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The Insane Scholar

STATUS: Sorry for my lack of posts lately. I've just... been struggling to get the energy to write something up. I'm trying some new meds through so hopefully that will change soon. 7 yrs ago
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7 yrs ago
Current Sorry for my lack of posts lately. I've just... been struggling to get the energy to write something up. I'm trying some new meds through so hopefully that will change soon.
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In Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk. VI → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Raethel Norvegicus and the Rattus People


It had taken another day and a bit of rest in order for Raethel to recover enough from the expenditure of the ritual in order to leave the barrow and seek out his people... or at least those Rattus that hadn't left either for the existing outposts or to join in on the rush to claim homes on the opposite side of the river. There was evidence of a great feast that had taken place in the food areas; A celebration of the success of the ritual and the good tidings that it offered them going forward undertaken in the only manner that they currently knew how.

While normally Raethel would have been enraged by the fact that so much of their stores of food had been used up without his permission, under the circumstances he was willing to let it slide. The occasion was a great one that deserved some kind of event to praise it... and not all of the food for the feast had come from their stores. While it had only been a couple of days since the other bank had been opened to them, already a number of new plants had been discovered that had proven edible and interesting. So far the most numerous and welcomed discovers had been two different kinds of fruit trees and a root vegetable that seemed to grow a strongly odored bulb that was tasty in its own right, but those Rattus who had taken a shine to preparing food theorized that it's true calling might be in enhancing the flavor of other foodstuffs. Other discoveries, like a tall yellow grass that was producing some kind of grain, were promising through exactly to make proper use of it hadn't been figured out just yet.

If there was one benefit of all this, it was that there had been enough Rattus who had simply been relaxing after gouging themselves on food around that enough of them could just be rolled into the local meeting area so that the matter that Aethel had passed down could be discussed properly... even if there were some complaints about being sleepy or feeling bloated. Said complaints died down fairly quickly once the meeting got underway properly and they actually heard what was going to be discussed... through in the case of the bloated, some belches and passing of gas went a long way to help as well.

As was expected once the options were presented and the floor was opened for Rattus to speak up and have a say, Rattus started to exercise the right to talk and make their opinions heard. Fairly quickly, three relatively equal groups formed among the body, each supporting a different course of action and championing their respective decision for which of Aethel's great tasks their people should dedicate themselves to performing first. A fourth group was also formed, made up a mixture of Rattus who hadn't made up their mind of which of the three options to choose or believed that resources should be dedicated to all three at once.

This latter point was the first point of debate among the crowd, through a relatively short one in that the heat of the sky was still in the same half of the sky when a final decision was reached; The final agreement was that while all three quests from Aethel were important to the future of the Rattus as a people, trying to pursue all three at once was simply not viable due to the grand scale of each individual quest. There was simply not enough rat power and resources to perform all three at once in a reasonable time frame. The idea that two of these quests could be pursued at the same time was floated and was tentatively agreed to be a valid option for them to pursue, but there were clearly some uneasy grumbles about the idea due to it stretching resources to the absolute limit.

The rest of the first day was carried out under the assumption that only one project was going to be pursued at a given time; An order of priority needed to be worked out so that in the event they did decide to push to pursue two of these quests at once, they would know which two were deemed the more important to the Rattus as a people. Most of this first day wasn't spent discussing the matter itself as it was working out the ground rules for how the discussion would be carried out the next day, allowing for word to get around that the debate was happening to those who weren't present so that even if they couldn't attend themselves, they could still send representatives or messages about what they wanted to happen... as well as messages sent to them with abridged, key point versions of what was being discussed so they could make an informed decision. It also allowed those present a chance to figure out the points they wished to discuss and how to discuss them.

The debates proper began on the second day. Each side would be allowed a number of speakers selected by their own group in order to represent points they wanted made to the best of their abilities since letting hundreds of Rattus speak would not only be highly time consuming, but the same points would almost certainly crop up again and again. It was agreed that counter-arguments would be handled the next day, since it would give time for proper thought about them to be made, through once a speaker was finished talking questions could be asked of them in order to clarify something or express additional information on a subject. While silence was expected while a speaker was talking, a request to interrupt so that a question for clarification or more detailed information could be made to Raethel who didn't have to allow it but was prone to doing so provided the person in question did so politely.

The process itself started off rocky but, as the hours passed Raethel found that he needed to step in to correct or sharply remind someone of the rules they had all agreed to less and less as understanding and experience removed some of the awkwardness and simple mistakes. The speakers were proven well chosen from all groups, as by the end of day all of them had made strong cases for each of Aethel's quests being given the priority. The third day carried on much like the second, with each of the speakers making strong cases and matter of which to pick remaining in deadlock.

However, Raethel had an idea to try and help break the deadlock. Namely, he requested at the end of the third day that each group should select some new speakers to present their arguments for the next day. The hope being that having new speakers would offer new perspectives into the issues at paw and a refocus on the issues rather then the crowd being won over by the personalities of the current speakers. In order to avoid harming the egos of the original speakers, Raethel added for their benefit (and because it was true) that all of them had done an amazing job and had championed their causes wonderfully... the issue being that with all of them being so passionate about the subject and clearly talented when it came to presenting their points verbally, he could already foresee that the sky would change many times before anything like a victor presented itself. In return for stepping down as speaker, they would be asked to join Raethel to help judge and discuss the matter further as future speakers make their points.

On the fourth day, with the former speakers joining Raethel as lesser judges while the new speakers stepped forward, the deadlock finally broke. It was a close thing, but in the end the plea to expand Rattus influence over the rest of their homeland managed to win enough support to take the priority. Figuring out how to develop a means of safely sailing upon the greater, salty waters beyond the river fell into second place, since the argument that in the face of the challenges that the great salty water was going to present when it came to the development of their water craft would, by their nature, result in improvements to the designs and construction methods of their current water crafts that were sailing on the river as a whole. The mysteries of the mountains would have to wait for the time being.

With the matter settled, Raethel called the meeting to a close... and planning for how they intended to tame the desert would need to begin.



In Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk. VI → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Raethel Norvegicus and the Rattus People


The days that followed the ritual were...interesting in their combination of quietness and activity.

The ritual itself had been physically taxing on all three hundred participants, including Raethel, all of whom needed some time to rest and recover from the ordeal. As such they were helped down into the nearby barrows so that they could get the rest they needed, with those Rattus making sure they got things to eat and water to drink being respectfully quiet in order to allow those who were sleeping to sleep.

The river itself was a frenzy of activity. The original plan of action against the water monsters had demanded a great number of water craft be produced and water had been produced in great numbers prior to the change in plans from a cleansing extermination to conversion via magical ritual. After a few brave Rattus had sailed out in order to test if the ritual had worked and not come under attack via water monster, even after landing on the opposite bank and walking up to one of the creatures to touch them, a sizeable number of Rattus had jumped at the chance to hop on a water craft and explore the new world that had opened up now that the river wasn't contested and the opposite bank wasn't a death sentence to explore anymore.

The only thing that stopped a tide of Rattus from running up to the nearest water monster and touching them was the presence of the few followers of the green wind that hadn't taken part in the ritual itself and were thus still in a condition to actually be active. While the animals were no longer inherently hostile to the Rattus and even instinctively liked them now, they stressed the point that the water monsters were still wild animals who could be dangerous if they felt the need to be and swarming them seemed like a fast way to make them want to defend themselves.

So within days of the ritual, outposts had been claimed and set up on the new side of the river, effectively doubling the amount of ground that the Rattus had held previously. The followers of the wind of nature and life were the ones to set up outposts near to where the water monsters tended to live through; While originally few in number, as ritualists started to recover those numbers were bolstered quickly.

Out of all the Rattus, the followers of the green wind were the most in-tune with the natural world... and that included its animal residences. As such, they were the ones who were going to be given the duty of taming the water monsters proper. While the ritual had done the heavy lifting in this regard due to outright removing the creatures natural aggression towards the Rattus and replacing it with more positive instincts, a better relationship with the grey creatures would require time and effort to establish.

It was on the second day that Raethel awakened... and it was with surprise that when he did, Aethel was waiting beside him. The deity couldn't help but smile as they said "You know... I remember saying rather recently that I was looking forward to seeing just how you, and I use the term you to describe the Rattus in general, were going to handle this situation with the water monsters. I will freely admit that I didn't know fully what to expect... but I must say I'm quiet proud of what you've ended up doing in the end. Well done."

There was a moment were Raethel was speechless. While the god of magic was a polite entity, it was still nice to receive praise from the entity that had helped uplift him from the existence he had before. When he tried to say something, words failed to come out of his mouth; His throat was completely dry as sleeping for at least two days had prevented him from drinking in that time. Aethel for their part politely waved the effort to talk off. "Do not worry. I will be brief and then I'll let you get some rest. Since you've proven to me that you've taken those lessons to heart and are able to survive without a god watching over your shoulders, I'm going to let you have your space and start roaming again. I'll stop by every now and then and I'm able to hear your prayers to me if something that you need a deity to deal with on turns up, but I think you'll largely do alright under your own leadership."

