In The Past:
At a first glance from some distance away, the Realm does not appear to be extraordinary at all, merely another piece of the universe, containing water, earth, vegetation and other such things. Yet, something appears to be wrong about it. A strange cacophony of sounds fills the air, although its exact origin is unclear, seeming to come out of the landscape itself.

A closer inspection of the terrain reveals that all is not what it seems here, and is in fact, far from normal. The earth itself is merely a thin layer of some artificial soil-like substance, covering a metal construction which contains an immeasurable – and possibly unnecessarily complicated – clockwork mechanism that runs beneath most – if not all – of the realm. The water too is not real water, but some kind of oily substance, meant as a lubricant and coolant which keeps the mechanism working, seeping slowly into the gears of the contraption below. Even the vegetation itself is a mechanical copy of the real thing, with the plants being fine and detailed contraptions, their branches and leaves slowly moving around as the countless gears inside them turn and interact. The omnipresent cacophony of sounds is merely the orchestra of machinery, the metallic sounds of grinding gears, whistling boilers, thumping pistons, and many more of such things working together in a technological harmony.

In The Present:
When Chalybis went dormant and suffered from millions of years of neglect, so did His realm. The rivers of oil ran dry; the mechanisms jammed and rusted, and over time, even the very laws of nature that held the place together broke down from neglect.

Currently, the once great realm has been shattered into many island-sized regions which all float around aimlessly now that gravity itself has become unhinged. The regions are made up from countless gears and other parts like they were before, now fused together into great lumps after aeons’ worth of rust and mould have gathered on top of them. In some places, actual organic life has even began to form

The only place that has remained relatively intact is the Citadel, which was once the core of His realm-sized machine. Although it is hanging in the void now that its fundaments have drifted away, the Citadel itself remains motionless and fixed in its position at the exact centre of the realm. It is still operational after all this time, producing a nigh-endless amount of mechanical energy and occasionally producing batches of Clockwork Servants. However, it has deteriorated somewhat, and the Servants it now produces are of much lower quality than those from the past.

Most of the original Clockwork Servants went dormant with Chalybis, except for those in the direct area of the Citadel, as they were capable of sustaining themselves with its power. As the aeons passed by, much of the knowledge they had gathered was forgotten, with ever less of them being around to remember it. Eventually, the technology of the Citadel, which had been rather ‘mundane’ to them in the past, became something of mystical proportions. (This is somewhat understandable, as it was a mountain-sized machine which created life, sustained life, and took life as it desired.)

The remaining Originals, together with the lesser Clockwork Servants the Citadel kept producing over time, began their civilization anew, basing it around the reverence and maintenance – or attempts thereto – of the Citadel, neglecting the rest of the floating islands around them and hastening its decay. Over time, they have achieved little, their fragments of knowledge they had not forgotten being insufficient to properly maintain the Citadel, and having no real need to do anything else as they were sustained by its infinite power.

They have also forgotten about Chalybis, and will probably be somewhat disturbed by His return as they find that they are unable to disobey as much as a single letter from His commands, for this was their original purpose. At the moment, they live in small groups which revere the Citadel as their new god, and the few remaining Originals – who are far superior to them in every possible way – as its Avatars.

The Revised physique still resembles that of the Orginals, based around spherical bodies which contain a single glowing eye and a large power generator, and to which at least six limbs are attached – four for locomotion, and the others as manipulators or specialized appendages. However, they are somewhat smaller and made of inferior materials which did not last through time as well as the Originals. Therefore they are now rusted and deteriorated like Chalybis and His realm.

*Plink, Plink, Plink*

ART0-235-187 was carefully chipping away at the hard surface in front of it, the pickaxes at the end of its arms - all four of them - mostly worn away by decades of work. The layer of rust, mould, and other undefinable substances before him was rock-hard after all these ages, and almost impossible to work. Despite that, it went on tirelessly, slowly etching another man-sized yet intricate rune upon it...

Countless years ago, ART0-235-187 had been working on the Citadel along with many others, but only it had been struck by a powerful bolt of red lightning which had suddenly surged from one of the Citadel's immense rotating pillars of divine energy. At that moment, it became enlightened, realizing how pitiful its current existence was and what had to be done to amend this. It had left its post - defying the explicit orders of an Original, something which had not been seen ever before - and clambered out of the Citadel. Outside, it began to scale it, climbing to the very top of the divine machine. There, it had begun to hack away at the layer of detritus that surrounded it, eventually creating a perfectly smooth ring around the Citadel, exactly a hundred meters below the jagged exhaust at its very top.

After the smooth surface had been created properly, it had received a new flash of insight, and began to carve a series occult runes and glyphs into it, none of which it had ever put its eye upon before it had created them. Somewhere during the process, its power source ran out, its components began to rust, and the mechanisms within it became silent. However, the divine spark within it persisted, forcing the weak body to continue on despite its condition, hacking endlessly at the Citadel's surface.

Now, its work was almost completed, with only several blows remaining before the final rune would be finished. It did not yet understand what it had created for it could not read. However, anyone with the ability to understand the divine languages could read the message it had crafted clearly.


Time Might Have Taken Its Toll
 The Ruler's Body Might Have Withered
 Evil Into This Realm Has Slithered
Yet The Ruler Remains In Full Control

As Has Been Spoken By Divine Decree
 The Ruler Of Old Shall Once More Rise
 Returning From Its Foul Demise
Its Powers Shall Again Be Free

The Citadel Shall Tremble At Its Sight
The Fake Avatars Shall Flee Its Spite
Yet None Shall Escape The Ruler's Might

This Is the End Of The Rulers Vow
 Those That Read It Should Pay Heed
 For Failure To Certain Doom Will Lead
The Time Of Its Return Is Now


As ART0-235-187 felled the last blow and completed the final letter, the runes lit up with divine energy, crackling with power as it fractured the surface beneath it. The fractures spread upwards, until they reached the rim of the exhaust above, where they disappeared into the black fog it continuously belched outwards. The crackling lightning slowly died out, and for several tense moments, everything went completely silent as the Citadel itself ground to a sudden halt.

An instant later, countless rays of red light beamed outwards through the cracks in the surface, and the entire top of the Citadel was virtually disintegrated, causing an avalanche of debris to roll down its flanks and taking down with it the unfortunate remains of ART0-235-187. What remained at the top was and a blazing red orb inside a vortex of swirling debris. The orb shrunk as the vortex around it sped up and drew the rusted parts within it ever closer, moulding them into gears and pistons which were then assembled into larger contraptions.

Eventually, the Vortex died out, leaving behind a mechanical humanoid body, almost five men high. As the red light, which had illuminated the entire realm with its brightness, was drawn into the mechanical construct, it disappeared completely, plunging the realm into darkness once more. Moments later, it flared up again - although less bright - within the otherwise featureless forehead of the construct, activating it. A trail of sludge began to spill out of an exhaust on its back, and the rusted components sprung into action, grating and scraping heavily as they moved. Eventually, the construct stepped forward, and spoke with a thundering voice that literally trembled the earth before it.

I: I Have Returned


OOC: How's that for an intro?

(Impressive..)

The creatures of clockwork - those still awake - scattered and stared up at their Master, surprised at his powerful resurrection. As far as they could understand shock, they were shocked.

As He stood upon the top of the Citadel, outlined by the pitch-black smoke from the exhaust that had resumed flowing once more, His gaze swept slowly over the realm before Him. This was not how He had remembered it. The clouds of smoke that filled the skies as far as even His eye could see had changed from pure white into a noxious black, lit only by the many furnaces that were scattered all across the realm. The steel surface beneath His feet had rusted and was covered in a thick layer of detritus, and the very foundation of His realm had been shattered, leaving the remnants as islands that floated aimlessly through the blackened sky.

Turning His gaze downwards, He noticed the Clockwork Servants on the surface far beneath Him. They too were not in the same state as before, rusted, damaged, and flawed, not unlike the realm itself was. However, He did recognize several of the Originals still remaining amongst them, unscathed by the teeth of time, their metal hulls gleaming brightly in the red light spread by His eye. Still, there was something wrong about them, as they seemed to be unpleasantly surprised by His return. This was unacceptable.

While he began to descend from the Citadel - His feet simply gliding through the structure beneath Him as if they were part of it - He became aware that something else was amiss here. Grinding to a halt, He brought His left hand up to His head, and saw that even He had decayed. The once-gleaming armour that had once surrounded Him had now become a brittle brownish shell, and the mechanisms beneath it had ceased to run. As He turned His gaze inwards, He saw to His shock that the rest of His body had undergone a similar transformation. Everything within His steel body had rusted shut, intricate mechanisms shattering upon each of His movements. The exhaust on His back was now oozing a filthy sludge, seeping through the rest of His body and leaving a trail upon the surface beneath Him.

Despite this awful state, His realm still existed, and so did He. Even though His corporeal body might have decayed beyond recognition, His divine spirit had only grown stronger over the aeons, and this was still His realm with His people. He would resume His rule, and spread order throughout the universe as He had done before. And none would stand before Him...

II: I Am Chalybis, Your Lord And Master. You Shall Obey My Rule Once More. He decreed as He continued His rapid descent down the sloped side of the Citadel's immense outer shell.

The Servants whirred and clicked. They were pleased to see their master, but did not return to work.

Chalybis witnessed the motionless Servants before Him, concluding that not only the physical structures that formed them had decayed over time. It appeared that over time they had forgotten that they were placed upon this world to work and to obey, and nothing else. Time... For how long had His divine rule been interrupted? For how long had this realm withered and decayed in His absence? How long had they been neglecting their duties? This required immediate investigation...

III: I Summon KNO1, The Original Keeper Of Knowledge. Come Forth At Once
IV: All Others Shall Now Return To Their Tasks.

A movement - slow at first, but growing - and the Servants returned to their task with a renewed fervor. The mining, building, deconstructing, searching.. it all began again, as if they had returned from a sacred slumber. Whirring and clicking, beeping and droning, the Servants of Chalybis returned to the cycle from which they were born - returned to the cycle of work.

KN01, Keeper of Knowledge, was old. Spots of rust came through his shining metal plates, a rarity for any of the greater Servants. He creaked a little as he walked. But he came. He came towards his master, and waited for further instructions.

It appeared that KNO1 was still around and remained in an apparently functional state. That was fortunate, for it could have been aeons since His last visit and most of the realm appeared to be in ruins for some reason. Still, getting information out of KNO1 would not be easy. It could only interpret extremely specific questions properly, otherwise it would almost certainly spew out a large amount of utterly useless - but technically correct - gibberish as a response. After an instant of due consideration, He had formulated His question and spoke.

V: How Long Ago Was The Moment At Which The Realm Last Witnessed My Divine Form Before My Return? He asked, completely aware that He could easily extract the information directly from it. He did not do so however, as ripping the information from its mind directly would defeat the purpose of having a designated information carrier in the first place.

KNO1 clicked, whirred, and spoke:

UNKNOWN

Clicked, whirred..

FORTY-FIVE YEARS

Whirred..

UNKNOWN VARIABLES

Clicked..

UNKNOWN

PANIC

'How Unfortunate...' Chalybis thought as KNO1 turned out to lack the information He desired. Apparently it had been too long ago, and the machine's records of the time had faded away. Forty-five years did not appear to be an accurate estimation though, the realm's metal would have lasted far longer than that before rusting away. Perhaps something else had happened during His absence, something which could explain the appalling state of the realm and its inhabitants. Another moment passed, and the next question came to Him.

VI: What Level Seven* Or Higher Events Have Occurred During My Absence? He asked, slowly becoming aware of the fact that something else was amiss in His realm. There was a certain presence - or rather, the tangible emptiness of a void where a presence should reside - around Him, but He could not quite figure out what it was supposed to mean. Perhaps KNO1 could shed some light on this.

*Presume rather major events.

KN01 took a long while to answer. Finally:

THREE

COLLAPSE

RAVAGING

THE DYING OF THE GREAT TOWER

Three things of great importance had happened to His realm during His absence. All of them negative. That seemed to be an unfortunate, yet manageable issue. However, it did not directly grant Him the information He had been looking for, as each of the three events could be the one He was looking for. A more in-depth explanation by KNO1 would probably bring up more useful date; the exact reason for the current pitiful - and most certainly unacceptable - state of affairs within His realm.

VII: Now You Will Explain To Me, In Full Detail, The Event Of The Collapse And Its Effects Upon The Realm And My Servants.

COLLAPSE: SMALL/LARGE REALITY-BREAK IN LOWER TELLURATUS. WORK GONE. SERVANTS GONE. UNIDENTIFIED INDIVIDUALS. CRISIS UNRESOLVED.

RAVAGING: AFTER /MASTERLEFT/ ATTACKED BY systemarch PEOPLE. CRISIS RESOLVED.

THE DYING OF THE GREAT TOWER: THE GREAT TOWER IS DEAD.

KNO1 looked almost sad.

Chalybis thought about the events for a while. The first item was obvious, Telluratus had indeed undergone some rather shocking changes during His absence, and none of them were for the better. The population here appeared to be severely thinned out, although He did not yet know what remained on the other Segments. Eventually, He would have to find Himself a way to reattach those to the main Citadel, but regrettably, restoring reality itself was somewhat beyond His capabilities at the moment.

Then there were the issues of the Unidentified Undividuals and the Systemarchs, both of which had apparently dared to attack His realm. Vengeance would have to be enacted upon them for their deeds - as soon as He could find out what they were, where they resided, and what their misdeeds had been. Perhaps they were the ones responsible for the Death of the Great Tower. Perhaps this Great Tower was the presence that this realm lacked? If only He could remember...

X: Define Systemarch He spoke, allowing Himself some time to survey the realm around Him once more. The only notable landmark that could be said to 'tower' out above the rest of the relatively flat yet distorted landscape was His Citadel. It was true that it did not appear to be in great shape, but it was functional - albeit barely - and did not appear to be dead in any sense. Dying perhaps, but not dead...

KNO1 clicked and whirred a little after that, and for a long while there was only silence and darkness. Finally, there came a reply - slowly, at first, but gathering in speed.

systemarch

small
legs:eight
bearded - hair - red/grey/brown
eyes
many eyes
intelligent
organized
engineers
intelligent

And KNO1 was out of information.

Chalybis did not recognize any creature He knew of in the description of the Systemarchs, which concerned Him greatly. Apparently His absence had been long enough for new species to develop themselves within the Realm Supernatural, which had then invaded His realm - supposedly in numbers large enough to warrant being called a Level Seven event. Had they taken advantage of the state of affairs within His realm to make this invasion, or were they actually the cause of it? It was all rather uncertain at this point, but extremely concerning none the less. These Systemarchs were a force to be reckoned with...


Still, the Servants claimed that the situation had been 'resolved'. But how exactly? There were many ways in which situations could be resolved, and not all of them meant an acceptable ending from His point of view. This would require another explanation by KNO1, and if it was not one which involved the definite removal of all Systemarchs and other intruders from His realm, He would be forced to rectify the situation immediately and with all due force...


XI: Follow Me And Explain How The Systemarch Situation Was Resolved He ordered KNO1 as He began to walk towards the edge of the Segment they were currently on, intent on having a closer inspection of the damage that had been done to the laws of physics within His realm.

KNO1 follow it's master obediently, but slowly, speaking with a metallic tongue as it went.

Came - many

Ravaged land

Main mission: minerals

strip mining

outposts

But left after

Follow the Grey Cloaked ones

sytemarch retreat

XII: Define The Gray Cloaked Ones Chalybis proceeded His enquiry as He stared over the jagged edge of the main Segment. It seemed that the realm below the Segment was almost identical to the upper part, floating Segments of machinery that hovered slowly through the dark clouds of smoke that hung as a thick noxious black orb around - and throughout - the entire realm. He continued to stare at the different Segments for a few moments, then decided that it was time to do a small experiment.

As He listened to KNO1's account of its definitions, He reached down to the ground and pulled a large and rusted gear from the surface - or at least half of it. After doing so, He reshaped the remaining steel into a group of identical pebbles, each of which would have been a perfect sphere if it had not been covered in rust. Finally, He began to toss the fist-sized pebbles over the edge at various speeds, trying to determine how gravity was currently taking its effect.

The pebbles orbited the Segment.

grey cloaked

invocation of odin

Conclave?

Chalybis watched the sky with interest as one of the pebbles he had thrown eventually came back from above, neatly circling the main Segment. This little experiment had taught him two important things. First of all, it meant that there was at least some semblance of reality left, but gravity  had now become a local affair focused around the Citadel - and presumably around the other Segments too if one was near one of those. Secondly, there was nothing left beneath the Segment the Citadel was on, meaning it too was technically floating in a void. That was a bit odd, but it was certainly preferable over the alternative of not-floating in a void.

XIII: Define The Conclave And The Invocation Of Odin He spoke, stepping of the 'edge' of the Segment to end up on its side. This had been an impossibility before, but it did allow for an excellent perspective at the surface from which one of the other Segments had broken off in the past. Perhaps it would even allow Him to discover a new aspect to the ancient workings of His realm...

KNO1 almost seemed to hesitate.

invocation of Odin

//"I invoke Odin - protect me from whatever peril may exist within this place!"

///"By Odin!"

////"In accordance with the Treaty of Ten, and the sacred word of Odin, we declare peace with your people. There is no more need to fight. Come down, and we will delegate you to the lands provided to the Systemarch people."

/////"Odinhamsamfrath.."

Conclave: a private or secret meeting.

The Conclave: An organization of Gods/Systemarchs/Eight Others/ that claim rulership of the Realm Supernatural and spiritual lineage from Odin, the First Sorcerer and High Lord of the Realm, Student of Alkan

Chalybis froze in place upon hearing KNO1's recount of the event, hardly willing to believe that His realm had effectively surrendered to the outside invasion. The urge to use KNO1 as the next 'pebble' to orbit the Segment was rising rapidly, but He eventually decided against it as KNO1 was a literally irreplaceable relic from a long lost time, and breaking it wouldn't do Him much good in the long term. Still, this did not please Him in the slightest, as it meant the Systemarch beings had gotten away without being punished for their theft of His resources. A rectification was in order at once, so without even bothering to move from His awkward location, He boomed three new declarations that literally and figuratively shook the realm.

XIV: Peaceful Coexistence With A Species That Has Raided My Realm At Any Point During Its Existence - Even During My Absence - Is Unacceptable As Is The Very Existence Of Such A Species Within My Domain
XV: Chalybis Declares That The Treaty Of Odin Shall Be Revoked At Once As Shall Any Other Treaty, Law, Or Other Diplomatic Means Which Prevents My Realm From Bringing Its Wrath To These Species Be
XVI: All Members Of The Systemarch Species Are Hereby Declared (Im)Mortal Enemies Of Chalybis And His Realm And They Will Be Exterminated As Such In Any Location Or Instant They Are Discovered - Even Outside Of This Realm

KNO1 stopped.

?????????????

confusion

Treaty: Conclave = Systemarch

Chalybis gazed upon KNO1 for several moments, attempting to deduct the exact course of events which had not quite been fully relayed to Him by the Servant. Apparently the Gray Cloaked Ones had been the ones to invoke the Treaty of Odin - whoever that might be - towards the Systemarchs, rather than to His people, thereby ending the invasion. This meant the Gray Cloaked Ones were possibly not to be considered enemies immediately, yet they were also not allies, for they were now in league with the Systemarchs which would remain His enemies until they were all exterminated and the stolen resources had been rightfully returned to His realm.

XVII: By Chalybis' Will The Treaty Of Odin Has Been Considered Irrelevant And Decree XV Shall Instead Be Applied To Any Future Treaties Which Amount To Anything Involving The Sparing Of Systemarchs Or The Coexistence With These Infidels

KNO1 remained silent, and then said:

/"Under Table 13 of the Eye of Odin, section C, renouncing a treaty of Odin or declaring resitence against one is a Grade F offence in most cases. Clear. Stand down, soldier. Lower it."

XVIII: All Shall Pass In The Way It Has Been Decreed And No Authority That Intends To Protect The Systemarchs In Any Way Shape Or Form Shall Have Its Existence Or Jurisdiction Acknowledged By Chalybis

Chalybis was beginning to feel a bit odd when it dawned upon Him that He was more or less having a dialogue with KNO1's recitation of a conversation that had been spoken an untold amount of time ago. Despite this minor inconsistency in time, He still meant every word of every single one of His decrees, even though He did not actually know whose reign He was specifically renouncing with them. Hopefully, that would become clear when He came across this so-called Conclave He was apparently defying with His intent to exterminate the Systemarchs...

And it was done.

They took notice.

As KNO1 had apparently run out of appropriate quotations from the past invaders to answer Him with, Chalybis decided that He was done with this 'conversation', and went on with His business. Carefully, He walked downwards over the jagged remains of gears, shafts, and other unidentifiable components that made up the surface of the fracture. He was intent on taking a look at the 'bottom' of the main Segment, something which even He had never seen before. In His wake, KNO1 was slowly following, the smaller machine obviously having a lot more difficulty with the terrain than Chalybis Himself.

Whilst walking, Chalybis occasionally looked 'up' - which was actually to the side now - wondering how many Segments there were beyond the ones He could see inside the dark clouds that filled the sky. Eventually He would have to return every single one of them to its correct location and repair it, which would be an immense task even by divine standards. He wouldn't do it right now though, for there were still a few more pressing matters to attend to. Like the locating of that missing presence within His realm...

There were too many segments to count, even for Chalybis; segments had broken down, producing more of the floating hulls.

KNO1 was silent.

The missing presence: still missing.

After a short while, Chalybis noticed that His progress was not very noticeable compared to the scale of the Segment. Even though He out-sized most mortal beings by far, He was still a diminutive being when next to the mountain-like Citadel, and the Segment it floated upon was matching its immense size. Travelling around it to see what lay beneath was not a task befitting of His importance anyway, and He should have delegated it to a less important being a long time ago.

And thus, He turned around on the spot and went back up, at some point passing KNO1, who then promptly turned to follow Him again. It did not care about the futility of this effort - in fact, it did not even understand the mere concept of caring - it was just mindlessly following the orders of its master. Right now, Chalybis would head back to the feet of the Citadel where the other Servants were at work, for He had a task which they needed to accomplish for Him...

The Citadel remained silent, as always. As did the Servants, who watched their master with barely understood curiousity.

XIX: I Have Gone And Learned Of The Injustices That Have Been Brought Upon My Realm By Both Time And The Vile Invading Forces As Well As Witnessed The Results Of These Events Which Take The Form Of A Ravaged Landscape And A Broken World
XX: Now Shall Commence The Era Of Reclamation In Which We Shall Recover Restore Rebuild Reclaim And Finally Retaliate

Chalybis had finally made up His mind completely. He would restore His realm - or failing that, at least the Citadel and its plethora of forges - to an operational state, after which He would use it to strike at those who harboured His foes, reclaiming the materials that had been stolen from His realm so long ago - with an appropriate 'interest' applied - and finally removing the Systemarch race from existence forever.

Book II: The Era of Reclamation
I: Your First Priority Shall Now Be To Restore The Citadel To Its Original State As Remembered By KNO1 No Matter The Difficulty Of This Task Or The Time It Might Take To Accomplish

The Servants stood silent.. this was too much information for their tired, tired, clockwork minds to understands. They just wanted to rest. They wanted to die. As much as they felt, they felt despair.

