every way. They got to watch her go and rain down a beautiful display of destruction and... well, not really death since they were pretty sure there wasn't anything living on the planet below just yet that could have been caught up in the various blasts Ruina created but it sounded like a good sentence in their mind all the same. The explosions and the holes in which water refused to flow into where you could see land really blended well with the rings of ice and salt that had been created when they hadn't really been looking.

As Ruina returned and seemed to wander off for the depths of the Palace, Aethel offered her a sitting ovation so that they could use their front and mid hooves to clap them together at the same time in applause. If nothing else, at least one being enjoyed her work.

Of course, this was just a fleeting distraction from the seething rage that was shimmering at their core. Below the smile and the good cheer as they witnessed their counterparts, kin and companions arrive and start putting things into motion, Aethel was livid! The Monarch of All, their lord and father... had rudely brushed them off without a word. Not just them either, but everyone who had been polite and respectful enough to greet the Monarch had also been ignored as well. There would have to be a reckoning for that because there was nothing worse then being rude, but that could wait.

They still had a job to do after all... and while the Monarch hadn't exactly given them permission to do as they requested, they hadn't objected either which under the circumstances Aethel was going to take as consent. They did ask after all.

For a moment they considered how best to go about this... before an idea came to mind. An awful idea. A wonderfully, terribly awful idea.

Taking an overly dramatic deep breath, Aethel followed the example of some of their kin in making their announcement audible to the rest of the divines. "Ladies, Gentlemen, Boys and Girls and that techno colored rainbow in-between! I am Aethel! I am here to announce a once in Galbar's lifetime event! Due to the nature of this performance, please be advised to wait until after the show is over before attempting to add life to the planet. Granted there is a chance it will survive, but it will almost certainly be greatly distressed. Without further ado..."

Their announcement given, Aethel took another breath before closing their eyes and focusing on the task at hoof. It took a moment before anything visibly started to happen, but as the greenery around Aethel started to sway as the wind picked up that changed quickly. The invisible strands of wind mana were the first to answer the call, easily swirling within the orb that was forming in front of their deity. It would soon by joined by other colors; The waters that Ao-Yurin left behind contributed a blue mana while the plants of the palace easily contributed green. The chaotic energies of themself and their more... passionate kin turned red as it joined the maelstrom of mana that was forming, while those more subdued and orderly provided a milky white mana to the mixture. One of Tuku's rodents that happened to be poking around the throne at the wrong time was suddenly crashed as if by an invisible hand, the life draining from their broken body as quickly as tar like black mana was pulled into the chaos.

These were only the first colors to join the orb of swirling energy. Simple base colors at first, but more complex ones quickly joined the mixture; Soon there were colors joining that Aethel was pretty sure that even some of the other deities couldn't actually comprehend or understand, such as Norh and Victear (Both of which required a mind that was unshackled from certain fundamental concepts to even be able to see).

As the orb of impossible swirling colors and mana inflated to a truly astounding size, Aethel grimaced in concentration and with a noise that was... difficult to describe with words, started to force the massive orb smaller and smaller, forcefully compressing it until it was little more then a rainbow colored ball small enough for Aethel to fit in their mouth without having to alter their form in the slightest with an audible nom and swallow it down.

For a second, nothing happened. Then with the cracking of the palace stone underneath them Aethel expanded in an instant until they were a overly large sphere shape. Their head stuck out, alongside all six of their hooves which appeared rather useless as their respective legs seemed to have been lost in the ball that was the rest of their body. Seemingly unable to speak with their cheeks puffed out, Aethel opened their eyes again with a glint of determination as they focused solely on Galbar. The various, uncountable tentacles and tendrils along their side reached out... and seemed to grasp onto the very air itself in order to find anchor points to heft their bloated master off the ground.