Clearing their throat a little, Aethel chuckled as they decided to continue "There is one last thing I will leave you through. Direction. I've spent some time recently debating with myself to give you a quest in much the same way as the god of darkness did. However, I've found myself with three good ideas that would in turn be beneficial for you and your people to pursue, if you didn't consider such ideas on your own anyway. However, then I decided that instead of picking one and forcing it upon you... I might offer all three to you and you may pursue them at your own pace in whatever order you desire. It's not like they have a time limit or anything."

"The three quests I bestow upon the Rattus people are as follows, to be pursued in whatever order the Rattus deem fit. The first is that They are to spread beyond the confines of their river home and claim the rest of their homeland as their own. The second is that they will discover a means to sail upon the great expanse of water that the river runs to and sail out to discover a land that is not apart of their original homeland. The third will be to find a means to defeat the mountains at the start of the river in order to allow Rattus to pass them safely and explore whatever lays on the other side." All of this was said with a surprisingly serious voice... and once it was done Aethel offered a playful wink. "I don't expect you to achieve any of these anytime soon. But I'm sure it'll keep you all busy for a good while. Take care Raethel and rest well."

With Aethel having ended their one sided conversation, they turned and walked out of the room. Where they went after that, Raethel couldn't say... but his eyes boggled at the tasks that had been presented before him and the Rattus as a whole. Oh boy...







In Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk. VI → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Raethel Norvegicus and the Rattus People


While there were many different truths in the world that could be argued about, there was one that the Rattus as a whole were able to agree on as a fact: The water monsters on the other side of the river were a major threat that needed to be dealt with if their people were ever going to be safe to claim the river as their birthright and home. Too many Rattus had already died due to the creatures naked, mindless aggression, with what few survivors that manage to escape baring scars on both body and mind due to the brutality of the attacks.

Raethel had foreseen that rushing blindly into battle, even if fueled by righteous fury, would be a disaster. The water monsters as individuals possessed enough raw power to easily kill and maim Rattus or water craft that they could close the distance and if they were ever going to deal with the beasts once and for all in a timely manner they would need to attack groups of the creatures... as well as force them out of the water and onto land where they would be somewhat easier to deal with; A grim and difficult prospect rather than outright mass suicide.

And so preparations began. Water craft were produced in great numbers with the assistance of the Rattus with an affinity for the wind of nature and life, channeling the green wind into speeding up the growth cycle of the river reeds so that a new plant could be planted and grown big and strong enough to be harvested for resources within a matter of days. However, much like during the original food crisis that they had offered relief to at the dawn of their kind, these students of the green wind insisted on limiting the degree of which they meddled with the affairs of the land; They did not wish for the ground to be pushed so hard as to damage it and there would be a period after this matter was dealt with where the river banks would be allowed to rest and recover.

Even while scouts went out to mark just where along the river the water monsters favored to live and call their own, the followers of the green wind found themselves being divided in such a manner that it called the whole operation into question. While all were in tune with the wind of nature and life, when it to the upcoming battles and extermination of the water monsters there was differences of opinion on what they should be doing and why, with three factions forming.

The first group held the viewpoint that nature respected strength and an ability to adapt. To them, if the water monsters were exterminated by the Rattus in their entirety, the matter was simply that of a more successful, willing to adapt to the circumstances species wiping out a species that was both less successful and unwilling to change, with the victor being rewarded with more territory and resources to grow and expanded as nature intended. To them, the situation was no different then if two different species of animal had made homes on opposite sides of the river and, due to both requiring the resources of the river itself, neither species could truly thrive and they would naturally compete with each other until a victor emerged from the battle of survival.

The second group were a bit more... reluctant to just wipe out the water monsters outright. To them, nature was interconnected and removing a part of it just because it was inconvenient risked major consequences to the stability and health of the region. The water monsters, while clearly hostile to the Rattus, still played a role in nature and their removal from the environment completely would have repercussions. However, they were working on an alternative solution to the problem; Having reached out and discussed with some followers of the wind of knowledge, they had discussed and began working on a ritual to...alter the water monsters in a manner that would change them on an instinctive level so that they would lack all hostility towards the Rattus as a people... if not sow the seeds for a more beneficial relationship.

While altering the core values and instincts of the water monsters via magical means was arguably against the natural order of things, the alternative solutions were deemed so terrible by comparison that any doubts of wrong doing were safely dismissed. It also had the benefit, as the champions of this faction put it, that both sides would prosper because of it in the end.

The third and final group took a similar stance to group two in that the water monsters filled some yet unknown role in the grand scheme of the natural order and thus removing them completely was a terrible idea. The difference was that they believed that the current situation was perfectly natural and that they should honestly do nothing to change it. Sure occasionally a boat of Rattus would get unlucky or a water monster would need to be killed, but this was what nature intended.

The arguments were somewhat short lived. While Rattus outside of the followers of the green wind were more then happy to discuss the matters they brought up, Raethel stepped into the middle of one of the debates... and presented the third group with the family and friends of the victims of the first water monster attack... as well as the still somewhat broken Lutreolus and gave the speaker of the third group a challenge. "Look them in the eyes and tell them why you believed their friends and loved ones needed to die."

The third group had always been the smaller of the trio; Big enough to prevent a majority being formed and resulting in a three way gridlock, but nowhere near big enough to form a majority themselves. Raethel's challenge caused many of them to rethink their stance on the matter... and all but one member of the third group abandoned it to join the second to give it a majority. The final member of group three was a Rattus by the name of Bush... but while he remained true to his convictions and stayed true to his beliefs... he didn't look the families and friends on the victims of water monster attacks in the eyes... or try and justify himself and his cause. He silently turned and took a seat, closing his eyes and letting the debate continue without his further input.

With a majority among the followers of the green wind having been reached, Raethel officially threw his support behind the planned ritual. This more or less settled the matter as the path that would be taken going forwards, through in victory most members of the ritual faction were respectful enough not to gloat over it... and generally showed enough respect to listen to the concerns of their peers.



It took time to organize the ritual... both due to having to organize and gather the actual components of it, but also due to the collaboration efforts to actually create it in order to do exactly what they wanted to do. Raethel found himself being a key overseer of the whole thing; While his personal contributions to figuring out the ritual itself were limited as minds more intertwined with nature and the inner workings of the mind proved more valuable, his experience as a leader and manager of their people proved him vital in the logistics side of things, as well as the management of labor. He also proved a wonderful peace maker when tempers flared and egos started to clash.

In the end through, they had managed to bring it all together. All things considered, the end result was surprising simple in design... through the process of making that happen was rather complicated. One hundred and fifty followers of the Green Wind, one hundred and fifty followers of the blue wind, working in concert around six circles dug into the ground with the five outer circles filled with river water... and at the center of the smallest final circle was the head of one of the water monsters, the final circle filled with its blood. With Raethel right beside it to be the final focus of it all.

Two Rattus had died in the effort to kill the water monster in question, but their sacrifice had not been in vain... through actually killing the thing without losing too much blood or damaging the head had proven complicated... let alone transporting the corpse back to the ritual site in a timely manner. But they got it done in the end!

The signal was given as the moon started to rise... and the ritual began in earnest.

It was a quiet thing. No chanting or noise was uttered by the supporting Rattus. Instead they simply started to channel more and more of their respective wind into the ritual circles. It was a beautiful sight, watching as the water of the outer most circle started to glow blue in some places and green in others... until at last the two combined into a brilliant cyan. Once the outermost circle glowed cyan, the process started on the second... then the third. Between each circle being smaller then the last and the general practice the channelers were having, the process grew quicker and more refined until at last they reached the final, blood circle.

While the other five circles glowed cyan, the innermost circle started to glow... Raethel didn't really know. As the green and blue winds mixed with the blood, rather then glowing cyan the three had mixed to create a color that honestly hurt to look at. He didn't know how to even begin describing it. It was as if he was witnessing a previously unknown wind of mana that he had never seen before come into existence, but his senses weren't designed to truly comprehend it. In the end he needed to close his eyes shut in order to partially shield them from the pain as he reached out and grasped the head with both paws and turned it into the final focus for all of the mana that had been poured into the ritual.

Within the span of a second all six glowing circles poured their light into the head of the deceased water monster... and for a moment the world seemed to hold its breath as it glowed brighter then the lights in the sky.

The explosion of mana happened in complete silence as it surged out in a massive, ghostly colored wave that, for a few important seconds as it passed, turned the desert lands for dozens of kilometers around into a pale, beautiful but spooky imitation of the sky when it was lit by its fire. For most creatures, it would simply passed without incident... through it would almost certainly cause confusion and panic, it would otherwise be completely harmless in and of itself. A strange thing to be forgotten as they drifted back to sleep or turned their minds towards the next meal.