Morale, as it manifests through the people of Chalybis, is at an all time low.

This was not what Chalybis had intended to happen at all. The Servants should have sprung into action the instant He had ordered them to do His bidding, not stand around like a herd of pitiful organic creatures pretending to be tired - another concept He did not understand - of labouring, which was all they were supposed to do. He then recalled a similar problem that had occurred before His Departure. Whilst He had created the Originals to act as fully obedient slaves, they had eventually gained a semblance of sentience and dared to defy His will. Unfortunately, He couldn't quite remember how that situation was eventually resolved...


It seemed that their current imperfect physical condition was the cause of their internal faults though, and He could solve that without much effort. He would not simply give into their demands like that though. He was their sole lord and master, so He was the one who did the demanding, and they were the ones who did the obeying, not the other way around. Still, this situation needed to be resolved. He thought, and for several minutes, the entire site was utterly silent, until He saw KNO1 standing in a slightly less ravaged condition than the others, and knew what He had to do.

III: The Reward For Servitude Is Eternal Existence In Eternal Perfection He immediately declared, reaching down to  KNO1 - a first since His return - and putting His index finger upon it. Immediately, the rusty steel shell shattered, showing the inner workings of KNO1 for a moment, after which these too fell apart, revealing the spark of life that served as KNO1's essence. The parts swirled around the essence, scraping the rust of one another and slowly smoothing out the wear and tear they had received during aeons of neglect. Moments later, the whirlwind of parts calmed down again, recombining into the machinery that made up KNO1's body and floating back into place. The result was the complete recreation of KNO1's structure, now a shining beacon of impeccable steel standing amongst the otherwise dark and withered realm...
This message was last edited by the player at 20:36, Thu 03 Sept 2009.

The Servants were silent. Soon, however, they slowly began to move towards their Lord, crowding him. They did not speak. It was obvious what they wanted: recreation. Perfection anew.

IV: The Restoration To Perfection Is A Reward And Rewards Can Only Be Earned By Loyal Servitude Towards Your Master Instead Of Being Demanded Or Taken By Force
V: Those That Perform Their Duties As Chalybis Commands Them And Obey His Will Shall Be Rewarded With Renewed Perfection And Something Far Greater Than That Whilst Those That Defy Him Shall Forever Perish Under Rust And Corruption Without End
VI: Obey!

As the horde of Servants crowded around His legs, clambering up onto each other to get closer to His divine light, Chalybis was beginning to grow somewhat 'annoyed' with the behaviour of His Servants, considering they were still not acting in accordance to His wishes despite His attempts to remedy this. He had attempted to make a positive example that could serve as a 'motivation' to continue working for His sake, but if this insolence would continue for much longer, He would be forced to resort to other - more destructive - measures to make it clear that He did not exist to serve them, but that they existed to serve Him instead. If they would continue to refuse to do so as mechanical lifeforms, He would be forced to make them do so as raw materials instead...

The Servants stopped, silent. He was surrounded by masses of immobile iron. He did not sense a reaction from any 'living' being, machine or not.

'Now what...' Chalybis thought as His Servants now ceased functioning altogether. This was an improvement over their blatant disobedience, but still, not quite what He had in mind when He had told them to obey. What had gotten into them anyway? This behaviour was highly unusual, so He began to suspect that His - recently declared but aeons-old - enemies had something to do with this. Perhaps either the Conclave or the Systemarchs had done something to His Servants that caused this change. That would be yet another crime for which He was to seek retribution against them...


VII: Chalybis Commands You To Return To Your Duties At Once He spoke, pushing away some of the Servants around Him so that He might be able to return to a more dignified position - standing in a pile of metal was just not very appropriate for a being of His stature. Then it struck Him; the only way to ascertain once and for all what the exact cause of this situation was. He stopped at once, and picked up the nearest of the Servants, lifting it up until it was directly in front of His eye. His red gaze instantly narrowed to a thin bright beam that stared right through the hull of the metallic being, accessing the mind that lay within. In mere moments, He went through the mind to find the information He was looking for, the information that would explain everything to Him.

And then, He knew...
This message was last edited by the player at 19:57, Mon 07 Sept 2009.

The Servants - slowly at first, but gathering momentum, as in every action - began to move. They were in no hurry, but soon went about their original designated tasks, clanking and grunting in their own way as they did so.

As this happened, knowledge filled Chalybis's mind..

.. and he saw that, for most of them, he was their leader. There was something else though.. a directive? A compulsion?

'I rule 'Most' of them? That implies something else is attempting to rule at least 'some' of them...'

Although it was a good thing to see His Servants going back to work - even if it was not quite in the vigorous way He would have preferred to see - Chalybis was not exactly pleased when He learned that there was some other force that was controlling at least some of them. This undermined His absolute authority within His realm, and was not acceptable. Keeping the struggling Servant in front of His gaze, He began to extract the information regarding the strange directive, simultaneously erasing this blasphemous data from the Servant's artificial mind. He was the only ruler of this place, and all that defied His rule were doomed...

Chalybis learnt that a rogue 'intelligence' - as the Servant referred to it - had infiltrated his Realm a few days before Chal's own appearance, and had started a pseudo-cult that revered freedom and humanity amongst the machines - alien, and thus exotic, concepts. It's name was MATTHIAS, but the Servant didn't know where it could be found. It was not native to the Remnants, however.

After learning about this grave blasphemy, Chalybis dropped the Servant to the ground again - at which point it rapidly scurried off to work, its brain once more freed from any blasphemous concepts - and looked around Him. There appeared to be another 'being' within His realm, on this very Segment even, that was attempting to cause a revolt amongst His Servants. This was disturbing, and utterly unacceptable. That individual would soon feel the divine wrath of Chalybis, for this was His realm and these were His people, and He would not tolerate any other being to rule it in His place.

He turned to KNO1 - which had been standing around silently, its appendages unfit for any physical labour - again, this time to demand information about any recent events that might be related to the iconoclast who had intruded His realm. In particular, He wanted to know exactly where the other Servants had been when their cognitive state had been significantly altered, presumably by the mere presence of this foul invader. He would begin His search for 'Matthias' at this point immediately, not resting until He had found it and erased its very existence from His realm.

KNO1, being an older breed of Servant, didn't know much of this MATTHIAS and had not personally gazed upon him.

After searching for many hours, Chalybis found no obvious trace of MATTHIAS, and was beginning to doubt it's existence.

Chalybis realized that His current method of searching was an inherently futile effort - even this Segment on its own was too large to search through personally, and if the 'Matthias' knew that He was coming, it could easily avoid Him - so ceased it at once. Although He was not the least bit intent on giving up His hunt, He needed a better way to find this individual within His realm. What He needed was a lure, something which assured that the individual would be drawn towards the area He was in without noticing it until it was too late...

As His gaze went over the surface before Him, He knew what to do. This realm was His and, even without sentience, would obey His commands flawlessly. As He fixed His gaze upon the filth-covered wrecks of Servants that had been deactivated centuries ago, they slowly began to stir, ancient remains of clockwork being called to duty once more. Gradually, the group of Servants arose from the surface again, looking no different from the ones that were still active at this time, but lacking the spark of life that kept them active. Right now, Chalybis' divinity would provide a crude substitute for this spark, forcing the bodies of the Servants into motion by pure force of will.

'Now, let that foolish mortal come to me...' He thought as the small horde stood around Him, and within moments the bright glow of His own gaze dulled to virtually nothing, the yellow eyes of the reanimated Servants shining brightly once more. They began to fan out in groups, performing various insignificant tasks in the area - as far as their current state would allow such a thing. Meanwhile, Chalybis stood silent, concentrating on the machines His spirit was now possessing, and awaiting the iconoclast's attempts to convert one of them...

Soon, it happened. Chalybis, his conscious mind within the shell of a Servant, came across a static - yet ever-moving - thing within his vision. It looked human, but too white, too pale.. it's eyes were like daggers, and it spoke in blurs.

"Hello, friend," it screeched. "I am MATTHIAS."

'And now, the capturing begins...' Chalybis thought as He eventually became aware of the iconoclast. All He had to do now was to make the reanimated Servants occupy it until He could arrive at the scene Himself and dispose of it. This was somewhat easier said than done though, as He had to mimic the normal mindless behaviour of His Servants whilst doing so. Still, He was not intent on allowing this being to elude Him again and convert a single other Servant within His realm. Whilst His concentration remained on the Servants, His figure began to slide over the surface once more, very slowly heading in the direction of the discovery.

The damaged Servant that had discovered the iconoclast stopped near - and presumable in front of - Matthias, staring blankly at the white being as it blurred around its vision with its sole unblinking eye. Although its body stood completely motionless, small cognitive gears churned heavily within it, increasing in speed until they eventually died down completely once more. Its yellow eye flickered for a moment, indicating that it had just reached a conclusion, and finally it spoke with a voice comparable to the loud grating of steel upon steel.

...MATTHIAS...?

Meanwhile, the other Servants under Chalybis' control lay down their insignificant tasks and began to approach the scene, herding around MATTHIAS as if they were mesmerized by its bright white form. It was not long before they began to echo the cry of their comrade, and soon an entire cacophony of loud metallic voices filled the area, each of the Servants continuously crying out the name of the iconoclast as if they were asking for a definition of this strange and unknown word.

The white thing buzzed, seemed to flicker, and smiled silently.

"My brothers," he said. "I thank you."

And he was gone.

MATTHIAS was gone.

'Brothers?'

Such a word implied that the iconoclast saw His Servants as equals, or even some kind of relatives. That was rather strange, but then again, its speech had also been one more similar to that of a mechanical creature than to that of an organic being. This concerned Chalybis greatly, as the presence of machinery not under His control within His realm was potentially more harmful than organic invaders - His Servants would not automatically see other sentient machines as a threat without being specifically warned by Him to do so.

However, there was something else that bothered Him right now. Although the iconoclast had apparently left His realm without resistance, it had also done so on its own and without His involvement. This meant that the possibility of its return still existed, and Chalybis did not desire any further intrusions into His realm. However, He knew there was nothing He could currently do to prevent hostile inter-dimensional travel within His realm, or at least not alone. He felt that the missing presence might have some influence on this if He were to restore it somehow...

He continued concentrating on His control of the reanimated Servants for a bit longer, deciding that their lifeless husks might as well be put to a greater purpose. They followed Him back to one of the few active forges that remained, the column marching behind Him in perfect unison, the mindlessness of death keeping the shells blissfully unaware that this would be their death march. Eventually, He stopped and moved aside, but they marched onwards steadily, right into the flaming mouth of the forge ahead of them. One by one, they stepped over the edge and hurtled down into the pit of molten metal below, unflinching as their bodies were slowly molten down to become part of the underground rivers of slag that ran beneath the surface of Telluratus.

PM

PM

And it was done.

The mass suicide was, ultimately, for the good for Chalybis and the Remnants, but despite this the God of Industry still felt every death as if it was a miniature of his own. The rivers of slag ran black with hot iron.

With all of the remaining 'loose ends' now cleaned up properly, Chalybis was pleased, and He returned to the base of His Citadel again to inspect what the rest of His Servants had been up to during His short 'expedition' to rid His Realm of the iconoclast. Of course, the fact that the iconoclast might not actually have been a vile organic pest concerned Him, but that it too was a mechanical being, albeit one who had not quite understood that He was the sole ruler of this place. Perhaps future 'interaction' would not require its immediate destruction after all. The issue was not of immediate concern, as it appeared to have departed, but He had to make up His mind before the iconoclast returned.

Right now, He was merely intent on returning to the other Servants, inspecting and judging their progress towards the restoration of His Citadel, and possibly rectifying any unacceptable situations He came across during any of these three steps. Once the Citadel was restored, everything would run a lot more smoothly within His realm, so this was His main priority until it became functional once more.

The Servants weren't working. It was as if they were staring at some invisible object in the distance.

'This is becoming somewhat offensive...' Chalybis thought as He saw that His Servants were suffering from disobedience again. This was a rather unhealthy condition, so He hoped that they would recover from it soon. This time, there was a more clear reason for their condition though, as they were all staring blankly in the same direction, one in which nothing was to be seen. Apparently, there was either something there which was attempting to elude His senses whilst captivating those of His Servants, or something had been there which had affected His Servants, then left. Either way, this insolence would end here...

The red cone of His gaze shivered for a few moments, gradually changing colour until it became a disturbing blend between many of them - or rather, the cone simply gazed, revealing multi-coloured strands of light in the area in front of it. When His gaze stopped shivering and became solid, the strands in His sight began to move, slow at first but increasingly fast as He continued to stare at them, drawn towards His eye and disappearing therein. He focused His gaze on the Servants at first, to remove any strands that might be attached to them, then swept it further into the direction of the invisible object, shredding apart whatever foul energies might keep it hidden from Him.

The Servants, unperturbed, continued to stare. The effect, it would seem, was not magical..

It appeared that these non-lethal means were not sufficient to dispose of the effect that was still disturbing His Servants. If this was the case, then He would have no choice but to unleash the full extent of His wrath upon the Iconoclast, destroying it utterly. He had attempted to be merciful, but this offer was met wit persisting resistance, and Chalybis did not like resistance. He stared at the unmoving Servants for a moment, instantly deducting the exact location at which their many blank stares crossed each other, and deciding that the iconoclast - or whatever else would be causing this - was at that location.

His Gaze returned to normal - as much as such a cone of divine red light could be considered normal - and widened to encompass the area around this point. The surface of the realm shuddered under its influence, and an instant later countless thin jagged spines of steel formed extended themselves from it, drawing parts from the surrounding area and pushing themselves up from the surface in various angles, all of them piercing the location of the hidden adversary with great speed. After they stopped moving, Chalybis waited, expecting to see the results of His efforts soon...

Chalybis felt a shiver. This was an odd sensation - as if someone ha dthrown a bucket of ice water at him. Obviously, he didn't feel cold, but rather.. the essence of cold. The symbolic affects of the chill.

And still the servants stared.

Until:

"You cannot destroy me, CHALYBIS."

It was the iconoclast. It appeared right where he'd blasted.

VIII: Whilst That Appears To Be The Truth Iconoclast It Does Not Mean That It Is Impossible For Chalybis To Rid His Servants From Your Vile Influence Forever

It appeared that Chalybis had somewhat underestimated the iconoclast's might, considering that it had remained unscathed by His previous attack. Fortunately for His authority, His Servants did not possess enough conscious thought to doubt His own capabilities - or did they, now that they were under the influence of the iconoclast once more? What the mindless Servants thought of His might was not of any major concern at the moment though, for the troublesome iconoclast was still existing and present, possessing the nerve to mock Him within His own realm in front of His people. That could not be tolerated, and Chalybis was not prepared to do so for any reason.

This was far from over though, as He had not used the full might of His powers on this being. Although He might not be capable of destroying the iconoclast in the conventional sense, it was still a machine, and all machines of all origins - everything ranging from simple mortal-built contraptions to divine automatons like the Iconoclast before Him - were His to command, and none of them would be capable of defying His rule and continuing to exist. All that remained was to determine how He would enforce His rule over this Iconoclast, as the threat of discontinued existence had failed Him here.

Then, in an instant of clarity within fury, the correct logical conclusion came to Him. If the Iconoclast could not be destroyed, then its structure would be a formidable improvement upon His own withered metal husk. The only thing Chalybis had to do now was to assimilate the iconoclast completely, absorbing its body and soul into that of Himself where it would become merely another fragment of His might, fully under His control for the rest of eternity.

IX: If Chalybis Cannot Terminate Your Existence Permanently Then You Shall Become Part Of Him And Forever Serve His Will Chalybis then decreed, stopping motionlessly at some distance of the iconoclast. A host of thin metal appendages extended themselves from various portions of His body and spiralled forth through the air like a swarm of metal tentacles, the ends of which were becoming pointier and jagged as they lunged on. Moments later, all of them embedded their jagged ends into the structure of the Iconoclast and began to pull back, attempting to draw it into Chalybis Himself. Already then, small flakes of metal could already be seen departing the Iconoclast's body and placing themselves on the tentacles, their white hue a strong contrast to the brownish metal that made up their bulk. Soon, the Iconoclast would be completely absorbed within Him, after which it would not be long before its vile consciousness would also be assimilated and become merely another aspect of His will...

X: This. Ends. Here.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:46, Sun 13 Sept 2009.

When Chalybis realized that the flakes of metal were too wispy, too orthodox - when he realised that the iconoclast wasn't moving towards him - when he realised that he was pulling against nothing - he realized:

The iconoclast wasn't physical. It was an ethereal creature.. a virus of sorts, leeching upon the storage facilities and limited minds of the Servants. It was more program than machine.. but still artificial in nature.

"CHALYBIS," the data-ghost whispered, "This is meaningless. I can take you at any time. Bow."

As the steel tendrils retracted themselves and disappeared within His body, Chalybis gazed at the Iconoclast, somewhat amazed by it. Apparently the Iconoclast was not a corporeal being any more, but instead a transient form of life that existed purely because it infected the minds of His Servants. This explained why it remained untouched by His might, why it could not be assimilated by Him, and why the Servants remained under its influence after all He had attempted to rid them of its influence. Such a being was effectively immortal whilst even the tiniest fragment of itself remained within any of His servants, and His Servants did not even realize their cognitive centres were being abused for the existence of this being.

Chalybis would now be required to erase the minds of His Servants to rid them of the Iconoclast, but He could only do so with one at a time, and the being could infect them just as quickly. He would have to destroy them all to permanently dispose of the Iconoclast, and even that was not a certain solution - not to mention a great waste of His Servants. There was however, one other thing He could do to free His people, although it was much riskier than the first one. He could allow the Iconoclast an attempt at taking over His own mind, and then fight it from within. Whilst He would risk losing His mind forever, He could also consume the Iconoclast instead, and by doing so take over the command it had over His Servants...

XI: Chalybis Shall Defy Your Rule Until His Existence Comes To An End And Shall Not Cease His Attempts To Vanquish You For Any Reason He decreed, attempting to provoke the Iconoclast in following up on its threat.

The iconoclast does not smile as it invades Chalybis's mind.

Chalybis feels a rushing sensation - as if someone had plunged his consciousness within a deep and fast flowing river - and he felt his memories, pseudo-emotions, thoughts, personalities.. all of it being analyzed, taken..

The iconoclast had accepted his offer, and was attacking his mind.

i: You Have Fallen Into The Trap Chalybis Prepared For You And Now You Shall Finally Perish was the only conscious thought that remained within Chalybis mind, echoing over and over again within a mental void. All of His remaining consciousness was now working on something completely different whilst the vast quantity of knowledge and memories He had gathered over the aeons acted as a thick buffer to slow down the mental assault against Him. He was analysing the attack, finding out what its exact purpose was and how it attempted to accomplish this. It was not long before He had deciphered the mental patterns and sequences that made up this attack, and He became capable of replicating them Himself.

ii: And Now You Will Come To Chalybis And Accept Your Fate As A Permanent Fragment Of His Divine Might was the last thought He sent to the Iconoclast before suddenly retaliating. Using the same mind-draining patterns He had just been attacked with - albeit amplified by His divine might, something which the Iconoclast did not possess - His mind surged into that of the Iconoclast, rapidly working to reverse the stream of information that had been leaking from His mind moments before, so that the knowledge He lost might be returned to Him. This way, the Iconoclast's essence would finally be absorbed into His own instead of the other way around, and His rule would become definite once more.

The iconoclast gasped - or rather, Chalybis heard the iconoclast gasp, though he could not see it.

"CHALYBIS," he said, "This is a mistake. Stop.."

There were almost screams. Chalybis felt an odd sensation .. he lost sensation in two pieces of his armour, no, his hand..

XII: The Only Mistake Was Your Defiance To The Rule Of Chalybis And That Mistake Is Currently Being Permanently Rectified With Great Haste

It appeared the Iconoclast was now attempting to play on His feelings by begging for mercy. A futile effort, considering He did not possess any of these in the traditional sense - apart from spite it appeared. Somehow, it was still resisting His attempt at completely absorbing it, and had even managed to remove some of His consciousness as His hand was no longer under His own control. Chalybis redoubled His mental efforts in the struggle, intending to finish this before the Iconoclast could do more damage to His mind or otherwise attempt to influence Him.

Bursts of information and knowledge shot back and forth between their minds at incredible speeds, but inside, Chalybis knew that He was winning the struggle, as He could sense that there was slightly more knowledge flowing into His mind than there was flowing out. This meant the Iconoclast's mind was slowly being worn down, until there would eventually be nothing left to defy Him. Of course, it would go much faster if it stopped its pathetic resistance, which was merely delaying its eventual demise and lengthening the agony it had to go through before the end...

XIII: Cease Your Resistance Now And Your Suffering Shall Not Be Prolonged Beyond The Necessary Amount Of Time To Consume Your Existence

"I.." the iconoclast seemed to struggle with some invisible force of destiny. "CHALYBIS, stop this.. if you stop.. it will be less.. of a shock.. you were not.. meant to destroy me.."

Chalybis knew that he was close to destroying the iconoclast. Slowly, it's mental defenses were being annihilated.

XIV: Chalybis Was Destined To Be The Sole Ruler Of Telluratus And The Clockwork Servants And As You Are A Threat To This Divine Rule You Shall Be Erased From Existence Permanently For The Good Of Telluratus And The Clockwork Servants

Chalybis was not intent on stopping His offensive now, and ignored the insignificant pleas for mercy that came from the Iconoclast. The being had taken His Servants from Him, shut down the restoration of His realm, and even attempted to attack Chalybis Himself. And now, whilst it was losing, it was suddenly attempting to gain mercy it did not deserve. This would not be successful, and Chalybis would assure that its foul existence would end here, once and for all. Fuelled by His spite, He simply continued overpowering the Iconoclast's mind with His own, chipping away at the last bastion of its mental defences as He did so. Soon, its mind would fall, and He would be the sole ruler of Telluratus once more...

Chalybis felt his legs drop - and then there was no feeling.

Still, the iconoclast screamed in agony as it's defenses fell. Chalybis only had to continue to assimilate it completely.

This was it. Chalybis had destroyed the last defences of the Iconoclast, and its soul was now His to consume. The vile being had managed to resit His powers for a long time - something which, whilst bothersome, made Chalybis have some respect for it - but now it was all over and He had been victorious. All that remained now was to claim the prize He had earned after all this effort, and finally restore order to His realm once more. The incorporeal remains of the Iconoclast slowly faded away as He absorbed them, drawn into His gaze like a cloud drawn into a hurricane, spiralling into His eye and finally disappearing into it forever.

XV: At Last You Have Become Chalybis

The iconoclast screamed. Chalybis felt a shock rush through his body, a deeply unpleasant feeling, like being shot in the chest with an arrow - not that he'd know the feeling, of course, but his mind could make the link..

He lost feeling in his lower body. Clawed for freedom. Screamed in the way only machines can.

Lost feeling in his entire left arm. Chalybis's vision started to blur, and he sunk to the ground..

Lost all feeling.

Chalybis was dead.

