@Cyclone I been holding this back, but I think it is important to just propose an alternative instead of simply dismissing the opposing idea. My idea to square the concept of having infinite souls and giving Kath an important role is fairly simple, have it so that the burning process is what increases the sum total of soul-energy. So the soul stuff that originally went into that person breaks down into ash, but so does their memories, experiences, etc.
The reason I suggest this alternative is that it pull the focus away from no soul should ever leave the cycle, and allows for competing afterlives, while also maintaining Kath's afterlife and refocusing it on ensuring the cycle as a whole continues, rather than making sure that there is zero loss.
@Double Capybara Because this will become a simple "good guys" vs "bad guys" conflict. It is "Do you want the universe to operate normally" or "Do you want to mess with it for selfish reasons"
It feels like it will be a captain planet conflict, "Do you want to dump toxic waste in the ocean, or do you not want to do that."
I feel like the finite soul thing simply contrives conflict in what I believe is an uninteresting way. The demon god and undeath god no longer become enemies or allies based on ideological grounds, but we will need to fight them because they are hogging a finite resource.
There isn't really any interesting outcome to a soul-shortage. It seems like it really just come down to having the artitect give us more souls, or bully demon boy or undeath god to shake some souls loose.
Edit : Further thoughts, My problem is that it seems like every other god has no reason to care about souls except at a seemingly random point when it suddenly an issue we need to worry about, and it will effectively force all humanity-sided characters to side with Kath since there isn't really any alternatives.
My CS: Bug dude who wants to be a good guy, but has an inferiority complex because he got stuck with the bug domain.
Parvus The Small, The Swarmkeeper, The Locust Lord
Location : Deep below Galbar is the Cthonic realm of insects, the Hive. The Hive connects to Galbar directly through a single large sinkhole, however the Hive is to connected many other Cthonic spheres through tiny, insect-sized holes.
Appearance : Most of the Hive is a twisting cavernous labyrinth of soil, roots, ponds of still water, and various other insect nesting grounds. However at the center of the hive is the Garden. At first glance, the Garden may appear to be picturesque, a tranquil meadow of trees, grass, and ponds. However, like the rest of the Hive, it is crawling with insects. The only other notable feature of the hive is that within the garden there is a single apple tree planted away from any other tree or lake. No insect dares touch this tree, or even plunder its fallen fruits.
Portfolio : Insects
As the name suggests, this portfolio grants Parvus control over insects, as well as the ability to spawn them. It is a seemingly weak ability that is quite potent. Bees and butterflies can pollinate the land, granting it new life, whereas a swarm of locusts can devour it all. Colonies of ants are capable of shaping the earth, and swarms of mosquitoes can shape civilizations by spreading disease.
Parvus is a choatic neutral god, with a leaning towards good. Parvus generally does not wish to harm mortals, and will provide them assistance, however past effects has soured his altruism.
Within a past life, Parvus was a tree spirit in a different world. He remembered having a deep caring for humanity, and this lead him to join a rebellion against a tyrant god. For his trouble, he was ascend to godhood, however as a lowly tree spirit he was granted only the title of god of insects.
He attempted to still make friends with the mortals, however over time they become repulsed by him and took his many gifts for granted. And so on day, he snapped and unleashed a swarm of locusts upon the mortals who had abused him. He was very conflicted by this action, it both saddened that he was harming mortals but for the first time, he felt truly powerful. Afterwards, mortals began to truly respect his power, however no matter he had achieved the other gods of his realm never respected him. And thus, once he heard the architect's call, he left his word in order to become a part of this new one.
As Parvus believes the Architect respects him, Parvus respects the Architect, and is thus happy to obey the Architects rules so as long he does not disrespect or his divinity, and is not blatantly evil or tyrannical. He is also willing to cooperate with other gods so long as they are respectful of him and are not blatantly evil.
He wishes to help the mortal species of Galbar, but is not tolerant of disrespect towards him.
Parvus also understands while brute-force is a tool accessible to gods, that there are sometimes more effect tools such as scheming and half-truths.
