Anathema, Lesser God of Reflections
Lady of the Cutting Wit and Boundless Curiosity
Transgressor of the Natural Order
The Keen Eyed Champion of Noor
Infinitus Speculum
Savior of the Tree

Realm: Arthos

Spheres: 42/50
Souls: 3400
Essence: 0

Provinces Explored: 1/4
North: Primordial Jungles - Unknown - Land of great monsters and strange powers.
South: Ravaged Lands- 100% Explored- Lands swallowed up by fog centuries ago from which the lakesh emerged. The mists have now been dispersed and the land reclaimed. They were formerly known as the Mistlunds.
-The Great Telescope
-The Heredity Station
-The Flawless Settlement
East: Land of the Foreign King - Unknown - Giants from a distant land have settled here, they keep viese as pets.
West: Floating Isles - 25% Explored- Islands hovering over a great sea full of mysteries.
-The Ancient Earth

Center Province: Prism Plains

Minor Bane: Two Sides to a Mirror: Sometimes others are able to look through reflected surfaces and spy upon Anathema.

Realm Oddities:

Strong Borders - Arthos' edges were reinforced, incursions are difficult aside from use of World Gates.


---------------

People of the Realm

Eila - The Great Shaman of the Viese, Voice of the Earth. Outspoken and curious as a child, the Earth spoke first to her.

Teltanin - One winged Viese who is the first one for Anathema to meet in Arthos. He is also one of the champions of the Last People famed for his bravery.

Laelana (Deceased)- A champion of the Last People, famed for her quick mind. She perished when Anathema was consumed by a bout of madness.

Sinsra - A champion of the Last People.
Elgos: Her tamed ruby dragon mount.

Xanalen - Mother of the first Nyxie. Currently residing in a secluded cave with a faerie dragon. She was cleansed of the Blight in one of the Ravaged Lands healing pools, her scales gaining wild pigments. She was also blessed by Anathema and elevated to a hero.

Places of Interest

-------------------------------

Archipelago of Origins - Floating islands of rock and crystal with a number of sites of interest located amongst the different platforms.
The Great Beacon - Four horns set upon the Witch's Hut that serve as a beacon, they can also distribute signals.

The Dome of Secrets - Composed of smooth stone, the Dome was where Anathema eventually retreated during her bout of madness. Its walls have been carved with her ramblings and wild notions during this time. Anthema cursed the place so that those who come there find themselves distracted by other priorities. It's opening is also choked with Barbed Wirevine to discourage curiosity. It makes up one of the islands of the Archipelago of Origins
Trait: Distracted intent for those who approach.

Mad Scientist's Lab & Repair Pad - One of the islands sprouted metal beams and glass tubing, its center hollowing out to become a collection of metal frames and wiring dedicated to the study of mechanical works. Atop it was a great pad with dangling metal arms around its edges, the repair platform just waiting for things needing those repairs.
Lab Trait: Aides in studying technology.
Pad Trait: Aides in repairing mechanical objects and entities.

-----------------------------

Em Phenya - It was a tree. It was, in fact, three trees, intertwined symbiotically with each other so tightly that it was impossible to tell them apart. They burst from the ground, their three trunks curling around a hollow core and lashing onto each other with a mesh of branches that grew together so thick and tight that nothing much larger than a faerie dragon could get through, and even then with great discomfort. Up and up they grew, their great growth fueled by divine will but their strength derived simply from the physical strength of the many triangular structural trusses naturally formed as they grew. Then, at a per-determined point, the three tree trunks parted in an explosive cloud of dust and became simply extraordinary large branches. Each of these three branches had a different dominant color; blue, green, and pink, and held a suspended landmass in its branches.
Trait: Can house several thousand viese. Located outside the former village of the Last People.

Em Phenya Portal Room - At the base of the tree, contains a portal to the Tattered Valley and mechanisms to block said portal.
Trait: Tattered Valley Portal
Trait: Portal locks

Em Phenya Library Room - Just above the Portal room, the library awaiting contents.
Trait: Constant supply or writing materials.

Em Phenya Hydroponics Room - Above the library room, the hydroponics is fed by Em Phenya and is ideal for crops.
Trait: Food producing plants grow faster.

Em Phenya Grand Council Room - At the top of the tree, grooves in the branching roots formed very comfortable-looking backless seats perfectly sized for viese, each with a small glass sphere in front of it. Four roots formed the legs of an Anna-sized throne, albeit a throne with a very low back so as to not interfere with her own wings. The throne was studded with brilliant-cut quartz prisms. The roots continued up and held a much larger glass sphere over their heads. Around the rim of the structure were multiple concentric rings on a steady incline that could seat up to several hundred viese with some discomfort. Some glowing vines added greenery.
Taeltresin Model - A silver and crystal tree growing at the center. Crystalline fruits dangled from its branches, mostly bunched near the top of the tree and they reflected glimpses of realms Anathema had visited.
Trait: Glowing speaker indicators
Trait: Model of the World Tree showing areas Ana has visited
Currently Depicts:
Arthos
The Forgotten Buoy
The Tattered Valley
Xel
Fallon

Dragon Hatchery x2 - In the pit left behind from the raising of the Dome of Secret, plumes of steam rose up as a hot spring was uncovered. The faerie dragons of the Last People would soon discover this balmy refuse and roost there in great numbers, making homes in its many comfortable nooks, sun themselves on flat stones during the day and hunt iridescent insects that buzzed about its waters at night.
Trait: Faerie Dragons are sometimes born here.
First Dragon Hatchery: Located at the Last Village
Second Dragon Hatchery: Located at the center of the Ravaged Lands

The Agate Plains: Rippling yellow stone that formed the ground. There were still a smattering of jungles appearing where there was running water. The lakesh formerly made their hunting camp here.

The Witches Hut - On the top of the cliff overlooking the lagoon Anathema crafted a new building, shaping it with her divine will. Stone walls and drapes of ivy, a conical roof of grass and leaves and a skylight of polished prism the color of gold, the inside of the workshop was filled with benches and crowded with all manner of tools. Beakers, vials, measuring cups, large magnifying glasses, mortar and pestles and less identifiable tools. Everyone one would need for understanding otherworldly forces. Anathema dubbed it the Witches Hut. It's topped by a warning beacon and four horns.
Trait: There is a scar in the fabric of reality here left from one such experiment.
Trait: Aides in researching magical phenomenon.

Garden of Solace - A huge garden Anathema created outside the Witches Hut just over the cliffs of the Last People. The outer sections are empty, awaiting plants at her whim, the inner garden has been walled off further and blessed.
Trait: Inner Garden aides in study of Mythcrafting.
Trait: The Outer Garden is perfectly tailored for any manner of plant based life.

The Bio-Glass Garden - Outside the village of the Last People is an area which is perfectly suited for growing bio-glass.
Trait: Bio-glass grows slightly faster here.

The Vault - Located on the Agate Plains at the former site of the Lakesh Camp, this building of marble and vaulted architecture, modeled after the style of Xel the Merchant City, is built to house the corrupted artifact Umbra.
The area has been reinforced with Concentrated Physics which stifle unnatural phenomenon like magic and Blight.
Healing Steam Vent - Like the healing pools in nature, this font releases steam that also counters Blight influence.

The Magical Maelstrom - Inadvertently created through experimentation with Deep Magic, the whipping winds, bursts of sun fire and torrential rains have been contained by Anathema, though show no signs of tiring.

Ravaged Lands Features (Formerly the Mistlunds)

The Flawless Settlement - Created by the Heredity Capsule, the Flawless Settlement is made up of several metal buildings and a dozen synthetic creatures that were originally designed by the dead god, Axiom.
-Geothermal Vent: An exposed vein of lava rimmed with iron on the edge of the Flawless Settlement.

Healing Springs x4: A touch of magma traced its way through the earth to warm the pool and continually resupplied it with vital minerals and nutrients for the plankton. The outer shallows of the pool were adequate for a viese (or mistcaller!) to sit in, but descended in steps nearer the center to support first Anna-sized beings, and then finally an inner deep that could comfortably sit three creatures of Skeles' stature.
Created near the Heredity Station
Three others are spread roughly evenly across the Ravaged Lands.


Local Color and Culture

creseth bud - A flower planted atop the graves of dead viese, it's said on its first flowering the perished soul concluded its passage to the afterlife.

snap-flower - A carnivorous plant that grows amongst other plants for camouflage, it snaps tightly shut on anything that enters its mouth, earning it it's name, it's quite dangerous to viese.

Ever-Weed - A mass of leafy stalks, this plant seems to be related to one of Anathema's failed attempts at Mythcrafting, the thing had proven quite difficult to kill and it seemed to have left some lesser offspring behind even after its destruction. Like its forebearer, they're quite difficult to remove.

The Flawless Age - Obscure reference made by the Heredity Station regarding the Heredity Capsule found inside.

Tribes and Factions

The Last People - Last viese who maintain the old ways and tradition from whom Teltanin and Eila hail.

Mistcallers - Unknown - Southern tribe, said to have made a pact with the masters of the lakesh. Eight faerie dragons patrol the borders of the Mistlunds, under orders from Anathema to disrupt the rituals of the ritual.

Jungle Viese - Unknown - Said to be reclusive and insular, living in the northern jungles.

The Council of Mirror - The ruling body of the Last People, the membership of the Council is democratically elected, led by a Chairlady and Vice Chairlady. While the number of seats is not fixed, it was initially seated with seven, not counting the Chairlady
Chairlady - Anathema
Vice Chairlady - Sinsra
Member - Teltanin
Member - Zanzin
Member - Aleiela
Member - Raylah (Abroad with the Army of the Tree)
Member - Maunlek
Member - Ereal (Abroad with the Army of the Tree)


The Ennead - A group of female demigods that treat Anathema as their tenth and most powerful member. With 1-Crown absent, Anathema has been been adopted as their director, and Crown has been re-designated 10-Crown.

2-Wisdom - the second-strongest vix. Aloof and quiet. The only Vix that seems to be in contact with 10-Crown. A scholar.

3-Understanding - the most balanced and humble Vix. She greeted and assisted Anna when she first reincarnated. A scholar.

4-Kindness - One of the warrior Vix. Moderately strong, but skilled with a spear.

5-Discipline - One of the warrior Vix. Moderately strong, but skilled with a sword and shield.

6-Beauty - Leader of the warrior Vix. Moderately strong, but a tactical genius skilled with the bow.

7-Eternity - Third strongest Vix, despite her low rank. Friend with 2-Wisdom AND 5-Discipline, bridging the gap between the warrior and scholar Vix.

8-Splendor - a Vix obssesed with perception, divination, and fashion. Forces the rest of the Vix to where dresses that she designs. The weakest Vix, but very friendly, and frequently associates with the Viese; designs Prosymna's clothes.

9-Foundation - the only male Vix, and of unknown strength; stays entirely out of inter-Vix drama and provides them their weapons, housing, and research materials. Has a crush on Anna and is trying to figure out how to impress her.

10-Crown - the elusive Vix described as being equal in power to Anathema with an immense understanding of the Tree and Deep Magic. Hasn't been seen by anyone but 2-Wisdom since they first hatched. A scholar and warrior.

Unique Creatures and Objects

Dragons - Arthos has several distinct breeds of dragons. When their numbers drop below their stabilized point, new dragons of random breeds will occasionally be born at the dragon hatchery.
Stabilized Dragon Population: 54
Current Population: 54

Faerie Dragons (36) - They had billowing, diaphanous white wings, fringes of pinkish-purple hair down the length of their body, and a powerful muscular tail. The tail ended in a small scythe, coated in a powerful hallucinogenic drug. Much like the reptilian creatures of legends they resembled, they could breathe energy; in their case this would be a brilliant green laser weapon. They were intelligent as well; intelligent enough to understand viese language, though not to speak it, and certainly not to understand more than basic commands. Last but most certainly not least, the only thing greater than their hatred of the Blight was their love for their goddess.
Margaritifer - (Marge) One of the faerie dragons which is the personal pet of Anathema.

Ruby Dragons (6) - Though some hypothetical mutation in a purely-mental long-ago, they had traded the hallucinogenic drugs in their tail-sickles and long-range laser breath for a more powerful (but shorter-ranged) fire breath and far more robust musculature.

Sapphire Dragons (3) - the dragons retained the original coloration of the faerie dragons they were derived from, albeit with a little bit more of a little bit deeper blue. Their forms, on the other hand, were distinct. Sleek and serpentine, with long webbed talons, their dorsal fringe evolved into a prominent fin. Their wings were a little ungainly; they could certainly fly, but not as well as their peers, being instead more optimized for swimming. Underwater they had the ability to breathe a scalding jet of water, though above ground it was merely a middling plume of steam. The sapphire dragons' tail scythe was more of a tail sting, optimized for underwater combat.

Emerald Dragons (5) - Where ruby dragons had bulk, flame, and pride, emeralds had bone, bad breath, and slouch. Their faces were gaunt, almost skull-like, and their scales were uneven and riddled with moss. But despite their skeletal look they were just as strong, and ten times as vicious. Despite lacking a breath weapon their claws and scales were symbiotic shards of bioglass, and they possessed a freakish regeneration that more than offset their relative fragility. Emerald dragons lacked the flash of their cousins but they fought harder to make up for it, and could do so for longer.

Topaz Dragons (4) - They were copper-colored with spots of red and green patinas on their scales. They had a similar sort of build as sapphire dragons, sleek and thin, but had two main differences. Firstly, they were the first dragon breed that didn't have wings. Instead (and secondly of all) they had powerful extra-long front claws. Lastly they had a bizarre, overdeveloped noses encircled by eight extremely sensitive tendrils that allowed them to "feel" through solid ground. Yes, her newly minted topaz dragons were designed for burrowing!

God-Touched Clothier (1) - A talented tailor Viese of the Last People who has had their skills heightened by Anathema bringing them to new heights.

God-Touched Jeweler - A talented jeweler Viese of the Last People who has had their skills heightened by Anathema bringing them to new heights.

God-Touched Painter - A viese who was blessed from afar by Anathema and who has gained greater vision and steadier hands.

God-Touched Bio-Glass Grower (5) - Viese who have been instructed by Anathema in the unique art of growing bio-glass.

God-Touched Mages (13)- Those first viese Anathema instructed outside the witches hut who showed potential for magic.

Radiant Dawn - The staff that Anathema was born with, topped with a mirror on one end and a bladed edge at the other. This once mundane weapon was imbued with Essence and elevated to an artifact, one whose power as to deflect magical attacks. Energy thus deflected is stored within the artifact, its sole purpose being to battle the Mist. As a peripheral effect, the mirror reflects those who have been affected by the Blight.
Artifact
Trait: Redirect magical attacks.

Sunstone - Gem infused with light as though it were a miniature sun.

Mad-Catching Net - A net made up of graphite and metal rather than cloth, extra strong. Anathema had in mind catching Blight-beasts when she made it.

Specimen Jars - Each was a translucent shade of blue as was appropriate as the containers were made up of sapphire rather than glass. Being of divine origin, they also had the ability to reshape to accommodate contents that had no business fitting inside.