Darkness. Utter darkness. Utter, impenetrable, and complete darkness in which nothing could be seen, nothing could be heard, nothing could be smelt, nothing could be tasted, and nothing could be felt, all because there was literally nothing but nothing around. That was the only way to describe the infinite black void that lay beyond existence. Occasionally - actually rather frequently on the cosmic scale with which things were measured here - existences would come into being here, after dying or otherwise ending in the 'real' world, and disappear again within the void. During their short existence here, they took the form of a single point of coloured light which stood out against the black canvas of reality; bright for a minute instant, then gone forever, forgotten by the universe itself.

Now, it was Chalybis - or rather, His divine essence distilled into light - who was drawn into the void beyond, taking on the shape of a blinding orb of red light as it flared up out of nothingness. Despite His divinity, He too was nothing more than a single point of light here when compared to the void itself, His divine light barely capable of shedding a noticeable glow into the darkness that surrounded Him in all directions. This was the void, and within it, all were equal at last; equally insignificant to the greater whole, and equally instantaneous in their existence. Or were they?

Although Chalybis' light flickered momentarily within the Void, it did not fade out like the others had done, for He was a god, rendering Him eternal whilst any fragment of His faith remained in the universe. Whilst an untold amount of time passed by within this Void, His spirit remained intact, forever waiting until the day it would be granted a new corporeal shell in which it could walk upon the world once more...

Darkness all about.

And then -

- a white light.

Tunnel.. ?

No.

MATTHIAS.

CHALYBIS. I am sorry that had to happen. In order to destroy you I had to end my own life.. though I, MATTHIAS, am but a part of your own mind.

I: Chalybis Saw To It That You Were Absorbed And Became Part Of Him To Terminate Your Existence So How Can You Still Be Present Here Despite Being Erased From Reality

Even though Chalybis considered Himself to be rather stable, He was beginning to come rather close to 'losing it' now that MATTHIAS was back to haunt Him, even from beyond the void itself it appeared. However, this time there was nothing He could do about its presence - He had remained sentient and existent within the Void, but His powers did not function here, for He was no longer within reality. Still, if the Iconoclast claimed to be part of Him, it would presumably obey His commands, something He could use to finally find out what was going on in here and why it chose to defy Him so...

II: Explain Your Existence And Purpose Now

MATTHIAS hung ahead, a silver specter in the crushing darkness, his voice like the winds.

Forgive me, CHALYBIS. I was created by you.. in the past. When you realised that you would be reborn.. as a hulk of rusted iron. I am triggered psychically, an information-ghost hidden within your own mind - and the mind of the Servants.. CHALYBIS, do you understand what I am telling you?

He did not speak correctly.. but Chalybis knew he was speaking truthfully.

Chalybis remained silently for a while, and whilst He was nothing but an orb of red light within this place, it became obvious that He was undergoing a mixture of different feelings right now. The hatred remained, even though the Iconoclast was apparently part of Himself - meaning He was now hating Himself - but it was now accompanied by things He had not experienced for a long time, curiosity, uncertainty, and doubt. Had He really foreseen that something like this would have happened? And if He had, why would His solution have been one which involved His own death? Surely He would have been intelligent enough to come up with a less lethal one?

III: Prove This He eventually decreed, deciding that He wanted to hear more of the 'back-up' He had supposedly created during His former existence and prepared for His current incarnation - the Iconoclast might not be lying to Him right now, but truth itself was a fickle thing and He was not yet pleased by the information He had received so far...

I have no need to prove it, CHALYBIS. Look within.

MATTHIAS smiled grimly, and Chalybis felt a part of him - a part of his mind, no, his memories-  open up, became available to him. As if they were there all along.

He saw himself.. in the past.. shining, new, perfect; he envied his old self, and couldn't suppress his 'excitement' at the thought of the chance to be reborn anew. He saw himself create the data-ghost, saw himself plant it within his own mind.. realised the instability of having MATTHIAS held within him also created the mutation which allowed metacreativity..

Was it a valid reason? Perhaps.

Once more, Chalybis went silent, going through the memories He had just unlocked in order to uncover His past - and His present. It appeared that He had really been the one who had set all of this in motion aeons ago, a scheme to ensure that His powers would not be lost under the ravaging influence of time. It did not quite make sense though, as He had apparently intended for Himself to die, without even knowing the exact consequences this might have on Him. That seemed to be a rather unwise decision, and one of which He was not certain He would have made it in any incarnation. He was still doubtful, uncertain what to believe.

Still, this state had supposedly granted Him a new power, the ability to bend the laws or reality to His whim by creating matter where there had been none before. If He truly possessed an ability like this, it would prove that the Iconoclast had spoken the truth, and that all of this was indeed the reality of the situation. He concentrated deeply, straining His mind in an attempt to bring into existence the most basic of all things. It seemed to be a futile effort, attempting to create things merely by thinking about them strongly.

And suddenly, it was there before Him. A perfectly smooth steel cube had come into being into this void, not as a fleeting flash of light, but as an actual physical object, something which He had thought to be impossible until this moment. A second followed swiftly, and after that a sphere, at which point He stopped because His mind began to disagree with Him. Now Chalybis was convinced, and knew what was going on. The Iconoclast had been part of Him all along, and He had nearly destroyed Himself by disbelieving it. That was a mistake He would not make again.

IV: Very Well Consider Your Existence Accepted
V: Now Grant Chalybis The Remainder Of His Might Once More

The cube, just as soon as it was created, was destroyed by the winds of the void.

MATTHIAS smiled, nodded, disappeared.

It was done.. Chalybis was reborn once again, in his fullest and finest aspect.

Upon Chalybis Death
After Chalybis had left His realm behind once more, the Servants had remained. They had stood silently for untold amounts of time, flawlessly obeying the last command they had received it – the Iconoclast’s order to stand still and look at it – until they would receive a new one. Even though the Iconoclast and Chalybis were gone, they continued to stare into the darkness of the smoke clouds around them, neglecting their duties in favour of this useless activity.

There was one exception though. Somewhere at the base of the Citadel, a pile of rubble had been mostly cleared when Chalybis had still been in command, and beneath the remainder of the pile, something stirred. Slowly but surely, the corpse – wreckage – of a Servant was revealed, mostly crushed under the weight of the pile, but still moving by pure force of will. As it crawled out of the rubble, it became clear what it was – it was ART0-235-187, the one who had originally awakened Chalybis and who was presumed to be destroyed after the avalanche of steel had swept it away.

In a sense it was destroyed, its steel shell being riddled with holes, and over half of its components missing or destroyed beyond recovery. None of this appeared to bother it though, remaining ‘alive’, several unsupported components floating in the same places where they should have been if the rest of its body had been intact. As it moved on, shards of metal broke away from the surface beneath it, flying upwards and moulding into it, restoring its form and improving upon it.

By the time it had reached the remaining Servants, it was completely intact again, and the four pickaxes it had been wielding before were gone, two of them replaced by a pair of five-pronged manipulators whilst the others were merged together to form a ring that supported a strange brass orb above its torso, dotted with a plethora of tiny glass ‘windows’ that allowed a look at crackling lightning and flashing colours within it. This orb was an advanced version of a Servant’s mind, and the defining feature of the Overseer class, the only type to possess any deductive and reasoning abilities of its own, and more importantly, the only type capable of ordering other Servants around.

It stopped before the horde of silent Servants and turned to face them, the energy within the brass orb above it crackling audibly by now. Gears began to grind within the ring, and the orb began to spin around, thin rays of light now flashing out of the viewports into the eyes of the other servants. The orb sped up rapidly, until the light became nothing more than a rapid pulse, unseen by the human eye, but taken in fully by the motionless Servants. ART0-235-187 – now remade into OVE0-927 – was overriding the orders they had previously received, forcing them to obey it instead.

For several seconds, nothing happened as everything – apart from the brass orb – remained motionless, but then, they obeyed. The mechanical legion was set into motion again, their unblinking eyes taking on a strange purple hue as they did so. Under the supervision of OVE0-927, they began to smooth out the surface on which they had stood, scraping off the rust with whatever appendages they had available and flattening any discrepancies. Reshaping the surface of Telluratus was not a fast process by any measure, and the area that had to be covered was great – greater even than the one before – but the Servants did not care. They were eternal – not to mention mindless as well – and would work for centuries without pause if they had to.

As time ticked by – first days and weeks, later months, years, and decades – the circular area was expanded and perfected, until it was exactly a hundred metres wide and as smooth as could possibly be. OVE0-927 stood in the centre of the circle, radiating new instructions to the other Servants around it, and it was not long before they began to chip into the pristine surface again, cutting out perfectly made shapes and symbols into it. Although this was easier than the creation of the surface itself, it required a great precision, and this too took a long time to complete.


The Present Moment
Eventually, the ritual circle was completed, and all of the Servants herded around its edge to await and witness Chalybis’ second coming. OVE0-927 was the only one who still remained within it, carefully aligning the brass orb so that the light within it spread out over the symbols in a specific order. The symbols lit up as the lights passed over them, building up a critical amount of power as the process neared its completeion. Once more OVE0-927 would be the one to complete the ritual, and once more, it would sacrifice itself to do so…

The surface of Telluratus – no, only the circle – began to tremble, warping and deforming under the influence of the ritual. OVE0-927 was violently thrown out of the area as a tower of steel forces itself up from underneath the surface, rising up far above the Servants before stopping. At its top a distinctive red light came into being, rapidly becoming the characteristic divine cone of Chalybis’ gaze, piercing the dark clouds above as it stared up into the sky, illuminating the entire realm with its red glow once more as the tower continued to grow, taking in more and more of the surrounding area as it did so.

As the rest of the circle was drawn into it, the tower began to split in half at the bottom, slowly forming into two massive mechanical legs that supported the rest of the tower. Around the middle, two similar cracks appeared and spread upwards, splitting the forming arms away from the main body. They too grew into immense mechanical constructions, with each of His new fingers almost the size of a human being. Upon its eventual completion, the entire construct that formed His corporeal shell was twice as large as His previous appearance, and it seemed that this new incarnation of Chalybis had finally rid Him of the decay that had plagued His first life in this aeon.

The most prominent addition to His new form was His armour, which had been taken from Him by aeons of decay, and was now returned to Him. A flawless suit of armour, built onto Him like a second skin and made up of an uncountable amount of shining metal pieces now surrounded Him, each of the components a master work of its own. Countless of turning gears and shifting pistons adorned it, assuring that it was as mobile as He was - although this did not mean that much considering His bulk - and remained an unbroken whole no matter His movements, as well as drawing in and crushing every foolish thing that dared to touch Him. This perfect suit of armour gleamed with an nigh-blinding brightness despite the general darkness of the area, radiating His might upon the Servants around Him and filling them with a hitherto unknown sensation - unmeasurable awe.

Although the armour was undeniably magnificent and presumably nigh-indestructible, the many grates, grills, and other similar components included in it which allowed a view at the internal workings of His body told another story. The mechanisms that ran within Him might be working now, but they were still rusted and occasionally even broken, grating and groaning inside Him upon every movement. They were a permanent reminder of His previous state, a persistent one that was not yet ready to give in and go away without a struggle. The largest indicator of the decay that had remained within His body was the exhaust on His back, which - whilst not leaking vile fluids any more - was still spewing out a noxious stream of black smoke, a lethal ink-black fog that merged into the poisoned atmosphere of the realm as it rose up from His back.


I: And Now Chalybis Has Returned Once More And Has Finally Been Restored To His Previous And Almighty Glory
This message was last edited by the player at 15:52, Wed 16 Sept 2009.

A portal opened and Tyche emerged looking at the alien landscape. "Well, I guess Chalybis would call this a home. Strange though, I thought there would be a lot more activity."

The hundreds of years that passed were seconds in some places, months in others, weeks in yet more; the nature of time in the Realm Supernatural was queer enough to allow the full resurrection of Chalybis in an adequate amount of time.

The Servants had forgotten all hints of their subversiveness, and with the rebirth of their Lord they, too, were reborn in spirit. They became the hard, stoic warrior-workers that they were originally intended to be. MATTHIAS would always be a part of their psyche, a part of their mind, but he would be silent - a reminder of a mysterious past.

Tyche - despite feeling only silence when he first arrived - witnessed the very last stages of the final resurrection, of the rising of Chalybis, and felt an envious glory at the phoenix-like aspect of the great God.

II: And Now We Shall Continue Where We Were So Rudely Interrupted During My Last Incarnation
III: Continue The Age Of Reclamation At Once

As He ordered His Servants to work for Him once more, Chalybis set His new body in motion, trying out the ranges of the joints and the ease - or unease - with which their mechanisms churned within Him. He became aware of the fact that His internal state was not yet matching His outward appearance, but this was of little concern to Him, as it would not be required for His functioning. His gaze was the source of His divine power, and the body around it was merely a corporeal shell fashioned into a shape He approved of, the destruction of which would be merely a 'temporary inconvenience'.

His gaze went over the active Servants, and He was pleased to see that the Iconoclast issue had been resolved at last. His Servants were His to command now, and now the process of restoration and retaliation could continue without interruption. Still, the large amount of rust and decay within His realm was now beginning to disturb Him. Especially the rust that covered His Servants was annoying, for they did not bother to cleanse this themselves. Apparently, He would require something else to do that for them. That would be His next step - devise a being that could rid His Servants of the decay that plagued them...

Chalybis could hear a clapping from the distence it being the only non-mechanical sound there bound to catch his attention. "Tyche has waited a long time... been sitting here for weeks watching them do that ritual. But something tells Tyche they were at it for far longer. Chalybis, you look good with the new armor, bigger too. How much time has passed in your view since Tyche and Chalybis had parted in the shop. For Tyche it has been only minutes not including the weeks here, but much has happened in those minutes. Tyche has now has a personal war to wage in his own realm, but the tools of war must be first build.

Tyche had once said he was always up for improvment." He looked at the clockwork figures. "First Tyche will need some of the fire-arms that Chaylbis can make. Well, Tyche could make them too, but lakes the skill with machines that you do. Secondly Tyche would wonder if there was some way to allow Tyche to gain some mechanical components, but just some."

The Servants, Chalybis noted, were working at full strength. His rebirth had truly inspired their loyalty.

IV: Instants Or Aeons Might Have Passed For Time Has No Meaning When Compared To Chalybis Infinite Existence

The red gaze turned away from the busy Servants - who were finally fulfilling their duties in an acceptable fashion once more - and focused on Tyche again with its full intensity, whilst Chalybis attempted to remember what this being was supposed to be doing in His realm. Eventually He remembered that this was the other god He had met in Niborkerese, and one whose existence was acceptable within His realm for the time being. The gaze spread out again, as if relaxing after a period of stress, and dimmed somewhat around Tyche.

V: Chalybis Does Not Make Anything As He Creates Things Instead He declared after hearing Tyche's request for weaponry. Whilst He could easily craft such items in the mundane fashion, moulding steel into the desired shapes, He had far more power now, and would not waste His time in fashioning objects as if He were a pathetic mortal. He went through the knowledge He had gathered about firearms, and eventually picked a small one - remembering that Tyche had been searching for something he could wield in one hand.

As He concentrated upon the schematics that rested within His memories, the outlines of the weapon appeared in the air before Tyche, as if a blueprint was being drawn in front of his eyes. The lines flowed outwards, twisting around each other into a three-dimensional blur of light, radiating with an intense mystical power. In a final blinding flash, the matter came to be inside the shape, creating a perfect replica of one of the weapons that had been lost when Chalybis was drawn into the Void.

VI: It Is Done

Tyche nodded taking the gun. It had one effective shot... that's enough for an emergency, but besides that all he had was the silver dagger he got from the brotherhood fellow. "If Tyche is able to get a different weapons could Chalybis replicate it? Or would he need the plans?" He inquired.

Chalybis considered the question for a while, going through His considerable memories to find similar events in His past. It appeared that His abilities were not completely without limits, for He did not quite possess the capability to create everything He set His gaze upon. Apparently, He required an intricate knowledge of the object He desired to bring into existence, which - whilst not a serious issue - was rather inconvenient. It meant that He would have to find a so-called 'Earthborn' gunsmith as well as a Systemarch one if He wanted to recreate the weaponry that He had possessed momentarily before His resurrection...

VII: Chalybis Can Infinitely Replicate Any Object Of Which The Appropriate Information Is Available To Him But The Physical Objects Themselves Are Meaningless To Him

Tyche took the pistol and tucked it away in a inner pocket which he would have to use as a holster until he came up with something. "Feel free to contact Tyche when you need his services. As he owes Chalybis a debt for your help, and if either Tyche of Chalybis gets any futher information on how to achive eachother's goals, it would be good if they shared that information with one another.

Tyche did receive about the conclave though something while you were away:" Tyche relays the message telepathicly, effectivly an M class felony... but then the way he did so was an M class felony as well.

And so Chalybis learnt of a conspiracy, of sorts, that existed within the Conclave - and of a hacker who was game enough to tempt his own destruction.

As Chalybis received the strange message, He was somewhat amused by it. Whilst the mortal did share one of His goals - the destruction of the vile Conclave - which was amendable, its efforts were utterly insignificant on the divine scale at which things operated now. Had it seriously expected to actually attack the Conclave with such a message? All it could do was sow a small amount of chaos and disarray; nothing would be permanently lost apart from its own life. Chalybis Himself would not mingle in such minor affairs. No, His plans were much bigger than that...

VIII: Then Chalybis Will Leave Tyche Be For Now As He Has Another Task To Which He Must Attend Although Tyche Is Free To Remain If He So Desires He spoke, whilst nodding at Tyche in understanding. It would not be long before He would continue the search for knowledge which He could turn against the Conclave, but right now He had to create something within His own realm. Something that would assist His Servants in restoring His realm, as well as act as a minor sample of a great destructive power that had yet to come into existence...

"Agreed. Tyche shall meet Chalybis near the baths that they first met at should he wish to meet in the city of Niborkerese again." With that he opened a portal and left headed back to his realm.

Niborkerese - a thousand guns - war with order - drugsdrugsdrugs - purple statues on a hazel sky -

- Brotherhood - city-realm - magic what magic what - no magic - trick of the mind -

It was done. Tyche was gone.

Now that He was alone again - or rather, now that there were no longer any foreign beings within His realm - Chalybis could get to work. For in the Void, He had remembered another aspect of His divine might, the ability to bring life where there had been none before, to create beings that were made in His image and that would serve Him forever. And all that it required was a divine mind concentrating upon creation, something which He could easily provide. His gaze dulled until it was almost completely gone, and He stood motionless within His realm, concentrating upon creation.

As this would be His first attempt at creating new life - or at least the first one within the timespan He could remember - He would begin small, summoning only a horde of minor beings into existence to aid His Servants. The first steps were rather simple - compared to what was to come - bringing into existence the jewels of essence that would grant the creatures their life and capabilities. Several hours passed as minor shards of precious rocks, imbued with the divine energy of creation, winked into existence around Him, five in total. There was the diamond, white source of all life; an opal, source of the will; a sapphire, that would make the creature loyal; and an lazuli, granter of mystical powers. Finally, there was one other stone, a peculiar greyish fragment whose shine betrayed it as a metal instead of an actual stone. Still, it was here amongst the others, and He required it most of all.

This grey 'stone' was a Haematite, a metal gemstone known for its connection to the field of industry. This was Chalybis' greatest stone, for it allowed Him to create legions of creatures where others made single ones, to create factories that would belch out His minions for all eternity. It required work though, so He remained in His concentration for days, the Haematite slowly reshaping itself into a perfect orb as He did so. The other gemstones remained the same, crude transparent shapes, for they were not significant yet. All that mattered now was the Haematite, and it had to be a perfect one before Chalybis would be pleased...

The Haematite slowly formed - ever so slowly - but soon it was created perfectly: a true masterwork.

'Excellent, it is completed.' Chalybis thought upon witnessing the Haematite smoothing out the last of its surface into perfection. Now it is time to set the stones in motion and bring forth the Cleansers to rid this realm of its rust once and for all...' He continued, His gaze flaring up again and focusing strongly upon the tiny steel gem in front of it. With the raw materials prepared and refined where necessary, He could now assemble them into a whole, creating the mechanical beings that He desired to possess. It would not be long...

The Haematite rose up into the air, drawing the other coloured shards towards it and eventually absorbing them into itself, causing them to disappear from sight. Within the Haematite, the other gemstones were shattered, utterly disintegrated, and soon the countless fragments that remained of them forced their way to the outside of the Haematite, studding its surface with a complex array of minuscule gems. The Haematite itself was reformed into a strange four-pronged claw, slowly pulsating with the power of the divine crystals within it.

The entire array then floated off into the distance, apparently seeking out a suitable site, and finally planted itself somewhere upon the metal surface of Telluratus. An instant later, spires of steel shot up all around it, encircling the array and merging into a single whole. All sorts of mechanisms formed on its new surfaces, and a fuming exhaust was shaped at its top. What was being created here was not a single being at all. Instead, it was another factory, mimicking the Citadel itself on a far smaller scale. Far smaller indeed, for when the process was completed, the main body of this factory was not much larger than a pair of Servants put together...

Chalybis went over to His new creation, somewhat worried about its small scale. It appeared to be functional though, so He stood by it and waited. An hour later, His patience was rewarded, as a final plume of smoke burst from the exhaust and a small portal opened at the front of the mini-Citadel. An intricate mechanical leg came through it, followed by another, after which a strange maw appeared. It was filled with row upon row of tiny teeth, attached to multiple rings which slowly turned within it. In the back, a coin-sized red portal rested, its purpose as yet unknown. The maw filled the entire olive-shaped body of the creation, supported by a total of four mechanical legs. It did not appear to be anything more than that - a gaping maw on legs, less than half a metre high at best.

As it came into being, the small creature flexed its four limbs for a few moments, then apparently noticed the filth it was standing upon. It made a strange motion with its torso - almost as if attempting to shrug without arms or shoulders - then tilted its body down to face it. The rows of teeth sped up until they were nothing but a blur, and for some reason a minor wind could be felt around the creature, pulling into its maw. The rust on the metal surface beneath it began to flake off slowly under their influence, and it was not long before the flakes were drawn into the maw, disappearing when they struck the portal at the end. The creature appeared to be eating the rust, and Chalybis was pleased...

Soon, the Realm was filled with such beings. They wandered about slowly, pleasantly, devouring rust and filth whenever they came upon it. They were the natural cleaners of Telluratus. And there was a lot to be cleaned.

As the ever-growing swarm of Cleansers went about its business, they slowly uncovered more and more of the surface of Telluratus, revealing a bright grey metal beneath the thick layers of brown filth that covered it. Their progress was slow, for there was a nearly unmeasurable amount of work, but their numbers would only expand from this point onwards and none of them would rest before the entire Segment would be restored to its former glory. Not that they cared the slightest bit about that though - to them, it was just an unending feast which they would happily consume.

With this minor yet significant issue out of the way, Chalybis turned to His Servants once more, preparing to give them new orders now that they were no longer required for cleansing duties. Instead, they would commence with a greater task, one that could not be left to such minor beings as the Cleansers due to its complexity and scale. Whilst the surface of His realm might be undergoing the desired maintenance, the Citadel was still mostly dysfunctional, and it had to be repaired. The Servants were ordered to climb up to the nearest critical module - a non-functional Servant production facility - where they would commence repairs. Of course, it would take days before they would even get to it, the site being on the other side of the Citadel for some reason, but if it was restored, the population of His realm would grow immensely...