Parvus' appearance may appear unfitting for an insect god, as his primary appearance is mostly as he appeared as a tree spirit in ages past.
He appears as a tall, humanoid with pointed ears and verdant green eyes. His hair is has the appearance of leaves, though of his leave-like hairs has holes in them as though they were eaten by insects. He has a slender and graceful form, and he typically wears robes of silk, dyed with various crushed beetle shells.
My Updated CS
Parvus The Small, The Swarmkeeper
Location : Cthonic Sphere, The Hive is relatively close to Galbar, but it is not directly under it. Many small insect tunnels connect the hive to other nearby cthonic realm such as the Grand Bazaar.
Appearance : The Hive primary consists of soil, roots, stagnate water, entrophic material and various other insect nesting grounds. It has many cavernous tunnels that are arranged in a labyrinthine manner, and can be shifted by activity of the various insects who dwell within the hive. Some of the tunnels open into larger cavernous rooms, however they are mostly barren aside from large insect nests, and the materials which composes the rest of the hive, such as roots and the occasional rock or pond.
However, one of the cavernous rooms is distinctive from the rest, and known simply as the Garden. The Garden is the most lush portion of the hive. Whereas the rest of the hive might have turfs of grass, the Garden is a field of grass. Whereas roots are fairly common in the rest of the hive, entire trees grow within the Garden. Other common features of the Hive also appear within the Garden, such as the occasional pond or rock. As with the rest of the Hive, many different variations of insects roam the Garden, however no insects nests within the Garden. Within the Garden, there are no anthills, bee hives or termite mounds. Finally, within the Garden there is a single apple tree in which no insect will approach, let alone touch or even plunder its fallen fruits.
Insects
As Lord of Insects, Parvus has the following powers : - He may spawn insects within the nearby area, causing them to appear from either air or ground. He may spawn anywhere between a single insect, and an entire swarm in this manner. - He may either directly or indirectly control insects within his nearby presence. He may either passively influence their actions, such as having them to be become passive or aggressive, or he may directly control their actions such ordering them to attack a person or construct a hive in a specific manner. - He can empower nearby insects, causing them to become more able, faster, and more resilient. For example, empowered locusts will be able to consume at an ever faster rate, while empowered worker ants will be able to create more impressive nests. This effect only last for as long the insects remain within the range of this effect, and for as long as Parvus wills it. - He may alter the sizes of insects within reason, potentially changing normal insects into giant insects and changing giant insects into normal insects.
Parvus is a chaotic neutral god. Most of the time, he can be cold, calculating and scheming, and can be prone to fits of rage. However he is a god who values of generosity, fairness, and respect.
Parvus will generally respect another god, so long as they will respect him, and they are not overly cruel or malicious to mortals. He may not understand the odd behavior of other gods, or disagree with them on certain issues, however he is willing to speak with them with respect, and deal with them fairly. He will attempt to avoid lying to other gods whenever possible, however may use secrecy and misdirection to his advantage whenever dealing with another god.
With mortals, Parvus demands respect, however in exchange he will grant them many gifts. His tiny servants pollinate crops and fertilize the land, and provide silk and honey, and be reagents for medicines and dyes. However he allows pest insects and stinging insects to remain in and near mortal settlements as a reminder of his power. While he may be driven to unleash a plague of disease-ridden mosquitoes or swarms of ravenous insects upon a population, he does not take this lightly and will attempt to avoid taking such drastic measures. However he reasons that sometimes drastic measures must be taken. Parvus is also more willing to directly deceive mortals, and use more dishonest tactics, as he reasons that is more humane than simply unleashing plagues.
Pavrus understands how some people may find insects distasteful, as he once found bugs repulsive. However, he is no longer afraid or grossed out by bugs. He has also learned to appreciate bugs for their social skills and resourcefulness. Sometimes he will simply watch ants build a nest without his aid.
He takes his role as god of insects seriously, and seeks to active shape Galbar, not only out of pride as a god, but out of respect to the Architect. He seeks to aid both the development of wild ecosystems, and the formation of civilizations. He believes that adversity is important in both nature and civilization, however he will often try to act in subtle ways to help in times of distress. And if needed, he will throw his full power behind the defense of either.