Timmy Timebird - It looked rather like a tropical bird colored blue, red, yellow, but mostly turquoise. It flapped like a bird and moved like a bird. But its movements were janky and artificial, and one could see the articulation gaps in its hollow painted-metal skin. Much of its torso was taken up by a large clock face, which had half a dozen smaller clocks and dials showing time in other realms based on the experiences of her other instances. The mechanical clock-toucan hovered surprisingly quietly for its seemingly haphazard construction, mostly just serving to keep its creator alert with its quiet ticking noise.

Fidget the Handyman - The earthen creature that emerged from the ground bore a very strong resemblance. Except instead of legs, it had arms. And on each arm, it had oversized hands. Hands it used to compulsively rearrange things until its obsessions were satisfied; it never slept, never rested, all it did was tidy, build, and maintain!

Heredity Capsule - A polyhedron composed of polished mirror glass. Per the automaton of the Heredity Station, it was a seed of sorts intended to gestate a quantum being and realm with the intent of continuing work on something called the Flawless Age.

Scrying Eyes - Big, mechanical eyes made of brass and glass and iron, whose perceptions were mirrored onto two silvered surfaces that they had been brought into existence with.

Heroes, Seconds and Heirs

Teltanin - One winged Viese who is the first one for Anathema to meet in Arthos. He is also one of the champions of the Last People famed for his bravery.
Trait: Unknown

Laelana (Deceased)- A champion of the Last People, famed for her quick mind. She perished when Anathema was consumed by a bout of madness.

Sinsra - A champion of the Last People, talented in several areas.
Trait: Bears and affinity for dragons.

Eila - A small, outspoken viese child. She was one of the first to greet Anathema upon the goddess arrival and was not shy about asking probing questions or making blunt observations. Anathema blessed her to be a hero shortly before the Battle of Noor
Trait: Beloved by Arthos

Xanalen - Refugee of the Mistcaller tribe. Currently residing in a secluded cave with a faerie dragon. She was cleansed of the Blight in one of the Ravaged Lands healing pools, her scales gaining wild pigments. She was also blessed by Anathema and elevated to a hero.
Trait: Unknown

Prosymna - the first pop star of the Viese! She's a uniter of peoples and extremely popular.

Dangers of the Realm

Lakesh - Bi-pedal cat man referred to as the viese as an invasive species. By the word of the child Eila, they arrived some time ago and began eating and terrorizing viese ever since.

The Ennead - A group of nine demigods called Vix that are of questionable loyalty to Anathema herself despite being loyal to Arthos, instead regarding her as one of their number, designation 1-Kingship. Their goals are unclear, and they only loosely operate as a group.

Nyxies - Void-Touched Viese. While motivated to protect Anathema, they can be callous and uncaring in their use of powerful Deep Magic combined with their innate understanding of particle physics.

Myths

Vic Viper - One of the last works of Waelwick the Mythmaker, Ana fashioned the creatures shape and gave it the parameters: Obey the current god of Arthos, Anathema. Protect viese and do them no harm. Protect itself.

Vitality: **
Instincts: -
Magic: -
Loyalty: *
Strength: *
Finesse: *****
Abilities: ** Energy Weapons

Flare Witch - A glowing green figure composed of emerald fire and whose body is made up of charred shards that lend it a rather feminine form.
Leeda
Debra (+1 Vitality to Leeda)

Statistics (700-soul myth):
Vitality *: Relatively short-lived and unlikely to take many hits from the few things that can actually harm them.
Instincts *: While not idiots by any stretch of the term, it is best a flare witch unit be led by a competent strategist rather than left to their own devices.
Loyalty **: Unafraid to show initiative. They were designed for one thing, and by Anna they're gonna do it.
Strength -: Being incorporeal, a flare witch has no ability to exert physical pressure.
Finesse **: A flare witch is both fast and maneuverable in the air, capable of maneuvers impossible for winged flight.
Emerald Flame **: Composed of the same energies that infuse Sun-and-Moon, a flare witch's very touch is anathema to the Blight. A flare witch often uses her emerald flame as a wall, preventing the Blight from reinforcing key objectives, but is also capable of a devastating close-range flamethrower-like attack. Because the Emerald Flame does not harm living things, a flare witch is unconcerned with friendly fire. They are not immune to the corrupting influence of the Blight but the Emerald Flame protects them from the worst of it... at least as long as their stamina holds out.
Incorporeal **: A flare witch has no physical form and is nearly impervious to many common methods of attack as a result.

Glimmerglade - A glimmerglade is a symbiotic vine based off of Arthos' snap-flowers. Like most plants a glimmerglade always starts off life as a seed; in this case the seed is the size of Anna's fist and resembles a pinecone fossilized in white, glistening amber. When activated with a pulse of divinity or magical intent the seed cracks, releasing a seedling vine that rapidly grows to maturity over the span of about ten seconds. It entwines itself with a host organism, usually a tree, protecting and reinforcing it against attack. Unlike the snap-flower, a glimmerglade vine makes no attempt to camouflage itself. It bears the same sparkling, woody appearance as a bioglass plant, covered with sizable bundles of naturally sharp bioglass spines. Not any mere plant, the glimmerglade vine is able to distinguish between friend and foe and launch its spines hard enough to pierce steel plate.

Statistics:
Vitality ****: Extremely tough, and confer a portion of this strength to whatever they grow on.
Instincts -: While it can possess loyalty, it is still just a plant.
Magic -: A magical plant, but not that magical.
Loyalty **: It is unknown how it can tell the difference between an attack and just someone trying to get it out of the way but, whatever the mechanism is, it never attacks viese.
Strength -: Given a few years a glimmerglade vine can force its way through hardened armor plate, but on mortal timescales it may as well not move at all.
Finesse -: See above.
Bioglass Barrage **: The only means of offense or defense a glimmerglade has is its ability to launch bioglass shards with incredible force and surprisingly high accuracy. Within typical archery distances, these spines can even pierce metal armor.

Clarity - A sapphire dragon large enough for Anathema to ride and with feathery wings.

Statistics
Vitality **
Instincts *
Magic **
Loyalty **
Strength **
Finesse **
Blight Immunity **

Earthroil Walker - Resembling a six-meter-tall pitcher plant that walks on four grasshopper legs, this predatory plant is at once both imposing and strange-looking. It wanders the Ravaged Lands, searching out creatures of Blight. When it finds one it ingrains itself in the soil and attacks with its vines, attempting to grapple its prey. Captured blight creatures are thrown into its pitcher, where Emerald Energy-infused acid slowly but painfully dissolves its profane influence to nothing.
Lesser Walker - 600 soul lesser kin (1 Less Strength and Vitality)

Stats (800 soul myth):
Vitality ***: It heals quickly and can take quite a beating, though much of its endurance comes simply from its size.
Instincts *: Though not sapient, it has a degree of tactical cunning that enhances its hunting ability.
Magic -: Nope.
Loyalty *: It does its job and little else.
Strength ***: Its sinewy vines are capable of crushing almost anything, from bone to trees to rock.
Finesse *: Rather slow and clumsy on land.
Seeking Roots **: Its vines and roots can burrow through the ground at a frightening speed, seeking out tunnels and anything moving. It can feel motion through the ground as well as most creatures see with their eyes.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:05, Tue 22 Jan 2019.

Through the mist, there was a world like Arthos, but it was pure white - covered in snow.

It was bitterly cold, and there was nothing living around. The jungles were dead. The homes of the Viese were just hillocks now.

Turning around, though, the shore was gone.

And all she saw - curiously - was an exact mirror-reflection of the initial vista.

It was like she was the mirror between two worlds.

Sticking out of the ground was something new, though, and the only thing that wasn't yet covered in snow - a rock just like the one you'd seen before among in the River Styx, but the symbol was different, with the inner triangle pointing up this time.

The rock was in the mirror version of the world behind her, too. But there, it had the triangle pointing downward like before.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:06, Tue 15 Jan 2019.

At times, Anna wondered how other gods perceived the world around them. At any given time the goddess of reflections could be peering out at reality through the distorted images of dozens of alternate selves, all of them her and at the time time not. She considered herself fairly intimate with unusual perspectives as a result.

It didn't take long for the understanding to come that she was once again instanced... but where, and how? Surely this frost-bitten hellscape was not her Arthos, despite whatever superficial similarities it may have possessed.

Was this a trial? A transition? An accident? Something else entirely?

Anna wasn't going to find out by sitting still. She extended her reflective senses, riding the optic chains up and out in all directions up to the limit of her resolution.

As you scaled the optic chains, your feeling of being intensified far beyond anything natural. Something was watching you, and with enough vantage points, you gradually saw that there was an almost entirely invisible Anathema-shaped figure just behind where you were standing.

You weren't in a mirror world - you weren't anywhere.

Gazing out from reflection after reflection, you saw perfectly fine, but - what you saw was emptiness, with small sparks of light.

The rocks were real, though, and there was a 'floor' that was black, but not the same black as the darkness.

It appeared your ability worked on even the illusion of reflectivity, and that the illusion of Arthos was being drawn from your memory and twisted.

"Very clever, me," said the invisible figure which became visible - it was a mirror of you, missing the other foot. Its voice matched yours. "Welcome to the afterlife. At least, our afterlife."

There were a lot of things Anna imagined that the afterlife could have looked like. While one of the more exotic potential images she had envisioned, this was not unanticipated. The hidden entity wearing her visage and her smile wasn't expected, however. Anna measured her response to the mystery being.

"It's kind of a shithole," was her observation. "You couldn't put a chocolate fountain in here, it'd freeze up immediately, and I can't find an endless closet full of petticoats anywhere!"

Maybe she was being too irreverent? In truth she was nervous and uncomfortable and fighting not to show it.

Anna approached her doppelganger, trudging through the snow and scattering sparkling ice crystals in all directions as she did. "Okay for real though, this is the big mystery? I suppose this place serves as some sort of twisted backdrop for us to face and come to grips with our mistakes in life before we move on to higher spiritual fare? I'd rather just skip that if it's all the same to you. No one is better qualified to quantify my qualities than me and you... aren't. Who are you?"

In dying, and in so spectacular a manner at that, Anna had decided not to let herself be bothered any longer by all the things left unfinished. A big cause of stress in her past life was never having the time to do all that she desired. The decision was a recent one though and her natural impatience was shining through. If her theory of how time flowed across the world tree was correct, every second she was down here was decades up in the branches, up in that little prismatic sphere she called Arthos. The real one, not this snow globe. With any luck, her viese had taken her Deep Magic and begun spreading throughout Taeltresin to aid in the tree's healing process. She wanted to watch!

But she also wanted to know the mysteries beyond death!

She wanted all of the things aaaaaa!

Heh... still just a babe.

"That's just it. God's don't get an afterlife. We simply cease. Or rather . . we go back where we came from. Theoterminus, it's called."

The Death of Anna trotted forward, breaking the wintry illusion. The dark chamber was faintly lit, and seemingly infinite. "I'm the reflection you'll leave behind when you die. I'm the death of you - you'll live on in mirrors and raindrops. Children will summon you with little games, and only sometimes will you appear. That's about the only way we live on - our people survive us, as does our Realm, and occasionally, the Tree will keep us as a useful template for making another god later on."

"This place I had to make pretty quickly. I'm only a reflection, so I can't exactly affect the real world. But - those rocks are real. And they've got little marbles on them. I can't touch them, but maybe you can?"

"Then, I can take you, for a little while, to other afterlives, if there are dead beings you'd like to visit. For knowledge, I know me. Some linger a good while before they let go, or decide to spend their days eating their memories - remembering good times, replaying through their childhoods, that sort of thing."

Anna seats herself on a rock, listening to her other self lay out the situation. She hummed thoughtfully.

"That's... kind of sad, actually," she murmurs to herself. She looked down and contemplated this over the idle bouncing of her good foot. It reminded her of a story, half-forgotten from some past existence, where the gods were despite all their power mere one-dimensional beings. She knew she wasn't one of those; she didn't require mortal worship for her power, at least not directly. Still, an interesting parallel.

Hm? Little marbles? "Little marbles!" Anna repeated with girlish glee. It was very important that she not lose her marbles. She adjusts her position upon her rock to locate some of the rumored spheres for inspection.

In another partition of her mind a separate process went over whether there were deceased whose afterlives she'd like to crash. Laelana came to mind immediately. She was only partially cognizant of the events that led to her death, but knew her hand was responsible. That didn't seem a productive venture, however. An apology was an acknowledgement that wrong was done and that better efforts would be made going forward, but such would be no comfort for the dead.

Somehow, Anna felt Deekin would disagree. The necromancer god had a... unique perspective on death. He would be so jealous if he learned where Anna had been!

Was there anyone else?

Her father... but no, no afterlives for gods. That ruled out a lot of the most interesting candidates, really. No, she'd leave the dead to their peace.

There were two little marbles.

The first swirled with warm light and shades of brown. When you picked it up, you were taken to different place -

You were in Arthos, again. There was no danger; there was a great house, ornate and tasteful decor, Viese helpers, several walk-in closets of clothes organized by type, color, and texture, little garden parties, a research and development wing beneath, a fully stocked library that seemed to always have new books -

You returned to yourself.

This marble was a real afterlife, someday. A paradise of ceaseless engagement and activity, of comfort and beauty and friendship.

The other marble was purple, swirled with black, and had been on the rock behind you. It resembled a dragon's eye. It had a sweet smell and sort've .. powdery texture, that you were unable to rub off. It rippled with power, which you could draw from - a minor boon, an artifact, a structure -

- or, for the first time, something even greater was available. To either summon an ancient being, or become one. A great dragon, that had once defended the tree before the blight. All you had to do .  .  .  was eat the candy jewel.

Two little marbles! Anna wasn't sure what she was expecting when she picked up the first, and was so surprised that she probably would have dropped it if she had been present in her own body at the time.

Wow, this place sure was pleasant! A proper afterlife for sure, with almost everything she could conceivably want. What wasn't present was probably in one of the rooms she hadn't gotten to see before the vision faded. Everything she could want... except, of course, actually being alive and able to influence the world outside. All her knowledge and intellect were nice to have but all were ultimately a means to an end, and in death it would all be naught but philosophical masturbation. One supposed that her afterlife would provide her with even the illusion of influence, which raised all sorts of existential questions... that Anna promptly buried. She just wasn't equipped to begin answering those. She wasn't sure anyone was.

Anna put the brown marble down cautiously and stepped away, eager to put as many years as possible between herself and that so-relaxing world. It was nice to know that when it all ended she would be taken care of... but nothing was as good as being alive. Sorry, Deekin. Having a heartbeat is a lot of fun, honest!

She looks to her pale self. "I guess that's what the real afterlife looks like," she explains. "All the things we wanted out of life but couldn't ever find the time for. It's... nice." She chewed her lower lip a bit before turning about to find the second marble.

That left the other marble. It has a very different look to it. Anna picks it up gingerly, expecting another vision, but none comes. Frowning thoughtfully she turns it over in her metallic hands, inspecting it with eye and magic. Slowly, comprehension came.