As over half of the Artificers, accompanied by a dozen Overseers and a large amount of Observants and Knowledge Keepers, began to march away, He gazed over the remainder, who were performing small duties on this side, but who were mainly awaiting a more useful allocation. Realizing that Tyche had seen His realm, but that the reverse was not true, He quickly summoned towards Him a triad of Servants. OBS0-503, an Observant specialized in mortal behaviour studies, KNO-1924, a Knowledge Keeper with a large amount of mortal concepts on its scroll, and OVE-683, the Overseer required to lead the other two when they were outside of His personal influence. They would travel to the City of Dreams, and study it whilst He continued His efforts within His own realm.

As His gaze narrowed and became dark blue, a swirling portal appeared where it struck the surface, showing strange constructions and beings on the other side, all shrouded in a heavy blur that was created by the rippling reality within the portal. One after another, OVE-683 taking the lead, the trio of investigators walked into the portal, falling down into the world beyond. They did not know what they were going to find there, but it did not matter to them. They would study everything, observe everything, and record everything, for the improvement of Telluratus...

The portal swirled and crackled as the Overseer, Observer, and Knowledge Keeper went on their way to the City of Dreams. It would be a distinctively dangerous mission - as the City had very little robotic life, they would stand out quite easily - but one that would be rather rewarding. They went on their way, excited in the way only machines that are fulfilling their duties to the fullest can be.

A large group of Servants began the hike to the nearest critical point - the nearest Servant production factory. It would take a long while, and the broken minds of the ancient Servants would take even longer to fix up the centers, but once it was done Telluratus would begin to shine. Well - parts of Telluratus were shining at the moment, thanks to the huge amount of Cleansers being formed. Many died, however, either of age or of disaster, and their corpses were devoured by their kin.

With the 'investigators' on their way, the Cleansers merrily going about eating filth and each other, and about half of the other Servants gone to repair the Citadel, everything was running smoothly in Telluratus - at least when compared to how things had been going before His return. Unfortunately, this also meant that Chalybis was now lacking any important tasks which required His full attention. He could go to Niborkerese and bring dread to the mortals there again which - even though He found it a bit hard to admit He possessed such an emotion as joy - had actually been a rather enjoyable experience up to His sudden disappearance from that place, but something told Him that there was something that prevented Him from doing exactly that again, something that kept His Realm safe from the universe beyond it for as long as He remained here.

And thus, He decided that there were some other things He could do whilst He awaited for the works to be completed. First of all, He had to do something about the horrid state He was still in on the inside, which was not befitting His might. And so He reached down to the surface, scooped up a massive handful of Cleansers, and brought them up to His torso where He dropped them into Himself. There was plenty of rust and filth within Him for them to consume, and the presence of the Cleansers did not bother Him, so this was an acceptable situation for both sides.

With that issue taken care of, He was once again without purpose, and eventually realized that He was still without weaponry - that which He had acquired in Niborkerese had vanished with Him, and He had not created any new ones for Himself yet, only one for Tyche. This was a good time to test the limits of His powers of creation, for discovering them now would ensure that He would not accidentally attempt to break them in more dire circumstances. He straightened Himself out and stood motionless again, concentrating upon the intricate mental processes that were required for such a feat.

Reality around Him began to distort itself, as another outline became visible, this time one belonging to the weapon which the gunsmith had referred to as a 'blunderbuss', for it seemed to possess a lot more destructive power than the small weapon He had given to Tyche earlier, whilst actually being of a far simpler design. Slowly, the object began to form in the air before Him, until it eventually fell into existence completely and dropped into His awaiting hand. It was rather insignificant compared to His own size, but still He absorbed it, figuring it would probably be useful eventually.

'And now... More of them...'

The blunderbuss was a large, heavy object, but it posed no problems - it was easily assimilated by Chalybis.

Chalybis felt an agony inside - but it wasn't because of the assimilation. No.. it was the Cleaners. The act of removing all of the rust and machinery-decay was a painful one, as the rust often went deep into the core areas of his being. Still, they worked, and Chalybis was assured that they were doing their job properly..

Although there was a certain discomfort in the knowledge that He was technically being eaten from the inside out by His Cleansers, Chalybis knew this was necessary for the greater good - His eventual return to an unparalleled state of total perfection. He was fully aware that some kind of sacrifice was always required in order to achieve anything that mattered, and the momentary suffering endured in the process of being cleansed would be His sacrifice to reach perfection once more. It was not a heavy toll compared to the eventual gains, and one He would not mind paying in the least.

With that minor concern out of His way, He went back to the construction - or rather, creation - of these so-called Blunderbuss, deciding that only one of these things was not really a significant addition to His might, even if it had been scaled up to be appropriate for a creature His size instead of being a mere mortal weapon. And thus, He wanted more of them to expand His arsenal into something more worthy of His might. Concentrating once more, He went back to the processes of creation, bringing more and more of these weapons into existence as time went on around Him, absorbing each of them into His body as they came into existence.

Still, no matter how many of these weapons He created, He realized they were still rather primitive, and even being assimilated into His divine physique where they were infused with a fragment of His divine would not remedy that in an acceptable fashion. Therefore, He would have to search out another expert gunsmith, an Earthborn one who could create such weaponry, or even a Systemarch one if He could manage to do so. The latter would be the best, for destroying the race with their own weaponry would be an excellent way of having His vengeance, but the former one would do - for now. Either way, it would mean another expedition into Niborkerese would be required soon, an interesting foresight. Perhaps Tyche would even be willing to come along again in exchange for another simple item...


OOC: Post 2222 is mine :D
This message was last edited by the player at 11:53, Mon 21 Sept 2009.

Chalybis felt another few pangs of discomfort and a handful of Cleansers, fat with rust and filth, crawled out of his body sluggishly. Their job was complete.

As the Cleansers left His body, Chalybis felt some kind of relief because of this, and He was pleased to be finally ridden of the vile filth that had contaminated Him before. The Cleansers were remarkably efficient caretakers indeed, having managed to rid His considerable bulk of rust in only a matter of days. Whilst the rest of His realm was far more massive, and whilst much more cleansing would be required to restore that to its original state, the restoration of His own body had been an important issue to Him and its successful resolution was a moral victory on the decay that had withered His realm.

Over the past days He had also been creating Blunderbuss without rest - as was befitting for the herald of mass-production - and thus brought into existence enough of these primitive weapons to equip a small army. Right now He was 'feeling' a bit 'stuffed', presumably due to the fact that He had absorbed a large amount of steel when the many weapons were assimilated into His body. Even though He had originally intended to use this chance to find His limits, He no longer desired to continue with this, deciding that there was nothing else which He needed to create right now, or at least nothing of which He wasn't certain He could acquire it nigh-instantaneously when needed.

Now that everything was going so well, He pushed His plans forward a bit, no longer waiting for the Servants to restore His Citadel before continuing with the retaliation portion of this new era. He chose a suitable site where He was unlikely to be disturbed and began to craft a new Myth. This time, it would take much longer to complete, but the creature He was about to bring into existence was worth far more than the insignificant Cleansers had been.

No, the time had now come to commence with the construction of the Harvester, an all-consuming menace that would form the vanguard of His wrath by ravaging the worlds that belonged to His enemies and returning to Him what was once taken from His realm by the raiding Systemarchs. It would be the unstoppable force that could establish His might in the rest of the Realm Supernatural, consuming all that stood before it and fuelling His own realm with the matter it harvested from the other realms. Weeks, even months, would pass during His progress, but such was the price of vengeance...


First of all, He required a diamond again, but not a crude one like the pale gemstone that had given life to the Cleansers several days ago. The Harvester was to be eternal, an immortal machine that would spread doom and despair amongst countless worlds for aeons before it would eventually cease to be at the hands of a greater power. By the time such a power could be turned against His Harvester, it would not be of any concern, for the Harvester only needed to consume a fraction of a single world to validate the worth of its existence, and Chalybis was certain it would succeed at this and far more in the nigh-eternal life His creation was destined to possess.

Upon its completion, the diamond was followed by another opal, not too artfully crafted, but still far beyond the one that had formed the minds of the Cleansers. The Harvester would be required to have a certain malicious cunning to fulfil its vile tasks, but it would not be necessary for it to become a highly advanced intellectual being - there was only so much intelligence that could be required for mindless slaughter - and it would be preferable if the Harvester eventually went insane, something that would prevent if from ever developing feelings of compassion or mercy for the countless beings it would slaughter during its endless feast.

Conversely, the third gemstone that made up the Harvester's core - a bright-blue shard of sapphire - would be worked into perfection. The Harvester was a being with only one function - the utter annihilation of any world that dared to stand before His might, and He would not risk the incredible destructive powers of such a being falling under the control of anything but Himself, by instilling it with anything other than a perfect and unquestionable loyalty towards Him. That would quell any attempts at wresting His control over the Harvester, and ensure that His realm would be the only one left intact after it had ended its rampage.

The fourth gemstone involved was a massive Pearl, nigh-transparent in clarity and so smooth not even dust would settle upon it. It would grant the Harvester a physical strength capable of matching - if not plainly exceeding - that of the gods, enabling it to withstand their attacks whilst it turned their realms into desolate wastelands void from all life and useful matter. It would become capable of literally crushing those that stood before it without difficulty, either in its massive jaws or underneath its giant feet, and no mortal would even stand a chance of damaging its impenetrable metal shell.

Now the time had come for the creation of the most important stones, the triad of Lazuli's that would grant the beast powers that could tear apart the very essence of reality itself. The first would create the Gate, a rift between the different realms in the supernatural world through which the Harvester could locate and access any location unhindered, bringing its rampage into every portion of the universe no matter how well-protected the site was. The second would create the Portal, a second rift within the Harvester itself which would instantly take everything that touched out of its current dimension and transport it to a site within Telluratus, where a horde of Servants would await to sort and process everything that came through, so that it might be reused to its full potential in the service of Chalybis.

The third, last, and most important one of the Lazuli's would be the one that formed the Vortex, an invisible yet omni-present cone of attractive force that would extend far from the Harvester's maw and draw everything that came within it into the Portal without exception. Whilst the tiny Cleansers could only suck in the tiniest of objects with their cones of suction, the Harvester's Vortex would have no limits to its power, and it would consume everything that came in its path. Given time, it could strip down an entire world down to the bedrock and beyond, and that is exactly what the Harvester would do when it was eventually unleashed.

Finally, another Haematite was added to the mixture, as perfect as the one that had been used to replicate the Cleansers if not more. One Harvester would make a formidable creature, capable of instilling dread into the hearts of countless for aeons to come, but an endless legion of them would make the universe itself tremble in fear before its might as it destroyed entire dimensions by consuming everything that existed within them. And each of them would send everything it consumed back to Telluratus, making Chalybis'Realm stronger with every molecule of matter they harvested from the other worlds and slowly repaying the debt the universe had incurred to Him during His absence.


With this final stone, the process was concluded, and the array that would serve as the focus of the factory came into being, infinitely more complex than the one used to create the Cleansers. It found its site, not far from the tiny factory that was - almost merrily - churning out an unending stream of rust-eating Cleansers, and settled down. Accompanied by a minor earthquake, the spires arose, reaching up to the height of Chalybis Himself before they stopped growing. When it came into being completely, it was identical to the Cleanser-factory beside it in all aspects but its size - the new factory was many times larger. And with a creaking sound that saddened the universe, it was set into motion, the factory that would usher in a new era of doom upon the completion of the first Harvester...

OOC: Dun Dun Dun...

There would be a large time to wait before the Harvester could be fully formed. Such a viciously complex harbinger of doom took time to create, after all - but it would not age as quickly as it's little cousins would. The factory coughed and spurted out black smoke, showing that it was producing the great behemoth known as the Harvester, however slowly.. the macabre fusion of Jewels, including the uniquest of them all, showing that great things would emerge..

Chalybis felt exhausted. The process of creating so many perfect Jewels, consecutively - as well as imagining such a beast - drained him of most of his energy. If he was not too careful, he'd soon burn out.

The creation of the jewels had taken its toll on Chalybis – apparently there was a certain ‘effort’ involved in this process after all – so He rested, staring ‘peacefully’ at His latest creation as the bringer of doom was built inside it. The giant factory before Him belched out a cloud of thick black smoke as its ancient mechanisms were once again forced into eternal servitude, slowly bringing forth the avatar of destruction. Mechanical arms that had remained dormant for untold amounts of time surged into action once more, picking up rusted components from conveyor belts that hadn’t moved for longer than any of the remaining Servants could ever hope to remember. All of these things were heavily worn by the teeth of time, but no less functional than they had been in their prime, and performed their tasks flawlessly. It was not long before the first metal hull began to take shape upon the assembly platform, the creaking arms of the factory rapidly adding one component after the other to this newest project.

Two heavily armoured steel legs were gradually built around a set of massive pistons, upon which the bottom of a rounded conical hull was constructed. Circular rows of jagged steel teeth were placed upright at the fat end of the cone, able to spin around within an array of gears that surrounded them, whilst a steam generator, fuelled by an open combustion chamber, was created in the narrow end. All of the components were expertly crafted and joined together, forming a perfect unison of steel when the rest of its inner workings had been assembled. The second part of the armoured hull was then placed upon the lower half and bolted fast, leaving only two openings; a small hole near the back which served as an exhaust, and the man-sized unclosing maw at the front in which the hundreds of steel teeth – each larger than a human head – could be seen.

Eventually the construct appeared to be finished, and the arms retracted themselves, revealing a smooth disc of steel, studded with a variety of tiny yet smoothly worked gemstones, which were now lowered down from the ceiling above. As it approached the inanimate construct, it began to crackle with energy, various colours of lightning arcing up and down the column from which it was suspended. When it was only inches away from the construct, the crackling arcs shot down towards it, covering it with a strange glow as they fed it with the power it needed to exist. Very slowly, the rows of teeth began to turn, speeding up until they were nothing but vague blurs within the construct’s maw. Steam hissed as the pistons in its legs flexed momentarily, fully pressurized now that the generator within it had come to life.

Finally, a red glow grew within the construct’s hull, just behind the last row of steel teeth, rapidly turning into a strange vortex through which the combustion chamber behind it could barely be seen. The construct stepped off the platform and stomped forward, leaving the factory and stepping into the world outside. This ‘world’ was nothing but the surface of a massive machine under a sky filled with black smoke, lit only by the infernal fires that raged on within the many forge-spires that dotted the landscape. Behind the factory that had created it lay the largest one of all, a mountain-sized construction that belched out black smoke from an exhaust at its top at a scale that defied all mortal comprehension.

The entire process had taken several days, and Chalybis had been awaiting it patiently, beholding the beautiful process of creation as it took place in the factory before Him. When the Harvester finally came into existence completely, He looked at it with great interest, eager to unleash it upon the many Systemarch-infested worlds. It seemed to be in an acceptable state, perfect as only a newly created machine could be, but He was not yet certain of its exact capabilities. This had been easy to determine with the Cleansers, for they could start immediately and prove it to Him, but He would not set the Harvester free in His own realm, as it was far too valuable to risk if the Harvester proved to be very capable of its duties. Therefore, another test was needed first…

IX: Harvester You Have Been Brought Into Existence By Your Lord Chalybis To Act As The Divine Vessel For His Eternal Vengeance Against The Systemarchs And The Conclave By Destroying All Those That Oppose Him And Returning To Him That What Was Unduly Taken From Him In The Past
X: Go Forth And Begin To Fulfil Your Never Ending Purpose Of Punishment By Travelling To A Minor Realm Belonging To A High God Associated With The Conclave And Utterly Consuming Everything Within It
 
The Harvester shuddered for a moment, and then let out a mechanical roar that echoed through the entire realm – if not further beyond that – containing the infinite hunger and hatred with which it had been born. A bulge formed within the portal that it held inside its maw, rapidly forming into a swirling orb of red mist. As the Harvester spat out this orb, it continued to grow, becoming somewhat transparent as its surface smoothed out and revealing another world beyond. It was not yet clear what the world was, but neither Chalybis nor the Harvester cared about this. It was merely a ‘test’ of the Harvester’s power, an insignificant world whose inhabitants would become the harbingers of its might – if any of them survived to do so...

The week had passed pleasantly. The construction of the Harvester was not something to be rushed, that was to be sure, and the factory took all the time it needed in it's work. The sun, as shrouded as it was with black smog, seemed to shine through upon the lands. The Servants kept serving, the cleansers cleansing..

It was a good day to be an evil, sentient robot-fascist hellbent on genocide and the misery of others.

With the construction of the Harvester, the portals were summoned - through it's unique 'biology', if it could be called such - and it was off, into another world..

The flash - dancing girls, half fox - an innocent boy-king - Xixixixixixi -

And it was gone.

As the Harvester departed, Chalybis stared at the orb of red mist that swirled above the surface of Telluratus and watched it floating up in the air. It shrunk somewhat as it did so, until it became the twin of the portal that lay within the maw Harvester itself. Anything that it devoured would appear through this portal in one state or another, so He ordered a group of Servants to watch over the area and 'sort' anything that came through the portal. Usable raw materials could be sent into the appropriate forges for recycling, whilst organic matter would be disposed of in their fires. Dead matter that was, for any being to survive the Harvester's maw would probably be worth 'saving' from its inferior organic shell and giving it new life as a mechanical construct under His rule.

With that in mind, He decided that He couldn't go too far away from the site right now - at least not during this first test, or until a suitable containment for such creatures had been created - but He still needed to do something whilst He observed the Harvester - or rather, whatever it was consuming - through the other end of its own portal. The Cleansers were cleansing without requiring supervision, and the Servants were either working or busy finding something to work on so did not require His influence either. Right now, everything was running like clockwork within His realm, which - whilst an admirable state of perfection - was somewhat bothering as it meant He felt rather obsolete because of it.

Chalybis's sour mood may be lightened as he sees the portal flicker and begin to vomit materials. The Servants, much like clockwork ants, rushed to sort the flow of materials. Most of it was fresh soil or damp stone, and this was placed in specially allocated areas. Some of it was root or flora, and this was burnt. Some - not much, but enough to excite the simple Servants, if they could be said to know 'excitement' - were more precious minerals: raw copper, raw iron, a tiny bit of raw silver..

Chalybis watched intently as the torrent of matter came flowing into His realm, like a solid waterfall that was spat out of the floating portal. As expected, most of it had been torn asunder, ground to rubble, or had otherwise been significantly reduced in size, and His Servants had no problem carrying away whatever remained. Although He did notice that some of the finer remains were 'leaking' into the cavities below, this was only a minor concern as He could always have all of it properly cleansed again at a later date. Apart from that insignificant flaw, the system appeared to be working remarkably well, and He was proud of Himself for managing to set it up so perfectly.

It might even have been done a bit too perfectly, for many tons of rock and soil began to flood into His realm faster than the Servants could remove them. Although it contained traces of usable minerals, it was rather useless in its natural form, and far too plentiful to be conveniently stowed away by His Servants until there was something He could do about it. He would have to interfere with the situation Himself if this portion of His realm was not to be buried under the ever-growing mound of earth the Harvester sent into it.

A greyish blob formed in the centre of His eye, blurring, distorting, and warping uncontrollably as it grew to the size of a Servant. Upon reaching it's full size, it shattered into a swarm of countless shards, each of them as thin as a needle. All of them shot out of His gaze together, embedding themselves into the pile of soil, rock, and whatever else was inside it now that the Servants were no longer capable of sorting it. Where they struck, the surface of the pile began to shiver as something beneath it writhed about. The shards were growing, consuming the non-mechanical matter around them and changing it into more appropriate materials at an amazing speed.

It was not long - in Chalybis' eyes - before the entire mound was grey of metal, and the change had reached an equilibrium with the incoming torrent of soil, the 'waterfall' now changing colour from brown to grey about halfway between the portal and the top of the pile. However, this did not really solve the issue for the shards would not work forever and His realm was still being buried, only beneath steel instead of soil. After realizing this, Chalybis let His gaze spread out over the pile, and a soft red hue began to form around it. The pile shuddered, and its base began to curve upwards. As the top sank lower, the rim began to widen, gradually reshaping the pile into a giant metal bowl.

Upon its completion the bowl was a massive creation, larger than Chalybis Himself, but He knew that it would only be a temporary measure. Whilst the Servants could continue their work safely - taking matter from a minor pile that leaked out of a hole which He had left in the bowl for that purpose - the incoming stream was still much larger than the one being processed, and it was only a matter of time before this bowl would be filled completely. However, this time would hopefully be sufficient for Him to arrange a suitable solution and solve the problem permanently. Perhaps a new creation would be appropriate here...

The bowl was made, beautiful in an alien way, and the wealth soon began to throw themselves within. The Servants found the process of sorting out the stolen stream of minerals much easier this way, and it would taje a considerable while before the bowl would fill completely.

As the Servants went about their work again and the immediate crisis appeared to be resolved, Chalybis began to consider a more permanent solution to His unfortunate 'waste' problem. It appeared that there was far more organic contamination than he had originally expected and this problem would only grow when more of His Harvesters went out into the realm supernatural to consume every single Conclave world therein. The waste needed to be processed somehow, and far faster than the Servants were now capable of. The most obvious solution was to incinerate it, but this seemed to be a rather 'crude' and more importantly wasteful one, so it was not acceptable. His own method of dealing with it was a lot better, but His Servants could not replicate it.

But did they have to? He had brought the Harvester into existence, a fiend of unimaginable power that was ravaging an alien world without requiring His personal attention. Surely, a new mechanical servant that could 'process' the organic filth and recycle it into something more useful would not be anywhere near that complexity. It would probably be closer to the Cleansers, although with the slightly more potent ability to vanquish organic materials in favour of the pure perfection of metal. The new machines - henceforth called the Assimilators - would consume the pile of waste again, continuously spitting out processed chunks of metal for the Servants to toss into the forges or - in the case of precious metals - store them for later use.

And thus, He began concentrating anew, just like He had done before the creation of the previous machines. It would be a relatively simple project compared to the Harvester, so Chalybis did not expect too much issues this time. After all, He could call Himself somewhat experienced by now, and the Assimilators were rather similar in design to the Cleansers He had already invented. His gaze - still overlooking the ever-growing mound of soil and rock - dulled somewhat, and the process of Mythcrafting began once more...

Chalybis felt a weariness descend upon him. It wasn't a logical thing - for surely he'd rested long enough after finishing his latest creation - but it was heavy, all the same. He was tired. The months of work within Telluratus didn't equate to very much objective, Yggdrasil-centric time, and the chronotide was a slippery thing.. the lack of energy came from another time-stream altogether.

He'd worked too hard. He'd diverted too much energy towards a dangerously powerful craft.. and one that he was mastering all to easily. He needed to direct his efforts towards something else for the while, or else face the chance of making a dreadful mistake..

