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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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Vatarr


It was a matter of days before Vatarr was roused from their meditations.

There had simply been no reason to stir or move. The world around him was working as it was meant to, with countless creatures being born, living their lives, dying and their remains being used to fuel or create some new form of life even in this sort amount of time. Insects might only be around for a short time in the scheme of things, but they lived to the fullest none the less. While he knew for a fact it was only a small part of a grander stage, for many of the creatures living within the fungal forest and marshlands he had created this was the world and nothing existed outside of it.

...In fairness to this line of thinking, the only direction where life could actually exist so far was to the north... and only a somewhat narrow path that connected the region to its north-most neighbor. Everywhere else lead to a shift, painful death. Vatarr was likely going to have to fix that at some point if one of their peers didn't move into one of those regions first.

But what had caused an early end to Vatarr's meditations was a disturbance to the natural rhythm of the region he had created that had started around the northern most point. It wasn't a disruption so much as... two different but similar songs had come into contact with each other and they hadn't figured out how to harmonize with each other yet. Having a fairly decent idea about what was happening, Vatarr calmly rose to his feet and walked to confirm if he was correct or not.




It didn't take all that long to come across the humans and their camp. They had found a location that was higher up and shielded by one of the large mushrooms that dominated the skyline, blocking the occasional rain from falling directly onto their camp, instead having streams of water falling down from above on the edges of their camp away from where they would sleep.

Most of them had not been sleeping when Vatarr arrived, but the appearance of the deity was cause for those few who had been asleep to be awoken in a hurry as a rather... tense atmosphere started to descend. Mortal eyes gazed upon the larger, horned entity with a mixture of uncertainty, respect and even fear as there was a drawn out silence.

It was Vatarr that broke it, their deer skull face remaining passive but their voice suggesting a wide, warm smile as he greeted "Welcome to..." There was a slight pause as the deity stopped to consider something. "... huh, I haven't given this region a name yet." After a moment they shrugged to themselves as he continued in their jolly tone "Anyway, welcome all the same! How are you finding the place?"

There was a moment of stunned awkwardness among the mortals as they glanced quickly at one another in silence, none of them having the slightest idea of how to talk to a entity like Vatarr and what terrible things might come about if they did something wrong. However, in the end it was a young boy that slipped away from his distracted mother and looked right up at the larger entity... and Vatarr gazed down in return. "...It's a lot more colorful then the last place. And there isn't a giant, scary monster glaring at us in the distance. I like your mask... what's your name?"

Vatarr couldn't help but chuckle as he heard the self strangled cry of a woman who wanted to rush forward and drag her child away from someone they really shouldn't have gone up and talked to, but at the same time didn't want to risk offending said person in the event they turned violent. "I'm Vatarr. And thank you little one." Thinking for a moment, the deity knelt down in order to give the appearance of trying to whisper to the small child, even if it was more of a stage whisper. "...To tell you the truth, I was worried that people wouldn't like it."

"Why wouldn't they? It looks awesome!" The small boy cried out in that manner that all small children who hadn't developed a social filter tended to do when they got excited. If nothing else, the whole situation did help break the ice as some of the adults who were more inclined towards leadership stepped forward to talk (alongside the child's mother, who saw an opening to step in and retrieve her little one among quick apologies before withdrawing).

"So... What exactly is your deal? Because we came this way because the deities heading north wanted us to have faith in them but... you said we didn't need to worship you." The self appointed leader asked, taking their turn to meet the gaze of the skull headed entity.

Vatarr tilted their head slightly at the question. "You're correct. You don't need to worship me or have faith in me to be here. The fact that you are here and that there is a here for life to exist is enough. As for what I am about..." Reaching up to dryly scratch his chin, the deity pondered a moment before snapping his fingers as an answer came to him. "I could tell you. It might take a while because to understand it in full would require understanding a number of things prior... but as a welcome gift for coming to make a life here, I'm going to give you a gift that will not only answer that question, but also teach you a few other useful things in the process if you want."

The mortals glanced at each other for a moment... before their leader slowly nodded his head. "Alright..."




Before the gift could be presented to the humans, it had first needed to be made and the tools and methods required to do so had to be produced first. Thankfully, this was part of the teachings that Vatarr had in mind. First had been the pottery kiln in order to... well, produce pottery from clay by heating it up with fire. The second step had been introducing them to a use for some of their new pots alongside the addition of a gem ore that was common in the ground that could be melted down in the kiln to create a hot, coppery colored substance... and that substance could be, with care, harden and be used for a variety of things.

One of those things was the creation of a metal, copper tablet. Two dozen or so in fact. Upon each of these tablets about the size of a full grown human man, Vatarr wrote a variety of different subjects and insights... but the mortals were only able to read the first one with any sense of understanding.