"Well now, isn't this... special?" Anna looks around suspiciously, probing the darkness with her senses. Someone had left a hell of a thing just lying around, and if she were an unfathomably vast world tree she wasn't sure she'd trust such a thing to be overseen by a wee little reflection of a god. This thing was power, possibly the apex of power that a god could ever hope to achieve. But it also tied her more closely to the world tree, in a way that would likely destroy much of her previous identity. Some gods might have leapt at that opportunity, but Anna's individuality was paramount to her.

She could just harvest it... but given the location in which it was found, she was worried it might break something. She looks about again, skeptical.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:20, Thu 17 Jan 2019.

The Death of Anna shifted as Anna held the little candy. Anna saw herself - her circuitboard tattoos coming alive, expanding, resolving into fractals - fine blue tracerieries in a subtle pattern that resembled nothing more than dragon scales.

Her eyes changed, becoming rather like a cat's. And when the death of Anna smiled, her mouth was full of murder spikes - also rather like a cat's dentition.

A dragoness . . .

"When we destroyed the blight, Taeltresin was wounded - it had even begun to bleed, as the Blight finally made headway towards actually killing the tree's heart. This is that bit of Tree-sap - mixed with your essence.

Draw power from it. Make a Myth out of it. Consume it, though, and you'll become what I became - a god with the key to the inner secrets of the universe, a god with freedom. The price only comes after you die . . you won't come here, me. A Tree-Dragon that dies serves the tree for eternity as a servitor-wraith.

But hey, you're down to one life anyway. And living in paradise would be sure be boring. Why not go for the big shot, really get things done before your number is up? You can't take that thing out of here, though. Whatever you do it with it, you have to do now. That thing is catnip for the Mad - the raw power, the knowledge of the Tree. Even the Styx wouldn't be safe when the Big Bad comes crashing through to take it in raw form."
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:47, Fri 18 Jan 2019.

Anna frowned some at her death-reflection as she changes shapes to illustrate her points. Anna suspected that this image was drawing on her own memories to some extent, just as her real self communes with her own reflections. A little disconcerting that the relationship didn't seem to be two-way, but maybe that was for the best. The other-self certainly seemed benevolent though, so Anna continued to trust her.

Anna looked down at the fused tree-essence, gnawing thoughtfully on her bottom lip. All the power and the knowledge of the tree, hmm? Tempting... so very tempting... and her other self made a very persuasive argument. But a little nuance in the words of her other, mixed with what she had learned from living on Taeltresin so far, gave her pause. The universe. The tree. Certainly, for many, that was all there was. But Anna's aspirations extended beyond the canopy of Taeltresin, to the Beyond and maybe even realms past those. This may be power, but it was power that tied her here, ensured that when her time came she would be shackled here. It would make forging her own path more difficult.

Fuck. That.

But with a clue as to the nature of what she was holding, Anna knew what this power would be used for. She reached into the dragon-sap and began to work it into an artifact.

The artifact was silver, about the size of a small shield or perhaps a large buckler and worn in much the same way, and really quite heavy. It was an intricate clockwork of spinning cogs, flywheels, levers, and mirrors, machined with a precision no machine could achieve. Its mirrored depths recursed and reflected each other in ways too complex for even the goddess of reflections to fully understand. Two flawless purple diamonds by which prospective users would interact with the device lie on the front, responsible for input and output respectively, assuming users could master both optics and Anna's Deep Magic to understand the artifact's function.

Despite the complexity, its actual function was simple: to reveal ALL OF THE KNOWLEDGE!

Harvesting the dragon-sap to create the Multi-Analyzer; using a combination of the World Tree's own being, Deep Magic, and an optical-clockwork computational core, this device performs incredible feats of analysis to demystify the mysterious -- given enough time and dependent on the skill of the user. Garbage in, garbage out, after all!

Experimentally, just so as to confirm its function, Anna immediately spun the device up and fed a Deep Magic reading of her reflection into the input diamond, while projecting her reflection into the output.

The sap was harvested, the device created, and your reflection rippled, distorted - became something grander -

The answer came back, encoded in permutations of theoelectromagnetic waves that your knowledge of Deep Magic was able to interpret.

[Private to Anathema Viese: Your reflection was the end-you of an alternate timeline. The tree ran multiple timelines simultaneously - that was how it sustained time differences - and this resulted in strange artifacts (of the data variety) when choices of immense effect were made. This reflection of you was the Tree's own predictive algorithm at work, extrapolating from a deterministic analysis of 'free will'.

It had not predicted the choice had you made, and now your choices included activity that, in the future, was outside of the tree's purview.

The tree was . . . partly an actual tree, and partly a mechanistic metaphysical reality engine.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:01, Sat 19 Jan 2019.

And some mysteries were demystified, as intended. Anna smiled as so many of her personal theories were confirmed at once. Her long-term goals were possible... and she had but one life with which to realize them. She would have to be cautious, and carefully consider the ramifications of her actions more so than ever. She would have many enemies, given the forces she tended to play with... but at long as nothing too unexpected had occurred in the branches, she was confident she could keep the Pantheon at bay.

Anna stands, fluttering her wings some and adjusting the straps on her... Multi-Analyzer was such a drab name. All her artifacts were named after planetary phenomenon so... Resonance, perhaps? Perihelion? Apoapsis? ... she'd work on it.

Anyways! Anna stands and smiles to her other self. "You've been very helpful," she thanks herself. "More so than you know. Just out of curiosity, what killed this instance of... us? Or can you not tell me?"

Regardless of the answer, Anna would continue to make small talk with the death of herself for a time; it was refreshing to meet someone exactly as intelligent as herself, with the same sort of yet subtly different thought process. Before time can wear on too long however she bids herself well and makes to leave.

"Charon?" Anna speaks to the sky. "Time to break me outta this joint. Can you take me straight to Arthos?"

She whispered a name to you. It was known, but not very well.

Charon's response was a bit delayed, but then you were on the boat, rowing back out towards the Styx.

[Private to Anathema Viese: The one who killed that instance of you - the Tree-Dragon you - was Ophelia, the Great Beast, Daughter of Bezaleel . . . at your own request.]

Continue Posting in the River Styx

From the River Styx

Anna was drifting; she had yet to incarnate from death, caught up in the subtle streams of Arthos.

With her new knowledge, she saw Arthos for what it was - a confusion of dimensions and timelines, potentialities spilling for into the future. Arthos did have a sense of . . integrity and self-containment that other realms lacked, the result of it hard borders.

Her ability to see through reflections was vastly magnified; she was in every rain drop, on every surface. She saw the whole of Arthos through a cascade of views.

You had spent so long in the River Styx; half a century had passed without you, maybe more.

Arthos had been drastically changed.

The God-Touched Viese that found the first subtle beginnings of Deep Magic - and who had been God-Touched in their craft - eventually noted the strangeness of the Dome of Secrets and the effects it had on those that drew near. With Deep Magic, they probed at the effect, altering it, turning it away from the entrance. The Wirevine was difficult, but again, the probed at the divine energy that had animated the Wirevine, and convinced the Vine that it would be best to grow upwards. It took a few years before a Viese could scramble through, but it was done.

They entered - those god-touched few - and they studied the string of gibberish code carved into the rock. Bringing charocoal and paper, they took rubbings.

Their goddess was gone - had never been gone before. Something had happened to her. They would find her . . .  or at least continue her research.

Some studied in the Witches Hut, finding the isolation from Em Phenya aided in abstract thought and the pondering of Deep Magic.

Other made use of the research laboratory, attempting to process the strings of code as if they were instructions to build something.

It took a century, but the insane scribblings were partially decoded. What they spoke of - the void beyond emptiness, multiple universes, alien beings, the true nature of reality -

The Viese were powerful minds. When the knowledge became too much, they backed off, took time to bathe in the healing pools. Let their minds expand gently, rather than diving off the deep end.

It was about then that Anathema reincarnated within the Inner Garden. When she was discovered, there was great joy - after a century, nearly the life-span of a Viese, she was returned!

But still, she slept, and dreamt, and in dreaming, woke . . .

With Anathema's comatose form to study as practical example of symbiotic hybridization between the Outer and the Tree - a long-standing theory drawn from the samples available - they began their work at the 'soft spot' within the Witches' Hut.

It took a little careful demolition work, but planted a singular flower - drenched in Deep Magic - at that exact coordinates of the soft spot, pulling the essence of the void into the flower, while watering it only with the blight-countering water of the spring.

Slowly, slowly, the chrysanthemum bloomed - bloomed with alien starlight, sustained by the breath of the Void.

Xanalen and Alphos - a male researcher - conceived a child and planted their offspring in the Void Flower. The grand experiment was on.

The child that was born had skin like night sky and starlight, and cold blue eyes.

The Void Flower was recreated, its seeds sown, and more of these new beings - the Nyxies - came into being. They were geniuses with Deep Magic, and decoded the rest of Anathema's scribbling, their alien minds easily adapting to the eldritch knowledge contained therin.

The Nyxies were cold, and far less social than other Viese. Their only interest was in knowledge, and with the tools at hand, they sought to delve ever deeper . .

It was about then that the Nyxies turned their attention to the Ascended.

Since they Nyxies were not quantum beings, the Ascended listened. As the Nyxies chanted a strange language - one of machine code, warped by Deep Magic, called Trinary - and the Ascended halted, returned the language in a purer form. Carefully, an accord was struck - a collaborative research effort. After the Ascended were informed that Anathema was out of commission and had become a passive rather than active threat, the Ascended abruptly switched priorities to work with the helpful, order-speaking Nyxies. An small village came into being, which the Ascended called an "Installation".

It was about this time that the walls of the Vault began to glow red. Given their proficency with deep magic, it was trivial to repair the damage to the Concentrated Physics of the place. Several of the Ascended were brought there was well, establishing satellite Installation. The Concentrated Physics of the area strongly appealed to Ascended, and the Nyxies were eager to glean more knowledge from them. From the research wing of Em Phenya to the the laboratory of the Vault, the efforts of Anathema greatly assisted the Viese and Nyxies in their pursuit of advancing themselves.

That was about when the Giants came in. What the Viese lacked more than anything else was manual labor. The Ascended only worked to their own purposes and could not be persuaded to assist in this, and the Goddess has suggested the Giants could be used for manual labor.

The Giants were resistant to the idea of working for the Viese to gather materials in exchange for ample food. It was then that Nyxies showed a darker side. Using deep magic and their understanding of the properties of matter, they conducted a lengthy Deep Magic ritual to bend the native magic of the Giant's homeland just enough to convert a imperceptible amount of the soil into antimatter.

The result explosion vaporized half of the Giants, leaving a crater half a mile deep.

The Nyxies then again the approached the giants, offering a simple deal - comfortable servitude or death.

The remaining giants took the deal, and the Nyxies had their ready source of labor.

The last issue was young Eila, the budding shaman. Accustomed to speaking with the earth, she noted the earth's grave warning to never, ever do something like what they had done to the giants again. It was the first time the Earth had spoken in anger to Eila.

Traveling to speak with the Nyxies, she told them of what the Earth had said. Using Deep Magic, they ascertained that their ritual had indeed caused considerable damage to the bedrock of Arthos and could cause catastrophic earthquakes. They struck the use of antimatter from their repetoire, deciding they would need to develop safer offensive measures that were less crude.

As the Viese worked with the Nyxies to honor the pact with Earth while at the same time pursuing their research, the use of electricity - and then the means of producing it from solar energy, based on the model of photosynthesis - was developed.

Em Phenya became an electrical generator - as a magical tree, it was within the parameters of Deep Magic to adjust and alter it. A proposition was made: If the Viese could develop a means to grow another Em Phenya, and another, they could form a society with ready electrical power without disrupting the earth or becoming reliant on resources with a high labor cost.

In this, Deep Magic was joined with Shamanism - and a seed was grown from Em Phenya, and then another, and another . . .

Essence welled within Arthos, and it called to the sleeping Anathema. Would she take hold of it for her own ends, or release it to the realm to do what it would? And she knew that even asleep, she could still whisper her desires to up to five individuals.

Directing the Essence would come with a minor Bane, assuredly. Letting it ride would either produce a random Essence-strength boon, or a Realm-altering boon that would come with a moderate Bane, with her having no idea which. It was a coin toss.

Round 1 of Geogenesis!

Who do you whisper to, if anyone, and what do you do with the welling essence?
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:50, Sun 20 Jan 2019.

(( Listened to this song while writing most of this post! I think it suits Anna very well! https://loopvideos.com/p4vPW9HDhd0 ))

Ba-bump...

Had she made it? It felt like she'd made it. It hadn't been easy. The tree hadn't been made to accommodate her... condition.

... ba-bump...

But that sound was comforting. It was a sound of life; of comprehensible life. She was still herself, just... more.

She extended herself and felt nauseated. Her mind did cartwheels as it attempted to make sense of its input streams. She'd never felt so incredibly vast before. She could see the whole world from here! But where was here? She bounced about, tracing the web of perception back to her physical form. Eventually, she located herself, frozen in a fetal position within a sparkling iridescent amber on her archipelago.

She looked so... different.

... ba-bump... ba-bump...

Her thoughts were so sluggish. She wasn't ready yet. Still too scattered. But she was safe and accounted for, so she could turn her attention to all else in her realm. And ho, was there a lot of stuff to see! Her viese had been busy... seemed that, freed of the blight, Taeltresin had regained a lot of vitality. The world was positively brimming with power, and she could only assume the rest of the realms were enjoying a similar power-up. It was a shock to the system to be sure, but she would adapt.

She needed to return to trance... to heal her mind... but before she did, she reached out, touched minds with several influential figures. The first was, of course, the current Vice Chairlady of the Council of Mirrors.

"Greetings from dreamland, vice chairlady! I apologize I cannot speak to the council in person, but I am still recovering from a... grave ordeal, haha! Many things seem to have happened in my long absence, including some things I might've advised against had I been present. Despite my initial shock at the opening of the Dome, breaching of the world-scar, and adoption of the Ascended People, our people have acted with care and grace. I could not be more proud.

But we must talk about these Nyxies.

Their existence and abilities are remarkable, yes, but they pursue knowledge with such lack of regard to the beauty of existence! I know not whether it will happen tomorrow or an age from now, nor what form it might take, but they are a catastrophe waiting to happen. They have already done to the giants exactly what I was hoping to avoid before my unfortunate departure, inflicting on them exactly what they did to us. You must find some way to neutralize their threat before then. I am confident that it will be done with the same light, careful touch that the viese have shown so far.

Beyond this, I wish to see the viese multiply and spread throughout the World Tree. The Blight has gone, but its scars remain. I believe the viese are ready to do their part that they could not during the war. Go forth, heal the tree, and for the love of me keep Deep Magic in the hands of the viese where it belongs!

Perpetual Prettiness,
Anna"

Whew that was a thing. She didn't want to alarm the council, but these nyxies genuinely frightened her. They had totally lost touch with the beauty of the natural world that Anna had created the viese to live in admiration and respect of! Worse, she was worried they would spread Deep Magic to the hands of other being less-equipped to handle the responsibility of handling Taeltresin's power. She wasn't sure what she could do about it, though. Well... there was one way... but that seemed cruel, they had no choice in how they were made. It would be better if she could bring them around to her way of thinking, and to that end she whispered a short, cryptic message into the mind of a nyxie influential among her people:

"Have you ever looked at the stars without trying to calculate how far each one is?"