As the spherical Aethel dangled in mid air, their tendrils slowly started to rock them back and forth, quickly building up speed and momentum before, with a combined effort of all of the countless tentacles, Aethel was launched towards Galbar. At first progress was slow but within seconds the equine turned missile picked up further momentum to impossible speeds as they crossed the distance between the Celestial Palace and the planet within mere seconds. Hitting the newly developed atmosphere, Aethel only expired the heat and flare of entry for a slim few seconds before impacting with water and being driven through it with barely the slightest hint of resistance. Leaving behind all light, Aethel hit several different substances beneath the water layer before finally coming to a complete stop... before at last tilting their head back just enough that the larger of their two horns could prick their swollen body.

From the surface, Aethel had hit the water at the top most part of Galbar so quickly and with such unstoppable force that while the center of the impact site seemed to create a hole in the water that went down into the depths at the angle that Aethel had hit the water, the sea around where they hit had been pushed down into a bowl of rather impressive size considering that it had been created via sheer force of impact rather then divine intervention. The shock-wave and sound of Aethel's passage was visible and hadn't even left the 'crater' that the ocean hadn't even began trying to reclaim when the 'top' of Galbar started to glow brighter then the Celestial Palace itself.

For 3.14 seconds, the 'top' of Galbar glowed brightly enough that even most deities would have struggled to gaze directly at it. In that space of time, a seed grew into a tree of ginormous size. The mind shatteringly large and complex series of massive roots borrowed deep into Galbar, some even finding purchase in the core of the very planet itself in order to properly anchor the massive titan of a plant that they were supporting while the trunk and branches found themselves occupying continent sized space in a stormy, ocean covered world.

Such a massive thing suddenly existing resulted in a great deal of water, earth, rock and metal suddenly being displaced at very high speed, most of it being launched upward into orbit. What was flung into the sky carelessly at an angle and didn't quite break the force of gravity came back down again and rained down upon Galbar; Considering that Galbar was still in its early stages and didn't have anything on it apart from ocean and land at the bottom of deep pits where the water couldn't fill in anymore, ton after ton of water and earthly material raining down did little more then add an interesting display to the chaotic rocking of the oceans surface in the form of pockmarks... unless it landed in one of Ruina's holes in the ocean of course, in which case they got just that little bit shallower than they were before.

With the Tree established, the light that created it surged outwards in a ring that would, within the hour, pass over all of Galbar. Wherever it passed, Mana flowed and sunk into the very nature of the world itself, infusing itself with all aspects of existence that it could and each different color of Mana setting into their proper place as best it could. When the circle reached the 'bottom' of Galbar, instead of canceling out it would instead invert and cover the globe again before finally fading once it reached the Tree that was its point of origin.

As the tree stood proudly above the ocean that was even now rushing back in and covering the lower part of the trunk and the start of the root network, from the topmost branches Aethel rose into the air and turned towards where the Celestial Palace stood before giving the bow of a performer at the end of their act. Holding the pose for a few seconds, Aethel righted themself... and promptly fell backwards to disappear under the leaves of the Tree. By the time they landed on their back in one of the larger branches, they were already out cold.

Summary

Aethel shows Ruina support because she is their best friend and she's awesome.
Halfheartedly pays attention to the various other deities and swears a grudge against the Monarch of All for being so rude to not just them, but all of the deities with his behavior.
Creates and introduces Mana to Gilbar, alongside creating 'The Tree of Harmony' in order to manage said Mana naturally in such a bizarre, insane manner that the Summary cannot do it proper justice. One of Tuku's palace rats was killed in the process.
Aethel has a nap.
Also launched a shit ton of raw, mana infused material up into orbit that may or may not be used in the project of another deity.

Vigor

Cycle 0 Vigor total: 10.
Vigor Spent:
7 Vigor: The creation of Mana on Gilbar and the massive, continent sized 'Tree of Harmony' that will play a vital role in managing it going forward. Due to this being their primary aspect, 7 Vigor is going to have a lot more bang for the buck then normal.
3 Vigor: Launching a ton of raw, mana infused material into Gilbar's orbit in order to assist with Project Moon. Said Moon will have Mana of its own.

Vigor left: 0