He is also not very protective of his insects, if a person were to kill insects he would be not bothered by it. The species as a whole would need to be endangered before he would begin to show concern, and even then he may not intervene. If someone did wish to eliminate all insect life on Galbar, then he would take personal offense to that.
In his past, Parvus was a generous tree spirit, who would hardly consider harming a mortal and would rush to their aid whenever needed. A tyrannical god overtook his world and implemented an entrophic reign of terror, and Parvus turned to deception and scheming in order to protect those he cared about. The tyrannical god was eventually overthrown, and as a reward, he was allowed to ascend to godhood.
As he was a lowly tree spirit, he was granted the least desirable domain, insects. However, he accepted it with pride and worked to improved the lives of the mortals he loved. He banished pests and stinging insects to the wilds, and gave mortals easy access to honey, silk, fertile grounds, pollinators, and dyes.
The mortals who once loved him grow more distant. They took his gifts for granted, and mocked him. They gave him the title of Pavrus the Small. None of his other gods would respect him, and they would rarely even acknowledge that he was a god.
One day, he entered a kingdom with a new bug which had created specifically for use in medicines, and the arrogant king refused his gift. It was the first time anyone had utterly refused his attempts of kindness, and openly mocked him within his presence. In a blind rage, he cursed the king for refusing his gifts, and he stripped away all of the gifts which had given their kingdom.
At first, things progressed as expected. Bees stopped producing honey, and silkworms stopped producing silk. Butterflies left to pollinate other fields, and worms migrated away into the forests. Bugs used for medicine or dye become unusable for their intended purpose. And the stinging and pest insects returned.
There was an unexpected consequence to his action. The locust population had grown fairly large within the wilds, and they were now free to descend upon the cursed, unprepared kingdom. At first, Pavrus responded with grief and remorse. He then heard the prayers of mortals begging him to lift his curse, and for the first time in his pitiful existence, he felt powerful.
Over time, he had developed his current personality in attempt to balance being kind while also being powerful and respected. However no matter what he did, the other gods would never respect him. And thus, he left. While a part of him cares for the mortals that he left behind, he now realizes that he was never loved, even as a tree spirit.
Parvus does not appear as you expect as insect god to appear. His appearance has not been drastically altered from when he was a tree spirit, and thus he appears as a tall, thin man with pointed ears and verdant green eyes. His most usual features is that his hair appears as large leaves. If you look carefully, you can see small holes within the leaves as though they were eaten by insects, but would be hard-press to ever find an insect crawling within his hair.
His clothing is mostly composed of simple, silk short robes dyed various colors depending on his mood, and trousers that while formal, still lend themselves to comfort.
Interested, right now my thoughts is to make a chaotic neutral insect god, who likes mortals and can give them honey, and pollinate their crops, but has an inferiority complex and whenever offended might send them a plague of locusts to devour all their crops.
I could be wrong, but I think the big important things is that the fear spiral showed up and made everyone scared, people tried to break it and Oao took the fear chord and assimilated it. A plant spiral showed up and made a big tree and turned everyone into plants, and people tried to break, and it is still ongoing. Gammaton has been going around trying to get all of the gods to show up for a meeting.
My CS, Edward the Great Magus of Indeterminate Location.
Name : Magus (Edward White)
Age : 21 Species : Magic-Touched Human Sex : Male
Appearance : Outwardly normal, Edward is 6ft tall and has an unimposing, slender build. However, certain physical traits betray his facade. His natural hair color has become white, however he dyes his hair black in order to better blend into crowds. His natural eye color is pale blue, however they occasionally flash dark blue or purple in times of stress or whenever he invokes his magic.
While in public, he tends to dress casually, wearing a t-shirt and jeans. He will also wear a jacket whenever appropriate, even though he has not felt cold in a significant amount time. He almost wears gloves, as on his right hand is the arcane rune for Magus.