Anna was getting a little lightheaded now, as the seductive silence of trance pressed upon her. Some rather silly ideas were beginning to come to her, one so Awesome that she just had to share. Selecting a pretty, young viese with boundless enthusiasm and endless cheer, Anna planted a seed of an idea:

"Have you ever noticed the speaking-spheres in Em Phenya's council chamber, and all that empty room for an audience? Seems like a nice place to have a concert, doesn't it?" (Not sure if I can take any actual action in this state, but if I can I'm totally using one of my free units to make a god-touched... pop idol!)

With her words failing her, the next whisper Anna bestowed her people with was less a message and more of an image, delivered to a prominent clothesmaker -- maybe even one of her godly weavers, if any yet lived. The dress presented would be the most ambitious yet, especially for a being her size. https://i.postimg.cc/HxXD9XNT/...8d4fae4d76c65c47.png

Aaaaand Anna was pretty much out of it now, but she had one last thing to say. She selected an uptight, self-important viese and declared: "Butts! Butts, butts butts butts. Butts." She giggled to herself within her amber. Butts.

The peace of trance settled on her. Arthos had done well, left to its own devices. She would trust its judgement a bit longer...

The number of void-flowers that could be produced was extremely low; they lived on within the Outer Garden, where the magic of the place sustained the strange flora.

Rather unfortunately for the morality of the Viese, Nyxies were born from extremely rare flowers . . and were thus highly desirable as mates.

The Nyxie genome had peculiar effects when combined with ordinary Viese - the starlight coloring of the Nyxies became mottled gray spots again smooth black. These "Vixies" blended the traits of both sub-species - while they were as social as any Viese, they seemed to delight in elaborate pranks that took weeks to execute, their fanatical dedication to research turned towards the art of deception and sleight of hand.

They were also quite a bit larger, about half again bigger than Viese or Nyxies. The first few Vixies died before being born because their size burst their Viese fruit. Larger plants were sought out, and only the Glimmerglade was suitably large and hardy.

The essence of realm crashed into the Glimmerglade, and into the Vixies that grew from them. Glimmerglade itself seemed unchanged, but the Vixies were different.

The Vix were the size of Anathema, and bore wings similar to hers. Their skin was still a mottled gray-and-white, and structurally they appeared like a Viese, but there was some more to them - each of them was a being of animate bioglass, and bore a faint spark of divinity, marking them as demigods.

Within their bioglass bodies, cyan light flowed like blood.

=

It was about then that 50 souls flowed from Anathema, blessing the beautiful and charismatic Prosymna with a virtuoso singing voice and the idea of bringing joy to others. While at first she only sang for her family, and then for her village, she soon moved to Em Phenya and hit the big time, singing of Arthos, of the binary stars, and of obscure physics equations that were a hit even with the Nyxies. Combined with the efforts of the Vice Chairlady to communicate how important it was to Anathema to love knowledge for the fun of discovery and the marvels of nature, not for power or the ghost of 'progress', The Nyxies gradually adapted to being a little more social - expecially with the Vixies to help bridge the gap in understanding.

While the Viese just wanted to live naturally and make Anna happy, the Nyxies were born of study into Annathema's madness, and wanted to replace her  - by taking the forefront of research, they would spare anyone else from suffering as Anathema had.

There was still ice to break between the two peoples, but the cautions of the former Mistcallers to avoid getting wrapped up in anything that wasn't from Anna made sense to the Nyxies - they were smart enough to know how much they didn't know.

Further research into anti-reality was discontinued, in favor of focusing on quality-of-life improvements for all. An Em-Phenya sprout grew into a sapling, as time passed.

The matter of the enslaved giants was put to a vote - whether their worth as labor was more important than their worth as living creatures. This was a difficult question, since empathy for non-Viese was a strange concept, and many Viese tried to quantify the issue.

It was the fully adult Eila that settled the debate - the Giants were of Arthos, Anathema had spoken that she didn't want them to be treated like this, and the Viese were already happy so why did they need the materials? The materials were mostly used by the Ascended, anyhow.

The issue was settled, and the giants emancipated. They returned to their jungles, and perhaps in a few generations a friendly relationship could be attempted.

Essence was again welling up in Arthos . .

Round 1 complete. The nine Vix are born, which is both a strong boon and a minor bane.

Years passed in a blur to the entranced, fossilized Anna. Soon, however, she became aware of her heartbeat counting out the seconds once again.

Anna felt much better now; about herself, and about the nyxies. She didn't think they would ever be free from her scrutiny, but she no longer felt abject terror at what they might choose to do. She patted herself on the back (metaphorically) for averting the crisis. She wasn't even terribly worried about the nyxies' desire to replace her at the forefront of research; the logic seemed sound, and they did have her well-being in mind.

So instead, Anna turned to these new viese subspecies. The vixies were demonstrating quite a potent hybrid vigor effect that she was certain would disappear in a generation or two, and were definitely a lot closer to baseline than their exotic parent. She found she liked them, and would relish the opportunity to train her senses against their tricks. Then Arthos decided what it really needed was more Annas, and the vix happened. If the vixies had hybrid vigor, she'd need a whole new term to describe what had happened to them. She peered closely at each example and at times thought they might be peering back. They were quite statuesque; Anna could see how they could be regarded as demigods.

Vix... vix, Vix, vix... she wasn't sure whether that counted as a proper noun or not. There was more than one, but they were also Special. She'd have to ask them.

It was funny... Anna had conceived a quartet of Great Fey before the final foray against the Blight, and it seemed two of the four had naturally come about on their own. Dryad was represented by the vix, and Pixie by the nyxies. She wondered when Nymph and Ent would appear, and then wondered if she really wanted Ent to appear. She doubted a vix would actually stand a chance against a proper Dryad however...

She supposed she better let everyone know that she was very pleased with the current state of affairs. She let the V.C. know her thoughts, then brain-dialed Prosymna.

"Hey there little shooting star! Great job performing for the nyxies, even I wasn't sure it could be done! I'm soooo proud of youuuu~!" ... complete with a telepathic cheek-pinch!

Anna wasn't sure whether she could whisper to one of the giants, but if she could she apologizes to their king -- chieftain, council leader, whatever -- for what happened to their people. She hadn't meant for it to end that way; eye for an eye was a philosophy she saw no merit in. She hopes that they have seen how her people are not mere singing birdies to be kept in cages for their amusement that a more equal partnership could be achieved in the future.

Sensing more Essence welling up in her world, Anna considers whether she wants to direct its use. An idea did occur to her... it was ambitious and productive, giving her a steady stream of income and mythcrafting practice. But it was also entirely too early. It occurred to her that she didn't know how much time had passed outside her realm, or if the mechanics of mythcrafting had changed with the tree's revival, or or even if her tree-brothers were still alive. Setting up a workshop in her proverbial garage was too early, and if Bezaleel's first indication that she was still alive was an advertisement in the Tattered Valley then he would play her buttocks like the bongos.

As fun as the mental image was, Anna elected to keep her posterior intact. The essence was left free to do its own thing. She would prepare the land first, pop by the buoy, do some cursory mythcrafting, have the viese teach her the latest version of Deep Magic, make some gentle probes as to what the pantheon might think of her, see how her adorable innocent (step-?)niece is doing, oh and there was that tour of the realms she wanted to do.

... well, as long as the tree was safe there should be plenty of time. She better get started then! The amber shimmers as it begins to crack, freeing Anna from her protective stasis. She doesn't bother letting the viese know; one of the very first things Anna had learned about her people was that word travels fast!
This message was last edited by the player at 10:27, Mon 21 Jan 2019.

The essence returned to the realm, but the realm did not immediately act. Instead, the power remained pooled in the land, waiting for some kind of triggering event.

A Vix was studying your egg when it cracked; she let the egg crack the rest of the way, and then offered you a hand up.

"Hello, 1-Kingship. I am 3-Understanding. You've been gone a long time - the Viese missed you." Her voice had a pleasant harmonic quality. More interestingly, the Vix was wearing a beautiful red dress that flowed around her ankles. While she was your height, she retained the inhumanly slender build of all Viese.

She snapped her fingers, which clinked like a crystal wineglass. "Speaking of which, that dress you had ordered with the master-tailor has been ready for a decade, although I'm certain that 8-Splendor will be happy to assist you with your aesthetic pursuits in the future." She gestured to her own garment. "She believes there is metaphysical power in appearances. I'm not so sure."

Hmm. Curious realm behavior, that! She'd have to keep an eye on it.

Anna took her first breaths of Arthos' cool, moisture-laden, faintly floral-scented air. She didn't realize how much she liked it until it threatened to be taken from her forever. She wasn't unaware of the Vix hovering above her but for the time indulged in the simple rhythms of her body. Heartbeat, breath, touch, listen. She didn't care how inelegant she looked sprawled onto the loamy soil of the Inner Garden, it felt nice and peaty on her smooth silvery skin.

Okay, 3.14 seconds was enough of that!

Reach up to grasp the young vix's delicate hand, Anna pulled herself up onto her foot. She looked the creature up and down, thinking the vix looked like a funhouse mirror version of herself. Well, her old self. Her eyes kept being drawn to that vibrant, lacy red body sheathe she wore, a red more vibrant than most in Arthos. Not a style she would personally adorn herself with on most days, but stylish nonetheless. She smiled in approval, reaching over to brush those delicately sculpted bare shoulders with a feathery-light touch.

"The vix are even more beautiful through my real eyes," Anna muses aloud. Then, with a start, she pulls her hand away. "Ah! Sorry. Hello 3-Understanding!" The name was odd, but culturally appropriate given what she knew of their origins.

"I look forward to meeting all of the vix in person, once I am robed. I am mildly surprised that there are any viese who remember what it was like when I last walked Arthos. I reckon I will be drowning in their affections before long, haha... ah, I am still a little dizzy... could you lead me and help me dress while I regain my bearings, 3-Understanding?"

While the two of them traveled and Anna was adorned and laced into her outfit's corset in what was doubtlessly a breathlessly sensual experience, the vix was bombarded with a battery of low-key questions. Two of the most important were:

"Do you know whether any of the Infinites yet live?" Her heroes, those marked with the ¹/₀ symbol. She'd never used the term aloud; she had never needed to refer to them as a group before.

"Vix names are unusual. Are your designations arbitrary or descriptive?" Anna strikes a stereotypically cute thoughtful pose. "Is there a 0-Root?" This was partly a genuine question and partly a test; if any entity existed that could claim that lofty position it would be Taeltresin itself, and Anna was curious if viese research had progressed that far. [Private to The Empress: Or rather, if she viewed Taeltresin as a multi-user system, the people who managed it... if there were any such beings. Taeltresin's origins were something of a black box right now.]

There was much more she wanted to know about the state of the realm, but she thought the Council of Mirrors would be better-equipped to give her a broader overview. She would eventually also want to touch base with the nyxies to learn how they had recreated some of her miracles without the use of souls.

"Of course I will assist you!" she said, with a subtle gasp at your touch. So they did breathe, and had full sensation. Curious.

"Sinsra and Teltanin, you mean? Yes, those Viese are alive. Laelana died before our time, but she is remembered for her intellect by the Viese."

The Tailor's place was not so much a single master tailor, but a small village of Viese of the same family dedicated to crafting elegant clothing. The Vixies had a voracious hunger for ensembles, and the culture of Em Phenya had developed a slowly changing standard for courtly attire.

The Nyxies only wore tailored lab-coats as a nod to the Viese, and this had set forth the highest formal standard - white surcoats for gentlemen, black dresses for ladies, although already some ladies had decided to wear black surcoats, and so on and so forth.


With 3-Understanding's assistance - a strong hand cupping your waist and the curve of your hourglass, firm and sure cinching, a warm whisper in your ear asking if you could breathe - the outfitting was more enjoyable and efficient than ever before.

"Our names are descriptive, and there is no 0-Root. They describe our birth order, as well as the nature of our abilities. The earlier in the birth order, the stronger. 1-Crown has been missing since our birth. They are the mightiest of us. As you are their equal and our elder, we've granted you their rank and refer to 1-Crown as 10-Crown."

"I am roughly 70% of your strength, and 2-Wisdom is 85%. 7-Eternity comes in third at 65%, and the rest tend towards 50%, with 8-Splendor being 35% and 9-Foundation being 20%."

"You may refer to us by our number or our domain, or give us cute nicknames, whatever you like. We're not ornery, except for 5-Discipline."
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:56, Wed 23 Jan 2019.

"Eila and Xanalen, too," Anna reminds her.

Anna was so glad see the viese able to develop their culture and have whole families moved into specialized trades. In those early days they had to do everything they could to get by and hadn't much time for frivolities. The explosion in sophistication could only mean that no major threats had escaped her notice. It was so cool to see a reflection of each chaste in their fashions; more than once on the trip Anna had to stop to have someone do a little twirl for her. Adorable! For a second she almost wished that she hadn't made the viese so small since that severely diminished the number of frills they could have on one outfit. But then, she supposed that was why the vix existed!

Anna was a squirmy little fidget under 3-Understanding's firm ministrations, biting her lip with each pull of the laces, shivering at the warm breath on her ears. It was the first time she'd ever allowed another to work upon her body, and was surprised by how sensitive her metallic skin was. Her cheeks were hot with a bright cyan that she tries to brush away to no avail, but continually reassures the vix that she is fine and to please continue. She watches her reflection's flustered breathing for a time, particularly how her chest swells so perfectly with each constrained inhalation-

She shakes her head, putting the strange thoughts out of her mind. A brief trance restores her body to its proper rhythm, the only lingering indication of disorder being a faint warmth on her face.

Anna does a little twirl on her good foot, her draping sleeves flowing prettily around her. Her dress had no allowance for her wings, but they phased through regardless. They were, uh, magical wings. Yes! As she picked the Perihelion Multi-Analyzer up and tries to strap it back to her arm though, she realizes she had forgotten something. She elects to simply strap it over her shoulder and carry it under her arm like a big metal purse, at least for now.

Now that she is dressed, she goes with 3-Understanding to pick up that staff that was being woven for her way back when. She needed a walking stick and Sun-and-Moon was still sequestered away and prone to oozing the Blight even without the Blighted Heart. She would have to investigate how that was even possible... later. And also make that list of things she wants to investigate. She splits off a new subprocess specifically to that end.

... or give us cute nicknames. "Okay, Undies!" That probably wasn't what the vix had in mind! "I'm sure Disco will come around. No one can resist my light! Hee hee!"

"Wow, seventy percent!" Despite the light tone Anna can't help but bristle a little bit at that. She knew she wasn't a powerhouse compared to most gods of her rank but she didn't expect to be rivaled by anyone whose title started with demi-. She'd thought similar of the Furies, and was now doubly certain running was the right decision. "That's pretty impressive. But we gods are pretty tricky as well as strong. Then again, I suppose my version of Deep Magic is hopelessly antiquated by now, so perhaps that can be an equalizer..." She hums thoughtfully.

"I wonder where Crown went. I hope they aren't doing anything rash. But if he-she-they are as powerful as you imply, I am certain they'll turn up in the... Great Exploration!"