"I've designed each tablet so that once you truly understand the first one and its insights, the second one will start to make perfect sense. Each tablet is a step that not only unlocks important information that you'll be able to make use of going forward in their own individual rights, but will also allow you to understand the next one." Vatarr explained when he was done before giving a small, knowing chuckle. "I'm honestly looking forward to seeing what you end up doing with this knowledge once you start working it out. But until then, if you wish to speak with me I'll be at the heart of this realm. I promise it isn't hard to find."





Vatarr


Vatarr had been prepared to simply leave the neutral zone behind, but a loud announcement by one of his kin that he overheard caused him to pause for a moment. While on a personal level the deer skulled deity believed that mortals should be allowed to live out their lives as they so wished and thus if they decided to pledge themselves to the service of a deity or another mortal of their own decision was a perfectly valid method of spending ones life, the deity who had spoken had provided... something of a falsehood. That the only path to living laid in following them northwards.

That had to be corrected.

"You can travel north if you wish, but there are also lands to the south that are going to open for new inhabitants in the near future as well. I do not demand or require your worship or faith, but I would welcome your company all the same." Vatarr announced in a manner so that all the various mortals could hear them... before once again turning south and moving with haste. After all, he had just invited others to his domain, it was only right as the host that he made it presentable.




Two Days Later


It was... difficult to put into words the chaotic madness that seemed to be the default state of the world outside of a stabilized node. Even as they trudged through it, the closest description that Vatarr could come up with in the event that someone ever asked him what the wild Nodes were like was... complicated and honestly kind of a lie anyway... or at least a highly simplified version of the truth so mortals could understand that it that, in turn, made it so that it wasn't the truth anymore.

Imagine a landscape of a picturesque forest with plenty of room to move around and the ability to see sun and sky if you looked up, only it's silent as it's devoid of all forms of life that might make a noise. Now imagine a second landscape, but instead of a forest it was a barren cliff face covered in jagged, sharp rocks and violent, howling winds. Now imagine both of those landscapes are in fact the exact same landscape you're trying to walk through while trying to perceive them both at the same time. Now try to imagine this with at least a dozen different, conflicting landscapes that are all trying to be at the forefront of your mind and yet all exist equally in the exact same space in the exact same time.

A mortal would either die incredibly quickly or, in the highly unlikely event that they actually survived for any meaningful length of time, go completely insane. Vatarr however made their way through the chaos to the one place in the region that remained constant, despite the chaos that it was the heart of.

Node 26 looked exactly like it's stable counterpart, the sole exception simply being the environment around it. Reaching out and placing a hand on the black stone, the world... suddenly stilled. The chaos stopped instantly. For a few seconds as Vatarr just stood there with his hand pressed against the stone, he could see all the possibilities of what could be. He could shape this part of the world as he saw fit... and taking a deep breath he decided.

The first signs of life in this new region would be lichen, moss and fungi of various types as they started to grow out of the ground. Compared to the grasslands of Node 18, the ground of Node 26 would be a mixture of colors raging from a variety of greens to reds, browns, grays, yellows... among the plants would grow the fungi, many of which would be a variety of whites, but some of them were quite colorful and beautiful to behold in their own way. Maybe of these fungi would be rather small, barely poking up out of the moss and lichen... but others would start to grow bigger.

Some where big enough that a mortal could comfortable sit on them. Others big enough that Vatarr could easily take a seat. Others grew bigger and taller still, growing so large that they provided shade from the sky and you needed to look upwards in order to properly see their tops. That wasn't to say it was devoid of wood. A variety of trees grew among the fungal giants, providing a contrast to the view and providing a number of resources that fungi along couldn't provide.

After that came the wildlife. First insects, mollusks, birds and mammals that would thrive on the fungi, moss, lichens and other plant life that the realm had to offer. Then of course creatures that would strive to hunt and feast among the herbivores and fungivores in turn. Opportunists and carrion feeders would follow, as well as those lifeforms that could enjoy a variety of foods. In time the region was rich with countless different lifeforms, and Vatarr felt at home.

It soon started to rain for the very first time on this brand new land... and Vatarr decided that this land would be a wet one, with rainfalls coming fairly often but broken up but periods of sun and calm all the same.

Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, Vatarr leaned against the black stone as his work was done and just relaxed as he listened to the world around him. Mortals would come in time and he would focus on grander projects then but for now... he just listened to the song of life and death in its most natural state.