When it encountered a water monster though, the ghostly color would infuse itself with them for a couple of seconds. They too would be unharmed, but they would be forever changed as some instinct inside of them, one that viewed all who trespassed on their territory as a threat that needed to be chased off or destroyed without hesitation, changed in a very small but important way. An exception was to be made; From now on, the Rattus would not trigger that instinct. In fact, they were to considered kin to be protected from harm.

As the light started to fade, Raethel blinked dumbly at the ashen cinders of the head he had been holding... before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell into a deep slumber as exhaustion claimed him.





In Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk. VI → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Raethel Norvegicus and the Rattus People


As the days passed by, time continued its march forward and things continued to progress. The original incident with the water monsters was a tragic affair, with what pieces of the victims that could be gathered brought together through what belonged to who was simply impossible to tell. To leave their remains on the surface was unthinkable, but the question of what exactly to do with them was evasive. In the end a special crypt was dug out deep down into the earth and the remains sealed inside of it, the names of those Rattus who they likely belonged to (or at least who had been on the water craft when it was attacked and weren't recovered) engraved upon the stone that sealed their final chamber for those to come and see if they so wished.

There had actually been two lines of thought that had contributed to this idea. The first had been as an acknowledgement of their little seen co-creator, the deity Zelios. While only Raethel Norvegicus, the first Rattus to awaken had ever had the pleasure to encountering Zelios, albeit rather briefly, the deity of darkness had made a positive impression all the same. It felt... right, the idea that when a Rattus died that their remains would be entombed in the darkness of the earth in order to be in the realm of one of their makers.

This also sparked something of a debate in the construction of the crypt itself. While the god of darkness had not deemed it fit to come and visit them for some time, some Rattus argued that in the realm of permanent darkness that the crypt would represent, the possibility of Zelios popping in to pay a visit and show respects to his departed children were likely higher then him walking up to one of the outposts in the middle of the sky's cycle of heat and light. So logically, the crypt needed to be big enough that Zelios could move around comfortably without disturbing the bodies... or pieces there of, as the case might be. This was deemed easy enough to do with Rattus construction methods (IE, bending the earth into whatever shape they needed it to be) and space wasn't an issue down where they were making the crypt so it was approved.

This led to a second discussion. Namely, about the possibility that Zelios, who had been absent for their lives, might not actually know the Rattus he was coming to visit and pay respects to. After some back and forth, a decision was reached; The family and friends of the deceased would, once the crypt was dug out but before the bodies were placed within, enter the crypt and engrave the names of their departed loved ones, alongside their achievements in life and just general stories about them so that Zelios might read and know those who he was coming to visit better. This seemed perfectly reasonable, but it did require some planning so that each of the departed (including those who sadly did not have any body to recover) would have a section of their shared resting place dedicated to them so there wouldn't be any overlap of engravings.

The second reason for the crypts was so that the departed might also be allowed to come closer to Aethel and the First Father by decomposing. Death and decay, by their very nature, was a source of the wind of death... the very wind that Aethel sacrificed the First Father in order to create and bring to the world. The promise that one's body would, once the end had come, become a new source of mana that was spiritually connected with Rattus and rat kind was comforting in a way... and the chance to do such in the safety of a sealed crypt where it come decompose in peace without being ravaged by scavengers seemed like a respectful thing to do.

There was some debate due to the...patchwork nature of the recovered. That it might be seen as disrespectful to only bury parts of the person rather then the whole body... or completely lack a body at all. The matter became so heated at the height of it that they agreed to go and ask Aethel for their advise on the matter. Briefly waking their deity from an afternoon nap, Aethel listened to the question before answering "As far as death is concerned, the spirit leaves the body at the moment of death. While it is true that there is a connection between the spirit and body even after they have parted, the spirit isn't impacted if the body it left behind is buried safely in a tomb or left to rot in the lairs of several animals that took chunks back to their children as a meal. The fact that you tired to recover their body so that they could be within the place where you wish to honor and respect their memory is almost certainly appreciated all the same. But don't feel like your failing them because they got killed in such a manner where you can't recover anything without risking joining them in the process."

With the matter largely settled, the first crypt was prepared and the first of the Rattus to die were entombed within it. They would not be the last. While messages were quickly spread across the outposts about the unexpected dangers that the water monsters presented, some messages didn't make it in time for the warning to save lives as water craft and Rattus alike found themselves attacked by the grey monsters: One messenger boat, despite knowing the danger of the rotund beasts, ended up ambushed by one and never reaching their destination. All paws on board lost.



Despite the sorrow and rage that was lingering in the air due to the outrages of the water monsters and the leaves that had been lost to them, there was also an air of excitement as Raethel sat across from a very special Rattus. There was a twitch of his tail, a deep breath and... "Congratulations... Rzelios. I believe you're ready to join any band that is heading out to explore and secure a home for yourself and our people." The words were practiced and refined by having helped oversee the basic education that each and every Rattus that Aethel and Zelios had brought into existence, but what made this moment special was the name.

It was the last one that needed to be given. All Rattus, living and dead, had been giving a name, either by themselves and their families or by him personally. The decree of Zelios had been fulfilled at last... and personally he hoped the deity would find the choice for the final name of the current generation to his liking.





In Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk. VI → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Raethel Norvegicus and the Rattus People


The ability to travel via the river while carrying much more then a rattus could normally carry had been a boon to their people. It also made the journey between the pockets of rattus settlements all the quicker and easier as well. But it had come with a danger that no one could have predicted. A deadly one, as it turned out.

Of the rattus that had been aboard the water craft, only Lutreolus had escaped and made it safely back onto land. While someone might have looked at the curled up, shivering female who was muttering so quickly and quietly under her breath that individual words couldn't be made out and seen a scared, simple being Raethel knew for a fact that Lutreolus was anything but. Of the rattus people, she had been among the first wave of settlers to go and make their first outpost, having proven herself as one of the best and intelligent of their people. To see her reduced to such a sorry state was... haunting. Turning to Lutreolus' attendant Bonthain, Raethel's tone was soft as he asked "Has she revealed anything that happened yet?"

Bonthain shook their head as he softly squeaked "If she has, I haven't been able to understand it. She's just... she's just been speaking nonsense since she was brought here. Any signs of her companions?" was asked hopefully... but that hope quickly fled from the look in Raethel's eyes.

"We have found... pieces of them. Alongside chunks of their water craft." There was a pause... before "I don't know if it was just the fate of one of them or all of them... It's just... It's an utter mess." The room seemed to feel colder as both of them joined Lutreolus in shivering at the chill that ran down their spines.

"Do... Do you think it might have been the Pretenders?" A nervous twitch of the tail and physically having to restrain themselves from rubbing his whiskers was more then enough to betrayal the fears lingering in Bonthain's mind... and Raethel felt truly terrible that he couldn't lay them to rest.

"I don't know. It's possible but there isn't enough evidence of what happened to say for sure. We need her to tell us what happened. But..." Both of them glanced at Lutreolus in her current, somewhat pitiful condition. Physically, there had been nothing wrong with her but it was clear that whatever had happened on the river had inflicted a terrible wound to her all the same. Death as a concept was something that the rattus understood for they had witnessed it in animals around them before, as well as stories of their ancestors and the ghost of memories of their time prior to understanding what and who they were, but this was the first time that any member of the rattus people had died since the change. It had not been a peaceful death either.

Taking a few nervous steps towards the shaken rattus, Raethel knelt down in front of her... and was soft and gentle as he reached out to cup her face to tilt her head towards him as he asked "[color=brown]Lutreolus... can you hear me?[color]" Lutreolus for their part continued their non stop drivel of words... but despite the glazed look in her eyes that suggested that she wasn't currently present in the moment mentally, physically she slowly nodded her head. "Lutreolus... what happened on the river? We need to know so that we can take steps to make sure that it doesn't happen again."

For her part, Lutreolus had been muttering for so long that the moment she stopped doing it, the silence left behind actually felt strange. The glazed look remained but... there was a scrunching of her face that suggested that she was actually trying to focus, trying to figure out a way to describe and put an answer into words. "W-We were... We were making our way back up river after visiting some friends. We were just passing by a small bend when Muridae pointed... pointed at something in the water..." Her breathing grew heavy as Raethel could feel her heart start to beat quickly... too quickly.

"Lutreolus, it's over. You're safe now. You're in one of the barrows..." He tried, hoping to calm her enough to stop her from panicking and shutting down again... and it worked in the sense that she was only crying rather then devolved completely into panic and terror.

"It... It came out of the water. Water sprayed everywhere as it just closed its mouth and just... tore our craft in half as we all ended up in the water. They... They were screaming in fear and pain and all I could do was bend the water to help me swim to shore fast enough to get away..." She muttered quickly, her tone easily suggesting that she was getting lost in her own mind again before she got to the part that mattered to Raethel at the moment.

