The Valley Divine

An expanse of blessed wilderness, thoroughly mapped and explored. Even the wildnerness is known, preserved, and protected. There is a deep rhythm and order beneath everything within the Valley, aligned with the principles of Feng Shui.

The Valley follows a temperate seasonal cycle. The summers are balmy, but the wind that rushes from the seas and whirls against the mountains keeps the air fresh and the humidity down. Seasons last a full year, before phasing into the next - a full cycle of seasons takes five years, as marked by the constellations in the night sky completing one full rotation. The Sun of the Valley is a half-illusion - the warmth of the Valley is mostly geothermal, as the Lower Ash supplies heat and nitrogen to the soil.

At the moment, the Valley is snowbound, its thousand creeks and streams freezing at night and thawing in the sun of the next day.

When you first incarnate in the Valley, you do so at the Plaza de Boledi, at the doorstep of the centuries-old landmark, the Cafe de Boledi, in the city's historic District of the Gods.

Boledi, City of Cosmos

The city is old - but the great iconic domes predate civilization - the so-called District of Gods is saturated with cherry blossom trees, and the branches of the titanic tree at the heart of the the city and Valley winds great boughs throughout. Modern engineering has yet to replicate the sheer scale - it is all that can be done to simply maintain them.

The place is holy, well-guarded, and host many small shops selling holy water, bonsai trees and tools, mediation and incense. Many of the temples stand empty - waiting for new Gods to establish embassies. At present, the only worshiped deity - besides the druidic worship of the Tree itself - is praise for the Maestra Divina, patron of the city and guardian of the Valley.

Palazzo de Magistra Mystique

Among the many Academies, magic is taught dogmatically - the tradition of a great teacher handed down, and magics of other academies disparaged. These traditions are not all 'pure' - Air or Fire magic is taught at the elemental level, but higher magic is achieved not through cultivating a great connection to the Dream, but through the blending of many arts into something unique and versatile, which is then mastered alongside martial techniques and scientific learning. A student of the teachings of D'Accario is not simply a 'fire' and 'air' magician - she is a fencer, an expert in studies of light and heat, who blinds her foes with showers of sparks, soars through the air on a winged cape, can stalk her quarry by the trail of disturbed eddies, and fight in darkness by feeling the body heat of her attackers. A student of an Academe is called a Stregone, or warlock.

The Palazzo de Magistra Mystique is more rigorous, and accepts only the most brilliant students, and aims to develop them into 'universal women' - experts in all fields of science and magic. Within the Magistra, the Keepers of pure disciplines pass on their mastery, and certify students as having attained the rank of Esperto in their discipline. When a student has attained this certification in all thirteen disciplines, they attain the title of Magister.

Palazzo de Magistra Infernale

The less said about the Inferi, the better - cloaked in saffron, they hunt the mad things that dwell in the Valley and lay prey to its citizens. Every one of them is carved with select Riftcrafted marks - called An-runes - that bestow sight-beyond-sight, strength-beyond-strength, body-beyond-body. They carve the un-souls from the very creatures they fight, and infuse them into horrible equipment with which to continue the hunt. They are always accepting new initiates . .

Palazzo de Magistra Civil

Initially charged with the maintenance of infrastructure, the increasingly reclusive nature of the Magistras Infernale & Mystique has left a vacuum of power split between the Magistras Civil & Commercio, the latter having split from Civil one hundred years ago. Civil now handles nearly everything administrative within the city - from waste management, to road construction, to public education, law, official news bulletins, state religion, and the military. They are adequately paid, but somewhat overworked.

Palazzo de Magistra Commercio

Everything else falls to Commercio - an informal merchant's guild and insurance broker turned governmental body, responsible for taxation and naval affairs. The strange blocky edifice that sticks like a sore thumb out of Boledi's thriving market district is said to hold the cities' stores of Holy Pearls, and many a thief has made designs on that untapped hoard of power . . and been soundly rebuffed by the most advanced magical defenses in the land.

The Tarrekian Range, Gate-Temple of the Lower Ash

Lyoni, Holy City by the Sea

Wreathe, Sleeping City of the Riftcrafters
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:34, Sun 23 Dec 2018.

Halley appeared in the center of Bolide, not in the main plaza where normal gods appeared when they 'doxed in, but inside one of the empty vast domed constructs she had created centuries ago. She knew she had to get the now-condensed Myriad - Currently Myriel - of of the concentrated space that was the Sacrarium. But she wanted some privacy while she cleaned Myriel up and made sure she was alright.

"Honey? Sweetheart? are you ok?" she said, cleaning the other woman with a silk rag she had materialized from the ambient mist. She still had the absolute power of the Mist Emperor within the Valley after all. So she materialized silks and water and cleaned Myriel up.

"You shouldn't have done that. Especially not inside the Sacrarium, the seat of your presence and your power. Paradox was unavoidable. If we didn't warp out, it would have torn up Myriel's body."

Halley & Myrri

You both arrived safely through the portal, in the Valley Divine.

She was okay - barely. "I kinda . .  got carried away," she said. "And I didn't think about how frail mortals are." She allowed you clean her up, but she was still in little more than a shift. "Do you think you could . . . make a robe for me? Something that looks decent?"

She frowned. "I don't think I have any present capacity for magic." She ran her hands over her body. "This my permanent mortal form. I won't be able to choose another, or change it. That's . . part of mortality."

She ran her fingers over her hands. She looked different - real. She had always seemed too perfect, dreamlike. And now, in mortal flesh, she was stunningly beautiful in a way that was easily looked over in a spiritual manifestation.

She sat, just breathing. "I've never needed to breathe before ..  it's different . . than doing it for show,"

"I would like . .  to take a walk. We should go to your temple. It would be good for you to introduce yourself - it's been 200 years since you have been seen or heard from."

"Also . . there will be offerings, and I'm hungry, and there will be money we can use to buy clothes and equipment for me."

She lifted her arm, looking at her muscles. She was 5'4", and her build was delicate - like something between a dancer and a distance runner - weighing in at 118 pounds.

"I'm not sure how good I will be in a fight . . "
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:23, Mon 24 Dec 2018.

Halley nodded, and decided to do better. She snapped her fingers, and some of the mist coalesced into not a robe, but a fancy silk kimono that in Earth terms would be worth thousands of dollars. It was embossed in threads of literal gold (although they were so thin it didn't weigh down the outfit), and embroidered with pink sakura petals against a periwinkle background. She also made functional yet fancy light shoes to go with the outfit as well, and she put Myriel's hair up into a bun and held it with two small jade hairpins with dragons on the end.

"There - now THAT suits you better. No woman of mine is going to be going around in a frumpy robe. And even as a mortal-esque being, you're far to pretty not to show off my love." Halley said with a grin and a wink.

"Yes - let's go to my temple. You and I are so entangled at this point - between the assimilated cult thing and the Archon thing and more - that you'll gain worship and protection from my temple as much as I would. We can use the offerings to get started and go from there." she said.

"Plus...while I'm almost all-powerful in the Divine Valley, I am only as strong as a normal god with a few Aegis abilities sprinkled on for good measure so I'll need to gear up and such too. Because I will have to send instances of myself outside of the Valley if I'm ever going to grow. Plus, like you said I've been out of the public eye for 200 years their time and only the dreamweavers had been able to confirm I still exist thank to my connection with you as the Dreaming Dark. But the people still are probably anxious to see me. And will be intrigued to see you too, as a tree-avatar made flesh." she said.

"As for your fighting abilities...you're still basically a god while you're not being a world tree. You're FAAAR stronger than you look. But I'll have some combat trainers test out your abilities a bit and help you exercise.