And so Anna lays out her timetable to 3-Understanding. After her tour of the town had concluded and her staff picked up, Anna wanted the vix to assemble the council for her; both to hear their own status update (Anna was particularly interested in the population count) and to put out a call for volunteers. Volunteers in tow she wanted to visit the four corners of Arthos and finish what she had begin in the Ravaged Lands: clearing and mapping the realm, reclaiming lost treasures, and meeting the viese of other provinces! Along the way she'd study the latest magical advances; she hoped to be at least a passable journeyman before embarking on her tour of the realms.

Anna flags down a passing viese who looks reasonably responsible and asks him to spread the word: Anathema has returned, and is looking for volunteers to explore the Floating Islands with her!

She'll need someone to study Deep Magic under, and for that no one seemed more equipped than the nyxies. Anna asks Undies for directions to their community and goes to introduce herself to them.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:39, Thu 24 Jan 2019.

"Well . . ." Undies began, after you comment about comparative power. "I'm not 70% of your total power. That's not easily measurable. My singular ability is 70% as strong as one of your stronger abilities. I'm capable of understanding all languages, including body languages of any species, as well as all written, signed, or seismic forms. I can't speak them with the fluency of a native, though, which is where I'm only 70% of you, if you had the same ability."

She blushed cyan. "You can see why I wanted to be the first to greet you, right? I've heard so much about you, your exploits and experiments. You're a scientific marvel, even among Gods. And your body is almost as beautiful as your mind."

The staff was collected, complete with the notched end for attaching charms or whatever Anathema wished. Undies produced from - somewhere (you immediately apprehended that she was accessing a 'coiled' higher dimension) a little necklace with a strange pendant. It was a V with a horizontal slash through it, with an upright triangle atop it, forming a kite composed of three similar triangles.

"Your personal glyph," She said. "I invented it! It's got geometry in it, AND the bottom part is like an upside-down A, which is funny because your name means 'opposite' and starts with 'A'." She smiled, obviously very pleased with herself. "Do you like it, Kingship?"

=

Next was seeing after the council. They gathered at your call, including Eila who replaced Ereal after his unfortunate misadventure with the giants a few years ago.

Sinsra delivered the summary - there about nine-thousand adult viese in good health, eight hundred elderly viese nearly the end of their years, and about twelve hundred young adult and child viese. Of the Nyxies, there were about eight hundred, with only sixty-eight children; the Nyxies didn't spend much time procreating.

While the seeds of Em Phenya didn't grow as large or exactly the same, each of the Phenyai trees did develop into a useful small town for Viese, including similar workspaces as had been created within Em Phenya. A small grove of them now surrounded Em Phenya, resembling a very natural form of urban sprawl.

There was a growing passion among the Viese for experimental botany; new strains of fruits and flowers were being developed, including many that were purely cosmetic in order to produce Viese of novel coloration. Seeds of rare and valuable plants were even used as currency, as they universally desirable.

Most Viese didn't like deep magic; they were far more taken with Eila's shamanism, as it directly impacted their ability to successfully hybridize plants for trading and personal use.

While they Viese were brilliant, their logical minds were also greatly creative when they were able to approach projects as puzzles to be solved. Genetic sequencing was the present big hurdle they were working on.

The word went out, and volunteers would be arriving to Em Phenya soon. As for the Nyxies, their own settlement was near the Vault.

"Ohhhh, that makes a lot more sense!" Anna laughed with relief. "So that's why you're Understanding! Haha, you'll have to forgive if I seemed concerned before. I have met other demigods and they were alarmingly powerful. I was beginning to fear I wasn't special!" She has no compunction against addressing the vix as demigods; they probably already knew. She doesn't have the heart to say that power is so universal among gods that she didn't even realize she had it until the battle at Noor.

"D'aww, you're gonna make me blush," Anna giggles and strikes a cute and demure pose. "Being unique is its own reward, but it is nice to get the recognition every now and then, haha!"

Anna takes the charm, holding it in the palm of her hand and considering its many angles from many angles. Wordlessly she threads the necklace chain around her staff so that it dangles and occasionally clinks against the bioglass portions. She gives Undies an aside glance and grins.

"Was that storage space created with Deep Magic?" Anna asks. "My early tests with space manipulation met with a lot of resistance. It's nice to see the secret cracked!"

--

[Private to GM: Actually I think Ereal volunteered to serve the Pantheon during their tithe. Speaking of the giants I believe their domain was mountainous, not a jungle. Also, if you look at the context clues there's a lot of indication the giants were just humans, who apparently kept pet cats.]

Anna was awed by the population growth; no wonder they'd needed to expand. "Oh goodness, eleven thousand?! That's amazing... I remember when a hundred-seventy was such a large portion of the population I defied the Pantheon of gods over it. Clearly my directive to multiply and spread was received with ardor!"

Looking back, she wasn't sure why she had thought the tithe-collectors would risk battle with her if she'd refused. All hands were needed back then, and the thought that the pantheon would risk alienating a god -- even a "mere babe" -- for less than two hundred mortals was hilariously and tragically self-centered of her. It stung to realize just how impulsive she was back when she had four whole lives. She'd started a fist fight with the creatures killing the world tree! How stupid was she?!

Cosmetic alteration of viese... she wasn't certain exactly why this bothered her, but it just as clearly did. She muses aloud to the council whether that constitutes an unfair imposition on the unborn and whether parents might be limiting their children's potential with their expectations no matter how subconscious. Ultimately though this seems like a viese-scale problem that Anna shouldn't get involved with. She makes it clear though that if viese start willingly cutting off body parts in favor of bio-sculpted augmentations she'll have some harsh words for everyone.

She was a little amused however that she seemed to be witnessing the beginnings of a cyberpunk utopia without the usual cyber- bit. Maybe biopunk? Yeah, a biopunk utopia! Anna subconsciously rubs at her circuitboard tattoos.

On being formed that most viese didn't practice Deep Magic, Anna frowns some. "While shamanistic tradition has clearly done wondrous things for the viese, that is strictly the magic of Arthos and nearly useless outside its borders, while Deep Magic is the language of Taeltresin itself. I would like to request every school integrate at least a rudimentary Deep Magic vocational training into the standard program. It's... very important to me on a personal level."

Anna asks for the three most up-and-coming viese to report to the Archipelago, much as she had when she had first arrived. That she was looking to create a new trio of Infinities was unstated but obvious. Sinsra and Teltanin were no doubt getting up there in years themselves, she really had no idea how old Xanalen was, and Eila... well, Eila would probably be fine for a while. Anna didn't want to leave divinely-inspired guidance to the vix no matter how much Undies seemed taken with her; she felt the demigods all seemed to have their own interests.

She wraps up the council meeting by thanking everyone for their continuing diligence; thanks to them she is able to make plans that'll take her out of Arthos with confidence.

--

Council meeting concluded, Anna goes to meet the nyxies. The Vault was a bit remote from the bulk of viese civilization, no doubt just as they and their Ascended cohorts liked it. Anna bows politely to the first few Ascended she passes, smiling reassuringly. If they ask, she simply says that the Ascended have integrated into Arthos in their own way and that she is content with the current state of affairs. She wasn't here to pick a fight.

She passively observes the nyxies' lives for a time, trying to get a bead on their personalities and how to best introduce herself. Not that she really needs to, she's certain they all know full well who and what she is.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:39, Sat 26 Jan 2019.

OOC: Ereal returned from the Army of the Tree during your time down below. He died in an unfortunate accident while on a diplomatic mission, supposedly.

"Oh! Yes. Mine is a little clumsier than others, but I only need a small hyperspace."

=

The council disagreed; it was long-standing tradition for Viese to seek out exotic flowers to produce impressive children and give them an edge when it came to attracting mates, and it helped diversify the growing population and lend a unique identity to each child. If issues arose, that would be the time to take measures to address the particular issue. The Council was for war and the defense of the Viese, per Anathema's repeated directive, not for policing cultural trends.

Eila bristled at your comment on shamanism. "Anna, shamanism is a magical language for contacting and contracting with the spirits of the land. Any land. Deep magic is dangerous; just look what the Nyxies did to the giants! I won't stand for you spreading misinformation at this council."

Sinsra spoke next. "We'll develop introduce elementary deep magic curricula; I'm sure we can convince the Nyxies to oblige, and the Vixies may be interested as well. Maths, music, literacy, and the natural sciences are the current focus of the educational programme."

The life of the Nyxies was quiet. They preferred traditional Viese dwellings, but every night they sat together, taking turns probing objects with Deep magic and discussing findings around outdoor hearths. Collectively, they seemed to be working discriminating the fine differences in the functioning of physics within the Vault and within Arthos. By repeating experiments under strict physics and under the influence of metaphysical variables, they were fine-tuning their understanding of those variables and how deep magic could control them.

Their ultimate goal was pretty simple: develop a sophisticated algorithm that would address and compensate for all metaphysical variables so that technology would function identically within the zone of concentrated physics and without, which would allow them potentially replicate the Ascended on a mechanical level, or something even more sophisticated.

For example, how did the realm go about creating Annathema? With her recent ressurection, they had seismic, meteorological, and metachronological data to work with. If they decode the means by which the realm incarnated a deity, they could create an artificial deity - or something like one. A machine-god.

That was just one of the more worrying lines of questioning they were following.

Oh, and the Nyxie named Coronei had a huge crush on the male Nyxie named Zhama and was going to ask him out, everyone knew it except for Zhama, and some Nyxies were trying to use Deep Magic to figure out if they'd work out base on the metaphysical variable tags attached to both of them.

Anna nods, now knowing precisely what the first practical effect of Deep Magic she will want to be taught is.

--

The council was also for disaster response! Anna agrees with her council that taking action on this matter is likely an overreach though; she was just musing aloud, don't mind her.

She visibly winced when Eila called her out. "Are you absolutely certain this is so, Eila?" At the now not-so-young viese's insistence, Anna relents. "It seems a tradition at this point for me to make a fool of myself with my assumptions once per council meeting. Clearly some of my models require updating. My apologies, it wasn't my intent to spread misinformation."

--

Anna isn't too worried about spending a night with the nyxies and not being around to address volunteers. Any viese who weren't alert or dedicated enough to figure out where to go on their own weren't going to be fun to explore with anyway.

In accordance to her new stress-free outlook on life Anna elects to join the nyxies in one of their quiet hearthfire forums, bouncing between a few groups to follow the various conversations. For the most part she listens, asks light questions on some of the more esoteric terms they throw around, offers the occasional insight on the realms, and generally tries to soak up knowledge. She is endlessly amused by the nyxie attempts to apply Deep Magic to romantic comparability. She takes notes of the various guesses being thrown around, curious whether any of them will actually verify.

Then she hears musings on the creation of a machine-god and Anna nearly loses it, her blood going cold.

"That is very important research," she tells the assembled nyxies, "but please don't ever try to make a machine-god in Arthos. If research advances that far I'll try to negotiate for ownership of an empty realm we can experiment in." She will then share what little she knows of her progenitor Axiom and how even the Pantheon seemed wary of his realm after whatever singularity struck it. Whatever had happened was clearly such a disaster that she, his own daughter, had grown up to completely forswear conventional technology whenever possible.

[Private to GM: Speaking of dangerous technology, were the nyxies aware they had built their entire community around an experimental nuclear bomb rigged to go off in the event of a containment breach? If so, she suggests renaming the settlement Megaton.]

Anna wraps up the night by asking if there any of the nyxies she had spoken with would like to bring her up to speed in the latest developments in deep magic. She has been out of the loop for some time and is looking to avoid any more unnecessarily destructive experimentation like what created the Magical Maelstrom.

One of the Nyxies volunteered to be your tutor. Her skin was dusky, but her eyes were a vivid blue.

"I am Liusna."

She sat across from you, studied you. "You were the tree's foremost expert on the blight. Your studies progressed far. You destroyed the Blight. Thank you."

She bowed forward from her cross-legged posture. "Thank you."

She was quiet again. "Your understanding of the nature and functioning of deep magic is nascent. Magic is reputed as a supernatural force. In truth, reality is an imposition upon magic, rather than the other way around. The natural law of Yggdrasil is magic. Physical laws are inconstant. The tools of observation that are inborn to living creatures are flawed and unreliable. Deep magic is first the ability to see and interact with the true underpinnings of phenenomena. Secondarily, it is the ability of using empathic sensitivity with a perceptible facet to exert influence through resonance. Observe."

She extended a small hand, and bid you to extend your knowledge of Deep magic to the space within her hand, as if a ball were there.

As you did so, you became aware of the ball. You knew precise dimensions, chemical composition, and the entirety of the ball's atomic lattice structure. It was pure quartz.

However, the ball was not there. Passing your hand through the space . . it simply wasn't there.

"The ball exists along the 3rd/4th/5th dimensional matrix, the one just above our own. You are able to perceive it with deep magic, but it is not physically present. It does, however, exist in the potentiality of time. Observe."

The Nyxie extended her own magic, and modified a few variables that were invisible to you until she modified them - the variable determining the dimensional matrix of the object.

The quartz stone appeared in her hand.

"Metaphysical dimensions are pretty safe. Subreal dimensions are incredibly dangerous, but that's where important cosmic laws are stored and maintained. The amount of resonance needed to move anything out of subreality is enormous. That's what we did when we detonated the antimatter to deal with the giants - conducted a massive ritual to alter the cosmic laws governing a few thousand atoms so that they would be inverted."

"Our calculations indicate there are at twelve total dimensions and nine dimensional matrices."

"A spell is an enduring phenomena that draws physical energies and matters from the metaphysical matrix into the real. Most magic is a simplification of complex metaphysical laws. Deep magic is the analysis and manipulation of the expression of those laws. Since you're interacting with a simpler level of metaphysical encoding, it's much lesser user-friendly, but you have a greater ability to impact nebulous concepts like space-time, and it's useful for gathering information and refining other magic."

It took some time and practice, but you got the knack for moving objects between the physical and metaphysical, tying them to your person, and perceiving objects via deep magic rather than your material senses.

+ Advance to Deep Magic 1.

Anna finds Liusna's appearance striking, particularly the floral tattoos. She wished her own arms could be painted with perfectly pretty petals.

She blushes a little in embarrassment at the repeated thanks. "Awww... I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, any of the new growth gods could have done it really... but, you're welcome!"

Liusna's initial introduction to the nature of nature isn't really new information; she had known or at least strongly suspected that the terms super- and regular-natural were largely shaped by mortal expectations. One could not hear tales of Erebus, step into the Realm Supernatural, or be twisted about in the Fallen Kingdoms without having their concept of nature shaken up. Mortal perceptions, and even the senses of the less-perceptive gods, were just not designed to perceive reality as it truly was because they only had to move and interact in three-maybe-four dimensions.

As the lesson proceeds to the practical Anna follows along with Liusna's instructions. While Anna's mastery of Deep Magic still left much to be desired, she was still a goddess and the amount of magical might she could bring to bear far exceeded any mortal's. She was careful not to put too much of herself into these early lessons.