Even whenever he is unconcerned about hiding his identity, he will typical wear casual clothing. However, he will shed his jacket and will often wear some type of robe over his clothing. His favorite robe is his large, blue, silk robe.
Personality : Magus can appear cold, calculating and uncaring at first glance, however this is not entirely accurate. Edward is very selfish, and can be apathetic to the woes of others. However, he is not malicious, and will typically avoid doing harm to someone else unless they have wronged him. Few things will cause him to hold a grudge for a long period of time, however he is unafraid of brutal reprisals for significant slights against him. However revenge can always be satisfying.
Magus primarily seeks to feed his insatiable curiosity, and is generally happy avoiding conflict with the various major supernatural factions of the world. However he does so out of convenience, rather than fear or respect. He tends to avoid conflict as he normally finds it a bother, however sometimes it can interest him as can appreciate a battle of wits. He does not seek out conflict, however if finds himself in an interesting situation, he can find himself indulging himself by partaking in what he would consider a distraction.
Despite being both born and raised as a human, he finds it hard to care about humans. A part of him appreciates humanity as a concept, and he may be bothered to defend the amorphous concept of humanity, or a city, or a nation. However he finds it really difficult to sympathize with the blights of individual humans unless they have something to personally interest him in. He has a view of the human species as a conservationist may view any other species of animals. They wish to avoid the extinction of the species, and may be offended by a particularly cruel treatment of a singe animal, however if a sustainable amount are killed in the pursuit of a specific purpose, than that can be acceptable.
History : Edward's parents were normal humans. However, his mother was very sickly and the doctors stated if she was to give birth, she and her son would die. As a result, his parents turn to various forms of quackery in order to attempt to save their child.
In their pursuit, they managed to find real magic. An arcanist interposed himself as they were attempting to buy a supposed potion of eternal life. The magician offered his services as a means of testing a spell, he was neither altruistic nor malicious. Like many practitioners of the arcane, he acted out of curiosity.
The spell allowed Edward to be born, however such powerful magic has a powerful cost. As soon as Edward was born, his father died. His mother was grief-stricken, and died from the harmful effects of the fake medicine she had consumed soon after Edward's birth.
From before his birth, Edward was magic-touched, and this instilled a deep thirst for magic within him. As arcane magic is the magic of knowledge and mystery, he was only satisfy this unquenchable thirst for a short time through learning and mental exercises.
However, Edward never saw this as a curse. This inherent drive to learn caused him to become very intelligent and well-read, however it had also stunted his emotional and social development. In addition, his high intelligence and connection to the arcane caused him to be immune to most mind-altering effects.
Whenever he was eightteen, he was reading the newspaper in order to help handle his thirst whenever he felt something from the page itself. A small thread of magic was lurking within the ad section. A tiny bit of mesmeric magic overlaid an ad about a job position. This caused him to grow curious.
The supposed recruitment center was located in a sparsely populated section of a nearby town, however he observed them from a bus stop in order to see what they were doing. They were so arrogant, and believed their flimsy enchantments would keep them invisible. However they could not deceive Edward's eyes.
He saw that they were recruiting humans as mindless slaves in order to produce magical items. At first, he was unsure of how to proceed, and then he had an insane idea, however it was irresistible. He pretended to become one of their mindless slaves, which was rather easy for the inexpressive teenager.
As their servitor, he was forced to work on various magical rites and transfer various tomes across the facility. It was very easy for him to read in secret, and knowledge of arcane easily satisfied his thirst for a time. However, after sixteen months, his thirst had only grown. Knowledge could no longer satiate him alone, and he required magic.
There was some safeguards against sabotage, however they were laughably easy to avoid. They merely checked how total magic was expended for each operation. As the servitor they used were mindless, it was very easy for him to optimize the ritual and then calculate how much magic it would be safe for him to drain as to make it appear normal.
He had learned that this was a small Olympian base far away from HQ, which had very little man-power or funding. There may have been members of the workshop which was suspicious of him, however he caused them no trouble and was a productive worker.