"What did? Lutreolus, what came out of the-"

"One of those... One of those things we haven't named yet. The big, silly looking gray things without fur that we've seen walking around and swimming on the other side of the river. The ones with the huge mouths and silly looking teeth!" Lutreolus squeaked out in a panic... before she started to softly squeak and mumble under her breath again as she retreated completely into her own mind again.

Raethel... didn't bother trying to drag her back out of her mind at the moment. Just getting this much information out of her had been taxing on her and she deserved a chance to rest. The creatures she spoke of though... it didn't make sense from what they had witnessed of them. Such creatures had been spied on the other side of the river, or swimming within it at times but... after some observation it was pretty clear they simply ate plants. They had no interest in meat or hunting for prey, observed by them passing by several types of fish and animals walking along the opposite bank of the river nearby that they just ignored.

But despite how shaken and in need of time to recover Lutreolus was, Raethel was inclined to believe her. Their craft had been completely smashed to pieces and the other rattus aboard... as he had said before there had only been bits and pieces of them left, but despite that they clearly hadn't been eaten by whatever had killed them. That... that was in a way the worst part of it in his mind; It would have been one thing if it had turned out that they had fallen prey to a predator that was striving to feed itself and possibly its offspring but these gray beasts... if what Lutreolus had said was true, they had attacked and tore apart his people without warning solely for the sake of killing them in a brutal fashion.

Letting Lutreolus go and walking back to Bonthain, Raethel placed a paw on his shoulder as he softly said "[color=brown]Look after her as best you can. I'll get someone to help you out shortly."

Accepting the comforting gesture, Bonthain was curious as he asked in return "What are you going to do?"

Raethel took a deep breath... before answering with a level voice "First, I'm going to warn our people of this unexpected threat. This situation is already bad enough as it is, I don't want to lose anyone else because they didn't know that these... these water monsters are highly dangerous, despite their silly appearance. Second... I'm going to find out who else was on that craft with Lutreolus when they set out. We... we need to know who died out there." Despite trying to put on a brave face, there was sorrow in Raethel's eyes that was easy to see. Just as it was easy to see that sorrow and pain turn into something sharp and hot as he finished "After that... we're going to call our people together and we're going to work out how to rid ourselves of this threat. This river is ours. It is our birthright to be able to travel along it in safety... and I will not allow some overgrown, tubby water monster challenge that right!"

Catching his rising, angry tone, Raethel closed his eyes for a moment as he squeezed Bonthain's shoulder firmly... and then let it go as he walked towards the entrance of the room and into the tunnels of the barrow proper. There was work to do.





In Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk. VI → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Raethel Norvegicus and the Rattus People


As the heat of the sky returned and chased away the cool darkness that had lingered on the sands, Raethel sighed softly to himself as he quietly watched the Rattus that had followed him out to investigate the monsters that had assaulted the Rattus outpost skittered around, performing what last minute tasks they needed to do in order to prepare for the trip back to where they had started while he sat and watched the river flow by.

It wasn't a dangerous trip traveling between the outposts where Rattus life had claimed as their strong holds while they strove to claim more ground and resources... at least it wasn't, but the presence of the Pretenders going forward might change things. Scampering from one outpost to the next was just time consuming... and the heat of the sky and the chill of the shadows held their own discomforts that made the journeys more taxing.

Moving resources was also proving difficult. Currently if a Rattus wanted to take something from one outpost to the next, it had to be carried either by paw or on their backs. While there were Rattus among their people who were naturally blessed with the physical strength and endurance to bare greater loads then their peers, this did not change the fact that there was a sharp limitation to how much could be transported by a band of Rattus in a single trip. Not to mention that while Raethel himself could make such trips without needing to much in the way of supplies, the other Rattus tended to require having some of their carry capacity dedicated to things such as prepared food for their own personal usage. There had to be a better way to travel...

By happenstance, Raethel lazily watched as one of the plants that grew beside the river floated by on the flow, slowly heading towards where the river met the endless water where the land ended... and as it did so an idea started to form in Raethel's head. There was some difficulty in seeing just what the end result would look like, but while he wanted for his escort to be prepared the First of the Rattus started to gather some of the river plants that he knew for a fact floated and... experimented a little. A single plant would never be able to hold the weight of anything on top of itself... but maybe if several plants were bound together like the Rattus did as a people...

The thing that Raethel created was crude, was barely big enough that one paw needed to be dedicated to carrying it and artistically... it wasn't pleasing to the eye. But when he carefully placed it in the waters of the river and stopped it from floating away by using his tail as an obstruction, it floated just fine. Even when he started to place pebbles on it, it continued to float... through one stone to many caused it to flip over and dunk all the stones into the river, even as the object itself remained floating while upside down. But the concept was clearly workable.

Of course the whole thing needed to be refined, made bigger and issues such as it flipping over like that needed to be addressed and solved but no idea was made fully formed from the beginning. It was a solid start through... and there were a lot more of these plants back where they were heading.



Raethel himself got involved with the process of developing his idea whenever possible, but his duties as leader of the Rattus and the mandate from their absent co-creator to see that all the Rattus had names ensured that they didn't have as much time to focus on any individual project as he might have liked. However, like with many things he didn't need to do it all by himself. Once he had gotten back to the birthplace of his people, Raethel had dug a hole down in the tunnels away from the heat of the sky, filled it with some water and placed his example into it in order to show his vision to others.

Time and again, Raethel saw a spark of something in the eyes of his fellow Rattus as they gazed upon his floating creation. Their minds had never considered this possibility before, but now that the possibility had been shown to them it was as if a wall had been knocked down and a wave of ideas on how to make this floating marvel actually work for the benefit of the Rattus surged forth without an end in sight.

Groups of Rattus had formed around different attempts at making a proper, Rattus sized version of his creation. It was something to be apart of in ones spare time when other duties were done. There was something of a competition between the different bands... a friendly rivalry that sort to drive all taking part onward. The best way to witness this friendly rivalry in action was when they were testing each others designs and attempts to work around issues like the water craft flipping over; While they were utterly unforgiving in their process of testing and seemed bent on doing everything possible to expose some new flaw that a method to solve an existing problem had created, it was clear to all involved that this wasn't happening out of hostility.

While the first group to get a successful working method out onto the river would win their little contest, no one wanted that victory to be undercut by some fatal flaw that should have been spotted and wasn't causing the whole thing to fall apart and endanger someone's life. So the cycle repeated over the course of days... weeks... until at last something was pushed onto the river from the bank.



Raethel couldn't help but grin as he watched from the river bank as a small team of Rattus on board their craft bent the waters of the river in order to push themselves against the flow and heading upriver at a respectable pace... and clearly carrying as much weight as a traveling band three times their number would be required on board next to themselves.

The grin on Raethel's face was filled with pride as he reached up to wipe a tear that had been forming in their eye away. It might have been a simple thing, but it was the dawn of a new era all the same.




In Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk. VI → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Raethel Norvegicus and the Rattus People


In the end, it took the better part of two days for news of the 'incident' at the border outpost to reach Raethel's ears and for the leader of the Rattus to make his way to said outpost in order to see the results of it for himself.

The corpse of the strange, insect like creature had dried out after two days on the surface, battered by the wind and scorched by the light and heat of the sky as the Rattus at the outpost hadn't wanted to bring the wretched thing underground into their tunnels. While this did have the benefit of making it so that the body didn't have much in the way of an odor to it and, if they were so inclined, would likely make transport of it all the easier... beyond the fact that it proved the existence of an outside threat there was little else to be gained.

An examination of the corpse had failed to revel whatever trickery that its injured partner had used to try and mimic the Rattus form, suggesting some form of magic that the creatures used... through the eye witness account from a slightly shaken by recovering Annandale raised the question of if it that was a trick that all of them could do, or if it was something only certain members of the species could perform. The debate on the matter was inconclusive, since what tactics the monsters had employed to stage their ambush would have likely played out exactly the same regardless of if the dead bug monster had the ability to make itself look like a Rattus or not.

The fact that the creature had sacks that were apart of its body that seemed to be filled with blood that had dried up in the heat of the sky that had very clearly been a different color and texture then what had spilled out of its fatal wounds the night it died gave a pretty grim look into what exactly the pair of 'Pretenders' as the local Rattus had started to call them had been after. Still, the general unease and panic of the situation was kept relatively minor all things considered; Annandale had gotten herself out of the situation alive and uninjured, if deeply frightened. No Rattus had been harmed, one of the Pretenders was dead and the other badly injured enough to have been faltering even before other Rattus had scampered to join the fray... and they discovered a major flaw in the Pretender's otherwise convincing trickery in that the winds of mana revealed them for what they were.

This was by all accounts the best possible outcome that Raethel could see the situation having gone. The whole situation could have very easily gone a lot worse for Annandale and the outpost. But Raethel would have been a fool not to acknowledge the warning for what it was. The Pretender that fled might take the defeat and loss of its kin as a sign never to return here or it might harbor a grudge and seek vengeance in the future, but regardless of its personal actions it was doubtful that these two where the only members of their kind out there. They would have to account for that fact going forward but, just the knowledge they did have on the matter so far would likely prove highly valuable in what alterations needed to be made.