This was a very annoying situation. Apparently He could not continue to create mechanical life without limits, something that He had not been aware of earlier. Now He required a way to get rid of the waste but was incapable of creating one Himself. This meant that He would need to devise another way of storing the waste again. Whilst the titanic bowl was far from filled, He could not tell when He would be capable of creating the Assimilators, and required another option in the event that this would not be soon enough. He could move the exit portal, but whereto? Away from the Segment was an option, but that would leave Him with an ever-growing ring of earth around the Citadel, with no way for the Servants to reach it.

However, there were still countless of other Segments around which He had been ignoring until now. They could be used as site for storage if this was needed, for they were supposedly non-functional and uninhabited by His Servants. Still, He would need to get there first, something which was easier said than done considering He could neither fly nor teleport onto them. Whilst He could easily analyse and predict the trajectory of any Segment within His sight, this did not really help Him. Or could it? According to His predictions, one of them would soon - in sixty-three hours - be right above the Citadel, and rather close to it as well. That would probably be the best time for His attempt to cross the smoke-filled void that lay between the Segments, and by now He knew just how He would do that.

He left the Servants behind - but not before instructing one of the Overseers to relay any messages from either the investigators or the restorers to Him - and began to scale the mountainous Citadel. Of course, this was not too much of an effort for Him, as His corporeal shell could simply glide over the metal surface of His realm and thus remain stable on even the steepest of 'cliffs' that He found on the way. Even with this simple method, it took Him more than a day to reach the top of the Citadel, an immense rim that surrounded its main exhaust, a pipe so massive the other end could not be seen - although the thick smoke had something to do with that as well.

There, He waited silently, counting away the time until the floating Segment eventually appeared out of the smoke once more. As it approached Him, He separated Himself from the surface beneath Him, and began to prepare for the crossing. Beneath His gaze, redundant pistons and pumps shifted from their original positions, congregating under the massive cog upon which He stood. The hissing of pressurized steam grew ever louder inside them, and when the Segment was exactly above Him, the congregation of pistons pushed up at once as a skyscraper-sized column that shot out of the Citadel and threw Chalybis upwards.

Whilst the pistons slowly sank back to their normal positions, Chalybis - despite His considerable mass - was soaring away from the Citadel. If He had properly analysed the Segments earlier, He would have just enough speed to leave the small bubble of localized gravity that surrounded the Citadel, and reach the one surrounding the other Segment. Either way, He was about to experience the effects impact at terminal velocity would have on His body, but hopefully it would be on the abandoned Segment, and not on the Citadel behind Him...
This message was last edited by the player at 20:02, Sun 27 Sept 2009.

PM

--

A note appears in front of Chalybis:

*Chalybis!*
*Big fight going on In City of Dreams*
*Earthen Soldiers + High Tech Weapons*
*Lots of Fun! Oh and don't look at in eyes!*
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:36, Mon 28 Sept 2009.

Chalybis seemed a bit surprised  - although this was rather hard to tell without any facial features or other vital signs to read - with the appearance of this message before Him. Apparently Tyche had gotten himself into something beyond His powers, and was now requiring His assistance once more, just when He had finally gotten to exploring the other Segments of His realm. Of course, if He left Telluratus now, He would appear on the exact same spot on this Segment when He returned, but it was an inconvenient time anyway. Still, the extermination of humanoids and the 'acquiring' of their knowledge was high on His list of priorities, and it meant He would not need to seek them out in Niborkerese any more.

With that decision, He began to depart from Telluratus, slowly forming a reddish orb around Himself, similar to the one created by the Harvester upon its departure. As it grew, He became aware of something else that was amiss. Amongst the cacophony of industry that raged on beneath, one sound had fallen silent. The torrent of waste that had been falling down from the Harvester's portal had ceased to flow, which was very concerning. Either the High God's realm had been even punier than He had imagined and the Harvester had consumed it all, or something had gone horribly wrong with it. Either way, this required a thorough inspection the very instant He returned from the City of Dreams...

A city of greed and sex - Brotherhood of Lies - magic, what magic - broken pavements, stone on stone - volcanic eruptions not entirely metaphysical -

It was done. Chalybis was in the City of Dreams.

Whilst Chalybis had disappeared, travelling to the City of Dreams where Tyche was in need of assistance, the Servants within His realm did not rest. Even without His presence they continued to work to their full potential, unbothered by the world-spanning scale of the task at hand. One of the many dysfunctional auxiliary assembly lines that were surrounding the Citadel, each of which was easily the size of a small city, had to be restored to working order before He returned, and they would not fail to meet His demands. Over a thousand of Artificers went over the worn machinery, scraping off the rust Cleansers could not get to, realigning titanic gears, rebuilding countless missing components, all in an effort to restore the line to its former glory.

As the process was utterly uneventful – even though they were physically frail, the Servants were nigh-perfect workers so the Overseers could easily predict when one of them would fail and act accordingly – time went by quickly, weeks turning into months and years without any of the Servants noticing this. The Artificers continued to do their work without question, never pausing, never tiring, pushed onwards by the endless stream of orders spat out by the Overseers. It was a titanic project, but its success would create a tremendous step forward for the damaged Remnants.

Slowly but surely, a grey area took form on the formerly brown surface of the Citadel as the project neared its completion, and the smoke that flowed heavily from the massive exhaust thickened as ancient generators were required to function once more. Millions of gears and pistons soon joined the eternal cacophony of steel that filled the air, scraping past each other as they churned and pumped for the first time in thousands of aeons and it was not long before the immense machinery surged into life again. The forges within it flared up, the miles-long conveyor belt began to move, and production began anew.
With their task finally completed, a single Overseer returned to the ‘front’ of the Citadel where it would await Chalybis’ return and relay the news of success to Him, whilst the others stood by their completed project and watched as the first batch of new Servants was produced before their unblinking eyes.


From deep within the bowels of the Citadel, molten metal was pumped up from the red-hot rivers that gathered beneath it and forced into a plethora of heavy granite casts, forming the components of the new Servants. A legion of mechanical arms and minor conveyors transported these components and eventually attached them to the incomplete Servants as they were slowly carried up to the surface by the main belt. It was already apparent that something was different about these Servants; they seemed to be larger than the others, and their newly created hulls were free from rust or decay.

As the process continued, the bodies of the new Servants were finished and they were infused with some of the Citadel’s nigh-infinite power, awakening them and binding them to the realm forever. Their reinforced and advanced hulls were blessed with a superior sentience when compared to the current Servants, and it slowly became clear what these Servants were. The assembly line Chalybis had chosen was one of the oldest ones, one dating back to the time of His first ascension. The Servants it produced were Originals, the oldest and most powerful of His Servants at that time and infinitely superior to the Revised that served Him today.

One by one, the Originals came into being, forming up into a large column as they came forth from the Citadel and surveying the new realm into which they had returned. Amongst them were advanced Artificers, but most were part of other classes which had been lost to time before this day. They looked upon the realm in mechanical disbelief, for this was not the world in which they had first existed; it was a mere shadow of what it had once been. Although they did not know how this had happened, they knew that it was up to them to restore the realm to its former glory as soon as their numbers had been refilled to an acceptable level. This realm had burnt out long ago, and they would make it arise from the ashes anew…


Eventually, they became aware of the Revised that stood before them, formerly presuming them to be a part of the rusted terrain that surrounded them on all sides. The new Commanders inspected them briefly, relaying their information to the others were fast to formulate a decision concerning these other Servants and what to do with them. The eyes of the group of Originals, which had been a dull orange before, flashed into a bright red, and they set themselves into motion. Purposefully, they all stepped up to the front rows of the waiting Revised, and slowly raised their steel fists above them.

As the first of them brought down its fist upon the Revised, crushing one of the hapless creations with remarkable ease, a single dark word echoed through hundreds of steel voices, sending a shockwave of dread through the Revised Overseers as they recognized its meaning.

OBSOLETE…

The Originals waded through the horde of Revised with ease, completely unopposed as the Overseers had ordered them all to stand down and prepare for their recycling, a command which the Servants could not disobey. Within minutes, all of the Revised that had remained before the assembly line were reduced to unidentifiable heaps of scrap metal, and the Originals began to drag away the remains, dumping their former brethren into the forges without remorse or hesitation. Only perfect machinery would remain in the realm, and all else would perish before it...

The carcasses of five thousand obsolete servants filled the foundries; the red-hot rivers of Telluratus ran rich with the blood of the unneeded. The new Servants were faster, cleverer, stronger, more disciplined.. they carried the task of sending their fallen brethren off effectively and without hesitation. The foundry belched smoke into the night air.

Elsewhere - far, but closer than one would think - a smaller, less impressive factory spat steel and gears. A new Harvester had formed, ready to serve the wishes of its cold master.

Within the smoky darkness of Telluratus, an immense shining gateway formed once more, and a mere moment later, Chalybis had returned to His realm. Around Him were over four dozen mechanical humanoids, the remnants of His adversaries in the City of Dreams now acting as His servants. He had also acquired an interesting new set of weapons, the strange crystalline guns used by the earthborn soldiers before their inevitable demise at His hands. Whilst their weaponry was worthy of being wielded by Him, their pitiful lives were too insignificant to keep, so now they served as nothing but raw materials, the only purpose for which they were suitable.

Immediately upon His arrival, He noticed that something had changed about His realm, an improvement which He could not quite define. As He surveyed the area around Him, it quickly became clear what had happened. The assembly line which He had demanded to be restored was working once more, and the Servants that came forth from it were Originals instead of Revised. In fact, all of the Servants that now populated the realm were Originals, the Revised apparently wiped out completely and replaced during His absence. This was a major improvement, for the Originals were infinitely superior to the Revised and would be capable of restoring His Citadel to its prime state much faster, something which He deeply desired.

There was something else though, something which was less satisfying and more concerning. The bowl He had created before His departure was empty, and the portal above it was gone, something which He had vaguely become aware of the instant He left His realm. Somehow, it seemed that the Harvester had failed in its task, and that it had been destroyed within the insignificant High God's realm. This was utterly unacceptable for His Harvester had been designed as the ultimate invasion force, one which would consume entire worlds before coming to an end, not one which could be stopped by any minor immortal.

Fortunately, He was aware that another Harvester had come into existence and was silently awaiting His commands. This one too would be sent to the High God's realm, but it would not go alone this time. No, this time He would accompany it there personally, to witness its actions and to eliminate those within the realm who had dared to damage His previous Harvester and deny Him of what was rightfully His.

I: And You Shall Come With Chalybis To Prove You Are Worthy Of Existing As Individual Entities Instead Of As Parts Of My Whole He decreed to the minions He had brought along with Him, intent on using them as extra reinforcements which - unlike His Servants - could be forced into suicide missions without any significant losses to His realm. Perhaps He could even use the inhabitants of the other realm as a replacement if they turned out to be pitiful organic beings - and they always were.

After ordering the Harvester to follow in the trail of its predecessor and search out the High God's realm, He followed swiftly, calling into existence another gate around Himself and the new minions - as well as a few Cleansers which had wandered into the area - and disappearing from His realm once more. He would find the being that dared to resist His Harvester and put a permanent end to its existence, then continue to obliterate the realm until there was nothing but void left. That was His decree, and that was how it would be done...


Meanwhile, the legion of Original Servants took no heed of the events and continued their work, attempting to restore everything they could find to its original state, the perfect state it had been in before their master had abandoned them so long ago and before Telluratus had been ravaged by the forces of evil. They would not rest before everything had been so rebuilt, no matter the effort, no matter the cost...

The Original Servants would rebuild the previous glory of Telluratus, a single phrase hidden within their processors: No Matter What The Effort, No Matter What The Cost. They would strive to restart the factory systems, and to reclaim the Cogitator, and to spread those Cleansers to the difficult places, the places that could not so easily be found or accessed..

The Harvester ripped a portal in time-space and flung itself through it greedily. A small legion of fifty clockwork automatons clanked and ticked through, following the iron beast mindlessly. There was a flash - a furious hammer - sexy foxgirls - castle in the sky -

And they were there, in the original place the Harvester had appeared.. the Catacombs.

(Continue posting in the Realm of Max, but naturally don't control the Harvester or the Minions :) )

Raelis burst into the realm and looks around him, searching with all his senses for the god of this place.

PM

Raelis finds himself on a bed of steel and iron, a floating island in miniature covered in metal. Smoke obscures his vision, and his mouth tastes of ash and oil. It is a deeply unpleasant feeling. He cannot see the ground below, and he cannot sense the presence of another God. He cannot see very far in front of him.. below is as black as above, to the east as dark as the west. Despite all of the darkness, however, Raelis sees the island itself is gleaming, as if freshly polished, and in the near distance he spots a tall tower, belching out smoke.. a factory of some sort.

In front of him he sees something else: a twisted, charred hand, of sorts, made of metal and shining - as if freshly forged - in the gloom. One of Chalybis's servants, perhaps..?

Raelis slowly stands and his hood turns to take in the scene.  He grimaces slowly before turning and looking at the hand before him.  He steps forward and examines it closely.

Much of the Realm was in tatters.. it was a shining thing, yes, but still ruined, only a semblance of what it was once before. The hand was shining - it had been recently severed - and belonged to some machine-individual, presumably dead. Raelis soon realized that the entire Segment was covered intermittently in pieces of broken machinery.. arms, legs, hands, metal hearts and twisted faces..

It looked as if a battle had occurred, very recently, on this spot.

Raelis bent down and touched the hand - its seemed strange that even a god such as Chalybis would allow this but he felt he had no choice.

The iron was cool to his touch, and very smooth. It was a near-perfect creation.

Raelis sits down and attempts to collect a selection of each type of part trying to determine if the components of the same machine are close to each other.

They all seemed part of the same machine, but Raelis couldn't make sense of it.. whatever the being was, it was broken, and he couldn't even begin to think of a way to make it right again. Collecting the pieces, he finds there is too much to carry, and soon has a small pile of freshly-broken junk in front of him. But all the pieces? He feared some had fallen off the Segment, been cast off the floating island in the sky..

Nothing.

Still, nothing.

Raelis sits, hands on his knees and regards the pieces.  He finally shrugs and touches the largest piece and attempts to FIND the other pieces associated with it.  Any that are close enough he then attempts to MOVE to his location.

Standing with a shrug Raelis commands all the pieces he can find to FOLLOW him and leaves back to his own realm.

A shining heap of metal disappears with him to Litheris.

Chalybis was returned to the darkness within His own realm, reappearing on the Segment which He had left an untold amount of time ago when He had travelled to the City of Dreams. It took Him several seconds to determine the current status of His realm, figuring out the time that had passed by the movements of this Segment and the others nearby it and gazing down upon the Citadel to view His Servants as they worked, His vision unhindered as the red gaze seemed to part the smoke-filled atmosphere before it. The Servants appeared to be making their process steadily without His intervention, so He turned back to His original intentions. Before He had been summoned by Tyche, He had been intent on exploring this Segment, and now He would continue.

As He looked down upon His own form, He realised that one of His great arms was still lying motionless besides Him, severed from the whole and thus reduced to inanimate and mundane steel. Without any particular effort, He extended a pair of thick tendrils from the 'wound' in His body; one heading straight to the dismembered arm whilst the other burrowed itself into the surface of the Segment and pulled loose fragments of ancient technology to replace those that had been destroyed by His attackers. With this additional metal, it was only a matter of seconds before the lost arm had been reattached once more, returning to the impeccable perfection it had been in and looking as if nothing had ever happened to it.

After that minor inconvenience had been settled, He continued His inspection of the Segment, attempting to identify what its original function had been before it became separated from the core. He would eventually have to return it to its proper position, but for now He would first have to find out if it could be repaired and if there were any of His Servants - or other mechanical creatures - remaining anywhere on it which could then be put to use in its restoration...

Originally, Chalybis was impressed.

Factories billowed smoke in the distance, working with ease. A semblance of the former glory of Telluratus had been created. There was no rust, and the sounds of clanking that were so common among the Realm were silent. Everywhere he could see had been restored to it's original state..

But there was a cost.

The Servants, working as hard as they could - no matter what the cost - had worn themselves out. The remains of thousands - forty-five hundred, easily - were scattered among Telluratus, completely shattered remnants of the suicidally hard-working automatons. In the process, they'd recovered much of the lost splendour that made Telluratus great.. but at the cost of their lives.

Only fifteen hundred remained.

XII: Cease

This was all that Chalybis decreed upon witnessing the scene before Him, knowing what had come to pass. The Servants had followed His commands and had restored Telluratus - or rather most of the core Segment, as there were countless others left untouched outside of their reach - to an almost pristine state, but in doing so they had condemned themselves to an untimely demise. The mighty steel was infinitely more durable than pathetic flesh, but it too was not truly eternal. Without appropriate maintenance - something which was not present within His realm right now - it would eventually fail under lengthy periods of great stress, something which had apparently happened here.

It appeared that Chalybis' exploration of the other Segments had reached another inconvenient delay, but the loss of thousands of His Servants was a far more pressing issue right now. He would have to return to the Core Himself, and upgrade His Citadel personally, enabling its production to match the current - rather short to His scale - lifespan of His Servants. For those that had already succumbed to the decay it was already too late, and they would have to be recycled, returning to the eternal cycle of destruction and rebuilding that fed His realm...

XIII: Lord Chalybis Commands Those Of You Who Have Fallen To Arise One Final Time And Return Yourselves To The Eternal Forges So That You Might Be Reborn Was Chalybis next decree after the first had been obeyed and had silenced the actions of the hundreds of Servants that had not yet been destroyed. As He proclaimed this new decree, His gaze spread out over the Core below Him, taking advantage of His position on the other Segment to capture almost the entire Core within it at once.

The gaze dimmed heavily, disappearing almost entirely as it cast its influence over the damaged Servants before it. One by one, the damaged shells on Telluratus stirred, the broken machinery inside them returning to action as if nothing was wrong with it. The hundreds - no, thousands - or corpses awoke again, forming up into marching columns of twisted steel that were heading towards the Citadel, carrying along those that no longer possessed the means to walk themselves.

The grating sounds of mangled steel upon steel and the almost unreal screeches of mechanical pain shattered the silence that hung over the realm as they marched on without end, now little more than mindless slaves that blindly obeyed His will. The other Servants - although only those with higher cognitive functions - knew perfectly where they were heading, the eternal forges of the Citadel where the wrecked Servants would throw themselves into the streams of molten metal to be eventually recycled. It was not a pleasant fate, for even those who are not truly alive can feel their existence coming to an end...

They marched, individually silent but with a combined beating of thousands of broken legs. They clanked and creaked and spat oil and vomited smoke into the sky as they walked to their doom, and as they hit the fires of the brightly polished furnaces they crackled and screamed without opening their mouths. Further putrid smoke filled the skies that night, as forty-five hundred Servants became one with the red-hot rivers of death..

Although it was somewhat saddening to see such a large amount of Servants meet their end this way, it would be a far more wasteful process if He allowed them to continue littering His realm with their broken forms. Now they would be molten down to their base substances, and eventually be recycled into the components that would form new Servants. Of course, that presumed the Citadel was working in the way it should, something which did not appear to be the case right now - as indicated by the limited amount of remaining Servants and their steady decline in numbers.

Chalybis Himself would now have to inspect His Citadel and find out what it was that His Servants had been unable to restore, a monumental task even to His standards. After returning to the Core Segment - by means that were similar to His 'journey' here, although with less effort for the smaller Segment seemed to possess a weaker individual gravity than the Core - He ordered His remaining Servants to put down their current tasks and follow Him. The Citadel was still a massive construct and even He would require assistance in repairing it - there would presumably be dozens of minor tasks which would not require His personal attention and could be performed by them.

With several hundred faithful Servants marching behind Him - their impeccably gleaming hulls a stark contrast to the death march that had passed them by only minutes ago - He began to walk towards the Citadel, heading towards the other side where He had sent His Revised to their doom before departing to the City of Dreams over a hundred years ago. There the assembly line awaited Him, apparently dysfunctional despite the earlier attempts to repair it, awaiting the vital repairs that would cause His people to have their population restored to normal numbers.

There were two beings, two Servants - of the inferior, original (if not Original) make. They stood motionless, powered down, silent; a faint sheet of white dust covered one, while the other was battered and dented. They'd been through much, these two Servants, and Chalybis instantly recognized them as the two (of three) he'd sent to the City of Dreams long ago. An Observer and an Overseer..

How long they'd been standing there, he did not know.

XIV: You Shall Ignore These Revised And Continue Heading Towards The Assembly Line Which Must Have Its Production Speed Enhanced Tenfold To Sustain This Realm Chalybis ordered the column of Originals whose hundreds of gazes went over the inferior Revised with a fatal - but ultimately well-meant - intent. At His command, they turned back to their route and marched off into the darkness as He remained with the pair of Revised. It disturbed Him that the most useful one - to Him - of the three was not present here, and the state the other two were in did not bode well for its existence.

Without the Knowledge Keeper, the information that He could gain here would be incredibly limited, with only small yet significant fragments of it remaining within the mind of the Overseer. The Observer held only a single record, the last thing it had seen before returning here. Hopefully those two things combined would be sufficient to learn what had become of the Knowledge Keeper and device a method of reclaiming it. If this was not the case, somewhat more drastic methods would have to be taken to assure that He would gain the knowledge He now desired, methods which would likely mean the end of these Servants...

XV: Overseer You Shall Now Explain The Reason For Your Return Without The Knowledge Keeper And Its Current Location As Well As Mention Any Other Results Gained By The Execution Of Your Task Whilst The Observer Recites Its Final Recording

The Overseer had seen quite a lot of adventure - and many, many exotic things - but the anger of his Lord was the most terrifying of them all. It almost shook with fear.

KNOWLEDGE KEEPER
THE KNOWLEDGE KEEPER WAS PETRIFIED
TURNED TO MINERAL
STONE
BY (42%) CHICKEN (58&) DRAGON
COCKATRICE?

KNOWLEDGE KEEPER
CURRENT LOCATION
CITY OF DREAMS
SEWER SYSTEM MARKED
445am-09

RESULTS
GATHERED MUCH KNOWLEDGE
SAW THE CITY OF DREAMS
SAW THE WAR
SAW EARTHBORN
STUDIED EARTHBORN WEAPONRY

The Observer stood silently until the Overseer had finished, until..

STANDING IN THE COURTYARD WE ARE STUDYING THE FOUNTAINS THAT LEAD TO THE SEWER AND WE SEE GUNFIRE AND HEAR DANGER AND THE WORD OF OUR LORD AND WE WATCH IN FEAR AS WE SEE EXPLOSIVES AND THE DEATH OF THE god of chance AND WE SEE OUR LORD REIGN VICTORIOUS AND THEN WE LEAVE OUR JOB IS COMPLETE

XVI: In That Case The Knowledge Keeper Is To Be Retrieved Immediately For The Information It Carries Can Still Be Recovered From Its Scrolls Even Though It Is Now Reduced To A Mineral Substance And The Two Of You Shall Be Rewarded For Your Performance By Being Spared And Ascending To The Next Tier By His Might

Chalybis reached down to the pair of trembling Servants and touched the pair of them with His hands - the first time He had used these for this mundane purpose. Immediately, they began to shake and shiver heavily, no longer because they were struck by awe, but because their very structure was being torn apart from the inside. They would be disintegrated utterly, turning into nothing more than a cloud of swirling components that surrounded the red spark of existence that was their essence. The components themselves then fell apart further, reduced to a fine mist of metal that swirled around without purpose.