Edward had calculated many different ways in order to make his tampering invisible, and after fourteen months, he no longer need to feed off magic, as he was naturally generating his own supply. By this time, he had become a proper arcanist, and merely remained in order to finish reading their tomes and prefect his craft of enchanting objects.
However he was betrayed by the one system in which he failed to consider, the profit margin. He had generated a suspicious amount of money for the organization, which had helped him avoid scrutiny from the men stationed there. However, after around two years, a member of the main branch wanted a more careful examination of the facility after unrelated effects caused a greater concern for security in all member branches.
Edward prepared for this event, however he did not flee even though he could have. However, there was still work to be done here, and he had some appreciate from this workshop even if they attempted to exploit him. He was standing with an enchantment whenever he encountered the inspector, and made no attempt to hide the fact he retained his will.
They managed to a short conversation, in which Edward attempted to convince him that opposing him would be a terrible idea. However the inspector was firm on the idea that he was nothing more than a pathetic man who need to killed for daring to walk among gods, and attempted to attack Edward.
It was a terrible idea. In that moment, Edward proceed forward with his ritual, drawing nearly all of the magic from the giant magic storage tank used to power the various rituals. This created a storm of arcane energies which disrupting all other magic within the area and caused various disruptions. Edward smirked as the inspector was ripped apart by arcane energies for being so close to the epicenter of the storm.
However, Edward was unharmed. He has harnessed the destructive might of the storm in order to cast a powerful enchantment, binding himself to an arcane grimoire where had keep his notes, granting him increased magical prowess and an improved ability to hide his magical nature.
Where he stood, the arcane symbol for Magus was burnt into the ground. The same symbol that marks his hand, and his arcane tome. But while his body and his book are magically connected, that scoured symbol on the ground is merely a by-product that is disconnected from him.
He managed to easily leave the workshop in the utter chaos of the servitors waking up from their brainwashing, and all of the Olympians magics being useless within the storm. He knew that he would be forced to leave, not because of the washout Olympians who were no longer a serious threat to him, but because he had just drawn blood and soon the sharks will be circling the area. He smirked at the idea.
He had spent the intervening time laying low and expanding the amount of information stored within his tome.
Other : Magus is very powerful, and is a capable spellcaster as well as a proficient enchanter. His magical tome enhances both his spell casting ability and his enchanting ability. In addition, it hides his and its own magical nature from most scans. The tome is also enchanted as to contain more information than otherwise feasible, and while it is not capable of infinite storage, it is able to store comparable amounts of information to a high-end digital data bank. If a person attempts to read the book with Magus' approval, the words will simply not appear on the pages and it will require a high-skilled magician in order to bypass this security.
Magus is a normal human, as such as no inherent protection against death. However, his book constantly generates a magical, permeable, temperature-control barrier around himself to protect himself from danger. This can protect from physical attacks, magical attacks, heat, cold, poison gas, and lightning.
While maintaining this barrier does not require a significant amount of energy, the barrier does consume energy whenever it is required to counteract an attack, based on the energy placed into the attack. For example, it consumes an insignificant amount of energy to filter out toxic gas particles or prevent someone from poking him with a pencil, but consumes more energy in order to deflect a giant fireball in order to stop both the impact and the heat.
He is able to create this barrier by himself, however without the book, he must be awake in order to maintain it. This barrier also encompasses his clothing.
His other abilities are : creating and shooting bolts of magic that he can guide while they are in flight, levitating himself or light objects, moving himself at a moderate speed while levitating, moving small objects within a set sphere around himself at moderate speed, create a small, invisible sphere within a set sphere around himself that he can use to process visual, auditory, and/or smell information, and finally he can attempt to disrupt the flow of magic to a spell or enchantment in a process known as counterspelling or temporary disenchantment.
If he tries to counterspell the work of a novice, the spell will likely completely fizzle. However against a strong spell, it is likely to only weaken the spell instead of making inoperable. The same principle applies to temporary disenchantment.
This is addition to be completing magical ritual, such as enchanting rituals. The listed spells are the ones that he can preform without any special preparations.
Member
GubGar