Aethel's arrival at the outpost was not as enlightening as Raethel might have hoped. Their creator appeared, inspected the body of the Pretender, walked up to Annandale and then gave her a headpat before saying "Well done." and refusing to comment of anything about the Pretender that they hadn't already discovered for themselves.

Despite his personal frustrations, the answer that Raethel had received when he pushed the matter with Aethel had caused him to look at his creators in a light he hadn't considered before. "This is a mortal matter Raethel. When myself and my brother created the Rattus, we put into your being the tools and ability to survive and thrive in this world... and one of those tools is the ability to discover new information and make choices based upon it. To that end, while I cannot speak for my siblings, I will generally not get involved in situations I believe you are more then able to handle by your own paws, intelligence and wit."



Once the Pretender's corpse was tossed onto a fire in order to be destroyed, Aethel had stayed at the outpost only long enough for everyone to sit around the fire and tell the story of their ancestry. The tale of the first pair of rats to be brought into existence. From their creation by the Lord of the Hunt, the sacrifice of the first male in order to create the mana winds of death, the bargain the original female struck with the Lord of the Hunt and the results of that. At which point their colorful creator politely excused themself and disappeared upriver.

This left Raethel and the outpost Rattus with much to ponder as they helped themselves to an early dinner on the surface, watching as the sky lost its heat in order to let its lesser lights take over. It was during this meal that a discussion began that would alter the view of the Rattus' original creator of the Lord of the Hunt for generations afterwards.

"You know what I don't quite understand?" Yuri softly asked as she gazed up at the sky and its distant wonders. "The Lord of the Hunt intentionally sent a Hawk in order to spy on Mother Rat as she did as he asked and stole from the Tree of Harmony... and then rewards the Hawk for being 'loyal and upstanding' when it reveals that Mother Rat took a branch for herself while she was there. Why? There was no great test of skill, no means for the Hawk to actually prove its loyalty to the Lord of the Hunt. Had the Rat Mother not taken an extra branch or been honest about taking two, would the Hawk have been lifted up by the Lord of the Hunt for confirming her story, or was the Hawk only chosen as the Lord of the Hunt's favored solely to further degrade Mother Rat? "

There was quiet around the fire for a few moments as the Rattus considered her statements and chewed their food... before at last Raethel answered her. "You make some very good points. I mean... why did the Lord of the Hunt even send the Hawk to spy on Mother Rat to begin with? Did he not trust her to do as he asked if it meant she would have children? And you're absolutely right! The Hawk didn't do a damn thing worthy of being praised or promoted as the chosen animal of a god and yet the Lord of the Hunt chose them anyway. I think the Lord of the Hunt just wanted to have the Hawk as a symbolic animal and they set up a situation where they could claim the Hawk proved how good and loyal it was to do so without it looking like the Hawk was selected because it looked nice. The Lord of the Hunt is such a poor judge of character that they wouldn't recognize loyalty if it stopped them from being stabbed in the ass."

There was much laughter and snickering among the Rattus... and it was Yuri who spoke up in her soft voice as she said "Have any of you heard of the story of how the Lord of the Hunt was so distracted by a shiny object in the distance that he walked right into a river?" With a range of snorts and 'no' from her new audience, Yuri grinned widely as she started to weave details into the story she had just made up on the fly. She would not be the only one that night to do so.





In Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk. VI → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
The Rattus People


It began two nights after they had set up their outpost home within sight of the endless water that the river ran to. It began with a messenger.

Annandale had been on above ground guard duty that night. While the Rattus seemed more inclined towards favoring operating under moon, the desert tended to be rather cold after the sun went down. As such, they tended to favor remaining in their recently constructed barrow structure, working underground where a few key fires could help keep them comfortable... as well as cook on. In fact, Annandale's partners on guard duty had ducked back down into the barrow in order to see if they could get something hot to eat while they guarded the entry way; Singapore had been trying to woo a rather beautiful looking cook since their party had set out and she seemed to return the affections for they had to go in order to get her to offer the food, while Tunney had gone to make sure Singapore actually came back instead of taking some surprise time off to spend with the cook.

While some argued that setting up inside of the entrance would have been a better idea as far as safety and security went, the main reason they were up there was to tend to the fire they had lit on the surface. The idea had originally come from the first outpost to have set themselves up: While they were setting up their barrow, more than one Rattus had misplaced themselves in regards to knowing where the barrow entrance was. As a simple solution to their problem, they took to lighting a fire at the entrance of the barrow at night so that those operating under moon on the surface could more easily find their way back home. It also served as a beacon for future bands of migrants wishing to join them... or a band passing by to create a new outpost further along to stop by and have friends and shelter for a time before moving on.

Of course, if you were going to have a fire going all night you needed someone to tend to it... and because whomever was tending to the surface fire was also going to be the first one to see trouble coming on the surface, they were also on guard duty. Since a single guard on duty was an excuse for something to go horribly wrong and a duo was likely to become a mono if someone felt the need to go relieve themselves or duck instead to send a message or get something, they were meant to tend the fire in trios. As Annandale glanced around by herself, she couldn't help but feel a bit sarcastic in just how wonderfully the system was working.

It was then, with her back to the fire so she could benefit from its warmth but also gaze out into the night easily, that she saw the singular Rattus approach.

The fact that they were alone was something of note to Annandale. While the great Aethel's teachings had been watered down somewhat by the fact that in order to teach more Rattus at once, students that had taken to the teachings had quickly become teachers in their own rights, a simple lesson was that traveling alone was a bad idea. If something bad happened while you were traveling between outposts and you were on your own, you were in a great deal of trouble. They also seemed to be... moving wrong somehow? As if they weren't used to walking comfortably yet.

For a few minutes Annandale considered the possibility that the Rattus coming towards them had been apart of a group that had underwent some kind of trouble and this one had managed to seek help despite being injured... but that faded the closer to the stranger got. They had no signs of injury on them... at least none that bled through the fur. But the wrongness that she had felt earlier only got worse and it had nothing to do with the manner in which they moved. Their mana was... wrong. Every creature, knowingly or not, able to channel or not, interacted with the winds of mana in their own way and this Rattus coming towards her... was not interacting with them in a manner that a Rattus could or should.

The winds were interacting with them as if they were a completely different creature, despite what they appeared to be.

Annandale tried not to physically respond to the fact that she was nervous by this development. This was an unknown situation and... her ear twitched as she heard movement coming from the left. Turning her head ever so slightly as to allow herself to continue watching the approaching figure while trying to see what had made that noise in the corner of her vision. She...didn't make out exactly what it was because it seemed to have partly buried itself in the sand while pushing a bit in front of itself to hide... This was a bad sign. But despite the shivers that were starting to run along her body and cause her tail to start flicking, she tried to make it seem like everything was fine. Just because she was in a bad situation, the fact that she knew it was a lot better then not.

Hopefully, they didn't know she knew something was up... Whomever or whatever they happened to be.

The final sign of trouble came when the fake Rattus finally entered speaking distance, calling out as they continued to draw closer "Have message for the one in charge. Can you direct me to them?" Any true messenger would have known that their outpost was led by Tunneyi, Tunney's older brother had been entrusted with leadership of their group. Names were important and this outside threat wearing the skin of a Rattus didn't understand that.

Afraid for her life as she doubted that this false Rattus and its hidden companion had her or her kins best interests at heart, Annandale calmly reached a paw back as she turned fear into a weapon and pulled on the flames of the fire she was tending before lashing her paw forward and sending a lance of fire directly into the body of the false Rattus. Her final vindication came from the fact that the figure hadn't squeaked out in shock, alarm or pain, it instead unleashed a horrifying, unrattus like noise that she honestly couldn't begin to describe. The Rattus fur seemed to melt off in the flames as some horrifying insect like creature stumbled backwards, trying to put itself out.

The sound of buzzing and sand exploding outwards to her left caused Annandale to act on complete instinct, her left paw thrusting out towards the movement in the corner of her eye even before she was able to completely turn her head towards it. A sharp, blindingly bright twig of hot light surged from her paw and in the span of one of her hearts panicked thumps it covered the distance and slammed into one of the terrifyingly large, insect like eyes (at least she thought it might be an eye. It was on the head after all) of the creature that was flying at her on a pair of buzzing wings and a spear coming out of its face. Her ears folded against her head as a deafening crack roared from the point of impact as the eye exploded into a spray of super hot gore as its owner was flung backwards, their body twitching so violently as it fell backwards onto the desert sand that Annandale had to look away because she didn't want to see it rip itself apart!