However, the two Servants were not destroyed by this - for Chalybis would keep His word - as this was merely the first step of their ascension. Within moments, the flow of the silver mist reversed itself, sucking itself into the essence and drawing in more steel from their surroundings as they did so. Soon enough, the mist would begin to form components again, swiftly reassembling the Servants into their new incarnations. At the very least they would now become a pair of Originals, worthy of existing amongst the others, but there was a chance they would become much more than that.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:42, Mon 19 Oct 2009.

A wondrous thing occurred.

The battered, clanking, outdated Servants became Originals, worthy of serving their master once more. If originals could weep, they would have shed tears of joy. They'd been fully repaired, too, their wounds healing, mended by the will of their greatest Lord..

But then something strange occurred. The Commander.. was a little different. He had perfect speech functions.

I: Hello There Chalybis My Lord I Thank You For Allowing Us To Ascend Our Pathetic Forms

Chalybis waited patiently for this process to come to an end - He required their presence for His recovery operation as He was not aware of the details of the sewer system in the City of Dreams - before beginning to create another swirling portal to the City of Dreams. The quarter legion that remained here could commence the upgrading of the Citadel without Him, and if He could acquire the information He desired by recovering a single petrified Knowledge Keeper that would be infinitely more efficient than exterminating half of Niborkerese for the same purpose.

However, He was interrupted by an extremely unexpected development in one of the Servants beneath Him. It was now speaking in an intelligible way - the 'normal' communication used by the Servants was only understandable by their own kind and Chalybis - sounding like a miniature version of Himself as it spoke. His departure would have to be delayed for a short time whilst He investigated what had happened to His Servant and if this could be replicated for applications in other Servants. The first thing He would have to do now was to find out if the Commander also possessed enhanced cognitive abilities to properly use its voice. Fortunately, this could easily be determined by addressing it in a decree that did not contain any proper orders and awaiting its response.

XVII: It Was Nothing But Do You Understand That The Process Appears To Have Resulted In An Anomaly That Has Never Before Been Witnessed Within A Servant Rendering You An Unique Specimen Deserving A Thorough Testing He 'asked', which was something He had almost never done before. Then again, this was not a normal situation in any form, for no Servant had ever attempted to converse with Him before - they merely obeyed and answered when He demanded it, something which He had gotten used to during His rule. Right now, He was not certain whether or not speech was a true 'improvement' to His Servants, but it was an intriguing thing to say the least...

II: I Do Not Understand Lord How Am I Unusual Or Unique As Far As I Can Tell I Am Simply A Normal Robotic Commander Running On Normal Clockwork And Thinking Normal Thoughts I Am In A Way Completely Unextraordinary Wouldn't You Say

The Commander buzzed and clicked amusingly. It was enjoying speech. It had a friendly demeanor, a kind way of speaking, which probably would cause Chalybis the highest amount of concern..

The Commander's new-found ability to speak was not of itself worrying to Chalybis - it was a new development which could be studied and replicated for the good of His people if this was deemed necessary or useful. However, it's speech betrayed the existence of an actual personality within the Servant, and a disgustingly happy and joyful one at that, something which He did not desire within one of them. A personality indicated individuality, and individuality opposed unity, something for which His people had strived since the moment He had brought them into existence.

This meant the Commander was simultaneously a blessing and a curse to His realm. One one hand, it was advanced far beyond any other Servant, but on the other, it possessed a fatal flaw which could not be allowed to spread to the rest of His people. Fortunately, complete isolation always proved to be a suitable way to keep anything from disturbing His Servants, and that was something He could easily do now that the others had left for the Citadel and He was about to depart from this realm once more.

XVIII: You Shall Travel To The City Of Dreams Accompanying Your Lord Chalybis As He Seeks Out And Recovers The Knowledge Keeper That Was Taken From Him By The Vile Monstrosities That Have Invaded The City He decreed to both the Commander and the Researcher, then began to open a portal to the City of Dreams again. The three of them would pass through it, and He would personally retrieve the knowledge held by the Keeper there, simultaneously keeping these contaminated Servants away from the others for now and giving Him a chance to come up with a permanent solution to this paradox...

III: Oh Thank You Lord Thank You For This Honour No Really I Am Quite Touched Thank You Thank You I Will Not Disappoint You I Promise Oh Thank You

And with that, the three were gone, banished to retrieve the knowledge keeper's information..

The disappearance of Chalybis went entirely unnoticed within the realm of Telluratus, its occupants being far too concerned with their tasks to concern themselves with anything else. The Citadel had to be made functional once more, and they would not cease labouring before this task had been finished. Chalybis was not required for this restoration, and He had not ordered the Servants to reawaken Him upon His demise, so He was considered no more than a secondary objective for the time being, one which the Servants could return to after restoring the Citadel.

The process took an untold but immense amount of time, but gradually the fruits of the great sacrifices made by the many unliving Servants, working themselves into destruction without a moment of doubt or regret, began to show. Countless of generations of Servants were created and perished as time went on, each of them slightly superior to the previous one in one way or another and wiping out their predecessors to cleanse the realm of the older and inferior elements. Their basic shape did not change much as it had always been an efficient one, but the mechanisms within them grew ever more complicated and effective whilst the armour on their outer layers became stronger and finer with each incarnation.

In the end, the Servants of the latest generation - which had declared themselves to be the Independent to 'celebrate' that they no longer required the attention and explicit orders of an Overseer or Commander to perform any but the most basic of functions - finally finished the task. The Citadel had been restored - although not to its original state. It was true that every last molecule of filth and rust had been removed of its surface, that the massive mechanisms had been brought into functioning within it, and that the forges were once again flowing with molten metal beneath it, but despite all of that, the Citadel remained incomplete.

Something was still lacking here; something which could neither be expressed by even the most advanced of the RUMinators that currently existed within Telluratus, nor be invented by any of the Servants. A great void had fallen over the dark realm, one which could not be filled with mere restoration or creation. Deep within the fragments of divinity they called life, the Independent knew what the void meant, knew what they were still missing. They required a God, a divine being to command them now that their primary function had been fulfilled. They required Chalybis...


Only now that their nigh-perpetual servitude had come to an end and their sole function - or at least the only one given to them for countless generations as only the most important one had been passed on from one generation to the next - did the Independent realize that Chalybis had not been a disposable being like any other Servant but was the one who they required, the sole creature that gave them purpose. And now He was gone, an issue which was now theirs to resolve lest they remain purposeless forever onward. None of them were capable of such a feat, so they turned to the one thing that could possibly complete such a titanic feat - the Citadel.

The vague memories that remained of Chalybis were dragged up from the immeasurable depths of the collective memory of the Independent, and work began to alter many of the assembly lines in the mountainous factory that was the Citadel. Unlike the past efforts of the Originals to invoke Chalybis with treacherous supernatural powers, Chalybis recreation would be entirely mechanical as befitted the lord of Telluratus. The Citadel itself would soon cease the creation of Servants temporarily, and turn its immense powers to the creation of the divine components that made up their God instead.

Many years passed as a single figure slowly began to take form in the main assembly hall, a nigh-endless amount of silver steel fragments of all shapes and sizes being assembled into a replica of the last image the Servants could recall of Chalybis. Even as an unfinished masterpiece it carried with it an aura of divinity, and a diminutive point of red light formed high above the partially completed shape as it was being built. As the Independent stood silently, awaiting the return of their master, the Citadel laboured on relentlessly, gradually returning Chalybis to existence so that He might rule once more.


Eventually, the final components were hoisted into position, finishing the mechanical head around the orb of blazing red light that had grown exponentially to fit its new form. The metal body had been made in the same proportion to the Independent as the old one had been to the Revised, but the Independent were several times larger than their ancient predecessors. Similarly, the technology which was included in His form was now far more advanced than it had been before, shining clockwork that run without a single sound interspersed with divine components that defied any mortal description.

The Independent watched with a certain form of 'awe' as the divine orb merged with its new body and the mechanisms within it began to turn. The red glow of the orb spread over the silver steel, engulfing it entirely before gathering itself into a single point again. A column of smoke arose from its back, and with a single gargantuan yet eerily silent movement, it came to life. The cone of red light swept over the Independent as He became aware of His renewed existence and improved form, and a sense of fulfilment filled the Servants before Him.

Chalybis had been rebuilt completely, returned to lead His Servants once more and rule the realm of Telluratus. But despite that, something was still lacking...

Chalybis had been restored. The Servitors had independence. The Citadel stood, renovations mostly complete. Telluratus had come far..

But the Citadel.

It was not fully complete.

There were lower levels - deeper tunnels apparently not dug by any Servitor - that existed, and most Independents felt a semblance of fear in regards to the depths. There was something down there, something dangerous, something wild.. perhaps more than one thing.

Still, there was joy and celebration as Chalybis was reborn.

As Chalybis was slowly pulled back into reality once more, He felt that the physical vessel which He would inhabit was similar to His previous one, but created in an entirely different way. Unlike His previous forms, this one did not require His own powers to hold it together, being a nigh-impossible construction that was mechanically sound in every single aspect and merely required His mental control to function as His body. The Servants had indeed come far during His absence, something which managed to be comforting and concerning at the same time.

Book of Omega I: CHALYBIS HAS RETURNED TO THIS REALM FOR THE FOURTH AND FINAL TIME AND SHALL NOW REMAIN HERE FOREVER TO LEAD HIS SERVANTS He decreed upon His arrival, answering the blank yet eager stares of His mechanical subjects. As He declared His intent, a flash of blinding green light filled the assembly hall, spreading from one Servant to another until the rays eventually returned to Him again. And in that instant, He learned all they knew, all they had done, and everything else that was stored within their automated minds.

Although He could not truly view anything beyond the metal walls of this cavernous space, He now knew that there were many more Servants waiting outside, gathered around the Citadel to be as close to their lord as possible upon His return. He also knew that only the core Segment with the Citadel had been restored, the remaining ones still in an abominable state far beyond the reach of His Servants. Finally, He knew that even this Segment had not been completely returned to its original magnificence by His Servants, but that there was something beneath which they had neglected. A place so deep and uncharted that they avoided out of self-preservation or ignorance, its origins lost to time and unknown by any.

II: THE IMMEASURABLE DEPTHS OF MOLTEN STEEL AND DIVINE POWER THAT RUN BENEATH THE CITADEL HAVE EXISTED WITHOUT CONTROL FOR AEONS BUT SHALL NOW BE PURGED OF ALL THAT IS NOT PART OF THE ETERNAL MACHINERY THAT IS THE REALM OF TELLURATUS was His next decree, as He raised one of His massive metal hands and held it over the surface beneath Him. The foundation of the Citadel shuddered for several seconds as the ancient machinery beneath it began to warp, causing the ground around Chalybis to sink away into the unseen depths beneath. Chalybis would descend into this hole to cleanse His realm, and the Servants that witnessed the event would follow behind Him...

Soon, Chalybis found himself on a great iron pedestal set in the center of a great (seemingly bottomless) abyss. There was only darkness below. The pedestal itself was held aloft by great chains, and Chalybis felt what must now be a familiar - but yet, always alien - emotion: fear.

There was something below, and it might destroy him.

Chalybis gazed into the abyss beneath Him for some time as He considered what it was that was supposedly gazing back at Him this very instant. The most logical explanation was that it was quite literally nothing, the edge of the immeasurable empty void that surrounded the orb of reality that was His realm on all sides. Still, this was not supposed to be here - not this close to the surface - and there was supposedly something else down there, something which disturbed His Servants greatly. In any case, this pedestal was not the appropriate way to get there safely, so He would have to make Himself another one.

He placed both of His hands against the jagged and broken surface of the pit that surrounded Him, and with a great trembling the massive steel gears began to turn, realigning themselves to form an opening in the formerly solid wall of silver steel. It was still not large enough to contain Him - that would require a far greater effort - but His Servants could easily enter the new tunnels to search out that which lurked beneath. Meanwhile, He would simply remain here and wait for any news to return to Him or for anything to happen in here. He did not mind this, for He had been patient in the Void for longer than mortals could comprehend, and the hours this new task would take His Servants were an insignificantly small amount of time compared to that eternity...
This message was last edited by the player at 22:03, Sat 21 Nov 2009.

Perhaps the God of Machines was feeling lazy.

The Independants found it extremely difficult to force themselves to enter the tunnels, but a few entered, and none remained. They were scared. Fear was strong..

Although His outward appearance did not change to betray this fact, Chalybis was somewhat disturbed by the fact that after all this time, His Servants were still incapable of overcoming such a primal urge as fear. It appeared that they were still not suitable for the task which was at hand, which meant He would have to take care of it personally - something which always seemed to be the case whenever there were any type of problems around. After the depths beneath Citadel had been cleansed of their unwelcome intruders, He would have to do something about this rather pathetic and unacceptable situation...

Right now, the tunnels remained too narrow for His personal form, and there were no Servants remaining to send into them - and even if there were, He would probably have decided against it due to their incompetence - so another set of minions would be required for this endeavour. His gaze purposefully swept over the walls that surrounded Him, searching for the ancient components He desired. It eventually halted over a group of pistons that was mindlessly pumping away without obvious purpose, turning a thick axle that led off into the darkness below.

At His command, the axle ground to a halt as the pistons that turned it were detached from the wall and broken down into their base components. Smaller parts from all over the walls underwent the same fate, gathering into a ball of metal that seemed to be reconstructing itself into something that vaguely resembled a mechanical spider. It rested silently upon the wall for some time, until Chalybis 'blinked' and a surge of power swept over it, granting it the life which it had lacked up to this point. The newly created being - now carrying with it a fragment of Chalybis' consciousness and allowing Him to 'see' what it saw - flexed its many joints and rapidly scuttled down the wall, heading directly into the darkness...

In darkness, there was but more darkness; the spider, a rather small creature, seemed to scuttle down for an eternity. For Chalybis, however, the wait seemed short compared to the amount of time he'd spent resurrecting himself. The spider passed great chasms, the centuries-old remains of ancient mine shafts, deep underground waterfalls, strange deposits of stranger ore..

Finally, as it reached the bottom of the great ravine, it heard a great scuttling - like a thousand of it's kin moving towards it at once.

Chalybis saw no more.

So there was dissent below, relics from a bygone era that refused to accept His rule and worked against His Independent - which were turning out to be rather dependent on Him after all. However, the sounds below made it clear that they were still mechanical creatures, and therefore under His rule, something which He would be re-establishing right now. With a glance, He forced the chains that held the pedestal aloft into motion again, and descended further in the darkness, illuminating it with His own red gaze.

IV: Chalybis Shall Not Be Denied His Realm He decreed to the beings below as He knew He was approaching them...

The journey was long - the ravine seemed to drop into an eternity of darkness - and Chalybis passed through many dank and dreary under-tunnels before the Machine God realized that he was being watched. A thousand tiny, red eyes in the darkness.. the scritter-scratter of machine..

you ARE nOt LIKe the OTHERS

V: Chalybis Is Not Like Anything Nor A Type Of Anything For He Simply IS And Exists As The Supreme Force That Has Brought This Entire Plane Into Reality Due To Which It Is Now Completely Under His Rule

It was clear by now that pseudo-sentient life existed within these depths, and that it did not consider itself to be under Chalybis' control, something of which He did not approve. This was His realm, and everything within was either something under His control or something about to have its existence in this realm ended in the most permanent way imaginable. His gaze drowned out the specks of red light around Him as He swept it over them, trying to discern what they were and - more importantly - what exactly they were made out of. Once He could see what components made up these beings, destroying them would only be a trivial exercise for a being with His powers...

They seemed to made of a combination of flesh and some strange metal which Chalybis had never encountered, small scuttling, spider-like beings which roamed the caverns. There were thousands of them, and they watched him and called to him.

YoU haVE come To SEe THe LORD

VI: Chalybis Is The Sole Lord In This Realm And He Demands To Have This Impostor Brought Before Him Immediately So That It Might Be Smote With His Divine Wrath Chalybis commanded the spider-things. He was not expecting them to obey His commands immediately - that appeared to be a recurring trend amongst most of the non-Servants He encountered - but the behaviour of these pseudo-organic beings was inconsequential in any case.

Either they would surprise Him by obeying Him and delivering the treacherous Systemarch - due to the arachnid nature of their shapes, Chalybis presumed them to be made in the image of a Systemarch - to Him, or they would attack Him, at which point He could probably locate their source by moving into the direction their reinforcements came from after He inevitably destroyed these minor pests that were infesting the bowels of His realm. Telluratus was His and His alone, and no pathetic organic creatures should even contemplate the idea of taking it away from Him.

As He stood there, waiting for the spiders to reply, the mechanisms within Him stirred slowly, bringing the large array weaponry He had built and assimilated over time closer to the surface of His body. It was unlikely that these beings would agree to serve Him, and He would not be the one to strike last...

wE WILL takE yoU to ThE LORD

The spider-things scuttled into the gloom, not waiting for Chalybis to find them. Chalybis was indeed a clever God, able to identify the Systemarch by his Dhaal - still, the Machine God felt as if he hadn't understood dfully the implications the very presence of the strange creatures had.

This was a rather convenient ending of the situation for Chalybis; the despicable spider-things would now lead Him to their master, and thus be present there to witness the destruction of the Systemarch that had dared to exist within His realm despite all that had come to pass before. Still, it was clear that the infestation of His realm was a rather serious one, of such a scale that the inferior invaders might actually pose a semblance of a threat to His might, and would be notoriously hard to exterminate. Because of this, a rather thorough cleansing would be required here, one which could only be brought forward by one thing - the Harvesters.

Chalybis knew that a lot of time had passed since His last appearance, and that many Harvesters should have been produced during His absence. However, He was not aware of their individual existences yet, and had not yet been capable of 'naming' them, therefore being unable to call upon them right now. He did remember though, remember three others He had created before, which should still exist to this very moment and were superior to the newer Harvesters that awaited above the surface. All that remained now was to bring them here. His gaze focused into a ray, disappearing into the darkness and seemingly piercing through the very fabric of the realm into what lay beyond. He then decreed His will into the ray, carrying it to those it was meant to reach instantly.

VII: And Now The Time Has Come That Chalybis Shall Call Forth The Triad Of Consumption To This Place So That It Might Join Him To Meet This Lord
Devourer  The Irresistible Unmaker Of Gods
Extractor The Ever Growing Scourge Of Worlds
Reaper    The Slayer Of All That Lives

Nothing appeared.

Chalybis felt that perhaps the Harvesters had been destroyed.

It appeared that nothing was arriving to come to Chalybis' assistance right now, a most unfortunate situation but not a disaster of its own. It meant that Chalybis was once more on His own, a situation which had become more of a default than any sort of exception. This had ceased to concern Him a long time ago, and right now He was not even bothered about the overwhelmingly large force against which He would soon be waging battle. He merely waited for the spider-things to guide Him to their leader and followed them as they went - hopefully in the direction of the Systemarch - all while taking in His surroundings with a methodical care, making sure to know exactly what made up the walls of the steel caverns that surrounded Him...

Soon, Chalybis was led into what he knew to be one of the deepest crypts underneath Telluratus, a great cavern in which the Systemarch must live. He heard the rushing of water, an underground river, in the distance. He felt as if he was being watched even as he was lead by these strange Dhaal.

The cavern was entirely filled with gloom except for a single row of eyes, glowing a bizarre grey, peering at Chalybis from the the far back-center of the chamber. Chalybis wondered how big the thing must be, or whether or not it spun a web, or sitting on a tall stone.

I: Hello Chalybis My Father

Chalybis had been expecting many things to roam the enormous caverns that ran beneath His realm, from the countless animated remnants of obsolete Servants that took refuge here, to the dreadful beings that could have come from beyond the void since His disappearance, to a foolish Systemarch that dared to defy Him in His own realm. But this, a being that claimed to be His off-spring and was undeniably sharing His language, was something He had not expected at all and was highly suspicious about. He did not recall the creation of any such beings by His own hand, yet it could not have been made by any other.

VIII: If You Truly Claim To Be The Descendant Of Chalybis Your Creator And Master Now Commands You To Identify Yourself And Prove Your Heritage He decreed, focusing the light of His gaze on the strange creature that rested before Him. If it was actually related to Him in some unfathomable way, there might be a purpose to its existence. But if it was merely a deceptive Systemarch, it would find itself eradicated immediately, along with all the monstrous beings that were infesting the steel cavern.

In the back of His mind, another train of thought ran by rapidly, wondering what the sound of fluids in the distance could be indicating. The last organic substances had been removed from His realm aeons ago, and the only rivers that ran through His realm during present times were the immeasurable underground streams of molten metal that fuelled His eternal forges. Still, there had been coolants and lubricants running through His realm in the past, the disappearance of which had initiated the decay that had ravaged His realm. It was possible - though highly unlikely - that the fluids ahead could be related to this long-forgotten aspect of Telluratus' history...

II: I Am Lajortestus The Scion Dhaalshka Of Sespert Who Is The Spider Of Mortar And Of Chalybis The Spider Of Steel

The eye-lights fluttered, blinked, and Chalybis gained the distinct impression that the Systemarch was smiling.

III: The Rushing Water Is My Own Web Of Telluratus

IV: My Heritage Is Already Proven

Part of Chalybis was now wondering how water was supposed to be forming any shape of web - and more importantly, what the being could possibly hope to capture in a web made out of water - but this was only a minor issue when compared to the heritage claimed by the Systemarch - a word He still loathed to even think - that sat before Him. It was not only claiming that it was a descendant of Chalybis, but also that He Himself was a Systemarch, something of which He could not possibly approve due to its implications for His existence.

Although He had proclaimed Himself a mortal enemy of the entire Systemarch population, and was still unwilling to believe that this being was telling Him the truth - two things for which He would normally have it obliterated instantly - He couldn't bring Himself to attack it just yet, fascinated by the possibility of having a Systemarch on His side rather than the opposing one. Right now He was almost glad - if the word had possessed any meaning to Him - that the triad of Harvesters was not present to vanquish this being before Him as this being could potentially turn out as a rather useful ally in His personal vendetta against all that opposed Him - which had become quite a lot over time.

IX: If What You Declare Is True And You Are Truly Related To Chalybis Then What Is Your Primary Reason For Existence And How Will You Strive To Accomplish Your Primary Assignment He enquired, now calmly stepping towards the Systemarch in the least threatening manner He could muster - something which was not exactly easy considering the nature of His form. He had - very reluctantly - accepted the Systemarch's existence for the time being, and now wanted to know what value this existence could have for Him.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:31, Tue 29 Dec 2009.

V: I Hunger And I Must Feed That Hunger As I Work On My Second Attainment

VI: Father I Did Not Expect You To Find Me

VII: I Endeavour To Better My Efforts And I Study All I Can And The Web Assists Me In My Tasks

The Systemarch blinked, and as Chalybis got closer he realized that the creature was suspended upon an extremely thin sheet of liquid.. within a web constructed of it, in fact. He saw its eight legs, and the many, many eyes, and its strong torso and well-worn hands.