The night wore on, and Anna begun to feel she has a solid grasp of the fundamentals. She thanks Liusna for the remedial lessons and asks if she would like to accompany Anna on her trip to the Floating Islands to continue the lessons, help study any anomalies that come up, and maybe even take a few readings of Anna's mythcraft. Their lesson together had given Anna a new appreciation for the complexities of time across the tree and the danger Deep Magic could pose in the hands of lesser minds, inspiring her with the idea for a new myth creature.

---

Anna heads back to her Archipelago, taking a tour of the grounds to determine how each of her facilities have been put to use in her absence. She checks on the Vic Viper, whose Repair Pad should have kept the mechanical menace in good working order all these years. She signals the Great Beacon to call Clarity, Leeda, the Earthroil Walker, and any unmastered mini-dragons to her side. She wants all hands on deck for the expedition, and is also simply curious about how her creations have done. Longevity was not a design priority for the first of the Flare Witches so she suspects Leeda may have burnt out by now but Debra was made of tougher stuff than her older sibling.

Once the facilities are given a once over, the starfighter gives its status check, and the signals to her more remote myths have been dispatched, it's time for Anna to add to the herd. She reaches into herself and exults in the rush of power, collecting it along with various cuttings from the plants in her Garden. Ingredients so assembled, she goes to the Inner Garden's mythcrafting field and gets to work.

She so missed doing this! (1000 souls to create a...)


This message was last edited by the player at 11:27, Tue 29 Jan 2019.

Sensation faded from Anathema as she called upon something higher. With her deep magic senses, she was better able to understand exactly what mythcrafting was. The spinning of a story, the paying of a toll, the birthing of a child, the mending of a hole.

The underworkings of reality were convinced that a Deepstalker should exist, and so it did. But creatures of myth were minds of craft, not origin, and they would never bear the meaning and grandiosity of a true soul.

As the Deepstalker appeared, it seized Anathema, lifted her, and examined her.

"You should not be, mother of me. And yet you make one whom your life it would take?"

The deepstalker returned Anna to the earth, then disappeared. With deep magic, you detected that it was still present, just drifting along a different dimensional matrix.

Had she made for herself a devious new foe? Why?

The Vic Viper was indeed in fine condition, and the summons went out to the more distant myths. It would take some time for them to arrive.

Meanwhile, 3-Understanding introduced Anna to the charming youngest Vix, 9-Foundation, who had the Archipelago his home. He looked just as feminine as the other vix, except for wearing work trousers and a sturdy vest rather than one of 8-Splendor's dresses. He was also smaller, standing a head shorter than Anna.

The masculine Vix was shy. "Hello, Anna. Are you doing well?" He rolled out from under Vic Viper on a wheeled dolly. "Vic is healthy as a mechanical horse, so to speak. If you'd like me to make you anything - anything at all - just let me know, alright?"

Anna coughed as her newly minted creature bodily lifted her. "Um, hello, my name's- hey!" And it was already gone! How rude!

She may have erred, herself, in how she had conceived the creature. The intent had been for the denizens of Arthos and their descendants across the realm to be the sole users of Deep Magic and for those who would have stolen or stumbled upon it to be the targets of the deepstalker's wrath. Their exchange, however short and one-sided, made her think that intent had not been properly imprinted. Or perhaps the creature was just having an existential crisis. Who knew what went on in the minds of dimension-sliding plant-creature magic-assassins.

Nothing for it. She reaches out with her Deep Magic and seizes the suspended instance in her garden just as Liusna had with a sphere of flawless quartz, bringing the myth right back to have a proper talk.

"Errant use of Deep Magic, my dear!" she promptly corrects the re-realized creature before it can get a word in edgewise. "We Arthosians are responsible practitioners, it is the accidental and the negligent you were brought into existence to hunt! My name is Anna; what is yours, deepstalker?"

---

Anna didn't mind relaxing for a bit and continuing to study under Liusna while her volunteers arrived. She would give them three days to arrive and be briefed. Given that the Archipelago was now claimed by the viese and their derivative forms -- including a boy vix now, apparently -- Anna wondered whether it would be socially appropriate to take the entire island chain with her to the Floaty Lands.

And the boy vix was a cute little thing! Anna suspected he'd look even cuter than the girls in a frilly miniskirt, maybe a scepter festooned with hearts, and a little foundation on his face to match his name...

Anna shakes her head as Undies introduces the two of them. She'd left the friendly demigod back at Em Phenya, but the girl vix had rejoined her the next day. Anna tries, but she can't come up with a nickname off the top her head. She folds her hands behind her back and leans forward so she is not towering over him as he lays on the ground.

"Hi Foundation! I'm Anna!" She looks up briefly to admire his handiwork on the mechanical myth before returning her gaze downward. "What's a horse? Oh, nevermind that. Vic Viper looks good in any event; I'm sure this landing pad can do the repairs itself but I'm sure it appreciates a living touch! I know I do!" She beams happily. Vic Viper doesn't actually feel much of anything, let alone appreciation, but anthropomorphizing things is fun.

"Anything at all, hmm?" Anna inquires. "There actually is something... you see, if I die again it'll be for realsies. I think I can foil magical assault well enough but I fear a blade in the back, or the front, or much of anywhere really. I need to procure myself some armor, or maybe a nice coat, something which won't interfere with my magic but can stand up to a god. Is that too tall an order? I feel like it might be a tall order."

Anna blinks and looks down a bit further. "Actually, maybe I'm thinking a little too grandiose when I'm still missing very simple features. A foot, for instance..."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:05, Wed 30 Jan 2019.

With its instructions clarified, the arboreal beast assented to only interfere with those who used deep magic in a manner that was of genuine threat to the Tree. Given that Deep Magic was currently contained only within Arthos and focused within the Nyxies and Vix, it would keep an eye on them for now. "I am Crìslagh," the deepstalker whispered.

=

"You can call me Nigh, if you wish, short for Nine. Repairs is one thing; I've been making some improvements, and considering ways to replicate Vic. I'm the weakest Vix, sure enough, but still a good sight better at fabrication than anyone else in Arthos."

He gently took your stump into his hands, which were slightly rough in texture. "I can fabricate a prosthetic from living bioglass easily enough, but as for protection . .  I could make a magically enhanced cloak for you, as well as enchanting your dress. Layering will allow me to keep the modifications minor enough that the flow of your garments shouldn't be affected. You'll have roughly the protection of good leather armor from the dress alone, and the cloak will reduce the kinetic energy of incoming blows to reduce the damage done."

"Do you have a design in mind for the cloak? I imagine the aesthetics are important to you. Splendor would have my head if I made you look unfashionable."

"Pleased to meet you properly, Crìslagh!" She bows to the creature. "I'm counting on you!" She curtsies to her creation before turning her back on it -- primarily to go do something else, and partially to see whether it'll stab her in the back once she's not paying attention. Of course, being goddess of reflections, she almost literally has eyes in the back of her head... and everywhere else, for that matter!

---

"Nigh?" Anna asks. She turns the word over in her head, a finger alighting on her chin in thought. "Hmm, it lacks a certain quality..." Ninty-nine, nineteen, sixty-nine... hm, there's nine vix not counting her honorary membership, so Eternity could be Seven of Nine! Anna isn't sure why she likes that name, but in any event that doesn't help her with a nickname for Foundation. She spends a little too long thinking about it and realizes he's already speaking again.

"Recreating Vic Viper would be an incredible feat!" Anna says. "He was my first mythcrafted creature and even then I basically stole the hard work from Mythmaker Waelwick. I... kinda hope the blight got him, I sorta trashed his workshop, haha! Does that make me a bad person?" She hadn't considered the possibility of reprisal at the time. Yes, she had been on a mission from Vex, but looting the place was her own decision. "Actually, even making improvements is pretty remarkable. Maybe it's 'cause I'm still a newbie but I always had great difficulty changing my creations after the fact."

"I didn't realize Deep Magic was well-suited for long-term enchantments. Has Skeles' Artifice migrated to Arthos?" Anna thought she had seen bursts of her fellow gods' disciplines popping up erratically when she had unleashed magic on Arthos, although most of it was the wild untamed stuff. Taeltresin showing off!

Anna considers Foundation's suggestions, humming to herself. Lacking other references she tries to imagine herself in a fight with Bezzy, and whether a good suit of leather would be of any benefit at all. He was pretty strong and super fast, and everyone knows force equals mass times acceleration. A serious fighty type like Komatoa would probably be even more trouble. Then again, against such a hardcore enemy she doubted anything less than Deekin's shadow jewel would provide any meaningful protection. In any event, as undeniably and inarguably important as swishy dresses were to any intelligent being worth befriending Anna would want something a bit more practical once she leaves Arthos to tour the realms.

But a dresschantment doesn't really come with a downside, so she assents to that.

"Splendor knows what's important," Anna giggles. Having not actually met the dressy vix yet she reserves the nicknaming for now. "Simplicity might be for the best I think, since the whole point is to take the damage instead of me. Unadorned carbon fiber, or nanotubes if you can do it, perhaps edged with runes woven in decorative silver thread. How long will you need?"

"Nanotubes? I suppose it would be possible, but I would need Deep Magic assistance for the fineness of the work, and as you've guessed I'm skilled with Artifice, with my signature ability as a demigod boosting my natural facility with it. It might be best that one of the Nyxies help as well. Perhaps the lovely Liusna?"

Undies laughed. "I could help you easily enough with that, 8. I'm no 10-Crown or 2-Wisdom, but I'm alright with deep magic."

Liusna, who was distracted with some equation, blushed, and flew close to 9-Foundation and spoke in hushed whispers. "Foun, we've TALKED about this. If you like Anna, you should talk to her about it, and not flirt with me or any other girl! You have to show a girl you mean business or she'll not be interested even if she notices you!"

Foun whispered back. "She's never shown interest in anyone, why would she start with me? I may like her, but I serve her. I'll just put my feelings into my work and leave it at that. Sometimes it's better if you keep your feelings to yourself and just do your best to be good to someone and a loyal friend, especially if they're the kind to not take interest in others, like some of the Nyxies don't, right? And she's only just met me."

With that, Foun and Undies set to work on your dress together, which naturally meant you had to remove it. They'd only need it for a little while, though, so they just had you wait in the other room with Liusna.

She took this opportunity to further your knowledge of Deep Magic, by describing in detail the many dimensional matrices and their planar manifestations, and how they related to magic and the structure of the tree as a whole. Then she went further.

"It appears that the concentrated physics of the vault operate as a dimensional lock, preventing access to the fifth dimension. The Blight operates partially along the subreal, however, slowly decaying natural laws and causing distortion. It is possible that the Blight has not left Umbra precisely because it is stored in the vault, and thus unable to synchronise with the world-state of the Tree . .

Gods like you appear to operate in multiple timelines at once by exploiting the metareal. When something impacts your physical form, which is partially an emanation of your presence in the metareal, it creates a paradox that ripples through the metareal and to the rest of your instances . .  since Umbra is stored in a vault that is cut off from the metareal, that may be why it still retains blight-taint despite the blight having been destroyed . . .

The ascended refer to gods as quantum beings because the correspondences between your instances are partially governed by a form of large-scale quantum entanglement. This allows you to exist simultaneously in two dimensional matrices at once.

Deep magic is the magic of magic . . . with magic being a kind of tool that provides epistemological leverage for the will, in a similar manner to a rope-and-pulley system, allowing for manipulation of particular aspects of the real, deep magic is the careful examination of the points of contact of that tool and its operation. Enduring magic sustains itself through a localized manipulation of the subreal via the mechanic of arcane sublimation, which allows the movement in the metareal to directly interact with the subreal. All divine powers seem to operate on this principle if they are active, and if passive the arcane submlimation occurs from the metaself, the theorized instance that exists completely with the metareal at all times . . . fascinating, isn't it? And magicians and gods do all this without even understanding what they are doing!" Liusna gushed.

+30% progress in Deep Magic.

Anna laughs. "I might have to ask for instruction in Artifice sometime! Always did appeal to me more than Necromancy. I feel like it would be rude to not ask Skeles first though." She knows that if anyone started studying Deep Magic without her permission she'd make a stress mess. Arthos' natives had an open invitation, of course.

The blatantly furtive whispering causes a cock of Anna's head. With everything in this room being so shiny there was very little way they could possibly have kept that conversation a secret even if she hadn't such finely tuned hearing. Rather than enlighten them on the extent of her senses Anna elects to feign ignorance, instead going to retrieve the unfinished Eclipse from storage and spread the parts across a free table to examine. She still heard everything though, which made her a bit blushy too.

Ever since being reincarnated, Anna had found herself more frequently distracted by... thoughts. She's playing Ironman Mode. She doesn't have an heir. Bezaleel has three children and even a consort... well, two children and a consort... actually three children one of whom is a consort. She hasn't heard much from Deekin, but he's got a bundle of lives left to play with. She is acutely, painfully aware of how vulnerable she is and how it could all end with one misstep without anyone to inherit Arthos. She's feeling a need and her brilliantly multi-faceted mind isn't as above base urges as she likes to portray it as. She never would have considered a child while the Blight was ongoing, there was too much to investigate, too much to do, and a war to fight... but now?

Well, there's still too much to do and investigate... but taking a mate or just a lover didn't seem as farfetched as it once did.

She shook her head. It was a mess up there these days!

Anna pouted but relented to being disrobed, chewing her lip softly and second-guessing whether her usual casual flirtiness might be a bit mean-spirited to 'Foun' knowing what she does. Then again, dispensing with her lighthearted fun might signal that she overheard them, leading to awkwardness. On a third hand if she's just being fun out of obligation then she's not really being fun! Wow, social interactions are challenging! All she ends up doing is placidly going along with whatever motions are requires of her and smiling ruefully.

Joining Liusna in the back Anna listens intently while a relatively small subprocess tinkers with the incomplete Eclipse. She has many ideas for artifacts but essence was in short supply and other ideas seemed to have greater immediate applicability to the challenges she would be facing. She wondered if Deekin still had the essence she had dropped on her death. One mote of the stuff was a gift given to replace the corrupted Sun-and-Moon she never got around to actually using, and the other she thinks came from the blighted tentacle rape demon that had molested the Ravaged Lands.

Anna laughs as she witnesses Liusna's enthusiasm. "Absolutely fascinating, yes!" she agrees. She would have to replay this lesson in her head several times to completely digest what she had learned and tease practical applications from it, but that's what eidetic memories are for! And, seeing that Liusna is acquainted with the vix, Anna decides that she has found the first of her new generation Infinities. She reaches over and gently boops the nyxie on the forehead, divine power flowing from the brief contact and inscribing the ¹/₀ mark there. The symbol glows brightly for a moment before fading to unobtrusiveness.

Anna smiles to the little nyxie. "You should be a teacher. I think your enthusiasm would be infectious!"

Thinking over what she has learned, Anna considers the merits of keeping Umbra as it was. She wants Sun-and-Moon back, 'tis true, but the greatest of her foes will be vulnerable to the Blight rather than being of it. Is that like keeping samples of a lethal disease around to use on one's enemies? Is that ethical? Or worth it? She would have to consider these questions eventually, but put them off for now.

Exploring the Floatlands is her current priority and she will not be distracted!