The first of the two insect monsters, the one who had been pretending to be a Rattus, quickly regained her attention as it managed to put out the flames and take to the air with a buzzing of wings, the burns easy to see on its body. However, it didn't seem as brave as to rush directly into combat: This was clearly not how it had expected this situation to go. It's deception and ambush had failed, it was injured and its companion was either dead or dying. If she were in its position, Annandale would be considering cutting her losses and running for it too.

She was putting on a show of strength to make it look like she was prepared to throw more fire or another... burning twig of light at it if it decided to charge again, but it truth it was a bluff; That burning light twig had taken a lot out of her and she didn't think she could safely do it again. It if decided to push the assault, she was in trouble.

The tense stand off lasted a few seconds, but its end was heralded by the sound of scampering feet from the barrow entrance behind her. More Rattus were coming, likely to investigate just what the hell the loud noise she had made was. The numbers had turned in her favor... and the bug like creature knew it. With its deafening, horrible buzzing of wings it turned and sped off into the night at speed. The burns must have hurt badly, but since it would have likely died if it stayed it was likely trying to ignore the pain as best it could for now.

As her fellow guards returned from their trip, the food they had brought having been dropped either in surprise by the noise or in the rush to get back to the entrance to find out what was going on and to support her, followed soon by the scampering paws of other Rattus, Annandale turned to look at the bug monster that had failed to escape. It's head and chest weren't moving, but its hands and legs continued to twitch as if parts of the body were still arguing over if it was actually dead or not. The smell... the smell of burnt insect was putrid.

Even as her fellow Rattus started to ask her questions like what had happened, what in Aethel's name was that thing and if she was alright, Annandale started to shake badly. Her breathing grew heavy even as her heart pounded in her chest. On instinct she started to gnaw on one of her arms to try and find some relief from the stress that weighed on her... and finally she bent over to dry heave painfully as tears started to roll down her face.



In Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk. VI → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Raethel Norvegicus


In the days that followed awakening, much had changed for the Rattus under Raethel's command and Aethel's education. For starters, there were less of them.

While this sounded bad, the truth of the matter was that there simply hadn't been enough resources in the local area to support the entire population of Rattus for an extended period of time and the solution that Raethel and Aethel had come up with was rather simple: While Raethel kept things under control, their creator would search up and down the river to find locations suitable for other settlements of Rattus to go and colonize, spreading their numbers out and putting less pressure on a single given area as far as resources were concerned. As the First of the Rattus, Raethel had taken great care in pushing to teach the required lessons to survive into the population and selecting the bands to be sent out from those who took to those teachings quickly.

So far two bands of settlers had been sent down the river towards the distant mountains, with a third band forming along nicely in order to start heading downriver to start setting up outposts that way. As word had returned of the first two outposts being successfully founded, those who were a bit slower in learning then the first wave had migrated towards them, further easing the numbers that Raethel had needed to manage and provide for, but for any other race it still wouldn't have been enough.

Without Aethel's blessing on their ancestry, Raethel had learned enough in the last few days to understand that there would simply have not been enough food or shelter for his people and those shortages would have lead to... bad things. The faint memory of hunger remained from the days before he discovered he was Raethel and the thought of it on a larger, deeper scale was not a pleasant one. Their new home was also a place of extremes, with the days being capable of great heat while the nights could cut through the fur to the bone with chill. Any other race would have been in trouble, with grave hardship ahead to herald in their first steps on the world.

For the Rattus through, what would have been dire tidings were merely obstructions that required a cunning mind to work around. Shelter was easy enough to create as their natural instincts informed them that the best place to escape from the heat and cold of the surface was underground; They borrowed into the sand a safe distance from the riverbank in order to avoid dampness and flooding, twisting the sand and dirt into a form as solid and trustworthy as stone as they dug in order to secure the barrows they were creating and prevent the tunnels from caving in behind them. Many of these barrows and tunnels were crude things, created with the understanding that those staying within them only intended to do so for a relatively short period of time before they had been deemed suitable to head out towards one of the outposts or be the founders of a new one.

Raethel had noticed some Rattus that seemed to like the birthplace of their kind and, when they somehow found themselves with some spare time during the hectic day, could be found reshaping and reorganizing their personal borrows to be less crude and more pleasant to the senses, as well as comfortable. While he personally was too busy to commit to such a project himself, Raethel honestly had to wonder if he would call this place his primary home at all. While this was where the Rattus came to be, as the First and leader of the Rattus he could already tell that he was going to be moving between the settlements a lot... and that would require him to have a number of smaller barrows in all of them, with a 'primary' home located somewhere more central so he could respond to situations that arose along the river settlements as required... and the fact was that until the period of expansion along the river ended, he didn't know where that important central location was going to be.

Feeding the population was another problem but, thankfully, Rattus brilliance paid off again. While some Rattus favored the taste of meat and dedicated themselves to hunting for beasts of land and air (the latter being hunted by a select few who could bend the winds itself to down their flying targets) and some had taken to fishing for the bounties of the river upon which belonged to their people (and Raethel had to admit, he had proven rather adapt at causing the water to fling fish out of its depths because some of the fish the river provided were rather tasty), it was the plant tenders that proved to be their salvation.

Edible plants and mushrooms located both above and below the ground had been gathered and rather then just consume them, those more attuned to the greener shades of the mana winds had gathered together and concentrated on advancing new growths. What might have taken months or even a year to grow and bare foodstuffs, the plant tenders could make happen within days, if not hours. They were not foolish enough to think this state of affairs could last forever through; The plant tenders' connection with the land had informed them that they could only do create so many harvests in this fashion before the landed needed to rest and recover and to push beyond that would risk causing permanent damage that would prevent further life from growing there.

It was all the more reason for them to focus on claiming the whole of the river rather then growing fat on the efforts of the land and the plant tenders. But being able to control the expansion since it wasn't fueled by desperation and hunger made things a lot more organized.

And on top of all of that, Raethel still had one task to do as proclaimed by their more absent of creators. "Your name shall be... Blangorum." He announced, before turning to the twin sibling of the now named Blangorum and considering for a moment. "...And you shall be Aceh. For showing an understanding of what is required of you, you'll both be joining the next group heading out to set up an outpost down river."





In Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk. VI → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Zelios

&


Aethel


Zelios’s outfit for the day was a dark grey hooded robe, with a pair of black feathered wings at his back. As he roamed the sands of the desert, he had quickly come to discover that dark colours were far from ideal for warding off heat. This would, perhaps, have been bothersome for a mortal, but he was a god, and could stand it easily enough.

He had spent most of his time thus far wandering the world. He had meant to do so as soon as he made the Ring, but had instead been tempted by a quick nap and… it seemed he had overslept. He wasn’t sure how long, but much of the world had already been made, and it seemed he had missed out on a great deal. He had begun travelling to see what he had missed, and his travels had brought him here.

He was bored. Every now and then he would kick up a cloud of sand and watch it blow away in the wind. This desert had carried a certain charm to it at night, but during the day he did not care much for it. He squinted at the rising sun and frowned with distaste. The sun was no real danger to him either, aside from making him slightly weaker and more uncomfortable, but it would be best if he got a move on. “Perhaps to somewhere with a bit more shade,” he mused aloud. “Or back to the Shadowlands, maybe.”

Somewhere in the distance, to the far left of where Zelio was currently walking and likely only noticeably by the same because of the fact that they were a deity and had much better senses than those of mortals, a portal burst open into reality in a flash of blindingly bright light.

The portal itself was only open briefly. Long enough for the six legged equine Aethel to trot out of it, turn around and offer those on the other side a respectful wave with both one of their front hooves and a number of the countless tendrils that seemed to float around their waist. “Thank you kindly.” was all that was said before the portal was closed… and Aethel turned to look around at where they had requested to be dropped off.

There was… determination on their face as they slowly looked over the horizon… and noticed a figure somewhere in the distance that caused them to tilt their head slightly in thought.

Zelios leapt a great distance into the air, before using his wings to glide and control his descent. He landed just a few paces away from Aethel, and looked the colourful god up and down. “Hm, yes. Aethel, was it?” he asked. “I do believe we have already met.”

There was a moment where the colorful deity needed to think about where they had encountered the winged, dark god before… before they perked up. “Oh wow. We haven’t seen each other since the world was nothing but water. What brings you all the way out here?”

“What brings anyone anywhere?” Zelios asked with a shrug. “Which I suppose would just be an evasive way of saying there’s no reason for me to be here in particular. I thought I would wander the world, stretch my wings, and take in the sights.”

“A fair enough reason.” Aethel answered back, before glancing around slightly as they clearly put some thought into something. “I actually came here with a goal in mind… and honestly, I think you might be able to speed up the process a bit.”

Having clearly come to an understanding within themselves, Aethel looked at Zelios with determination. “ I actually came here because I wanted this land to be where I develop a new civilised species to add to the world. Well… okay, they would just be a species to start with, but given time they would hopefully build something of themselves.”