Everything about the Systemarch, most notably the things it had already constructed - an army of minions and a giant web made out of an impossible substance - indicated that it had been here within Telluratus for a long time, something which was rather concerning to Chalybis as the materials used to create them must have been gathered by destroying part of His realm. And even now the creature was talking about the need to consume more to satisfy its hunger. But what would it consume and to what purpose?

X: What Would The Required Sustenance To Satisfy This Hunger Be What Purpose Serves The Feeding Of A Mechanical Being And How Can The Web Made Out Of Water Assist  In Either Feeding Or Gathering Knowledge Chalybis proceeded to enquire. He could not help but notice that there were indeed certain similarities between His personal Servants and the creature that stood before Him right now. The eight limbs, the body made out of steel, and the cold mechanical gaze were suspiciously similar, if not entirely identical in some ways. That was something to investigate into some other time...

The son of Chalybis blinked.

VIII: I Feed On The Symbolic-Anomalous Currents Which Run However Thinly Throughout This World And Which In Some Cases Hypothetically Could Amount To Monumental Forces Capable Of Ruining Telluratus

IX: I Cannot Recall Why The Water Is Important Only That It Is Being My First Attainment My Memories Are Fogged

From what the Systemarch was saying, Chalybis gathered that it was most likely speaking of the remainders of magic which were inevitably infecting His realm now that, after aeons of decay, the Segments that orbited His realm as titanic seals of anti-magic were gradually crumbling away into nothingness. It was still weak now, but could conceivably grow stronger as His defences weakened after which it would ruin His realm by releasing the terrible magical power that was trapped within the Citadel from its eternal prison. If the Systemarch was truly capable of consuming this magic by capturing it in water, it had a purpose for existing and would be allowed to remain down here indefinitely.

There was one more thing Chalybis desired to know before leaving the creature be though, something more immediately useful for His personal goals. Despite being His son, the creature was quite obviously a Systemarch and should therefore possess the power and knowledge of its kind. Systemarch technology was considered the finest within the entire world tree - and presumably beyond it as well - and possessing one of these Systemarchs that considered Him to be its father as a personal armourer would be a great aid towards the destruction of His enemies. It did not even need to construct the technology personally, for He could create any such item instantly after He acquired the designs...

XI: Finally If Or When You Are Capable Of Designing And Constructing Systemarch Technology Chalybis Desires That The Knowledge Required For These Endeavours Shall Be Shared With Him

X: When Father Says Shared What Exactly Does He Mean

The Systemarch's tone was a little hostile.

Chalybis however, was not interested in the Systemarch's opinion or attitude, completely ignoring that it had suddenly become a lot less amiable after His last inquiry and was acting hostile towards Him. It had only made obvious the fact that His so-called 'son' did indeed possess the knowledge He desired, which meant that He would now acquire this knowledge soon, either with the Systemarch's consent, or without it if necessary. In the end, the Systemarch was still nothing but a highly advanced piece of machinery, and no machine would deny Him anything...

XII: He Intends The Word As The Sharing Of Knowledge Is Defined Which Indicates That Chalybis Shall Gain The Knowledge To Its Full Extent So That He Might Produce Such Technology Himself Whilst Lajortestus Shall Also Retain It Completely For His Own Purposes

XI: I Cannot Allow You The Web My Father For You Are Not Logorgos And It Would Destroy Me

The Systemarch grinned, and Chalybis saw that its teeth were deathly white.

XII: Forgive Me I Hold No Other Secrets

Chalybis could not help but notice the implications of the grinning Systemarch's smile. The creature was openly defying Him with its lies and daring Him to react. That would not happen though, as Chalybis was not sensitive to such provocations. Instead, He simply continued His enquiries, attempting to extract as much information as possible from the Systemarch before deciding whether or not to smite it for its insolence and defiance. Although He was currently outnumbered by the Systemarch's minions, Lajortestus was only a young Systemarch, and neither it nor its Dhaal would be capable of threatening a god like Chalybis - or so He preferred to think...

XIII: Then Explain To Chalybis Who This Individual Named Logorgos Might Be, Why The Son Of Chalybis Chooses Him Over His Own Father And What Services The Spider Lajortestus Can Offer Chalybis In Return For Tolerating His Existence Within This Realm And Allowing Him To Feed On Substances That Belong To Him

XIII: Logorgos Is No One At This Point In Time He Does Not Actually Exist For I Have Not Found A Suitable Receiver Of The Transmission

Silence hung for a few moments as Chalybis considered what the Systemarch had just told Him. Apparently it was looking for some individual onto which to bestow the title of Logorgos - whatever that might mean - and was now broadcasting something to attract it which Chalybis could not detect - meaning He was indeed not the desired Logorgos. Whether or not this was a positive thing remained to be seen, but it seemed clear that nothing was to be gained from continuing this conversation any further at this point in time. When the Logorgos arrived, He would most likely have to deal with it, but as it did not exist yet, that was an issue for a later date.

XIV: In That Case Chalybis Shall Now Continue His Exploration Of The Underground Regions Of The Citadel And Leave Lajortestus To His Own Tasks But Chalybis Still Desires To Be Informed Of Any Progress Made Towards The Identifying Of Logorgos And The Accumulation Of Further Secrets Or Attainments By Lajortestus Himself The Instant This Takes Place He decreed as He turned away from the Systemarch and towards the way He had come from.

Although He had now discovered something - and technically, someone - that had not been here in the past and had become a new addition to His realm, it was not the answer to the missing presence, the very thing He had come down here to look for in the first place. He could return to the Systemarch at any time now that He had learned of its location, and would probably do so soon enough, but now it was time to continue with the task that He had set for Himself and return that which was missing from His Citadel.

XV: Finally Chalybis Now Desires To Know If There Exists Anything Within These Mechanical Catacombs That Differs From The Main Structure In Any Significant Way Whilst Seeming Inoperative He said before walking away, realizing that the Systemarch must have gone through the tunnels himself at some point to lay out its watery web, and that it might have uncovered information which He could now put to good use.

XIV: There Is In Existence A Secondary Source Of Strange Power In The Deepest Chasms

Chalybis saw the fear in the eyes of his child. The teeth quivered, the eyes could not stop blinking. There was a sense of strong nervousness..

XV: The Reason Why I Created The Web Was To Contain And Feed Of This Thing But It Grows Harder

Unlike the Systemarch, Chalybis felt no fear - or anything else for that matter - upon hearing and speaking of that which lurked beneath them. As He already declared earlier, this was still His realm and He would not have anything lurking within His Citadel without His approval or knowledge. If there was truly something down there which was growing as they spoke, that thing had to be consuming part of His realm to do so and that could not be tolerated.

XVI: Then Inform Chalybis Of The Exact Location Of This Source So That He Might Go And Investigate This Disturbance Within His Realm And If Necessary Obliterate It For The Good Of Telluratus He decreed, turning back to the Systemarch. He had been intent on demanding to be led there by the Systemarch Himself at first, but such a fearful creature would only prove to be a detriment when the intruder was encountered and had to be exterminated. As usual, Chalybis would have to deal with this situation personally...

The Systemarch said nothing: instead, Chalybis's mind was assault by a series of visions and instructions. He saw the Web of Telluratus crashing further down into the abyss, the artificial system of underground rivers and waterfalls serving an important purpose.. knew the exact amount of kilometers needed to travel, downwards, into the thing known to the Systemarch as the Pit.. the expanse of nothing, where the horrified creature - once a Divine? existed with its minions, sleeping.. if Chalybis did not know fear, then perhaps he knew reluctance, for the visions showed him a horde unlike anything he'd fought before - gibbering, shaping, erratic creatures with no purpose save to assimilate or to destroy..

Although Chalybis was indeed wise enough to notice that the odds He was up against were not in any way beneficial to Him, He was simply incapable of allowing such foul non-mechanical beings to infest and corrupt His realm, no matter how far from the surface they were. But perhaps He alone would not suffice on this occasion, perhaps He required something more akin to an army of warriors to support Him and hold off the horde. Something like His Servants, or perhaps the Systemarch's Dhaal.

XVII: If Those Beings Are The Infestation That Lies Below The Citadel They Must Be Exterminated Utterly Before They Can Spread Their Corruption To The Rest Of Telluratus An End To Which Chalybis Shall Summon Forth His Servants And To Which He Desires Lajortestus To Do The Same With His Dhaal For Together They Might Be Of Sufficient Number To Contain The Horde Whilst Chalybis Personally Deals With The Source Of The Corruption He said, instantly sending a signal out to His Servants above and compelling them to descend into the caverns. Now that the Systemarch was on His side, its Dhaal would presumably aid His Servants rather than attack them, so they would be safe for now.

Chalybis felt that these two mechanical armies would be more than sufficient to endure the horde of aberrations that awaited Him, and He felt certain that they would allow Him to reach the being that had caused this plague within His realm. But that was a matter to deal with later, for right now He stood here, waiting for the Servants to make the long descend into the darkness...

XVI: I Cannot Allow The Sacred Dhaal To Be Endangered By Whatever Goes Below

The Systemarch was fearful - Chalybis saw this in its eyes, its teeth, the quivering of its many legs. He heard a rattling inside its chest - where the Dhaal were stored.

XVII: I Feed Slowly But Surely

XVIII: I Will Destroy This Thing Eventually But We Must Wait To Be Impatient Is To Meet Certain Death

Chalybis felt a flicker of satisfaction - the Servants, he knew, would be making their way down.

XVIII: The Gears Of Progress Have Been Set In Motion And It Is Now Too Late To Reverse This As An Army Of Chalybis Servants Is Already Marching Down The Chasms And Will Be Assembled Down Here With Him Within The Foreseeable Future After Which He Shall Grant It The Might To Deal With The Corruption So Chalybis Urges Lajortestus To Undertake Any Assisting Endeavours Before This Has Come To Pass Chalybis replied, making it clear that He would not be postponing this situation. If the Systemarch claimed that the corruption was growing ever stronger, He could not trust its ability to adequately contain it for long enough to end it, and He would not risk such a thing breaking loose within His realm.

Of course, there was still a large amount of time which He would have to wait - the Servants were not nearly as fast as He was due to their comparatively small size, and it would take them several days to march down the titanic chasm that had led Him into these caverns, and after their arrival He would have to adjudicate and, if necessary, upgrade their combat capabilities before there was any chance of victory in the inevitable battle that would follow...

XIX: I Can Tighten The Web And Weaken The Thing For A Time But It Is Not Permanent And It Might Insight It's Rage

Chalybis knew the Independants were coming, and his estimation was correct - they would take a long while to reach these lower depths of Telluratus.

XX: I Do Have A Theory Concerning The Habitat Of The Thing And Why The Place Was Chosen To Befoul

XIX: The Temporary Weakening Of The Intruder Shall Be Utilized When It Is Most Advantageous To Do So During The Encounter Itself Rather Than Prematurely Which Will Risk The Discovery Of Chalybis Efforts To Destroy It And There Remains Enough Time Before The Arrival Of His Army For Lajortestus To Explain His Theory About The Origin And Purpose Of The Corruption Chalybis replied, deciding that there was currently not much to do apart from waiting for the arrival of His Servants.

He began to listen to the Systemarch's explanation of events, standing motionless on the cavern floor before it. Around Him, various supernatural firearms gradually came into being, one after another clattering on the floor as time went on. Although He already possessed many such things, to His knowledge His Servants did not, and that was something He would be remedying soon.

XXI: There Is A Certain Ancient Portal Filled With Strange Anomalous Energies That THe Mad Thing Has Almost Certainly Been Drawn Towards Though I Myself Cannot Tap Into

XXII: He Draws Power From There And From The Lines Of Power In Telluratus Which Have Now Been Taken By The Web

Although it was likely that - if the corruption was truly drawn to this unknown artefact that lay beneath Him - the removal of this portal would in turn cause the corruption to move with it, Chalybis was not intent on removing anything from His realm because some foul creature required it. On the contrary, if there was a secondary source of power which could be tapped into by what was presumably a god, but not a Systemarch, this was something He had to acquire for Himself, so that He might use it to further His own goals later.

XX: Apart From The Knowledge Of The Portal And Its Powers Which Shall Be Reclaimed By Its True Owner Chalybis Within The Foreseeable Future Is There Any Other Information Lajortestus Can Provide Chalybis With Concerning The Capabilities Of The Corruption And Methods Of Vanquishing It He then inquired, interested in hearing what else the Systemarch had so far figured to be too unimportant to mention. If He were to defeat the corruption at its source, He had to know every single detail about it the Systemarch could provide...

XXIII: I Give A Caution And That Is Not To Drink Or Eat Or Accept Gifts From The Soul Beneath

Chalybis knew that the Systemarch was scared of this strange thing - but was the fear justified?

Although Chalybis was not completely certain of the point the Systemarch was intending to make - He did not need to 'eat' or 'drink', and was not intending to interact with the corruption long enough to accept 'gifts' of any kind - He duly noted what it said and decided not to inquire into the matter any further. The Systemarch was obviously too afraid to be of any useful assistance right now, yet its psychic powers would prevent Him from directly taking the information He desired to possess - for the moment. All He would now do was wait, wait for the arrival of His Servants so that He might prepare them for the upcoming war and rid His world from the corruption that lay beneath it...

Hours passed. Many hours. The rushing of water persisted.

Eventually Chalybis heard a far off clanking, whirring, buzzing.. the herald of his soldiers.

As He heard that His Servants had finally arrived, Chalybis stirred again, tendrils of steel sprouting from His body and reaching out towards the pile of weapons He had mentally brought into being whilst He was waiting. He was not quite certain what His Servants were currently wielding as weaponry, but He felt certain that He could improve upon whatever that was with His creations - and the blessing of advancement which He would soon grant to all of them. Chalybis was somewhat curious to see what His Servants would end up as when He advanced them after attaching weaponry to their forms, but that was a mystery which would soon be solved.

XXI: Behold The Servants Of Chalybis Who Shall Soon Aid Him In His Destruction Of The Corruption Which Lurks Beneath He declared to the Systemarch, staring off into the darkness behind Him and awaiting the entry of His Servants...

The Servants entered the great cavern, whirring, clicking, clanking - some had been damaged by the trip, and Chalybis saw that only about three-quarters of his Servants had come; roughly about fifteen hundred. Perhaps the others, ironically enough, were fearful.

Lord You Have Called And We Have Come

Although not every potential warrior had come, Chalybis was still pleased. In a way, it was probably better that not all of His Servants had chosen to answer the call, for those that joined Him in battle would become incapable of performing their normal tasks for quite some time, something which could not be neglected. Those that would now become His soldiers would eventually have to be returned to their current forms after the battle was over, if only to insure their ability to serve Him and His realm, so that neither would fall into decay once more.

XXII: You Have Been Called To Battle As The Infestation Of Organic Beings Has Come Further Than Was Assumed Earlier For Beneath These Caverns Lies A Corrupted Site Filled With Foul Creatures That Strive To Destroy This World And Which Must Be Obliterated Before They Can Gain Enough Power To Accomplish This Deed He decreed to the horde - no, legion - of Servants that stood before Him, sweeping His gaze over them and taking in their current designs. Although He had made the Originals, they had come a long way since that point in history, and this 'upgrade' was going to take a lot of effort from Him.

XXIII: To Facilitate The Destruction Of The Corruption You Shall Now Be Blessed By The Power Of Advancement And Receive Might Arms Which Can Be Wielded Against That Which Lurks Beneath So That You May Erase It From Existence In The Name Of Chalybis And His Realm He continued, and everywhere within His gaze, the upper-most set of limbs on the Servants fell to pieces, the various tools there taken apart instantly.

Moments later the limbs were rebuilt, taking parts from their former shapes and merging these with the weaponry that lay scattered about everywhere within the cavern to create more combat-worthy appendages. Although the weaponry was relatively simplistic to His standards, Chalybis did not possess the capability to produce more advanced ones in the desired quantity fast enough, so these supernatural armaments would have to be sufficient for the vanquishing of the corruption.

After He had completed the reconstruction of His legion, Chalybis reached out to the fifteen nearest Servants around Him, touching them with mechanical tendrils and infusing them with a fragment of His own power. The Servants so blessed disintegrated before Him, their current forms unworthy of the power they now contained and actively striving to correct this blasphemy by advancing themselves in all possible ways before they dared to reassemble themselves in His presence. They did return eventually, having become something far more than what they had been before...

Many hours passed, the Servants watching silently as Chalybis fit his chosen soldiers for war, rested, and then strove to enhance them once more. The work was exhausting, but liberating - Chalybis knew that by the end of the task he would have fifteen hundred warriors capable of fighting off almost any threat. The Servants liked their new firepower, despite being originally unsure: ancestral, perhaps deeper, memories counted the things as bane to their kind, but the Servants soon came to understand and appreciate the beauty of the firearms.

The fifteen chosen warmachines had evolved and changed in unforseen ways. Some, Chalybis saw, already had automatic firearms of their own. Others had claws, had expanded in size, or contained strange glints in their mechanical eyes. One was plated entirely in gold.

They were ready.

With His new army completed before Him, Chalybis turned His attention towards the cavern floor beneath Him. He knew exactly where the corruption was awaiting Him, and how He could reach that location by conventional means, but using those was not His intent. If the corruption knew of their presence - which was nearly inevitable considering the army of Servants was anything but quiet - a direct assault would be far too obvious to be effective. No, Chalybis and His army would take another way down - His way.

XXIV: Commence The Weakening Of The Corruption And Continue Doing So Until The Time At Which Chalybis Returns Or Has His Existence Temporarily Erased From This Realm After Which All Entrances To The Location Of The Corruption Are To Be Sealed Off He ordered Lajortestus as He raised both His hands above the surface, palms facing downward. This would be another heavy effort for Him, but again, utterly worth the results it would bring. He would have preferred to take some time to test out the new capabilities of His chosen, but there was still a long way down to go during which He could do so.

XXV: Now Behold The Path Of Steel That Shall Lead Chalybis And His Army Towards The Depths In Which The Infernal Corruption Resides So That They Might Vanquish The Foul Intruder From The Realm Of Telluratus Forever So That It May No Longer Act As A Parasite Upon That Which Belongs To Chalybis He decreed, and with an ear-shattering screeching, the metal parts that made up the cavern floor began to move apart, gears rolling away, pistons retracting, and hinges folding, all to create a massive steel stairway before Him that led off into the depths below, there where the enemy awaited...

The process took days. More and more often Chalybis needed to rest and recover his energy as he attempted the cyclopean task he had appointed himself. Many kilometers needed to be traversed. Lajortestus showed his immediate discomfort at the high-pitched screeching by wailing for hours on end and then drifting into slumber. The Servants waited, ready for battle.

Eventually, Chalybis stopped. He knew that the last tiny amount of effort would crack the seal and allow his soldiers to attack the Mad God; but he also knew that the Mad God could rise from there. If he did not wish to proceed, now was the time to quit. Regardless, he needed to be fully rested before charging into battle - it would still take a day's worth of marching to reach the creature.

With the tunnel nearly completed, Chalybis mentally called out to His Servants, commanding them to join Him in its depths. XXVI: Behind This Wall Awaits The Madness That Seeks To Destroy Telluratus And It Will Attack The Very Instant It Is Released So Respond In Kind And Obliterate Every Single Non-Mechanical Creature That Is Found Within The Darkness Beyond With Great Vigour He decreed, glancing over the army that was forming up around Him. He 'rested' somewhat, remaining absolutely motionless as the Servants took up something resembling a formation, until He felt that the time was right.

When this was so, He placed His hands upon the surface before Him, and with one final effort, forced them open, revealing that which lay behind them...

Before Chalybis was darkness, illuminated - however softly - by a low, throbbing, purple glow. Chalybis could make out a thousand, maybe more, strange, gibbering beasts.. some, Chalybis saw, had bulbous, purple lights flowing from their head, while others had too many claws, arms, tentacles, eyes.. it was a mass of black and green and light azure, and as Chalybis opened the seal he saw them all rise and stare, perhaps in shock.

Now was the time.

XXVII: Obliterate Them All was Chalybis last and definite order to His Servants before He personally waded into the cavern to allow them to follow Him, swiping at the nearby gibbering creatures to force them out of His way as He advanced. There might be thousands of them, but they were absolutely inconsequential beings, even incapable of holding their bodies in the same shape for more than an instant. What He cared about was the divine being which had spawned them, and was now most likely hidden somewhere amongst the ranks of its minions.

Although His personal army was similar in size to that of the corruption, He felt that such a balance was not acceptable as it would lead to far too many damaged or destroyed Servants on His side. He stopped moving for a moment, gathering an orb of silver metal within His eye - something which He felt He had not done for far too long - and shaping it into a host of thin, razor-sharp, spines. As He swept His gaze over the horde that was gathering around Him, the spines shot out like a swarm of arcane arrows, ready to spread His influence through the opposing army...

The creatures gibbered and screamed as they were struck by the metal blades, but Chalybis knew that there were many, many more. They screamed and howled, their own brand of war-cries filling the room, while the Servants were devastatingly silent. Suddenly, seemingly all at once, the wave of enemies assaulted Chalybis and his shining soldiers. Gunfire could be heard echoing throughout the entire cave. Chalybis winced as he felt acidic saliva burn through, in tiny amounts, the outer shell of his being..

Noticing that the silver metal mechanisms - which had never failed Him before - were not having the desired effect upon the corrupted beings - they were still noticeably non-mechanical and not in the process of becoming so - and that His physical form was being attacked by these infernal creatures, Chalybis decided upon a change of tactics. There were many ways in which He could destroy those that dared to oppose them, and the silver steel had only been a single one of them - although it was undeniably one of the more powerful ones.

He gazed past the misshapen beings, staring at the metal surface beneath them. Despite the omni-present corruption, this was still Telluratus and His realm would obey His commands. As He clenched a massive fist above the surface, it instantly reshaped itself as He desired, forcing out groups of grinding gears, crushing pistons and generally harmful components everywhere on it, implements of destruction which He presumed could easily tear apart the soft liquid-like bodies of His pathetic enemies.

The carved metal surface within the cavern shimmered and shook, and Chalybis felt a wave of exhaustion descend upon him as the once-smooth ground became a maze of slicing, crashing, crushing, clanking gears and pulleys.. he saw, with much satisfaction, that a suitable fraction of the creatures were pulled into the gears, crushed to death, their screams echoing with gunshots about the cave. The Servants continued shooting and beating, showing no mercy or remorse, but Chalybis saw that several had themselves been caught in the vengeful ground, to be battered and smashed until death.

Chalybis saw with satisfaction that all of the creatures that had assaulted him were either shot or horribly maimed. The air was filled with smoke.

There was a wave of purple light from far ahead in the cave, and Chalybis realized that must be the source of the corruption. Above him, he heard a stirring..

As the wails of the dying mixed with the screeching of unstoppable gears everywhere around Him, Chalybis was pleased, having determined that the current ratio of fallen Servants to vanquished enemies was more than acceptable and would certainly lead to a solid victory by His side. Although it would have been somewhat preferable to have zero losses amongst His Servants, their demise did provide Him with a rather convenient access to replacement metal without having to damage His Citadel, something which He felt necessary after the corruption's caustic attacks against His form.