Vatarr


Completely ignoring any negative responses to his playful ribbing of the self proclaimed 'eldest' of the deities among them and glancing towards the serpent that had decided that talking was a waste of time and decided to merely project their thoughts into the heads of others, Vatarr merely shrugged indifferently as they turned away from the ongoing conversation and walked over to the map in question... before reaching out and tapping one of the nodes with his finger and nodding his horned head to himself.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm feeling inspiration surge and a need to go and create something before it slips away. You're all invited of course to come and visit and in turn I so look forward to seeing what you all make. Until next time, take care!" While the departure southwards was rather sudden, the joyous and jolly tone as Vatarr walked away suggested an earnestness behind his words; He honestly was looking forward to seeing what others created, just as he wanted them to stop by sometime to see what he had made in turn.





Raethel Norvegicus and Aethel





It had taken some time in order to organize things. Messengers had to be sent out, supplies had to be organized... plans had to be made. What had been originally a spur of the moment decision all those years ago on Aethel's part had evolved to the point where just pointing at someone and saying 'They'll be the next champion' simply wasn't good enough anymore. However, rather then rage about it they had instead sat down with Raethel had talked at length on what criteria the tests for a new champion needed to take.

What was decided in the meantime through was that the tests should be made into an event. A festival to celebrate the return of Aethel, the selection of a new champion of the Rattus people and the launch of their vessel to far distant shores!... On top of the fact that Aethel honestly just wanted to see what kind of party their little rats could actually throw when they dedicated themselves to it.

While all this did mean that Raethel was put upon to do the organizing, it was an duty that he couldn't really complain about... even if he did find himself grumbling to himself about having to deal with the deity's random flights of fancy. However, despite everything Raethel couldn't help but respect the fact that despite appearances or what some might think, Aethel could be surprisingly cunning in their plans.

For example, the first trial was designed to both thin the number of candidates as well as assist Raethel's workforce in regards to getting things organized; Only those who actively did something to help with or contribute to the Festival would qualify as candidates to succeed Raethel. The trick was that no one knew there was a trial; Officially there were only the main six trials and the seventh final one, but Aethel had insisted that they were going to use their divine senses in order to keep tabs on the Rattus who helped out.

This was combined with the other part of the trial... namely, a candidate had to want to be a candidate. They had to make a choice to put their name down and step forward to take part in the trials. Raethel knew for a fact that Aethel was prone to bouts of laziness and taking naps, but laziness was not a trait they wanted in their chosen representative it seemed.

Only time would tell how many candidates would actually qualify to take part in the trials themselves.




Vatarr


Within the first minute of coming into being, disagreements and struggle about who should be in charge had began. While he was sure that others would quickly jump in and naturally playful debate would turn into bitter arguments and brutal warfare that would last until the end that their creator had predicted, Vatarr instead quietly walked up to the body of their fallen... Father? Predecessor?

The horned skull of his head tilted slightly as he pondered the question for a moment before he reached out to press two of his fingers against the corpses forehead, their eyes closing for just a moment as the knowledge that the dead god had wished to share was passed onto him, making it three deities with access to it. Ignoring the conversation happening behind him for the moment, he gazed down at the dead god with an unreadable expression, sorting through the rather complex feelings they felt for the stranger that was their creator.

Bowing his head as a third finger was pressed against the head of the deceased, Vatarr closed their eyes in quiet respect and mourning, there was a small build up of their divine power before it faded away, leaving no trace of what it might have been used for before he brushed his fingers away as he turned and grinned as he stepped towards his fellows. "Come now. It's not as if the world is coming to an end right this minute. We have time for everyone who desires to make their case as to why we should follow them to step forward and do so. While clearly Monica and... he paused for a moment as his head tilted, looking at the 'older sister' for a moment before finishing in a playful tease "Whoever the old hag is have already stepped forward, I'm sure there are others who wish to step forwards and speak up."






I'm interested. Currently playing the current Divinity now, but I'm okay with doing another. Lot of ideas after all that I want to try out.
Roxanna

Mentioning: @Ponn@Ariamis@Shifter_Master


Roxanna... kind of lost track of all the people who were hanging around at the moment. She had gone through a big day, fought some freaking monsters, still have some work to do before she could turn in for the night and get some sleep...

Feeling the weight of the day pressing down on her body, Roxanna took a deep breath as she strove to keep things together long enough to get home. "...Look, I'm happy to share my number with people and get numbers in return. However, I've got to get home and purify the kamifuda and kifuda that got dirtied due to the wengidos attacking my stall... melt some wendigo hearts on said fire as well to make sure they can't reform because nothing like a cleansing holy bonfire to deal with the unholy... Maybe we can meet up again under better circumstances, alright?" This wasn't the undying declaration of friendship that MDP was likely hoping for, but 'I'll give you another chance when I'm less grumpy and tired' was the best she was going to get.
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