There was a brief moment of pause before they quickly added “If you’re wondering why I’m planning to do it here, it’s because the goddess of plants is currently waging a one deity war against at least one civilised species up in the northern parts of the planet… possibly two depending on the efforts of the poor, sweet girl she’s dragged into her crusade... My hope is that since there isn’t a great deal of plant life down here and she’s already got enough people up north to try and kill, she’s not going to bother coming down here for a while.”

“That sounds like madness,” Zelios observed. [color=black][b]“Who is this goddess, and why has she resorted to such extremes?”[/color][/b]

For their part, the equine just shrugged. “Haven’t actually met the deity in question personally, through I know for a fact that she’s going by the titles of ‘Green Murder’ and ‘Beast Queen’. It seems like she has some sort of grudge against anyone developing into a civilization and trying to become something beyond a nomad tribe, though exactly why this is… no idea.”

“Hm. Well, pardon my vulgarity, but I suppose if any god had a proverbial stick up their rear, it makes sense that it would be a deity of plants,” Zelios quipped. “Still sounds a tad extreme, though.”

Aethel chuckled softly at the pun, before continuing.

“At any rate. I was intending to spend a great deal of time searching this land for a suitable place to morph and enlighten the species I had in mind… build up some power in the process, you know? But… pun intended, but it seems like your presence here is divine providence! I would welcome your input on a good location… and invite you to assist me in my efforts to develop the species in question if you’re so inclined.”

“From what I have seen in my travels, water is essential. Doubly so, in hot lands such as this. Lakes, and rivers, are what you need. Freshwater, not the salt water of the ocean. Most creatures can’t drink that, which seems something of an oversight, to tell you the truth. I know there are water sources in this land, and I could show you some.” He paused for a moment. “Unless you intend to create a species that doesn’t need water at all?”

There was a shake of the head. “The base creature I intend to uplift into a new, sapient form does drink water so that is a factor.” There was a slight pause… before a sigh escaped them. “I guess I should come clean. My intention is to use the humble rat as the original creature in question, uplifted into a new form to become something more than an animal. Considering they’ll likely burrow into the ground as both a survival tactic to escape the sun and instincts from their original ancestry, water sources both above and below ground would be welcomed.”

Zelios raised his eyebrows. [color=black][/b]“Oh, that is intriguing. An instinctive desire to burrow into the ground to escape the sun is something that I share! Haven’t actually done so, just yet, so I can’t help you in regards to underground water - you or your creations will have to find that on your own. But there is a major river in this land, just to the north of our location.”[/color]

Aethel beamed as their front hooves came together in a joyous clop sound as they clapped. “Wonderful! Shall we go for a walk and see it then? While I intend to largely leave them to their own devices, I can show them enough compassion as to try and pick a good place for them to start where they’ll have the best chance of success going forward.”

The God of Darkness offered a nod. “It’s not far, and it can’t be missed. Let’s go.”





The great river which served as the most prominent feature of the northern half of the desert did in fact exist, and Zelios had led Aethel to it without issue. Grass and plantlife grew along its banks, as it inevitably did wherever fresh water could be found. “And here it is,” the God of Darkness said, with little in the way of fanfare. “I believe it is fed by the mountains to the east, and eventually drains into the sea to the west. Riveting commentary, I know.”

For their part, Aethel’s head followed Zelios’ ‘commentary’ rather seriously, their head turning towards the east and then to the west respectfully… and a smile grew on their face as they nodded. “I think they’ll survive and thrive here rather well.” before they made a noise of thought before turning to look at the god of darkness. “Out of interest… Before we commit to developing this race, I suspect we should discuss the form we want it to take. While I have my own ideas, you are investing your own power into this project and it would be rather rude of me not to get your input in how you might want things to go.”

“You know, I haven’t actually made any such commitment,” Zelios pointed out. “Although I suppose it has been a long time since I actually created anything. And it would be rather inconvenient if our lord and/or father was upset with me. So, I suppose I might as well offer some assistance. First, and foremost, since it’s your idea, what are you imagining?”

For a moment there was quiet as Aethel considered the question. It was a good one and deserved the effort put into it after all. Turning away from the river and walking towards the more dry and sandy… sand of the desert, a few of their tendrils beckoned Zelios to follow.

Stopping where the sand was dry and loose enough to move around easily, the sand seemed to come alive as it lifted up and formed the shape of an ordinary rat. Nothing truly noteworthy or special about it, just an example of a normal rat made out of sand. “As tempting as it is to leave them at this size, I admit they’ll have an easier time surviving in this world if they were somewhat bigger.” Aethel started, the tendrils swaying as more sand flew onto the sand rodent, growing its size until it was about three to four feet tall.

“The benefit of being able to move around on ones hind legs while having ‘hands’ in order to do things is too great to pass up… but at the same time being a quadruped has its benefits. So how about instead of sacrificing one for the other we select something that offers both as valid options…” was mused aloud as alterations were made to limbs of the sand rat. The hind legs were extended and strengthened to allow and encourage a bipedal stance… but the original clawed feet remained, including the joints that allowed for four legged movement. The arms were strengthened and extended as well in order to give them the ability to properly reach and move their arms, but the length and strength was not to the same extent as the hind legs.

The result was a creature that was standing on its hind feet, but naturally seemed to be hunched over slightly. While this would likely look painful in another humanoid, with the minor alterations required to adjust the rest of the body to the changes in size and limbs so they would work in concert rather than against each other, the result suggested a small humanoid that could scurry on all fours rather naturally but could also stand straight in order to work tools.

After a moment, Aethel turned to Zelios as they stated“This seems like a good start at least. Any input you wish to add?”

Zelios took a few moments to ponder this information. They were indeed merits to being able to switch between walking on four limbs and two limbs. But there was far more to a species than that. “Seems workable enough. I’ve not much to add beyond things that might give them a better affinity for the dark, but rats already have plenty of that. Tell me, though; how long will these creatures live, and how fast shall they reproduce?”

The blank expression on Aethel’s face said it all. They clearly hadn’t thought about those kinds of details up until this point. “...How long do rats normally live?” was not a question that a divine being creating a sapient race should be asking but… there it was, in all earnesty.

“How long do rats live?” Zelios asked, somewhat bemused.[color=black][b] “They…”[b][/color] then he stopped. “I don’t actually know for certain. But… I don’t think it’s very long? A few years, at the most?”

One of Aethel’s tendrils reached up to rub the back of their head… before they just shrugged and answered “Well… it’s not like we can’t just give them a longer period anyway. How’s fifty to eighty years sound to you?”

Zelios considered that. “Well… I would hope they don’t reproduce at the same speed as their smaller brethren. Else they’d overwhelm the entire planet within a few generations. I doubt the others would approve.”

“Smaller litters perhaps? To make up for the fact that they’re bigger and smarter than their smaller kin and thus have a better chance of survival.” was offered… even if Aethel didn’t exactly know how many the average rat litter was.

“Might not be enough,” Zelios said, glossing over the fact that he didn’t know the exact numbers either - though he did know they were quite considerable. “Longer maturity rates, shorter lifespans. And a point in their life at which they become infertile. My word, this has gotten rather complicated…”

Aethel considered this for a moment… before offering a counter point. “They are rather small compared to some of the animals and creations of our kin… and Tuku’s curse on rat kind will likely transfer over in that most mortals will see them as lowly and dirty creatures, even if they aren’t. But that’s the price we pay in order to make sure that my original blessing carries over as well.”

Zelios squinted in confusion. He had neither known nor been told any of this.
“Curses?” he asked.
“Blessings? On rats?” He then paused, clearly about to say more, but not quite sure on the best way to phrase it. Finally, he settled on a simple question. “May I ask why?”

Aethel seemed amused by the question. They did rather enjoy being a storyteller after all. “Well, it started back when we were making the world. Tuku created the first rats, alongside a bunch of other small creatures back in the Celestial Palace. As I was creating Mana for the world, in order to properly balance things I required mana connected with death, destruction and decay… so I killed one of the first rats to create it. The surviving rat, without her mate, went back to Tuku and requested a solution to the problem… which he offered if she stole something from me.”

“Which she did… but she also took a second item because she was angry with me for killing her mate and putting her in this position in the first place. Tuku wasn’t happy because she lied about it, so he cursed her and her descendants so that everyone would think of rats as lowly, dirty creatures. As for my blessing… when I caught up with her, she was completely honest with me and I deemed it wrong to punish her because one of our kin decided to put her up to it… plus I kind of owed her anyway for sacrificing her mate so, I blessed her and her kind so that they would naturally be able to understand and channel mana to use for their purposes.”

“All that sounds very dramatic,” Zelios mused. “As well as a tad petty, and just a little bit inconsistent.” Suddenly, the god took on a much deeper and slightly animalistic tone. He had never heard Tuku speak, but it was what he imagined a God of the Hunt would sound like. “‘Go steal for me. Oh, you lied? I curse you and your entire species.’” He shook his head. When he next spoke, the mocking tone was gone. “I suppose I’d be cross if someone lied to me, but an entire species? Bit too far. I’d likely just draw the line at the individual.” Another pause. “And maybe everyone they love, if I’m in an exceptionally bad mood.”