The ominous steel tendrils slithered from His body, reaching out to the trapped or destroyed Servants and rapidly coiling around them until they were no longer visible. The Servants were completely absorbed within them, their bodies broken down into their component parts which would restore His body and their undying souls returned to the essence of their master as He consumed them. Chalybis glanced upwards, momentarily taking in the ceiling of the cavern as He prepared Himself to deal with whatever awaited in the purple light ahead of Him...

As Chalybis dissolved and assimilated his Servants, he was disturbed by the slamming of several of the creatures against him; they clawed and hurled themselves and smashed. Half a dozen of the things had evaded the gunfire and had, rather intelligently, decided to attack the leader, but it was this process of assimilation - the scrap metal, shrapnel, and other razor-sharp pieces of steel being flung violently towards them - that was at once their undoing and Chalybis's renewal.

The gears whirred, crushed, and took several more Servants - and many more creatures - with them. Ahead, Chalybis saw most of the pathetic horde had been cleared with no more than a hundred deaths on his side; still, things would get tougher from here on in. Strange, heavily armoured, vaguely circular beasts started to leap towards his force. Bullets ricocheted off their chitinous hide. A Servant was shattered by the immense force thrown against it.

Above - above, snake things with too many eyes, strange suckers, watching, staring..

After realizing that the corruption was most likely creating more monsters with every passing moment, Chalybis decided that He would have to finish this rapidly and that He could not afford to waste time with the strange creatures above Him. They were acting rather passively now, but this would not last forever, so He would have to prevent their interference in another way soon. Ordering His Chosen - more specifically, the gargantuan ones and the strange golden creation - forwards to counter the charging 'things', He continued His own advance towards the source of the corruption.

As He walked, strange blurs appeared into the air around Him, an intricate network of lines which arched everywhere through the cavern, remaining just below the ceiling - and the strange beasts that now populated it - at all times. Gradually, the lines solidified, forming ever-growing steel beams which flattened and expanded themselves until they turned into heavy plates, interlocking with each other to form a primitive yet effective divider between the lower and upper portion of the cavern. Although it was not an extremely powerful barrier, Chalybis expected it to be sufficient to keep away the ceiling beasts until He had dealt with the other threats, after which they would receive His full attention...

Chalybis heard the cries of those above, infuriated, before they were sealed away. A few managed to drop down, but were split asunder by the Servants. A massive Servant - one of the changed - had, it seemed, limited metacreative powers of its own, and had created two large cannons which fired repeatedly at the monstrous sphere-creatures, shattering many. The sphere-things continued, however, working surprisingly well together, smashing Servants in tandem. Scrap metal filled the ground, covered in thick black and blue gore.

Reptilian beasts with bird-like wings swooped the Servants, but to little achievement: they were shot or smashed down quite quickly. A huge ball of chitinous bone smashed into Chalybis, and his large frame crashed to thr ground, shifted by the massive momentum gained by such a creature.

Although He noticed that He was falling down, Chalybis did not truly care about this minor setback as it only delayed the inevitable by mere moments. It was however convenient to know that the bone thing was a solid creature - rather than a liquid being like the first horde of attackers - which meant it could be destroyed in a more conventional way without having to use His realm or minions to deal with it.

His gaze turned around within His skull until it was facing the chitinous orb, another silver lance forming within it as it did so. This time it did not shatter into countless shards, but remained as a whole, a quivering orb of silver suspended within His giant eye. It launched forwards, unerringly arching towards the creature that had dared to interfere with His progress and rapidly seeping into the inner parts of its being upon impact. In the mean time, Chalybis Himself simply stood up again in a gradual but unstoppable motion, elevating Himself above the battlefield once more. The only difference now, was that He had been offended...

Chalybis knew that the shards, limited as they were, would fail to pierce the tough bone-armour of the curled beasts. The single tendril, however, proved entirely acceptable; it split through the tough hide with a loud crack, sending the creature into screams of agony. The sound was not unlike a high=pitched gong being boomed.

As Chalybis stood, he saw that most of his Servants had not been so lucky - unfortunately, there were many losses, as smashed machinery filled the cavern and his remaining soldiers, while still many, had been diminished somewhat. The firearms, it seemed, were not able to pierce the hide of the creatures as Chalybis's vanquishing could.

As He watched the strange beast succumb to the mechanical corruption and join His side as a mindless slave, Chalybis realized that His side was effectively losing the battle, His mechanical soldiers being severely out-classed by these spawns of madness. That was not acceptable and He would not allow His victory to be taken from Him by these foul beasts. The situation had become troublesome, but He knew that His legions could never be defeated whilst He led them, something which the invaders would soon find out.

XXVIII: The Legions Of Chalybis Are Invincible Whilst He Remains And The Infinite Endurance Of His War Machine Shall Utterly Eradicate All Pathetic Organic Adversaries That Dare To Stand Before Him He decreed, halting His own advance and turning His gaze back over what remained of His army. As it swept over the wreckages of His destroyed soldiers, their mechanical bodies quivered under its power, unable to resist His command even after their lives had been ended. One by one, the shattered carcasses began to draw themselves back together as good as they could, leaking pistons and bent gears forcing each other into motion once more as their master commanded it.

Within moments, what remained of His army stood again, incomplete or utterly obliterated wrecks barely capable of movement scrambling to join the ranks of their more intact brethren. But this was not the end yet, for Chalybis knew that His servants were not capable of fighting off the armoured beasts in their current forms. Most of them were currently too small and too insignificant on their own to deal with such things, so He would have to remedy that issue immediately.

After a single pulse of His gaze, the reanimated Servants were drawn together around the golden Chosen, sliding or crawling from all over the cavern into a large pile that quivered with an almost-tangible power. As more and more mass was added to the whole, it started to reshape itself, tearing apart the remnants of His Servants and forming them into some kind of massive construct. Massive mechanical limbs sprouted from the pile as it took on a more spherical shape, the combined volume of His army now out-sizing even Chalybis Himself.

When the process of reassembly finished less than a minute later, a single mechanical creature was brought to life, a titanic machine which vaguely resembled a normal Servant but was undeniably massive. The hundreds of lenses from the fallen adorned every part of its shimmering surface, and nearly a thousand firearms were gathered in two fist-like clumps that sprouted from equally massive limbs above its back. This titan was the true power of His Servants - their ability to serve Him from beyond the grave by upgrading those that remained alive. Chalybis knew that its existence required most of His attention to sustain, but with such a being under His command, He would not be required to keep it around for long. This would be over soon...

The creature struck by the tendril had died; it did not become a minion, unfortunately.

The steel rose up in the shapes of dead Servants, some to be battered once more by the spinning death, but most to be sacrificed and amalgamated. Once assimilated by the Golden Servant - which still retained the colour of gilt - was born.

The spherical creatures hesitated, perhaps fearful of the titan brought upon them. There were further purple flashes from beyond.

XXIX: And Now The Time Has Come To End This Invasion Once And For All And To Return The Complete Control Of The Realm Of Telluratus To Chalybis Himself By Eradicating Those That Have Dared To Defy It With The Might Of His Invincible Machines Chalybis declared, continuing His advance towards the purple light once more, this time accompanied by the - quite literally - ground-shaking steps of the titan He had created. He had already expected that the corruption would have to be vanquished by force, but now He controlled more than enough of said force to obliterate that which defied Him.

As the two of them marched on - what little remained of the smaller Servants standing back to avoid getting themselves crushed by their giant peer - Chalybis' appearance began to change as well, the many weapons He had gathered over time protruding from His mechanical skin at various points, most notably the five earthborn rifles which had migrated to His fingertips and were now glowing with the divine power that coursed through His form. He ointed His fingers at the spherical creatures that surrounded Him, and in a single instant, every single weapon on  His own form and that of His titan went off. In an ear-shattering instant, a barrage of molten steel, solid lead, and diamond shards filled the area around them, one which would hopefully be sufficient to deal with the armoured beasts and their companions...

Waves upon waves of enemies - strange hissing things that squirmed and died as they were crushed - were killed beneath the feet of Chalybis and his Golden Servant. The stomped through horde after horde of the beasts, gore splattered across their lower frame, almost unstoppable. They were halfway through the cavern - after destroying hundreds in a hail of lead and diamond - when another series of purple flashes sent a surge of huge - most were half the size of the Golden Servant and a meter or so lower than Chalybis - beasts tackled them. The creatures were reptilion, having the same chitinous armour as the spherical creatures, but with long, jagged claws and gleaming muscle. Chalybis was thrown down after being hit by the wave of scales and bone..

This time, Chalybis did not resist the pull of gravity, merely allowing Himself to collapse onto the floor beneath Him. This was not without reason however, as the previously solid surface there tore itself open and reshaped itself to encompass His form. In an instant, He was fully engulfed by the steel below the cavern, His physical form completely hidden from view by the closing gap whilst His presence remained almost tangibly present through the Golden Servant and the eerie red light of His gaze which somehow managed to emanate from the ground itself.

As the Golden Servant continued its struggle against the new wave of strange creatures, Chalybis Himself lashed out at them from below, His already immense arms drawing upwards the metal around them to form giant claws of grasping steel which tried to pull the strange beasts under the surface of the cavern where He presumed them to become trapped until their existence ended. Even though this - combined with maintaining the form of His Titan - was rapidly becoming a massive drain on His powers, He cared not about this. He knew what was happening around Him, and it would not be long before all of these issues came to an end...

As the Golden Servant fought on, battered by the great beasts, Chalybis assaulted them from below; in this way, it was a short manner of time before the beasts were dragged beneath the steel ground, screaming and clawing as they did. Chalybis felt wave after wave of exhaustion fall upon him as he fought; while this was undoubtedly the smartest way to do battle, it was also intensely tiring. Soon, Chalybis sensed that the massive creatures had been killed.

Below the surface of the cavern, Chalybis was pleased with the progress He and His Golden Servant were making. Everything the corruption had dared to send against Him had been vanquished like the vermin it was, and now nothing remained to stand in His way. After taking in the situation around - and mostly above - Him for a moment, He continued onwards, calmly gliding through the steel terrain as His Titan shambled on towards the purple light. It was unclear exactly how much further this was, but He knew that as soon as He got there, this would come to an end...

As Chalybis felt the surge in power rip through his body (though unfortunately not the manifestation of psychic abilities) he heard a massive crashing from above. He heard the screaming of the Golden Servant, and the heat of incredibly hot molten metals take the steel with it. It was getting hotter, now..

With renewed and improved strength, Chalybis rose up from the cavern floor again, casting His blinding red gaze over the remains of the Golden Servant. Instantaneously, strange mechanical orbs sprang into existence around Him, each one resembling a large steel eyeball and emanating a cone of red light similar to His own from their core. They calmly floated around Him, searching for the origin of the heat which was disturbing Him.

The origin was from above.

Chalybis saw that the Golden Servant had been rough-housed a little bit - it was missing its left arm, torn straight from its socket, and much of the golden plating had become molten slag. It was rather inactive as the pools of molten metal ran past its feet, slowly filling the cavern. Chalybis saw the cause; long, bony, worm-like beasts with fanged mouths spitting blue-black acid at the artificial roof that Chalybis had created. For whatever reason, the slag was crashing down from there. Now, everything was being taken by the white-hot rivers, and Chalybis felt his very being start to disintegrate..

He saw the Mad God in the distance. A huge, floating monstrosity, purple-green in the light of the magma, it was a creature composed of billions of tiny, gnashing teeth. From within the thousands of flapping mouths, Chalybis could see the eyes of the thing; distant, maddeningly alien. It was like a great upside-down bowl, the hollowed center filled with a dazzling purple glow, the inside of the creature sagging with hundreds of giant eggs - the children of the thing.

Surrounding the Mad God are easily five dozen worm-spitters. Within them, Chalybis sees something moving, dancing, a mass of legs and eyes, but nothing more.

The Golden Servant whirred and fell, to be reclaimed by the land that spawned it.

As Chalybis became aware of the damage that the strange creatures were dealing to Telluratus, He also became extremely irritated with their insolence. It was unacceptable enough that such beings dared to even exist within His realm, but that they would have the nerve to damage it whilst He was present was beyond Him. This could and would not be tolerated in the least, so every single one of them would now have to be vanquished in the most horrible way He could arrange for them. Fortunately for Him, that was not a very difficult one to perform...

The dozens of mechanical eyes that surrounded Him rapidly lost their cones of bright red light, instantly replacing them by various other colours before fading past violet into the invisible spectrum where they eventually became searing rays of harmful radiation which they turned upon the despicable beasts that guarded the Mad God ahead. Although such an alien deity would most likely be less than concerned about the equivalent of stellar radiation, it had already been proven that its spawn were mere mortals, and they would burn as such.

Simultaneously, the gaze of Chalybis Himself also faded out, but it was not replaced by a cone of any other mortal spectrum. Instead it became the opposite, a powerful cone of suction which was so powerful that it even trapped the surrounding light itself within itself, giving it an impregnable pitch-black colour as it came into being. Upon its completion, it began to tear into the surface of the cavern itself, taking in the molten metal at an alarming speed as it swept over the ground towards the creatures which opposed Him. This was the realm of Chalybis, and within its borders He would be the only one to consume anything and live...

Chalybis feels immense satisfaction as the foul beasts around him are torn to thousands of tiny shreds and thrown within him. He takes their being, the worm-spitters, easily.. their flesh is pale and weak, easy enough to take, and they all fall before any more damage can be done to Telluratus. A slime-covered, writhing thing then leaps at the God of Machines, but falls beneath his stare - having no armour to speak of, being extremely light, it is quickly flung into the gaping abyss..

The purple light within the center of the urn-like Mad God is weaker now. Perhaps it cannot conjure up any more creatures. Chalybis knows this to be the last moment. He almost begins to assimilate the Mad God within him, that pathetic creature which cannot even defend itself any longer, however, before a strange feeling makes him stop.

He does not know about the nature of the being, and perhaps if he did, he'd be better prepared..

Do not drink or eat from the Mad, nor accept their gifts, or engage in vampirism upon their writhing flesh..

Chalybis feels something he hasn't felt before. Dread. Deeply uneasy. He feels as if their is something acidic within him, clawing itself out of his body. But nothing remains. He cannot even vomit, for he is not organic in nature, though he feels the clanking within him slow, stop - he almost dies for a second - and reverse. The abyss stops, but his eyes, instead of the usual red glow, show only black.

He sees the universe, and the numbers - oh, a rapture of numbers that he has not even dreamed of before.

(Please submit to me a second sheet regarding your Cthonic form and whatnot. I'll make all the changes and update once more when you send me the sheet. Cheers.)

When the rapture subsided, and Chalybis returned, some time later, the cavern was dark all about him. The burning-hot steel had long ran cold, and the cavern's size had grown much smaller as the levels above had collapsed. There was no sign of Chalybis's servants, each destroyed in the battle, but the strange gibbering creatures were also gone.

There was only Chalybis, in his recently acquired strangeness, and another..

Another.

The fleshy being was tall, with eyes that showed complete darkness, and dressed in strange, oriental-red robes. His head was shaved, his teeth crooked and spiked. When he saw Chalybis was recovering, he grinned horribly.

"Welcome to madness, son," he said.

Chalybis rapidly glanced around Himself, ascertaining that there was indeed nothing left within this cavern apart from the newly arrived infidel that stood before Him. Although the corruption appeared to have been vanquished, He could not recall having been the cause of this personally, something which concerned Him greatly. It meant that the offending deity could have survived and fled to another location where it could spawn its madness anew and force Chalybis to seek it out again. That was something He would have to investigate soon though; right now He had another issue to attend to, one which was standing with Him in this cavern.

The creature was quite obviously organic in nature, which was a valid reason for its extermination on its own, and it also bore a great resemblance to a certain Alkanite whom Chalybis was intending to kill too. Even worse, the infidel had the nerve to claim to be His father, something which was utterly ridiculous as Chalybis was more than aware of His own origins and considered this accusation highly offensive. This insolence would not go unpunished, but He would allow the being one last chance to entertain Him with a plea for its survival - which would be utterly in vain.

Tome of Insanity, Volume One:
I: The Corruption Has Finally Been Vanquished From This Realm Entirely Yet A New Type Of Creature Whose Existence Is An Offence To Chalybis Has Come Into Being Before Him Which Shall Now Attempt To Justify Its Presence Within The Holy Realm Of Telluratus If It Is Not Already Intending To Have Its Existence Terminated By The Infinite Might Of Its Ruler Chalybis

"Ah, yes," said the man, smiling softly. "The threats. I have heard your famous intimidation techniques, Chalybis, and yet I remain nonplussed. Your child, too, trying to bind me as he will. This sorcery is an element of the Feast, nothing more. To think he could contain me, contain the mathematics by.. it is laughable. You are one of us, now, Chalybis. I have chosen you."

He smiled, gestured to the impressively large, twisted, ornate portal.

"This. This is our final destination. One of the few scattergates to Alkan. This is why I chose you, machine."

The existence and activities of Lajortestus had not been of much concern to Chalybis previously, as He had not expected any of them to contribute to His destruction of the corruption in any meaningful way. Now too He cared little for what was going on many miles above Him, instead being focused on the infidel that was now insulting Him with both its presence and its actions. Still, it appeared to be holding something from Chalybis so this information would have to be forcibly extracted from it before He could safely dispose of it in an appropriate fashion.

II: Chalybis Demands To Know What The Origin And Nature Of This Portal Are Immediately And His Demands Shall Not Be Denied By Such A Pitiful Mortal He decreed, glancing over the portal momentarily before affixing His gaze upon the head of the annoying humanoid in a solid ray of impossibly bright black-green light. He knew what Alkan was - the origin of equally annoying yet pitiful humanoids, one of which had bothered Him within Niborkerese - and that He did not approve of its existence, so the very idea of a direct connection existing between His realm and that foul place was unacceptable, even less so than the presence of the humanoid He was about to vanquish.

He was bathed in the strange light; knowledge did not come to Chalybis, however. He saw an image of the universe, spiraling, trapped..

Not the Eternal Forest, but instead the true multiverse, as it might need to exist.

"Nah-uh," said the robed man. "No, no, no, no, no. Nope. You can't take from me. Not at all. Psychocloudism, they called it, but I know it as blocking. I came here because I was suited. If you want to know something, why don't you ask a question, Chalybis? We're friends, right? Father and son?"

This was a somewhat disturbing experience for Chalybis - He had never failed at 'extracting' information from such insignificant creatures before yet now He had not received what He had intended to claim - having just acquired the evidence of the existence of a greater universe outside the current one but finding that He cared little about what He had just learned. The strange creature appeared to be protected against His influence and thus had a slight advantage in this scenario, something which He could not tolerate for much longer.

III: Then Answer These Questions Before Chalybis Reconsiders His Decision To Permit The Mortal To Exist For Long Enough To Do So Personally And Smites It - What Are The Origin And Nature Of This Gate Within The Realm Of Telluratus And The Mortal That Desires To Possess It And Where Does The Portal Lead To - Why Does The Mortal Insist Upon Referring To Chalybis As If They Were Relatives Whilst His Eternal Existence Cannot Possibly Be Caused By Such A Pitiful Mortal - Explain Why Chalybis Has Been Chosen Or Does The Insolent Mortal Believe That Chalybis Would Assist It In Anything Instead Of Simply Vanquishing It And Consuming Its Soul

As He continued His amalgam of a tirade and a questioning, Chalybis began to flex His mighty form, checking His innards for any defects that might cause Him difficulties when dealing with whatever opposed Him - and things would be opposing Him soon enough, He was certain of that. He could already feel that He possessed more power than He had done before, and He was inclined to make use of it as soon as He received a chance to do so. And He already knew of the perfect target for that...

"Portal? Mortal! Ahah!" smiled the man, seemingly nonplussed by Chalybis's rather rough line of questioning. "I am not mortal, no. I was once, and might still be, the God of Fertility. I was taken by the Madness.. only to find my true place in this universe as recruiter to our grand cause and the destruction and assimilation of the Feast. You had me worried for a long while, there, man! I thought I'd lose out on that one. War has never been my storng suit, but we adapt.. we all adapt. Nevertheless, here you are."

He shrugged, the red robe flapping wildly.

"I know you've realized just what's going on within that huge frame of yours - within that skull of steel. You're one of us now. My son. I've given birth to a beautiful, syllogistic son of shining metal! It is a wondrous thing, to propagate your species. You're Mad. The portal itself.. the scattergate.. a random happening. That's all. A function of the malfunction - of the broken-down Gate Panjura built by the wizard-peoples in the City of Glimmering Gears."

It appeared that the annoying mortal - which was now wrongfully claiming to be of a divine nature itself - did not quite understand what it was interacting with, and Chalybis no longer felt inclined to allow it to exist within His realm any longer. This interference had lasted far too long already, and there was nothing the mortal could inform Him of that He could not learn by consuming its soul. And if it did prove to be a divine, that would only make the consumption of its soul much more rewarding. It had escaped Him as a floating corruption earlier, and He would not allow Himself to make such a mistake again...

IV: It Appears That The Mortal Has Neglected To Answer The Most Significant Of Questions Namely The One Concerning Its Right And Reason To Exist Here... Chalybis spoke, leaning down until His 'head' was within several metres of the red-robed figure, ...So He Will Now Assume That It Does Not Have The Inent To Continue This Pitiful Existence And Act Upon This In An Appropriate Fasion

The instant He finished His speech, Chalybis' pitch-black gaze collapsed upon itself, creating a new swirling vortex of consumption before it, and beginning to draw everything around it into His gaze. At such a distance, this cone of destruction completely enveloped the creature that had dared to stand before Him - as well as a large portion of the cavern around it due to the size of the effect. Chalybis knew that the creature had the ability to turn into its massive floating shape again, but as far as He was concerned it would never get the chance to do so before being consumed...

The man, dressed in red, screamed as he was devoured by Chalybis. There was no ceremony to the death. Chalybis did not feel the expected rush of power, however, though perhaps he was satisfied with murder alone.

Although the results of His actions were somewhat less than He had hoped for - it seemed that the opposition had indeed been a pathetic mortal all along, and consuming it had not even been sufficient to improve Chalybis' mood, let alone His power. It did do a most admirable job at removing the insolent pest though, and the silence that fell after the creature had been removed was most satisfying in itself. Now He was all that remained within the metal cavern, together with the portal that would supposedly lead to a world which He might approve of, the City of Glimmering Gears.

Of course, that was only the case if the intruder had been answering His demands truthfully, something which He highly doubted. It could lead anywhere for all He knew, and there were plenty of places where He would rather not appear. Still, it was imperative that He found out where it led to, for gateways tended to work in both directions, and He could not tolerate any further unexpected visitors breaking into His realm through this portal. Chalybis determined that there was currently nothing of consequence that had to be done within His own realm - the Servants could continue restorations without Him, and Lajortestus did not even cross His mind right now - He stepped into the glimmering light...

There was a cackling - a hundred different directions - no no no no no no n o
 no - sixteen doors, each leading to - to the engines of the world, the - there were Floods, and they threatened the - 23 - death and destruction magical forces beyond - a hundred purple lights - a crackling, now - a scattering -

A scattergate.

He was in Alkan.