(500 souls to make Liusna a hero!)
This message was last edited by the player at 14:01, Thu 07 Feb 2019.

With your deep-magic senses active, the act of bestowing heroic nature on Liusna was more than just . . . a touch. It was a rush of song and story, the writing of myth, an act of Order. You were altering her very nature, suffusing her with something like light, awareness, virtue. It was if she had been a shadow of a person before - a philosphical zombie - but you had pulled her out of that, into half-light - whereas you stood clearly in Truth, along with the Vix, though they were faint candles to your torch.

What was divinity? What did it mean that death made you stronger, but the fourth was the end? Your vision began to garble, to glitch, became static -

The zeroth door was enumbra, the world-womb - the first door belonged to the seekers - they walked, lo, their lantern-heads aglow -

Liusna was shaking you, your booping finger still pressed to her skin, as if attached by glue. The Infinity sign burned bright, more souls flowing into her. -1000 Souls to create a Pilgrim-Hero.

The infinity symbol was a jittery thing, not the clean unity you'd desired: []/[[]]=2

It was the 'Unfinity' equation. Just as there were greater and lesser infinities, there were greater and lesser nothings. When a lesser nothing was divided into a greater, the result was something true - and so the World Tree had come into being; the first world-tree, Yggdrasil.

"You can't look too deep, Anna!" Liusna was crying. "You can't. You just can't. The mind was not intended to fully correlate its contents."

She taught you then, a darker use of Deep Magic - the partitioning and compartmentalizing of information within the mind. It was merely the use of Deep Magic to analyze and alter the functioning of the self, disabling aspects of higher perception and establishing constraints to avoid an overload. Learning too much was the great danger of Bathomancy - one could drown in Truth. The pressure of the depths of magic was unkind to lunacy - even the natural lunacy that kept people positive, aware, invested - and it was just as possible to be driven Sane as it was to go Mad.

+30% Deep Magic.
+1 Refinement of Mind.
Progress towards Refinition of Mind: 40%.  After this message, you will now perceive orange text in character, exactly as written, unless explicitly marked OOC.

A call from the other room! "The dress in finished - it should defend you well enough, first reducing impacts with targeted repulsion and then secondarily dispersing kinetic energy upon impact. It will be especially effective against projectiles, effective against blunt and thrusting weapons, but will fare less well to slashing weapons."

Antikinetic Raiment: Quarters mundane damage from mundane projectiles, halves damage from mundane blunt and thrusting attacks.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:56, Sat 09 Feb 2019.

Ever since she first peered Between Anna had tried to be aware of the functioning of her mind. What was happening to her now was different from then, a sideways step in another direction from madness, and she didn't recognize it at once. When she did she locked down her mind tight, less an errant thought strike down the nyxie she intended to elevate.

She emerged mentally sore but relatively unscathed and in familiar territories, no doubt at least partially due to the vigorous shaking-awake of her... Unfinity? Her mind balked at the term and the concept it represented, but supposed that was precisely why she had started to slip into Sanity.

A slow smile came to her polished lips. "Once into Madness and again into Sanity; all things have a mirror, and we at the borderline Between. How precarious a position for our minds!" She laughs at the absurdity and undeniable truth of it all.

Anna looks over at Liusna, as if noticing her shaking of her shoulder for the first time. She gently brushes the nyxie's hair back with a silvered finger. "Sorry. I am all right, Lilu. My control slipped for a moment but I am all right." She bites her lip, uncertain how the overdose of divine power affected the ebon-skinned mini-girl. "How do you feel?"

While losing herself to Truth provisionally was not a wholly unattractive concept, Anna had other things she wanted squared away first. She makes an executive decision to put Deep Magic on the back burner while she solidifies "reality" around herself. This decision lasts all of five seconds before she is drinking up the next serving of knowledge Liusna cooks up for her. This is a logical and magical extension to what she already does when she partitions her mind with autohypnosis, except now functioning on multiple levels of reality. Defending against abnormal mental function, whether Sane or Mad, can only be a good thing.

But Anna is Anna and she can't let the new knowledge go without immediately utilizing it for something. With her new Deep Partitioning knowledge Anna compartmentalizes her recent brush with Truth and feeds the memories, best as she can, into Perihelion for a better and hopefully less intense viewing experience.

Anna returns to Found Undies to hear their report and inspect their work. A quick glance -- the outer ring of her "normal" eye still bright green with Deep Magic -- tells her everything before they've even finished the explanation. She wondered how long until she could look upon the world-weave without misplacing her marbles. "Very impressive," she compliments Foundation. "I think that covers the types of violence and accident I am likely to encounter and will be able to explore in much greater confidence now. Thank you, Foundies. How long will the artifice last?"

"How do I feel?" She blinked, then dissolved into a crack in reality, before returning again. You couldn't look at her long; her very from was not the night sky like other nyxies, but he foggy beyond that, having once witnessed, had driven you mad for a time. You had driven her somehow . . . beyond. When you had touched her, directed your power into her, you touched the Void that had touched her; an indirect kiss with the Beyond, to put it one way.

She had edged towards Madness even as you had edged towards Sanity, and you felt a reciprocal bond; from this point forward, Liusna would be a strange mirror of you. If someday you went Sane, she would also go fully Mad.

She touched her forehead, and it bled onto her hands like ink, leaving a reversed imprint. "This equation . . it's unfinished. There's more to it . .  I can see . ."

The pupils of her eyes distorted, swallowing up her irises, forming five-pointed stars - no, they were still circular, just in a higher dimension - the matrix that corresponded to the realm of chaos.

She was writing, her skin bleeding off her into blackest ink that wasn't pigment - it was anti-pigment, a thing that ate light hungrily and shimmered as it did so. "This isn't unfinity, it's Eternity. The counterposal of the myriadiasphoric potentialities . . . "

You eyes were hurting, and you had a headache. "I'm not Liusna anymore - call me - hmm. Oh yes, call me by the name of my new mother." She grinned, and her teeth - you'd seen those teeth before, on the far shore. The dentition of a tree-dragon . . or something akin.

"I am Nyx!"

 - and she was gone.

Meanwhile, you had a really cute dress ready for you. Found answered your question. "It should be semi-permanent. You'll be able to refresh it with souls if it gets worn down."

Anna found herself at a complete loss at Liusna's mental and metaphysical breakdown. She opens her mouth to speak with a hand raised at her side, but the nyxie is gone before she can get a word in edgeways. Anna looks down, blinking as her eyes readjust to reality, and then examines her hands. She clenches and relaxes them several times in slow succession. Looking out the window, she sees the distant perpetual storm from her early Deep Magic experiments, just beyond the Dome of Secrets that was the end result of peering Beyond.

"Am I really such a walking disaster area...?" she quietly asks of the now empty room. Maybe the deepstalker's interpretation of its purpose wasn't so erroneous after all.

She wants to say it wasn't her fault this time. She had created heroes a bunch of times before. The tree always responded to intention over specific dictation. Was it because she had crossed her essence with that from beyond the tree? Was her intention no longer so clear to the metaphysical reality engine that drove the majority of apparent existence? Oh gods, was she going to have to carefully watch every single action she takes from now on? How does she reconcile her breezy, bubbly persona with such caution?!

But forget whose fault it is. What could she do for Liusna? The nyxie had seemed so concerned when she thought Anna had peered too deep, just as Anna now felt for her. Somehow though she doubted it would be as simple as pulling Liusna back through the door she'd left by and giving her a reassuring cuddle. Anna had merely glimpsed something, while Liusna had been physically and spiritually altered. Maybe Deep Magic could put her right again... or it could mess her up even more. Anna had a spectacular talent for messing things up.

After a minute that seemed an eternity, Anna sighed and decided to simply let this play out. Liusna hadn't seemed to be in distress... right?

She finds she doesn't even care about Perihelion's calculation anymore. She discards the result without even looking at it.

...

The artifice'd dress is collected and given a cursory examination. "Souls, huh?" she muses aloud. The antikinetic raiment is folded up and set in a neat pile somewhere unobtrusive. "Thank you again. I'll be back later."

Anna leaves the laboratory and shortly thereafter the archipelago, looking about for a nice high quality reflection with a view of the storm. When she finds one she steps inside the mirrored space, sitting and resting her head in a nest made of her arms and knees. She watches the eternal maelstrom rage for the two days she arbitrarily decided was a reasonable time for her volunteers to assemble. She hadn't spent any significant time in mirrorspace since she was first born onto Arthos. It felt a little bit like crawling back into her womb to have a hard think about her life.

Two passes of Atropos across the sky later Anna would return to the archipelago to meet the troops.

You found her - Liusna, Nyx - within the mirror.

"I'm still here, Anna. I always will be. It's not so easy for me to exist in the real dimensional matrix anymore - all Nyxie are void-touched, and I guess being fed power enhances our tie to the Void. Or maybe my knowledge of deep magic made me sustainable; the Viese are known for the intellect and curiosity, and both of those are dangerous when you are dealing with the Void."

She took your hands in hers. "You could be more than what you are, Anna. There are beings that exist beyond the Tree, and not all of them are hostile. It'd better to think of the Void as a dark and misty reflection of the real . . . or the real as a simplified, clarified version of the Void. Chaos is necessary for growth, even as safeguards are needed to protect against cancer and ensure that growth proceeds accordingly to plan."

She showed you her dragon's teeth. "This is what I've become. I know so much now. There was once a mythcrafted being like me - a Void-Dragon - that was used by a hero to venture into the Void and combat a foe to a Tree that has since been lost to the mists, like Taeltresin nearly did. Within the second dimension, the Tree stores molds of all things that have been, and many that will be. I was pressed into one such mold. I'm Mad enough to protect you from the things that are beyond, and with training you will be able to shield your mind for longer and longer periods of time. We can't go far from the tree's influence, but the Null - the Near Void - is accessible astride me."

Her form became like ink, and you saw her new form - that of a scaled, winged beast much like the dragons you yourself had created.

From your hands, her ink swam over and beneath your skin, becoming the tattoo of a dragon across your back - though she swam over your body as the pleased. It was rather pleasant, like a hand lightly brushing over your body.



The witches were different. They seemed to have grown souls in the time you'd left to their devices. Leeda's was a lighter mint green flame compared to Debra's deep hunter green.

"Anna!" They screeched they in unison, diving down to see you. "Not dead??" They were deeply pleased at this development.

The Earthroil Walker had to taken the longest to arrive and now waited patiently, and Clarity was preening herself nearby; she pointedly avoided looking at you, preferring to be snooty and aloof. Likely your extended absence had offended her.

I'm still here, Anna-

Anna screeched something at her wayward hero and bolted. Swapping reflections in her surroundings as fast as she could manage and almost randomly with only a vague sense of orientation. In a fit of frustration she begins leveling the environment around her in a spectacularly destructive manner, boulders and glittering rubble flying in all directions which she then begins to heat into glass just to smash it anew as it cools.

She's not sure how long her tantrum lasts; most of her subprocesses were frozen to protect them from the emotional imbalance that is now settled. Anna lies amid almost three square kilometers of devastation, a once-craggy field now re-realized as dunes of ground glass, her own form an exhausted tangle of limbs atop a particularly large crest now that she has expended her frustration.

Her intention had not been to kill Liusna, but it seemed an entirely foreseeable consequence of what she had just done. Assuming, of course, Liusna even still existed to be killed; without wanting to do so Anna had apparently changed the nyxie so dramatically that the being -- whatever it was now -- no longer cared for its previous identity. It could be that Anna's well-meaning attempt to make Liusna more Liusna-like had instead destroyed what had previously defined her and this Nyx was created in her stead. Anna values her individuality enough that she could confidently state that had she imbibed the tree-sap from her pre-afterlife and become a world dragon she wouldn't have changed her name!

Not that Anna hadn't find the experience educational in any way... but it was much easier to stomach the results of her experiments when she had embarked on those experiments willingly. And being stalked by such an error when she was still sore from making it, well, that's how temper tantrums happen. If Nyx had been killed it served her right for a critical lack of situational awareness! ... yes, let's go with that. Not Anna's fault!

Who are you trying to convince?

Anna sits up and probes her surroundings via mirrorsight and magic, attempting to ascertain whether she needs to do a burial.

Liusna was still alive, if barely; ink was splattered across the whole of the plane of devastation. Aside from her severe injuries - it was doubtful she would ever fly again anytime soon, but she might might be able to walk with some first aid - she appeared . .  normal. Her teeth were normal, her coloration normal, even the sign on her forehead seemed to have adjusted to your original intentions - she was just Infinite, not Unfinite.

She burbled something to you through the blood in her lungs. She coughed, spat out the blood, collapsed again.

Liusna: 1/5
Nyx: 0/5, revoked.

Huh. This outcome was not foreseen, but not unwelcome. Anna plies her survivalist skills to stabilize the nyxie for transport before scooping the little figure into her hand and tearing off to... her archipelago or the nyxie settlement around the Vault? Which one?! If attempting to elevate Liusna had caused this maybe there was much more about nyxie composition that she didn't know, so she elects to deliver the injured woman to her people. It was her mistake, she ought to fix it herself, but needs outweigh vanity. Casting her reflected selves forward she appears before the nyxies and lets them know of her imminent arrival and would they please have a doctor waiting for her thanks? Thanks! Sorry!

If asked, Anna explains that Liusna got caught in the wake of several poor decisions on the goddess' part in rapid succession, briefly spent time on the edge of the Void, and was subsequently blown up. When the doctors and deep mages seemed to know enough about her condition to begin, Anna quietly excuses herself with another apology.

With that crisis (hopefully) sorted, Anna would return to her originally scheduled crisis. This time the reflection she chooses to squat in is submerged at the base of a waterfall, hopefully ensuring that she gets no more unexpected visitors.

So Liusna is like Teltanin then?

Teltanin was never corrupted.

Not corrupted! More like transcended.

Is there an observable difference, given what we know?

We wonder if she hates us after this, if she even remembers.

The nyxies are probably very displeased.

Fuck them. We do not need their approval.

Meteoric extermination?

Meteors are outside our influence. Lightning will work.

The nyxies are useful and a part of Arthos. They genuinely want to help.

Want to replace us. We're dangerous.

So are they! Antimatter rituals.

'Ritual' seems like an odd word. Perhaps there was more to the process that-

We will have to stop you there.

Perhaps it is time we stop and appreciate what we have.

This trip to the Floatlands is all about that, right?

Yes. Artifacts, mysteries, and strange and beautiful sights.

Didn't we destroy an island, too?

That cannot conceivably be considered a bad thing! It resulted in fish!

Fish will make us feel better. Artifacts, mysteries, beautiful sights, and fish.

This thing with Liusna will be dealt with when feelings are not so sore. And blood gushing.

We have a plan.

We are resuming the original plan! Stop messing up our plans, us!

Anna had to put her subprocesses back in their boxes before they started pulling each other's hair. She felt terrible about what happened, but it's done now. She will see the consequences when she gets back. She... she'll just be careful. If she is careful then everything will be j̡͟u̢̧ş͡t f͞i̷n̡͟e̶͘͘.

[Private to GM: (Not jumping straight to the myths in case you want to have nyxies throw tomatoes or something. If not let me know and I'll keep going.)]
This message was last edited by the player at 04:27, Sat 02 Mar 2019.