Aethel shrugged. “No one has ever accused me of being consistent. I’m personally rather prone to flights of fancy so… I’m not exactly in a position to judge someone else for having strange moralities.” They actually paused as they smiled and added “Plus the feud with Tuku this started has been rather enjoyable to take part in. We haven’t even met personally and we’re already deep in a prank war that has raged since the world was young. I fully recommend embracing the chaos sometimes and running with it… it can be rather entertaining.”

“That certainly is something to consider, although I’d rather wait until I meet someone who deserves it. It doesn’t sound like there is any shortage of such gods, however.” He shrugged. “Anyway, the rats. I would say… hm. Perhaps have the litter size remain the same, but limit each female to one litter per lifetime?”

Aethel shook his head a little at the suggestion. “One litter per lifetime can go very wrong if there are complications. How about we half the average size of the litter, but they can have several over their lifetime?”

“Math,” Zelios breathed. “Fun,” he said, with a tone that suggested the opposite. “What if each litter took a year to carry, then? And they can only begin reproducing after an age of… let’s say a quarter of their maximum lifespan? And stop reproducing at the halfway point?” He still didn’t know exactly how many rats were in a litter, but it couldn’t be too much, right? And it’s not like this climate was easy to survive in to begin with.

Aethel just shrugged and made a small noise of boredom. “Good enough. I mean, I doubt any of our kin put this much thought into this when they were creating a species so…”

Since the matter was now effectively settled as far as Aethel was concerned, he turned back to the sand display briefly. “Might as well get what modifications you want done to the model before we get started.”

“There’s not much I can think to add at the moment, beyond making it easier for them to navigate the dark - something I believe they were already good at to begin with. Better night vision, perhaps?” the God of Darkness offered another shrug. “Either way, let’s get this done.”

Nodding in agreement, the model dropped back into the sand as Aethel stopped giving it any further attention… and turned back towards the more fertile grounds beside the river and its banks. “Let us begin then.” was all they had to say before they closed their eyes and focused.

The first step was, of course, getting the rats there in order to enhance them in the first place. This would not be a difficult task; While some gods might have just teleported or provoked them into making the trip on land, Aethel had a much easier solution. Their horns glowed for a moment as they sent out a signal through the winds and currents of mana… and one by one rats started to appear in front of the pair of gods. Some materialized out of the wind, some borrowed up from the ground where there hadn’t been tunnels before, some even appeared in flashs of flame or stepping out of the river itself, completely dry. The winds of mana offered many paths and passages for those with the gift to see them after all.

Soon rats in their thousands had gathered by the riverside, watching the gods with an unnatural stillness as if bewitched by them.

“What next?” Zelios asked, not seeming the least bit unnerved by this.

Somewhat pleased with the results of the summons, Aethel turned to Zelios as several of their tendrils intertwined together, a grin forming on the equine’s face. “Simple really. We alter and enlighten them. Shall we?” Offering one of their hooves to Zelios, Aethel started to build up power in order to enact the transformation… but was clearly waiting for the god of darkness to join their power before fully committing to it.

Zelios extended a hand to one of the hooves. No doubt this made for a rather unusual sight - the two of them a stark contrast to one another in every possible way, standing before a sea of rats. The God of Darkness then focused his power. After his years of inactivity, his reserves were quite vast… but he only offered a small portion to the mana god. He had plans of his own, and he wasn’t that invested in this species to begin with; it would not be wise to squander too much of his potential here.



The first thought that went through their head as the blackness faded and their eyes opened was a simple ‘What?’

Confusion quickly followed as thinking in a context beyond basic survival was a brand new experience and they didn’t exactly know what to do with it right away but… after a time they finally opened their eyes. They were… bigger than the furry memories in their mind suggested. Their body felt different as well… not in a bad way, just different. Even as the wind blew against their skin and the warmth of the light in the heavens soaked into their fur, the first to awaken pushed themselves up onto their hind legs and looked around and the rest of their slumbering people.

Glancing down to see their genitals, they blinked slightly as the concept of ‘they’ turned into ‘he’. He was still somewhat confused by these new developments but… at the same time a feeling bubbled up to the surface that they had never felt before. He couldn’t describe it but… it felt like despite the increase in size that the world had suddenly grown larger and more full of opportunities that weren’t there before. All he needed to do was reach out and seize it.

“Hello?” A voice, and a snapping sound, could be heard nearby. A figure with smooth skin and black wings stood before him. “Can you hear me? Can you understand me?”

Turning towards the sound with a flick of their ear, he blinked slightly as he gazed up at the tall, dark figure with wings… and the more colorful, smaller figure with poofy hair and tail standing beside them. As the questions were asked, he blinked slightly… before nodding his head and saying for the first time “Hello?””

The smaller figure grinned. “Hello to you as well. How are you feeling?”

There was a slight blink at the change of energy between the tone of the two figures, but he took a deep breath as he answered the rather complicated question with “Different… stronger…was in murkiness before but now can see clearly. Who are you?”

“My name is Zelios, and this is Aethel,” the black-haired and black-winged figure said. “We created you.”

‘Aethel’ was about to nod their head in agreement, paused for a moment as if they were going to say something, considered the matter for a moment… and then nodded all the same to Zelios’ statement.

For his part, he looked up at his creators with wide eyes, remembering them as the clearest of the murkiest memories before the darkness and awakening. “T-Thank you. But… What is my name?”

The expression that came across ‘Aethel’s face was new and unknown to him, but the look in their eyes was familiar: Panic. The currently nameless one watched as the smaller of their creators reached up to take Zelios’ hand and muttered a quick “Please excuse us one moment…” before pulling them away in order to have a quick chat with them outside of their hearing range.

“I take it you didn’t think this far ahead either?” Zelios asked with an amused smirk.

Aethel shook their head. “ I was planning to let them figure it out for themselves… I didn’t think I would actually have to name them!”

There was a brief discussion between the two deities… before they returned to the waiting, unnamed former rat who had been waiting rather patiently. “After some discussion, we have decided to name you-”

Although the unfortunate truth was: no such decision had been made. Indeed, both gods had hoped they would think of something in the time it took them to walk back to the waiting rat, and would say the first thing that came to mind. Zelios looked expectantly at Aethel, stunned at how long they were taking, but equally embarrassed by the fact that he hadn’t come up with anything either. In the end, after the ensuing pause had become too awkward for god or mortal to bear, he decided to just blurt something out.

“Raethal.”

“Norvegicus” Aethel said at exactly the same moment… before proving that if nothing else, they could at least improvise on the spot when required. “Raethel Norvegicus, the first of the Rattus.” That part was admittingly debatable, but they were the first to awaken and that deserved something.

Reaching out to place a hand on Raethel’s shoulder, Aethel offered a smile as they poured a little extra something into their new creation. “We have entrusted you to be the one to lead your people forward. We trust you’ll be up to the task Raethel.”

Raethel for their part looked amazed… blinking in surprise as they felt something infused and strengthened their very being… before turning to look at Zelios to see if they had anything to say.

“Wield your power responsibly,” the God of Darkness intoned seriously. “Do not abuse it. First you may be, and power you may hold, but never forget that a leader must give as well as take. And that a leader who fails to serve the interests of those who follow him may find that he no longer has a following. Remember this lesson well.”

Raethel listened to the words of one of his creators with wide eyes and his full attention… before respectfully bowing his head. “I will… I will remember what you have said.”

“Good,” Zelios nodded. “Now, I shall give you your first task as leader. When the rest of the Rattus awaken you must… help them name themselves. If they cannot think of a name for themselves, then you shall come up with one for them until they do.”

There was a squeak of… excitement? As Raethel turned to look back at the rest of their still slumbering fellows… before he nodded his head as they looked back at their creators. “It will be done. I promise.”

Aethel for their part reached out to playfully run their hand along Raethel’s head, causing the rat’s eyes to widen… before leaning into the pats. “We look forward to seeing what you and the Rattus become in time, Raethel.”

“Indeed,” Zelios nodded, adding a bit of extra self-importance to his voice. “And now I must leave, for there are matters I must tend to elsewhere.” He turned back to Aethel. “Unless there is anything else?”

Aethel for their part shook their head. “I might stay around a little longer to make sure that they know the basics of survival. Give them a good head start… but that shouldn’t take all that long. Thank you for your assistance Zelios.” Aethel even offered a respectful bow to show their thanks.

Zelios responded with a bow of his own. “Think nothing of it. Though I may request your aid in the future should I require any assistance with a project of my own.”

“Of course. Until we meet again.” Aethel offered… before turning their full attention to Raethel and the rest of the Rattus. “Now then… I think we should start with what is and isn’t safe for you to eat.”






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