The Nyxies were surprisingly unperturbed by what had transpired. "We exist on the fringe of two worlds, each hostile to the other. A sudden push upsets the balance. That is why we do out utmost to retain a level of tranquility," said one Nyxie. "If this furthers your caution in experimenting with us, that is price enough for you to pay. When Liusna recovers, perhaps you will consult her before you . . . 'boop' her head with god-juice again?"

The myths you had called had gathered unto you, and awaited further instruction. Of course, the most interesting development was Em Pheyna becoming a species rather than a unique specimen, but it was likely that your other myths had grown in your absence as well. If anything was constant, it was the nature of living beings to grow.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:32, Wed 13 Mar 2019.

"Yeah, I see that now..." Anna replies, sheepishly. She's not certain how she feels about being talked down to like a child who just broke a favored toy. On the one hand she's a goddess, they can't talk to her like that! On the other she had said on numerous occasions that she didn't want to be treated like one, and the analogy was frighteningly accurate.

In a way, though, what frightened her the most was the levelness of the response. The reasoning they gave for it makes sense but some colorful part of her can't help but read it as why should we be surprised, this is what we've come to expect from the goddess of collateral damage.

Cor blimey she needs to reflect. So she leaves and does that.

---

By the time Anna returns to realspace, she is feeling much more calm and centered. It is important, every now and then, to take some time to analyze and realign one's mental state. She arrives on the Archipelago with a renewed smile and updated operational parameters, feeling older, wiser, and pretty confident about the future. She wanted to be a pillar of support for the viese that they could lean on without fear of it tipping over and smashing Em Phenya, and felt lightened by her new promise (if only to herself) of responsibility.

Anna! Not dead??

She laughs and waves happily to the brilliant figures as they swooped down before her. "I'm as surprised as anyone, haha~!" she replies. "What have you beautiful hotheads been up to all this time? Can't have been easy; I didn't give much thought to what you would do in peacetime. Still working with this ol' hunk to stamp out the lingering Mad?" She strokes the leafy exoskeleton of the Walker's legs before patting it twice firmly.

Walking to Clarity next, Anna leans forward at the waist with hands folded behind her. "Hey girl. You look as opalescent as always. Sorry about the whole... dying thing. It was not exactly the optimal outcome of my plan. Must've been lonely." If the dragon would have it, she reached over to give the colorful critter affectionate skritches.

From there she would go about the Archipelago, seeing what viese and offshoots thereof have shown up to explore the Floatlands with her.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:04, Fri 22 Mar 2019.

The Viese that had showed up to explore with you were few in number - perhaps 90 in all - but included the delightful young popstar Prosymna, as well as the not-quite-so-young Eila. Both had brought along their disciples.

There was a Vix you had not met yet. She had a noble bearing, and whirled markings that reminded you of roses. She bowed to you. "Hail. I am 4-Kindness. I would ask that you call me Thorn,"

Thorn. Four, plus her weapon of choice was a spear. The Vix were very . . . functional in their humor and nomenclature.

"I'm Prosymna's manager. She insisted on pursuing this dangerous venture when she heard Eila would be going with you. I understand that Eila -"

"I can speak well enough for myself, Thorn." Eila interjected, having approached you. "The Earth spoke to me. His siblings still live. While they have forgotten the Viese, I hope to restore the old bargains we once struck. The bargains that the old machine god forgot, the fool."
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:54, Mon 25 Mar 2019.

Apparently the lives of the Flare Witches weren't very interesting in her absence?

Ninty used to be a significant portion of the viese population, and it had not been all that long ago by Anna's reckoning since that had changed. It felt like her islands were positively abuzz with life!

With a mote of will the islands move for the first time in over a century, their route westward to the floating islands where their goddess had left so much unfinished. Anna monitors the islands for a short time, verifying that their functionality remains intact and standing by with the souls in case they are needed. She had no reason to think they would be, but Anna was done with being blindsided by complications.

Ah, a new vix! The particularly regal grace of this one compelled Anna to return the bow, and to resist responding to the hail with literal hail. It was difficult but Anna's resolve was heroic! "Nice to meet you, Thorn!" she greets. Her mind went down a list of spontaneous nicknames but none particularly resonated with her and Thorn was the first vix to have a nickname specifically in mind. It'll have to do!

Anna raises an eyebrow at Eila's interruption, but soon giggles. Not only had Eila retained her propensity for speaking her mind but she seems to have gotten a little grumpy in her age; adorable. The wry smirk fades as the topic changes. "Logos?" Anna asks. "I have heard murmurs of my... predecessor?... in the depths of Em Phenya. There is little in the core lands I don't hear. You will have to tell me all about the machine god sometime." She supposed those ruins in the Ravaged Lands had to come from somewhere and briefly wondered whether that old telescope was refurbished at any point, but found the topic too tangental to raise.

She pauses just long enough to indicate a shift in topic. "I am glad to hear the other Pacts yet exist," she says even as she thinks back. The Winds were fickle, and they forgot they'd ever struck the pact. The Fires were resentful and said they owed no mortal fealty. The Life had ever so many children to attend to and left to see to them, but the Earth remembers. "Let us work together in this. I will follow you lead; you are better versed in the Pacts than I, Eila. I am glad to have you along."

Anna returns her attention to Thorn. "Prosymna sounds like quite the handful! I suppose I shouldn't be surprised though; my little shooting star was a force of nature from the beginning." She smiled. "So she idolizes Eila, huh?"

As they speak Anna moves the conversation indoors so that she can dress herself in her (now not so) newly enchanted dress, roping Thorn into helping if she were even remotely receptive. All the prettily dressed girls were making her feel self-conscious.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:24, Mon 25 Mar 2019.

The Flare Witches were still rather unintelligent, even with souls. They seemed happy though.

A little while later, Thorn was helping you with your dress. It was different than when 3-Understanding had helped you; even though Undies had been helpful, there had been a sensuality to her that was unmistakable. Thorn was gentle and considerate, but was transparently disinterested in you in a particular way.

"So you're Anna. Prosymna mentioned that she heard your voice one day, and that's why sings and does her best to make the world a little more 'poppy', as she says. I guess that's why she's called a 'pop-star'."

"I'm told you're both a genius beyond compare and a dangerous maniac that was better off dead. Without you, neither I nor Prosymna or anyone else would be around, so I suppose I see you as a kind of mother figure, and see Prosymna as my little sister,"

"Unlike Prosymna, though, I don't idolize you. Or Eila. Or the hero Tael- Talisin? I forget. I think you're probably a normal person pressured into being abnormal. How did you get those tattoos, though? They're unusual."

Eila had mentioned just minutes before that your tattoos were linked to the Floatlands, that your remembered - the Floatlands were unnatural, and the rivers there flowed like your tattoos, in straight line and circular ponds.

The Viese had never come here because the flowers couldn't be used for reproduction and the food made Viese sick. The Earth had told Eila that - "The Waters lived here. The Viese never made a pact with the Waters, and I want to start there. It will be easier to persuade the others if we have the Waters back on board, because the Waters join Winds and Earth, and Fire is afraid of the Waters. If we can pact with the Waters, only Life in the jungles to the north will present a puzzle to solve."

It was about then that Prosymna popped her head in to where you were talking to Thorn. "Hey Thorny! Are you done helping Anna?" She lifted her petticoats, which had been splashed with mud. "I was dancing and uh, it was wet out," she said.

Prosymna didn't . . . look Viese. She didn't even look like you. She was very pretty, though. What had happened to her?

Prosymna, the Popstar
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:28, Sun 07 Apr 2019.

Anna misses Undies' touch, but is appreciative for Thorn's help nonetheless. She smiles as the smalltalk begins. Anna's opinion of the little shooting star was already known, so she nodded in wordless agreement through that part.

"Both those are true," Anna says with a soft, slightly remorseful chuckle. "I'm trying to be less of the latter and more of the former now. It's not my natural state but I am determined to learn. I think you're right not to idolize me; I'm still very much coming out of a difficult puberty."

"Oh, these things?" Anna lifts her arms up. With a slight exertion of will, motes of soul-energy balled up and traced paths down the many twisting paths on her skin, briefly lighting the room in cyan. "They're the markings of my father Axiom, god of networks and technology. He was working to create a flawless realm of intelligent machines -- the Ascended, actually, whom I'm sure you've met -- but something went wrong. I don't know if it was the Blight or he made a mistake, but he feared for his legacy and took steps to ensure it would be preserved. My metallic skin and these brandings lead me to believe I was to be a technological god as he was, but something must have changed during my nascent state that led to me taking a radically different path. Perhaps this Logos I hear of was the cast-off shell of what Axiom would have preferred I be... alas, neither of them still exist to be asked. I hope. According to Eila, markings like these exist all over Arthos, half-remembered reminders of past mistakes."

Anna shivers involuntarily. Even now she still has a primal revulsion towards conventional technology. Organic is better. More natural. She is not in denial, nope.

She stands, tugging her outfit here and there to adjust the fit until it's just so. She offers a satisfied smile to Thorn. "So you don't idolize the Infinities, I'm mom, and Prosymna is lil' sis. Do these thorns' roses bloom for anyo-"

Hey Thorny!

Prosymna! Anna turns to face the pop star, all eager smiles, previous conversation forgotten. Her one exposed eye looks the pink girl up and down, taking in every detail. Anna feels like she just might have her Final Death from the kawaii. Another part of her, however, took in the details and came to an entirely different conclusion. Prosymna is one of the giants? Did Thorn fly her up here? Was she always a giant? She has to admit she was not entirely in her right mind when she had selected her musician...

"Arthos is, ah, always pretty wet, haha...!" Anna agrees with the pop star regarding one of the near-universal constants of the realm. The two conflicting opinions battling for supremacy in the back of her mind left her slightly confused and awkward. She glances at Thorn with an undisguised what? expression.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:56, Sun 07 Apr 2019.

"Oh!" Prosynna said, giving her skirt a little swirl and she spun. "I'm Viese! I am! You've never seen any of my shows, huh? I bet you're super busy, being a super cool science goddess!"

Before your eyes, her outfit changed and her body shifted. Now, she looked like you, if you had ever been a young girl - complete with cyan petticoats and and ultramarine highlights in her hair.

She spun again, and she - was small, Viese. A beautiful shell-pink woman with silvery wings. She was extra petite, even for a Viese, and even for being a child. She settled on your shoulder.

"Being a pop star is all about appearances! So I can look however I want to. It's just a little deep magic! Nobody else can do it like I do, though!"

She leaned against your neck, and gave you tiniest peck on the edge of your jaw. "You should come to one of my shows! I'll even hook you up with a backstage pass!"

Anna nods apologetically. "Yeah, haha! I've..." Been what? Weeping to herself at the bottom of a waterfall for the last three days? "... had a lot of my mind." She clamps down on the rising melencholy and forces it right back down. There's a cute girl right in front of her and she's about to do something interesting, pay attention to that!

As she leaned forward in undisguised curiosity Anna felt her heart skip a beat. "Oh- my- gosh~!" she squeals. Before her very eyes Prosymna changed again, this time into a little seashell of a viese! "That is so awesome!" She cocks her head into the tiny kiss on the cheek and giggles joyously. The day was just beginning and it was already the greatest day ever. She reaches over to give the now-tiny pop-star a little pat on the head with one fingertip. "I would love to see one of your shows. Maybe after this expedition!"

"So my little changling," Anna says, adopting a slightly more dignified tone. "What're you hoping to find out here is the Floatlands? I understand they are still mostly unexplored, and, well, I have a reputation for... collateral damage. It could be dangerous."

As they talk Anna tours about the Archipelago, pop-star on her shoulder. Her seemingly aimless meanderings takes her by the Repair Pad. If there, she gives Foundation a quick squeeze on the shoulder and asks if Vic Viper is ready for assignment, and if not she polls the aircraft-myth itself.

"Oof. Yeah, Vic's ready and purring. Better than new."

Vic agreed, rumbling in asssent. He was much the same as before, if a little larger with a flatter and more triangular profile.

Prosymna chattered. Her chatter was very praticed, though, and her stories were punchy and entertaining. She half-sung a lot of her words, though.

"Well, I need more song material, you know, and I uh, wanted to meet you? I felt your presence back when I was starting my career . . . this urging to practice, this little bravery in my heart, this connection to others. I want to see more of Arthos, and I want to meet more people,"

She coughed teenily. "And I wanna learn cool shaman magic from Eila to use for special effects in my shows,"

"Awesome! It sure looks ready for business!" Anna compliments Foundation.

She claps a hand against the spaceplane's polished alloy surface. "Alright Vipes, got an aerial survey mission for you! Head west and explore the Floating Islands for any sort of anomalies. Energy sources, monsters, artifacts, lingering damage from the Blight, anything that warrants a closer investigation! I'm counting on you, show me your best!" She gives the autonomous craft a kiss on the glass dome before hopping back to a safe distance. She waves farewell to it as it speeds off into the distance.

Anna resumed wandering around the archipelago, confident that her instincts would lead her to wherever she was needed. She loved listening to the pop-star; Prosymna's energy was contagious and her stories fascinating enough to make Anna wonder if she'd ever grow tired of hearing her talk. "I hope I haven't been too much of a disappointment so far!" Anna laughs. "So far the pleasure has been all mine, haha!"

Anna stopped, realizing that they had arrived in the mythcrafting garden. A brilliant idea came to her then. "Hey, Prosymna... wanna bring some of those stories to life?" She looks over with an inviting grin.

Prosymna blushed deeply as Vic Viper left for his realm-wide reconnaissance mission. "You mean the way you made the Witches and the spy bird and the glass plant and stuff?" She said. "That, ah, sound like a lot of fun! I'm not sure how much help I'll be though . . ." she said, lifting her teensy teeny tiny hands.

She leapt from your shoulder, and in a twirl of flash and color she returned to her pink-clad human self that you initially met, parasol and all. "So what's the story this time?"

"More help then you'd expect!" Anna says cheerily. "I want practice mythcrafting but sometimes it is difficult for me to come up with ideas, and even when I do I tend to fall back on bioglass plant creatures because they're what I know. You're so full of stories and enthusiasm; it's just what I need to break out of the creative rut and elevate my game to the next level!"

If nothing else, it'll be a good constructive way for Anna pass the time while the Archipelago of Origins makes the slow aerial journey west.

Allocating a stockpile of 5000 souls to experimental mythcrafting.

She pondered, the clapped her hands while lifting her heels. "How about something long, slender, and graceful that glides through the sky and earth - like a streak of silver, a gentle snake . . ."

She thought more. "But furred, too, and pawed, and it moves like a lizard, and like the - there were cats that used to eat Viese, right? The ones that you killed . .  I remember the story . . . "

Working with her was . .  interesting. She was much more a painter than a mechanic or scientist, and with her guidance a new being was created.

It did not resemble anything you would make. It was a graceful and vibrantly colored creature that didn't serve any explicit purpose and had improbable anatomy, but there was something  . . . soothing about it. When you were in the presence of the Harush, the world took on a watercolor aspect.

The Harush, Shepherd of Leaf and Cloud

-2000 souls.